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.

【红霞译文】

        我讨厌书呆子整天就知道捧着书本，话又说回来，这正是宾州蒙哥马利郡阅读奥林匹克赛目的所在，人们想说什么说什么，可我不得不按照他们的思路行事。

        欲求在阅读奥林匹克赛取胜，你必须阅读指定的书籍，而且多的不得了，人们爱说书呆子每天廿四小时／每周七天连轴转，看来并非空穴来风。初中部阅读奥林匹克赛大约罗列了四十五本书，涵盖各式各样的文学体裁，小说堪称我的至爱，尤其科幻题材，但遗憾的是仅有《赐予者》和《英雄》两部作品被纳入阅读系列，偏巧我把乏味的玩意全部打入冷宫，在我看来，这些无聊的书籍根本不值得一读。其实我浏览过不少书，只是它们都未列入主办单位规定的范围而已。

        我们的队长基本上读完全部书籍，她是怎么做到的，我无从而知。暂且不说这些，比赛分三轮进行，每一轮有廿道题目，需要对峙双方轮番解答，如果其中一队答错，另一队可以“偷抢”过来回答，比赛的终极目标就是，经过三轮角逐后，各队团体总成绩最好达到五十分以上。

        我知道从前备受老天眷顾，记得两年前本人所在的团队实力……有限，前两轮下来仅得廿七分，前景渺茫。不料奇迹出现，对手临场发挥失误，我们连偷带抢一举夺得廿四分，结果咸鱼翻身，为我第一次参赛划上了圆满句号。

        今年我们运气欠佳，一路上苦苦挣扎，而对手个个博学多才。尽管几经周折我们失利，但比分相距不大。实际上，每轮得分并非最为重要，把握总积分才是关键，我们输就输在所属分类方面，以致前两轮只得廿八分，比起两年前分数倒是稍高了一点，可惜无济于事。为了扭转被动局面，我们不仅要在最后一轮比赛上打个满堂红，而且还要答出对方答错的两个问题。

        第三轮比赛开局不错，我们一口气攻克十七个难关中的十个，按照这个进度，取胜应该不在话下，但事情寸就寸在对方稳扎稳打，根本不给我们留出可乘之机。终场结束前几分钟，比赛达到白热化程度，我们尚缺四分，也就是说需要答出最后四个问题，但单凭一厢情愿难以达到目的，何况自己的命运还掌握在别人手中，此时对方认真应战，丝毫不想分我杯羹。

        眼巴巴看着大半个学年所做的努力尽付东流，那一瞬间真是万念俱灭，宛若灵魂深处盛开的鲜花枯萎凋零，令人心痛。