2. STEM

2 STEM I go to Ella Mentry School. It was named after a rich lady named Ella Mentry, so it has the perfect name: Ella Mentry School. Mrs. Mentry used to be a teacher at our school a long time ago, when dinosaurs walked the earth. After she retired, she donated a million dollars to the school. Mrs. Mentry is really old now and walks

我在艾拉门特里学校上学。 它是以一位名叫艾拉·门特里的富有女士的名字命名的，所以它有一个完美的名字：艾拉·门特里学校。 很久以前，当恐龙在地球上行走的时候，门特里夫人曾经是我们学校的老师。 退休后，她向学校捐赠了一百万美元。 门特里太太现在已经很老了，只能走路了

with a cane. She still lives in the neighborhood. So if she forgets her name, she can just walk over to our school and see it on the sign. One time, she came to visit and a food fight broke out in the vomitorium. That was weird. But last week, the weirdest thing in the history of the world happened. Our teacher, Mr. Cooper, came running into our classroom. Well, that's not the weird part. Mr. Cooper comes running into our classroom every day. The weird part was what happened next—a meteorite crashed through the window, smashed into the whiteboard in a giant fireball, and knocked Mr. Cooper onto the floor!

用拐杖。她还住在附近。 所以，如果她忘记了自己的名字，她可以走到我们学校，在招牌上看到它。 有一次，她来看我们，结果食堂里爆发了一场食物大战。 这很奇怪。但上周，世界历史上最奇怪的事情发生了。 我们的老师库珀先生跑进了我们的教室。 这还不是奇怪的地方。 库珀先生每天都跑进我们的教室。 最奇怪的是接下来发生的事情——一颗陨石穿过窗户，撞到白板上，形成一个巨大的火球，把库珀先生撞倒在地！

Okay, that didn't really happen. But I thought it would be more interesting than saying that Mr. Cooper tripped over his shoelaces. That's what actually happened. Mr. Cooper thinks he's a superhero, which is why he wears a cape all the time. Only superheroes wear capes. Nobody knows why. But that's the first rule of being a superhero. "I'm okay!" Mr. Cooper said, jumping to

好吧，那并没有发生。 但我觉得这比说库珀先生被鞋带绊倒更有意思。 这就是实际发生的事情。 库珀先生认为自己是超级英雄，所以他总是披着斗篷。 只有超级英雄才穿斗篷。 没人知道为什么。但这是成为超级英雄的第一条规则。 “我没事!”库珀说着，跳了起来

his feet. "Let's start our day, shall we? Turn to page twenty-three in your math books." Ugh, I hate math. Why do we have to study math? Isn't that why Benjamin Franklin invented the calculator?* Luckily, we didn't have to do math. Because at that moment, an announcement came over the loudspeaker. "All classes, please report to the all-purpose room for a surprise assembly." "Oooooooh!" Surprise assemblies have the perfect name, because you never know what's going to happen there. It's like opening up your birthday presents. "Not again!" groaned Mr. Cooper. "Okay, pringle up, everybody!" We lined up like Pringles and walked a million hundred miles to the all-purpose room, which we call the all-porpoise room even though there are no dolphins in there.*

他的脚。“让我们开始新的一天，好吗？” 翻到数学课本的第二十三页。” 我讨厌数学。我们为什么要学数学？ 这不就是本杰明·富兰克林发明计算器的原因吗？幸运的是，我们不需要做数学。 因为就在那一刻，喇叭里传来了通告。 “所有班级，请到万能教室集合。” “Oooooooh !”惊喜集会有一个完美的名字，因为你永远不知道那里会发生什么。 就像打开你的生日礼物一样。 “又来了！”库珀先生呻吟道。 “好了，大家振作起来！”我们像品客薯片一样排着队，走了一百多英里来到多功能室，我们称之为全海豚室，尽管那里没有海豚

We had to sit boy-girl-boy-girl to make sure that we wouldn't talk to anybody we liked. I had to sit next to Little Miss Know-It-All Andrea and her crybaby friend, Emily. Ugh, disgusting! Everybody sat down. Mr. Cooper told us to sit up straight. So we had to sit down and sit up at the same time. That was weird. I couldn't wait for the big surprise. We were all glued to our seats. Well, not really. That would be weird. Why would anybody glue himself to a seat? How would you get the glue off your pants?

我们必须男女轮流坐，以确保我们不会和任何我们喜欢的人说话。 我不得不坐在万事通小小姐安德里亚和她爱哭的朋友艾米丽旁边。 啊,真恶心!大家都坐下了。 库珀先生叫我们坐直。 所以我们必须同时坐下和坐起来。 这很奇怪。我等不及要看到大惊喜了。 我们都全神贯注地坐在座位上。 嗯，不完全是。那会很奇怪。 为什么会有人把自己粘在座位上？ 你怎么把裤子上的胶水弄掉？

You'll never believe who walked out on the stage at that moment. You probably think it was our principal, Mr. Klutz. But it wasn't. So nah-nah-nah boo-boo on you. It was our science teacher, Mr. Docker! He's weird. Mr. Docker has a car that runs on potatoes. You can read about it in a book called Mr. Docker Is Off His Rocker! But not now! "Good morning, Ella Mentry students," Mr. Docker said. "Do you kids know what STEM stands for?" "Sweet Tomato Elbow Macaroni?" somebody shouted. "Sleeping Turtles Exit Maryland?" "Smart Telephones Eliminate Money?" "Stop Trying to Eat Monsters?" "No," said Mr. Docker. "STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math." "Ohhhhhh."

你绝对不会相信那一刻谁走上台来了。 你可能以为是我们的校长，克鲁茨先生。 但事实并非如此。所以不，不，不，不。 是我们的科学老师，多克先生！他很奇怪。 多克先生有一辆以土豆为燃料的汽车。 你可以在一本叫《Docker先生疯了》的书里读到。但不是现在！“早上好，艾拉·门特里学院的学生们，”多克先生说。 “你们知道STEM是什么意思吗？”“甜番茄肘通心粉？”有人喊道。 “睡龟离开马里兰？”“智能手机消除金钱？”“不要再吃怪物了？”“不，”多克先生说。 “STEM代表科学、技术、工程和数学。” “Ohhhhhh。”