8. The Gentleman

Chapter 8 The Gentleman I was in a totally guyless room. A boy-free zone. A sea of pink. "Why didn't you tell me there aren't any boys in this class?" I whispered to Emma. Emma looked surprised. "Does it matter?" "Yes, it matters!" I whispered back. I wasn't even exactly sure why it mattered.

我在一个完全没有男人的房间里。 男孩禁区。一片粉红色的海洋。 “你为什么不告诉我这个班没有男生?”我低声对艾玛说。 艾玛看起来很惊讶。“这有关系吗?”“是的，这很重要!”我小声回答。 我甚至不确定这有什么重要的。

Except that it meant maybe Max had been right, after all. Maybe tap dancing was For Girls Only. That meant kids at school would tease me. Bully-breath Wyatt already had a long list of bully nicknames for me. I did not need to have him add another one. "Let's start with some heel-toes," Miss Trixie said. I raised my hand. "Miss Trixie?" "Yes, dear?" "I… uh…" I swallowed. "I'm going to sit on the bench for a minute. There's a stone in my shoe, I think." "By all means!" she said.

但这也意味着麦克斯可能是对的。 也许踢踏舞是女生的专属。 这意味着学校里的孩子会取笑我。 恶霸怀亚特已经给我准备了一长串恶霸绰号了。 我不需要他再加一个。 “我们先从高跟鞋开始吧，”特里克茜小姐说。 我举起了手。“特里克茜小姐?”“是的,亲爱的?”“我……嗯……”我咽了口气。 “我要在板凳上坐一会儿。 我想我的鞋里有块石头。” “当然可以!”她说。

I sat down on a bench and yanked off one of my tap shoes. Tinkly music filled the room. "Let's start with our dance called 'The Mice and the Elephants'!" said Miss Trixie. The girls began to tap their toes. "Twinkle toes! Twinkle toes!" Miss Trixie said. "Tip-tap! Tip-tap!" While she twinkled, Emma looked over her shoulder at me. "Are you okay?" she asked. I nodded. But I wasn't okay. I was the only boy in a gigantic roomful of girls. I pretended to look for a rock in my shoe.

我在长凳上坐下，猛地脱下一只踢踏舞鞋。 房间里充满了欢快的音乐。 “让我们从叫做‘老鼠和大象’的舞蹈开始吧!”特里克茜小姐说。 女孩们开始轻敲脚趾。 “闪烁的脚趾!闪烁的脚趾!”特里克茜小姐说。 “嘀嗒!嘀嗒!”艾玛眨眨眼，扭头看着我。 “你还好吗?”她问。 我点了点头。但我并不好。 我是一大屋子女孩中唯一的男孩。 我假装在鞋里找石头。

"Let's heel-toe in a circle, lovely little mice!" Miss Trixie called. Everyone tiptoed. All those clicks made a wonderful sound. The music changed. It got slow and loud and thumpy. "Time for the elephants!" called Miss Trixie. "Clomp and stomp like glorious pachyderms!" I watched Emma stamp her tap shoes. She swung her arms together like a long trunk. If pachyderm meant "elephant" in normal language, then Emma was being a great one. Slowly I put my tap shoe back on. I tried out a few clomps while I sat on the bench. It was hard not to clomp, with all that thump, thump, thumping elephant music.

“让我们围成一个圈，可爱的小老鼠们!”特里克茜小姐打来电话。 每个人都小心翼翼。所有这些咔哒声发出了美妙的声音。 音乐变了。它变得缓慢，响亮，砰砰作响。 “该看大象了!”特里克茜小姐喊道。 “像光荣的厚皮动物一样咚咚地跺脚!”我看着艾玛踩她的踢踏舞鞋。 她像长鼻子一样挥动着双臂。 如果pachyderm在正常语言中的意思是“大象”，那么艾玛就是一个伟大的人。 我慢慢地把踢踏舞鞋穿上。 我坐在长凳上，试着做了几个仰卧起坐。 很难不跺脚，伴随着那咚咚咚咚的大象音乐。

It felt good to make so much noise and not even get yelled at. "Roscoe? Will you be joining us today?" Miss Trixie called. I didn't answer right away. But finally I said, "I guess a little clomping couldn't hurt." I ran over and joined the circle of girls. I tried out some mouse tiptoes. "Excellent, Mr. Riley!" said Miss Trixie. "Now try the pachyderm part!" I clomped and swung and tiptoed and twinkled. "A glorious job!" said Miss Trixie. "And it was nice to have the addition of our fine new gentleman tapper!" My face got a little hot again.

制造这么大的噪音，甚至没有被吼的感觉真好。 “左轮枪?你今天会来吗?”特里克茜小姐打来电话。 我没有马上回答。 但最后我说:“我想跺跺脚不会有什么坏处。” 我跑过去加入了女孩的圈子。 我试了一些老鼠脚尖。 “太好了，莱利先生!”特里茜小姐说。 “现在试试厚皮动物那部分!”我蹦蹦跳跳，摇摇摆摆，踮起脚尖，闪闪发光。 “干得好!”翠茜小姐说。 “我们又多了一位漂亮的泰珀先生，真是太好了!”我的脸又有点热了。

But I didn't mind so much. We learned more steps during the rest of the class.

但我并不那么介意。 在这节课剩下的时间里，我们学了更多的舞步。