頭條制造者

馬華

The Newspaper

It had been a long hard day in the classroom， and Ms. Cramble was looking tired. “Magee，” she said， shaking her head， “you havent listened to me all day. I should give you detention …but Ive got a better idea.”

Oh no！ I hated it when she had better ideas.

“I want you to help out on the school newspaper for the next month，” she said.

“The newspaper！”I groaned.

I might have been full of smart jokes， but I was pretty（相當地）bad at everything else. What use would I be on the newspaper？

Working on the newspaper meant working with Tilly Turner. Tilly was the editor（編輯） and reporter and， unlike me， she was good at everything.

“Well， Magee， what sort of stories do you think we should be working on， for the next week？” Tilly asked me， as we walked over to the newspaper room.

I shrugged. I never read the newspaper.

“So far（到目前為止） we have stories on pets， and the new teacher， and something on Ms. Crambles cuckoo clock（布谷鳥鐘）collection（收藏品），” she went on.

“Really？” I said. It was no wonder I never read the newspaper.

Just then I saw something out of the corner of my eyes. It looked like Brad Biggens sneaking into the office.

“Did you see that？” I hissed at Tilly. She looked blank.

“And you call yourself a reporter，” I said， dragging her with me around the side of the building.

“Look，” I whispered（低聲說）， as Brad came out with something in his hand. He quickly pushed whatever it was under his shirt， and ran to the gate. Before we could see any more， he hopped（跳上）on his bike and rode off.

Good Headlines

“Theres a story there！” I said to Tilly. “I can see the headline now：

BAD BRAD IN OFFICE GRAB！”

Tilly stared at me and shook her head. “I dont think so， Magee. Now， I need some help with the story about the biscuit baking competition.”

“BISCUIT BAKERS TAKE THE CAKE，” I shouted.

Tilly rolled her eyes.

“Come on， Tilly，” I said. “If we dont have exciting stories， we could at least have some good headlines.”

By Friday afternoon， I was starting to like working on the newspaper. Id thought up（想出） lots of headlines—although Tilly said we really had to have stories to go with them.

I was working on a story when Tilly flew into the newspaper room. “Ive seen him again！” she shouted.

Now it was my turn to look blank. “Who？”

“Brad Biggens，” she said. “Youre right， hes up to something. Quick， get the camera. Lets go.”

Tilly was starting to get the idea of being a reporter.

Following The Story

As we raced（沖出）outside and around the corner of the library， we saw Brad walking towards the back fence. He was carrying his school jacket， but there was something about it that looked strange and heavy.

Tilly and I both stopped. We could see something was up. Without saying a word， we backed around the corner again， and quietly watched him.

I took the camera out and took some shots as he pushed his jacket into the hedge at the back of the school grounds.

“Looks like hes left something to be picked up，” I whispered.

“Lets go and see what it is，” said Tilly， as Brad disappeared out of the school gate.

When we got to the hedge， Tilly bent down and pushed away some leaves. There was Brads jacket， and wrapped inside were two notebook computers from the school office.

Snapped！

It was just after dark when Brad came back to pick up the computers. He was bending down to take the jacket from under the hedge when he heard us behind him. He turned to look at us as my camera flash went off and I snapped（快速拍照） him in the act.

Ive never seen anyone look so surprised in my life—especially when Ms. Cramble and two police officers stepped out of the darkness.

Tilly rushed forward with her tape recorder. “Brad Biggens， do you have anything to say？”

“I was framed！” he screamed（大叫）， as the officers led him away.

“I dont think so！” yelled（大喊） Tilly. “Weve got photos of you hiding the notebooks here this afternoon.”

The flash from my next photo lit up Brads guilty（內疚的）face.

When I walked into class on Monday， Ms. Cramble was holding the newspaper.

“Good headlines，” she said， giving me a funny smile. I thought she meant：

BRAD TAKES NOTES， POLICE TAKE BRAD

But when I saw she was looking at a different story：

CLOCK COLLECTOR NOT SO CUCKOO AFTER ALL

機緣巧合進報社

又是漫長難捱的一天，克蘭布老師站在教室里一臉疲倦。“馬吉，”她搖著頭說，“你這一天都沒有在聽講。真該罰你留校……不過，我有個更好的主意。”

該死！她一提更好的主意就準沒好事。

“我要你去學校報社幫忙一個月。”

“報社！”我滿是抱怨。

要說講笑話抖機靈我拿手，可其他我一樣不會。放我在報社能干嗎？

去報社還意味著要跟蒂莉·特納共事。人家跟我這個學渣可不是一國的，除了是報社的編輯兼記者，其他也沒什么是她不行的。

“馬吉，你認為我們下周寫什么故事好呢？”在往報社走的路上，蒂莉問我。

我無所謂地聳聳肩，因為那玩意兒我壓根沒看過。

“目前，我們的選材內容包括寵物、新進教師以及克蘭布老師收藏的布谷鐘。”她繼續說著。

“是嘛！”我回答道。我會看才怪！

就在這時，我瞥到些什么。似乎是布拉德·比金斯溜進了老師辦公室。

“你看見沒？”我悄聲問蒂莉。而她看起來一臉茫然。

“就這樣，還說自己是個記者？”我邊說邊把她拽到大樓拐角處。

“看！”我低聲道。布拉德從大樓內出來了，手里還抱著些東西。他迅速攏了攏用來遮掩的襯衣，奔向大門。還沒等我倆看清楚，他便跳上自行車，騎走了。

愛上做個標題黨

“這里頭大有文章啊！”我對蒂莉說。“標題我都想好了：

布拉德巧取豪奪，辦公室成犯罪現場！”

蒂莉瞪著我搖了搖頭。“算了吧，馬吉。我現在需要的是曲奇烘焙競賽的文章，快幫我出出主意。