HC-L19_Darnell Rock Reporting

# Lesson 19
# Vocabulary in Context

開始囉：

urge 鼓勵

Teachers can **urge**, or coax, students to get involved in helping their community.
老師可以**鼓勵（urge）**，或勸說學生參與幫助他們的社區。

下一個：

minimum 最低量 / 最小的

The food collected by students exceeded the **minimum**, or least, amount needed.
學生收集到的食物超過了所需的**最低量（minimum）**。

下一個：

effective 有效的

Picking up litter can be **effective** in keeping parks and beaches clean. It gets results.
撿垃圾對於保持公園和海灘乾淨是**有效的（effective）**，而且能真正產生效果。

下一個：

deteriorating 正在惡化的

Many **deteriorating** buildings will only get worse if volunteers don't help repair them.
許多**正在惡化的（deteriorating）**建築物，如果沒有志工協助修復，只會變得更糟。

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dependent 依賴

A literacy group may be **dependent** on volunteers. It needs them as reading tutors.
一個識字團體可能**依賴（dependent on）**志工，因為他們需要志工作為閱讀指導老師。

下一個：

violations 違反

If they pollute too much, companies can be fined for violations of clean air laws.
如果公司污染過多，可能會因為**違反（violations）**空氣清潔法而被罰款。

下一個：

granted 允許

The principal granted, or gave, these students and teacher permission to hold a car wash.
校長**允許（granted）**這些學生和老師舉辦洗車活動。

下一個：

issue 討論議題

Providing better care for senior citizens is an issue, or concern. You can help in many ways.
為年長者提供更好的照顧是一個**重要議題（issue）**或需要關注的問題，你可以用許多方式提供幫助。

下一個：

ordinance 法令

An ordinance, or city law, can create volunteer community service groups.
一項**法令（ordinance）**或城市法律，可以建立志工社區服務團體。

下一個：

exception 除了

With the exception of rainy days, this class works in the school garden every day.
**除了（exception）**下雨天之外，這個班級每天都會在學校的花園工作。

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DARNELL ROCK REPORTING by Walter Dean Myers

DARNELL ROCK REPORTING by Walter Dean Myers

Darnell Rock feels that his teachers only notice him, his friends, and his sister Tamika, when they get into trouble. Then a homeless man, Sweeby Jones, inspires Darnell to write an article in his school newspaper about turning a deteriorating basketball court into a garden to feed the homeless. Soon editor Peter Miller publishes Darnell's article in the town newspaper. Not everyone agrees with him, though, including student Linda Gold and teacher Miss Joyner. A city council meeting will decide what to do with the basketball court. Darnell is nervous about presenting his opinion, but his parents, and teachers like Mr. Baker and Miss Seldes, all support him. Before the meeting, everyone at school has read Darnell's article (pictured below) and an opposing article written by Linda that ran in the school newspaper (shown on page 571).

“Nobody wants to be homeless,” Sweeby Jones said. He is a homeless man who lives in our city of Oakdale. It is for him and people like him that I think we should build a garden where the basketball courts were, near the school. That way the homeless people can help themselves by raising food.

“You see a man or woman that’s hungry and you don’t feed them, or help them feed themselves, then you got to say you don’t mind people being hungry,” Mr. Jones said. “And if you don’t mind people being hungry, then there is something wrong with you.”

This is what Mr. Sweeby Jones said when I spoke to him. I don’t want to be the kind of person who says it’s all right for some people to be hungry. I want to do something about it. But I think there is another reason to have the garden.

Things can happen to people that they don’t plan. You can get sick, and not know why, or even homeless. But sometimes there are things you can do to change your life or make it good. If you don’t do anything to make your life good, it will probably not be good.

“I was born poor and will probably be poor all my life,” Mr. Sweeby Jones said.

I think maybe it is not how you were born that makes the most difference, but what you do with your life. The garden is a chance for some people to help their own lives.

Darnell Rock is a seventh-grader at South Oakdale Middle School. The school board has proposed that the site that Mr. Rock wants to make into a garden be used as a parking lot for teachers. The City Council will decide the issue tomorrow evening.

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Teaching is a difficult profession. Teachers need as much support as they can possibly get. After all, we are dependent on them for our future. Education is the key to a good and secure future, and teachers help us to get that education. We must give them all the support we can. This is why I am supporting the idea of building a parking lot near the school.

There are some people in our school who think it is a good idea to build a garden so that the homeless can use it. Use it for what? Homeless people don't have experience farming and could not use the land anyway. This is just a bad idea that will help nobody and will hurt the teachers. The teachers give us good examples of how we should live and how we should conduct ourselves. The homeless people, even though it is no fault of theirs, don't give us good examples.

On Friday evening at 7:00 p.m., the City Council will meet to make a final decision. I urge them to support the teachers, support education, and support the students at South Oakdale.

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"You see anybody from the school?" Larry looked over the large crowd at the Oakdale Court building.

"There goes Mr. Derby and Mr. Baker." Tamika pointed toward the front of the building.

