I Did Something wrong

This short essay details a child’s brush with classroom thievery.
Intermediate Chinese Reading Exercises: I Did Something WrongIn my opinion, one of the most interesting sentences here is “同学们看了都称不绝口”, meaning “The students all looked [at it], talking continuously.” This is easy to translate directly, but a direct translation doesn’t capture the spirit of the sentence. In context, this sentence is tinged with a little envy – the author sees the other students all looking at YunXi’s stamp album, going on and on, presumably about how great the album is, and so the author is jealous.
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集邮簿 – jí yóu bù – Stamp collector’s album
马来西亚 – mǎ lái xī yà – Malaysia
称不绝口 – chēng bù jué kǒu – Talk continuously, go on and on about sth.
趁 – chèn – Take advantage of
若无其事 – ruò wú qí shì – Nonchalantly, as if nothing had happened
放声大哭 – fàng shēng dà kū – Burst into sobs, cry loudly
三思而后行 – sān sì ér hòu xíng – Think many times before acting
以免 – yǐ miǎn – So as not to
前天，我做错了一件事。芸熙带了心爱的集邮簿让同学们欣赏。她的集邮簿收集了来自世界各地的邮票，如：欧洲、中国、马来西亚等等。同学们看了都称不绝口。 我很了羡慕芸熙，因为她有来自世界各地的邮票，而我呢！我的集邮簿里只有来自爸爸收到的信上面的本地邮票。 下课时，我趁全部的同学都下课了，我就从芸熙的书包里人拿了她的集邮簿。过后，我就装着若无其事地回到礼堂排队。回到课室时，芸熙打开书包发现她的集邮簿不见了，就放声大哭。林老师问她发生什么事。芸熙就把原因告诉林老师。
林老师质问同学们究竟谁拿了芦芸熙的集邮簿。老师质问了很久，始终没有人肯承认。我觉得很惭愧，就拿着集邮簿向芸熙认错。老师看见我勇于承认错误，就没有处罚我，只是教训了我几句，而芸熙接受我的道歉。 我很后悔。我告诉我自己以后做事一定要三思而后行，以免犯下大错！
 
The day before yesterday, I did a bad thing. YunXi brought her beloved stamp album in to let her classmates see it. Her stamp album contains her collected stamps from places all around the world, such as Europe, China, Malaysia, etc. The other students looked through it, going on and on about it. I envied YunXi, because she had stamps from all over the world, and me? My stamp album only has a few stamps from local letters my dad got. When class let out, I took advantage of the situation and took the stamp album from YunXi’s book bag. After a while, I walked back and lined up in the assembly hall, pretending nothing had happened. When we’d gotten back to the classroom, YunXi opened her book bag and didn’t see her stamp album, and she burst into tears. Teacher Lin asked her what happened, YunXi told the teacher the reason.
Teacher Lin questioned all the students, asking who had taken Lu YunXi’s stamp album. The teacher inquired for a long time, but no one was willing to admit to it. I felt ashamed, got the stamp album, and admitted my error to YunXi. The teacher saw that I was brave enough to admit my mistake and so didn’t punish me, just lectured me for a bit, and YunXi accepted my apology. I regretted what I’d done. I told myself that next time I would carefully consider the results of my actions so as to avoid a big mistake!