2. Mark Miller 马克·米勒

Mrs. Jewls rang her cowbell. "I would like you to meet Mark Miller¹," she said. "He and his family just moved here all the way from Magadonia!"

Everybody stared at the new kid.

He stood at the front of the room. His knees were shaking.

He hated having to stand in front of the class. It was as if Mrs. Jewls had brought him in for show-and-tell. He felt like some kind of weirdo. He just wanted to sit at a desk and be like everybody else.

But worst of all, his name wasn't Mark Miller.

He was Benjamin Nushmutt. And he had moved from Hempleton, not Magadonia.

But he was too scared to mention that to Mrs. Jewls. He was afraid to correct a teacher.

"Why don't you tell the class a little bit about yourself, Mark?" suggested Mrs. Jewls.

Benjamin didn't know what to say. He wished he really was Mark Miller. Mark Miller wouldn't be scared, he thought. He'd probably have lots to say. Everyone would like him. Nobody would think Mark Miller was weird².

"Well, I guess we'd better find you a place to sit," said Mrs. Jewls.

She put him at the empty desk between Todd and Bebe.

"Hi, Mark," said Todd. "I'm Todd. You'll like Mrs. Jewls. She's the nicest teacher in the school."

"Todd, no talking," said Mrs. Jewls. "Go write your name on the blackboard under the word DISCIPLINE."

"Hi, Mark," said Bebe. "I'm Bebe Gunn."

"Hi," Benjamin said quietly.

He decided³ he'd have to tell Mrs. Jewls his real name at recess⁴. He cringed. He didn't know why, but for some reason he had trouble saying his own name.

"And what's your name, little boy?" an adult would ask him.

 
"Benjamin Nushmutt," he'd answer.

"What?"

"BENjamin NUSHmutt."

"What?"

"Ben-Ja-Min Nush-Mutt."

"What?"

"BenjaMIN NushMUTT!"

"What?"

"Benjamin Nushmutt."

"Oh, nice to meet you, Benjamin."

He never knew what it was that made the person suddenly understand.

When the bell rang for recess, everyone charged out of the room. Benjamin slowly walked to Mrs. Jewls's desk. Somehow, he had to tell her.

Mrs. Jewls was sorting papers. "Oh, hello, Mark," she said. "How are you enjoying the class so far?"

"Fine," said Benjamin.

"Good, I'm glad to hear that," said Mrs. Jewls.

Benjamin shrugged⁵, then walked out of the room. If I had told her my name, she would have thought I was weird for not telling her sooner, he realized.

He stood at the top of the stairs and looked down. Recess was only ten minutes long. It didn't seem worth it to go all the way down and then come all the way back up. He didn't have any friends down there anyway.

He had never been more unhappy in his whole life.

He sat on the top step. "Mark Miller," he said out

loud. It was an easy name to say. Mark Miller probably would have made lots of friends by now, he thought.

Suddenly he heard a low rumble⁶. Then the stairs began to shake. It felt like an earthquake! This whole stupid school is going to fall over, he thought. He put his head between his knees.

The rumbling⁷ got worse. I'm going to die and nobody will even know who I am, he worried. The new kid. Mark Miller. The weirdo!

But it wasn't an earthquake. It was just all the kids running back up the stairs.

"Hey, Mark, why are you sitting that way?" asked Deedee.

"You look funny," said Ron.

Benjamin looked up.

"How come you weren't at recess?" asked Jason. "We looked everywhere for you."

"Couldn't you find the playground?" asked Calvin.

"It's just straight down," said Bebe. "You can't miss it."

"But don't go in the basement," warned Sharie. "Whatever you do, don't go in the basement."

"Well go down together at lunch," said Todd. "That way you won't get lost."

Benjamin smiled. He was glad everyone seemed to like him. Or at least they liked Mark Miller. He wondered if they'd like Benjamin Nushmutt too.
 

"The bell has rung!" said Mrs. Jewls, standing⁸ in the doorway⁹. "Now, everyone get inside." She made Todd put a check next to his name on the board for being late.

Mrs. Jewls handed a stack of work sheets to Dameon and asked him to pass them out to the rest of the class.

Benjamin looked at his work sheet. At the top right corner there was a place to put his name. He didn't know which name to put there, Mark Miller or Benjamin Nushmutt.

He left it blank and started working on the first problem.

Louis, the yard teacher, entered the room carrying a white paper sack. "Benjamin forgot his lunch," he said. "His mother just brought it."

"Who?" asked Mrs. Jewls.

"Benjamin," said Louis.

"There's no Benjamin in my class," said Mrs. Jewls.

"Are you sure?" asked Louis. "It looks like a good lunch."

"I know the names of the children in my class!" Mrs. Jewls said indignantly¹⁰.

"Well, I'll just leave it here until I figure this out," said Louis. He left the lunch on Mrs. Jewls's desk and walked out of the room.

Benjamin frowned. He looked at the white paper sack on Mrs. Jewls's desk. He couldn't tell Mrs. Jewls

11

his real name now. She'd think he was making it up just to get a free lunch.

He wrote Mark Miller at the top of his work sheet.

But one of these days, he knew, he'd have to tell her his real name.

1 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

2 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 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。

5 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》

6 rumble   

n.隆隆声；吵嚷；v.隆隆响；低沉地说

参考例句：

• I hear the rumble of thunder in the distance.我听到远处雷声隆隆。
• We could tell from the rumble of the thunder that rain was coming.我们根据雷的轰隆声可断定，天要下雨了。

7 rumbling   

n. 隆隆声, 辘辘声 adj. 隆隆响的 动词rumble的现在分词

参考例句：

• The earthquake began with a deep [low] rumbling sound. 地震开始时发出低沉的隆隆声。
• The crane made rumbling sound. 吊车发出隆隆的响声。

8 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

9 doorway   

n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径

参考例句：

• They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
• Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。

10 indignantly   

adv. 愤慨地, 义愤地

参考例句：

• "I don't agree at all,'she answered indignantly. “我压根儿不同意，”她气愤地答道。
• He snorted indignantly and walked away. 他气愤地哼了一声，走开了。