Lantern Festival，2014-02-14 【Aiden in English·The Most Admired Person】 Thomas Jefferson was a great man. He accomplished a lot of feats that we couldn't even hope to achieve. Unlike other great people, Thomas was famous for many things. This is why I look up to him. Thomas Jefferson was an amazing inventor. He loved inventing and was a genius. He designed and changed many products, for example, the dumbwaiter, moldboard, wheel cipher, and spherical sundial. The dumbwaiter consisted of a series of tiers of shelves set on casters to enhance the lifter. The new plow reduced the resistance when a curved moldboard turned the soil to improve the technology of farming. The wheel cipher was devised as an easy and secure method to encode and decode messages that the soldiers sent during the American Revolution. A movable meridian of the spherical sundial cast a shadow telling the time. Because of his inventions, Thomas became so rich and famous that he was able to find, design, and direct the architecture of the University of Virginia. He even built a huge mansion of Monticello in his home state.
One of the main reasons I respect Thomas is that he always tried his best. Being an inventor is very hard because many experiments would fail. However, he never stopped trying no matter what, even if somebody said that it was impossible. Thomas came from a poor family. Even so, he became a man who would go down in history to the end of time.
And last but not least, the thing that inspires me most, is that Thomas always helped America. He not only created useful inventions to improve society but also became an ambassador to France. Even after his wife and children passed away, Thomas continued to help America. As the 3rd President of the United States, he wrote the Declaration of Independence and the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. In the meanwhile, he signed the Louisiana Purchase.
What a terrific person Thomas Jefferson is!
【紅霞譯文·記敘文—最佩服的人】
托馬斯‧傑斐遜是一位傑出領袖，其豐功偉績令人拍案叫絕。不像其他偉人，托馬斯能文能武多才多藝，這就是為什麼我敬仰他的原因所在。
托馬斯‧傑斐遜堪稱偉大的發明家。他熱愛發明，天資聰穎，設計改裝了許多產品，例如﹕升降機、犁板、滾輪密碼和球面日晷。升降機藉助腳輪驅動一組貨架裝置來提升高度﹔新型犁耙改良了犁板彎度，使之在深翻土壤時降低阻力，能夠有效地提高農耕技術﹔滾輪密碼為美國獨立戰爭期間士兵秘密傳送信息提供了簡單而安全的編碼和解碼手段﹔球面日晷通過變動的子午線投影來確定時間。正因為諸多發明創造，托馬斯變得越來越富，越來越出名，最終導致投資設計興建弗吉尼亞大學，同時在家鄉親手蓋起蒙蒂塞洛巨幢豪宅。
我敬仰托馬斯的主要理由之一，他一生總是盡力而為。發明家的日子並非好過，因為要面對無數次失敗，但他從未灰心，無論出現何等狀況，即使在常人眼裡看似不可能。其實托馬斯出身卑微，可憑藉發奮圖強的精神，終於成為歷史上功不可沒的重要人物。
最後但並非最不重要，令我深受啟發的還有托馬斯熱愛祖國，並終身付諸實踐。他不僅創造發明改善社會，而且還勇做駐法大使，即使在妻兒過世，托馬斯從未間斷報效祖國。身為美國第三任總統，他曾撰寫《美國獨立宣言》，制定《弗吉尼亞宗教自由法》，同時簽署《路易斯安那購地案》。 托馬斯‧傑斐遜實在了不起！ 2014-02-07
【Aiden in English·Eragon @ School Day】
It was another one of those regular days of a regular school in a regular town. Nothing at school ever was amazing (except drenching the principal with water balloons, now that was funny), that is until today. I was just about to finish my narrative on my favorite character from the book of Eragon when all of a sudden a flash of light and heat illuminated the classroom. Essays flew everywhere, and just as quick as it started, the light vanished. In its place, there sat the one and only Eragon. Immediately everyone backed away, but I stood there, wide-eyed. He was just as I pictured in the book. He had dark hair and ocean-blue eyes. A side hung something that not even the most valuable jewels could even compare to, was the sword Brisingr.
Mr. Holloran was the first to break the seemingly ever-lasting silence. "How did you get here, and who are you?" he stammered. Eragon calmly answered: "I think your friend here can tell you,” pointing a finger at me. I began telling Mr. Holloran and the class about Alagaesia and Eragon's story. When I finished, I was 23 gaping mouths and wide-open eyes.
