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Whyhim? I think. Then I try to convince myself it doesn’t matter. PeetaMellark and I are not friends. Not even neighbors. We don’t speak. Our only real interaction happened years ago. He’s probably forgotten it. But I haven’t and Iknow I never will…“为什么选中他？”我想。我试图说服自己这没什么关系。皮塔·麦拉克和我并不是朋友，甚至算不上邻居。我们没有说过话，真正的接触是在几年前。他也许已经忘了，可我没忘，而且我知道我永远都不会忘记……It was during the worsttime. My father had been killed in the mine accident three months earlier inthe bitterest January anyone could remember. The numbness of his loss hadpassed, and the pain would hit me out of nowhere, doubling me over, racking mybody with sobs. Where are you? I would cry out in my mind. Where have you gone?Of course, there was never any answer. 那是在我们的日子过得最艰难的时候，爸爸三个月前在矿难中去世了，那是在一月份，也是我有生之年遇到的最寒冷的一个月。失去他后的麻木感已过去了，代之而起的是时时涌起的痛楚，这痛楚以加倍的力量袭击我，使我常难以抑制地哭泣。“你在哪儿啊？”我的心在流泪，“你到哪儿去了？”然而，我永远得不到回答。The district had given us asmall amount of money as compensation for his death, enough to cover one monthof grieving at which time my mother would be expected to get a job. Only shedidn’t.She didn’t do anything but sit propped up in a chairor, more often, huddled under the blankets on her bed, eyes fixed on some pointin the distance. Once in a while, she’d stir, get up asif moved by some urgent purpose, only to then collapse back into stillness. Noamount of pleading from Prim seemed to affect her. 区里给了我们一点钱作为对他死亡的赔偿，这些钱够我们花一个月的。在这个月里，我们一直担心妈妈什么时候才会出去找工作，可她什么也没做，她只是整日坐在椅子里，多数时候盖着毯子蜷缩在床上，眼睛茫然地望着远方。有时，她也会动一动，好像要办什么急事，可最终又陷入原来的状态。无论波丽姆怎样哀求也无法打动她。第4章 希望 (2)
I was terrified. I suppose now that my mother was locked insome dark world of sadness, but at the time, all I knew was that I had lost notonly a father, but a mother as well. At eleven years old, with Prim just seven,I took over as head of the family. There was no choice. I bought our food atthe market and cooked it as best I could and tried to keep Prim and myselflooking presentable. Because if it had become known that my mother could nolonger care for us, the district would have taken us away from her and placedus in the community home. 我感到很恐惧，我想妈妈已经被囚禁在哀愁的黑暗世界里，当时我所知道的一切就是不仅失去了爸爸，也失去了妈妈。那时我十一岁，波丽姆只有七岁，我便挑起了家庭的重担，我别无选择。我把吃的从市场买回来，尽量做得好吃些，我也竭尽全力让自己和波丽姆的样子还能见人，因为如果有人知道妈妈不能再照顾我们了，区里就会有人把我们从她那儿带走，送到社区福利院。
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