bottle rocket blues

penelope loved the annual spring days festival at morris south junior high, and she was sad that this would be her last chance to attend one. high school starts next year, and everything about school that had frown so familiar over the last three years would be gone, including some of her friends. while penelope would be headed to south lake high, emily and abigail would attend morris east. they had all promised each other that they would stay in touch, but penelope couldn\'t help wondering how realistic that was. even with this cloud handing over her mood, shew was determined to have a fantastic time.

penelope crossed the grassy campus that spread between the school\'s four main building. booths (n. 攤位) lined the outer square, holding traditional spring days games like skee ball (n. 滾球游戲), popping balloons with a dart (n. 飛鏢), and a beanbag toss (n. 丟沙包). at the end of one row was the dunking booth. principal spinelli would be in it later, and she knew a long line of students would form to get their chance at knocking him into the water.

as penelope reached the bottle rocket launch site, ms. slamanca greeted her. \”penelope! i knew you\'d be here any minute. alright guys, let\'s open up for business.\”

penelope and the other students in ms. salamanca\'s science class were manning a bottle rocket booth. for the cost of two tickets, a student would get to use a bike pump to pump air into a plastic soda bottle half filled with water. when the pressure was just right, the bottle would shoot off the pipe that held it and zoom into the air, soaking everyone on the ground with the water spraying out behind it.

the booth was part of the finale for a month-long unit on rockets that ms. salamanca had been teaching. the students had designed plans for their own rockets, including the shape, weight, and power sources. they had used their plans to build the rockets, but unfortunately, they wouldn\'t get to launch them. the school\'s insurance policy didn\'t cover fiery explosions in case something went wrong! however, any student with a signed permission slip would get to see ms. salamanca launch an even bigger rocket that she had built herself. that rocket launch was the real grand finale of spring days, but it would happen in a field a few miles from school. penelope\'s parents were driving her there, along with emily and abigail.

the rocket booth turned out to be a huge hit. teachers and students took turns seeing who could launch the highest rocket, or even better, who could soak the most people. penelope wondered if their booth had gotten even more traffic than the dunking booth.

as the time neared for ms. salamanca\'s rocket launch, penelope hunted for her friends in the crowd so they could all head over to where her parents were parked. when she spotted emily and abigail, she waved.

\”hey, penelope!\” emily yelled, and then gave her friend a hug. \”look at the goofy bear i won!\” she laughed and held up a garish (adj. 花哨的) pink, polka dotted teddy (adj. 圓點花紋) bear.

penelope rolled her eyes and suggested, \”you should give it to your little sister because she\'ll love it. did you win anything, abigail\”

\”nothing. i\'m never any good at these kinds of games,\” said abigail. then, she pointed to the boy standing next to her. \”do you know mason could your parents give him a ride\”

\”of course i know him. hey, mason. if you have a permission slip, then that\'s no problem.\”

mason nodded. \”thanks, penelope. heu, you\'re going to south lake high next year, right there\'s only a few of us morris southers that\'re going there, so we need to stick together, okay

\”absolutely!\” penelope replied, and the cloud over her mood suddenly drifted away.

問題:

1. in paragraph 1, what idiom is used to describe how penelope feels

2. why is this the last spring days festival penelope will get to attend

3. why is penelope working at the bottle rocket booth

4. the school did not allow the students to launch the rockets they designed in class. however, they are allowed, to launch the bottle rockets, why

5. why do you think students need permission slips to view ms. salamanca\'s rocket launch

6. why does penelope\'s mood change at the end of the story

7. what words does the author use to describe emily\'s bear do these words have a positive or negative connotation