The class then started to shoot questions at Eragon. "What age did you become a Dragon Rider?" "Are you really a hundred years old?" "What kind of car do you have?" (obviously, Aaron asked that). Then all of a sudden, the class and Eragon heard a flapping sound, like the beating of wings. I looked out the window to see a huge thing flying at us. It was a dragon. The dragon had midnight black scales and was easily the size of the room. Without warning, the dragon blew fire into the room.
I would've easily been barbequed if it weren't for Eragon who used magic to shield us. Then, the dragon came back around and smacked Eragon into a wall. A moment later, Eragon uttered an ancient word, the trigger word for magic. Suddenly, the dragon was engulfed in flames and disappeared.
I looked to see where Eragon was, but he had disappeared too. I guess it was back to a regular day, in a regular, of a regular town.
【紅霞譯文·記《飛龍聖戰》主人公龍騎士一天學校生活】
這是普通小鎮中普通學校里普通一天，除了用水球打濕校長全身算得上有趣之外，學校生活平淡得不能再平淡，直到今天方有改變。
我正在伏案揮毫，記敘小說《遺產》四部曲之一《飛龍聖戰》中自己所喜愛的主人公見龍騎士故事。突然一束明光照亮教室，我筆頭下的紙片散落滿地，眨眼功夫光束便消失得無影無蹤，這時只見一位十幾歲的龍騎士盤坐那裡，其他人見勢紛紛向後退去，而我則目瞪口呆站在原處。他正像書中描述的那樣，黑頭髮蔚藍色眼睛，側面胯着無價之寶——降魔火劍。
班主任豪樂元先生率先打破持續良久的沉寂。“你怎麼會在這裡，你是誰？”他結結巴巴地問。“我想您的朋友可以回答這個問題”，龍騎士一邊冷靜地說，一邊隨手朝我指來。我開始向豪樂元先生和全班介紹阿拉加西亞虛幻世界，並敘述龍騎士的故事，聽完之後，23位同學個個張目結舌。
隨後，同學們連珠炮似地向龍騎士提出一系列問題。“你多大的時候成為龍騎士？”“你真有一百年歲嗎？”“你開什麼車？”(沒錯，艾潤提起這個問題。)就在這時，大伙兒和龍騎士聽到突如其來的拍打聲，好像翅膀扇動時發出的響聲。我朝窗外望去，只見一個龐然大物正朝我們飛來，原來是條巨龍，渾身上下披着烏黑色鱗片，個頭跟教室差不多大。它二話不說，立刻向我們開火。
如果不是因為龍騎士善施魔法保護我們，我恐怕早已被烤成肉餅。巨龍惱羞成怒，狠命將龍騎士打入牆內。不一會兒，龍騎士口念古語，結果魔法降身，巨龍即刻陷入火海，並被大火吞噬。 我到處尋找龍騎士，怎麼也找不到他。我覺得又將回到普通小鎮普通學校里，再度開始平淡一天。
【後記】 賓州學校評估體系(Pennsylvania System of School Assessment, PSSA)是全州公立學校範圍內一種標準化管理考試，自小學三年級開始到初中八年級為止，除了評估閱讀理解和數學運用之外，五、八年級考試附設寫作技巧﹔四、八年級考試加考自然科學，包括數據文字解釋和邏輯分析。各學校依照考試成績按序排名，連續三年不合格的學校將被州政府取消教育資助。因此，賓州學校評估體系最終考核的是老師教學質量，學校領導十分重視自己的名譽。 正因小學五年級新增作文評估，所以春季第二學期返校之後，我家童少所在學校每隔一周都要圍繞複習提綱，重點加強寫作練習，間周還會在全班範圍內進行寫作評講，與我們家長兒時在國內經歷的書寫技能訓練差不多。寫作手段不限，可以採用記敘、議論、抒情、說明、描寫、虛幻小說等多種形式，字數規定不應超過兩頁橫線標準紙張，大約1000字以內，課堂上限時一個鐘頭內完成。
以上便是我家童少諸多習作中的一篇。 
Thomas Jefferson (托馬斯·傑弗遜 05-31-2012) 
The Franklin Institute (富蘭克林研究所 07-07-2013)
Montgomery ES (蒙哥馬利小學 02-25-2014) 
Practice for March Madness (為瘋狂三月比賽練球 02-25-2014) Crosslink(相關博文): 5th Grade(小學五年級) | 