Darnell felt a lump in the pit of his stomach. There were at least a hundred people at the City Council meeting.

Tamika led them through the crowd to where she had spotted Mr. Derby and South Oakdale's principal. The large, high-ceilinged room had rows of benches that faced the low platform for the City Council. Linda Gold was already sitting in the front row. Darnell saw that her parents were with her.

He had brought a copy of the Journal with him and saw that a few other people, grown-ups, also had copies of the paper.

The nine members of the City Council arrived, and the meeting was called to order. The city clerk said that there were five items on the agenda, and read them off. The first three items were about Building Code violations. Then came something about funding the city's library.

"The last item will be the use of the basketball courts as a parking lot at South Oakdale Middle School," the clerk said. "We have three speakers scheduled."

Linda turned and smiled at Darnell.







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Darnell didn't know what Building Code violations were but watched as building owners showed diagrams explaining why there were violations. The first two weren't that interesting, but the third one was. A company had built a five-story building that was supposed to be a minimum of twenty feet from the curb, but it was only fifteen feet.

“You mean to tell me that your engineers only had fifteen-foot rulers?” one councilman asked.

“Well, er, we measured it right the first time”—the builder shifted from one foot to the other—“but then we made some changes in the design and somehow we sort of forgot about the er . . . you know . . . the other five feet.”

To Darnell the builder sounded like a kid in his homeroom trying to make an excuse for not having his homework.

“Can you just slide the building back five or six feet?” the Councilman asked.

Everybody laughed and the builder actually smiled, but Darnell could tell he didn't think it was funny.

Somebody touched Darnell on his shoulder, and he turned and saw his parents.

“We have this ordinance for a reason,” a woman on the Council was saying. “I don’t think we should lightly dismiss this violation. An exception granted here is just going to encourage others to break the law.”

“This is going to ruin me,” the builder said.

“I’ve been in Oakdale all of my life and I think I’ve made a contribution.”

“Let’s have a vote.” The head of the Council spoke sharply.

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"Let's have a vote to postpone a decision," the woman who had spoken before said. "We'll give Mr. Miller an opportunity to show his good faith."

"What do you want me to do?" the builder asked.

"That's up to you," the woman said.

"Next time you'd better get it right!" Tamika called out.

"She's right," the councilwoman said.

There was a vote, and the decision was postponed. The builder gave Tamika a dirty look as he pushed his papers into his briefcase.

The city library funding was next, and eight people, including Miss Seldes, spoke for the library, but the Council said it didn't have any more money. There was some booing, including some from Tamika and Larry. Darnell knew that if he didn't have to speak he would have enjoyed the meeting.

"The issue at South Oakdale is should the old basketball courts be used as a parking lot, or should they be used as a community garden?"

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"Who's going to pay for paving the lot?" a councilman asked. "Does it have to be paved?"

"It's my understanding that it doesn't have to be paved," the head of the Council answered. "Am I right on that?"

"Yes, you are," Miss Joyner spoke up from the audience.

"We have two young people from the school to speak," the councilwoman said. "The first is a Miss Gold."

Linda went into the middle aisle, where there was a microphone. She began reading her article in the snootiest voice that Darnell had ever heard. He felt a knot in his stomach. He turned to look at his mother, and she was smiling. On the stage some of the councilmen were looking at some papers.

"I hope I don't mess up," he whispered to Tamika.

"You won't," Tamika said.

Linda finished reading her article and then turned toward Darnell.

"Although everybody would like to help the homeless," she said, "schools are supposed to be for kids, and for those who teach kids! Thank you."

There was applause for Linda, and Miss Joyner stood up and nodded toward her. Darnell felt his hands shaking.

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Darnell's name was called, and he made the long trip to the microphone.

"When I first thought about having a garden instead of a parking lot, I thought it was just a good idea," Darnell said. "Then, when the Journal asked me to send them a copy of my interview with Mr. Jones, I was thinking that it was mainly a good idea to have a garden to help out the homeless people. But now I think it might be a good idea to have the garden to help out the kids—some of the kids—in the school."

"Sometimes, when people go through their life they don't do the things that can make them a good life. I don't know why they don't do the right thing, or maybe even if they know what the right thing is sometimes.

"But I see the same thing in my school, South Oakdale. Some of the kids always do okay, but some of us don't. Maybe their parents are telling them something, or maybe they know something special. But if you're a kid who isn't doing so good, people start off telling you what you should be doing, and you know it, but sometimes you still don't get it done and mess up some more. Then people start expecting you to mess up, and then you start expecting to mess up. Teachers get mad at you, or the principal, or your parents, and they act like you're messing up on purpose. Like you want to get bad marks and stuff like that. Then you don't want people getting on your case all the time so you don't do much because the less you do the less they're going to be on your case. Only that doesn't help anything, and everybody knows it, but that's the way it goes."

"You seem to be doing all right, young man," the head of the City Council said.

