Hello, my name is Jimmy.
你好，我叫吉米。
One day my eighth grade friend said that he was taking the school geography bee (比赛) written test the next day.
有一天，我八年级的朋友说他第二天要参加学校地理蜜蜂竞赛的笔试。
Something in his tone told me that he was not looking forward to the bee.
他的语气让我感觉到他对这场竞赛并不期待。
I could not understand! It sounded like a lot of fun to me.
我无法理解！这对我来说听起来非常有趣。
All day, I found myself wishing I was in middle school, so I could take part in the geography bee.
那一整天，我都盼望着自己能上中学，这样就能参加地理蜜蜂竞赛了。
During my lunch break I walked up to my social studies teacher’s classroom and asked her if I could take part in the bee for middle school.
午休时，我走到社会研究课老师的教室，问她我是否可以参加中学的地理竞赛。
But she did hesitate (犹豫) a bit because I was too young, just a primary school pupil.
但她有些犹豫，因为我年纪太小，还只是个小学生。
I told her that I really loved to learn about our earth, its rivers, mountains, all the human cultures on it.
我告诉她，我真的热爱了解我们的地球、它的河流与山脉，以及地球上所有的人类文化。
She was still not sure but finally said, “yes.” I jumped at once!
她仍然不太确定，但最终说了“可以”。我立刻高兴得跳了起来！
That next morning I was going to be in the school bee as a participant (参赛者) and learn things I was really interested in.
第二天早上，我将作为一名参赛者参加学校的地理竞赛，去学习我真正感兴趣的知识。
I was not nervous one bit, instead just very excited to be doing something I really loved.
我一点也不紧张，反而因为能做自己真正热爱的事情而感到无比兴奋。
We had four written rounds — two on the United States and two on the world.
我们进行了四轮笔试——两轮关于美国，两轮关于世界。
I did surprisingly well and placed on the top ten, beating some of the strong seventh and eighth graders.
我的表现出奇地好，进入了前十名，甚至击败了一些实力强劲的七、八年级学生。
I lost in the oral round the next day, but won my teacher’s attention.
虽然我在第二天的口试环节被淘汰了，但却赢得了老师的关注。
I came home and looked up the answers to the questions that I and other students lost on.
回到家后，我查阅了我和其他同学答错题目的正确答案。
I placed second in my school the following year, but more importantly, I realized that I really loved geography and enjoyed the time I spent learning it.
第二年，我在全校比赛中获得了第二名，但更重要的是，我意识到自己真的热爱地理，并享受学习地理的时光。
I may have lost that first bee, but I won the world; a love for that world; love to explore that world — one country, one mountain, one river, one landform at a time; and that is certainly the biggest win for me truly!
也许我输掉了第一次竞赛，但我赢得了整个世界；赢得了对这个世界的热爱，以及探索这个世界的热情——一个国家、一座山、一条河、一种地貌地去探索；而这对我来说，才是真正的最大胜利！
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