2016-06-13

【Aiden in English】

        The seventh grade is over. Obviously, I am very happy. However, it seems as though school has carried on through summer. Course advancement, summer reading… all factors of a stressful environment. Being self-motivated to do easy stuff is boring, no that school isn’t, but at least there is someone to talk to. The seventh grade also was quite simple. There wasn’t much to do in the end. Although Finals were here, they weren’t hard, and even with awards, they weren’t worth anything until the latter years of school. So what was the point of the seventh grade?

        As I progressed through the school year, many things began to change about how I saw things. Understand that Pennbrook is an enormous public school, so your attention to kids is short. The ongoing of the school year has changed me so that I step out to be heard, but not for obnoxious reasons. Speaking up is now a priority to be noticed by teachers, which is always important. Unfortunately, the idea of studying is still a strange and uncharted one to me. What’s the point when I get straight A’s anyway? The seventh grade has taught me how life is … optional. We were presented choices this year, or, in the teacher’s jargon, “privileges”. Unlike the previous years, lunch and clothing weren’t the only options we had. Courses could be selected for next year, as well as course advancement. Looking back at the course advancement choice offered in the NPSD, I realize what a mistake it was. It demands a lot of work, especially when you’re on vacation for half of the available time. I also selected next year’s Latin language and the gifted program. That leads me to my second point. The gifted program used to be fun. Not school fun, but the mess around a type of fun. Solar-powered cars and castles were all in the curriculum, which haves me wondering how in the world we were graded. The gifted program in middle school is simply a replacement of literacy, just much, much harder. Grades were also much more exact.

        Choices require much responsibility. Not that I have much, but it is a cliché phrase to say. Now that I think about it, it seems as I’ve lost a total of three books. I found them all later, mind you, but it applies a certain amount of pressure to your shoulders when you carry around the burden of a lost item. Mad moms are also a pain as well. Luckily, none were overdue to the library. This particularly gave me practice for stress, although it really shouldn’t have happened in the first place. Some other interesting things have occurred, but I believe the seventh grade will be the least interesting of the three grades in middle school. Life was really simple, nothing overly complex, excluding the obvious procrastination.

        I understand that if you’re too good for something, you aren’t doing it correctly, but to be fair, there is no way to learn correctly. My teachers apparently disagree with my thought process at school. Two, after seeing 99% averages, told me that I was “slacking”.

【红霞译文】

        初中二年级结束了，无疑我甚感兴奋。学校生活虽说告一段落，但好像又贯穿整个夏季，预修课程、暑期阅读……五花八门的外界压力，想要主动干点力所能及的事情又觉得没劲，上学的时候哪有这般乏味，至少有人唠唠嗑聊聊天。初中二年级的日子相当好混，而且越到学年末了越少新鲜玩艺，尽管期末考试接踵而来，但其难度不大，因此就算荣膺几项奖励，也没啥好捭阖的，毕竟学生生涯中未来发展才彰显英雄本色，那么初二到底有什么收获？

        过去一年里，随着时间推移，我看待事物的观点逐步发生了变化，要知道宾溪中学属于本州范围内规模巨大的公立学校，每位学生所得到的关心可谓少之又少，因此我得努力抒发自己的心声，避免采取消极态度。现在看来，第一点就是先要赢得老师的认可，这是放之四海而皆准的真理，遗憾的是，本人缺乏悟性，始终处于学习阶段。是否有必要各门功课全优？初二让我领悟到生活……丰富多彩，摆在我们面前的选择很多，用老师的话来说即所谓的“特权”。过去低年级的时候，我们除了午餐和穿衣有话语权之外，对其它事情均不能自作主张。如今我们非但亲自选择下学年要学的东西，就连暑假预修课程都由个人说了算。提到暑期班，我认为自己一时疏忽，北宾州学区暑假所开设的课程需要付诸大量精力，假如你有一半时间出外度假，那么剩下的日子当该自找苦吃。下学年我还要学拉丁语上智优课，恰好引出第二个重点，小学的智优课比较有趣，跟普通教学不同，它侧重动手操作, 从铜墙铁壁到太阳能汽车，古往今来全部纳入强化范围，我心里禁不住嘀咕这下老师该如何打分。初中的智优课基本上围绕阅读写作，只不过难度加大，成绩单打分精确到位。

        多为选择负责，这不是发自本人肺腑的感受，而是大家公认的至理名言。回首过去一年往事，我前后好像丢过三本书，后来倒是完璧归赵。咱有言在先，肩上一下子增加这么大的负荷真有点吃不消，惹得妈妈着急上火，同样令我抓狂，侥幸没有一本书过期还给图书馆，期间我的抗压能力也得到了磨练，当然类似事件本来不该发生。还有其它一些这样那样的搞笑，但我坚信初二是初中三年生涯里最为平庸的阶段，暂且撇开拖沓不谈，生活按部就班，没有特别复杂的东西。

        我明白，倘若你在某个方面具有特长，那么反倒缺乏动力追求精益求精，不过公正地说，学习好坏并不能用对与错来加以区分。老师们似乎并不认同我的观点，其中有两位竟然把我平均分数99%归咎于“偷懒”的结果。