2016-03-15

【Aiden in English】

        I hate how nerds always require books to be in their faces all the time. Then again, that’s kind of the entire point of Reading Olympics in Montgomery County of PA. While people say what they want to say, I sort of have to agree.

        To even have a chance of winning at Reading Olympics, you must read what you are told. A lot. So, when people say nerds read 24/7, they aren’t entirely wrong. The list of books ranges around the mid-forties for middle school students, and the genres are spread out extremely even. I love fiction, especially Sci-fi, and it sucks when there are literally two books, The Giver and Hero, that relate to Sci-fi. Even better, I never can bring myself to check out one of the boring books, because, in my opinion, they are boring. I read a lot, just not the ones the official wants me to read.

        Basically, our team captain read all the books. How I have no idea. Nevertheless, the set-up of the competition is that there are three rounds. Each round, twenty questions are alternatingly asked, two teams. If either one gets one wrong, the other team may “steal” the question. The objective is the collectively obtain above fifty points in three rounds.

        I’ve been known to be lucky because two years ago, our team was… not so good, and with only twenty-seven points after the first two rounds, everything looked bleak. But then, a miracle occurred, as we went up against probably the worst team out there, and went on a streak, gaining 24 points. That was the first time I entered the competition successfully.

        We weren’t so lucky this year. Going down the stretch, we faced tough teams. Although we lost, it wasn’t by much. As a matter of fact, the results of the rounds aren’t the most important and it’s the number of points scored. And we sucked in that category. Our first two rounds got us twenty-eight points, which, although it is more than what we got two years ago, was quite a trash. We needed to get all our questions correct, plus to steal two from the other team.

        We started off strong, collecting ten of the seventeen questions in the last round. At this rate, we would easily reach the goal. The issue was, the other team finally began to get correct answers, which meant fewer points for us. It was intense in the final minutes, as the final four points we needed were also the final four questions. But the choice was not ours to make, and the other team, quite unfortunately, answered correctly.

        The moment you realize that what you’ve been preparing for the entire school year comes out as a disappointment is horrible. It seems as if a flower inside your soul shrivels up and dies. It hurts.

【紅霞譯文】

        我討厭書呆子整天就知道捧着書本，話又說回來，這正是賓州蒙哥馬利郡閱讀奧林匹克賽目的所在，人們想說什麼說什麼，可我不得不按照他們的思路行事。

        欲求在閱讀奧林匹克賽取勝，你必須閱讀指定的書籍，而且多的不得了，人們愛說書呆子每天廿四小時／每周七天連軸轉，看來並非空穴來風。初中部閱讀奧林匹克賽大約羅列了四十五本書，涵蓋各式各樣的文學體裁，小說堪稱我的至愛，尤其科幻題材，但遺憾的是僅有《賜予者》和《英雄》兩部作品被納入閱讀系列，偏巧我把乏味的玩意全部打入冷宮，在我看來，這些無聊的書籍根本不值得一讀。其實我瀏覽過不少書，只是它們都未列入主辦單位規定的範圍而已。

        我們的隊長基本上讀完全部書籍，她是怎麼做到的，我無從而知。暫且不說這些，比賽分三輪進行，每一輪有廿道題目，需要對峙雙方輪番解答，如果其中一隊答錯，另一隊可以“偷搶”過來回答，比賽的終極目標就是，經過三輪角逐後，各隊團體總成績最好達到五十分以上。

        我知道從前備受老天眷顧，記得兩年前本人所在的團隊實力……有限，前兩輪下來僅得廿七分，前景渺茫。不料奇蹟出現，對手臨場發揮失誤，我們連偷帶搶一舉奪得廿四分，結果鹹魚翻身，為我第一次參賽劃上了圓滿句號。

        今年我們運氣欠佳，一路上苦苦掙扎，而對手個個博學多才。儘管幾經周折我們失利，但比分相距不大。實際上，每輪得分並非最為重要，把握總積分才是關鍵，我們輸就輸在所屬分類方面，以致前兩輪只得廿八分，比起兩年前分數倒是稍高了一點，可惜無濟於事。為了扭轉被動局面，我們不僅要在最後一輪比賽上打個滿堂紅，而且還要答出對方答錯的兩個問題。

        第三輪比賽開局不錯，我們一口氣攻克十七個難關中的十個，按照這個進度，取勝應該不在話下，但事情寸就寸在對方穩紮穩打，根本不給我們留出可乘之機。終場結束前幾分鐘，比賽達到白熱化程度，我們尚缺四分，也就是說需要答出最後四個問題，但單憑一廂情願難以達到目的，何況自己的命運還掌握在別人手中，此時對方認真應戰，絲毫不想分我杯羹。

        眼巴巴看着大半個學年所做的努力盡付東流，那一瞬間真是萬念俱滅，宛若靈魂深處盛開的鮮花枯萎凋零，令人心痛。