"I wasn't doing too hot before," Darnell said, taking a quick look over to where Mr. Baker sat. "But when I got on the paper and the Journal printed my article, then everybody started treating me different. People came up to me and started explaining their points of view instead of just telling me what to do. And you people are listening to me. The kids I hung out with, they called us the Corner Crew, are mostly good kids, but you wouldn't listen to them unless they got into trouble."

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In South Oakdale some kids have bad things happen to them—like they get sick—and I don't know why that happens, but all they can do is to go to the hospital.

And some kids just get left out of the good things and can't find a way of getting back into them.

People get mad at them the same way they get mad at the homeless people or people who beg on the street.

Maybe the garden will be a way for the homeless people to get back into some good things, and maybe seeing the homeless people getting back into a better life will be a way for some of the kids to think about what's happening to them.

Thank you.

請看下側文字：

**How are Linda's and Darnell's arguments different in tone and purpose? What do their actions and arguments reveal about each character?（Linda 和 Darnell 的論點在語氣和目的上有什麼不同？他們的行動和論點顯示了什麼個性？）**

可以暫停思考一下，答案可以是：
Linda’s argument is calm and caring, and she wants to help homeless people and kids have a better life. Darnell’s argument is stronger and more direct, and he wants people to take action. Their arguments show that Linda is compassionate and thoughtful, while Darnell is determined and serious.

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There was some applause as Darnell turned to go back to his seat.

"Just a minute, young man," one of the councilmen called to him. "The girl said that these people don't know anything about raising a garden. Is that true?"

"It doesn't matter," someone said from the audience. "I'm from the college, and we can help with technical advice."

"I didn't ask you," the councilman said.

"I'm telling you anyway," the man said.

"I don't know how effective a community garden would be," the councilman said. "You can't feed people from a garden."

"You could sell what you grow," Darnell heard himself saying.

"I think bringing people who are non-school people into that close a contact with children might not be that good an idea," the councilman said. "Who's the last speaker?"

"A Mr. Jones," the clerk said. Sweeby came into the middle aisle, and a lot of people began to talk among themselves. There were a lot of things they were interested in, and most of them were not interested in the school parking lot.

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"I just wanted to ask you why you don't want to listen to this boy," Sweeby asked.

"You have four minutes to speak," the councilman said. He seemed angry. "We don't have to answer your questions."

"You don't have to answer my questions," Sweeby said. "And you don't have to have the garden. You don't have to think about us—what did you call us?—nonschool people?"

"But it's a shame you don't want to listen to this boy. I wish he had been my friend when I was his age. Maybe I would be sitting in one of your seats instead of being over here."

"Is there anything more?" the councilman asked.

"No, you can just forget about the whole thing now," Sweeby said. "Go on back to your papers."

"I think we can vote on this issue now," the councilman said. "I think Mr."—the councilman looked at the agenda to find Darnell's name—"Mr. Darnell Rock had some good points, but it's still a tough issue. Let's get on with the vote."

The vote went quickly. Three councilpeople decided not to vote, five voted against the garden, and only one voted for it.

Darnell took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Tamika patted him on his hand. When he looked at her she had tears in her eyes.

Darnell felt he had let Sweeby down. His father patted him on his back, and Miss Seldes came over.

"You did a good job," she said. "Really good."

"I lost," Darnell said.

"Sometimes you lose," Miss Seldes said. "But you still did a good job."

請看下側文字：

**Compare and contrast the different tones and words that the meeting participants use. How do their different ways of speaking make the story more realistic?（比較會議參與者使用的不同語氣和用詞。他們不同的說話方式如何讓故事更真實？）**

可以暫停思考一下，答案可以是：
The councilman speaks in an angry and formal way, while Sweeby speaks in a calm but disappointed way, and Miss Seldes speaks in a kind and encouraging way. Their different ways of speaking make the story more realistic because people speak differently depending on their feelings and roles.


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Sweeby and some of his friends were waiting outside the Council meeting, and they shook hands with Darnell. Sweeby was telling him how the members of the Council didn't really care about people when Darnell saw Linda through the crowd. She waved and he waved back. She was smiling.

Larry's mother came over and asked his father for a lift home, and they were waiting for Larry when Peter Miller from the Journal came over.

“Hey, you want to write another article for the paper?” he said. “There’s a guy who wants to donate a couple of lots for a garden in another location. My boss wants to run it as a human interest piece.”

“Yeah, sure,” Darnell said. “You want a long article or a short one?”

“I don’t know. Call the paper tomorrow and ask for the city desk,” the reporter said. “My editor will give you the word count.”

“Okay!” Darnell said.


請看右側文字：
**Why do you think the author focuses primarily on Darnell's argument in the story? What do you think the author wants readers to learn from Darnell's experience?（為什麼作者主要聚焦在 Darnell 的論點？作者希望讀者從他的經驗中學到什麼？）**

可以暫停思考一下，答案可以是：
The author focuses on Darnell to show how he speaks up for what he believes in. The author wants readers to learn that even if you lose, it is important to try and help others.