A Good Teacher A Good Luck,本文主要内容关键词为:Good论文,Teacher论文,Luck论文,此文献不代表本站观点,内容供学术参考,文章仅供参考阅读下载。
国家第一届最高科学技术奖颁发了!杰出的数学家吴文俊教授获此殊荣,他在接受媒体的联合采访时,出语惊人:
我小时候喜欢看历史书籍,对数学并没有多大兴趣。在大学二年级时还曾一度对数学失去兴趣,甚至想辍学不念,是一位姓武的老师的精彩课程,改变了我对数学的看法。大学三四年级时的刻苦钻研,更使我打下了现代数学的基础。
我曾作推想:吴大教授在读大学的时候没有遇到这位姓武的老师,也许……
西方流传着这样一段话:
A teacher,it is said,is compared to God who blew a breathinto nostrils of a clay and the clay began to breathe.A goodteacher is good luck of a student.
据说老师就像上帝一样,上帝往泥人的鼻孔里吹了一口气,于是泥人就有了生命。有一个好老师是学生的幸运。
这个比喻让我惊诧,人们历来认为,师道尊严,尊师重教是中国特有的文化。其实,西方又何尝不是如此呢?近读一篇题为A Good TeacherA Good Luck的短文,深受感动。其中有些段落如此精彩,我已经能够铭记于心,脱口背诵。现将其中的几段介绍给读者朋友:
I have come to believe that a great teacher is a greatartist and that there are as few as there are any other greatartists.It might even be the greatest of the arts since themedium is the human mind and spirit.
我相信一名好老师就是一名伟大的艺术家,而且相信好的老师和伟大的艺术家一样难得。教书也许是一门最伟大的艺术,因为它的媒体是人脑和灵魂。
小析:作者将教师比作great artist,不是无病呻吟,而是有感而发。...there are as few as there are any other great artists一句中省略了great teachers。完整表达应该是:...there are as few(great teachers)as there are any other great artists.译文使用了“难得”二字,洗练得译出了原文的涵义。
My three teacheres had these things in common:They all lovedwhat they were doing.They did not tell,they catalyzed(催化;刺激;促进)a burning desire to know.Under their influence,the horizons sprung wide and fear went away and the unknownbecame knowable.But most important of all,the truth,thatdangerous stuff,became beautiful and very precious.
我的这三位老师的共同点是:他们都热爱自己的工作。他们不靠说教,而是激发学生强烈的求知欲。在他们的影响下,视野开阔了,恐惧消失了,未知化为可知。但最重要的是,真理——那个令人恐惧的东西,变得美丽和珍贵了。
小析:原文的一句话道破了一个真正成功的教师的本质:除了敬业之外,They did not tell,they catalyzed(催化;刺激;促进)aburning desire to know.值得指出的是,原文虽然很美,但也存在表达欠规范处,如:Under their influence,the horizons sprung wideand fear went away and the unknown became knowable.此句的介词短语的逻辑主语和主句的主语存在着不一致的情况,此介词短语在语法上被称为dangling modifier。
I shall speak only of my first teacher because in additionto the other things,she brought discovery.
我特别要说一说我的第一位老师,她教会我们其他知识,也教会我们如何探求知识。
小析:原文中的she brought discovery值得我们细细品味。译文将此句译成了“教会我们如何探求知识”。是否可以将它译得更简单些,更直接些?如译:她教会我们发现。
She aroused us to shouting,bookwaving discussions.She hadthe noisiest class in school and she didn't even seem to knowit.We could never stick to the subject.She breathed curiosityinto us so that we brought in facts of truths shielded in ourhands like captured fireflies(萤火虫).
她让我们大声讨论,挥舞着书本,她的课堂是全校最乱的课堂,而她对此却好像全然不知。我们从不会拘泥于一个科目上,她培养我们的好奇心,让我们自己去发现事实和真理,把他们攥在手中,像被捕捉的萤火虫一样。
小析:She aroused us to shouting,bookwaving discussions一句写得精彩极了。尤其是其中的形容词shouting/bookwaving。两个形容词就把热烈的课堂气氛渲染得活灵活现。可是,译文不够完美,是否可译:她让我们进行课堂讨论,你喊我叫,挥动书本。原文中的另一佳句是:She breathed curiosity into us so that we brought infacts or truths shielded in our hands like captured fireflies(萤火虫).其中的breathed curiosity into us值得我们模仿学习,其动宾搭配,其思想内涵。第一流的教师应该摒弃灌输,崇尚启发。点燃学生心头对周围一切事物的好奇心!一旦好奇心被激发,学生便有了获取知识的原动力,即原文中的所谓we brought in facts or truths。接着,作者使用了一个充满童趣的比喻:shielded in our hands likecaptured fireflies(萤火虫)。尤其是其中的过去分词shielded,这是non native-speaker很难加以运用的一个词汇。
She was fired and perhaps rightly so,for failing to teachfundamentals.Such things must be learned.But she left apassion in us for the pure knowable world and she inflamed mewith a curiosity,which has never left.I could not do simplearithmetic but through her I sensed that abstract mathematicswas very much like music.When she was relieved,a sadness cameover us but the light did go out.She left her signature on us,the literature of the teacher who writes on minds.I have hadmany teachers who told me soon-forgotten backs but only threewho 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(手稿)of the high school teacher.What deathless power liesin the hands of such a person.
她因未能教授基础知识而被解雇了,或许理由很正当,因为这些知识一定要学,但是她给我们留下了对纯粹的可知世界的热情;她燃起我求知的热情,这种热情永生不灭。我虽然不会计算简单的算术题,但是通过她,我感到抽象的数学与音乐非常地相似。当她被解聘时,我们都很难过,但是那片光明并没有消失。她给我们留下她的签名,那是老师写在我们心中的作品。我的许多老师所教的知识,陈腐过时,转眼即忘,而这三位老师使我产生出了一种新的东西、一种新的态度和一种新的欲望。我想在很大程度上,我正是那位老师未经签名的手搞。这样一个人拥有多么永恒的力量啊!
小析:上文作者运用了breathed curiosity into us这样的搭配,而在本段,作者使用了新的搭配:inflamed me with a curiosity,两者异曲同工。原句中的soon-forgotten backs也简洁可学,显现了英语构词的魅力。原文中的a new thing,a new attitude and a new hunger.构成了不可多得的parallelism,尤其在未尾的hunger,其转义用得非常出色。文中的几出比喻也相当出新:like music/literature of theteacher/unsigned manuscript。作为一个教师,对他的学生既要授之予“鱼”,更要授之予“渔”(即捕鱼之法)。“我”的那位老师,忽略了前者,作者认为Such things must be learned。此言更让我们明白,作者对其老师的怀念是真诚的,是可以理解的,因为,就后者言,作者的老师是一个绝对成功者!
I can tell my son who looks forward with horror to fifteenyears of drudgery(苦差事;苦工)that somewhere in the dustydark a magic may happen that will light up the years...if heis very lucky.
我可以告诉我那正在恐惧地期待15年寒窗之苦的儿子,如果他非常幸运的话,在一片混沌黑暗中,也许会有神奇的事情发生,使他的学生时代一片光明。
小析:文章的结尾写得自然而又质朴,国人用寒窗来形容读书的辛苦,作者不谋而合地用了drudgery来写之。作者最后的话并没有讲完,如果讲完了,也许就缺乏现有的一份含蓄美。比如这样写:somewhere inthe dusty darks a magic may happen that will light up theyears...if he is very lucky to have good teachers as I havehad.