"First place goes to Louis Clodijon and Roger Hinsdale," announced Headmaster Julian Arder in a loud voice. As soon as the headmaster finished speaking, there were shouts and applause to welcome the two winners who won the first place in the exam. After the field calmed down, the principal stood on the podium in the middle of the large playground of Antilles Middle School, held the list in front of his eyes, and continued to announce. "Second Axel Wickburn." "The third place is Albertas Lewin." Another burst of applause, although not as enthusiastic as before, came from a group of enthusiastic audience.

Mr. Ade went on to announce. "Fourth John Howard." "Fifth Magnu Anders." "The sixth place is Nils Alber." "Seventh Huber Perkins." The headmaster announced that the speed was accelerated, and the crowd on the field was excited, and the applause continued for a long time. There were supposed to be nine winners of this special selection exam, with one unannounced. The name of this one was announced by the principal at this time: "Eighth Tony Leno." Although Tony Renault ranked last, everyone still gave him warm applause.Tony Renault is a good classmate, helpful and smart, and he has no rivals but friends among the boarders at Antilles High School.

After hearing their names being called, each winner went to the podium one after another, accepted Mr. Ade's handshake and congratulations, and then returned to his seat to stay with his classmates who were not as lucky as them but sincerely congratulated them. You must have noticed the diversity of names among the nine winners.This shows that their nationalities vary.This diversity alone speaks to the high prestige and popularity of Antilles Secondary School, 314 Oxford Street, London, under the leadership of Sir Julian Arder. For fifteen years, the secondary school has received children of residents of the Lesser and Lesser Antilles—now called the Antilles.Students come all the way from the Antilles to start, continue or complete their studies in the UK.They generally stay in the UK until they are twenty-one years old, and receive a very practical and comprehensive education in literature, science, industry, and trade.Antilles Middle School currently has more than 60 boarding students.Their education fee is quite high.After graduation, whether they stay in Europe or return to the Antilles—if their families have not left the West Indies—they are qualified for all kinds of jobs.

During the class, you can often see equal numbers of Spanish, Danish, British, French, Dutch, Swedish, and even Venezuelan students. They are all native children of the Windward and Leeward Islands belonging to European and American countries. This international school is funded by many famous professors.Only teenage students from the Antilles are accepted.The principal is Mr. Julian Ade, who is in his fifties. He is serious and meticulous in his work, and has won the high trust of the parents of the students.The teachers under him, whether they teach literature, science, or art, are all impeccable.Sports and sports such as cricket, boxing, jousting, croquet, football, swimming, dancing, horse riding, cycling, rowing, and various modern gymnastics that are very popular in the UK are highly received in Antilles High School. Pay attention to.

Mr. Ade tried to make the young students of different nationalities with different temperaments live in harmony, to train the students as "Antileans" as much as possible, and to educate them to respect and love each other forever, but his vision did not always come true. Racial instinct outweighs good example and sincere counsel, and sometimes even prevails.All in all, students leave school with some indelible marks of different temperaments.It can be seen from this that the system of co-education for different races will not only bear fruit in the future, but will also bring honor to Antilles High School in Oxford Street, which deserves to be affirmed.

It goes without saying that the multilingualism of the West Indies is common among the boarders.Mr. Ade even had an ingenuity and made it mandatory to speak the languages ​​of the West Indies in turn in class and after class.One week everyone speaks English, the other week French, Dutch, Spanish, Danish, Swedish.Anglo-Saxon boarders are undoubtedly the majority in Antilles secondary schools, and the tendency to show off in school is inevitable.However, students from other islands in the Antilles also have a considerable number of students in the school. The island of St. Barthelemy under the jurisdiction of the Scandinavian countries has several students, and it is ranked fifth in the selection examination. Nu Anders is one of them.

In any case, the work of Mr. Ader and his colleagues still has certain practical difficulties.Therefore, they must be treated equally, the method of handling things must be reliable and coherent, the means combined with rigidity and softness, and applied flexibly, so that they can be effectively stopped when there is no choice but to fight among rich families. Take this selection exam as an example. Some people began to worry that after the announcement of the exam results, if some students’ personal wishes were not satisfied, it would cause confusion, and even lead to protests and jealousy. However, the results were satisfactory. A French student and a French student British students tied for first place with equal scores.If Queen Victoria's subjects came second, French students came first.No student is really jealous of Tony Leno.Afterwards, the students who grew up in Britain, France, Denmark, the Netherlands, and the Antilles of Sweden were ranked in order. There were no Venezuelan and Spanish students, although there were more than a dozen Venezuelan and Spanish students studying in the Antilles Middle School at that time.In addition, it should be noted that the students from Cuba, Santo Domingo, Puerto Rico, and Greater Antilles that year were the youngest, most of them were between the ages of twelve and fifteen, and the minimum age required to participate was seventeen. selection examination.

