5 And the Winner Is

5 And the Winner Is... We spent the next few weeks reading poems and learning about all famous poets like Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Edgar Allan Poe, William Wordsworth, William Blake, and Maya Angelou. What a snoozefest.

5 .获胜者是……在接下来的几个星期里，我们读诗，了解所有著名的诗人，比如莎士比亚、艾米莉·狄金森、罗伯特·弗罗斯特、埃德加·爱伦·坡、威廉·华兹华斯、威廉·布莱克和玛雅·安杰洛。 真是个懒虫。

Meanwhile, I spent every recess practicing my rapping skills on my friends. I wanted to get really good, so I could beat Andrea and win the lifetime supply of Zip-Zaps. We were listening to a poem by that Blake guy when an announcement came over the loudspeaker. "Andrea Young, please report to the allporpoise room."* "Oooooh!" everybody ooooohed. "Andrea is in trouble!" said Ryan. I knew that Andrea wasn't in trouble. Andrea is never in trouble. She never does anything wrong because she's afraid that if she ever did anything wrong, she wouldn't get into Harvard someday. What is her problem? Andrea skipped out of the room, and Miss Banks continued reading the dumb poem by that Blake guy. A few minutes later, another announcement came over the loudspeaker. "All classes please report to the all-porpoise room for a surprise assembly." Uh-oh. Surprise assemblies are scary. You never know if they're going to be a good surprise (school is canceled forever) or a bad surprise (the

与此同时，我利用每一个休息时间在我的朋友身上练习我的说唱技巧。 我想打得很好，这样我就能打败安德里亚赢得终身供应的Zip-Zaps。 我们正在听那个叫布莱克的人写的一首诗，这时喇叭里传来了广播。 “安德里亚·杨，请到海豚室报到。”“哦哦！”每个人都发出哦哦的声音。 “安德里亚有麻烦了！”瑞恩说。 我知道安德里亚没有麻烦。 安德里亚从不惹麻烦。 她从不做错事，因为她害怕如果她做错了什么，有一天她就进不了哈佛。 她有什么问题？安德烈跳出了房间，班克斯小姐继续念那个叫布莱克的家伙写的那首愚蠢的诗。 几分钟后，扩音器里又传来了一则通告。 “所有班级请到海豚室报到，准备一个突击集会。” 哦。惊喜集会是可怕的。 你永远不知道他们会是一个好惊喜（学校永远停课了）还是一个坏惊喜（学校永远停课了）

aliens are attacking). We pringled up and walked a million hundred miles to the all-porpoise room. "Single file!" shouted Miss Banks, which made no sense because none of us was carrying even one file. When we got to the all-porpoise room, Andrea was sitting up on the stage on a chair all by herself. She had her poetry book on her lap. She was smiling the smile she smiles to let everybody know she knows something nobody else knows. "This is it," Ryan whispered to me. "Ms. Coco must have told Andrea that she won the poetry

外星人正在攻击)。我们打扮得漂漂亮亮，走了一百多英里来到全是海豚的房间。 “排成一列纵队！”班克斯小姐喊道，这根本说不通，因为我们谁也没带一个纵队。 当我们来到全是海豚的房间时，安德里亚独自坐在舞台上的一把椅子上。 她把诗集放在腿上。 她在微笑，她的微笑是为了让大家知道她知道一些别人不知道的事情。 “就是它了，”瑞恩低声对我说。 可可女士一定告诉安德里亚她赢得了诗歌奖

contest. That's why she got sent here before we did. They're going to make the announcement." So Andrea had to be the winner. She was going to recite a poem at Mayor Hubble's mansion. She was going to get another trophy to add to her trophy room. She was going to win a lifetime supply of Zip-Zaps. Not fair! "Are you gonna take this, A.J.?" Ryan whispered to me. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what to do. Everybody took a seat. Well, we didn't take the seats. That would have been weird to take a bunch of seats from the all-porpoise room. But we sat in our seats. I sat between Ryan and Michael. Mrs. Stoker and Ms. Coco climbed up on the stage and stood at the podium next to Andrea. "Welcome, everyone!" Mrs. Stoker said into the microphone. "Are you kids enjoying National Poetry Month?" "YES!" shouted all the girls. "NO!" shouted all the boys. "In the last few weeks, the students at Ella Mentry School have written so many poems," said Mrs. Stoker. "They're really great and we're so

