第203期：我和“讨嫌鬼”做搭档

想成为我们的主播，欢迎加微信 xdfbook 投稿。 一段美文，一首英文歌，或是一点生活感想，全由你做主。 《我和“讨嫌鬼”做搭档》 Partners in Art No one sat next to Leon. Not if they could help it. That’s why when I shot into art class just before the bell, the only seat left was beside him. Ms. Priestley said, “Sit down, Nimmy.” I don’t think Ms. Priestley likes me. I am terrible in art. “Use your imagination,” she’d always say. I had no imagination. “Today we’re going to do something exciting,” Ms. Priestley said. “We’ll draw a fantasy landscape.” Leon raised his hand. “Can it be anything we want?” Leon loved art and loved Ms. Priestley. Ms. Priestley loved art and loved Leon. She beamed ). “Anything—as long as it isn’t something from real life. Let’s get started.” “This will be fun!” Leon said. That’s why no one liked to sit by Leon, especially in art. He was too enthusiastic. He gave his partners suggestions. Sometimes he even added to their drawings! Plus his nose always dripped ), and he never used tissues ). I drew wild zigzags ) and two lines racing across the page. “What are you drawing?” Leon asked, sniffing ). I sighed. “Mountains and a river.” “That’s not fantasy.” “I’ve never seen mountains and I’ve never seen a river. So I’m fantasizing what they’d look like,” I said. “But it’s still real.” I ground ) my teeth and scribbled ) in some skinny trees. “Have you seen a mountain range with pointed tips?” “No, that’s just bad drawing. Why don’t you make it a dragon instead?” I glared ). “The mountains could be the scales ) along its back, the river could be a long tail, and the dragon could be eating the trees.” Leon smiled hopefully. To my surprise, I could see the dragon take shape. He continued, “So not all of it would be on the page, but that would just tell us how big it is.” I could see why Ms. Priestley loved him. No one else in class thought
like that, and most people didn’t care enough to try. “Dragons don’t eat trees,” I said. Leon swiped ) his dripping nose with his sleeve. “Some dinosaurs ate trees. So why can’t some dragons? It’s fantasy.” A sound ) argument, I had to admit. Leon sniffed ) again. Ms. Priestley was moving around the room. She looked at everyone’s work and made comments. Usually she’d stop at mine and sigh. Today I wanted to impress her. 
But the dragon was Leon’s, not mine. Then I thought, so what if it was Leon’s idea? It was still my drawing. I started drawing in the body. Leon would’ve probably drawn a beautiful dragon anyway, nothing like mine with its big body and much-too-small head. I rubbed out the head and drew it in again. It still wasn’t the right shape. I added more trees. “That’s a very nice idea, Nimmy.” Ms. Priestley’s voice made me jump. I looked up. If I hadn’t heard my name at the end, I would’ve thought she was talking to Leon. She beamed. At me. “You’re being creative, and it’s paying off ).” I smiled shyly, blushing because it wasn’t totally my idea. Leon was beaming, too. Under the two spotlights ) of approval, I cracked ). “It was Leon’s idea,” I confessed. Ms. Priestley’s beam grew wider. “Excellent, Leon. We must always be willing to share our ideas.” I felt relieved. And a little sad. Then Ms. Priestley said, “Nimmy, why don’t you offer some suggestions 