The examination covered not only science and literature, but also the expected race, geography, and trade issues related to the Antilles.These questions are relevant to the history of the Antilles, its past, present, future and its dealings with European nations who, after their early accidental discovery of the Antilles, separated parts of it from their respective colonial empires. connected together. Now, for the exam winners, the purpose and benefits of this exam are to provide them with travel expenses, let them travel for a few months, and satisfy their reasonable desire for adventure as teenagers under the age of 21.

Nine people were selected based on their test scores.Unlike most of them expected, they were going to travel the world.They went to either the Old World or the more meaningful places in the New World.Who came up with the idea of ​​setting up a travel fund? …is Mrs. Karen Seymour, a wealthy British Antillean woman.Lady Karen Seymour lives in Barbados, one of the British colonial islands in the Antilles.It was Mr Arder who first leaked Mrs Karen Seymour's name. As soon as he called out Mrs. Seymour's name, he was warmly welcomed by the teachers and students present, and some teachers and students even shouted such a resounding slogan:

"Wow! Wow! Wow! Mrs. Seymour!" Although the principal of the Antilles Middle School revealed the name of Mrs. Karen Seymour in advance, what kind of tourism is it?He doesn't know, and others don't know.But it will be determined within twenty-four hours.The principal is to inform Barbados of the results of the examination by telegram.Mrs. Karen Seymour then telegraphed to Principal Ard where the students on the travel grant were going to visit. Everyone would naturally think that the hearts of the students enjoying the travel grants have already flown to the most mysterious, remote and strange places on earth.The discussion between them must have been very lively.In their individual tempers or personalities, they may be lazy or withdrawn, but they are all excited.

