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Mad Mel looked at the mannequin. "Isn't that right, Manny?" asked Mel. "Sorry, Manny. I know it's hard to talk when you're thinking about that awful cafeteria food."
Mel waited for the clapping to stop. Then he said, "Now, Manny. I know you want to say a few words about our candidate, Eugene Beckman. You can go ahead now."
Mel looked out at the audience. "Isn't that touching?" he said. "Manny thinks Eugene's so great that he's all choked up. He can't speak."
As Mel spoke, everyone cheered.
At our meeting that afternoon, Dagny was furious.
"Of all the cheap tricks," she said. "Mel brought in that dummy so that Eugene wouldn't have to speak."
"Hey," Rod said. "That gives me an idea. Let's put up a poster that says: 'Only a dummy would vote for, y'know, Eugene.'"
Everyone roared with laughter. Except me.
"No!" I said. "That's low—really low."

"Suzie, dear," said Dagny. "We would be foolish not to take advantage of this opportunity."
I looked at Dagny and the others. Then I said, "I don't think I can serve on this committee any more."
Dagny smiled. "All right," she said. "I think I've already won the election, anyway."
So I was out. But to my surprise, I didn't care.
As I left, I heard Rod say, "Let's challenge the dummy to a debate."
They must have done that right away. Because when I stopped by Eugene's house early that evening, he had already heard about it.
"They want a, y'know, debate," Eugene said, unhappily. "Mad Mel says we should, y' know, do it." Eugene sighed. "He'll do all the, y' know, talking with the dummy."
"Eugene," I said. "Listen. You know you've got this problem. Why don't we work on it, so you can do your own talking?"
"Do you, y'know, think I could?"
"Let's try," I said.

We did. Eugene and I spent the whole weekend working. He practiced speaking without saying "y'know." But it was hard.
The debate was very important. Each candidate was given one final chance to state his or her goals. Dagny was first. She ended with, "And if you elect me, I will see to it that Haskell High's trophies are put in a case for all to see."
Then it was Eugene's turn. Mel stood up. He headed toward the mike. He was dragging the mannequin. Suddenly I sensed trouble. Dagny and her friends were smiling slyly at each other.
Mel didn't notice. He looked so pleased with himself. I knew then that Eugene was right. This was just a big game to Mel.
Mel was about to speak. But then the dummy itself began speaking. Someone must have planted a speaker somewhere in its clothing. They must have taped Eugene's voice because all you could hear was Eugene's voice coming from the dummy saying over and over, "And if I am elected, y'know, y'know, y'know."
The audience broke up with laughter. Eugene looked shocked. Shaken, he smiled and walked up to the microphone.

"I guess it's time for the real dummy to speak," he said. "You must have thought I had lost my voice. Well, now you know where it is." He pointed at the mannequin, and everybody laughed.
Eugene straightened his shoulders. Then he said, "In a campaign, it's easy to see only the tricks and lose sight of the real issues. I'm not even sure what the real issues are, but I think they should address what is best for those of us here at Haskell."
Eugene paused. Then he said, "I don't know if I'd make a good president, I've never been one before. But I can promise you that if elected I'll, y'know, do my very best."
He smiled again and sat down. Only one "y'know" in the whole speech!
There was a lot of cheering then. Nobody had ever made a speech like that before, and the kids loved it.
Eugene spotted me in the crowd. He said, "Thanks, Suzie."

We walked home together after school that afternoon. "If I'm elected," he said, "I'm really going to, y'know, need you around next year."
We stopped, and he smiled at me. Suddenly, I forgot that I had known him all my life. It was as if I were seeing him for the first time.
"I think we 'll be seeing a lot of one another from now on, Suzie," he said softly. "Is that all right with you?"
Was that all right with me? "Do birds fly?" I said. "Is the sky blue?"
When I said that, Eugene looked at me. "Suzie," he said. "You've got this, y'know, problem. Why don't we work on it?"

参考译文

Mad Mel看着模特，“不是吗，Manny？”Mel问。“对不起，Manny。我知道这很难说出口，因为你想的是食堂难吃的伙食。”
Mel等着掌声停下来。然后，他说，“现在，Manny。我知道你想为我们的候选人 Eugene Beckman说些什么，现在请说吧。”
Mel看着观众，“这不动人吗？”他问。“Manny觉得 Eugene Beckman太棒了，他噎住了，不能讲话。”
Mel一张嘴，所有的人欢呼起来。
那天下午的会议上，Dagny暴怒。
“全都是低贱的诡计，”她说。“Mel带来那个假人，这样Eugene就不必讲话了。”
“嘿，”Rod说。“这让我想出个主意来，我们贴张海报，上面写着：“只有假人投票赞成，你知道， Eugene””
所有人哄堂大笑，除了我。
“不！”我说，“这很卑鄙--非常卑鄙。”

