5 It’s Only a Story

CHAPTER 5 It's Only a Story I dried my shirt as best I could with the hand dryer in the bathroom, but it was still a bit damp. Then it was time to go back to the library. Mrs. Finkel told us to sit around the big table. "Did everyone have a nice dinner?" Mr. Ramos asked. He hadn't eaten yet, since he'd stayed behind in the library to look over our scavenger hunt answers. Mrs. Finkel had brought back three slices of pizza—one of

第五章 这只是个故事 我在卫生间里用烘手器尽量把衬衫烘干，但它还是有点湿乎乎的。 接下来就该回图书馆了。 芬克尔太太让我们围着大桌子坐好。 “大家晚饭吃得开心吗？” 拉莫斯先生问道。 他还没吃饭，因为他之前留在图书馆检查我们寻宝游戏的答案。 芬克尔太太带回了三块披萨——每种口味各一块，就

each kind—and they were sitting on his desk waiting to be gobbled up. "Yes," we chorused. "That's good to hear," he said. "And now the moment we've all been waiting for. Drum- roll, please." A few of the boys beat their hands against the top of the table. "And the winners are... Lucy Anderson, Stella Batts, Talisa Lee, and Arielle Waldorf!" Lucy, Talisa, Arielle, and I looked at each other and grinned. The other kids clapped for us. Except Joshua. He shouted out, "Boo!" We all ignored him. "We get a prize, right?" Talisa asked. "You sure do," Mr. Ramos said. He went behind his desk and came back with... socks. Four pairs, each striped blue and gold. "Those are the school colors," he explained. Up till then I didn't even know we had

放在他的办公桌上，等着被大家吃掉呢。 “开心！”我们齐声回答。 “听到你们这么说我很高兴。”他说。 “现在就是我们所有人都期待的时刻啦。 请敲鼓助兴。” 几个男孩子用手咚咚地敲起了桌面。 “获胜者是…… 露西·安德森、斯黛拉·巴茨、塔莉萨·李，还有阿莉尔·沃尔多夫！” 露西、塔莉萨、阿莉尔和我对视一眼，都咧嘴笑了。 其他小朋友都为我们鼓掌。 只有约书亚没有。 他大喊道：“嘘！太差劲啦！” 我们都没理他。 “我们有奖品对不对？” 塔莉萨问道。 “那当然啦。”拉莫斯先生说。 他走到办公桌后面，再回来的时候拿着……袜子。 一共四双，每双都有蓝金相间的条纹。 “这是咱们学校的代表色哦。”他解释道。 在那之前我都不知道我们学校还有

school colors. "They're so cozy," Arielle said. She brought them up to her cheek. "Ew! Your face will smell like feet!" Joshua said. "She hasn't even worn them yet," Lucy said. "You're just jealous." "That's enough, Lucy," Mrs. Anderson said. But I could tell she sort of agreed with her. I kicked my shoes off under the table and started to put my new socks on. But Mrs. Fin- kel said, "No, Stella. Keep your shoes on until it's time for bed. We don't want anyone slip- ping and falling." I don't know how Mrs. Finkel thought

校色呢。 “它们摸起来好软好舒服呀。”阿莉尔说。 她把袜子举到脸边蹭了蹭。 “咦！好恶心！ 你的脸会沾到脚臭味的！” 约书亚说。 “她都还没穿过这袜子呢。”露西说。 “你就是嫉妒我们。” “够了，露西。”安德森太太说。 但我看得出来，她其实有点同意露西的说法。 我在桌子底下把鞋子踢掉，准备穿上我的新袜子。 但是芬克尔太太说：“不行哦，斯黛拉。 穿着鞋子，到睡觉时间再脱。 我们可不想有人滑倒摔跤。” 我都搞不懂芬克尔太太怎么会觉得

I could possibly slip and fall while we were sitting at the table! But I left my socks in my lap and Mr. Ramos announced the next activ- ity, which was a group story. He would say the first sentence, and then we'd go around the table and each say a sentence—in the end it would be twenty-four sentences (twenty kids plus four grown-ups) and that would equal a whole story. "No!" Joshua called out. "Joshua!" Mrs. Finkel said. Joshua raised his hand, and then she called on him. "I wanted to do the Ouija board," he said. "It's a sleepover. We should do spooky things, like talk to ghosts." "Yeah!" a bunch of other kids agreed. "Well, Mr. Ramos planned another activ- ity," Mrs. Finkel said. "Hang on," Mr. Ramos said. "I'm not

我们都坐在桌子边上，我还能滑倒摔跤！ 不过我还是把袜子放在了腿上，这时拉莫斯先生宣布了下一个活动——集体编故事。 他会说第一句话，然后我们围着桌子轮流每人说一句，最后一共会有24句话（20个小朋友加4个大人），刚好凑成一个完整的故事。 “不要！” 约书亚大叫起来。 “约书亚！” 芬克尔太太喊道。 约书亚举起了手，然后芬克尔太太点了他发言。 “我想玩通灵板，”他说， “这是过夜派对啊。 我们该玩点吓人的东西，比如和鬼魂说话。” “对呀！” 好几个其他小朋友也附和道。 “嗯，拉莫斯先生计划了别的活动哦。”芬克尔太太说。 “等等，”拉莫斯先生说， “我不是非

married to the idea of a group story. We can put it to a vote." Then I raised my hand. "Yes, Stella?" Mrs. Finkel said. "You can't be married to an idea," I said. "You have to be married to a person." "Actually," Mr. Ramos said. "You can use the word "married" to reference other things that are connected or joined. It's not as common to use the word that way, but it's still correct." "Cool," I said. I love learning new words, and that includes learning that words I already knew could mean different things. I started thinking about ideas I was mar- ried to, like: I was married to the idea that fudge is the very best treat. And I was married to the idea that— "Okay, it looks like the Ouija board voters win!" Mrs. Anderson declared.

得玩集体编故事不可。 我们可以投票决定玩什么。” 于是我举起了手。 “怎么了，斯黛拉？” 芬克尔太太问道。 “你不能和一个想法结婚呀，”我说， “你只能和人结婚呀。” “其实哦，”拉莫斯先生说， “你可以用‘married’这个词来形容互相关联、绑定在一起的其他事物。 这么用这个词不算特别常见，但也是正确的用法哦。” “好酷呀。”我说。 我最喜欢学新的词汇用法了，包括了解我已经认识的单词还有别的意思。 我开始想我有哪些“绑定了”的想法，比如：我坚定地认为软糖是全世界最好吃的零食。 还有我坚定地认为——“好啦，看来投票选通灵板的人赢了！” 安德森太太宣布道。