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.
開學第一天，維克多排了半小時的隊才報上了他選修的法語課。他會說西班牙語和英語，但他認為自己有朝一日會旅行去法國，去到那個非常棒且氣溫不像他的家鄉那么炎熱的國度。除此之外，他一直喜歡的那個跟他同校的女孩特蕾莎，也報了法語課。運氣好的話，他們倆還能成為同班同學。特雷莎今年會成為我的女友，當他離開滿是身著秋季校服的學生的體育館時，向自己做了這樣的保證。她很可愛，而且數學很好，維克多一邊想著一邊沿著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.
他在噴泉旁遇見了他的朋友邁克爾·托雷斯。“你為什么做鬼臉？”維克多問。“我沒有做鬼臉。我本來就是這樣的表情。”邁克爾說，他是暑假時變成現在這幅表情的。之前，他讀過一本雜志，注意到男模特都是同樣的表情。他們會一只手臂摟著一個漂亮姑娘，皺著眉頭；他們會坐在游泳池旁，露著明暗分明的腹肌，皺著眉頭；他們會坐在餐桌旁，手中握著一杯冷飲，皺著眉頭。“我覺得這行得通，”邁克爾說，“貝琳達·雷耶斯剛剛從我身邊經過，看了我一眼。”維克多什么也沒說，盡管他覺得他的這位朋友看起來很奇怪。
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.”
他們聊了最近上映的電影、棒球、各自的父母、以及為了買秋季校服而去采摘葡萄的慘狀。“你要去上什么課？”邁克爾皺著眉頭問道。“法語課。“你呢？”“西班牙語課。我西班牙語不太好，雖然我是墨西哥人。”“我也不太好，但肯定比數學還強點兒。”
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.
預備鈴聲催促學生們到各自的班里上課。當這對小伙伴走向他們各自教室的路上時，維克多心想：“邁克爾認為做鬼臉會讓他變帥，伙計，這很奇怪啊。”維克多在去教室的路上，試著皺起了眉頭。他覺得這很愚蠢，直到他用眼角的余光看到了一個女孩正看著他。“嗯，”他想，“也許這真管用。”于是，他更加堅定地皺起了眉頭，并在去上第一堂法語課的路上繼續練習著這項新技能。
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.”
維克多是最后幾個進班的，所以后面位置不錯的課桌都已經被占了，只得被迫坐在了比較靠前，離特蕾莎幾張課桌之遙的位置，與此同時布勒老師在黑板上寫下了幾個法語單詞。上課鈴響起，布勒老師說：“Bonjour。（同學們好）”“ Bonjour。（老師好）” 幾個勇敢的學生跟著說道。“Bonjour。”維克多低聲說。他不知道特蕾莎是否聽到了自己的聲音。布勒老師說，如果學生們努力學習法語，到年底時他們就可以去法國，他們說的話也能夠被平民聽懂。一個孩子舉起手問：“什么是'平民'？”“平民就是人民，法國人民。”

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.
布勒老師問是否有人會法語。維克多舉起手，想通過這種方式給特蕾莎留下深刻的印象。老師滿臉堆笑著說：“Tres bien. Parlez-vous francais？（非常好，你會說法語嗎？）”維克多不知道該怎么回答。教室變得一邊寂靜。維克多感到所有的目光都在盯著自己。于是，他試圖通過發出聽起來像法語的聲音來蒙混過關。“La me vave me con le grandma。”他猶豫地如是說。布勒老師的臉上皺起了好奇的皺紋，并要求他大點兒聲說。
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.”
維克多的臉頰上泛起了大片的玫紅色。緊張的汗水順著他的手掌流淌而下。他感覺很糟糕。特蕾莎就坐在幾張課桌之遙的位置，很可能以為他是個傻瓜。維克多沒看布勒老師，含糊地說：“ Frenchie oh wewe gee in September。” 布勒老師知道了這個男孩其實并不會法語，便轉身走開了。他走到黑板前，用鋼邊直尺指著黑板上的法語字，讀道：“ Le bateau。”學生們跟讀道：“Le bateau。（船）”他繼續讀道：“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.”
維克多因未能跟上全班同學的跟讀節奏而感到內心非常無力。他盯著黑板，希望他當時選修的是西班牙語，而不是法語。他甚至更希望自己可以重新開始自己的生活。他從未如此尷尬過。下課鈴聲響起，維克多避開了班里所有其他孩子的目光，像子彈一樣沖出了教室，但不得不再次回到教室去取落在那里的數學書。他羞怯地看著正在擦黑板的老師，然后當看到特雷莎正站在他面前時，睜大了雙眼，露出了恐懼的神情。“我以前不知道你會法語，” 特蕾莎說，“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.
布勒老師看著維克多，維克多也看著布勒老師。“哦，求求您了，什么也別說，”維克多用他的眼神懇求道，“我會給您洗車，幫您家修剪草坪，幫您遛狗——干什么都行！我會成為您最好的學生，而且放學后會幫您清理黑板擦。”布勒老師隨便翻閱著講桌上的試卷，然后微笑著，哼著曲子坐下來開始了自己的工作——他此時記起了他上大學時借車去約會女孩的事情。那個女孩認為他很有錢，因為每次他接她時都開著不同的車。這很有趣，直到他把所有的錢都花在這個女孩身上，并寫信給家里的父母，因為他已經身無分文了。
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.
維克多不敢直視特蕾莎。他正因為羞愧而流著汗。“嗯，是的，我從電影、書這類的材料上學了一些。”他們一起離開了教室。特雷莎問他是否愿意幫她學習法語。“當然可以。”維克多說。“我不會打擾到你，對吧？”“哦，不會的，我喜歡被打擾。”“Bonjour。”特雷莎說，同時微笑著，拂開了散落在她面頰上的幾縷秀發，走進了她下節課的教室，留下維克多站在教室門口。
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。”維克多說。然后，他便轉身朝著自己的教室走去。他臉頰上泛起的羞恥的玫紅色變成了愛的花束的顏色。他心想，特蕾莎是個好女孩；布勒老師是位好老師。他跑到了公共圖書館，從那里借走了三本法語教科書。
He was going to like seventh grade.
他開始喜歡上自己的七年級了。