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People thought Ethel Armstead was crazy to stand up to the young men dealing drugs outside her house. But Ethel had had enough. Summoning up her courage, she went out to talk to the gang. This is the story of what happened.
人们认为埃塞尔·阿姆斯特德准是疯了，竟然敢去面对那些在她房子外面贩卖毒品的年轻人。但埃塞尔已忍无可忍。她鼓足勇气，走出去跟那帮人谈话。下面就是所发生的故事。
Not on My Block
离开我这个街区
Lynn Rosellini
琳恩·罗塞利尼
Ethel Armstead liked the gray row house right off. It had an extra bedroom and a big backyard where her grandkids could play. The marble stoop would be perfect spot to sit on summer evenings.
埃塞尔·阿姆斯特德一下子就喜欢上了那栋灰色的联房。房子里多出了一间卧室，还有一个很大的后院，可以让她的小外孙和外孙女在那儿玩耍。那个大理石的门廊将是夏天夜晚坐着乘凉的理想场所。
But when Armstead arrived home from work that first night after moving in, she found a bunch of tough-looking young men sitting on her front steps.
但搬进来后的第一个晚上，当阿姆斯特德下班回到家时，她却发现有一帮样子很凶的人坐在她家门前的台阶上。
Excuse me, she said, startled. "I live here." The group of seven young men rose reluctantly, staring at her with cold, hard eyes. Once inside, Armstead locked the door and peered out the window. She was surprised to see that the men had already reseated themselves on her steps.
她大吃一惊，说道：“请原谅，我住在这儿。”那一帮七个年轻人不情愿地站了起来，用冷酷无情的目光盯着她看。一走进去，阿姆斯特德就锁上门，从窗口往外看。她吃惊地发现那几个年轻人已经又坐在了她的台阶上。
In coming weeks, Armstead learned that her house, long vacant, was used by drug dealers, who hid their drugs under the front steps. As a steady stream of cars and foot traffic passed by, the dealers conducted business on the stoop. Addicts shot up in the path behind the house and urinated in the backyard.
在以后的几个星期里，阿姆斯特德了解到她那栋房子过去长期空关时，曾被一些毒品贩子用来在前台阶下面藏过毒品。当川流不息的车辆和行人经过时，毒品贩子就在门廊上做生意。吸毒成瘾的人就在房子后面的小路上注射毒品，并在后院里随地撒尿。
Armstead had no illusions about the men who occupied her front steps. Almost every night for the ten years she had lived in the tough Oliver neighborhood of East Baltimore, she lay in bed listening to the sound of gunshots as the drug wars raged. But this house, with dealers hanging out on her stoop, was the worst.
阿姆斯特德对占用她门前的那些人不抱任何幻想。在东巴尔的摩那个充满犯罪与暴力的奥利弗地区居住的十年间，几乎每个晚上，她都倒在床上听着毒品战激烈进行时的枪击声。但是这栋房子有毒品贩子经常出没于她的门廊却是最糟糕的。
