A Math Teacher’s “Magic”數(shù)學(xué)老師的“魔法”

Years ago， I was taking an algebra class over the summer， and had a teacher who liked to reminisce about his past with funny stories. He related that he had been a math teacher in the Air Force， where it was his duty to force sleepy young recruits to stay awake for an hour of math at 8：00 in the morning in a large， warm， dimly-lit auditorium. One day， he came into the auditorium and saw his class even sleepier and less attentive than usual. He realized that something drastic would have to be done.

幾年前，我花了整整一個(gè)夏天來修代數(shù)這門課。教這課的老師總喜歡回憶以前發(fā)生的趣事。他說他曾在空軍部隊(duì)里教書，在那里他的工作是在早晨八點(diǎn)的時(shí)候，強(qiáng)迫一群睡意正濃的新兵在一間既溫暖又燈光昏暗的大禮堂里精神百倍地上一個(gè)小時(shí)的數(shù)學(xué)課。一天，當(dāng)他走進(jìn)禮堂的時(shí)候，發(fā)現(xiàn)他的學(xué)生們比平時(shí)更加昏昏欲睡，注意力分散，于是他意識(shí)到必須做點(diǎn)有刺激性的事。

Now this classroom was very old， and the blackboard， which had been nailed on to the walls with old black iron nails， had become loose over the years. As a result， these black nails jutted almost invisibly from the blackboard and this teacher kept banging his hands on them while erasing the board. He decided to put them to good use.

當(dāng)時(shí)，他上課的禮堂十分陳舊，黑板是用老式的黑鐵釘釘在墻上的。經(jīng)過這么多年，釘子已經(jīng)松動(dòng)了。由于釘子的顏色和黑板一樣，都是黑色，即使突出來也不明顯。再加上，老師邊擦黑板邊把釘子往里按緊，這下就更加隱蔽了。老師便打算充分利用這些釘子。

To guarantee the classs attention， he went to the front of the room， near one edge of the board. Then， clearing his throat， he drew a coat hook right near one of the protruding nails. He proceeded to hang his coat and hat on the hook that he had drawn in chalk （really on the nail， of course）. Then he went on to give that days lecture. He told us that the entire class had their eyes to the front of the room throughout the lecture. He didnt know if theyd heard a single word he'd said， but at least they looked attentive.

為了吸引全班學(xué)生的注意，他走到教室的前面，站在黑板邊。接著，他清了清嗓子，在一枚突出的黑釘子旁邊畫了一個(gè)掛衣鉤。隨后，他便把自己的外套和帽子掛在那個(gè)用粉筆畫的衣鉤上（其實(shí)是掛在那枚釘子上），然后繼續(xù)講課。他說整整一節(jié)課全班同學(xué)都盯著教室前方。雖然不知道學(xué)生是否在用心聽課，但至少他們看上去注意力集中了。

At the end of the class， the lecturer would usually leave by a small door near the blackboard， while the class would leave through the large doors at the back of the hall. When class was over that day， he took his coat and hat， erased the coat hook， and left through the small door—and was followed by the entire class， lining up to go past the blackboard to see how he'd done it.

通常，講完課老師是從黑板邊的一個(gè)小門離開，而學(xué)生走禮堂后面的大門。可那天下課后，老師取下外套和帽子，擦掉那個(gè)衣鉤，從小門離開時(shí)，卻發(fā)現(xiàn)整個(gè)班的學(xué)生都排成隊(duì)跟在他后面，想走到黑板前看看老師究竟是如何做到的。

Vocabulary

algebra n.代數(shù)

reminisce v.回憶，追憶

relate v.（過去式related）敘述;講述

recruit n.新兵

auditorium n.禮堂

attentive adj.注意的;專心的

jut v.（過去式j(luò)utted）突出，伸出

hang v.懸掛

line up（現(xiàn)在分詞lining）站隊(duì);排隊(duì)