雙語(yǔ)美文我在學(xué)校學(xué)到了什么
我們應(yīng)該怎樣確切地衡量一位教師的價(jià)值呢?接下來(lái),小編給大家準(zhǔn)備了雙語(yǔ)美文我在學(xué)校學(xué)到了什么,歡迎大家參考與借鑒。
雙語(yǔ)美文我在學(xué)校學(xué)到了什么
The 1)tumult over 2)state budgets and 3)collective bargaining rights for public employees has spilled over into resentment toward public school teachers, who are increasingly 4)derided as “5)glorified baby sitters” whose pay exceeds the value of the work they do.
有關(guān)國(guó)家財(cái)政預(yù)算和公職人員集體談判權(quán)的爭(zhēng)吵愈演愈烈,已經(jīng)蔓延成對(duì)公立學(xué)校教師的憎恨,人們嘲笑他們只不過(guò)是“光鮮體面的保姆”,稱他們的工作價(jià)值不足以獲得當(dāng)前的薪金。
But how exactly do we measure the value of a teacher?
但我們應(yīng)該怎樣確切地衡量一位教師的價(jià)值呢?
As a writer, I often receive feedback from readers I have never met. But the other day, I received a most unexpected message in response to one of my essays: “I am so proud of you and all you have accomplished. I shared your opinion from 6)The L.A.Times with my family and 7)reminisced about you as my student at Hibbing High School.” It was signed Margaret Leibfried, who was my English teacher—a teacher who appeared at a critical 8)juncture in my life and helped me believe that I could become a writer.
作為一名作家,我經(jīng)常會(huì)收到讀者的反饋,卻與他們從未謀面。但前不久,我的一篇文章卻得到完全出乎我意料的回應(yīng):“我為你和你所取得的成就感到驕傲。我與家人很認(rèn)同你發(fā)表在《洛杉磯時(shí)報(bào)》上的觀點(diǎn),我還回想起當(dāng)年你還是我的學(xué)生,在希賓公立高中就讀?!边@則信息的署名是瑪格麗特·雷布弗雷德,我的英語(yǔ)老師。她在我人生中重要的時(shí)刻出現(xiàn),是她讓我相信我可以成為一名作家。
Thirty years ago, in Hibbing, a town in northern 9)Minnesota that is 10)home to the world's largest 11)open-pit iron mine, I entered high school as a 12)bookish 13)introvert made all the more shy because I was the school's only nonwhite student. I always felt in danger of being swept away by 14)a sea of 15)statuesque blond athletes. By 10th grade, I'd developed a 16)Quasimodo-like posture and 17)crabwise walk, hoping to escape being teased as a “18)brain” or a “19)chink,” and then finding being ignored almost equally painful. I spent a lot of time alone, reading and 20)scribbling stories.
希賓是美國(guó)明尼蘇達(dá)州北部的一個(gè)小鎮(zhèn),也是世界上最大的露天鐵礦所在地。30年前,我在這里上高中。那時(shí)候,我書生氣十足并且性格內(nèi)向,由于我是學(xué)校里唯一的非白人學(xué)生,所以我更加害羞膽怯。學(xué)校里遍地都是金發(fā)碧眼、輪廓優(yōu)美的運(yùn)動(dòng)型學(xué)生,與他們相比,我總害怕自己被淹沒在人群之中。到十年級(jí)時(shí),我已經(jīng)學(xué)會(huì)了加西莫多般的姿勢(shì)和小心翼翼的走路方式,為的是避免被人嘲笑成“書呆子”或“中國(guó)佬”。與此同時(shí),我發(fā)現(xiàn)被人忽略的滋味也一樣很痛苦。大部分時(shí)間,我都是一個(gè)人看看書或者胡亂寫點(diǎn)東西。
Ms. Leibfried taught American literature and composition grammar, which involved the usual—memorizing vocabulary and 21)diagramming sentences—but also, thrillingly, reading novels. Thrilling to me, that is. Many of my classmates expressed 22)disdain for novels because they were “not real.” For once, I didn't care what they thought. Ms. Leibfried seemed to notice my interest in both reading and writing, and she took the time to 23)draw me out; she even offered reading suggestions, like one of her favorite novels, 24)The Bell Jar.
