Unit 9: Jasmine and Tony Roller Blade at School

社團法人彰化縣人師教育協會中級閱讀第四冊 www.twrses.org/ Intermediate-Book4

Unit 9: Jasmine and Tony Roller Blade at School “I can hardly wait to get to school today,” Jasmine said excitedly. “Why is that?” her friend Tony asked. “Usually you are the last one to class every day.” “But today is Fun Day,” she answered. “And we get to go rollerblading.1” “Rollerblading? I’ve never heard of that before?” Tony admitted. “What!” Jasmine exclaimed.2 “Were you born in the forest and raised by wolves or something? Everybody knows what rollerblading is.” “Sorry, I’m not up on all the ‘hip’ things to do. It’s not my fault,” Tony claimed in defense of3 his ignorance.4 “Anyway, I’ll tell you all about it on the way to school so that you don’t look like a complete5 fool,” Jasmine told him. As they walked, Jasmine explained about rollerblading. She told him how rollerblades were sort of like ice-skates and sort of like roller-skates. They have wheels6 like roller-skates, but the wheels are thinner and have a larger diameter.7 Also, the wheels are set in a line which gives them more of an ice-skate feel. This is also why they are sometimes called inline-skates.8 When the children arrived at school, they made their way to the schoolyard. Most of the class was already there suiting up.9 Besides putting on the skates, they also had to wear protective10 gear11 like elbow pads, kneepads, a helmet and special gloves to protect the palms of their hands. Jasmine and Tony got ready with the rest of the class. The school had hired an instructor12 to teach them the fundamentals13 of rollerblading. A few of the kids already knew how to do it, but most of them were very unsteady14 on rollerblades and looked like they would fall down at any second. It was a good thing that everyone was wearing protection or there would have been a lot of bruised15 knees and scraped16 elbows the next day.

1 社團法人彰化縣人師教育協會中級閱讀第四冊 www.twrses.org/ Intermediate-Book4

After a few tips, the kids were practicing by swerving17 around small obstacles18 on a course19 that had been set up. They were still a little shaky, but seemed to be getting the hang of it.20 Tony wobbled21 over to Jasmine, nearly crashing into her. He had a gigantic22 smile on his face. “Wow, this is so much fun!” he chirped23 happily to his friend. “I’m going to have to go out and buy a pair of these things for myself.” “I told you it was fun,” Jasmine said. “Maybe we should both get our own and we can skate to school every morning.” “Yeah and that way you won’t be late every day, too,” Tony laughed. “Very funny, Mr. Smarty-pants,”24 Jasmine chuckled.25 “But you’re probably right.” The two spent the rest of the day playing without a care in the world. They had found something in common that they both loved…roller-blading.

Questions: 1. Why was Jasmine so excited to get to school today? 2. Who did the school hire to teach them about roller-blading? 3. How much did Tony like roller-blading?

【生字及片語】 1. go rollerblading (ph.) 溜冰 14. unsteady (adj.) 不平穩的 2. exclaim (v.) 大聲叫 15. bruised (adj.) 瘀青的 3. in defense of (ph.) 辯護 16. scrape (v.) 擦傷 4. ignorance (n.) 無知 17. swerve (v.) 轉向 5. complete (adj.) 完全的 18. obstacle (n.) 障礙物 6. wheel (n.) 輪子 19. course (n.) 場地 7. diameter (n.) 直徑 20. get the hang of it (ph.) 抓到訣竅 8. inline-skates (n.) 直排輪 21. wobble (v.) 搖搖擺擺 9. suit up (ph.) 著裝 22. gigantic (adj.) 巨大的 10. protective (adj.) 保護的 23. chirp (v.) 磯磯喳喳地說 11. gear (n.) 裝備 24. smarty-pant (n.) 自作聰明的人 12. instructor (n.) 指導員 25. chuckle (v.) 咯咯地笑 13. fundamental (n.) 基本動作

【翻譯】

「我今天已經等不及要去上學了。」賈斯敏興奮的說。「為什麼呢？」她的朋友東尼問。「通常妳每天都是班上最晚到的。」「但是今天是趣味競賽的日子。」她回答。「而且我們可以溜直排輪。」「直排輪？我以前從來沒有聽過這個名詞？」東尼他承認。「什麼！」賈斯敏大叫。「你是在森林出生，被狼撫養長大的還是怎樣？大家都知道什麼是直排輪。」「不好意思，我對這些比較新潮的東西比較不熟悉，這不是我的錯。」東尼為他的無知辯解的說。「好的，無論如何我會在到學校的途中跟你說明一下，你才不會看起來像個十足的大笨蛋。」賈斯敏對他說。當他們在走路時，賈斯敏便解釋有關直排輪的種種。她告訴他直排輪有點像冰刀，又有點像輪式溜冰鞋。它的輪子像輪式溜冰鞋，但輪子比較細，而且直徑比較大。此外，直排輪的輪子裝在同一條線上，使它比較有冰刀的感覺，這就是為什麼它們有時候也會被稱為「inline-skates」。(註：inline 就是在一條線上的意思，說明了直排輪這個名稱的由來。直排輪另外一個名稱是 rollerblade，blade 的意思是刀片，因為輪子的排列方式像冰刀。) 當他們到達學校之後，他們便走到操場。班上大部分的同學已經在著裝了。除了穿上直排輪，他們也得穿上了護具，像是護肘、護膝、安全帽，和特別設計的手套來保護手掌。賈斯敏、東尼還有班上其餘的同學都準備好了。學校聘請一個教練來教他們直排輪的基本動作。有一些小孩已經知道怎麼溜了，但大部分溜直排輪時還是很不穩定，而且看起來像是隨時都會跌倒。還好每個人都有穿戴護具，否則隔天就會有很多人膝蓋瘀青或是手肘擦傷。在教練教導一些技巧之後，小朋友練習在場上擺設的小障礙物之間穿梭。他們仍然有點搖晃不穩，但似乎是抓到要領了。東尼搖搖晃晃走到賈斯敏那裡，差一點就撞到她。他臉上笑得非常燦爛。「哇，這真是非常有趣！」他像小鳥一樣嘰嘰喳喳快樂地對著他的朋友說。「我一定要自己買一雙溜冰鞋。」「我之前就跟你說過這是很好玩的。」賈斯敏說。「或許我們應該都去買一雙自己的直排輪，這樣我們就可以每天溜冰上學。」「對呀，這樣你就不會每天遲到了。」東尼笑著說。「非常好笑，自作聰明的先生。」賈斯敏咯咯的笑。「但是或許你是對的。」他們那天其餘的時間都無憂無慮地玩溜冰。他們找到兩個人共同的喜好，就是溜直排輪。

Answers: 1. Because it was Fun Day. 2. They hired an instructor. 3. He liked it so much that he wanted to go out and buy a pair of his own.