Chapter 2

Chapter 2 Smash smash (n) something that is wildly popular, an unqualified success, a blockbuster Jessie was the first to come in from morning recess, because Mrs. Overton had said she could return to the classroom five minutes early to work on her newspaper. If it were up to Jessie, she would skip recess every day. It was just a waste of time. She'd rather spend the time reading a book or working on a project. Running around outside! Ridiculous! And speaking of ridiculous, Mrs. Overton had given them a new assignment: each one of them had to write a poem about something or someone they loved. A love poem! Fourth grade was definitely taking a turn for the worse.

杰西是上午课间休息后第一个回来的，因为奥弗顿夫人说她可以提前五分钟回到教室做报纸。 如果由杰西决定，她会每天都不休息。 那只是浪费时间。 她宁愿把时间花在读书或做项目上。 在外面跑来跑去！荒谬!说到可笑，奥弗顿太太给他们布置了一项新任务：每个人都要写一首关于他们所爱的人或事的诗。 一首情诗！四年级的情况肯定是每况愈下。

Jessie sat down at her desk and pulled out her reporter's notebook. It was the same kind of notebook her father used: long and thin, spiral-bound, hard-covered, with light blue lines running across each narrow page. She liked using the same notebook he did—liked to think of both of them scribbling notes, writing articles, and changing the world. It made her feel closer to him, even though she hadn't seen him in over a year and he was halfway around the world. Jessie moved her Valentine's shoebox to the corner of her desk, then tore out four pages from her reporter's notebook and spread them out. She picked up her pencil and wrote a list of the articles that would appear on each page.

杰西在她的办公桌前坐下，拿出她的记者笔记本。 这和她父亲用的笔记本是一样的：又长又薄，螺旋装订，硬皮，每一窄页上都有浅蓝色的线条。 她喜欢用和他一样的笔记本——喜欢想象他们两个人都在做笔记，写文章，改变世界。 这让她觉得离他更近了，尽管她已经一年多没见过他了，他也在地球的另一端。 杰西把情人节的鞋盒搬到桌子的角落，然后从她的记者笔记本上撕下四页纸，摊开来。 她拿起铅笔，把每页上要刊登的文章列了一张清单。

Pages two and three were easy to fill because they contained the newspaper's regular features: the recap of the month's weather using all the data that 4-O collected from the weather station mounted on the roof of the gym; a comic strip about an alien, written and illustrated by Christopher Bay; a few sports articles written by different kids in the class who were on various town teams; and Megan's latest installment of her advice column, "A Friend in 4-O," the most popular feature in the newspaper. Dear Friend in 4-O, Someone in my desk group keeps kicking my chair. I've asked him to stop about a million times, but he still does it. What is his problem???? Signed, Tired of Being Kicked

第二页和第三页很容易填，因为它们包含了报纸的常规特征：用4-O从安装在体育馆屋顶上的气象站收集的所有数据来概述当月的天气；一部关于外星人的连环漫画，由克里斯托弗·贝（Christopher Bay）编剧和插画；一些体育方面的文章，是班上不同的孩子写的，他们在不同的镇队；还有梅根最新一期的建议专栏《4- 0岁的朋友》，这是报纸上最受欢迎的专栏。 亲爱的4- 0办公室的朋友，我的同事一直踢我的椅子。 我已经让他停止过无数次了，但他还是这么做。 他的问题是什么？？？？签名，厌倦了被踢

Dear Friend in 4-O, My mom packs snacks I hate. No one will trade with me, these snacks are so bad. I'm always hungry until lunch. Signed, Starving and Sad Dear Friend in 4-O, I don't get fractions! Seriously! No matter how many times Mrs. Overton explains them, I just don't get them. Help me!!!! Signed, The #1 Enemy of Fractions But Jessie still had no idea what her front-page story would be. And her dad had taught her that the front-page story was the most important part of the whole newspaper. She needed something that would really grab her readers' attention. Something shocking. Something huge. She was determined to make this edition of The 4-O

亲爱的朋友，我妈妈给我打包了我讨厌的零食。 没人愿意跟我交易，这些零食太难吃了。 午饭前我总是很饿。 签名，饥饿和悲伤亲爱的朋友在4-O，我没有分数！认真!不管奥弗顿太太解释多少遍，我就是不明白。 帮助我! !但杰西仍然不知道她的头版新闻会是什么。 她爸爸告诉她，头版新闻是整份报纸最重要的部分。 她需要一些能真正抓住读者注意力的东西。 令人震惊的事情。巨大的东西。 她决心制作这一版的《The 4-O》

Forum a smash, and to do that she needed a prizewinning front-page story. Jessie knew she had to do some investigative reporting, which is when a reporter uncovers facts that no one else knows and publishes them so the world will be a better place. Jessie's dad had been an investigative reporter before he went back to being a war correspondent. Right now, he was in Afghanistan, but when Jessie was a baby, he had written articles about a big chemical company that was causing pollution and a state senator who was taking bribes. He'd won an important prize for writing the story about the senator, but he'd made a lot of people angry, too. Sometimes Jessie thought that was why he left. Couldn't I investigate something? she wondered. Uncover a secret, just like Dad? Too bad her friend Maxwell wasn't here. He was the best spy she'd ever met, not to mention an accomplished thief. If Maxwell were here, they

论坛轰动一时，要做到这一点，她需要一个获奖的头版故事。 杰西知道她必须做一些调查性报道，也就是记者发现别人不知道的事实并发表出来，这样世界就会变得更美好。 杰西的爸爸在回去当战地记者之前曾是一名调查记者。 现在，他在阿富汗，但当杰西还是个婴儿的时候，他写过关于一家造成污染的大化学公司和一位收受贿赂的州参议员的文章。 他因为写了关于参议员的故事而获得了一个重要的奖项，但他也激怒了很多人。 有时杰西认为这就是他离开的原因。 我就不能调查一下吗？ 她想知道。像爸爸一样揭开秘密？ 可惜她的朋友麦克斯韦不在这里。 他是她见过的最好的间谍，更不用说他还是个老练的小偷。 如果麦克斯韦在这里，他们

would definitely find something to uncover. I need a secret, thought Jessie. And a good one! She didn't want her front-page story to be a flop—like the last time. In the last issue of The 4-O Forum, Jessie had interviewed the school principal, Mrs. Fletcher. Scott Spencer had said it was the most boring article he had ever not read. He pretended to fall asleep with the paper open in front of him. Most of the boys had thrown the paper in the recycling bin without even looking at it, and some of the girls had used theirs to make origami bracelets. The only article anyone had even talked about was the advice column. It made Jessie angry to think about that. What could she investigate this time? Lots of ideas flashed in her brain: What was in Mrs. Overton's desk drawers? Were the cafeteria hot dogs really made of rubber? Why did the gym teacher leave in the middle of the school year? Who was responsible for the two fire alarms in

肯定会有所发现的。 我需要一个秘密，杰西想。 而且是一个好朋友！她不希望她的头版报道像上次一样失败。 在上一期的《四零论坛》中，杰西采访了学校校长弗莱彻夫人。 斯科特·斯宾塞说这是他从未读过的最无聊的文章。 他把报纸摊开在面前假装睡着了。 大多数男孩连看都没看就把纸扔进了回收箱，一些女孩用她们的纸做了折纸手镯。 唯一有人谈论过的文章是建议专栏。 想到这一点，杰西很生气。 这次她能调查什么呢？ 她脑子里闪过许多念头：奥弗顿夫人的抽屉里有什么？ 自助餐厅的热狗真的是用橡胶做的吗？ 为什么体育老师在学年中期离开了？ 谁负责两个火警警报