Unit 11 On Becoming a Better Student课文翻译综合教程三

Unit 11

On Becoming a Better Student

(abridged)

Donna Farhi Schuster

1 As students we expect a great deal from our teachers. We expect them to be enthusiastic. We expect them reliable. We may even have expectations that they be endless repositories of skill and knowledge from which we may partake at will.

2 As a teacher I have come to feel weighted by these expectations and have begun to see that it is really not possible to teach. All the words and theories and techniques are of no use to students who have yet to open themselves with receptivity and to take it upon themselves to practice. So in a sense I have given up trying to “teach,” for I?ve come to believe that the greatest thing I can offer my students is to help them learn how to find themselves through their own investigation.

3 Many factors come together to make a fine student. Find someone you think is extraordinary, and you will find many, if not all, of the following qualities. People who learn a great deal in what seems like a very short time embody these qualities.

4Curiosity Such people are tremendously curious. The whole world is of interest to them, and they observe what others do not. Nobel Prize-winner physician Albert-Gyorgyi put it well when he said, “Discovery consists of lo oking at the same thing as everyone else and thinking something different.” With this curiosity comes an “investigative spirit”; the learning is not so much the acquisition of information as it is an investigation—a questioning, a turning over of the object of study to see all sides and facets. It is not knowing in the sense of having a rigid opinion, but the ability to look again at another time, in a different light, as Gyorgyi suggests, and to form a new understanding based on that observation.

5Discipline Any discipline — but especially those with great subtlety and complexity, like yoga or t?ai chi — can be a lifelong pursuit. Persistence, consistency, and discipline are required. Without these, our learning is but forth without substance. There are no shortcuts. The fruit of these seemingly dry qualities (which we prefer to admire in others) is the satisfaction of having tasted the fullness of completion, or the thrill of meeting a difficult challenge with success. Perhaps, though, our culture is in need of redefining what it means to study. If we can look at our chosen discipline or craft as an ongoing process rather than as a discrete accomplishment, the potential for learning can be infinite. With this attitude we may find ourselves treating even the most mundane discovery with

wide-eyed wonder and joy.

6Risk-Taking Why is it, then, that so few people live up to their true potential? Beyond the well-paved roads and secure structures we usually build for ourselves lie demons, unsure footing — and unfelt pleasures. To be a student is to take risks. Yet most education discourages people from venturing far enough to take risks to make mistakes. “Children enter school as question marks and leave as periods,” observes educator Neil Postman. What kind of punctuation mark do you represent? Do you find yourself looking for tidy answers that give you a feeling of security? By learning to find the one right answer, we may have relinquished our ability to find other answers and solutions. We learn, then, not to put ourselves into situations where we might fail, because failure has tremendous social stigma. When we try different approaches and do things that have no precedence in our experience, we will surely make mistakes. A creative person uses these “failure” as stepping stones.

7Initiative Can we begin, then, to see that our teachers are guides on our journey, but that the journey itself is our own responsibility? There is nothing quite so satisfying as undergoing a difficult process and after long hard work discovering the true nature of that process. It could be as simple as throwing a perfect pot, or as complex as formulating a new theory of physics. The satisfaction we feel will be directly proportional to amount of work we do by ourselves to achieve our goal. Successful students do not expect to be spoon-fed, but take their own initiative. Wanting answers from my teacher has often been a way for me to avoid taking the initiative to discover my own answers through my own practice.

8Enthusiasm To learn, then, is to open oneself. Jim Spira, director of the Institute for Educational Therapy in Berkeley, California, asks his students to prepare themselves to learn in this way: “Drop your prior knowledge … [and] attempt to grasp the new framework in it s own context. The student complains, …But I know what is important.? If what you know is important, then it should be there when you finish the course. If you continually …hold onto it,? then you?ll only see what is presented in terms of the old knowledge/framework and never really grow in new ways.”

