The remainder of my schooldays were no more auspicious than the first. Indeed, theywere an endless Project that slowly evolved into a Unit, in which miles of constructionpaper and wax crayon were expended by the State of Alabama in its well-meaning butfruitless efforts to teach me Group Dynamics. What Jem called the Dewey DecimalSystem was school-wide by the end of my first year, so I had no chance to compare itwith other teaching techniques. I could only look around me: Atticus and my uncle, whowent to school at home, knew everything—at least, what one didn’t know the other did.

　　后来在学校的日子跟第一天一样不顺心。的确，那是个不知何年何月才能完成的教学计划，这计划渐渐发展成为一个教学单元。在这个单元里，亚拉巴马州好心好意地花费了几英里长的手工纸和彩色蜡笔，想教我在小组中做手工，但毫无结果。杰姆说的杜威十进法在我上学的第一年年底已在全校铺开。所以，我没有机会把它与其他教学方法相比较，只能观察周围的人：阿迪克斯和我叔叔在家接受教育，他们什么都知遭——起码，这个不知道的那个知道。

　　Furthermore, I couldn’t help noticing that my father had served for years in the statelegislature, elected each time without opposition, innocent of the adjustments myteachers thought essential to the development of Good Citizenship. Jem, educated on ahalf-Decimal half-Duncecap basis, seemed to function effectively alone or in a group,but Jem was a poor example: no tutorial system devised by man could have stoppedhim from getting at books. As for me, I knew nothing except what I gathered from Timemagazine and reading everything I could lay hands on at home, but as I inchedsluggishly along the treadmill of the Maycomb County school system, I could not helpreceiving the impression that I was being cheated out of something. Out of what I knewnot, yet I did not believe that twelve years of unrelieved boredom was exactly what thestate had in mind for me.

　　并且我还注意到，爸爸在州立法机构工作多年，每次当选，无人反对。我们老师认为，当一个标准公民所必不可少的那些条条框框他可不知道。杰姆既受益于新方法，也领教过惩罚制，看起来，无论单独学习或在小组中，他学得都比较好但是杰姆这个例子不太好：没有谁发明的教学方法能够使他不读书。至于我，除了从《时代》杂志上以及在家里自己看书学来的知识外一无所知。随着梅科姆县单调的教学方法的进展，我得到的唯一印象是我的某种东西被骗走了，到底是什么东西我不清楚，反正我不相信州政府为我打算的就是让我在这儿受十二年折磨。

　　As the year passed, released from school thirty minutes before Jem, who had to stayuntil three o’clock, I ran by the Radley Place as fast as I could, not stopping until Ireached the safety of our front porch. One afternoon as I raced by, something caughtmy eye and caught it in such a way that I took a deep breath, a long look around, andwent back.

　　时间在慢慢流逝。每天我比杰姆早三十分钟放学，他不到三点不能离校。我尽快地跑过拉德利家，一口气跑到我家前廊的安全地带才停下来。一天下午，我跑过时突然看见什么东西，这东西强烈地吸引了我：我深深地吸了一口气，朝周围仔细张望了一番，又返回去。

　　Two live oaks stood at the edge of the Radley lot; their roots reached out into the side-road and made it bumpy. Something about one of the trees attracted my attention.

　　Some tinfoil was sticking in a knot-hole just above my eye level, winking at me in theafternoon sun. I stood on tiptoe, hastily looked around once more, reached into the hole,and withdrew two pieces of chewing gum minus their outer wrappers.

　　My first impulse was to get it into my mouth as quickly as possible, but I rememberedwhere I was. I ran home, and on our front porch I examined my loot. The gum lookedfresh. I sniffed it and it smelled all right. I licked it and waited for a while. When I did notdie I crammed it into my mouth: Wrigley’s Double-Mint.

　　拉德利家的地界边缘上有两棵常青橡树，树根延伸列人行道上，使路而拱起来。其中一棵树上有个什么东西吸引了我的注意力。

　　在比我的眼睛略高的树节孔里粘着一些锡箔纸，在阳光下闪闪发光。我踮起脚，匆匆朝周围扫视了一遍，把手伸进小洞，意外地掏出了两块不带包装纸的口香糖。

　　我的第一个念头是立刻把它放进嘴里，可是又想起了这是什么地方。我跑回家，在前廊上仔细查看了我的这件战利品。这糖看上去挺新鲜。我闻了闻，气味也正常;用舌头舔一下，等了一会儿，我并没有死，于是把它塞进嘴里。

　　When Jem came home he asked me where I got such a wad. I told him I found it.

　　“Don’t eat things you find, Scout.”

　　“This wasn’t on the ground, it was in a tree.”

　　Jem growled.

　　“Well it was,” I said. “It was sticking in that tree yonder, the one comin‘ from school.”

　　“Spit it out right now!”