2016-03-19

【Aiden in English】

        Apparently, the Travel & Adventure Show isn’t a drug outpost in Philadelphia. Well, that’s good to know.

        So the Guanghua Chinese School asked us to go to a Travel & Adventure Show. They tell us to do a lot of things. We always agreed.

        Hopefully this Yo-Yo performance would be different from all the other mess-ups we had.

        Sure it would.

        …

        Mom and I car-pooled with a group of friends to Downtown Philadelphia because she was afraid to drive herself. Story of my life. And so, upon arriving, we entered the Convention Center, the place of the performance. I, to be honest, had no idea how formal and important it was. The fact that anyone could come and see was quite deterring, and you even had to pay to enter!

        A security guard checked for a green wristband to verify our admission as the performers. I was not expecting to see a room like the size of a football field split into rows with advertisements set up throughout each one. Yeah, it’s pretty dumb to even compete with these people, especially when they’re giving out free stuff. There was only one stage or the Global Beats Stage, and currently, a group of Arabian folkloric dancers occupied it. What bothered me the most was the amount of people that were leisurely walking along the isles, looking at different presentations of travel flights and cruises. Oops, I guess I should’ve changed out of my Oceania® shirt.

        So, an hour later, our turn was up. At the time, my hands had grown blisters on calluses from practicing the same trick over and over and over again. Then again, it was wise, as it was my first time ever doing a combination.

        The performance went south quite quickly when the youngest member of our crew let his Yo-Yo drop. I let mine drop as well. Oh, my goodness! Everything else was surprisingly smooth, but the peace would not last. My comb of tricks consisted of a swing over and behind my back, tossing the Yo-Yo around my arm, and a sequence called Crazy Arm v. 1 (look it up). The Yo-Yo swung over my head, buzzing with speed, and as it came back around, a slight shift in my balance caused a tremor to shake to strings. No problem for me, as all I needed to do was to adjust the angle of the sticks. A faint rubbing sound of the string and Yo-Yo was heard, and the catastrophe was avoided.

       After swinging it around one last time, the strings were twisted. That’s okay, since I just had to toss it up and quickly reverse the strings. Yeah, it didn’t really work.

        In the end, the Convention Center looked nice. I walked around with my friends, got free First Amend Mints, and ate some free cookies. It’s a rare occasion for me, as mom always seems to be busy when it comes to anything related to entering Philadelphia. Just saying, there should totally be a better way to reverse the strings while looking cool at the same time, because tossing it up really stinks and is annoying to catch.

【紅霞譯文】

        很明顯費城旅遊探險展並非擺攤賣藥，兩者迥然有異。

        賓州光華中文學校要帶空竹班參加旅遊探險展，對於老師布置的各項任務，我們向來服從指揮。

        但願這回空竹表演別像從前那樣老出亂子。

        想必台上出錯在所難免。

        …

        多虧媽媽對自身車技水平瞭如指掌，我倆才有幸搭乘朋友的車一同前往費城市中心，否則恐怕我又要有說不完的故事。剛抵達目的地，我們徑直奔向會展中心，也就是大家需要各施才藝的地方。坦率地說，事先我對展覽規模及其重要性毫無所知，眼瞅着人來人往不免心有餘悸，更何況你得買票入內。

        安檢人員一看到我們手脖子上佩戴的綠色腕帶便免費放行，我怎麼也想象不出宛若橄欖球場的大廳被間隔成若干條過道，廣告鋪天蓋地充斥着各個角落。沒錯，有誰敢跟這幫人比試高低，尤其他們不時發放免費物品。整個展廳僅僅搭設一處劇場──全球韻律舞台，眼下一群阿拉伯人正載歌載舞表演民族舞蹈。最令我糾結的是，多數參觀者悠哉游哉地東逛逛西瞧瞧，一來了解航行消息，二來詢問遊輪行程，嗨，我真不該身着“大洋”號遊輪汗衫來這裡招搖過市。

        一個鐘頭後，輪到我們登台。我的雙手因木棒摩擦早已老繭疊起水泡橫生，偏巧此時此刻我心血來潮，準備首次亮相一套花樣組合。

        隊裡最小的演員台上失手將空竹摔到地上，我也緊步後塵，真是活見鬼！表演繼續進行，其他演員表現得出奇地鎮定，但好景不長。我的花樣組合包括“鷂子翻身”，空竹從我頭上身後飛駛而過，轉眼間再跑到跟前沿胳膊旋轉。如上所及，這套新設計的動作被稱作“狂臂”初級版，空竹沿我腦袋瓜上方飛奔，鴿鈴呼呼作響，待它返回身旁，我有點失去平衡，結果引起線繩振顫，沒什麼大不了的問題，只要稍加調整木棒的角度即可，我隱約聽到一點線繩與空竹之間的摩擦聲，不過總算避免了災難性失誤。

        完成最後一輪“飛燕入雲”之後，線繩纏繞一團，但並無大礙，因為只要我向上抖動並快速逆向矯正線繩本應調整過來，可事情往往沒有那麼簡單。

        總而言之，會展中心看上去挺入眼的。我與朋友結伴溜達一圈，帶回來免費贈送的正宗薄荷糖，還吃了些不要錢的桃酥點心。對我來說，這種機會可遇不可求，因為每次媽媽進城都像趕集似的，匆匆而來匆匆而去。話說回剛才提到的線繩，其實確有更好的方法來解決捲曲問題，同時還顯得很酷，只是不能上拋空竹，否則接起來很難。