5 Getting Ready for the Big Day

Chapter 5 Getting Ready for the Big Day It was the last week of school, so we hardly learned anything. That was fine with me, because learning stuff is boring. But it was hard to concentrate. I kept thinking how in a few days we would be off for the summer. Mrs. Daisy wasn't concentrating either. She had a new hobby—knitting! She pretty much sat in the back of the room knitting while Ryan's mom helped us get ready for graduation. Sometimes Andrea's mom came in, too. But she spent most of the time rolling her eyes. Boy, she sure rolls her eyes a lot. Eye rolling must run in Andrea's family.

这是学校的最后一周，所以我们几乎什么也没学到。 这对我来说很好，因为学习东西很无聊。 但是很难集中注意力。 我一直在想，再过几天我们就可以过暑假了。 黛西太太也心不在焉。 她有了一个新的爱好——编织！瑞恩的妈妈帮我们准备毕业典礼的时候她就坐在教室后面织毛衣。 有时安德里亚的妈妈也会进来。 但她大部分时间都在翻白眼。 天啊，她还真会翻白眼。 翻白眼肯定是安德里亚家族的遗传。

We had to do all kinds of stuff to get ready for graduation. Did you know that when you graduate, you have to wear a weird cap on your head that's shaped like a square? Nobody knows why. Mrs. Dole asked our art teacher, Ms. Hannah, to help us make the caps out of construction paper and cardboard. Ms. Hannah also helped us make graduation banners and signs to decorate the hallway. On Thursday Mrs. Dole had us march from the gym to the playground behind the

我们必须做各种各样的事情来准备毕业。 你知道吗，当你毕业的时候，你必须在头上戴一顶奇怪的方形帽子。 没人知道为什么。多尔夫人问我们的美术老师。 汉娜，帮我们用建筑纸和硬纸板做帽子。 汉娜老师还帮我们制作了毕业横幅和标语来装饰走廊。 星期四，多尔太太让我们从体育馆走到学校后面的操场

school so we would learn how to make a grand entrance for our parents. She made us practice over and over again until we got it right. Did you ever hear of the graduation song? It's this song they always play at graduations. Mrs. Dole asked our music teacher, Mr. Loring, to play that song on an accordion while we marched around the playground. He told us the real name of the song is "Pomp and Circumstance," but nobody knows why. The song doesn't have words. It goes like this: Dum, dum-dum-dum, dum dum, Dum, dum-dum-dum, dum. Dum, dum-dum, dum-dum-dum,

这样我们就能学会如何隆重地迎接父母。 她让我们一遍又一遍地练习，直到我们做对为止。 你听说过毕业歌吗？ 毕业典礼上总放这首歌。 多尔夫人请我们的音乐老师洛林先生在我们绕着操场走的时候用手风琴演奏这首歌。 他告诉我们这首歌的真名是《威风凛凛》，但没人知道为什么。 这首歌没有歌词。 它是这样的：哒哒，哒哒，哒哒，哒哒，哒哒，哒哒。 哒哒哒，哒哒哒，哒哒哒，

Dum, dum-dum-dum-dum. It's a dumb song, if you ask me. Songs are supposed to have words. So I made up words to the graduation song. They go like this: I'm gra-ad-u-a-ting, There's a square on my head. Why is there a square on my head? Be-cause I'm grad-u-a-ting. You repeat that over and over again. While we were marching around the playground, I taught the words to everybody. Soon the whole class was singing. It was cool. Then Mrs. Dole told us to knock it off. Practicing for graduation all morning was boring. I couldn't wait for lunch.

喑哑,dum-dum-dum-dum。要我说，这首歌太蠢了。 歌曲应该是有歌词的。 所以我给毕业歌编了词。 它们是这样的：I'm gra-ad-u-a-ting，我头上有个正方形。 为什么我的头上有个正方形？ 因为我要毕业了。 你一遍又一遍地重复。 当我们在操场上游行时，我教每个人这些词。 很快全班都开始唱歌了。 很酷。然后多尔太太叫我们别吵了。 整个上午的毕业练习都很无聊。 我等不及吃午饭了。

Finally, after a million hundred hours, Mrs. Dole said it was time to go to the vomitorium to eat. I sat at a table with the guys. Michael tried to juggle his Tater Tots. Neil the nude kid put cookies over his eyes. Ryan let us pour salt on his tongue. Andrea and her annoying friends sat at the next table talking about girly stuff, like what color dresses their dolls like to wear.

最后，过了一百万个小时，多尔太太说该去食堂吃饭了。 我和他们坐在一张桌子旁。 迈克尔试着玩他的土豆。 裸体小子尼尔用饼干蒙住眼睛。 瑞安让我们往他舌头上撒盐。 安德里亚和她那些讨厌的朋友们坐在邻桌谈论女孩子的事情，比如她们的娃娃喜欢穿什么颜色的衣服。

"What are you guys doing over the summer?" asked Ryan. "I'm going to sleepaway camp," said Neil. "I'm going to football camp," said Michael. "I'm going to cooking camp," said Ryan. "My family is going to rent a house at the beach," I said. I didn't ask Andrea what she would be doing over the summer. She was probably going to learn her multiplication tables so she would be smarter than everybody in third grade. Andrea was sitting there all quiet. I figured she was still mad because her mom lost the PTA election. "Are you still mad because your mom lost the PTA election?" I asked her.

“你们这个夏天要做什么？”瑞恩问。 “我要去露营，”尼尔说。 “我要去足球夏令营，”迈克尔说。 “我要去烹饪营，”瑞恩说。 “我们家打算在海边租一间房子，”我说。 我没有问安德里亚这个夏天要做什么。 她可能要学习乘法表，这样她就会比三年级的每个人都聪明。 安德里亚静静地坐在那里。 我以为她还在为她妈妈在家长教师协会选举中失利而生气。 “你还在为你妈妈在家长会选举中失败而生气吗？”我问她。