Chapter 1

Louis used to be the yard teacher at Wayside School. He passed out the balls and played with the kids at recess¹ and lunch.

When the school closed, the children were sent to other schools. Horrible schools. No two kids were sent to the same school.

Louis was afraid he'd cry if he talked to them.

But he worked hard. For two hundred and forty-two days, he pushed and pulled, shoveled² and mopped. He never left the building. At night he slept on the couch³ in the teachers' lounge⁴ on the twelfth floor.

Some days it seemed hopeless. The worst part was the smell. He often had to run and stick his head out a window to get a breath of fresh air. But whenever he felt like quitting, he thought about those poor kids, stuck in those horrible schools, and he just worked harder.

And at last, two hundred and forty-three days later, the school was ready to open.

Well, almost ready. There was one little problem.

Suddenly, from somewhere inside the building, or maybe just inside his head, Louis heard a loud "moo."

He put his hands over his ears and said, "I don't hear it, I don't hear it, I don't hear it" until the mooing stopped.

He had scrubbed⁵ and polished every inch of Wayside School. There were no cows anywhere. He was sure of it! Still, every once in a while, he heard something go "moo." Or at least he thought he did.

He took the sign off the door.

But before you enter, you should know something about Wayside School.

Wayside School is a thirty-story building with one room on each floor, except there is no nineteenth story.

Mrs. Jewls teaches the class on the thirtieth story.

Miss Zarves teaches the class on the nineteenth story. There is no Miss Zarves.

Understand?

Good; explain it to me.

"Louis!" someone shouted.

He turned to see a red and blue overcoat
4
running toward him. "Hi, Sharie!" he said. He couldn't see her face, but he knew she had to be somewhere inside the coat.

Sharie jumped into his arms.

"I bet you're glad to be back," said Louis.

"You bet!" said Sharie. "Now I can finally get some sleep!"

All around the playground, old friends were getting back together.

"Hi, old pal⁶!" said John.

"Hey, good buddy," said Joe.

"Bebe!" yelled⁷ Calvin from one side of the playground.

"Calvin!" shouted Bebe from the other.

They ran and smashed⁸ into each other.

"Hi, Eric, good to see you," said Eric.

"Hey, good to see you too," said Eric. "Oh, look. There's Eric!"

"Hi, Eric! Hi, Eric!"

"Hi, Eric."

"Hi, Eric."

Even Kathy said hello to everybody.

"Hey, Big Ears!" she said to Myron as she slapped him on the back. "What's happ'nin', Smelly?" she asked Dameon. "You didn't take a bath for two hundred and forty-three days, did you? Hi, Allison. Did you get uglier while you were

away, or were you always this ugly and I just forgot?"

"That's a nice sweater, Kathy," said Allison, who always tried to say something nice.

Kathy moved on to Terrence. "I'm sure glad to see you, Terrence!" she said.

"You are?" asked Terrence.

"Yes," said Kathy. "I thought you'd be in jail by now."

Todd came running across the playground.

"Hi, Todd!" shouted Sharie, right in Louis's ear.

Todd kept running.

"Hey, Todd!" called Jason. "Good to see you!"

"Hi, Todd!" called Myron and D. J.

But Todd didn't answer. He just kept running until he reached the school building.

Then he kissed Wayside School.

Out of all the schools, Todd had been sent to the very worst one. It was awful! The first thing he had to do every morning was-

Wait a second. I don't have to tell you. You already know.

Todd was sent to your school.

1 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。

2 shoveled   

vt.铲，铲出（shovel的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The hungry man greedily shoveled the food into his mouth. 那个饥饿的人贪婪地、大口大口地吃。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• They shoveled a path through the snow. 他们在雪中铲出一条小路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 couch   

n.睡椅，长沙发椅；vt.表达，隐含

参考例句：

• Lie down on the couch if you're feeling ill.如果你感觉不舒服就躺到沙发上去。
• The rabbIt'sprang from its grassy couch.兔子从草丛中跳出。

4 lounge   

n.休闲室，休息室，长沙发；v.闲荡，闲散地度过，混日子

参考例句：

• We had coffee in the lounge.我们在客厅里喝咖啡。
• Don't lounge away your working hours.不要消磨工作时间。

5 scrubbed   

v.用力擦洗，刷洗( scrub的过去式和过去分词 )；取消（原有安排）；对…不予考虑，取消

参考例句：

• The mother scrubbed the floor and her child did the same. 母亲擦洗地板，孩子也跟着干。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She scrubbed the stain on the floor. 她把地板上的污迹擦掉了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 pal   

n.朋友，伙伴，同志；vi.结为友

参考例句：

• He is a pal of mine.他是我的一个朋友。
• Listen,pal,I don't want you talking to my sister any more.听着，小子，我不让你再和我妹妹说话了。

7 yelled   

v.叫喊，号叫，叫着说( yell的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He yelled at the other driver. 他冲着另一位司机大叫。
• The lost man yelled, hoping someone in the woods would hear him. 迷路的人大声喊着，希望林子里的人会听见。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 smashed   

adj.喝醉酒的v.打碎，捣烂( smash的过去式和过去分词 )；捣毁；重击；撞毁（车辆）

参考例句：

• Several windows had been smashed. 几扇窗户劈里啪啦打碎了。
• In time-honoured tradition, a bottle of champagne was smashed on the ship. 依照由来已久的传统，对着船摔了一瓶香槟。 来自《简明英汉词典》