2. Yee-Haw and Ya-Hoo!

2 Yee-Haw and Ya-Hoo! A few days went by. Nobody mentioned the vegetable garden. I thought Mrs. Stoker had forgotten about the idea. But then we were on the playground during recess when she and Miss Banks came over to us.

2“噫嗬”和“耶嗬”！几天过去了。 没人提到菜园。 我以为斯托克太太已经忘记了这个主意。 但是当我们在操场上休息时，她和班克斯小姐向我们走来。

"Follow me, kids," Mrs. Stoker said, bringing us to the side of the school. "This is the spot where we're going to plant our vegetable garden." Ugh. Mrs. Stoker took a deep breath and threw out her arms. Well, she didn't throw her arms away. She just put them out like a scarecrow. "This garden is going to be great," she told us. "You'll be out in the fresh air blah blah blah. We'll work the land blah blah blah. We'll grow our own food blah blah blah..." "It's time for all of us to stop staring at screens," said Miss Banks, "and get back to nature blah blah blah..."* They went on like that for a while. "I didn't know you were a gardener, Mrs. Stoker," said Andrea, who loves talking to grown-ups for no reason. "Oh, I don't know anything about gardens," Mrs. Stoker replied. "But I found somebody who is going to teach us how to start one." At that moment, I heard a noise in the distance. It was a motor. The noise got louder. We turned around. And then I saw some weird-

“跟我来，孩子们。”斯托克太太说着，把我们带到了学校的一边。 “这就是我们要在菜园里种蔬菜的地方。” 啊。斯托克太太深吸了一口气，伸出双臂。 她可没把胳膊甩开。 她把他们像稻草人一样放出来了。 “这个花园会很棒的，”她告诉我们。 “你会呼吸到新鲜空气，等等等等。 我们会耕种土地，等等等等。 我们会自己种食物什么的……” 班克斯小姐说：“现在是我们所有人停止盯着屏幕的时候了，回到大自然中去吧……”他们那样继续了一会儿。 “我不知道你是个园丁，斯托克太太，”安德烈说，她喜欢无缘无故地和成年人交谈。 “哦，我对花园一窍不通，”斯托克太太回答。 “但我找到了一个人，他会教我们如何开始创业。” 就在那时，我听到远处有声音。 那是一个马达。声音越来越大。 我们转过身来。然后我看到了一些奇怪的

looking machine coming down the street toward the school. It was a tractor. "And here she comes now!" said Mrs. Stoker. The tractor drove across the playground and stopped on the grass next to us.

看着机器沿着街道朝学校开过来。 那是一辆拖拉机。“她来了！”斯托克太太说。 拖拉机驶过操场，停在我们旁边的草地上。

"YEE-HAW!" A lady hopped off the tractor. She was wearing overalls, a straw hat, and a T-shirt that said TALK DIRT TO ME. A long piece of grass was hanging out of her mouth. "This is Miss Nichol," said Mrs. Stoker. "Welcome to Ella Mentry School." "YA-HOO!" said Miss Nichol. "It's good to be here, y'all!" "Miss Nichol seems kind of young," I said quietly. "Oh, she is young," said Miss Banks. "But she's outstanding in her field." No she wasn't. She was out standing in our field. Mrs. Stoker told us that Miss Nichol grew up on a farm, and that she recently graduated from college with a degree in organic farming. "You grow organs?" I asked. "Is that legal?" "Yee-haw!" yelled Miss Nichol. "That's a knee-slapper!" She slapped her knee and laughed. Some grown-ups slap their knees when they laugh. Nobody knows why.

“呃!”一位女士跳下拖拉机。 她穿着工装裤，戴着一顶草帽，穿着一件t恤，上面写着“跟我说脏话”。 一根长长的草从她嘴里伸出来。 “这是尼科尔小姐，”斯托克太太说。 “欢迎来到艾拉门特瑞学校。” “耶——嗬！”尼科尔小姐说。 “很高兴来到这里，大家！”“尼科尔小姐似乎有点年轻，”我平静地说。 “哦，她还年轻，”班克斯小姐说。 “但她在自己的领域非常出色。” 不，她不是。她在我们的领域中脱颖而出。 斯托克太太告诉我们，尼科尔小姐在农场长大，最近刚从大学毕业，拿到了有机农业的学位。 “你种植器官？”我问。 “这合法吗？”尼科尔小姐叫道：“咦——嗬！” “真让人吃惊！”她拍了拍膝盖，笑了。 有些成年人笑的时候会拍膝盖。 没人知道为什么。

Miss Nichol told us that she's a graduate student, and she signed up to work with our school as a class project. She said she's studying to get her master's degree in botany. I guess that's the science of bots. "Bots are cool," I said. "I used to watch this show called Robot Wars. They would have a bunch of remote-controlled bots fighting each other to the death." "Not those kinds of bots, dumbhead," said Andrea, rolling her eyes. "Botany is the science of plants." Andrea thinks she is sooooooo smart because she's a member of the P.A.C. That's the Principal Advisory Committee—a group of nerds who get to boss around the principal. I was going to say something mean to her, but I couldn't think of anything good. "I just love growin' stuff," Miss Nichol told us. "I have a green thumb." "You should see a doctor," I said. "Think about it, y'all," she continued. "Startin' a garden is like teachin' kids. Ya plant a seed and nourish it and watch it sprout and grow and

尼科尔小姐告诉我们，她是一名研究生，她报名参加了我们学校的班级项目。 她说她正在攻读植物学硕士学位。 我想这就是机器人的科学。 “机器人很酷，”我说。“我以前看过一个叫《机器人战争》的节目。 他们会有一群远程控制的机器人互相战斗到死。” “不是那种机器人，笨蛋，”安德烈翻着白眼说。 植物学是关于植物的科学。 安德里亚觉得自己很聪明，因为她是pac的一员 那是校长顾问委员会——一群对校长颐指气使的书呆子。 我本想对她说些刻薄的话，但我想不出什么好话来。 “我就是喜欢种东西，”尼科尔小姐告诉我们。 “我是个园艺能手。”“你应该去看医生，”我说。 “大家好好想想，”她接着说。 “开花园就像教孩子。 你种下一颗种子，滋养它，看着它发芽成长