2014-11-30

【Aiden in English】

        Qualities make characters, and characters make a story. Each unique character has his or her unique quality that makes them special. In the book Urban Outlaws, the main character Jack Fenton works with a group of orphans to help the city of London. They are the Urban Outlaws, and have their secret base located under an abandoned train station. It has computers, a kitchen, a bathroom, and anything that Jack and his friends need. Jack is their leader, and since he is their commander, Jack has some amazing qualities that really define him from the others. He is shrewd like a general, and brave like a true leader.

        The one word that really defines Jack is shrewd. He is very smart, and a hacker always has a plan. But there is no plan that is perfect, so this is where Jack’s shrewdness comes in. In times that his great plans fail, he can come up with something in seconds. In the beginning of the story, Jack and Charlie (another Urban Outlaw) are escaping from a robbery. They just stole a million dollars from a crime lord, but they were caught doing so. As they made their escape, Jack and Charlie got surrounded in a park by police. Jack knew they had to get to the entrance of the sewers and escape that way. However, the door to the sewers was blocked by cops. The cops didn’t see the sewers, but they were getting close to Jack and Charlie. Seeing that he couldn’t escape, Jack took the laser from Charlie’s high-tech camera they used to steal the money. He shined the laser on some bushes and distracted the cops who allowed them to escape. That was a close call, and because of Jacks shrewdness, they made it out of there in one piece. Another reason Jack is shrewd is when they had to steal a guard’s security key to get into a building. Jack then went up to the guard and asked him where the nearest hotel was, and so he provided the distraction for his friend, Wren, to steal the keys. Also, Jack and the others had to access a building from the roof. Since they didn’t have a helicopter, Slink, the fastest kid in the Urban Outlaws, had to jump from another building over a twenty-four-foot (7.3 meters) gap. Then, there were security cameras that swept the area, but had a two second gap. Slink had to run through in those two seconds to the air vent without being caught. Slink just couldn’t get the rhythm at all, so Jack got him music with the beat of the time he had.

        As much as being shrewd is good, being a leader means being valiant. Jack is extremely valiant because in the story, Jack is very, very afraid of heights. In the beginning when Jack was robbing the crime boss, the plan went wrong and he had to jump down a skyscraper with a parachute. Even though Jack went insane when he was high up, he still jumped. That led to land in the park, getting surrounded and so on. Also in the story, Charlie was captured by agents who worked against the government. They carried guns and didn’t care if they had to kill children. Even though it was dangerous, and Jack’s life was at stake, he went to find him. Jack was also extremely brave at the end, too. There was a super computer called Proteus in the possession of Del Sarto, the crime boss that the Urban Outlaws robbed earlier. Jack knew that if Proteus wasn’t destroyed, Del Sarto could do anything, so the Urban Outlaws infiltrated and blew up the building that Proteus was in. During the escape, Jack was bold but cautious and helped Wren who was captured to run through the collapsing building. He was very valiant because Wren was injured and slow.

        Jack and I have our differences, but we in common in some ways as well. As much as Jack lives his life in secrecy and doubt, he is shrewd just like me. I am an artist, so I am very creative. As you can see, Jack is shrewd and creative in many ways, too. He can make crazy plans, while I can draw crazy pictures. Jack is also a hacker, which means he’s a good mathematician, and so am I. In the book, Jack can hack into even the hardest security and leave no sign that he was ever there. I am a very good mathematician because I take algebra-one in sixth grade. So once I look at Jack this way, the differences seem smaller a little.

        Jack, the leader of the Urban Outlaws, certainly has some spectacular character qualities. He is shrewd, which helps him make plans. He also is very valiant, which allows him to be a leader. Someday, I want to be just like him.

