今天遊輪海上航行，我有機會首次親臨8─12歲年齡組少年活動中心。 

      Today our ship was cruising at sea and it became my first day in Youth Center for ages 8-12 on board.

      This morning at breakfast, I just could barely sit still and wait till 9 O'clock because I was going to take Youth Program. The omelet I ordered wasn't too good, but even that couldn't hold down my excitement! As we entered a room that marked SHOCKWAVE, I noticed other children inside. I guessed it was the youth center. The room looked smaller than I imagined and had pink walls, computers, a Play Station 3 and a lot of impressive Lego structures.

      早餐時，我激動得再也坐不住了，恨不能九點鐘開門之前就趕去少年中心參加活動。煎蛋做得並非可口好吃，但絲毫未影響自己的情緒！當走近標有“衝擊波”字樣的房間，發現裡面已有不少孩子，我相信這正是要來的地方。少年活動中心看上去不大，四周牆壁呈粉色，從計算機、索尼第三款電視遊戲機到多種有趣的樂高積木應有盡有。

      The first activity was a Lego competition, which I thought it was totally unfair to me because most of the other children boarded this cruise ship in San Francisco 2 weeks earlier and had already finished ahead of me! Nevertheless, I had a fun time playing with Legos. It sounded unusual to me since Legos weren't my type. Time did fly by quickly when I played. Before I knew it, I was sitting in front of a table with a table cloth on my leg across from mom who came to pick me up during the lunch break.

      第一項活動是搭建樂高積木比賽，我覺得比賽對像我這樣剛剛登船的人來說非常不公，因為大部分孩子兩個星期前從舊金山起航，半個月來已經圓滿完成規定項目。不過，我玩得非常開心，雖然樂高積木算不上我熱衷的玩藝。時間過得飛快，尤其玩遊戲的時候。不知不覺地，媽媽坐進我遊戲桌前。午休時間到了。

      At lunch, I got a bowl of clam chowder which was my favorite. This one was the best so far I ever tasted in my life. Just as I thought, the waiter added those little crunchy crackers dissolved in my mouth. For the main course, I had delicious steak sandwich loaves with onions and French fries. When served on fresh-baked rustic French bread tossed in melted cheddar cheese, the steak sounded still sizzling! My mom insisted a picture, but I was so tempted that I almost felt like punching her. I didn't reject it because she sometimes got a temper for my objection. I was able to hold still for one shot before wolfing down pieces of both sandwich and fries. The other people stared at me like "Who was this kid?" I didn't mind much.

      我一向喜歡牡蠣雜燴濃湯，於是，先來了一碗作為午餐頭台開胃小吃，味道甭提有多鮮美噴香，可以說我有生以來喝到的最棒的一次。服務生在其表面撒些細脆餅乾，我一含在嘴裡就化了。主菜上的是牛排三明治外加洋蔥薯條，牛排澆上溶化的切達奶酪，夾在新出爐的法式麵包中間，活像鐵板燒！媽媽堅持要先拍張照片以示記念，此刻我“飢”不可待，什麼要求都得靠邊站。但我沒敢拒絕，否則她會着急上火，叫我吃不了也兜不走。我強作笑顏，拍完一張之後，二話不說立刻狼吞虎咽起來。鄰座的餐友投來詫異的目光，好像發問：“這是誰家的孩子？”我一點都不在乎。

      Just as planned, I went straight back to Youth Center and mom wanted to watch Tango Show in Princess Plaza right after the meal. There was an ice cream social party this afternoon. I had some amazing good ice cream with sprinkles, marshmallows, and drenched with chocolate syrup. A few people joined us after the party. One was a girl and the other two were boys. They only spoke Spanish which made it almost impossible to communicate with each other. After trying to learn their complicated names, all of us settled down to play PS3 together. We chose Cartoon Network and basically had to knock other players off the screen with some strange characters that were popular on CN. The game was almost as addicting as smoking! Our eyes were glued to the screen and we didn't really care what was going on outside of the game room. Finally, when I chalked up my 7^th defeat against my new friends, I left with my mom for dinner.

      按照原定計劃，吃罷午飯我直接返回少年活動中心，參加下午舉行的冰激凌社交聚會；媽媽則去“公主”廣場觀賞探戈舞蹈。我手拿冰激凌大作文章，先撒些彩色糖粒及棉花糖，再澆一層巧克力糖漿，誘人好吃。有一位女孩和兩位男孩來的很晚，他們只說西班牙語，彼此交流起來非常吃力。好不容易學叫名字之後，我們終於圍坐在索尼第三款電視遊戲機前，一起鑽進“動畫網”光盤之中，大家要設法把遊戲裡出現的怪物趕出熒屏，而這些怪物恰好都是美國電視“動畫網” 頻道廣為人知的明星。遊戲真的跟抽煙一樣，太容易叫人上癮！一旦與遊戲較上勁來，眼睛好像被膠水黏到了電視屏幕，我們對遊戲以外的東西視而不見，聞而不聽。我便是其中一例，直到贏過第七場交鋒之後，才跟媽媽一起去吃晚飯。

(二O一二年十二月廿三日)