3

I figured they were ready to start boarding the plane, but they were just letting us know there was another DELAY. And it went on like that for the rest of the day. Apparently, this storm was causing problems everywhere, and the plane we were supposed to fly out on was stuck at some OTHER airport. I was starting to worry that my electronic device was gonna run out of juice while I was on the plane, so I looked for a place to charge it. But I guess everyone else was thinking the same thing.

我以为他们已经准备好开始登机了，但他们只是告诉我们还有一次延误。 就这样持续了一整天。 显然，这场风暴在各地都造成了问题，我们本来要乘坐的飞机被困在了别的机场。 我开始担心我的电子设备在飞机上没电了，所以我找了个地方给它充电。 但我猜其他人也都这么想。

The only available outlet was in an awkward place. But when your battery is at 15%, you gotta do what you gotta do. Our plane finally arrived at the gate, and all the passengers who were on it got off. But if flying is supposed to be FUN, you'd never know it from the way these people looked.

唯一可用的出口是在一个尴尬的地方。 但当你的电量只剩15%时，你得做你该做的。 我们的飞机终于到了登机口，机上所有的乘客都下了飞机。 但如果飞行应该是有趣的，你永远不会知道从这些人的样子。

The gate agent got on the loudspeaker and said we'd be boarding shortly. Then she said our flight was". "overbooked," and they needed a few volunteers to give up their seats. She said that whoever volunteered FIRST would get three hundred dollars and a free night at the airport hotel. I didn't need to hear another word. I got to the desk before she'd even finished with her announcement and said I was her guy. Unfortunately, Mom wouldn't LET me volunteer, and nobody ELSE stepped up, either.

检票员通过扩音器说我们马上就要登机了。 然后她说我们的航班是。 “超额预定”他们需要一些志愿者让座。 她说谁先自愿去，谁就能得到三百美元，并在机场旅馆免费住一晚。 我不需要再听一个字了。 她还没宣布完，我就走到桌前说我是她的人。 不幸的是，妈妈不让我自告奋勇，其他人也没有站出来。

So the gate agent increased the offer to FIVE hundred dollars, and some woman snapped it up right away. I just hope she enjoys spending my money. After that, the agent made ANOTHER announcement. She said the flight crew on our plane had worked too many hours because of all the delays, and we had to wait for a REPLACEMENT crew to come in before we could take off. Now everyone at our gate was MAD, because what was supposed to be an early flight was turning into an OVERNIGHT one.

于是检票员把报价提高到500美元，有个女人马上就把票买走了。 我只希望她喜欢花我的钱。 在那之后，经纪人又宣布了另一个消息。 她说，由于航班延误，我们飞机上的机组人员工作了太长时间，我们不得不等到替补机组人员进来后才能起飞。 现在我们登机口的每个人都疯了，因为本来应该是早班的航班变成了通宵航班。

When the new flight crew finally arrived, they didn't look happy to be there. That's probably because they were expecting to spend Christmas Eve at HOME, so I knew EXACTLY how they felt. After the crew got on board, they started letting passengers on the plane. My family got to go first, because they let people with young kids board before anyone else. But the gate agent stopped me at the door.

当新的机组人员终于到达时，他们看起来并不高兴。 这可能是因为他们打算在家里度过平安夜，所以我完全了解他们的感受。 机组人员登机后，他们开始让乘客上飞机。 我的家人要先上，因为他们让带小孩的人先上。 但是检票员在门口拦住了我。

She said my carry-on bag was too big to fit in the overhead bin, so it had to go down below with the rest of the luggage. That was fine with ME, because I didn't want to deal with my bag on the plane anyway. When I got on board, I was pretty impressed. The seats were a LOT bigger than I expected, and they were covered in real leather. I asked Mom what row we were in, but she said we needed to keep moving. She said this was the first- class section, and our seats were an CONOMY.

她说我的随身行李太大了，放不下头顶的行李架，所以必须和其他行李放在下面。 这对我来说很好，因为我不想在飞机上处理我的包。 当我加入的时候，我印象非常深刻。 座位比我想象的要大得多，而且是真皮的。 我问妈妈我们在几排，但她说我们得继续往前走。 她说这是头等舱，我们的座位是经济舱。