【红霞译文】

        品质完善性格，性格塑造人物，个性决定人的特质，使得彼此各有不同。《城市水浒传》一书主人翁杰克·芬顿纠集一帮孤儿们愿为伦敦城做点贡献，他们都属于社会上爱打抱不平的好汉，火车站底下被遗忘的角落成为他们出入的秘密据点，里面设有计算机、厨房、盥洗室等基本所需，杰克是顶头上司。身为指挥官，杰克具备某些非同寻常的优良品质，既像统帅那样胸怀韬略，又似领袖一般果敢无畏。

        暂且用一个词来形容杰克── “明智”。杰克十分机灵，充当黑客肯定少不了行动计划，但智者千虑必有一失，关键时刻方显杰克的英雄本色，因为每每宏伟计划实施不畅，他总能扭转乾坤。故事开头描述杰克和另一位哥们查理正逃离作案现场，他俩刚从邪恶势力头子那里抢劫了一百万现金，结果被人发现，两人设法逃命脱身，结果在公园内遇警察包围，杰克急中生智，试图从下水道入口钻进去溜之大吉，然而通往下水道的大门被警察封锁，警察倒不是来看下水道的，而是想要缉拿罪犯归案。眼见大难临头，杰克拿出查理高科技相机上用于偷钱的激光装置，赶紧朝树丛方向晃动，这才蒙蔽过警察，好险呀。正是因为杰克机敏过人，才使他们化险为夷。还有一个实例同样表现杰克才智非凡，这帮城市好汉打算窃取保安防盗钥匙以便私入大楼，于是杰克主动上前向保卫打听周围最近的酒店在什么地方，之所以这么做完全是为了分散保安的注意力，同伙雷恩借机拿到了钥匙，转而杰克与其狐朋狗友从房顶进入楼内，由于缺少直升飞机，跑得最快的斯林克只好纵身飞跃两楼之间长达廿四英尺／七米多的空档，大楼装有监视探头，中间只有两秒钟镜头转换间隙，为了避免被拍，斯林克必须抓住如此短暂的瞬间钻入通风管内，此时他拿捏不准起跳节奏，杰克灵机一动，立刻哼起小调，让他借助音乐节拍调整好步伐。

        有一个明智的大脑当然是件好事，对领军人物来说有助于提升胆识。杰克严重恐高，即使在这种情况下，仍然勇往直前。故事开篇曾提到杰克抢劫时因计划出现漏洞而不得不打开降落伞从高楼上往下跳，高空令他抓狂，但跳楼是唯一一条出路，就这样他在公园着陆，回到上面被警察包围的一幕，后续插曲一个接着一个相继出现。书中还谈起查理落到反政府分子手里，对方持枪荷弹，甚至不惜杀害无辜儿童，形势迫在眉睫，为了营救同伴，杰克不顾个人生命安危，最后以大无畏气魄救出查理。邪恶势力头目德尔·萨托有一台名叫“普罗透斯”的计算机，先前这帮城市好汉就是从他那里偷的钱。杰克心里明白，如果“普罗透斯”尚未毁掉，德尔·萨托定会胡作非为，所以他们决定混进“普罗透斯”所在的大楼干脆把它砸坏。在逃跑过程中，杰克不仅胆大心细，从倒塌的大楼中成功营救出被抓的雷恩；并且从容镇定，因为雷恩受伤动作迟缓。

        杰克与我不同，但彼此确有相似之处。尽管杰克一直生活在隐蔽猜疑之中，但他像我一样思维活络；我权且算作一位艺术家，喜欢标新立异。当然正如你所看到的那样，杰克在很多方面既明智又富有想象力，经他设计的方案奇异新颖，而我则擅长画些怪诞滑稽的涂鸦。杰克是一位黑客，言外之意他擅长数学，在这方面我也表现出色。书中提到他能破解最为神秘的安全密码而不留下任何蛛丝马迹；我的数学本事决非马马虎虎，初中一年级敢跟初级代数较劲，经这么比较，我俩之间的差距还真有点缩小。

        杰克──一位城市里伸张正义的英雄好汉，具有一些极为优秀的性格人品，因为明智而使他做事有条不紊，因为勇敢而使他成为领军人物。有朝一日，我要向他那样。