1. On the first day of school, Victor stood in line half an hour to finally be able to list his elective; French. He already spoke Spanish and English, but he thought someday he might travel to France, where it was cool and not so scorchinghot like in his hometown. Besides, Teresa, a girl he had liked since they were in school together, was taking French too. With any luck they would be in the same class. Teresa is going to be my girl this year, he promised himself as he left the gym full of students in their new fall clothes. She was cute. And good in math, too, Victor thought as he walked down the hall to his homeroom.
开学第一天，维克多排了半小时的队才报上了他选修的法语课。他会说西班牙语和英语，但他认为自己有朝一日会旅行去法国，去到那个非常棒且气温不像他的家乡那么炎热的国度。除此之外，他一直喜欢的那个跟他同校的女孩特蕾莎，也报了法语课。运气好的话，他们俩还能成为同班同学。特雷莎今年会成为我的女友，当他离开满是身着秋季校服的学生的体育馆时，向自己做了这样的保证。她很可爱，而且数学很好，维克多一边想着一边沿着走廊走向教室的方向 。
2. He ran into his friend, Michael Torres, by the water fountain. “How come you’re making a face?” asked Victor. “I ain’t making a face. This is my face.” Michael said his face had changed during the summer. He had read a magazine and noticed that the male models all had the same look on their faces. They would stand, one arm around a beautiful woman, and scowl. They would sit at the pool, their rippled stomachs dark with shadow, and scowl. They would sit at dinner tables, cool drinks in their hands, and scowl, “I think it works,” Michael said. “Belinda Reyes walked by a while ago and looked at me,” he said. Victor didn’t say anything, though he thought his friend looked pretty strange.
他在喷泉旁遇见了他的朋友迈克尔·托雷斯。“你为什么做鬼脸？”维克多问。“我没有做鬼脸。我本来就是这样的表情。”迈克尔说，他是暑假时变成现在这幅表情的。之前，他读过一本杂志，注意到男模特都是同样的表情。他们会一只手臂搂着一个漂亮姑娘，皱着眉头；他们会坐在游泳池旁，露着明暗分明的腹肌，皱着眉头；他们会坐在餐桌旁，手中握着一杯冷饮，皱着眉头。“我觉得这行得通，”迈克尔说，“贝琳达·雷耶斯刚刚从我身边经过，看了我一眼。”维克多什么也没说，尽管他觉得他的这位朋友看起来很奇怪。
3. They talked about recent movies, baseball, their parents, and the horrors of picking grapes in order to buy their fall clothes. “What classes are you taking?” Michael said, scowling. “French. How ‘bout you?” “Spanish. I ain’t so good at it, even if I’m Mexican." “I’m not either, but I’m better at it than math, that’s for sure.”
他们聊了最近上映的电影、棒球、各自的父母、以及为了买秋季校服而去采摘葡萄的惨状。“你要去上什么课？”迈克尔皱着眉头问道。“法语课。“你呢？”“西班牙语课。我西班牙语不太好，虽然我是墨西哥人。”“我也不太好，但肯定比数学还强点儿。”
4. A bell propelled students to their homerooms. The two friends went their ways, Victor thinking, man, that’s weird. Michael thinks making a face makes him handsome. On the way to his homeroom, Victor tried a scowl. He felt foolish, until out of the corner of his eye he saw a girl looking at him. Umm, he thought, maybe it does work. He scowled with greater conviction, and continued practicing this on the way to his first French class.
预备铃声催促学生们到各自的班里上课。当这对小伙伴走向他们各自教室的路上时，维克多心想：“迈克尔认为做鬼脸会让他变帅，伙计，这很奇怪啊。”维克多在去教室的路上，试着皱起了眉头。他觉得这很愚蠢，直到他用眼角的余光看到了一个女孩正看着他。“嗯，”他想，“也许这真管用。”于是，他更加坚定地皱起了眉头，并在去上第一堂法语课的路上继续练习着这项新技能。
5. They were among the last students to arrive in class, so all the good desks in the back had already been taken. Victor was forced to sit near the front, a few desks away from Teresa, while Mr. Bueller wrote French words on the chalkboard. The bell rang, and Mr. Bueller said, “Bonjour.” “Bonjour,” braved a few students. “Bonjour” Victor whispered. He wondered if Teresa heard him. Mr. Bueller said that if the students studied hard, at the end of the year they could go to France and be understood by the populace. One kid raised his hand and asked, “‘What’s ‘populace’?” "The people, the people of France.”
维克多是最后几个进班的，所以后面位置不错的课桌都已经被占了，只得被迫坐在了比较靠前，离特蕾莎几张课桌之遥的位置，与此同时布勒老师在黑板上写下了几个法语单词。上课铃响起，布勒老师说：“Bonjour。（同学们好）”“ Bonjour。（老师好）” 几个勇敢的学生跟着说道。“Bonjour。”维克多低声说。他不知道特蕾莎是否听到了自己的声音。布勒老师说，如果学生们努力学习法语，到年底时他们就可以去法国，他们说的话也能够被平民听懂。一个孩子举起手问：“什么是'平民'？”“平民就是人民，法国人民。”

6. Mr. Bueller asked if anyone knew French. Victor raised his hand, wanting to impress Teresa. The teacher beamed and said, “Tres bien. Parlez-vous francais?” Victor didn’t know what to say. The room grew silent. Victor felt all eyes staring at him. He tried to bluff his way out by making noises that sounded French. “La me vave me con le grandma,” he said uncertainly. Mr. Bueller, wrinkling his face in curiosity, asked him to speak up.
