Chapter 17 Why the Children Decided They Had to Get Rid of Mrs. Drazil

1. She was nice.

"I made cookies for everyone this morning," Mrs. Drazil announced. Everyone cheered.

2. She thought up ways to make learning¹ interesting.

"I made five dozen cookies," she said. "There are twelve cookies in a dozen. So, who can tell me how many cookies I made?"

Joe waved his arm back and forth². "I know! I know!" he said.

"Okay, Joe," said Mrs. Drazil. "How many cookies did I make?"

"Five dozen," Joe said proudly.

3. She was patient.

"Yes, I made five dozen cookies," said Mrs. Drazil. "I told you that. But how many cookies are there?"

"Five dozen," said Joe.

"But how many cookies are in five dozen?" asked Mrs. Drazil.

"Huh?" asked Joe.

"How much is twelve times five?" asked Mrs. Drazil.

"Uh, just a second," said Joe. "Can I use pencil and paper?"

"Certainly," said Mrs. Drazil.

Joe took out a piece of paper and a pencil. He wrote the number five on the piece of paper, then tore it into twelve pieces. "Sixty!" he said.

Nobody quite understood Joe's mathematical³ methods.

4. She was fair.

"Yes, there are sixty cookies," she said. "And there are twenty-eight children in the class. So, how many cookies should each child get?"

Bebe raised her hand. "A hundred," she said.

"You can't have a hundred cookies," said Mrs. D. "I only made sixty."
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"Make some more," said Bebe.

"I made sixty," said Mrs. Drazil. "I'm not making any more."

"Okay," Bebe said with a sigh. "I'll take sixty."

"We have to divide them evenly," said Mrs. Drazil. "How many cookies should each child get so that every child gets the same amount?"

John raised his hand. "Everyone can have two cookies," he said, "and there will be four left over."

"Can I have them?" asked Bebe.

Allison raised her hand. "Everyone can have exactly two and one-seventh cookies," she said.

"Very good, Allison," said Mrs. Drazil. "And John, you were right too." She gave everyone exactly two and one-seventh cookies.

5. She was a good cook.

"Best cookies I ever had in my whole life!" said Stephen.

Everyone agreed.

"I got the recipe from Miss Mush," said Mrs. Drazil.

"You did?" several kids said together.

"I just added a pinch⁴ of this and a little of that," said Mrs. Drazil.

6. She knew what a goozack was.

"Jason, would you please open the door?" she said.

Everyone gasped⁵. "What's the matter?" she asked.

"You said the D-word!" said Dana.

"Door?" asked Mrs. Drazil. Everyone gasped again. "You're supposed to call it a goozack," explained Dana.

"Who said so?" asked Mrs. Drazil.

"Mr. Kidswatter," said Dana.

"Mr. Kidswatter is a goozack," said Mrs. Drazil.

Yes, Mrs. Drazil was smart. She was nice. She made learning interesting. She was patient and fair. And she even could make Miss Mush's cookies taste good.

But she made Louis shave off his mustache.

And so she had to go.
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They had a plan. It all depended on Sharie.

Everyone just hoped she wouldn't fall asleep first. Sharie often fell asleep in class.

C'mon, Sharie, thought Deedee. You can do it.

Sharie looked out the window. The sky was full of big, fluffy⁶ clouds. She yawned⁷. The clouds looked like giant pillows.

Sharie imagined herself wrapped up in one of those clouds, soft and cozy⁸. She pulled her blue-and-red overcoat snugly⁹ over her head.

Her eyes closed. Then they opened wide. "Whazzat?!" she shouted.

"Sharie?" said Mrs. Drazil.

"Look!" shouted Sharie, pointing out the window. "It's a- Hurry!" Her long eyelashes stuck straight out.

Mrs. Drazil hurried to Sharie's desk. "What is it?"

"A spaceship!" said Sharie. "From outer space!"

On the other side of the room, Deedee dropped her pencil. She bent¹⁰ down to pick it up, then stayed down.

Deedee was part of the plan too. She had a dangerous mission¹¹. She had volunteered for it. She felt it was her duty, since she was the one who had brought Louis up to meet Mrs. Drazil in the first place.

"You don't have to do it," Ron had told her. "Mrs. Drazil would have seen Louis sooner or later."

"No, I'll do it," Deedee had bravely replied.

Now she crawled¹² across the floor.

Mrs. Drazil looked out the window. "Where?" she asked.

"Wait it went behind a cloud," said Sharie.

"What did it look like?" asked Mrs. Drazil.
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"Like a giant hamburger," said Sharie. "But there was a zizzle stick hanging down from the bottom!"

Deedee crawled to the teacher's desk. She reached up and quietly opened the top drawer. She removed the blue notebook.

Mrs. Drazil stared out the window. "What's a zizzle stick?" she asked.

"I don't know," Sharie said very mysteriously. "They don't have them here on earth."

