12 December

12 December We just ignored Dr. Carbles and went right on celebrating all the weird holidays in December. Did you know that December 3 is International Baboon Day? That was a new one on me. "Let's celebrate!" we all shouted. So the whole school dressed up like baboons. Even the teachers.

12月12日我们只是忽略了Dr。 然后继续庆祝十二月里所有奇怪的节日。 你知道12月3日是国际狒狒日吗？ 这对我来说是第一次。“让我们庆祝一下吧！” 所以整个学校都打扮成狒狒的样子。 甚至是老师。

December 4 is National Sock Day and Wear Brown Shoes Day. December 6 is Put on Your Own Shoes Day and National Microwave Oven Day. December 8 is Pretend to Be a Time Traveler Day. December 15 is National Cat Herders Day. December 16 is National Chocolate-Covered Anything Day. December 18 is National Wear a Plunger on Your Head Day and Answer the Phone Like Buddy the Elf Day. Yes, there really is a National Wear a Plunger on Your Head Day! We celebrated all those weird holidays, and it was so much fun. But there's another important event that takes place in our town every year just before Christmas—the annual Board of Education meeting. What a snoozefest, right? A bunch of grownups sitting around the all-porpoise room talking about school stuff. Ugh. I'm bored of education. But it wasn't going to be a snoozefest this year because the Board of Ed was going to vote on Dr. Carbles's proposal to cancel all school holidays... permanently.

12月4日是国家袜子日和穿棕色鞋子日。 12月6日是“穿鞋日”和“全国微波炉日”。 12月8日是假装时间旅行者日。 12月15日是国际猫牧人日。 12月16日是全国巧克力日。 12月18日是全国“头戴活塞日”和“像精灵巴迪一样接电话日”。 是的，真的有一个全国头戴活塞日！我们庆祝了所有那些奇怪的节日，非常有趣。 但是，每年圣诞节前，我们镇上还有另一件重要的事情——每年的教育委员会会议。 真是个懒虫，对吧？一群成年人围坐在海豚教室里谈论学校的事情。 啊。我厌倦了教育。 但今年不会是一件无聊的事，因为教育局要投票给。 卡波斯取消所有学校假期的提议…… 永久。

I would never go to a Board of Education meeting. But Mrs. Roopy said that all of us—kids, teachers, and parents—should go to the meeting and make our voices heard. So we did. We even made signs: WE WANT HOLIDAYS! DR. CARBLES IS LOSING HIS MARBLES! When we got to the all-porpoise room for the meeting, the twelve members of the Board of Education were on the stage sitting at a table with Dr. Carbles in the middle. It looked like that famous painting The Last Supper. "WE WANT HOLIDAYS!" we started chanting. "WE WANT HOLIDAYS!" "Quiet!" barked Dr. Carbles. "I call this annual meeting of the Board of Education to order." He banged a big wooden hammer on the table. Grown-ups always bang a big wooden hammer on a table during meetings. Nobody knows why. "Today is a great day," Dr. Carbles began. "Today we will vote to get rid of all holidays at Ella Mentry School forever." "BOOOOOOOOOOO!" "Shut up!" barked Dr. Carbles. "Before we vote, the law says we have to allow ordinary

我绝不会去参加教育委员会的会议。 但鲁比太太说，我们所有人——孩子、老师和家长——都应该去参加会议，让我们的声音被听到。 于是我们就这么做了。我们甚至还做了标语：我们要假期！博士。 卡伯斯疯了！当我们来到全是海豚的会议室开会时，教育委员会的12名成员正站在讲台上，与布朗博士坐在一张桌子旁。 鹅卵石在中间。看起来很像那幅名画《最后的晚餐》。 “我们要假期！”我们开始高呼。 “我们要假期！”“安静！” Carbles。“我宣布教育委员会年会正式开始。” 他用一把大木锤敲桌子。 大人们开会时总是用大木锤敲桌子。 没人知道为什么。“今天真是美好的一天。” Carbles开始了。“今天我们将投票决定永远取消艾拉门特里学校的所有假期。” “BOOOOOOOOOOO !”“闭嘴！” Carbles。“在我们投票之前，法律规定我们必须允许普通选民投票

citizens to make comments. So, if nobody has a comment—" "I have a comment!" shouted a lady in the back of the room. "What is it?" Dr. Carbles said wearily. The lady went up to the microphone in the middle of the all-porpoise room. "The other day, my daughter brought home a book from the school library," she said. "It was called The Fuzzy Bunny." "The school library is called the fuzzy bunny?" somebody asked. "No, the book is called The Fuzzy Bunny," the lady said. Mrs. Roopy stood up. "That's one of our most popular books," she said. "Do you have a problem with it?"