9 Finally, as we each advance on our own unique journey, let us live each day as beginners. Being “advanced” has its own pitfalls —among them complacency and pushing or forcing. To go deeper may mean to be still, to progress more patiently, or to devote more time to other areas of our lives as yet green and immature. As F.M. Alexander, of the Alexander technique, once said to his students as they strained and labored, “Give up trying too hard, but never give up.”

10TIPS FOR THE ASPIRING STUDENT

The information that follows is designed as a guide. The author welcomes correspondence from those who can add to it.

●Be attentive. Teachers will usually go out of their way to help a self-motivated and

interested student.

●Be seen. If you want the teacher to know that you are serious, sit or stand in the

front of the class. Make eye contact and introduce yourself, either before or after class.

●Be on time. Consistent lateness is a sign of disrespect. If you take your teacher?s

skill so lightly, why should he or she take you seriously? Missing the beginning of class can also be physically dangerous if you have missed explanations and work meant to prepare you for more difficult movements.

●Be consistent. The quality of any class improves when there is a collective

commitment to regular attendance. In this way you can gain a cumulative knowledge and progress at a more rapid pace. On a more practical level, your attendance may be your teacher?s livelihood.

●Listen with your whole body. We have come to treat words like the background

noise of a radio. Plant words in the pertinent area of your body so that information can be “embodied”.

●Appreciate constructive criticism. Remember why you?re there—to break through

restrictive habit patterns and to change. Teachers usually reserve the most scathing criticism for their most promising students!

●Questions can help clarify and enrich both teacher and student if the student?s

questions are pertinent. If, on the contrary, the student is asking questions because he or she is late or inattentive, the student is being disrespectful to the teacher and fellow classmates and is consequently lowering the quality of the class. Highly personal questions with little relevance to the subject at hand are best asked after class.

●You have the right to disagree — but you do not always have the right to express it.

Sometimes it is appropriate to challenge a teacher. It is unethical, however, to argue with a teacher or badger a teacher in public. If you thoroughly object to what is being taught, you are free to leave and learn elsewhere.

●Let your teacher know how much you appreciate him or her. Teachers need

encouragement like everyone else. Giving them feedback when something has proved particularly beneficial or injurious to you can help them improve the quality

of their teaching.

优秀学生是怎么炼成的

（节选）

唐娜·法伊·舒斯特

1. 作为学生我们对老师期望甚高。我们希望老师热情洋溢。我们希望老师笃实可靠。我们甚至希望老师才识卓绝，取之不竭，用之不尽。

2. 作为老师我渐渐觉得这些期望让我压力重重，我开始明白不太可能“教会”学生什么东西。如果学生不愿意打开心扉去接受并且自己主动练习，老师解释的所有理论啊技巧啊都将变成耳旁风。所以，从某种意义上说，我已经放弃“教”的努力了，因为我慢慢相信我能给学生最好的东西是帮他们学会如何通过自己的调查去发现。

3. 很多要素组合在一起才能造就一名优秀的学生。观察一个你心目中出类拔萃的人，你就会发现以下的很多特点，甚至是全部。那些能在看来极短时间内学到很多东西的人们都具备这些特点。

4. 好奇心这样的人好奇心极强。整个世界都是他们的兴趣所在，他们能见人所未见。诺贝尔奖得主、物理学家艾伯特·圣捷尔吉说得好，“发现乃见众人之所见而思众人所未思。”与好奇之心相伴而来的是一种“探索精神”；学习过程与其说是获得信息的过程，不如说是一种探索，一种质疑，将要学习的东西翻来覆去方方面面层层次次看个明白。这不是有僵化意见的“知”，而是如圣捷尔吉所说，在这一观察的基础上，在另一个时间用另一个角度获得全新理解的能力。

5. 自律任何学科——尤以那些极其微妙和复杂的学科为最，如瑜伽或太极——都可成为终生追求的目标，而坚持不懈、持之以恒、节制自律是必不可少的。没有这些，我们的学习就不过是没有实质的泡沫。没有捷径可言。这些看似枯燥的品质(我们更愿意羡慕别人拥有它们)，给我们带来的是圆满完成某事后的满足感，或成功面对挑战的兴奋。不过，我们的文化也许需要给学习重新下个定义。如果我们将所选择的学科或手艺看作是一个正在持续的进程，而不是一个单独的成就，那么学习的潜力就可能无穷无尽。带着这样的态度，我们面对哪怕最平淡无奇的发现时也能在不知不觉之中充满好奇与喜悦。

