摘要：這個故事說的是多年前一名叫湯普森夫人的小學老師，在開學第一天的時候，她站在五年級全班學生面前，對孩子們?nèi)隽艘粋€謊。

　　There is a story from many years ago of a primaryschool teacher. Her name was Mrs. Thompson. Andas she stood in front of the 5th grade class on thevery first day of school, she told the children a lie.Like most teachers, she looked her students andsaid that she loved them all the same.

　　這個故事說的是多年前一名叫湯普森夫人的小學老師，在開學第一天的時候，她站在五年級全班學生面前，對孩子們?nèi)隽艘粋€謊。像大多數(shù)老師一樣，她看著同學們，說她會一視同仁地愛他們每一個人。

　　But that was impossible because there in the frontrow, slumped in his seat, was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard.

　　但這是不可能的，因為前排座位上就坐著個萎靡不振的小男孩，他叫特迪·斯托達德。

　　Mrs.Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and noticed that he didn’t play well with theother children, his clothes were messy and constantly need a bath. And ,Teddy could beunpleasant.

　　湯普森夫人去年就開始留意特迪，發(fā)覺他不大和其他孩子一起玩耍，衣衫不整，身上總是很臟，而且，特迪還不討人喜歡。

　　It got to the point where Mrs. Thompson would actually take delight in making his papers witha broud red pen, making bold Xs and then putting a “F” at the top of his papers. At the schoolwhere Mrs. Thompson taught, she was required to relieve each child’s past records and sheput Teddy’s off until last.

　　湯普森夫人甚至喜歡上用粗紅筆在特迪的考卷上打上些大大的叉，并在卷子上方寫個大大的“F”。湯普森夫人執(zhí)教的學校要求老師閱覽每個孩子的檔案，她把特迪的放在最后才看。

　　However, when she relieved his file, she was in a surprise, Teddy’s first grade teacher wrote,”Teddy is a bright child with a ready laugh. He does his work neatly and has good manners…he isa joy to be around.”

　　可是，她翻閱特迪的檔案時，不禁大吃一驚。特迪一年級老師的評語是：“特迪是一個聰明的孩子，笑口常開，作業(yè)工整，禮貌待人……與他在一起很開心。”

　　His second grade teacher wrote, “Teddy is an excellent student, well liked by his classmates. Buthe is troubled because his mother has a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle.”

　　二年級老師的評語是：“特迪是個優(yōu)秀的學生，同學們都很喜歡他。但是，他母親得了絕癥，他很苦惱，家里生活肯定也很艱難。”

　　His third grade teacher wrote, “His mother’s death has been hard on him. He tried to do hisbest but his father doesn’t show much interest in him, and his home life will steps aren’t taken.”

　　他三年級老師的評語是：“他母親去世對他打擊很大。盡管他試圖努力表現(xiàn)，但他父親不大理會，家庭問題失控加劇。”

　　Teddy’s fourth grade teacher wrote, “Teddy is withdrawn and doesn’t show much interest inschool. He doesn’t have many friends and sometimes sleeps in class.”

　　他四年級老師的評語是：“特迪性格孤僻，有厭學情緒。他朋友不多，有時候上課睡覺。”

　　By now, Mrs. Thompson realized the problem and she was ashamed of herself. She felt evenworse when her students brought her Christmas presents, wrapped in beautiful paper and tiedwith pretty ribbons, except for Teddy’s. His present was clumsily wrapped in the heavy, brownpaper that he got from a grocery bag.

　　看到這里，湯普森夫人明白了問題所在，她為自己感到羞愧。當同學們送給她圣誕禮物時，她更無地自容了。那些禮物都用漂亮的包裝紙包著，扎著美麗的彩帶，惟有特迪的例外。他的禮物是用雜貨袋上弄下來的厚厚的棕色紙粗陋地包著的。

　　Mrs.Thompson opened it in the middle of the other presents. Some of the children started tolaugh when she found a rhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing, and a bottlethat was one-quarter full of perfume. But she stifled the children’s laughter when sheexclaimed how pretty the bracelet was, putting it on, and dabbing some of the perfume onher wrist. Teddy stayed after school that day just long enough to say, “Mrs. Thompson, todayyou smelled just like my mom used to.”

