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But Coach Patel started by going over everything we were doing wrong, and all the adjustments we needed to make in the second half if we wanted to win. Then he told us a story about this group of Scottish warriors from a long time ago. He said they were surrounded by their enemies and were totally outnumbered, but they won the battle by sticking together and fighting with everything they had. 140

可是帕特尔教练一开始就点出了我们所有做错的地方，还说如果我们想赢，下半场就得做出所有调整 接着他给我们讲了个很久很久以前一群苏格兰勇士的故事 他说那群勇士被敌人团团围住，人数也远逊于对手，但他们靠着团结一心、拼尽全力打赢了这场仗 140

He said, if we followed the game plan, maybe WE could get a victory, too. And, I have to admit, it was a pretty good speech, because by the time we left that restroom we were ready to go to WAR. There were still a few minutes to go before the second half started, so everyone used the chance to rehydrate. The Woodleys were responsible for supplying the drinks for the first game, so we all helped ourselves to bottles of water from the cooler. 141

他说，如果我们严格遵照战术，说不定我们也能拿下胜利 不得不承认，这番演讲太鼓舞人心了，我们走出休息室的时候，个个都准备好拼尽全力了 离下半场开场还有几分钟，所有人都趁这个机会补水 第一场比赛的饮品由伍德雷家负责提供，所以我们都自己从保温箱里拿瓶装水喝 141

But I guess the Woodleys never cleaned out their cooler from the summer holidays, because there were some LEFTOVERS in there, too. There were even a half-filled bottle of ketchup and a full bottle of mustard in the cooler, but Yusef and Ruby weren't too choosy about their refreshments. I guess they figured they'd take every bit of fuel they could GET. 142

不过我猜伍德雷家暑假用完保温箱后根本没清理，所以里面还留了不少剩东西 保温箱里甚至还有半瓶番茄酱和一整瓶芥末，可优素福和鲁比根本不挑饮品 我想他们觉得能多补充一点能量就多补充一点 142

Coach kept Yusef in for the whole first half, and he was so sweaty that he had to wring out his jersey. But I wished he hadn't wrung it out into the COOLER, because there were still some bottles of water in there. Like I said, everyone was fired up after that speech by Coach Patel. But I guess those guys in Scotland had something we DIDN'T, because the second half of the game started off a lot like the FIRST. 143

优素福整个上半场都在场上，汗多到不得不拧球衣 可我真希望他别把汗拧进保温箱啊，里面还放着好几瓶水呢 就像我之前说的，帕特尔教练演讲完之后，所有人都干劲十足 不过我猜那些苏格兰勇士有我们没有的东西，因为下半场开场的局势和上半场几乎一模一样 143

Things got so out of control in the fourth quarter that Coach Patel put me and the rest of the bench in. But, if he was hoping we'd give our team a spark and turn things round, he must've been pretty disappointed. To be honest, I can't even remember what the final score was. All I remember was that on the ride home Mom said our coach should've run different plays and that I should've got more playing time. The only thing Dad said was that if this was GOLF we would've won, because we had the lowest score. I guess they were both trying to make me feel better, but it didn't really work. 144

第四节的时候局势彻底失控，帕特尔教练把我和其他替补都换上场 不过，如果他指望我们能给球队带来转机、扭转局势，那他肯定非常失望 说实话，我连最终比分都记不清了 我只记得回家路上，妈妈说教练本应该安排不一样的战术，我也本该获得更多上场时间 爸爸只说了一句话，如果这是高尔夫，我们就赢了，因为我们得分最低 我知道他们俩都想让我好受点，但其实没什么用 144

Sunday Mom's always saying how sport brings people together, but I think she might actually be wrong about that. Because in my experience sport just tears us APART. The people in my town don't like the surrounding towns because they always beat us in sports. But the town we hate the most is Slacksville, because those guys always DESTROY us. It's been going on like this since before I was born. And whenever an old-timer in my town mentions Slacksville they always spit. 145

每逢周日妈妈总说体育运动能把人们凝聚在一起，但我觉得她其实说错了 因为以我的经历来看，体育运动只会把我们拆得四分五裂 我们镇的人不喜欢周边乡镇，因为他们比赛总能赢我们 但我们最恨的就是斯莱克斯维尔，因为那帮家伙每次都把我们打得惨败 这种情况从我出生前就一直存在了 我们镇上的老人一提到斯莱克斯维尔，总要吐口唾沫 145