6. 冒险那究竟为什么能充分挖掘出自身潜力的人少之又少呢？在铺好的坦途和我们通常为自己建造的坚固房屋之外，有潜伏的恶魔、不确定的落脚之处——当然也有从未感受过的快乐。当学生就意味着要冒险。但教育一般不会鼓励人们大胆走出太远去冒险、去犯错。“孩子们入学时是问号，毕业时是句号”教育家内尔·波斯特曼如是说。你代表的是哪种标点符号呢？你觉得自己是在寻找能给你安全感的明确答案吗？我们学会了寻找唯一的正确答案，可能就放弃了寻找别的答案和解决办法的能力。我们还学会了避失败而远之，因为失败会招致耻辱。如果我们尝试不同的方法，做以前未尝经历过的事情，我们就肯定会犯错误，而有创意的人会把这些“失败”当作踏脚石。

7. 主动进取这样的话，我们就能将老师视为我们旅程中的导游，而旅程本身则是自己的责任所在了吧？在经历了艰难的过程、长期辛苦的工作之后发现那个过程的真正本质，是最令人满足的。这工作可能很简单，比如在陶轮上制出一个完整的陶罐；也可能很复杂，如提出一套物理学理论。为达到目标所付出的努力越多，所体会到的满足感也就会越强。成功的学生不希望填鸭式教育，而是会主动进取。希望从老师那里得到答案是我常用的逃避伎俩，这样我就不必主动通过练习为自己找到答案。

8. 热忱这么说来，学习其实就是打开心扉。加州伯克莱教育治疗学院院长吉姆·斯皮拉要求学生用这种方式学习：“忘记你们已有的知识……尝试去领会新环境中的观点。学生抱怨说，…但我知道什么是重要的啊。?要是你已经掌握的知识很重要，那么课程结束时它应该还在那。要是你一直…抓住它不放?，那么只会看到已有知识/观点的表述，而永远不会在新的方面有所长进。

9. 最后，既然我们每个人的旅程都独一无二，就让我们每天像新手上路一样活着吧。处于“先进高级”阶段有它自己的陷阱——其中包括自得自满、一意孤行或咄咄逼人。继续深入可能意味着停滞不前，意味着更加耐心地向前走，或者意味着往我们人生中青涩和尚不成熟的其他领域投入更多的时间。正如创立了亚历山大技法的F. M. 亚历山大曾对过分努力的学生所说，“放弃过分努力，但永远不要放弃。”

10. 优秀学生秘笈

以下信息旨在抛砖引玉，若能来函补充，作者无任欢迎。

●专心。老师总是会不遗余力地帮助那些自我激励和兴致勃勃的学生。

●关注。如果你想让老师知道你很认真，那就在教室前排就座或站立，可在课前或课后与

老师进行眼神交流并做自我介绍。

●准时。接二连三的迟到是不尊重老师的表现。如果你这么轻视老师的工作，他(或她)