比赛。所以她才比我们先到这里。 他们会宣布的。” 所以安德莉亚必须胜出。 她本来要在哈勃市长的官邸里朗诵一首诗。 她打算再得到一个奖杯来增加她的奖杯室。 她将赢得终身供应的Zip-Zaps。 不公平的!“你要接这个吗，aj ?”瑞安小声对我说。 我不知道该说什么。 我不知道该怎么办。大家都坐下了。 好吧，我们没有坐。 从海豚室抢了一堆座位会很奇怪。 但我们坐在座位上。我坐在瑞安和迈克尔之间。 斯托克夫人和可可女士爬上舞台，站在讲台上，旁边是安德里亚。 “欢迎,每个人!”斯托克太太对着麦克风说。 “你们喜欢全国诗歌月吗？”“是的！”所有的女孩都喊了起来。 “不！”所有的男孩喊道。 “在过去的几个星期里，艾拉门特里学校的学生们写了很多诗，”斯托克夫人说。 “他们真的很棒，我们也很

proud of you blah blah blah joy and beauty of poetry blah blah blah..." She went on and on like that. "A.J.," Michael whispered to me. "Your raps are as good as Andrea's poems. Are you just gonna sit there? They're gonna announce that Andrea won the contest." "Well," continued Mrs. Stoker, "Ms. Coco and I read all of your wonderful poems, and we are proud to announce..." "Do something, A.J.!" Ryan whispered urgently. "It's now or never!"

为你感到骄傲，诸如此类，诗歌的快乐和美，诸如此类……” 她就这样没完没了地说。 “aj，”迈克尔低声对我说。 “你的说唱和安德里亚的诗一样好。 你就这么坐着吗？ 他们会宣布安德莉亚赢得了比赛。” “好吧，”斯托克太太接着说，“我的太太。 可可和我读了你所有精彩的诗歌，我们很自豪地宣布……” “做点什么，A.J.!”瑞安急切地小声说。 “机不可失，时不再来！”

Ryan and Michael were right. My raps were just as good as Andrea's dumb poems. I should be up on that stage. I should be the one getting the Zip-Zaps. I had to think fast. "WAIT!!!!!" I got out of my seat and jumped up on the stage. "Gasp!" everybody gasped. "A.J., what are you doing?" asked Mrs. Stoker. I grabbed the mic out of her hand. "GIMME A BEAT!" I shouted. Ryan and Michael jumped up onto the stage. They started beatboxing, and I started rapping.... My name is A.J., and I'm at your service. The A is for Arlo. The J is for Jervis, And I don't care if it makes you nervous... I could see some of the kids were nodding their heads to the beat. "Ryan and Michael!" shouted Mrs. Stoker. "Go back to your seats this very minute!" But there was no turning back now. Once I start rapping, I just can't stop.

瑞恩和迈克尔是对的。 我的说唱和安德里亚的蠢诗一样好。 我应该站在台上。 应该是我去拿zip - zap。 我必须快速思考。“等等! !”我从座位上站起来，跳上了舞台。 “喘气！”每个人都倒吸了一口气。“阿吉，你在干什么？”斯托克太太问。 我从她手里抢过麦克风。 “给我打一巴掌！”我叫道。 瑞安和迈克尔跳上了舞台。 他们开始口技，我开始说唱.... 我叫aj，随时为您服务。 A代表阿乐。J代表杰维斯，我不在乎你会不会紧张… 我可以看到一些孩子随着节拍点头。 “赖安和迈克尔！”斯托克太太喊道。 “马上回到你们的座位上去！”但是现在已经没有回头路了。 一旦我开始说唱，我就停不下来。