Chapter 16

D.J. skipped up the thirty flights of stairs to Mrs. Jewls's room. He was grinning from ear to ear, from nose to chin, from here to there, and back again.

"Hey, D.J.," Todd shouted, "glad to see you." Todd was a pushover for smiling faces.

Mrs. Jewls heard him. She began to write Todd's name on the board under DISCIPLINE, but when she saw D.J.'s smile, she put down the chalk. "Good morning, D.J.," she said. "What are you so happy about?"

DJ. grinned and shrugged² his shoulders.

Mrs. Jewls smiled.
65Dameon looked at the smile on Mrs. Jewls's face, then at Todd's, and finally at D.J.'s. Then Dameon smiled, too. His smile was almost as big as D.J.'s. They were best friends.
Once they saw the two of them smiling, the rest of the class couldn't help but smile. Rondi had a very cute one, due to her two missing³ front teeth. Nobody had an ugly smile.

Jason came to school late. He was very upset. But the first thing he saw was Dameon's smile, and he felt a little bit better. Then he saw Rondi's toothless grin¹, and he even began to smile a little himself. But when he saw the piano on D.J.'s face, he fell, laughing, onto the floor.

Everybody started to laugh, even Kathy, and she hardly ever laughed except when someone hurt himself.

The whole room seemed to be laughing, not just the people in it. The blackboard chuckled⁴. The ceiling snickered. The desks were jumping up and down, and the chairs were slapping⁵ one another on the back. The floor was very ticklish⁶. It laughed until the walls turned purple. The wastepaper basket started to sing, and all the pencils stood up and danced.

Finally things began to settle down. Mrs. Jewls wiped her eyes and said, "D.J., why don't you tell the class why you are so happy? At least let us know what we are laughing about."

But D.J. just kept on smiling.

"Aw, come on, D.J.," said Deedee. "Tell us."

D.J. didn't say a word. He couldn't. His mouth was stretched out of shape.
66"Let us guess," said Ron. "If we guess right, will you tell us?"
D.J. nodded his head. His smile began to hurt his ears.

Everyone took one guess.

"Have you been swimming?"

"Is it your birthday?"

"Are you in love?"

"Did you get a green ball?"

Nobody guessed right.

At recess⁷ D.J. was still smiling.

Louis, the yard teacher, called, "Hey, D.J. Come here."

They walked to the far corner of the playground, where they were alone.

"What's up, D.J.?" Louis asked.

D.J. just smiled.

"Come on, D.J. You can tell me. Why are you so happy?"

D.J. looked up at him. He said, "You need a reason to be sad. You don't need a reason to be happy."

1 grin   

n./vi.露齿而笑，咧嘴一笑

参考例句：

• I know she is joking because she has a big grin on her face.我知道她是在开玩笑。因为她满脸笑容。
• She came out of his office with a big grin on her face.她笑容满面地走出他的办公室。

2 shrugged   

vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀，什么也没说。
• She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩，装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 missing   

adj.遗失的，缺少的，失踪的

参考例句：

• Check the tools and see if anything is missing.检点一下工具，看有无丢失。
• All the others are here;he's the only one missing.别人都来了，就短他一个。

4 chuckled   

轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She chuckled at the memory. 想起这件事她就暗自发笑。
• She chuckled softly to herself as she remembered his astonished look. 想起他那惊讶的表情，她就轻轻地暗自发笑。

5 slapping   

adj.非常快的，大而壮的，极好的v.掌击，拍打( slap的现在分词 )；制止；镇压；（尤指生气地）啪的一声放下

参考例句：

• His impudence provoked her into slapping his face. 他的粗暴让她气愤地给了他一耳光。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• "Oh, that's right,'said Hsin-mei, slapping his own thigh. 辛楣拍大腿道：“对，对，对！ 来自汉英文学 - 围城

6 ticklish   

adj.怕痒的；问题棘手的；adv.怕痒地；n.怕痒，小心处理

参考例句：

• This massage method is not recommended for anyone who is very ticklish.这种按摩法不推荐给怕痒的人使用。
• The news is quite ticklish to the ear,这消息听起来使人觉得有些难办。

7 recess   

n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处）

参考例句：

• The chairman of the meeting announced a ten-minute recess.会议主席宣布休会10分钟。
• Parliament was hastily recalled from recess.休会的议员被匆匆召回开会。