　　在一堆禮物中間，湯普森夫人拆開了特迪送的禮物。當她看到里面放的是一串少了珠子的萊茵石手鐲，還有1/4瓶香水的時候，有些孩子開始笑出聲來。湯普森夫人制止了孩子們的嘲笑，并大聲贊嘆手鐲是多么漂亮。她戴上手鐲，還在手腕處噴了點兒香水。那天放學以后，特迪·斯托達德留下來對湯普森夫人說：“湯普森夫人，您今天身上的味道像我媽媽。”

　　After the children left she cried for at least an hour. On the very day, she quit teaching reading,and writing, and arithmetic. Instead she began to teach children how to be a man.

　　孩子們走后，她哭了至少一個小時。也從那天起，她不再單純教閱讀、寫作和算術(shù)，而是開始教孩子們?nèi)绾巫鋈恕?/p>

　　Mrs.Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. As she worked with him, his mind seemed tocome alive. The more she encouraged him, the faster he responded. By the end of the year,Teddy had become one of the smartest children in the class.

　　湯普森夫人特別關(guān)注特迪。在她的悉心教導(dǎo)下，他的思維似乎變得敏捷起來。她越鼓勵他，他的反應(yīng)就越快。到了年底，特迪已在全班名列前茅。

　　A year later, she found a note under her door, from Teddy, telling her that she was still thebest teacher he ever had in his whole life.

　　一年后，湯普森夫人發(fā)現(xiàn)門下有張?zhí)氐蠈憗淼谋銞l，說她仍然是他碰到的最好的老師。

　　Six years later went by before she got another note from Teddy. He then wrote that he hadfinished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in hiswhole life.

　　又過了6年，她又收到了特迪的短箋，說他以全班第三名的成績高中畢業(yè)，而她仍然是他遇見的最好的老師。

　　Four years after that, she got another letter, saying that he would soon graduate from collegewith the highest of honors. Then four more years past and yet another letter came. This timehe explained that after he got his bachelor’s degree, he decided to go a little further. The letterexplained that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had. But now his name was alittle longer—the letter was signed, Theodore F. Stoddard, MD.

　　又過了4年，她又收到特迪的來信，說他很快就要以優(yōu)異的成績大學畢業(yè)。又一個4年，又來了一封信。這次他解釋到，拿到學士學位后，他繼續(xù)深造去了。他在這封信中說明，她依然是他一生中最好、最喜歡的老師。不過， 這次他的署名長了一點，信的落款是：西奧多·F·斯托達德醫(yī)學博士。

　　The story doesn’t end there. You see, there was yet another letter that spring. Teddy said he’dmet his girl and was going to be married. He explained that his father had died a couple of yeasago and he was wondering if Mrs.Thompson might agree to sit in the place at the wedding thatwas usually reserved for the mother of the groom. Of course Mrs. Thompson did.

　　故事并沒有就此結(jié)束。你瞧，那年春天，又來了一封信。特迪在信上說，他交了女友，倆人就要結(jié)婚了。他解釋說，他爸爸幾年前就去世了，所以他想知道在他們的婚禮上，湯普森夫人是否愿意做在他母親的位子上。湯普森夫人當然愿意了。

　　At the wedding ceremony,they hugged each other, and Dr.Stoddard whispered in Mrs.Thompson’s ear, “Thank you Mrs.Thompson for believing in me, thank you so much for makingme feel important and showing me that I could make a difference.”

　　婚禮上，他們互相擁抱，斯托達德博士對湯普森夫人耳語道：“湯普森夫人，謝謝您對我的信任，非常感謝您對我的重視，是您讓我明白了自己的價值。”

　　Mrs.Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back. She said, “Teddy, you have it all wrong.You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference. I didn’t know how to teachuntil I met you.”

　　湯普森夫人熱淚盈眶，低聲答道：“特迪，你搞錯了。是你讓我明白自己可以有所作為。在遇到你以后，我才知道怎樣教育孩子。”

　　The Best Teacher I Ever Had

　　我最好的老師

　　Mr.Whitson taught sixth-grade science. On the first day of class, he gave us a lecture about an animal called the Cattywampus, an ill-adapted nocturnal animal that was wiped out during the Ice Age, he passed around a skull as he talked. We all took notes and later had a quiz.

　　When he returned my paper, I was shocked. There was a big red “X” through each of my answers. I had failed. There had to be some mistakes! I had written down exactly what Mr.Whitson said.

