2014-10-09

【Aiden in English】

        The perfect place to travel to the past, well, without traveling to the past is the Renaissance Faire in PA. It's a place where the year turns to 1525 and everyone is doing what everybody would do in the 16^th century. Today, as a traditional 6^th grade field trip, I would venture to the past for a day and discover how different life looked like back then.

        To start, the Renaissance Faire is not present day and you wouldn't find Macy's in the fair. All the workers dressed in costume and had a role. While they played their parts, we had ours to play as well. So when a knight or baron saw us, he would welcome us formally as if we were royalty or something special. That's exactly how we were treated. It was the royalty.

        After all the excitement was over, I went to my group of five boys and began the dangerous journey to the Mud Pit where people frolicked in mud. For some reason, I thought it was a lot more gross than funny, probably because I was here before. However, everyone seemed to have a good time. But even so, the mud show still gave me a chuckle, and it also gave me a pair of pants covered in mud.

        My group and I then traveled across the whole fair in search for the games. After discovering four tents of fun games, our chaperone, Mrs. Burns, let us choose any we wanted. Obviously, the four games had to be interesting, cool, and violent for boys to be attracted to. They were: knife throwing, ax throwing, archery, and ninja-star throwing. Since I'd always wanted to be a ninja, I chose the ninja stars. After trying, my future became clear: I was not meant to be a ninja.

         So we went on roaming around, searching for things that interested us. Soon we were just wondering in circles, occasionally stopping for the washroom. I was just about finished when we went to the final show The Ultimate Jousting. But the show looked much more than a simple jousting. First two champions approached each other ready to fight. There were Sir William, the champion knight who battled for the good and Sir Corway, the evil knight. Sir William easily beat Sir Corway, but had mercy. And then, Sir Corway brought some men and attacked the castle. Cannons blasted the battlefield as fire was raging and knights were fighting. It was chaos. Finally, Sir William, King Henry III, and the knights killed Sir Corway. What spectacular ending!

        I enjoyed the Renaissance Faire even the second time around. In fact, I might come again if I had time down the road. And now, I know what life looked like 500 years ago.

【紅霞譯文】

        穿越時空，體驗從未經歷的過去，賓州“文藝復興節”無疑為大夥提供了仰觀天象回顧歷史的最佳場所，讓目光全部聚焦在十六世紀1525年人們的衣食住行。今天按照慣例，我參加初中一年級實地考察活動，藉助一整天課外時間飽嘗文藝復興時期世情百態，並發掘不同時代的軼事趣聞。

        首先，“文藝復興節”並非現代生活的寫照，因此你根本看不到“梅西百貨公司”之類的商店雜鋪，所有的工作人員身着古裝，分別扮演不同角色，各盡其職﹔我們有備而來，同樣肩負着光榮使命。這下可好，每當看見大隊人馬到來，“騎士”或“男爵”便親自出動熱烈歡迎，好像我們是皇親貴族或者身份特殊的貴賓，禮儀十分隆重。皇親貴族待遇嘛﹗

        熱鬧了一陣子，我隨小組一行五人共同踏上通往泥坑的危險旅程，在泥坑裡人們摸打滾爬，無所顧忌。出於某種原因，我並不感冒黏乎乎的泥巴，也許由於先前曾來過一回，已體驗過同樣的經歷。然而，其他同伴卻個個情緒高昂。儘管如此，我還是非常欣賞泥人表演，自己的褲腿為之也沾滿泥巴。

        過後，我們小組成員開始踏破鐵鞋四處搜尋遊戲，好不容易從四個帳篷里找出上手的遊戲，領隊伯恩斯阿姨允許我們由着性子撒野似地隨意玩耍。毫無疑問，四個遊戲不但有趣酷得要死，而且打打殺殺刺激非凡，否則有愧於哥兒們豪擲的寶貴光陰。這四個遊戲分別為﹕扔刀、擲斧、射箭、 忍者飛星。由於一直胸懷“忍者”志向，我才選玩“忍者飛星”。經過小試牛刀，我敢保證將來自己絕非當忍者的料。

        接下來，我們東遊西逛繼續發掘吸引我們的東西，轉過來轉過去，間或跑趟廁所方便一下。等大家準備一起觀賞最後一個節目《終極馬上長矛比武》時，我正好基本瀏覽完全部遊藝項目。《終極馬上長矛比武》不是一般的打鬥較量，兩位挑戰者先向對方逼近，做好應戰準備。威廉是一位聲張正義威武善戰的爵士，而考維則代表邪惡。劇中威廉雖技高一籌，但卻給考維留下一條生路。不料考維帶上一班人馬偷襲城堡，剎時間，戰場上炮火轟鳴銷煙瀰漫，騎兵們展開殊死搏鬥，一派混亂景象。最後，威廉、亨利三世國王及其騎兵同仇敵愾，終於將考維殺死，結局扣人心弦。

        儘管我兩度登門造訪，但依然對“文藝復興節”興致勃勃。事實上，若今後再有機會，我還會故地重遊。在這裡，至少我能了解到五百年前人們的生活背景。