2015-05-29
【Aiden in English】
As the school year of 2014-2015 winds down and the final weeks are in sight, Montgomery ES hosted a series of fun events for the 6th graders. It began with the social, and now the last main event arrived with the pool party.
It seemed as if the school wanted to butter the 6th grades up prior to the kill, letting us enjoy the final moments at Montgomery ES. To really give us a “good-bye” sense, we went to Mermaid Lake in Blue Bell, PA. Weirdly, there was no lake but a swimming pool, a basket court, a miniature golf course, and about every other field. The pool was amazing. Since the day was a real melter, that was what everyone targeted in the first five minutes. Unfortunately, we were only allowed in the shallow end of the pool, where it was only 4 feet or 1.2 meters deep. But what really rocked were the water slides. These weren’t the small, boring, slow slides at the local township pool. These were a series of twists and turns, up’s and down’s, varying speed. They were absolutely amazing, and even better, the pool had two water slides, each with a different personality. The white slide on the left had twists and turns, while the green slide on the right was all about speed which everyone loved. The slide had changes in speed throughout. At times, we would go up a small slope, controlling the rider’s speed. The slides didn’t just end there. Although the rides rode on over and over again got boring, I couldn’t believe the fact that we were allowed to go on our stomachs. In any other place, we would be lectured about how breaking your neck was NOT a good thing on water slides, and riding on your stomach can be fatal. But here, it seemed like they didn’t care for our life, just the way we as kids wanted it. The only catch was to ride feet first. Okay, so they were somewhat concerned about us breaking our necks. Ironically, the precaution just made the ride even more exciting, adding to mystery and unknown factor into the fun. The twists and turns became surprising, and a rider’s vision was rendered useless because he was turned around. This was the majority of my time at the pool party. However, when I wasn’t riding the slides or stuffing my face with burgers, I was playing miniature golf with friends or racing 50’s. The pool had a great racing section, having five diving blocks, five lanes each with a pretty wide space. But today was not a good day for racing since no Speedos were allowed. Sprinting with a bathing suit looked like swimming wearing chainmail armor, which, in case you don’t know, very heavy. Plus, the bathing suit fell off quite often at quick, underwater speeds. I guess nothing is ideal.
The pool party really got the “Oh-my-god-we-are-leaving-in-two-weeks” ordeal going. That usually comes with boredom from assemblies, smiles from joy, and tears from all the babies. But whatever the reactions, school’s wrapping up.
【紅霞譯文】
隨着2014—2015整個學年趨近尾聲，距離殺青只剩下個把星期，正因如此，蒙哥馬利小學特為初中一年級學生舉行一系列慶祝儀式，先搞社交盛會，接着又在今天推出最後一項泳池派對。
在離開蒙哥馬利小學之前，大家再度被召集在一起，盡情享受惜別前終極時刻，並將歡聲笑語帶進賓州藍鍾鎮美人魚湖畔。滑稽的是此地根本沒有什麼湖，除了湖以外，游泳池、籃球場、迷你高爾夫球場以及其它活動場地可以說要什麼有什麼，其中游泳池相當不錯。既然今天美其名曰狂歡日子，所以在開場前，我們抽出五分鐘寶貴時間短暫地照會一下便各自尋找樂子去了。想不到我們只允許待在游泳池淺水區玩耍，令人十分掃興，其水深不過四英尺即一米二而已。好在水滑梯刺激有趣，與鄉下其它小型簡單流速緩慢的相比完全不同，既擁有螺旋曲度轉彎角度，又具備上下跨度水量速度。更值得炫耀的還有，該游泳俱樂部一連擁有兩個滑梯，而且每個都各有特色，左邊白色的迂迴打轉，右邊綠色的跟速度有關，這正是大家所熱衷的地方，滑梯內部速度變化多端。我們時不時也會爬到坡度不大的滑梯上玩，適當緩解一下節奏。玩水滑梯的樂趣不僅僅局限這些，滑來滑去遲早會感覺厭煩無聊，我們怎麼也沒想到自己竟然允許趴着滑，如果換成別的地方，肯定會教訓說弄折脖子不是什麼好玩的把戲，況且還能殃及性命；在這裡好像無人擔心安全問題，你隨心所欲，只要腳先着地，那麼想怎麼滑就怎麼滑。是呀，單憑這一點足以說明他們同樣在意頸椎健康。好笑的是，越是不讓做的事情越具有吸引力，更加刺激大家的好奇心，結果反倒加強了滑梯的趣味性。肢體扭動轉圈叫人驚喜連連，但用眼是看不到的，除非仰過身來。我基本上一直在玩水滑梯，整個臉面快被擠成漢堡包，偶爾也會跟朋友打迷你高爾夫球或者較量50米衝刺。美人魚湖游泳俱樂部裝備先進，有五個跳水區和五條寬泳道，不過今天絕非適合比賽，因為事先不准男生穿緊身游泳短褲，套條大褲衩子參加速游比賽與用鏈甲服全副武裝沒啥區別，渾身上下沉得要命。再說在水裡游得越快，寬鬆的泳褲掉得越快，世上哪有十全十美的好事。
泳池派對讓人難免感到“天哪—我們—將在兩星期後—各奔東西”，情不自禁地流露出焦慮、愉悅、悲傷，喜怒哀樂五味雜陳，但無論我們抱以何種心情，小學生涯即將結束。
