SAT考试的喜悲与烦恼

I woke up to take the SAT at 5:30. Yes, 5:30 a.m.. I wasn’t bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, I wasn’t awake at all, but I gathered enough strength to slip on my UGG boots, throw my hair in a messy bun, and put on a sweatshirt.2 It was 15 minutes before I had to leave to get to the test center when something terrible happened. I couldn’t find my student ID. But I just took the ACT3 two weekends ago and it is always in my wallet, I thought. Nothing. Zip. Nowhere to be found. My mind raced through everything I did in the past two weeks... rehearsal for theatre—no ID needed then. Yearbook class? No way. What about homecoming... homecoming! That was it. I needed my student ID to gain entrance into the homecoming dance! I ran into my room, ran to my dresser, and picked up my black satin clutch that I brought to the dance, there it was.

I overestimated the time needed to get to the test taking center so I arrived a half hour early. I had never been to the high school I was taking this SAT at so I really had no idea where I was going. I followed flocks of fellow SATers “Hopkins, ... Room 52,” I read. I have no idea where room 52 is, so I went up to an administrator and asked, “Can you please help me find room 52”? “Right over there,”the nice lady pointed... across the hall.

为了参加SAT，我5:30就起床了。是的，清晨 5:30。我无精打采，根本就没有睡醒，不过我还是攒足了力气踩上我的UGG靴子，把头发随便往头上一盘，披上了件针织衫。还有15分钟就必须出发去考场了，这时发生了一件糟糕的事情。我找不到我的学生证了。可是两个星期前我刚参加过ACT考试啊，学生证一直就在我的钱包里，我心想。没有。拉上拉链。哪儿都找不到。我的大脑里快速闪过过去的两周里我做过的所有事情……戏剧彩排——当时不需要学生证啊。年刊课呢？不可能。是不是校友返校节……校友返校节！对了。我需要学生证进入校友返校节舞会！我跑进我的房间，冲向梳妆台，拿起我带到舞会上的那个黑色绸子手包，学生证就在那里。

我过高估计了到考场所需要的时间，结果我提前了半小时到场。我从来没有去过参加SAT考试的这所中学，所以我根本不知道要怎么走。我随着成群结队的参加SAT的考生们一起走，“霍普金，……52室”我念道。天啊，我不知道52室在哪儿，于是我去找一个管理员，问：“您能否帮我找一下52室？”“就在那边。”那位和蔼的女士指向……大厅对面。

I stood there outside of the room with the other students, waiting for the supervisor to open the doors. Then I saw a boy who was wearing a shirt, a smooth tie, nice khaki pants, and a shiny pair of brown loafers. I looked down at my UGG boots and sweatshirt... Um, maybe I should’ve dressed nicer. Was this guy going to score a 2400 on his SAT because he dressed the part? I looked around at the other students—they were all dressed like me. While I give that boy props for being professional, I don’t think dressing so nicely would have been the best option for me. I concentrate far better when I’m comfortable, but I suppose that is just personal preference. Suddenly, to my relief, the supervisor came and opened the classroom doors.

When we were finally inside room 52, I realized how freezing it was. The heater hadn’t been on and the seats were as cold as ice. Alright then. The supervisor then started to walk around, checking everyone’s calculator to make sure they were“approved devices”.

At around 8:25, the test started. I was pacing my way through irritating word problems, tedious grammar sections, and reading and comprehension sections. The supervisor kept walking around the room picking up each student’s extra pencils and “graciously” sharpening them for us. Really? REALLY?

I turned the page when instructed to, praying it wasn’t another math section—and it wasn’t. It was a reading section—great! I started reading the excerpt given and was shocked to discover that it wasn’t a boring piece about astrology4 or biological science. Rather, it was an excerpt from a romantic novel. I became a little carried away5 with reading it and at times I wanted to say “Awww!” aloud. My heart was totally swooning6 and I think I was smiling. Hopefully I got the questions from that section right because I actually had fun answering them. Who knew the SAT could actually bring joy?

After section 10, the test was over. It was about 1 p.m. when I got out of room 52. I walked outside of the building and sat on a bench near the front of the school, waiting for my mom to pick me up.

我和其他学生站在教室外面，等着监考老师来开门。然后我看到了一个男生，他穿了衬衫，打着平整的领带，搭配了漂亮的卡其色裤子和一双擦得闪亮的棕色休闲皮鞋。我低头看看自己的UGG靴子和针织衫……呃，可能我应该穿得更好点儿。这个家伙会不会因为穿成这样SAT就能得到2400分（2400分是SAT考试的满分——译者注）？我环视周围的其他同学——他们都跟我穿得差不多。尽管我欣赏这个男生如此专业，但我并不认为穿得这么好看对我来说是最佳选择。我感觉舒适的时候会更容易集中注意力，不过我想这只是我的个人喜好。突然，监考老师来了，打开了教室门，我如释重负。

当我们终于走进了52室，我才意识到那里有多冷。暖气还没有开，所有的座位都像冰一样凉。只好这样了。然后监考老师开始到处走，检查每个人的计算器，以确保它们都是“允许使用的工具”。

大约8:25，考试开始。我从恼人的文字题开始，慢慢进入到冗长的语法部分，再到阅读理解部分。监考老师一直在教室里走来走去，检查每个学生的备用铅笔，并“亲切地”帮我们削好。真的？真的吗？

我按提示翻过卷子，祈祷不再是数学部分——果然不是。是阅读部分——太棒了！我开始阅读所给的片段，惊讶地发现它并不是一篇关于星象或生物科学的无聊文章。相反，它是一个节选自传奇小说的片段。我读得有些入了迷，不时想大声说：“噢！真棒！”我全心沉醉，我想我在微笑。但愿我都答对了，因为我其实是很开心地在回答这些问题。谁料到SAT竟能给人带来快乐呢？

答完第十部分，考试就结束了。我走出52室的时候大约是下午一点了。我走出大楼，坐在学校门口附近的一个长凳上，等妈妈来接我。

单词卡片

1. SAT: Scholastic Assessment Test,学术能力评估考试，SAT是美国的学术能力评估测试，由美国大学委员会（College Board）主办，SAT成绩是世界各国高中生申请美国名校学习及奖学金的重要参考。

2. bright-eyed and bushy-tailed: 精神饱满的，神采奕奕的；UGG : 雪地靴品牌名。

3. ACT: American College Testing, 美国大学入学考试。

4. astrology: 星象，占星术。

5.carry away: 吸引住。

6. swoon: 狂喜，昏厥，着迷。