Flipped(怦然心动)：Chapter08

Chapter08 The Yard
第八章  院子

I'd never been embarrassed by where we lived before. I'd never looked at our house, or even our side of the street, and said, Oh! I wish we lived in the new development—those houses are so much newer, so much better! This is where I'dgrown up. This was my home.

我从来没有像现在这样，为了我们住的地方感到羞愧。我从来没有看着我们的房子，甚至是我们住的街道，然后说，哦！我多希望住在新的街区啊——那里的房子比这里新得多，也漂亮得多！我在这里长大。这是我的家。

I was aware of the yard, sure. My mother had grumbled about it for years. But it was a low

grumbling, not worthy of deep concern. Or so I'd supposed. But maybe I should have wondered. Why let the outside go and keep the inside so nice? It was spotless inside our house. Except for the boys' room, that is. Mom gave up on that after she discovered the snake. If they were old enough to adopt a snake, she told my brothers, they were old enough to clean their own room. Matt and Mike translated this to keep the door closed, and became quite diligent about doing just that.

当然，我意识到院子的问题。多年来，妈妈一直在抱怨它，但并不是认真地抱怨，不值得太过担心。至少我是这么想的。但我也许应该奇怪，为什么把屋子里整理得那么好，却放着院子不管呢？我们的房间整洁得无可挑剔。当然，男孩子们的房间除外。自从发现了蛇，妈妈就彻底放弃打扫那个房间了。如果他们已经成熟得可以养蛇，妈妈对哥哥们说，他们也成熟到足以自己打扫房间了。马特和麦克把这番话理解为关上房门，并且开始坚持只待在自己的房间里。

Besides the yard, I also never really wondered about the money, or the apparent lack thereof.

除了院子以外，我也从来没有认真关心过钱的问题，以及由此导致的明显的物资短缺。

I knew we weren't rich, but I didn't feel like I was missing anything. Anything you could buy, anyway.

我知道我们不富裕，但我们从来没缺过什么东西。任何你能买到的东西。

……