2014-01-05

【Aiden in English】

        I never really was a shopper. The reason was that I never knew what to buy. That was why it became torture today trying to redeem things with my Big-O-Points as we left Durban for Cape Town and sailed across from the Indian to the Atlantic Ocean in South Africa.

        I had 112 points from Shuffleboard, Baggo-bean, Team Trivia, Miniature Golf, Table-tennis, and Brain-Teaser. The most expensive was the 50 lb luggage scale which I thought that whoever wanted it was either out of their mind or got a lot of extra points and had nothing to spend it on. The cheapest was also a stupid idea. It was a bookmark and cost 15 freaking Big-O-Points.

        I was stuck between buying a bucket hat or an Oceania logo cap. I decided that I should just pick one and get it over with. The logo cap and black T-shirt were mine for taking. And when my points went from 112 to 0, all those competitions to achieve the Big-O-Points vanished in one moment. The table-tennis matches against the people aboard, the shuffleboard games with the passengers, and last but not least, Team Trivia with all the ridiculous but never the less interesting questions were gone for good. However, it was worth it since I would be putting great use to the items I bought. 

【红霞译文】

        我从来没有真正买过东西，原因很简单，因为我根本不知道需要买啥玩艺，以致造成像今天如此尴尬的局面。在离开南非德班前往开普敦、从印度洋横渡大西洋的途中，我手握可以当现金使用的游戏积分，却毫无概念应该兑换何种奖品。

        我从沙狐球、沙袋包、团队百科竞赛、微型高尔夫球、乒乓球和谜语解答游艺活动中总共赢得了112点游戏积分。最贵的东西是50磅行李秤，我觉得无论什么人买这玩艺不是脑袋瓜进水就是富得流油，手头积攒的游戏积分花不完。最便宜的也不咋地，脚踩脚碾的书签竟然漫天要价15点游戏积分。

        我在渔夫帽和印有“大洋游轮”图案的太阳帽之间犹豫不决，后来拿定主意，随便挑一个算了，于是便选定“大洋游轮”太阳帽和黑圆领衫。当我花完全部112点游戏积分，所有上述比赛同时也随之告罄——乒乓球对垒、沙狐球竞技、最后但并非最不重要的荒诞而有趣的团队百科竞赛一去不再复返。回过头来看，以往所付出的努力终于换来本无期待的礼物，我心满意足。