市民发表意见。 所以，如果没有人有意见——”“我有意见！”房间后面的一位女士喊道。 “什么事？”卡伯斯医生疲倦地说。 这位女士走到全是海豚的房间中央的麦克风前。 “有一天，我女儿从学校图书馆带了一本书回家，”她说。 “名字叫《毛茸茸的兔子》。” “学校图书馆叫毛茸茸的兔子？”有人问。 “不，这本书叫《毛茸茸的兔子》，”女士说。 鲁比太太站了起来。“那是我们最受欢迎的书之一，”她说。 “你有什么问题吗？”

"Yes," the lady said. "It contains the word but." "Do you mean 'but' with one T or 'butt' with two Ts?" a board member asked. "One T," the lady said. "However, it sounds just like the word with two Ts! I don't want my kids reading that book and going around saying the B word. I don't think any child should be reading a book with that word in it." "I agree," said Dr. Carbles. "The lady makes a good point." "The B word?" asked Mrs. Roopy. "But... but... but—" "Do you see what I mean?" the lady said. "Disgusting!" "That's ridiculous!" shouted Mrs. Roopy. "Do you have any other problems with The Fuzzy Bunny?" "Yes," the lady said. "It has violence in it." "WHAT?!" said Mrs. Roopy. "There's no violence in The Fuzzy Bunny." "Oh no?" the lady said as she held up the book. "What do you call this?" "That's a picture of bunnies playing violins!" said Mrs. Roopy.

“是的，”女士说。“里面有‘但是’这个词。” “你的意思是‘but’加一个T还是‘butt’加两个T ?”一位董事会成员问道。 “一个T，”女士说。然而，它听起来就像有两个t的单词！我不希望我的孩子们在读那本书的时候到处说脏话。 我认为任何孩子都不应该读一本有这个词的书。” “我同意，”卡伯斯博士说。 “这位女士说得很对。” “B字？”鲁比太太问。 “但是……但是…“你明白我的意思吗？”老太太说。 “恶心!”“这太荒唐了！”鲁比太太喊道。 “你对绒毛兔还有什么问题吗？”“是的，”女士说。 “里面有暴力。”“什么？！”鲁比太太说。 “《毛茸茸的兔子》里没有暴力。” “哦，不？”女士举起书说。 “这叫什么？”“那是一幅兔子拉小提琴的画！”鲁比太太说。

"'Violins' sounds a lot like 'violence' to me!" the lady said. "Is this what we want to teach our children? I say we should ban it." "I totally agree," said Dr. Carbles. "Ma'am, we're going remove that book from the school library. Thank you for bringing it to our attention. Okay, enough public comments. It's time to vote on my proposal to end school holidays at Ella Mentry School permanently." "WE WANT HOLIDAYS!" we started chanting. "WE WANT HOLIDAYS!" Dr. Carbles banged his wooden hammer on the table. "Stop that annoying chanting, or we will shut down Ella Mentry School today and turn it into a toxic waste dump. Let's vote." "No!" shouted Mrs. Roopy. "Our students demand to be heard!" "I've had enough of your silly holidays," barked Dr. Carbles. "World Toilet Day. International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Those are fake holidays!" Mrs. Roopy got up and went over to the microphone.

“对我来说，‘小提琴’听起来很像‘暴力’！”女士说。 “这就是我们想教给孩子的吗？” 我认为我们应该禁止它。”“我完全同意。” Carbles。“老师，我们要把那本书从学校图书馆移走。 谢谢你提醒我们这件事。 好了，公众评论够多了。 是时候对我的提议进行投票了，我提议永久结束艾拉门特里学校的假期。” “我们要假期！”我们开始高呼。 “我们要假期！”卡伯斯医生用他的木锤敲着桌子。 “别再喊那些烦人的口号了，否则我们今天就关闭艾拉门特里学校，把它变成一个有毒的垃圾场。 让我们投票。”“不！”鲁比太太喊道。 “我们的学生要求被倾听！”“我受够了你们愚蠢的假期。” Carbles。“世界厕所日。 国际海盗讲话日。 那些都是假假期！”鲁比太太站起来，走到麦克风前。