According to neighborhood legend, when the younger Radley boy was in his teens he became acquainted with some of the Cunninghams from Old Sarum, an enormous and confusing tribe domiciled in the northern part of the county, and they formed the nearest thing to a gang ever seen in Maycomb. They did little, but enough to be discussed by the town and publicly warned from three pulpits: they hung around the barbershop; they rode the bus to Abbottsville on Sundays and went to the picture show; they attended dances at the county’s riverside gambling hell, the Dew-Drop Inn & Fishing Camp; they experimented with stumphole whiskey. Nobody in Maycomb had nerve enough to tell Mr. Radley that his boy was in with the wrong crowd.
One night, in an excessive spurt of high spirits, the boys backed around the square in a borrowed flivver, resisted arrest by Maycomb’s ancient beadle, Mr. Conner, and locked him in the courthouse outhouse. The town decided something had to be done; Mr. Conner said he knew who each and every one of them was, and he was bound and determined they wouldn’t get away with it, so the boys came before the probate judge on charges of disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, assault and battery, and using abusive and profane language in the presence and hearing of a female.
The judge asked Mr. Conner why he included the last charge; Mr. Conner said they cussed so loud he was sure every lady in Maycomb heard them. The judge decided to send the boys to the state industrial school, where boys were sometimes sent for no other reason than to provide them with food and decent shelter: it was no prison and it was no disgrace. Mr. Radley thought it was. If the judge released Arthur, Mr. Radley would see to it that Arthur gave no further trouble. Knowing that Mr. Radley’s word was his bond, the judge was glad to do so.
The other boys attended the industrial school and received the best secondary education to be had in the state; one of them eventually worked his way through engineering school at Auburn. The doors of the Radley house were closed on week days as well as Sundays, and Mr. Radley’s boy was not seen again for fifteen years.
But there came a day, barely within Jem’s memory, when Boo Radley was heard from and was seen by several people, but not by Jem. He said Atticus never talked much about the Radleys: when Jem would question him Atticus’s only answer was for him to mind his own business and let the Radleys mind theirs, they had a right to; but when it happened, Jem said Atticus shook his head and said, “Mm, mm, mm.”
词汇学习
spurt (a sudden increase in speed, effort, activity or emotion for a short period of time)
原句：in an excessive spurt of high spirits 在一种极度兴奋的状态下
domiciled adj.指定支付地点的,定居的
flivver n. 廉价小汽车
probate
原句：the probate judge
battery [U] 殴打罪
assault and battery 殴打和侵犯人身罪
profane adj.不敬(神)的,好咒骂的/亵渎的,不圣洁的
cuss vi. 乱骂；咒骂/ vt. 咒骂
see to 负责, 注意, 照料
原句：Mr. Radley would see to it that Arthur gave no further trouble.
Mr. Radley 先生会负责Arthur 不会再捣乱。
become acquainted with 认识了某人
the picture show 这里是指“电影”
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stumphole whiskey
原文 ：they experimented with stumphole whiskey 他们品尝私酒
树干上由于自然作用而形成的洞叫做stump hole,有stump hole whisky这么一说，指的是过去外国私酿酒是犯法的，有的农民私酿whisky，然后怕被政府抓了，所以把酒藏在树洞里
美国禁酒令
从1920年1月17日凌晨0时，美国宪法第18号修正案——禁酒法案（又称“伏尔斯泰得法案”）正式生效。 根据这项法律规定，凡是制造、售卖乃至于运输酒精含量超过0.5%以上的饮料皆属违法。自己在家里喝酒不算犯法，但与朋友共饮或举行酒宴则属违法，最高可被罚款1000美元及监禁半年。 21岁以上的人才能买到酒，并需要出示年龄证明，而且只能到限定的地方购买。
走私和地下交易成为黑帮势力的温床
正规市场被禁止，带来的结果是黑市的兴起。走私、地下交易一时间成了一本万利的买卖，当时许多有组织的犯罪集团都是依靠这些非法生意得来的利润建立起来的。而这些黑帮组织依靠日渐强大的势力，把私酒生意变得越来越庞大。最有名的芝加哥黑帮老大艾尔•卡彭，就是在这一时期开始崛起的，据说他每日贩酒所得利润就高达5000美元。美剧大西洋帝国就是讲述这一阶段的故事。
不得不废止的禁酒令
禁酒令发展到后期，变得越来越荒唐，原本想要通过禁酒提升国民的健康水平，却有越来越多的人因为喝品质低劣的私酿酒进了医院；本意是为了降低犯罪率，却成了有组织犯罪的诱因；想要控制贪腐，却令更多的官员在这段时间主动或是被动地与黑帮勾结……各种各样的现象使得禁酒令的废止变得迫在眉睫。
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