7. The Middle of Nowhere

7 The Middle of Nowhere It rained all week. I thought our overnight might be canceled. But on Friday my parents got a call saying it was on. They drove me to the parking lot, where all the kids were waiting on the bus. "Can I come on the bus to take a few

雨下了整整一个星期。 我以为今晚的约会要取消了。 但周五我父母接到一个电话，说节目开始了。 他们开车把我送到停车场，所有的孩子都在那里等公共汽车。 “我可以坐公共汽车来拿几个吗？

pictures?" my mom asked. "No parents allowed!" Miss Blake barked. "Say good-bye!" My mom said good-bye, and I climbed on the bus. I sat next to Ryan. We had already decided that we were going to share a tent together. Miss Blake stood up in the front of the bus as we pulled out of the parking lot. "This is going to be fun," she barked. "Anybody who doesn't have fun will be punished." We drove a million hundred miles to some forest. Finally, the bus pulled off to the side of the road, and we got out. There was a sign that warned about forest fires, poison ivy, flash floods, dehydration, and other scary stuff that can happen to you in the wilderness. "Are we going to go spelunking?"

照片？”妈妈问。“父母不得入内！”布莱克小姐叫道。 “说再见!”妈妈说了再见，我就爬上了公交车。 我坐在瑞恩旁边。我们已经决定要一起住一个帐篷。 当我们驶出停车场时，布莱克小姐站在公共汽车的前面。 “这将会很有趣，”她咆哮道。 “任何不开心的人都会受到惩罚。” 我们驱车千里来到一片森林。 最后，公共汽车停在路边，我们下了车。 有一个标志，警告森林火灾、毒葛、山洪暴发、脱水和其他在荒野中可能发生的可怕事情。 “我们要去洞穴探险吗？”

asked Alexia. "No! We hike!" barked Miss Blake as she grabbed a big backpack and a pair of binoculars. "I love hiking and nature!" said Andrea. Ugh. Hiking and nature are boring. "Keep an eye out for bears or other wild animals," said Miss Blake. "I'm scared," said Emily. It would have been cool to see a bear or some other wild animal. But there weren't any animals. There were just lots of trees and rocks and birds. So Miss Blake talked about every tree, rock, and bird along the way. What a snoozefest. "Look!" Miss Blake shouted, peering through her binoculars. "A red-billed nuthatch!" A bird is a bird, if you ask me.

问失读症。“不!我们徒步旅行！”布莱克小姐咆哮着抓起一个大背包和一副望远镜。 “我喜欢远足和大自然！”安德里亚说。 啊。徒步旅行和大自然很无聊。 “注意熊或其他野生动物，”布莱克小姐说。 “我很害怕，”艾米丽说。看到熊或其他野生动物会很酷。 但是没有动物。 那里有很多树，石头和鸟。 于是布莱克小姐谈到了一路上的每一棵树、每一块石头和每一只鸟。 真是个懒虫。“看!”布莱克小姐喊道，透过双筒望远镜往外看。 “一只红嘴雀！”要我说，鸟就是鸟。

You've seen one bird, you've seen 'em all. "I hope we see a snake," said Michael. "Snakes are cool." "What would you do if you saw a snake?" Ryan asked. "I'd punch its face in," I said. After five minutes of hiking, I was bored. Nature is way overrated. We were in the middle of nowhere.* "This looks like the place where we started," said Neil. "That's because we hiked a big loop," barked Miss Blake. What? So we walked a million hundred miles in a circle? What was the point of that? If you're going to hike, you should hike someplace different. "This looks like a good spot to set up camp," said Miss Blake. "Let's pitch our

你见过一只鸟，你就见过所有的鸟。 “我希望我们能看到一条蛇，”迈克尔说。 “蛇很酷。”“如果你看到一条蛇，你会怎么做？”瑞恩问道。 “我会打它的脸，”我说。 徒步五分钟后，我觉得很无聊。 大自然被高估了。我们在荒无人烟的地方。“这看起来像是我们开始的地方，”尼尔说。 “那是因为我们绕了一个大圈，”布莱克小姐吼道。 怎么啦？所以我们绕着圈子走了一百万英里？ 那有什么意义呢？ 如果你要徒步旅行，你应该去不同的地方。 “这里看起来是个扎营的好地方，”布莱克小姐说。 “让我们来推销我们的

tents here." Why would you want to throw a tent? That made no sense at all. "Where do you think Miss Blake got these tents?" Ryan asked. "From Rent-A-Tent," I told him. "You can rent anything." Ryan and I put up our tent together, while Miss Blake tied a string across two long sticks and stuck the sticks into the ground. Then she told us to gather up some wood. "Are we going to build a fire?" asked Andrea. "No, we're going to build two fires,"

帐篷在这里。”你为什么要扔个帐篷？ 这完全说不通。 “你认为布莱克小姐是从哪儿弄来这些帐篷的？”瑞恩问道。 “从Rent-A-Tent，”我告诉他。 “你可以租任何东西。”瑞恩和我一起搭起了帐篷，布莱克小姐在两根长木棍上系了一根绳子，把木棍插进了地里。 然后她叫我们去捡一些木头。 “我们要生火吗？”安德烈问。 “不，我们要生两堆火。”

said Miss Blake. She tied another string across two sticks and stuck them into the dirt next to the first ones. "One for the boys and one for the girls. Who can tell me what you need to start a fire?" "Lighter fluid!" I shouted. "No!" said Miss Blake. "Lighter fluid is for wimps." "Fuel, air, and heat!" shouted Andrea, who remembers everything she ever heard, saw, or read. "That's right!" said Miss Blake. "You have air all around, of course. I'll give the boys' team and the girls' team three napkins. That's your fuel. You get one match to provide heat. Each team will build their fire under a rope. The first team to break their rope with the flame is the winner." Yes! Boys against girls. Beating

布莱克小姐说。她把另一根绳子系在两根棍子上，把它们插在前面两根棍子旁边的泥土里。 “一个给男孩，一个给女孩。 谁能告诉我你需要什么来生火？”“打火机液!”我叫道。 “不！”布莱克小姐说。“胆小鬼才用打火机油。” “燃料、空气和热量！”安德烈喊道，她记得她所听到、看到或读到的一切。 “没错！”布莱克小姐说。 “当然，你周围到处都是空气。 我会给男队和女队各三张餐巾纸。 那是你的燃料。你需要一根火柴来提供热量。 每队将在绳子下生火。 第一个用火焰挣断绳子的队伍就是赢家。” 是的!男孩对女孩。打