凭什么要认真地对待你呢？错过课程的开头部分，错过那些为以后更艰深的内容做准备的解释或练习，有时也可能危及人身安全。

●坚持不懈。当全班坚持出席时，授课质量会有提高。这样你就可以逐步积累知识，并且

进步也会更快。从实用的层面来说，你的出勤可能关系到老师的生计。

●全身心地聆听。我们已经习惯把语言当作无线电背景噪音一般来对待。切记把老师的讲

述深深地植根于身体里的相关部位，以便信息能够收录下来。

●感谢建设性的批评。牢记你为什么在那里——是为了打破束缚你的习惯思维方式，并

且改变自己。老师通常给那些最有前途的学生以最为严厉的批评。

●如果学生提出的问题中肯贴切，提问有助于澄清疑团，对老师和学生都是一种丰富和深

化。相反，如果学生提问是因为自己迟到或不专心，那这个学生就是不尊重老师和同学，因而也降低了教学质量。跟教学内容关系不大的私人问题最好等课后再提。

●你有权不同意——但并不是总有权表达异议。有时，质疑老师是合适的。然而，当众与

老师争论或纠缠是不道德的。如果你完全反对教学内容，你尽可以离开去别的地方学习。

让老师知道你有多么欣赏他或她。老师像所有人一样也需要鼓励，如果有些东西对你特别有用或有害，及时给予老师反馈，可以帮助老师提高教学质量。

必修一课文及翻译

必修一 Unit 1 Friendship ANNE’S BEST FRIEND Do you want a friend whom you could tell everything to, like your deepest feelings and thoughts Or are you afraid that your friend would laugh at you, or would not understand what you are going through Anne Frank wanted the first kind, so she made her best friend. Anne lived in Amsterdam in Netherlands during Would WarⅡ.Her family was Jewish so they had to hide or they would be caught by the German Nazi .She and her family hid away for nearly twenty-five months before they were discovered. During that time the only true friend was her diary. She said ,”I don’t want to set down a series of facts in a diary as most people do ,but I want this diary itself to be my friend, and I shall call my friend Kitty .”Now read how she felt after being in the hiding place since July 1942. Thursday 15th June 1944 Dear Kitty, I wonder if it’s because I haven’t been able to be outdoors for so long that I’ve grown so crazy about everything to do with nature. I can well remember that there was a time when a deep blue sky, the song of the birds, moonlight and flowers could never have kept me spellbound. That’s changed since I was here. …For example, one evening when it was so warm, I stayed awake on purpose until half past eleven in order to have a good look at the moon by myself. But as the moon gave far too much light, I didn’t dare open a window. Another time five months ago, I happened to be upstairs at dusk when the window was open. I didn’t go downstairs until the windo w had to be shut. The dark, rainy evening, the wind, the thundering clouds held me entirely in their power; it was the first time in a year and a half that I’d seen the night face to face…. …Sadly…I am only able to look at nature through dirty curtains han ging before very dusty windows. it’s no pleasure looking through these any longer because nature is one thing that really must be experienced. Your, Anne 安妮最好的朋友 你想不想有一位无话不谈能推心置腹的朋友或者你会不会担心你的朋友会嘲笑你，会不理解你目前的困境呢安妮弗兰克想要的是第一种类型的朋友，所以她把的日记当作自己最好的朋友。 在第二次世界大战期间，安妮住在荷兰的阿姆斯特丹。她一家人都是犹太人，所以他们不得不躲藏起来，否则就会被德国的纳粹分子抓去。她和她的家人躲藏了将近25个月之后才被发现。在那段时期，她的日记成了她唯一忠实的朋友。她说：“我不愿像大多数人那样在日记中记流水账。我要把我的日记当作自己的朋友，我把我的这个朋友叫做基蒂。”现在，来看看安妮自1942年7月起躲进藏身处后的那种心情吧。 1944年6月15日，星期四 亲爱的基蒂： 我不知道这是不是因为我太久不能出门的缘故，我变得对一切与大自然有关的事物都无比狂热。我记得非常清楚，以前，湛蓝的天空、鸟儿的歌唱、月光和鲜花，从未令我心迷神

