Eleanor Estes

旺達(dá)。佩特羅斯基有著一個(gè)奇怪的名字和一條舊裙子，這些都是同學(xué)們捉弄她的原因。有一天，旺達(dá)突然聲稱(chēng)家里有一百條裙子，這會(huì)給旺達(dá)帶來(lái)什么改變嗎？

Wanda Petronski. Most of the children in Room 13 didn't have names like that.? They had names easy to say， like Thomas， Smith， or Alien. There was one boy named Bounce， Willie Bounce， and people thought that was funny but not funny in the same way that Petronski was.

Wanda didn't have any friends. She came to school alone and went home alone. She always wore a lfaded blue dress that didn'thang right. It was clean， but it looked as though it had never been ironed properly. She didn't have any friends， but a lot of girls talked to her. They waited for her under the maple trees on the corner of Oliver Street. Or they 2）surrounded her in the school yard as she stood watching some littlegirls play hopscotch on the worn hard ground.

“Wanda，" Peggy would say in a most 3courteous manner，as though she were talking to Miss Mason or to the 4principal perhaps.“Wanda，" she'd say， giving one of her friends a nudge， "tell us. How many dresses did you say you had hanging up in your closet？"

“A hundred，" said Wanda.

“A hundred！” exclaimed all the girls incredulously， and the little girls would stop playing hopscotch and listen.

“Yeah， a hundred， all lined up，" said Wanda. Then her thin lips drew together in silence.

1） fade 【feld】 v.褪色;衰退

2） surround 【sa'raund】 v.圍繞

3） courteous 【k3：ties】 adj.有禮貌的

4） principal 【'prnsep（e）】n.校長(zhǎng)

旺達(dá)。佩特羅斯基，十三班里的孩子們沒(méi)人有這么奇怪的名字。他們的名字都朗朗上口，像托馬斯、史密斯或是亞倫。有一個(gè)男孩叫鮑恩斯一威利。鮑恩斯一大家都覺(jué)得這個(gè)名字很滑稽，但跟“佩特羅斯基”這個(gè)名字的滑稽還不太一樣。

旺達(dá)沒(méi)有什么朋友。無(wú)論是上學(xué)還是回家，她都獨(dú)來(lái)獨(dú)往。她經(jīng)常穿一件褪了色、晾得變了形的藍(lán)裙子，盡管很干凈，但一看就知道從來(lái)沒(méi)有好好熨燙過(guò)。她雖然沒(méi)有朋友，卻有很多女孩跟她說(shuō)話。她們會(huì)站在奧利弗大街拐角處的楓樹(shù)下等她，或者當(dāng)她在學(xué)校操場(chǎng)上看別的女孩玩“跳房子”時(shí)將她團(tuán)團(tuán)圍住。

佩琪總會(huì)用一種特別謙和的語(yǔ)調(diào)跟旺達(dá)講話，就好像她是在和梅森老師或是在和校長(zhǎng)講話一樣?！巴_(dá)，”她會(huì)一邊說(shuō)著話一邊碰碰她身邊的同伴兒，“跟我們說(shuō)說(shuō)，你曾經(jīng)說(shuō)過(guò)你的衣柜里掛著多少條裙子來(lái)著？”

“一百條?！蓖_(dá)回答說(shuō)。

“一百條！”周?chē)呐⒍技饨兄硎緫岩桑瓦B在一旁玩“跳房子”的女孩們也停下來(lái)聽(tīng)她們說(shuō)話了。

“嗯，一百條，全部都是掛起來(lái)的?！蓖_(dá)說(shuō)道。 然后她就閉上薄薄的嘴唇陷入了沉默。