Chapter 9

Maurecia liked ice cream. She was sweet and pretty and could beat up any boy in Mrs. Jewls's class. Everybody liked Maurecia-except Kathy, but then she didn't like anybody. Maurecia only liked ice cream.

Every day Maurecia brought an ice cream cone¹ to school and kept it in her desk until lunch time. At first she brought chocolate ice cream every day. But she soon tired of chocolate ice cream. So she started bringing vanilla². But she got tired of vanilla, too. Then she got tired of strawberry, fudge ripple³, butter pecan, pistachio, and burgundy cherry, in that order.
36And then a terrible thing happened. Maurecia got tired of ice cream. By that time her desk was a mess, and everything in it was sticky⁴.
Everybody liked Maurecia. But Maurecia didn't like anything.

Mrs. Jewls hated to see Maurecia unhappy.

"I don't understand it, Mrs. Jewls," cried Maurecia. "There just aren't any good flavors⁵ anymore."

So Mrs. Jewls worked all night. The next day she brought in a new flavor⁶ of ice cream for Maurecia. It was Maurecia-flavored ice cream. "Everybody will like it," thought Mrs. Jewls, "because everybody likes Maurecia."

"Here you are, Maurecia," said Mrs. Jewls, "Maurecia-flavored ice cream."

Everybody gathered around as Maurecia tasted it. They hoped she'd like it.

Maurecia took a lick⁷.

"Well?" said Mrs. Jewls.

Maurecia took another lick.

"Well?" asked the class.

"This ice cream has no taste," said Maurecia. "It doesn't taste bad, but it doesn't taste good. It doesn't taste like anything at all!"

Mrs. Jewls was heartbroken.

"Here, let me try it," said Todd. He tasted it. "You're crazy, Maurecia!" he said. "This is the best-tasting ice cream I've ever eaten! Try some, Deedee."

"Ummmmmmmmm, it's delicious," said Deedee. "It's so sweet and creamy." She passed it around the room.

"Oh, it is so good," said Leslie.
37"I think it tastes terrible," said Kathy.
"I don't understand it," said Maurecia. "I don't taste a thing."

Mrs. Jewls slapped⁸ herself in the face. "Oh, I've made a big mistake, Maurecia. Of course you can't taste anything. It's Maurecia-flavored ice cream. It's the same taste you always taste when you're not tasting anything at all."

So the next day Mrs. Jewls brought in Joe-flavored ice cream. Maurecia liked it. So did everybody else. Joe thought it had no taste.

Everybody liked Maurecia. Maurecia only liked Joe.

The following day Mrs. Jewls brought in Ron-flavored ice cream. Ron thought it had no taste, but everybody else loved it.

Everybody liked Maurecia. Maurecia only liked Joe and Ron.

By the end of the month, Mrs. Jewls had brought in twenty-seven new flavors of ice cream, one for each member of the class.

Everybody liked Maurecia, and Maurecia liked everybody. They all tasted so good. All except Kathy, that is. Kathy-flavored ice cream tasted a little bit like old bologna.

Everyone still agreed that Maurecia-flavored ice cream was the best, except Maurecia. She liked Todd ice cream the best.

This turned out to be a problem. Every once in a while Maurecia would try to take a bite out of Todd's arm in order to get that very special flavor.

1 cone   

n.圆锥体，圆锥形东西，球果

参考例句：

• Saw-dust piled up in a great cone.锯屑堆积如山。
• The police have sectioned off part of the road with traffic cone.警察用锥形路标把部分路面分隔开来。

2 vanilla   

n.香子兰，香草

参考例句：

• He used to love milk flavoured with vanilla.他过去常爱喝带香草味的牛奶。
• I added a dollop of vanilla ice-cream to the pie.我在馅饼里加了一块香草冰激凌。

3 ripple   

n.涟波，涟漪，波纹，粗钢梳；vt.使...起涟漪，使起波纹； vi.呈波浪状，起伏前进

参考例句：

• The pebble made a ripple on the surface of the lake.石子在湖面上激起一个涟漪。
• The small ripple split upon the beach.小小的涟漪卷来，碎在沙滩上。

4 sticky   

adj.粘的，闷热的，困难的，令人不满意的

参考例句：

• This paste is not sticky enough.这糨糊不黏。
• Here is a sticky business!这事真难办！

5 flavors   

n.味( flavor的名词复数 )；韵味；特点；香料v.给…调味( flavor的第三人称单数 )；给…增添风趣

参考例句：

• He goes for its full,delicious flavors. I go for its economy. 他欣赏它的浓郁和可口的味道。我则欣赏它的便宜。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The different kinds of quarks or leptons are known technically as flavors. 夸克和轻子的这些个同种类，从技术上看是有特色的。 来自辞典例句

6 flavor   

n.味，滋味，味道；风味；vt.调味，加味于

参考例句：

• I like the flavor of chocolate.我喜欢巧克力的味道。
• Each flavor was totally unique.每一种味道都是独一无二的。

7 lick   

vt.舔（吃），打败，轻拍，吞卷；n.舔，少许

参考例句：

• I think we could lick the best teams there.我想我们能打败那儿最好的队。
• The house would look better with a lick of paint.这房子稍加颜色就好看了。

8 slapped   

v.掌击，拍打( slap的过去式和过去分词 )；制止；镇压；（尤指生气地）啪的一声放下

参考例句：

• She slapped his face hard. 她狠狠给了他一个耳光。
• They slapped the workers who had gone on strike. 他们对参加罢工的工人大加镇压。 来自《简明英汉词典》