布勒老师问是否有人会法语。维克多举起手，想通过这种方式给特蕾莎留下深刻的印象。老师满脸堆笑着说：“Tres bien. Parlez-vous francais？（非常好，你会说法语吗？）”维克多不知道该怎么回答。教室变得一边寂静。维克多感到所有的目光都在盯着自己。于是，他试图通过发出听起来像法语的声音来蒙混过关。“La me vave me con le grandma。”他犹豫地如是说。布勒老师的脸上皱起了好奇的皱纹，并要求他大点儿声说。
7. Great rosebushes of red bloomed on Victor’s cheeks. A river of nervous sweat ran down his palms. He felt awful. Teresa sat a few desks away, no doubt thinking he was a fool. Without looking at Mr. Bueller, Victor mumbled, ‘Frenchie oh wewe gee in September.” Mr. Bueller understood that the boy didn’t know French and turned away. He walked to the blackboard and pointed to the words on the board with his steel-edged ruler. "Le bateau,” he sang. “Le bateau,” the students repeated. "Le bateau est sur l’eau,” he sang. “Le bateau est sur l’eau.”
维克多的脸颊上泛起了大片的玫红色。紧张的汗水顺着他的手掌流淌而下。他感觉很糟糕。特蕾莎就坐在几张课桌之遥的位置，很可能以为他是个傻瓜。维克多没看布勒老师，含糊地说：“ Frenchie oh wewe gee in September。” 布勒老师知道了这个男孩其实并不会法语，便转身走开了。他走到黑板前，用钢边直尺指着黑板上的法语字，读道：“ Le bateau。”学生们跟读道：“Le bateau。（船）”他继续读道：“Le bateau est sur l’eau。（船在水面上）”
8. Victor was too weak from failure to join the class. He stared at the board and wished he had taken Spanish, not French. Better yet, he wished he could start his life over. He had never been so embarrassed. The bell sounded and Victor shot out of the room, avoiding the stares of the other kids, but had to return for his math book. He looked sheepishly at the teacher, who was erasing the board, then widened his eyes in terror at Teresa who stood in front of him. “I didn’t know you knew French,” she said. “That was good.”
维克多因未能跟上全班同学的跟读节奏而感到内心非常无力。他盯着黑板，希望他当时选修的是西班牙语，而不是法语。他甚至更希望自己可以重新开始自己的生活。他从未如此尴尬过。下课铃声响起，维克多避开了班里所有其他孩子的目光，像子弹一样冲出了教室，但不得不再次回到教室去取落在那里的数学书。他羞怯地看着正在擦黑板的老师，然后当看到特雷莎正站在他面前时，睁大了双眼，露出了恐惧的神情。“我以前不知道你会法语，” 特蕾莎说，“你很棒。”
9. Mr. Bueller looked at Victor, and Victor looked back. Oh please, don’t say anything, Victor pleaded with his eyes. I’ll wash your car, mow your lawn, walk your dog-- anything! I'll be your best student, and I’ll clean your erasers after school. Mr. Bueller shuffled through the papers on his desk, He smiled and hummed as he sat down to work. He remembered his college years when he dated a girlfriend in borrowed cars. She thought he was rich because each time he picked her up he had a different car. It was fun until he had spent all his money on her and had to write home to his parents because he was broke.
布勒老师看着维克多，维克多也看着布勒老师。“哦，求求您了，什么也别说，”维克多用他的眼神恳求道，“我会给您洗车，帮您家修剪草坪，帮您遛狗——干什么都行！我会成为您最好的学生，而且放学后会帮您清理黑板擦。”布勒老师随便翻阅着讲桌上的试卷，然后微笑着，哼着曲子坐下来开始了自己的工作——他此时记起了他上大学时借车去约会女孩的事情。那个女孩认为他很有钱，因为每次他接她时都开着不同的车。这很有趣，直到他把所有的钱都花在这个女孩身上，并写信给家里的父母，因为他已经身无分文了。
10. Victor couldn’t stand to look at Teresa. He was sweaty with shame. “Yeah, well, I picked up a few things from movies and books and stuff like that.” They left the class together. Teresa asked him if he would help her with her French. "Sure, anytime,” Victor said. “I won’t be bothering you, will I?” "Oh no, I like being bothered.” “Bonjour,” Teresa said, leaving him outside her next class. She smiled and pushed wisps of hair from her face.
维克多不敢直视特蕾莎。他正因为羞愧而流着汗。“嗯，是的，我从电影、书这类的材料上学了一些。”他们一起离开了教室。特雷莎问他是否愿意帮她学习法语。“当然可以。”维克多说。“我不会打扰到你，对吧？”“哦，不会的，我喜欢被打扰。”“Bonjour。”特雷莎说，同时微笑着，拂开了散落在她面颊上的几缕秀发，走进了她下节课的教室，留下维克多站在教室门口。
11. "Yeah, right, bonjour,” Victor said. He turned and headed to his class. The rosebuds of shame on his face became bouquets of love. Teresa is a great girl, he thought. And Mr. Bueller is a good guy. He raced to the public library, where he checked out three French textbooks.
“嗯，好的，bonjour。”维克多说。然后，他便转身朝着自己的教室走去。他脸颊上泛起的羞耻的玫红色变成了爱的花束的颜色。他心想，特蕾莎是个好女孩；布勒老师是位好老师。他跑到了公共图书馆，从那里借走了三本法语教科书。
He was going to like seventh grade.
他开始喜欢上自己的七年级了。