開學第一課

By+Anonymous

On the first day of school， MarthaCothran，ateacherat RobinsonHighSchool，did something unforgettable. She took all of the desks out of the classroom.

The kids walked in， there were no desks. They obviously looked around and said，“Ms. Cothran， where are our desks？”

And she said，“You cant have a desk until you tell me how you earn them.”

They thought，“Well， maybe its our grades.”“No，”she said.

“Maybe its our behavior.”

And she told them，“No， its not even your behavior.”

And so they came and went in the first period， still no desks in the classroom. The second period， the third period... the same thing.

The last period of the day， Martha Cothran gathered her class.

“Throughoutthedaynoonehasreally understood how you earn the desks that sit in this classroom ordinarily.”She said，“Now Im going to tell you.”

Martha Cothran went over to the door of her classroom and opened it.

27 U.S. veterans， wearing their uniforms， walked into that classroom， each one carrying a school desk.

Martha said，“You dont have to earn those desks. These guys did it for you. They put them out there for you， but its up to you to sit here responsibly to learn， to be good students and good citizens， because they paid a price for you to have that desk， and dont ever forget it.”

開學第一天，魯濱遜中學的馬莎·科思倫老師做了一件讓人永遠不能忘懷的事情。她把所有課桌都搬出了教室。

孩子們走進來時，發現教室里空空如也。他們禁不住環顧了四周，然后問道：“科思倫老師，請問我們的課桌呢？”

她回答道：“除非你們告訴我是怎么得到這些課桌的，否則你們找不到它們。”

孩子們想了想說：“呃，或許是靠我們的成績贏得的。”

“不對。”她說。

“或許是靠我們的表現贏得的。”

“也不是。”她告訴孩子們。

于是，當孩子們走進教室上第一節課時，依然沒看見課桌的蹤影。第二節、第三節……情況還是一樣。

直到這一天的最后一節課，馬莎·科思倫把所有同學都召集在一起。

“一整天的時間都沒人能真正弄明白，你們是怎么得到每天習以為常的課桌的。”她說，“現在我要告訴你們答案。”

馬莎·科思倫老師走到教室門口，推開門。

門口居然站著27位身著制服的美國退伍老兵。他們一個接一個走進教室，每個人都扛著一張課桌。

馬莎說：“你們不必靠自己的努力來獲取這些課桌，這些人已經為你們做了。他們把桌子放在你們身邊，現在該你們坐在這兒認真學習，成為好學生、好市民了。因為他們已經為你們能擁有課桌付出了代價，你們要永遠銘記這一點。”