Deedee crawled safely back to her seat.

At recess¹³ everyone crowded around Deedee as she went through the blue notebook.

"Louis once put a frog in Mrs. Drazil's shoe," she said.

"Why wasn't her shoe on her foot?" asked Jenny.

"It doesn't say," said Deedee. "There's a whole list of bad things Louis did. And he made it sound like Mrs. Drazil picked on him for no reason!"

"No wonder she put a trash can on his head!" said Todd.

"What else did he do?" asked Eric Bacon, who was always looking for new ideas.

But Deedee had already turned the page.

"There are other kids a lot worse than Louis," she said, flipping¹⁴ through the pages.

"What are you looking for?" asked Ron.

"I don't know yet," said Deedee. "But I'll know it when I see it."

She saw it!

It was a note to Mrs. Drazil from a girl named Jane Smith. Deedee read it aloud.

Dear Lizard¹⁵ Face,

Guess what? I didn't do my homework again! HA HA HA! And there's nothing you can do about it because you're too stupid and ugly! HA HA HA! My family is moving away tomorrow! And you don't know where! HA HA HA! Rub¹⁶ a monkey's tummy! By the time you get this letter, I'll be gone. Rub a monkey's tummy with your head!

Love and Kisses, Jane Smith

Everyone was shocked. "How old is that letter?" asked Myron. Deedee checked the date, then did the math in her head. "Jane Smith wrote it twenty-six years

ago."
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"And look," said Ron, reading over Deedee's shoulder. "Jane didn't do her last twelve homework assignments!"

After recess Sharie saw the UFO again, and Deedee returned the notebook to Mrs. Drazil's desk.

Now all they had to do was find Jane Smith.

1 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

2 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

3 mathematical   

adj.数学的，数学上的

参考例句：

• The solution can be expressed by a mathematical equation.答案可用一个数学方程式来表示。
• Einstein was a mathematical genius.爱因斯坦是数学天才。

4 pinch   

n.捏，撮，困苦，偷窃；vt.掐，使...困苦，偷窃

参考例句：

• She would pinch on food in order to spend on clothing.她过去常把伙食费省下来买衣服。
• He put a pinch of salt on his food.他在自己的食物上撒了一撮盐。

5 gasped   

v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要

参考例句：

• She gasped at the wonderful view. 如此美景使她惊讶得屏住了呼吸。
• People gasped with admiration at the superb skill of the gymnasts. 体操运动员的高超技艺令人赞叹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 fluffy   

adj.有绒毛的，空洞的

参考例句：

• Newly hatched chicks are like fluffy balls.刚孵出的小鸡像绒毛球。
• The steamed bread is very fluffy.馒头很暄。

7 yawned   

v.打呵欠( yawn的过去式和过去分词 )；张开，裂开

参考例句：

• She yawned and looked pointedly at her watch. 她打了个哈欠，又刻意地看了看手表。
• John yawned and scratched his chin. 约翰打个哈欠，挠挠下巴。

8 cozy   

adj.亲如手足的，密切的，暖和舒服的

参考例句：

• I like blankets because they are cozy.我喜欢毛毯，因为他们是舒适的。
• We spent a cozy evening chatting by the fire.我们在炉火旁聊天度过了一个舒适的晚上。

9 snugly   

adv.紧贴地；贴身地；暖和舒适地；安适地

参考例句：

• Jamie was snugly wrapped in a white woolen scarf. 杰米围着一条白色羊毛围巾舒适而暖和。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The farmyard was snugly sheltered with buildings on three sides. 这个农家院三面都有楼房，遮得很严实。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

11 mission   

n.使命，任务，天职；代表团，使团

参考例句：

• He was charged with an important mission.他受委托承担一项重要使命。
• I'll leave you to undertake an important mission.我要让你承担一项重要使命。

12 crawled   

v.爬( crawl的过去式和过去分词 )；（昆虫）爬行；缓慢行进；巴结

参考例句：

• They crawled along on their bellies. 他们匍匐前进。
• She crawled onto the river bank and lay there gulping in air. 她爬上河岸，躺在那里喘着粗气。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 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。

14 flipping   

讨厌之极的

参考例句：

• I hate this flipping hotel! 我讨厌这个该死的旅馆！
• Don't go flipping your lid. 别发火。

15 lizard   

n.蜥蜴，壁虎

参考例句：

• A chameleon is a kind of lizard.变色龙是一种蜥蜴。
• The lizard darted out its tongue at the insect.蜥蜴伸出舌头去吃小昆虫。

16 rub   

n.摩擦，困难，障碍，难点，磨损处；vt.擦，搓，摩擦，惹怒；vi.摩擦，擦破

参考例句：

• Don't let the wire rub up against the pipe.别让电线碰到管子上。
• He used to rub up against many famous movie stars.他过去经常偶然碰到许多有名的影星。