John Steinbeck

It is customary for adults to forget how hard and dull and long school is. The learning by memory of all the basic things one must know is a most incredible and unending effort. Learning happens to the human brain and if you don’t believe that, watch an illiterate adult try to do it. School is not easy and it is not for the most part very much fun, but then if you are very lucky, you may find a real teacher. Three real teachers in a lifetime are the very best of my luck. My first was science and math teacher in high school, my second, a professor of creative writing at Stanford, and my third was my friend and partner, Ed Ricketts.

UNIT FIVEI have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists.It might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit.

My three had these things in common: They all loved what they were doing. They did not tell, but catalyzed a burning desire to know. Under their influence, the horizons sprung wide and fear went away and the unknown became knowable. But most important of all, the truth, that dangerous stuff  became beautiful and very precious.

I shall speak only of my first teacher because in addition to the other things, she brought discovery.

She aroused us to shouting, bookwaving discussions. She had the noisiest class in school and she didn’t even seem to know it. We could never stick to the subject. Our speculation ranged  the world. She breathed curiosity into us so that we brought in facts or truths shielded in our hands like captured fireflies.

She was fired and perhaps rightly so, for failing to teach fundamentals. Such things must be learned. But she left a passion in us for the pure knowable world and she inflamed me with a curiosity which has never left. I could not do simple arithmetic but through her I sense that abstract mathematics was very much like music. When she was relieved, a sadness came over us but the light did not go out. She left her signature on us, the literature of the teacher who writes on minds. I have had many teachers who told me soon-forgotten backs¹⁸ but only three who created in me a new thing, a new attitude and a new hunger. I suppose that to a large extent I am the unsigned manuscript  of the high school teacher. What deathless power lies in the hands of such a person.

I can tell my son who looks forward with horror to 15 years of drudgery that somewhere in the dusty dark a magic may happen that will light up the years... if he is very lucky.

DIFFICULT POINT EXPLANATION

1. John Steinbeck (1902 — 1968)：约翰·斯坦贝克，美国作家。早期代表作《愤怒的葡萄》被誉为20世纪美国文学中重要的作品之一。1962年获诺贝尔文学奖。

2. school此处为广义上的用法，指整个在校读书期间的一切活动，可译为“上学”、“读书”。

3. for the most part意为mostly, most of the time, 即“总体上”、“一般说来”、“多数情况下”。

4. a science teacher一般不译成“科学教师”或“教科学的老师”。在英语中，学校里开设的science课程大致指不包括数学在内的自然科学，如物理、化学等。它跟我国小学里的“自然”课相当。

5. have come to含有“在某种经历之后，最终……”之意。I have come to believe ... 可译为“我终于体会到……”或“如今我相信……”。请看这一句：Now he has come to realize how his father loved him.他终于意识到父亲是多么地爱自己。

6. 此处可完整地写成：“There are as few great teachers as there are any other great artists.”

7. tell有“呈现出来”或“灌输”之意，此处需要加字，译为“灌输知识”。

8. 形容词最高级 + of all为一常见的结构，汉语可相应译成“最为……的”。如：most difficult of all，“最困难的”；saddest of all，“最悲惨的”。

9. 这个短语是the truth的同位语，不能理解为并列的关系。

10. shouting和bookwaving同是 discussions的定语，形容讨论课上大家高声喊叫，手舞书本的样子。bookwaving是作者造的词，其构词方法是“名词 + 动词的现在分词”又如：peaceloving,  wormeating等，有时在两部分之间还要加连字符。

11. range意为“走遍”，“漫游于”。此处形容思想“放荡不羁”。

12. breathed curiosity into us若译成“把好奇吹入我们的体内”就不符合汉语的表达习惯。如果说“把好奇心注入我们的心中”或“唤起我们心中的好奇心”就好一些。

13. shielded原词为“加屏障于”、“保护”之意。这里根据上下文的意思，可译为“捧在手中”，如同孩子在捉住萤火虫时好奇地将其捧在手中观察。

14. inflamed me with字面上说“用……将我燃烧”，这不符合汉语表达习惯，可转译为“把我心中的……点燃”或“点燃我心中的……”。

15. relieved此处指被解雇。

16. signature原指某人的签字或署名。这里是抽象的用法，指人遗留下的某种能代表其特征的标志性的东西。根据情况，还可翻译为“标志”或“印记”等。

17. literature最为我们所熟悉的意义是“文学”。它还指a set of works on a particular subject或printed material, especially giving information，即“文献”、“宣传资料”等。

18. soon-forgotten backs意思可以从下面的文字中对照得出a new thing, a new attitude, a new hunger。 backs应该是something old, unimportant, something at the back。所以此短语的意思是“很快就遗忘的非精华的东西”。

19. unsigned manuscript：此短语为比喻，有“杰作”的意思，说明“我是老师培养出来的优秀人才”(这种人才当然是unsigned——无法署名的)。

20. look forward to有两个意思，一个是“高兴地企盼”，另一个是“不安地等待”，根据上下文，本句应取后者译法。

REFERENCE VERSION

为师之道

约翰·斯坦贝克

成年人往往忘记了当年上学有多艰苦、多乏味、日子多漫长。为了把那些基本的东西背诵下来并记住，花费的力气实在是无穷无尽，叫人难以置信。识字读书也许是人的脑子碰到的最艰巨、变革性最大的事情。如果不信，看一看成年的文盲是怎样尝试识字的吧。上学不是件轻松的事，大部分时间也过得没什么趣味；不过，如果你的造化好，也许会碰上个真正的老师。我最大的幸运就是一生中有过三位真正的老师。第一位是中学里教我理化和数学课的老师，第二位是斯坦福大学里教我写作的教授，第三位就是我的朋友与合作者——埃得·雷克茨。

如今我相信一位良师就是一名艺术家，而且良师就像任何其他大艺术家一样难得。教书甚至可以说是一门最伟大的艺术，因为这门艺术的媒体是人的思想和精神。

我的三位良师有如下共同之处：他们全都热爱自己的工作；他们并不灌输知识，而是激起学生求知的热望。在他们的影响下，我的眼界豁然开朗，忧虑消失了，未知变成了可知。最为重要的是，我们所寻求的真知，不再是令人望而却步的东西，而是变得美好而珍贵了。

现在我只想说一说我的第一位良师，因为她不仅教了我别的东西，还教了我如何去发现。

她激发我们手挥书本、高声嚷叫地进行争论。她的课堂是全校最吵闹的，而她居然对此显得毫无察觉。我们从不拘泥于课程内容，而可以任凭思绪翱翔于天地之间。她把好奇心注入我们心中，使我们获得事实与真理，把它们像捕捉萤火虫一样掌握在手里。

她被校方辞退了，这也许不无理由，因为基本的知识她没有教，而那些东西是不可不学的。然而她在我们心中留下的，是对纯粹的可知世界的强烈兴趣，她为我点燃的好奇求知的热情从未消失。我当时连简单的算术题也做不下来，然而通过她我能感觉到，抽象的数学很像是音乐。她被辞退时，我们心里一片悲伤，但是那光明并未熄灭，她把署名留在我们身上，那是老师写在我们心灵上的作品。我有过不少老师，他们教给我的，不久便被我忘却了；只有这三位老师使我生发了新的东西、新的态度、新的求知欲。我认为自己在很大程度上就是那位中学老师的未署名的手稿。这样一个人的手里蕴藏着多么不朽的力量啊！

我的儿子正心怀恐惧地面临着15年的上学苦役。可我告诉他，在混沌黑暗之中，也许会有神异在某处出现，照得岁月一片光明——倘若他很幸运的话。