　　Then I realized that everyone in the class had failed. What had happened? Very simple, Mr.Whitson explained. He had made up all that story about the Cattywampus. There had never been any such animal. The information in our notes was, therefore, incorrect. Did we expect credit for incorrect answers?

　　Needless to say, we were outraged. What kind of text was this? And what kind of teacher is?

　　We should have figured it out, Mr.Whitson said. After all, at the very moment he was passing around the Cattywampus skull (in truth, a cat’s), hadn’t he been telling us that no trace of the animal remained? He had described its amazing night vision, the color of its fur and any number of other facts he couldn’t have known, he had given the animal a ridiculous name, and we still hadn’t been suspicious. The zeroes on our papers would be recorded in his grade book, he said. And they were.

　　Mr.Whitson said he hoped we would learn something from this experience. Teachers and textbooks are not always right. In fact, no one is. He told us not to let our minds go to sleep, and to speak up if we ever thought he or the textbook was wrong.

　　Every class was an adventure with Mr.Whitson I can still remember some science periods almost from beginning to end. One day he told us that his Volkswagen was a living organism. It took us two full days to put together a refutation he would accept. He didn’t let us off the hook until we had proved not only that we knew what an organism was but also that we had the fortitude to stand up for the truth.

　　We carded our brand-new skepticism into all our classes. This caused problems for the other teachers, who weren’t used to being challenged. Our history teacher would be lecturing about something, and then there would be clearings of the throat and someone would say “Cattywampus”.

　　If I’m ever asked to propose a solution to the crisis in our schools, it will be Mr.Whitson. I haven’t made any great scientific discoveries, but Mr.Whitson’s class gave me and my classmates something just as important: the courage to look people in the eye and tell them they are wrong. He also showed us that you ca have fun doing it.

　　惠特森先生教六年級自然科學。第一天上課時，他給我們講了一種叫卡蒂萬波斯的動物，這種動物夜間活動，在冰河時期，因不適應(yīng)自然環(huán)境而滅絕了。他邊說邊遞過一個頭顱讓我們傳看。我們做了筆記，而后進行了測試。

　　試卷發(fā)下來時，我震驚了，我的每個答案后面都打了一個大大的紅“X”，我沒及格。一定是弄錯了!我寫的明明都是惠特森先生講的。

　　后來我發(fā)現(xiàn)班上同學都沒及格。怎么回事?很簡單，惠特森先生解釋說，所有這些有關(guān)卡蒂萬波斯的事都是他編造的。這種動物根本就不存在。我們筆記本上記錄的當然是錯誤的。錯誤的答案難道還想得分嗎?

　　不必說，我們都很憤怒。這是什么測試?什么老師呀?

　　我們應(yīng)該想到這一點，惠特森先生說，畢竟，在他拿出卡蒂萬波斯的顱骨(實際上是貓的顱骨)讓我們傳看時，不是說這種動物一點兒遺跡都沒留下嗎?他描繪了它夜間驚人的視覺，皮毛的顏色，和他不可能知道的許多情況。他還給這只動物取了個可笑的名字，我們?nèi)晕床煊X。他說我們測試得零分會記在記分冊上，他真的這樣做了。

　　惠特森先生說，他希望我們能從這件事中汲取教訓(xùn)：老師和書本并還一定絕對正確。事實上，誰都不可能絕對正確。他讓我們開動腦筋，認為他或書本錯了，就大膽地說出來。

　　惠特森先生的每堂課都像是一次歷險，他的幾堂自然科學課我現(xiàn)在仍記憶猶新。一天，他對我們說，他的大眾汽車是一種有生命的生物體。我們花了整整兩天的時間，整理他認為可以接受的材料進行反駁，直到我們證明自己不僅懂得什么是生物體，還能不屈不撓地堅持真理時，他才善罷甘休。

　　我們持懷疑的態(tài)度走入課堂，這給其他老師帶來了許多麻煩，他們不習慣受到這樣的質(zhì)疑。歷史老師講課時，下面就會有同學故意咳嗽，然后有人說：“卡帝萬波斯。”

　　如果有人問我如何解決學校面臨的危機時，那就是惠特森先生的教學方法。我沒有任何偉大的科學發(fā)現(xiàn)，但是惠特森先生的課給我和同學們一樣重要的啟示：我們要正視別人的眼睛，勇敢地告訴他們，他們錯了。他也同樣指出我們的不足，這會獲得無窮的樂趣。