"I think," said the thoroughly British Roger Hinsdal, "that we're going to visit one of the English colonies, as it's quite a large one, and we have a choice of . . . " "The destination will be Central Africa," said Louis Clodijon affirmatively, "and it will be that famous and marvelous Africa that our logistics chief has spoken of. We will be able to follow the remains of the great explorers! . . . " "No..." Magnu Anders said, "A polar expedition usually follows in the footsteps of my famous compatriot Nansen..." "I hope it's Australia," said John Howard, "in Tasman, Dampier, Perth, Vancouver, Baudin, Dumont de Uville, there's still a lot to be discovered, there might be gold mines ..." "Neither!" said outspoken Tony Leno. "I bet it's a trip around the world..." "How could it be!" said the psychic Axel Wickburn. "We only have seven or eight weeks, and the exploration can only be limited to the surrounding area." The Danish youth was right.The parents of the students would not agree to let their children go to a distant place to take risks for several months. If there was a mistake, Principal Ade would not be able to bear the responsibility. After discussing Mrs. Karen Seymour's intentions to finance the tourism program, the conversation turned to how to travel. "Are we going to travel alone with backpacks and canes like tourists? . . . " asked Huber. "No, by car . "Take the train." Albertas Lewin objected, "I bought a round-trip ticket, and with the assistance of Cook Travel Company..." "I think it's a tourist boat, maybe a passenger ship across the Atlantic Ocean." Magnu Anders said, with an air that seemed to be in the vast Atlantic Ocean. "No, go to the North Pole in a balloon!" exclaimed Tony Raynor. Discussions continued vigorously.Everyone expresses their own opinions, and there will be no consensus.Although Roger Hinsdal and Louis Clodiron had reservations about this, they did not want to insist on their views when faced with the simple enthusiasm of their classmates. The headmaster came forward.Even if the headmaster's appearance can't make them agree, at least it can tell them to wait patiently for Barbados' reply. "Take it easy!" said the headmaster. "I have sent the names, ranks, and nationalities of the winners of the examinations to Mrs. Karen Seymour. This generous lady will give us her opinion on how the travel fund should be used. If She replied by telegram, so we will know what to do in a few hours from now. If she replied by letter, it would have to wait six or seven days. Now, everyone, please study and do your homework carefully... " "Six days! . . . " put in this mischievous Tony Reynolds, "I can't wait!" The psychological state of several Wickburn students.These were almost as lively as he was.Louis Clodijon and Roger Hinsdale, one of the two joint firsts in the exam, reacted calmly.As for the Danish and Dutch students, they have always maintained their inherent composure.Antilles High School has no American boarders, but if it did, the Patience Award probably wouldn't go to them. The students were understandably excited because they didn't know where on earth Mrs. Karen Seymour was going to send them!Moreover, it should be noted that it is now mid-June, and if the travel time is arranged during the holidays, then the departure will not take place within six weeks. This is just a guess.But on this point, Mr. Adler thinks the same as most people in Antilles High School.In this way, students who receive travel subsidies can only go out for two months, and have to come back to class in October.This arrangement not only meets the requirements of the parents of the students, but also meets the wishes of the school staff. With the short summer holidays, adventure travel to faraway regions was obviously out of the question.Therefore, smart people naturally do not imagine that they will cross the Siberian steppes, the great deserts of Central Asia, the great forests of Africa, or the pampas grasslands of South America.Even if you don't leave the old continent of Europe, there are many good places to visit around the UK, Germany, Russia, Switzerland, Austria, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and Greece!Antillean high school students have a lot to record in their travel journals, as they cross the Atlantic and come to Europe from America, most of them innocent teenagers.Even if the tour is limited to the countries surrounding the UK, the tour will still fascinate the students and arouse their curiosity. Since there were no telegrams for several days after that day, it seemed that the reply to the principal's telegram must have been a letter.From Barbados to Antilles Secondary School, 314 Oxford Street, London, UK, addressed to Mr. Julian Ard. A note explaining the meaning of the word Antilles is taped to the gate of Antilles Secondary School.It is certain that this note was deliberately fabricated by someone.In fact, in British geographic terms, the Antilles are known as the Calibe Islands.The same titles are marked on British maps as on American maps.Calibe Islands means Caribbean Islands, but the term Caribbean Islands is disliked because it conjures horrific images of massacres and cannibalism in the West Indies by the island's savage natives.Does anyone see the hateful title "Caribbean Secondary School" on the Antilles Secondary School profile? ... Doesn't this title tell the world that the school teaches the art of killing each other and the method of cooking human flesh? ...the name "Secondary School of the Antilles" is therefore very appropriate for the youths born and raised in the Antilles and receiving a purely European education. No telegrams and letters would have to wait a while, unless the examination for travel funds was a bad game of deceit.Surely there will be no problem!Mrs. Karen Seymour and Mr. Adler had already exchanged letters.Mrs. Karen Seymour was a benevolent woman who was by no means a non-existent person.She lived in Barbados, and Mr. Ade had known her for a long time.She is considered one of the richest people on the island of Barbados. Now I can only bear my temper and look forward to the arrival from overseas every morning and evening.It goes without saying that the nine winners were very anxious, and they kept running to the windows facing Oxford Street to see if the postman in the district came.If they see the red uniform of the postman from afar—as we all know, red can be seen from a long distance—they rush downstairs, fly out of the campus, stop the postman at the gate, ask this and that, and pester the postman I was so dizzy that I almost reached out to touch the postman's parcel. No!No letters from the Antilles, not a single one!Henceforth, is it necessary to send another telegram to Mrs. Karen Seymour to check whether she has received the first telegram, and to urge her to answer it quickly? ... In order to explain this unexplainable delayed answer, people have developed rich imaginations and raised many questions.Did bad weather happen to a cruise ship carrying mail between the Antilles and the UK? ... Was it hit and sunk by some other ship? … Was Barbados wiped out in a terrible earthquake in the West Indies? … Did the benevolent Mrs. Karen Seymour lose her life in this disaster? …Have France, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Great Britain just lost the best parts of their colonial empires in the New World? ... "No, it won't." Mr. Ade repeatedly pointed out, "No one will know about such a big disaster!... The details of the disaster will definitely be published in the newspapers!..." "That's it!" Tony Raynor agreed. "If the transatlantic liner takes a few pigeons with us, we'll know if it's going well or not!" This makes sense, but to the great regret of the boarders at Antilles High School, the transmission of pigeons had not yet begun. In any case, the current state of affairs won't last long.If this continues, the teachers will not be able to stabilize the hearts of the students.Students do not go to the classroom for lessons, nor do they study in the study room.The telegram was not very clear, and was it not reasonable that Mrs. Karen Seymour had not telegraphed back?A letter is fine. A letter can write down all the requirements that everyone must abide by, and tell everyone the nature of the trip, the conditions, when it will start, how long it will take, how to settle the cost, and the nine winners of the exam. The amount of sponsorship.It would take at least two or three pages to tell these things one by one, and I could only use words and sentences in the black language still used by the inhabitants of the colonized islands of the West Indies. There is no definite news, and the confusion continues.The boarders who failed in the CEE began to envy their classmates' grades, made fun of them sarcastically, and, to use a word that would soon be included in the dictionary of the French Academy, began to "tease" them.This is a total scam...the so-called travel fund is not cashed out on a penny per cent...the woman patron named Karen Seymour never existed! ...the selection test is nothing but from the Americas.To put it bluntly, it is a deceitful nonsense imported from her hometown! ... Mr. Arder insisted on this plan anyway, hoping that the off-duty liner expected to arrive at Liverpool on the 23rd of this month would bring letters from the Antilles.If there is no letter from Mrs. Karen Seymour at that time, he will send another telegram to Mrs. Karen Seymour to ask.There is no need to do so.On the afternoon of the 23rd came a letter bearing the stamp of Barbados.The letter is a personal letter from Mrs. Karen Seymour.According to her idea - and this is what everyone wants to know - the travel fund is to finance a trip to the Antilles.