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.

【红霞译文】

        很明显费城旅游探险展并非摆摊卖药，两者迥然有异。

        宾州光华中文学校要带空竹班参加旅游探险展，对于老师布置的各项任务，我们向来服从指挥。

        但愿这回空竹表演别像从前那样老出乱子。

        想必台上出错在所难免。

        …

        多亏妈妈对自身车技水平了如指掌，我俩才有幸搭乘朋友的车一同前往费城市中心，否则恐怕我又要有说不完的故事。刚抵达目的地，我们径直奔向会展中心，也就是大家需要各施才艺的地方。坦率地说，事先我对展览规模及其重要性毫无所知，眼瞅着人来人往不免心有余悸，更何况你得买票入内。

        安检人员一看到我们手脖子上佩戴的绿色腕带便免费放行，我怎么也想象不出宛若橄榄球场的大厅被间隔成若干条过道，广告铺天盖地充斥着各个角落。没错，有谁敢跟这帮人比试高低，尤其他们不时发放免费物品。整个展厅仅仅搭设一处剧场──全球韵律舞台，眼下一群阿拉伯人正载歌载舞表演民族舞蹈。最令我纠结的是，多数参观者悠哉游哉地东逛逛西瞧瞧，一来了解航行消息，二来询问游轮行程，嗨，我真不该身着“大洋”号游轮汗衫来这里招摇过市。

        一个钟头后，轮到我们登台。我的双手因木棒摩擦早已老茧叠起水泡横生，偏巧此时此刻我心血来潮，准备首次亮相一套花样组合。

        队里最小的演员台上失手将空竹摔到地上，我也紧步后尘，真是活见鬼！表演继续进行，其他演员表现得出奇地镇定，但好景不长。我的花样组合包括“鹞子翻身”，空竹从我头上身后飞驶而过，转眼间再跑到跟前沿胳膊旋转。如上所及，这套新设计的动作被称作“狂臂”初级版，空竹沿我脑袋瓜上方飞奔，鸽铃呼呼作响，待它返回身旁，我有点失去平衡，结果引起线绳振颤，没什么大不了的问题，只要稍加调整木棒的角度即可，我隐约听到一点线绳与空竹之间的摩擦声，不过总算避免了灾难性失误。

        完成最后一轮“飞燕入云”之后，线绳缠绕一团，但并无大碍，因为只要我向上抖动并快速逆向矫正线绳本应调整过来，可事情往往没有那么简单。

        总而言之，会展中心看上去挺入眼的。我与朋友结伴溜达一圈，带回来免费赠送的正宗薄荷糖，还吃了些不要钱的桃酥点心。对我来说，这种机会可遇不可求，因为每次妈妈进城都像赶集似的，匆匆而来匆匆而去。话说回刚才提到的线绳，其实确有更好的方法来解决卷曲问题，同时还显得很酷，只是不能上抛空竹，否则接起来很难。