on Leon’s drawing.” Leon propped ) his drawing where I could see it. “It’s a space farm,” I said. There was a rocky surface with little domes. The domes had plants and some weird animals in them. In one dome, there was a cow or maybe a big dog. “Well, Nimmy?” Ms. Priestley said encouragingly. I stared. What was I supposed to say? “It’s nice,” I offered. Leon waited. I added, “Maybe ... maybe you could add ... bales ) of hay ) ... and make a dome with levels. Each level for something different.” Leon nodded happily. “Like corn on one level and hens on the other. Like a multilayer farm.” “See, it’s not so hard,” Ms. Priestley said, and walked on. I breathed. I’d just said the first thing that came to me. But Leon liked my idea. Maybe I could be OK in art. I watched Leon adding levels on his farm. Leon looked up for a moment. “We should be partners in art,” he 
said. “We give each other good ideas.” I liked that. I penned my name near his space-hens. Leon grinned and signed my dragon. I smiled. “Now we’re partners in art.” 没有人坐在里昂旁边，只要能不坐那儿就不坐那儿。这就是为什么当我踩着铃声冲进美术课教室时，只剩他身边的座位是空的了。 普里斯特利夫人说：“尼米，请坐下。” 我觉得普里斯特利夫人不喜欢我。我的美术很差。“发挥你的想象力。”她总是这么说。 我可没有想象力。 “今天，我们要做些令人兴奋的事情，”普里斯特利夫人说，“我们要画一幅幻想的风景画。” 里昂举起了手。“是我们想画什么就画什么吗？” 里昂爱美术课也爱普里斯特利夫人。普里斯特利夫人爱美术课也爱里昂。她灿烂地笑着。 “画什么都行——只要它不是来自现实生活就行。我们开始画吧。” “这肯定很有趣！”里昂说。 这就是为什么没有人愿意坐在里昂旁边，特别是在美术课上。他太热情了。他给同桌提各种建议，有时候甚至还帮别人画几笔！此外，他总是淌着鼻涕，还从来不用面巾纸擦。 我胡乱地画了一些锯齿状线条，还画了两条贯穿画纸的直线。 “你在画什么呢？”里昂边问我，边吸溜着鼻涕。 我叹了口气，说：“山脉和一条河流。” “这不是幻想的啊。” “我从来没有见过山脉，也没见过河流。所以我在幻想着它们的样子。”我说。 “但这还是真实的啊。” 我咬着牙，胡乱地画了几棵瘦不拉几的树。“你见过尖顶的连绵大山吗？” “没有，可这画就是不好。你为什么不把它改画成一条龙呢？” 我生气地瞪起了眼睛。 “这些山脉可以是它背上的鳞片，河流可以是个长尾巴，这条龙可以正在吃着那些树。”里昂满怀希望地笑着。 令我惊奇的是，我能够看到那条龙开始成型了。 他继续说着：“尽管它没有完整地出现在纸上，但这可以告诉我们它有多大。” 我能明白为什么普里斯特利夫人喜欢他了。班里其他人都不会那样去思考，大多数人对画画这件事不够在乎，因此也不愿去尝试。 “龙是不吃树的。”我说。 里昂用袖子抹去流下来的鼻涕，说：“有些恐龙是吃树的。那为什么有些龙不能吃树呢？这就是幻想啊。” 很合理的论证，我不得不承认。 里昂又一次抽了抽鼻子。普里斯特利夫人在教室里来回巡视。她检查每个人的画并给些评语。通常，她停在我身边的时候都会叹气。 今天我想给她留个好印象。但这条龙是里昂的，不是我的。 然后，我转念一想，这是里昂的想法又怎样？它仍然是我的画。我开始画龙的身子。不管怎样，里昂可能会画一条漂亮的龙，不会像我这只龙一样身体庞大，脑袋却极小。我把龙头擦掉，重新画了起来。它的形状还是不对。我又多画了些树。 “这是个非常棒的想法，尼米。” 普里斯特利夫人的声音吓了我一跳。我抬起头来。如果不是听到她在最后说了我的名字，我还以为她是在和里昂说话呢。 她笑容满面。是冲着我笑的。“你现在变得很有创造力，它正给你带来好处呢。” 我害羞地笑笑，脸都红了，因为这完全不是我的想法。里昂也笑得很开心。 在他们俩认可的关注下，我绷不住了。“这是里昂的想法。”我坦白了。 普里斯特利夫人的笑得更开心了。“太棒了，里昂，我们必须总是乐于分享自己的想法。” 我感到如释重负，还有一点点难过。 普里斯特利夫人接着说：“尼米，你为什么不给里昂的画也提一些建议呢？” 里昂把他的画架起来，放在了我能看到的地方。“这是一个太空农场，”我说。画中布满岩石的地面上有一些小小的圆顶屋。圆顶屋里有许多植物和一些奇怪的动物。其中一个圆顶屋里还住着一头奶牛或是一只大狗之类的东西。 “嗯，尼米？” 普里斯特利夫人鼓励地问道。 我盯着它。我该说些什么呢？“这很好啊。”我说。 里昂等待着。 我补充道：“或许……或许你可以增添……大捆的干草……还可以画一个分层的圆顶屋，每一层放一些不同的东西。” 里昂高兴地点头。“比如一层种玉米，另一层养母鸡。就像一个多层农场。” “看到了吧，这并没那么难。”普里斯特利夫人说完便继续巡视去了。 我舒了一口气。我只是说了脑子里闪现的第一个想法。但里昂喜欢我的想法。或许我美术课能学得不错。我看着里昂在他的农场里加上了层级。 里昂抬头看了一下。“我们应该在美术课上做搭档，”他说，“我们能给对方好点子。” 我喜欢这个提议。我把自己的名字写在了他的太空母鸡旁边。里昂咧嘴大笑着把名字署在了我的龙旁边。 我笑着说：“现在我们是美术课搭档啦。” 文章摘自：《新东方英语·中学生》杂志2017年3月号