Unit 3 A Hanging 课文翻译教学教材

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Unit 3 A Hanging A HANGING George Orwell 1. It was in Burma, a sodden morning of the rains. We were waiting outside the condemned cells, a row of sheds fronted with double bars, like small animal cages. Each cell measured about ten feet by ten and was quite bare within except for a plank bed and a pot for drinking water. In some of them brown silent men were squatting at the inner bars, with their blankets draped round them. These were the condemned men, due to be hanged within the next week or two. Detailed Reading 2. One prisoner had been brought out of his cell. He was a Hindu, a puny wisp of a man, with a shaven head and vague liquid eyes. Six tall Indian warders were guarding him and getting him ready for the gallows. Two of them stood by with rifles and fixed bayonets, while the others handcuffed him, passed a chain through his handcuffs and fixed it to their belts, and lashed his arms tightly to his sides. They crowded very close about him, with their hands always on him in a careful, caressing grip, as though all the while feeling him to make sure he was there. But he stood quite unresisting, yielding his arms limply to the ropes, as though he hardly noticed what was happening. 3. Eight o'clock struck and a bugle call floated from the distant barracks. The superintendent of the jail, who was standing apart from the rest of us, moodily prodding the gravel with his stick, raised his head at the sound. "For God's sake hurry up, Francis," he said irritably. "The man ought to have been dead by this time. Aren't you ready yet?" 4. Francis, the head jailer, a fat Dravidian in a white drill suit and gold spectacles, waved his black hand. "Yes sir, yes sir," he bubbled. "All is satisfactorily prepared. The hangman is waiting. We shall proceed." 5. "Well, quick march, then. The prisoners can't get their breakfast till this job's over." 6. We set out for the gallows. Two warders marched on either side of the prisoner, with their rifles at the slope; two others marched close against him, gripping him by arm and shoulder, as though at once pushing and supporting him. The rest of us, magistrates and the like, followed behind.

unit3ahanging课文翻译

Unit 3 A Hanging A HANGING George Orwell 1. It was in Burma, a sodden morning of the rains. We were waiting outside the condemned cells, a row of sheds fronted with double bars, like small animal cages. Each cell measured about ten feet by ten and was quite bare within except for a plank bed and a pot for drinking water. In some of them brown silent men were squatting at the inner bars, with their blankets draped round them. These were the condemned men, due to be hanged within the next week or two. Detailed Reading 2. One prisoner had been brought out of his cell. He was a Hindu, a puny wisp of a man, with a shaven head and vague liquid eyes. Six tall Indian warders were guarding him and getting him ready for the gallows. Two of them stood by with rifles and fixed bayonets, while the others handcuffed him, passed a chain through his handcuffs and fixed it to their belts, and lashed his arms tightly to his sides. They crowded very close about him, with their hands always on him in a careful, caressing grip, as though all the while feeling him to make sure he was there. But he stood quite unresisting, yielding his arms limply to the ropes, as though he hardly noticed what was happening. 3. Eight o'clock struck and a bugle call floated from the distant barracks. The superintendent of the jail, who was standing apart from the rest of us, moodily prodding the gravel with his stick, raised his head at the sound. "For God's sake hurry up, Francis," he said irritably. "The man ought to have been dead by this time. Aren't you ready yet" 4. Francis, the head jailer, a fat Dravidian in a white drill suit and gold spectacles, waved his black hand. "Yes sir, yes sir," he bubbled. "All is satisfactorily prepared. The hangman is waiting. We shall proceed." 5. "Well, quick march, then. The prisoners can't get their breakfast till this job's over." 6. We set out for the gallows. Two warders marched on either side of the prisoner, with their rifles at the slope; two others marched close against him, gripping him by arm and shoulder, as though at once pushing and supporting him. The rest of us, magistrates and the like, followed behind. 7. It was about forty yards to the gallows. I watched the bare brown back of the

高一英语必修一课文原文及译文80976

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unit5athletes新编大学英语第二版第四册课文翻译

