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But Mom says I can't have any candy until Halloween night, which I think is totally cruel. I think I've figured out a way to get my hands on some candy BEFORE Halloween, though. My school is having a contest called the "Balloon Brigade," which it does every October. Each student gets a helium balloon, and everyone releases theirs at the same time. They give you these little cards to write your name and address on, and when people find the balloons they're supposed to send them back.

但是妈妈说在万圣节晚上之前我不能吃糖果，我觉得这太残忍了。 不过，我想我已经想出了一个办法，可以在万圣节前弄到一些糖果。 我们学校每年十月都会举办一场名为“气球之旅”的比赛。 每个学生得到一个氦气球，每个人同时释放他们的氦气球。 他们给你这些小卡片，上面写着你的名字和地址，当人们找到气球时，他们应该把它们寄回来。

The school has a big map on a bulletin board near the library, and when a kid turns in a balloon, Vice Principal Roy uses a thumbtack to mark how far it went. At the end of the week he measures the distance each balloon traveled to find out whose went the farthest, and that kid gets a REWARD.

学校在图书馆附近的公告板上有一张大地图，当一个孩子把气球交上来时，副校长罗伊就用图钉标出气球飞了多远。 在一周结束的时候，他测量每个气球的距离，看谁的气球飞得最远，那个孩子会得到奖励。

Last year, Andrea Gennarro's balloon traveled forty-three miles, and she won a thirty-dollar gift certificate for the book fair. But THIS year the grand prize is a giant jar of candy corn, which is sitting in Vice Principal Roy's office right now. The school puts a little code on each balloon so nobody cheats and turns in a store-bought balloon. I've never had one of my balloons sent back to me, though. I need to make SURE that whoever finds mine doesn't just ignore me, so I wrote a three-page letter that I'm hoping will get a response.

去年，Andrea Gennarro的气球飞行了43英里，她赢得了书展30美元的礼券。 但今年的大奖是一罐巨大的玉米糖，现在就放在罗伊副校长的办公室里。 学校在每个气球上都写了一个小代码，这样就不会有人作弊，并把从商店买的气球交上来。 不过，我的气球从来没有被退回过。 我要确保找到我的人不会忽视我，所以我写了一封三页的信，希望能得到回应。

Because when it comes to free candy, I'm not messing around. To whoever finds this balloon: I am a lonely child without any friends. I released this balloon hoping it would find its way to a kind person who might write me back and bring some joy to my life. Monday After lunch today the teachers led us all out to the basketball court for the big Balloon Brigade launch. I still get kind of nervous stepping foot on the blacktop, because that's where the Cheese sat for a year and a half. There's even a stain where it used to be.

因为说到免费糖果，我可不是在胡闹。 谁找到这个气球：我是一个孤独的孩子，没有朋友。 我放飞了这个气球，希望它能找到一个善良的人，给我回信，给我的生活带来一些快乐。 星期一今天午饭后，老师带我们去篮球场参加大气球队的放飞活动。 我一踏上柏油路还是会有点紧张，因为奶酪就在那里停了一年半。 原来的地方都有污点了。

It's been a long time since the Cheese terrorized our school, but I guess some people actually LIKED having something to be scared of. A few different times kids have tried to start the Cheese Touch back up, but the teachers are on the lookout because they don't want to have to go through all that nonsense again. One kid actually managed to sneak a piece of lunch meat onto the court during recess, but the Roast Beef Touch didn't have the same ring to it. YOU'VE GOT THE ROAST BEEF TOUCH! HA HA!

芝士恐吓我们学校已经很久了，但我想有些人确实喜欢有一些让人害怕的东西。 有几次，孩子们试图重新启动“奶酪之触”，但老师们都很警惕，因为他们不想再经历一遍那些无聊的事情。 有个孩子在中场休息的时候偷偷带了一块午餐肉到球场上，但“烤牛肉碰触”却没有这种感觉。 你有烤牛肉的味道！哈哈!

Still, someone's ALWAYS trying to start some new thing. This year it's all about the chairs in the auditorium. The chairs are red except ONE, which is yellow and has a busted leg. Apparently some kid peed on it during a really long assembly last month. And if you're not paying attention and sit in the yellow chair, you're pretty much finished for the rest of the school year. If you ask me, people should just be happy the Cheese Touch is behind us and stop trying to replace it with something else. Because the last thing you need in middle school is anything EXTRA to worry about.

然而，总有人试图开始一些新的事情。 今年的重点是礼堂里的椅子。 所有的椅子都是红色的，除了一把，它是黄色的，还有一条断了的腿。 显然上个月有个小孩在长时间的集会上尿在上面了。 如果你不注意，坐在黄色的椅子上，你这学年剩下的时间就差不多完了。 如果你问我，我认为人们应该为“奶酪之触”已经过时而感到高兴，不要再试图用其他东西来取代它。 因为你在中学最不需要担心的就是任何额外的事情。