雷布弗雷德老師教授美國(guó)文學(xué)和寫作語(yǔ)法課程,自然少不了要教授這些課程的慣例內(nèi)容:背誦詞匯和分析句子,但也有令人興奮的部分:閱讀小說(shuō)。至少對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō),這是件令人興奮的事情。因?yàn)樾≌f(shuō)“非真實(shí)”,我的許多同學(xué)都對(duì)其不屑一顧。但這回,我可不在乎他們?cè)趺聪?。雷布弗雷德老師似乎注意到我?duì)閱讀和寫作的興趣,她甚至在課余時(shí)間與我交流,還給我提出了閱讀建議,例如她向我推薦她最喜歡的一本小說(shuō)——《鐘形罩》。
That year's big 25)project was a book report, to be read aloud to the class. However, Ms. Leibfried took me aside and suggested I do something “a little different.” Instead of a report, I was to pick a passage from a book, memorize it and recite it in front of the class. While I longed for the safety and routine of the report, I was curious how this new assignment might work out. By then obsessed with The Bell Jar, I chose a passage that I thought showed off the 26)protagonist's growing depression as well as Sylvia Plath's 27)sly humor.
那年的課外自修項(xiàng)目是寫一篇讀書報(bào)告,還要在同學(xué)們面前朗讀。但是雷布弗雷德老師把我叫到一邊,建議我弄點(diǎn)“別出心裁的東西”。她建議我不用寫讀書報(bào)告,而是從某本書中選取一段文字,然后在同學(xué)們面前背誦出來(lái)。雖然我很想寫讀書報(bào)告,因?yàn)閷懽x書報(bào)告既保險(xiǎn),又可按照例行程序完成,但我又按捺不住對(duì)新任務(wù)的好奇心。那時(shí),我沉迷于《鐘形罩》,于是我選擇了其中的一段,認(rèn)為這段文字能展現(xiàn)主人公日益濃烈的憂郁和作者西爾維婭·普拉斯的狡黠詼諧。
The morning of the presentations, I remember my palms sweating so badly as I walked to the front of the class that I held my hands 28)cupped in prayer formation, so I wouldn't wipe them on my shirt.
我還記得做匯報(bào)的那個(gè)上午,當(dāng)我走到全班同學(xué)面前時(shí),我的掌心直冒汗,于是,我只好將雙手握緊成祈禱狀,好讓自己別把汗水揩到襯衫上。
I saw the days of the year stretching ahead like a series of bright, white boxes, and separating one box from another was sleep, like a black shade. Only for me, the long perspective of shades that 29)set off one box from the next had suddenly snapped up, and I could see day after day glaring ahead of me like a white, broad, infinitely desolate avenue.
我眼中的日子仿佛一連串雪白明亮的盒子,無(wú)窮無(wú)盡,綿延不絕,只有宛如黑影的睡眠相間。只是于我而言,這些隔開盒子的長(zhǎng)長(zhǎng)陰影突然斷開,之后日復(fù)一日的歲月,在我眼前便成了一束刺眼的強(qiáng)光,如同一條白色寬廣又極盡荒涼的大街。
It seemed silly to wash one day when I would only have to wash again the next.
It made me tired just to think of it.
I wanted to do everything 30)once and for all and 31)be through with it.
Dr. Gordon 32)twiddled a silver pencil. “Your mother tells me you are 33)upset.”
如果明天照樣還得洗漱,那么今天的洗漱是不是有點(diǎn)可笑。
僅僅是想想這件事情都會(huì)讓我疲憊不堪。
無(wú)論什么事情,我都想一錘定音,一勞永逸。
戈登醫(yī)生旋弄著手中的銀色鉛筆,對(duì)我說(shuō):“你媽媽說(shuō)你心煩意亂?!?/p>
I finished and, to my surprise, the class broke out in applause. “As a writer and a good reader, Marie has picked out a particularly sensitive piece of prose and 34)delivered it beautifully,” Ms. Leibfried said, beaming. I felt, maybe for the first time, confident.
