Page 75-79
New Words
1. trust
(相信)
2. risk
(冒險)
3. shut
(關閉)
4. a list
(清單)
5. failing
(失敗)
6. darted
(狂奔)
7. topics
(主題)
8. throw up
(嘔吐)
9. qualities
(氣質)
10. suggested
(建議)
11. restlessly
(慌張的)
12. on purpose
(故意)
13. appreciate
(感激)
14. good grades
(好成績)
15. mean and nasty
(討厭)
16. hesitatingly
(吞吞吐吐地)
17. trick questions
(腦筋急轉彎)
18. homework assignments
(家庭作業)
19. I have confidence in you
(我對你有信心)
20. a pleasure to see you
(很高興看到你)
Definitions
1.
being with you makes me happy,
I feel good when I meet you 
2.
feeling thankful
about something
3.
asking something in a way
that fools someone,
wanting someone
to get the wrong answer
4.
to believe in someone,
thinking a person is good and true
5.
what a person is like,
the good or bad things about someone
6.
when food suddenly moves up
from the stomach
and out of the mouth
7.
when something is closed,
made something close
8.
moved around quickly,
making short or quick
or sudden movements
9.
doing something in a way
that shows you can’t sit still,
moving all the time
10.
when a person is
horrible to other people,
doing things to make people sad
11.
not passing tests,
getting a very low score for tests,
not succeeding
12.
doing something in a way
that shows you are not sure,
stopping and starting
13.
work that you have to do
by yourself outside of the classroom,
tasks
14.
gave someone an idea,
told someone how
to do something,
gave advice
15.
planned,
doing something
because you plan to do it,
not by mistake
16.
doing well in tests,
getting good scores,
having good results at school
17.
thinking that a person can do well,
being sure of a person’s ability
18.
words written one under
the other on a piece of paper
19.
story titles,
information about different things
20.
taking a chance,
doing something that
could be a little dangerous
Page 75-79
Page 75
“Hello, Bradley,” said Carla. “It’s a pleasure to see you today. I appreciate your coming to see me.” She held out her hand.
“I punched myself in the eye,” he said as he walked past her. He didn’t want her thinking someone else gave it to him. “I’m the only one who can beat me up.”
“Did it hurt?” she asked.
“No,” he said, sitting at the round table. “Nobody can hurt me. Not even me.”
She sat across from him. She was wearing a light blue shirt with yellow mice running all over it. The shirt was the same color as her eyes. The mice were the same color as her hair.
“I wanted to hit somebody,” he explained as he stared at her shirt. “But if I hit another kid, I would have gotten in trouble, so I hit myself.”
“Why’d you want to hit somebody?”
“Because I hate him.”
“Who?”
“Everybody.”
“Is that why you hit yourself? Do you hate yourself?”
He didn’t answer. He thought it was another one of her trick questions.
Page 76
“Do you like yourself?” she asked.
He didn’t trust that question either.
“Maybe the reason you say you don’t like anybody else is because you really don’t like yourself.”
“I like myself,” he said. “You’re the one I don’t like!”
“Tell me some things about yourself that you like.”
He glared at her.
“I like you,” she said. “I think you have lots of good qualities. But I want you to tell me things you like about yourself.”
“I can’t talk anymore,” he said.
“Why not?”
“I’m sick. The doctor said I can’t talk. The more I talk, the sicker I get.”
“That sounds serious.”
“It is! I’ve probably said too much already, and it’s your fault. I’ll probably throw up.”
Carla nodded. “Don’t say another word,” she said quietly. “We’ll just sit together in silence. Sometimes people can learn a lot about each other just by sitting together in silence.”
She locked her mouth shut, then opened it to swallow the key.
“You’re weird,” said Bradley.
“A lot of people tell me that,” she admitted, then put her finger to her lips.
They sat together in silence. Bradley shifted in his chair. His eyes darted restlessly around the room.
He put his hands behind his head and leaned back, then brought his hands out in front of him and folded them. Then he unfolded them.
Page 77
He didn’t like sitting together in silence. He thought she was probably learning too much about him.
“I can probably talk a little bit,” he said.
“No, I don’t want you to get sick,” said Carla. “I like you too much.”
“The doctor says I’m supposed to talk a little, just not a lot.”
“All right. Shall we talk about school?”
“No! The doctor says if I talk about school, I’ll die!”
Carla frowned. “That’s a problem,” she said. “See, as part of my job, I’m supposed to help you do better in school. But how can I help you if we can’t even talk about it?”
Bradley put his fingers to his chin and thought it over. “I know!” he said. “Just tell everybody that you tried to help me, but I wouldn’t let you. Tell them that I was too mean and nasty. That’s it. Tell them I said I’d spit on you.”
“Oh no, I couldn’t say that about you,” said Carla. “You’re too nice.”
“They’ll believe you,” he assured her.
“It doesn’t matter whether they believe me or not,” said Carla. “I’d know it was a lie.”
“So?”
“So when you tell a lie, the only person you’re lying to is yourself.”
He didn’t see anything wrong with that.
If you’re only lying to yourself, and you know it’s a lie, then it doesn’t matter.
“I just wish I knew why a smart kid like you keeps failing.”
Page 78
“It’s because Mrs. Ebbel doesn’t like me,” said Bradley.
“Shh!” said Carla. “Don’t talk about it!”
“Well, I can probably talk about school a little bit without dying,” he said.
“O-kay,” Carla said hesitatingly, “but as soon as you feel even a little bit like dying, let me know and we’ll stop.”
They talked about school for about fifteen minutes before Bradley felt like dying.
Carla pointed out that the same questions that were on the tests were also on his homework assignments.
She suggested that if he did his homework, the tests might be easy for him.
“The tests are easy,” he told her. “I could get a hundred if I wanted. I’m the oldest kid in the class. I answer all the questions wrong on purpose.”
“You want to know what I think?” asked Carla. “I think you would like to get good grades. I think that the only reason you say you want to fail is because you’re afraid to try.
You’re afraid that even if you try, you’ll still fail.”
“I’m not afraid of anything,” said Bradley.
“I think you’re afraid of yourself,” said Carla. “But you shouldn’t be. I have lots of confidence in you, Bradley. I know you’d do so well, if only you’d try. I can help you. We can help each other. We can try together.”
It was then that he told her he couldn’t talk about school anymore or else he’d die.
She thanked him for talking about it as much as he had.
Page 79
“You were very brave,” she said.
She suggested that for their next meeting he make a list of topics to discuss so that they wouldn’t have to risk talking about school again.
“Is that homework?” he asked.
“No-o-o,” she assured him. “You don’t even have to put your name at the top.”
“Good,” said Bradley. He was glad it wasn’t homework. It was time to return to class.
“Thank you for sharing so much with me today,” Carla said to him. “I enjoyed your visit very much.” She held out her hand.
He stuck his hands in his pockets and walked out of her office.
The End
ThEnd