Chapter 6

Bebe was a girl with short brown hair, a little beebee nose, totally tiny toes, and big brown eyes. Her full name was Bebe Gunn. She was the fastest draw in Mrs. Jewls's class.

She could draw a cat in less than forty-five seconds, a dog in less than thirty, and a flower in less than eight seconds.

But, of course, Bebe never drew just one dog, or one cat, or one flower. Art was from twelve-thirty to one-thirty. Why, in that time, she could draw fifty cats, a hundred flowers, twenty dogs, and several eggs orwatermelons.
24It took her the same amount of time to draw a watermelon as an egg.
Calvin sat next to Bebe. He didn't think he was very good at art. Why, it took him the whole period just to draw one airplane. So instead, he just helped Bebe. He was Bebe's assistant. As soon as Bebe would finish one masterpiece¹, Calvin would take it from her and set down a clean sheet of paper. Whenever her crayon ran low, Calvin was ready with a new crayon. That way Bebe didn't have to waste any time. And in return, Bebe would draw five or six airplanes for Calvin.

It was twelve-thirty, time for art. Bebe was ready. On her desk was a sheet of yellow construction paper. In her hand was a green crayon.

Calvin was ready. He held a stack² of paper and a box of crayons.

"Ready, Bebe," said Calvin.

"Ready, Calvin," said Bebe.

"Okay," said Mrs. Jewls, "time for art."

She had hardly finished her sentence when Bebe had already drawn³ a picture of a leaf.

Calvin took it from her and put another piece of paper down.

"Red," called Bebe.

Calvin handed Bebe a red crayon.

"Blue," called Bebe.

He gave her a blue crayon.

They were quite a pair. Their teamwork⁴ was remarkable⁵. Bebe drew pictures as fast as Calvin could pick up the old paper and set down the new-a fish, an apple, three cherries, bing, bing, bing.
25At one-thirty Mrs. Jewls announced, "Okay, class, art is over."
Bebe dropped her crayon and fell over on her desk. Calvin sighed and leaned⁶ back in his chair. He could hardly move. They had broken their old record. Bebe had drawn three hundred and seventy-eight pictures. They lay in a pile on Calvin's desk.

Mrs. Jewls walked by. "Calvin, did you draw all these pictures?"

Calvin laughed. "No, I can't draw. Bebe drew them all."

"Well, then, what did you draw?" asked Mrs. Jewls.

"I didn't draw anything," said Calvin.

"Why not? Don't you like art?" asked Mrs. Jewls.

"I love art," said Calvin. "That's why I didn't draw anything."

Mrs. Jewls did not understand.

"It would have taken me the whole period just to draw one picture," said Calvin. "And Bebe would only have been able to draw a hundred pictures. But with the two of us working together, she was able to draw three hundred and seventy-eight pictures! That's a lot more art."

Bebe and Calvin shook hands.

"No," said Mrs. Jewls. "That isn't how you measure art. It isn't how many pictures you have, but how good the pictures are. Why, a person could spend his whole life just drawing one picture of a cat. In that time I'm sure Bebe could draw a million cats."

"Two million," said Bebe.

Mrs. Jewls continued. "But if that one picture is better than each of Bebe's two million, then that person has produced more art than Bebe."
26Bebe looked as if she was going to cry. She picked up all the pictures from Calvin's desk and threw them in the garbage. Then she ran from the room.
"I thought her pictures were good," said Calvin. He reached into the garbage pail⁷ and took out a crumpled-up picture of an airplane.

Bebe walked outside into the playground.

Louis, the yard teacher, spotted⁸ her. "Where are you going?" he asked.

"I'm going home to draw a picture of a cat," said Bebe.

"Will you bring it to school and show it to me tomorrow?" Louis asked.

"Tomorrow!" laughed Bebe. "By tomorrow I doubt if I'll even be finished with one whisker."

1 masterpiece   

n.杰作，名著

参考例句：

• This book is a real masterpiece.这本书是真正的名著。
• Robinson Crusoe is Defoe's masterpiece.《罗宾逊漂流记》是笛福的杰作。

2 stack   

n.堆叠，堆；vt.堆积，成叠放在；vi.堆成一堆

参考例句：

• There's a whole stack of bills waiting to be paid.有一大堆账要付呢。
• They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。

3 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

4 teamwork   

n.合作，协同工作

参考例句：

• Only teamwork will enable us to get the job done on time.只有团结一致，我们才能按时完成这项工作。
• Good teamwork between the players is not easy to get.队员之间很难做到配合默契。

5 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

6 leaned   

v.（使）倾斜，屈身( lean的过去式和过去分词 )；倚；依赖；使斜靠

参考例句：

• He leaned forward, his hands clasped tightly together. 他俯身向前，双手十字交错地紧握着。
• He leaned back, exulting at the success of his plan. 他向后一靠，为自己计划成功而得意扬扬。

7 pail   

n.桶，提桶

参考例句：

• There was a pail of water on the ground.地上有一桶水。
• She can lift a pail of water from the ground.她能把一桶水提起来。

8 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。