Unit 5 Athletes Athletes Should Be Role Models I love Charles Barkley like a brother, and except for the times when we're hanging and pushing each other under the boards in games between my team, the Utah Jazz, and his, the Phoenix Suns, we're great friends. We don't necessarily like the same things: Charles loves golf so much he would play at halftime if he could, but I think a golf course is a waste of good pasture-land. One of the reasons we get along so well, though, is that we both say what's on our minds without worrying about what other people are going to think—which means we disagree from time to time. Here's an example of what I mean: I disagree with what Charles says in his Nike commercial, the one in which he insists, "I am not a role model." Charles, you can deny being a role model all you want, but I don't think it's your decision to make. We don't choose to be role models, we are chosen. Our only choice is whether to be a good role model or a bad one. I don't think we can accept all the glory and the money that comes with being a famous athlete and not accept the responsibility of being a role model, of knowing that kids and even some adults are watching us and looking for us to set an example. I mean, why do we get endorsements in the first place Because there are people who will follow our lead and buy a certain sneaker or cereal because we use it. I love being a role model, and I try to be a positive one. That doesn't mean I always succeed. I'm no saint. I make mistakes, and sometimes I do childish things. And I don't always wake up in a great, role-model mood. There are days when I don't want to pose for a picture with every fan I run into, when I don't feel like picking up babies and giving them hugs and kisses (no matter how cute they are), those are the days I just try to avoid the public. But you don't have to be perfect to be a good role model and people shouldn't expect perfection. If I were deciding whether a basketball player was a positive role model, I would want to know: Does he influence people's lives in a positive way away from the court How much has he given of himself, in time or in money, to help people who look up to him Does he display the values—like honesty and determination—that are part of being a good person I wouldn't ask whether he lives his life exactly the way I would live it or whether he handles every situation just the way I would handle it.

新视野大学英语综合教程3 课文及课文翻译Unit2

The glass castle 1 I never believed in Santa Claus. 2 None of us kids did. Mom and Dad refused to let us. They couldn't afford expensive presents, and they didn't want us to think we weren't as good as other kids who, on Christmas morning, found all sorts of fancy toys under the tree that were supposedly left by Santa Claus. So they told us all about how other kids were deceived by their parents, how the toys the grown-ups claimed were made by little elves wearing bell caps in their workshop at the North Pole actually had labels on them saying MADE IN JAPAN. 3 "Try not to look down on those other children," Mom said. "It's not their fault that they've been brainwashed into believing silly myths." 4 We celebrated Christmas, but usually about a week after December 25, when you could find perfectly good bows and wrapping paper that people had thrown away and Christmas trees discarded on the roadside that still had most of their needles and even some silver tinsel hanging on them. Mom and Dad would give us a bag of marbles or a doll or a slingshot that had been marked way down in an after-Christmas sale. 5 Dad lost his job at the gypsum mine after getting in an argument with the foreman, and when Christmas came that year, we had no money at all. On Christmas Eve, Dad took each of us kids out into the desert night one by one. I had a blanket wrapped around me, and when it was my turn, I offered to share it with Dad, but he said no thanks. The cold never bothered him. I was five that year and I sat next to Dad and we looked up at the sky. Dad loved to talk about the stars. He explained to us how they rotated through the night sky as the earth turned. He taught us to identify the constellations and how to navigate by the North Star. Those shining stars, he liked to point out, were one of the special treats for people like us who lived out in the wilderness. Rich city folks, he'd say, lived

必修一课文翻译

必修一Unit1 Anne’s Best Friend Do you want a friend whom you could tell everything to, like your deepest feelings and thoughts? Or are you afraid that your friend would laugh at you, or would not understand what you are going through? Anne Frank wanted the first kind, so she made her diary her best friend. Anne lived in Amsterdam in the Netherlands during World War Ⅱ. Her family was Jewish so nearly twenty-five months before they were discovered. During that time the only true friend was her diary. She said, ”I don’t want to set down a series of facts in a diary as most people do, but I want this diary itself to be my friend, and I shall call my friend Kitty.”Now read how she felt after being in the hiding place since July 1942. Thursday 15th June, 1944 Dear Kitty, I wonder if it’s because I haven’t been able to be outdoors for so long that I’ve grown so crazy about everything to do with nature. I can well remember that there was a time when a deep blue sky, the song of the birds, moonlight and flowers could never have kept me spellbound. That’s changed since I was here. …For example, one evening when it was so warm, I stayed awake on purpose until half past eleven in order to have a good look at the moon by my self. But as the moon gave far too much light, I didn’t dare open a window. Another time five months ago, I happened to be upstairs at dusk when the window was open. I didn’t go downstairs until the window bad to be shut. The dark, rainy evening, the wind, the

