“Jackson， I love you. But you may bethe messiest1 boy in the world，”Jackson’smother said as she placed clean clothes onhis already messy dresser2.

“No way， Mom.”

“No？ Why not？”

“Because you haven’t met every boy inthe world， so there is no way you couldknow that！ ”

Mom smiled. “Maybe. But I bet3 youare in the top ten！ Put all of these clothesaway before you go to bed.”

“Okay. I will. Thanks for washingthem.”

“Thanks for putting them away.Remember， before you go to bed！ A placefor everything， and everything in its place.”

“I know. I know. I’ll put them away. Ipromise4！ ”

“杰克遜，我愛你。但你可能是世界上最臟的男孩?！苯芸诉d的母親一邊把干凈的衣服放在他已經(jīng)凌亂的衣櫥上，一邊說道。

“不可能，媽媽?！?/p>

“不是么？為什么不可能呢？”

“因為你沒有見過世界上的每個男孩，所以你不可能知道！”

媽媽笑著說：“也許吧。但我敢打賭你是前十名！睡覺前把這些衣服都收起來?！?/p>

“好的。我會的。謝謝您洗了它們?！?/p>

“謝謝你把它們收好。記住，睡覺前！各得其所，各歸其位。”

“知道啦，知道啦。我會把它們放好。我保證！”

After his mom left the room， Jacksonlooked around. His room wasn’t thatmessy！ Sure， there were many things onthe floor， on top of the dresser， and underhis bed， but he could still walk aroundwithout stepping5 on stuff.

It was a beautiful summer day.Jackson couldn’t wait to get outside andride his bike. So he rode his bike throughthe yard6 and toward the road. He alwayslooked both ways to be sure no car wascoming. Far down the road， he could seesomeone riding a bike. Who was that？Then he saw the bright blonde hair andhe knew. Kelly！ The new girl in firstgrade！ They rode the same bus， sat inthe same class， but still Jackson hadnever talked to her. Ever！ Today wouldbe the day！

He looked down at his jeans. Theywere dirty and the knees were green fromplaying in the grass. His shirt was evenworse！ Jackson turned his bike and rodeas fast as he could back to the house. Heran to his room. He pulled on cleanclothes from the stack7 his mom left andthen looked into the mirror8.

媽媽離開房間后，杰克遜環(huán)顧四周。他的房間沒那么亂！當然，地板上、衣櫥上和床下有一些東西，但他仍然可以行走自如且不會踩到東西。

這是一個美麗的夏日，杰克遜迫不及待地想出去騎自行車。于是他騎著自行車穿過院子向馬路奔去。他不停朝兩邊看，以確保沒有車開過來。在路的盡頭，他可以看到有人騎著自行車。那是誰？然后看到那頭明亮的金發(fā)他就知道了。是凱莉，那個一年級新來的女孩！

他們搭同一輛公共汽車，在同一個班級，但杰克遜從未和她說過話，從未。今天是時候開口了！他低頭看看自己的牛仔褲。褲子很臟，膝蓋處因為在草地上玩耍而留下了綠色痕跡。他的襯衫更糟！杰克遜調(diào)轉(zhuǎn)車頭，以最快的速度騎回了家。他跑向他的房間，從媽媽留下的一疊衣服里換上干凈衣服，然后照了照鏡子。

“My comb9！ ”Jackson looked for itat the top of his dresser， under the clothesand toys.“Where’s my comb？”It shouldbe on top of his dresser， but it wasn’tthere！ He looked out the window andtried to see down the road. He couldn’tsee Kelly yet. But she’d be here soon！

He ran back toward his room，slipped10， and fell11 on the floor.“Ouch！”he shouted. Jackson got to his feet andhurried back to his room. Dropping13 tohis knees， he looked under his bed for thecomb. Nothing but parts of his dirtysocks， and his old football.

Jackson rubbed14 his sore15 knee ashe got up and then ran back to hisdresser. He pushed his hair down and putthe cap on. “Oh well，”he said as helooked at his hair. He turned and rantoward the door then. Just before hereached it， he stepped on something andfell hard. His face hit16 the floor and hefelt pain17. He looked over at the footballhe just tripped18 over. He was done. Hecould not go out there and talk to Kellyfor the first time ever.

“我的梳子！”杰克遜在他的衣櫥頂部、衣服和玩具下面找了一遍?！拔业氖嶙幽兀俊彼鼞撛谒囊聶簧厦?，但是它不在那里！他向窗外望去，試圖看看路的盡頭。

他還沒看見凱莉。但是她很快就會過來了！他跑回自己的房間，然后滑倒摔在地板上?！鞍?！”他喊道。

杰克遜站起身，匆匆回到自己的房間。他雙膝跪地，在床底下尋找梳子。除了他的臟襪子和舊足球外什么也沒有。杰克遜起身時揉了揉酸痛的膝蓋，然后跑回衣櫥前。他放下頭發(fā)，戴上帽子?！芭叮F(xiàn)在好了?！彼呎f邊看著自己的頭發(fā)。然后他轉(zhuǎn)身向門口跑去。就在他快要碰到門時，腳踩到了什么東西，重重地摔了一跤。他的臉撞在地板上，感到很痛。他看了看剛剛絆倒自己的足球。他完蛋了。他不能出門和凱莉進行有史以來的第一次交談。

He stayed on the floor.This was the worst day ever.

After a few minutes， herolled19 to his side. As he did，he could see his comb. Underthe dresser. He rememberedhis mom saying， “A place foreverything， and everything inits place.”He stood slowly.Maybe he would go for a bikeride later. Right now， he wasgoing to clean his room.

他待在地板上。這是有史以來最糟糕的一天。

幾分鐘后，他翻了個身。在翻身時，他看到他的梳子了，在衣櫥下面。他想起他媽媽說過：“每樣東西都有一個位置，每樣東西都應在它的位置上?！彼卣酒饋怼Ｒ苍S他過會兒才會去騎自行車?，F(xiàn)在，他要打掃他的房間了。

（英語原文選自：readingvine.com）