“Suzie，亲爱的，”Dagny说。“如果不利用这个机会，那我们就是傻瓜。”
我看着Dagny和其他人。然后说，“我再也不想为这个委员会做什么了。”
Dagny笑了。“好吧，”她说。“不管怎样，我想我已经赢了。”
所以我就退出了，然而出乎意外，我并没有在乎。
离开的时候，我听到 Rod说，“让我们挑战这个假人，和他辩论吧。”
他们一定马上就付诸实践了。因为那天晚上早些时候我去Eugene家访问时，他已经知道了。
“他们想，你知道，辩论，”Eugene不高兴地说，“Mad Mel说我们应该，你知道，进行辩论。”Eugene叹气道，“他会，你知道，一直和假人对话的。”
“Eugene，”我说，“听着，你知道自己有这个问题，为什么不克服呢？这样你就可以自己做讲话了。”
“你，你知道，觉得我行吗？”
“试试吧，”我说。

我们尝试了。我和Eugene花了整个周末，他锻炼讲话时不再说“你知道。”但是很难。
这次辩论非常重要，每个候选人都有最后一次陈述自己目标的机会。Dagny是第一个，她的结束语是，“如果你们选举了我，我将会确保Haskel高中的奖品都放在一个盒子里供展览。”
该Eugene上场了，Mel站起来，朝麦克风走去，他手里拖着模特。突然我感到不妙，Dagny和朋友们诡秘地对笑着。
Mel没有留意到这些，他看起来洋洋得意，这时我意识到Eugene是对的，这只是Mel玩的一个游戏。
Mel正准备讲话，但是假人自己开始说话了，一定有人在它的衣服里安了喇叭，他们一定录下了 Eugene的声音，因为听到的是 Eugene的声音从假人中一遍一遍地传出来，“如果我被当选，你知道，你知道。”
观众哄堂大笑， Eugene看起来挺吃惊的，他颤抖了一下，微笑着走向麦克风。

“我想该真正的假人讲话了，”他说。“你们一定认为我失声了，现在你们就知道丢在哪儿了。”他指着模特，所有人都大笑起来。
Eugene挺直肩膀，他说，“在竞选中，诡计总是很常见，而总是忽略了真正的问题。我甚至不知道真正的问题是什么，但是我想应该是那些关乎 Haskell高中每个人福利的事情。”
Eugene停了下，他说，“我不知道自己能否做一个好主席，我以前从未做过，但是我可以保证，如果当选，我将，你知道，尽最大努力。”
他再次笑了，走下台来。整个讲话里只有一句“你知道”！
随之是一阵欢呼声，以前从未有人做过这样的演讲，大家都很喜欢。
Eugene在人群中认出我来，他说，“Suzie，谢谢你。”

下午放学后我们一起回家，“如果我当选，”他说，“我真的，你知道，明年一年都需要你在身边。”
我们停下来，他对我笑笑。突然，我忘了我一直都认识他的，好像这是我第一次见到他。
“我想从今以后我们会经常见面，Suzie，”他轻声说。“你觉得怎么样？”
我觉得怎样？“鸟儿会飞吗？”我问，“天空是蓝色的吗？”
说这话的时候，Eugene看着我。“Suzie，”他说。“你有这个，你知道，问题，让我们一起来解决吧！”

词汇释义

1.awful adj. 可怕的,壮严的

例句：
It would be awful if he found out the truth.
如果他发现了真相，那就糟了。

2.touching adj. 动人的,悲惨的

例句：
A lovely melody, tender and touching, floated down to us.
一曲优美的亲切动人的乐曲传到了我们耳边。

3.slyly adv. 狡猾的,秘密地,顽皮地

4.straighten v. 弄直,使正确,整顿

例句：
She twitched the corner of the rug to straighten it.
她拉了拉小地毯的一角，把它弄正。

5.spot v. 认出,用灯光照射

例句：
She spotted her friend in the crowd.
她在人群中认出了她的朋友。

词组解释

1.roar with laughter 哄堂大笑

例句：
He threw back his head and roared with laughter.
他仰著头哈哈大笑.

2.take advantage of 利用

例句：
It never occurred to me to take advantage of him.
我决没有想到过要占他的便宜。

3.serve on vt. 担当(担任)

例句：
He is an interested party and can not serve on the jury.
他是与案件有关的当事人，不能做陪审团的成员。

4.see to v.负责, 注意

例句：
I will see to the sick classmate.
我会照顾那个生病的同学。