出乎我意料的是,當(dāng)我背誦完畢,教室里掌聲雷動(dòng)。雷布弗雷德老師笑逐顏開地說(shuō):“瑪麗是一位作家,也是一位優(yōu)秀的讀者,她挑選了一段特別有表現(xiàn)力的散文,并且誦讀得如此優(yōu)美。”我想,也許那是我生平第一次感到自信。
Ms. Leibfried was followed the next year by Mrs. Borman, quiet, elderly and almost as shy as I was. She surprised everyone when she excused me from her grammar class, saying my time would be spent more 35)productively writing in the library. I took the work seriously, and 36)on a whim submitted an essay I'd come up with to 37)Seventeen magazine. When they published it, it was big news for the high school—it was even announced on the 38)P.A. system. Mrs. Borman wasn't mentioned, nor did she ever take any 39)credit; in her mind she was just doing her job.
第二年,接替雷布弗雷德老師的是博爾曼老師,她上了年紀(jì),寡言少語(yǔ),幾乎跟我一樣害羞。她免除了我的語(yǔ)法課,說(shuō)我利用這個(gè)時(shí)間在圖書館寫作會(huì)比上她的課更有成效,這決定讓所有人都感到震驚。我很重視這個(gè)“任務(wù)”,還一時(shí)心血來(lái)潮,將自己寫的一篇文章投給了《十七歲》雜志。這篇文章后來(lái)被發(fā)表了,成了學(xué)校里的大新聞,連校內(nèi)廣播系統(tǒng)都做了相關(guān)報(bào)道。博爾曼老師并未被提及,她也沒為自己邀功;在她看來(lái),她只是在做自己的本職工作而已。
I can now appreciate how much courage it must have taken for those teachers to let me deviate so broadly from the lesson plan. With today's pressure on teachers to “teach to the test,” I wonder if any would or could take the time to 40)coax out the potential in a single, shy student.
現(xiàn)在我能領(lǐng)悟到,那些老師當(dāng)年讓我遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)偏離課程計(jì)劃,這需要多大的勇氣啊!如今的教師面臨著“應(yīng)試教育”的壓力,我不知道是否還會(huì)有老師不惜花時(shí)間去挖掘一個(gè)孤單而害羞的學(xué)生的潛能。
If we want to understand how much teachers are worth, we should remember how much we were formed by our own schooldays. Good teaching helps make productive and fully realized adults—a result that won't show up in each semester's test scores and statistics.
倘若我們想知道教師的價(jià)值,就應(yīng)該想想我們的學(xué)生時(shí)代對(duì)自身的影響和塑造。良好的教育幫助孩子成長(zhǎng)為富有創(chuàng)造力、能夠充分實(shí)現(xiàn)自我的成年人,但這一結(jié)果并不會(huì)顯示在每個(gè)學(xué)期的測(cè)試分?jǐn)?shù)和統(tǒng)計(jì)數(shù)據(jù)中。
That's easy to forget, as budget battles rage and teacher performance is viewed through the cold 41)metrics of the 42)balance sheet. While the love of literature and confidence I gained from Ms. Leibfried's class shaped my career and my life, after only four short years at Hibbing High School, she was laid off because of budget cuts, and never taught again.
由于預(yù)算之爭(zhēng)甚囂塵上,而教師的業(yè)績(jī)只能通過(guò)資產(chǎn)負(fù)債表上一些冷冰冰的度量標(biāo)準(zhǔn)來(lái)呈現(xiàn),所以這一點(diǎn)很容易被遺忘。在雷布弗雷德老師的課上,我逐漸愛上了文學(xué)并從中獲得了自信,這造就了我的職業(yè)和生活。然而,雷布弗雷德老師在希賓公立高中教學(xué)短短四年之后,便因?qū)W校縮減預(yù)算而被辭退,從此,她再也沒有從事過(guò)教學(xué)工作。
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