小小超級拼字者

The word autochthonous (土生的) means something formed in the place it is found. But to David Tidmarsh， it means cheers and prizes as the 77th Annual Scripps National Spelling Bee(拼單詞比賽) champ¹!

Pausing between letters to catch his breath， David worked his way slowly through the tough² word. When he finished， the crowd went wild! He was the champion! Beating out 264 other contestants³， he had earned his spot at the top of this year' s spelling list.

Not bad for a young man who finished 16th in the contest last year. \"I had a really good time last year， so it made me want to do better，\" he said. That meant expanding his study list. \"Last year I just studied words that had been used before. This year I studied those words， and I went to the dictionary and made my own list，\" he said. All told， he studied about 10，000 words.

When he's not winning spelling contests， David likes science. One recent project involved Gummi Bears(古米熊軟糖) and his kitchen floor. \"We were trying to test the five-second rule，\"he said. \"People say that if you drop a piece of food on the ground， then you can eat it if it's down there for less than five seconds.\"

His hypothesis（假設）? \"We thought it would be unsafe to do that，\" he said. Sure enough， there was plenty of bacteria⁴ to mea- sure. \"We found out that for the Gummi Bears， the number of bacteria increases the longer they were on the kitchen tile⁵，\" he said.

David also enjoys sports， playing baseball and soccer. He also swims， and recently started golf lessons. \"I think you have to have a sort of balance between having fun and working on things like spelling bees. It is not just about the spelling. There are so many other things you can do.\"

David's new position as a role model begins at home. His two younger siblings⁶， sister Clare， four， and brother Kevin， ten， both like to try spelling. Clare makes a game of it. \"She goes， 'Let's have a spelling bee，' but she does't know how to spell actual words.\" Kevin is interested in competing in the national spelling contest next year. That suits David， who will be too old to enter next year. \"I'm hoping he does， too， because I'd like to go back，\" he said.

注釋：

1．champ n. 冠軍，champion的縮略

2．tough adj．困難的，棘手的

3．contestant n.參加競賽者， 競爭者

4．bacteria n．（bacterium的復數）細菌

5.tile n. 瓷磚

6．sibling n. 兄弟或姊妹

“土生土長”一詞意為某物成長于其被發現的地方。但是對于大衛·蒂德馬什而言，它意味著榮獲第77屆斯克利普斯全國拼字年賽冠軍時得到的歡呼和獎勵!

在字母拼寫中暫停一下，喘口氣，大衛慢慢地努力攻克著難字。當他完成拼寫后，觀眾一陣歡呼。他是冠軍！擊敗了其余264名參賽者，他榮登本年度拼字排行榜榜首。

對于一個去年得了第16名的年輕人而言，這個成績真是不錯。他說：“去年參加比賽我感到很愉快，因此，這使我想表現得更好?！蹦且馕吨鴶U大自己的學習范圍。他說：“去年我只學習了過去使用過的單詞。今年我不僅學習那些單詞，還查字典列出了我自己的詞匯表?！彼偣矊W會了大約1萬個單詞。

當大衛不在為贏得拼字比賽學習時，他喜歡科學。最近的一個項目是用古米熊軟糖和他家廚房的地板做測試?！拔覀冊趪L試測驗 5秒鐘規則，”他說?！叭藗冋f如果一塊食物掉在地上不到5秒鐘，你還可以吃?！?/p>

他的假說是什么呢? “我們認為那樣做是不安全的，”他說。毫無疑問，能檢測出那兒有大量的細菌。大衛說：“我們發現拿古米熊軟糖來說，它們在廚房的瓷磚上放的時間越長，上面的細菌就越多?！?/p>

大衛還喜歡運動，他打棒球，踢足球，還游泳，最近又開始學習打高爾夫球?！拔艺J為你必須在玩樂與做類似拼字競賽的工作中獲取一種平衡。生活中不光有拼字比賽，還有許多其他事情你可以做?！?/p>

大衛在家中成了榜樣，他的兩個弟弟妹妹，4歲的妹妹克萊爾和10歲的弟弟凱文都喜歡拼字?？巳R爾把拼字當作一種游戲。“她會說：‘我們來比賽拼字，’但她并不知道如何拼寫實際的單詞?！眲P文有興趣參加明年的全國拼字競賽。這正合大衛的心意，因為明年他就超齡了，不能再參加比賽?！拔乙蚕Ｍ麉①?，因為我想回到這個競賽中，”他說。