10. Meet George

CHAPTER 10 MEET GEORGE This is George Beard. George is five-and-three-quarters years old. He and his parents had just moved from Michigan into the house next door to Harold and his family. George was what adults like to call a "precocious" child. His mother had taught him to read and write when he was four years old, and he currently scored higher on tests than most children twice his age.

第十章认识乔治这是乔治·比尔德。 乔治五岁又四分之三了。 他和父母刚从密歇根搬到哈罗德一家的隔壁。 乔治是那种大人喜欢称之为“早熟”的孩子。 他的母亲在他四岁时就教他读书写字，现在他的考试成绩比大多数比他大一倍的孩子都要高。

George's former teachers had suggested that he skip ahead to the third grade, but his parents decided it would be better if George stayed in a classroom with kids his own age. To this day, George's parents were still not sure if they had made the right decision. On the one hand, George had developed good social skills and had been well liked by his classmates. That was good. On the other hand, George was bored in class and often got into mischief. That was bad.

乔治以前的老师建议他跳到三年级，但他的父母认为乔治最好还是和同龄的孩子呆在一个教室里。 直到今天，乔治的父母仍然不确定他们的决定是否正确。 一方面，乔治有很好的社交技巧，同学们都很喜欢他。 那很好。另一方面，乔治在课堂上很无聊，经常调皮捣蛋。 这很糟糕。

George had never really liked school very much. He preferred riding his skateboard, watching monster movies, and reading comics and graphic novels. George liked writing stories, too. He had filled up more than twenty spiral notebooks with marvelously silly adventure stories that he had written all by himself. Many of George's stories had gotten him into trouble when he read them out loud at his old school. His classmates loved them, but his teachers thought they were rude, violent, and totally inappropriate.

乔治从来没有真正喜欢过学校。 他喜欢玩滑板，看怪物电影，看漫画和图画小说。 乔治也喜欢写故事。 他已经在二十多本螺旋笔记本上写满了他自己写的奇谈怪谈的冒险故事。 乔治的许多故事在他以前的学校里大声朗读时都给他带来了麻烦。 他的同学都很喜欢他们，但他的老师认为他们粗鲁、暴力，而且完全不合适。

"I hope things will be better here in Ohio," said George's mother, as she helped him get ready for his very first day of classes at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School. "Your father and I bought you this nice tie to wear at school today." "A TIE?" cried George. "Kids don't wear ties!" "Well, you're going to wear one," said George's mother. "I want you to make a good first impression!" "Aw, come on, Mom!" said George. "Ties are for nerds!" "Oh, for heaven's sake!" said George's mom. "Your father wears a tie. Is he a nerd?" "Umm... kind of," said George. "Don't be ridiculous!" said George's mom. "You're wearing a tie, and that's FINAL!" "Rats!" said George.

“我希望在俄亥俄州的情况会好起来，”乔治的母亲在帮他准备杰罗姆·霍维茨小学第一天的课程时说。 “你爸爸和我给你买了这条漂亮的领带，让你今天在学校戴着。” “领带？”乔治叫道。“孩子不打领带！”“好吧，你要戴一个，”乔治的妈妈说。 “我想让你给人留下良好的第一印象！”“哦，别这样，妈妈！”乔治说。 “领带是书呆子才打的！”“哦，看在上帝的份上！”乔治的妈妈说。 “你爸爸打领带。他是个书呆子吗？”“嗯… 差不多吧。”乔治说。“别傻了！”乔治的妈妈说。 “你打了领带，这是最后决定！”“老鼠！”乔治说。

George put his backpack on and reluctantly hugged his mom at the door. (He was still a little upset about the whole "tie" thing.) "Have a good first day at school, dear," said George's mom. "Mm-hmmm," said George. George grabbed his skateboard from the bushes by the driveway and started off toward school. It was about five blocks away, and the sidewalks were mostly smooth with hardly any pebbles. Good for skateboarding.

乔治背上背包，不情愿地在门口拥抱了妈妈。 （他仍然对“领带”这件事有点不高兴。）“祝你第一天上学愉快，亲爱的，”乔治的妈妈说。 “嗯……嗯……”乔治说。乔治从车道旁的灌木丛中抓起滑板，向学校走去。 大约有五个街区远，人行道基本上是平坦的，几乎没有鹅卵石。 很适合玩滑板。

The ride to school had been very pleasant, actually, until George reached the corner of Dogwood Drive and Rosita Lane. There was some kind of commotion going on in front of the gas station across the street, and George watched it intently as he waited for the traffic light to change. He saw the gas station guy shove a yellow-haired kid to the ground. Then he saw some mean-looking kids yank the boy up and steal his money. This was not good. Finally, the light changed, and George walked across the street toward the gas station. He stood by the display sign while the attendant laughed at the yellow-haired kid and told him he needed to learn to stick up for himself. George was furious.

事实上，上学的路上一直很愉快，直到乔治走到山茱萸路和罗西塔巷的拐角处。 街对面的加油站前面发生了一些骚乱，乔治一边等着红绿灯，一边专心地看着。 他看见加油站的人把一个黄头发的孩子推倒在地。 然后，他看到一些看起来很坏的孩子把男孩拉起来，偷走了他的钱。 这并不好。最后，绿灯变了，乔治穿过马路朝加油站走去。 他站在展示牌旁边，而服务员嘲笑这个黄头发的孩子，告诉他要学会维护自己。 乔治气坏了。