Chapter 10

Chapter ten On Monday at two o'clock, all the first-and second-graders at PS 87 were sitting in the auditorium waiting for the We Love Nature assembly to begin. Because we were the big kids, we got to sit in actual chairs. The first- graders had to sit on the floor in front of us. All the parents were sitting in the rest of the seats. All the parents, that is, except my dad. He had told me that morning that he wasn't going to be able to come to the assembly because of an important business meeting. It was a long story about his computer crashing, most of which I didn't understand because it involved words like "hard drive," "double right

第十一章星期一下午两点，87小学一年级和二年级的学生都坐在礼堂里，等待“我们热爱自然”的集会开始。 因为我们是大孩子，我们要坐在真正的椅子上。 一年级的学生必须坐在我们前面的地板上。 所有的家长都坐在其他座位上。 所有的父母，除了我爸爸。 那天早上他告诉我，因为有一个重要的商务会议，他不能来参加集会了。 关于他的电脑崩溃，这是一个很长的故事，大部分我都不明白，因为它涉及到“硬盘驱动器”，“双右”等词

click," and "lost documents." The part I did understand, and I wished I didn't, was that he wasn't going to be there. Principal Love got the assembly started by walking up to the microphone and clearing his throat. He rubbed the mole on his cheek, which looks like the Statue of Liberty without the torch. Then he began. "Welcome, boys and girls, and parents of PS 87," he said. It sounded like he had a little frog in his throat. He could have used one more throat clearing before he spoke. "Today we are celebrating nature," he said. "As we all know, nature is a natural part of our natural world, which is the world we naturally live in."

点击，”和“丢失的文件”。 我明白的部分是，他不会在那里，我希望自己不明白。 洛夫校长走到麦克风前，清了清嗓子，开始了集会。 他揉了揉脸颊上的痣，看起来就像没有火炬的自由女神像。 然后他开始说。他说：“欢迎同学们，还有PS 87的家长们。” 听起来他喉咙里好像有只小青蛙。 他本可以在说话前再清一次嗓子的。 “今天我们庆祝大自然，”他说。 “我们都知道，大自然是我们自然世界的一个自然组成部分，这是我们自然生活的世界。”

"He's not making any sense," Frankie whispered in my ear. "He never does," Ashley whispered in the other ear. "But it's a lot of fun to watch the mole bounce up and down on his cheek," I said. "It looks like it's doing the hula." We all burst out laughing but stopped immediately when Principal Love shot us that look that says "no laughing allowed." Then he introduced our teacher, Ms. Flowers, who told the parents about our unit on writing nature poems. The parents all applauded when they heard we were going to read our poems out loud to them. "Boys and girls," she said, "make sure you have your poem in your hand, ready to read."

“他在胡言乱语，”弗兰基在我耳边低语。 “他从来不知道，"艾希礼在另一只耳朵悄悄说。 “但是看着那颗痣在他脸颊上跳来跳去很有趣，”我说。 “它看起来像是在跳草裙舞。” 我们都笑了起来，但当洛夫校长给我们一个“不许笑”的表情时，我们立即停止了笑。 然后他介绍了我们的老师。 花，谁告诉父母我们的单位写自然诗。 当父母听到我们要为他们大声朗读我们的诗时，他们都鼓掌了。 “孩子们，”她说，“一定要把你的诗拿在手里，准备好读。”

"Uh-oh," I said, realizing that I was the only one not holding my poem in my hand. "Zip, tell me you didn't..," Frankie said. "Lose it," Ashley added. "It's got to be here somewhere," I said, grabbing my backpack. While the first students got up onstage to read their poems, I unzipped every compartment of my backpack in a wild search for my poem. Some of them twice. I found old gummy bears, pencils with no points, and erasers shaped like bananas. But no poem. I must have forgotten to put it in. I really don't like my brain, I thought. It never remembers what I need it to remember.

“哦哦，”我说，意识到我是唯一一个没有把诗拿在手里的人。 “Zip，告诉我你没有……”弗兰基说。 “算了吧，"艾希礼又说。“它一定在这里的某个地方，”我说，抓起我的背包。 当第一批学生上台朗诵他们的诗时，我打开背包的每一个隔间的拉链，疯狂地寻找我的诗。 有些人说了两次。我找到了旧的小熊软糖、没有尖的铅笔和香蕉形状的橡皮擦。 但没有诗。我一定是忘了放进去了。 我真的不喜欢我的大脑，我想。 它从来不记得我需要它记住的东西。

"Hank Zipzer," I heard Ms. Flowers saying. "Would you please come to the stage and let us all hear your poem?" "I don't have it," I whispered to Frankie. "Then you have to do it from memory," he said. "Can you do that?" Ashley asked. "I guess I'm going to find out real quick." I stood up slowly, trying to go over the lines in my head. As I crawled over the other kids to get to the aisle, Nick McKelty stuck his foot out to trip me. He is the biggest, thickest, meanest kid in all of second grade. His idea of a big laugh is tripping people and watching them fall down.

“汉克·齐泽尔。” 花说。“你能上台来，让我们都听听你的诗吗？”“我没有，”我低声对弗兰基说。 “那你就只能凭记忆来做了，”他说。 “你能做到吗？”阿什利问道。 “我想我很快就会知道了。” 我慢慢地站起来，努力在脑子里回想台词。 当我从其他孩子身上爬过去走向过道时，尼克·麦凯尔蒂伸出一只脚要绊倒我。 他是二年级最大，最胖，最坏的孩子。 他所谓的大笑就是把人绊倒，然后看着他们摔倒。

"Don't even bother going up there, Zipper Teeth," he said. "Your poem is going to stink up the place." Usually I would have had a snappy comeback for him. But I wasn't feeling all that confident. I wasn't sure I had any poem—stinky or not. I got to the stage and stood in front of the microphone. Wow, there were a lot of people out there in the auditorium. All the moms and dads were waving and trying to get their kid's

“根本不用去那儿，拉链牙，”他说。 “你的诗会把这地方弄得臭烘烘的。” 通常我会给他一个有力的回击。 但我并没有那么自信。 我不确定我是否有诗臭味。 我走上舞台，站在麦克风前。 哇，礼堂里好多人啊。 所有的妈妈和爸爸都在挥手，想给他们的孩子买一个