UnitA French Fourth课文翻译综合教程四

Unit 6 A French Fourth Charles Trueheart 1Along about this time every year, as Independence Day approaches, I pull an old American flag out of a bottom drawer where it is folded away －folded in a square, I admit, not the regulation triangle. I’ve had it a long time and have always flown it outside on July 4. Here in Paris it hangs from a fourth-floor balcony visible from the street. I’ve never seen anyone look up, but in my mind’s eye an American tourist may notice it and smile, and a French passerby may be reminded of the date and the occasion that prompt its appearance. I hope so. 2For my expatriated family, too, the flag is meaningful, in part because we don’t do anything else to celebrate the Fourth. People don’t have barbecues in Paris apartments, and most other Americans I know who have settled here suppress such outward signs of their heritage －or they go back home for the summer to refuel. 3Our children think the flag-hanging is a cool thing, and I like it because it gives us a few moments of family Q&A about our citizenship. My wife and I have been away from the United States for nine years, and our children are eleven and nine, so American history is mostly something they have learned －or haven’t learned －from their parents. July 4 is one of the times when the American in me feels a twinge of unease about the great lacunae in our children’s understanding of who they are and is prompted to try to fill the gaps. It’s als o a time, one among many, when my thoughts turn more generally to the costs and benefits of raising children in a foreign culture. 4Louise and Henry speak French fluently; they are taught in French at school, and most of their friends are French. They move from language to language, seldom mixing them up, without effort or even awareness. This is a wonderful thing, of course. And our physical separation from our native land is not much of an issue. My wife and I are grateful every day for all that our children are not exposed to. American school shootings are a good object lesson for our children in the follies of the society we hold at a distance. 5Naturally, we also want to remind them of reasons to take pride in being American and to try to convey to them what that means. It is a difficult thing to do from afar, and the distance seems more than just a matter of miles. I sometimes think that the stories we tell them must seem like Aesop’s (or La Fontaine’s) fables, myths with no fixed place in space or time. Still, connections can be made, lessons learned. 6Last summer we spent a week with my brother and his family, who live in Concord, Massachusetts, and we took the children to the North Bridge to give them a glimpse of the American Revolution. We happened to run across a reenactment of the skirmish that launched the war, with everyone dressed up in three-cornered hats and cotton bonnets. This probably only confirmed to our

高级英语lesson原文及翻译

“Hiroshima! Everybody off!” That must be what the man in the Japanese stationmaster's uniform shouted, as the fastest train in the world slipped to a stop in Hiroshima Station. I did not understand what he was saying. First of all, because he was shouting in Japanese. And secondly, because I had a lump in my throat and a lot of sad thoughts on my mind that had little to do with anything a Nippon railways official might say. The very act of stepping on this soil, in breathing this air of Hiroshima, was for me a far greater adventure than any trip or any reportorial assignment I'd previously taken. Was I not at the scene of t h e c r i m e? The Japanese crowd did not appear to have the same preoccupations that I had. From the sidewalk outside the station, things seemed much the same as in other Japanese cities. Little girls and elderly ladies in kimonos rubbed shoulders with teenagers and women in western dress. Serious looking men spoke to one another as if they were oblivious of the crowds about them, and bobbed up and down re-heatedly in little bows, as they exchanged the ritual formula of gratitude and respect: "Tomo aligato gozayimas." Others were using little red telephones that hung on the facades of grocery stores and tobacco shops. "Hi! Hi!" said the cab driver, whose door popped open at the very sight of a traveler. "Hi", or something that sounds very much like it, means "yes". "Can you take me to City Hall?" He grinned at me in the rear-view mirror and repeated "Hi!" "Hi! ’ We set off at top speed through the narrow streets of Hiroshima. The tall buildings of the martyred city flashed by as we lurched from side to side in response to the driver's sharp twists of t h e w h e e l. Just as I was beginning to find the ride long, the taxi screeched to a halt, and the driver got out and went over to a policeman to ask the way. As in Tokyo, taxi drivers in Hiroshima often know little of their city, but to avoid loss of face before foreigners,