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她被解雇了，或许也该如此，因为她没有教好书本上的基础知识。这些基础知识是必须掌握的。但她却留给我们追求真知的热情，点燃了我永不泯灭的好奇心。我做不出简单的算术题，但她却让我领悟到抽象的数学就像音乐一样有其内在的韵律。 当她被解雇时，我们都沉浸在忧伤之中，但是她点燃的智慧之光并未熄灭。

What makes a teacher?

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 to read is probably the most difficult and revolutionary thing that 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 is the very best of my luck. My first was a 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.

I 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, they catalyzed a burning desire to know. Under their influence, the horizons sprung wide and fear went away and unknown became knowledge. But most important of all ,the truth,that dangerous stuff,became beautiful and precious.

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

She aroused us to shouting,book-waving discussion. 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 sensed that abstract mathematics was very much like music. When she was relieved, a sadness came over us but the light did not go out.

参考译文

为师之道
　　
成年人常常会忘记在学校上学时的艰辛、单调和漫长。凭借记忆去学习必须了解的基本常识是一件最不可思议并需要不懈努力的事。学会阅读大概是人的大脑活动中最困难的、最具创新性的一项任务。

你如果不信的话，可以去观察一个成年文盲的尝试过程。上学不容易，而且大部分时光也确实枯燥无味。 但如果你很幸运的话，你会遇见一位优秀的教师。我所遇到的三位真正的教师是我一生中最大的幸运：第一位是我在高中时任教的自然科学兼数学教师；第二位是斯坦福大学教创造性写作的教授；最后一位是我的朋友,同时又是我的搭档埃德·理克茨。
　　
我坚信杰出的教师就像杰出的艺术家。这样的教师和其它任何杰出的艺术家一样罕见。 正因良师所传授的是人类的思想和精神，这使得教育甚至可能是最伟大的艺术。
　　
我的三位老师的共同之处是：他们都热爱自己的职业。他们从不说教，而是激发学生强烈的求知欲。在他们的熏陶下，学生们开阔了视野，驱散了恐惧，消除了疑问，不懂的知识也迎刃而解。但最重要的是，我们所寻求的真知不再是令人望而却步的东西，而是变得美妙而珍贵了。
　　
我只想谈谈我的第一位老师，因为她除了教授书本知识，还教会我们如何去发现。
　　
她激发我们手挥书本、高声嚷叫地进行讨论。她的课堂是学校最吵闹的，而她似乎没有觉察到。我们从不局限于一个主题。我们的视野扩大到整个世界。她把好奇心注入我们心中，使我们懂得事实与真理，把它们像捕捉萤火虫一样掌握在手中。
　　
她被解雇了，或许也该如此，因为她没有教好书本上的基础知识。这些基础知识是必须掌握的。但她却留给我们追求真知的热情，点燃了我永不泯灭的好奇心。我做不出简单的算术题，但她却让我领悟到抽象的数学就像音乐一样有其内在的韵律。 当她被解雇时，我们都沉浸在忧伤之中，但是她点燃的智慧之光并未熄灭。

词汇释义

1.incredible 难以置信的

That's the most incredible coincidence I've ever heard of!
那是我听说过的最难以置信的巧合！

2.illiterate 不识字的，没受过教育的

You must be an illiterate if you've never heard of Marx.
要是连马克思也没听说过，那你一定是个文盲。

3.catalyze 催化，刺激

4.speculation 思索

They have much speculation over the cause of the air crash.
他们对飞机坠毁原因有多方推测。

5.breathe 注入，灌输

His enthusiasm breathed new life into the company.
他的热情给公司注入了新的生命。

6.firefly萤火虫

相关格言

A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.

教师的影响永远持续，他也说不清这种影响何时会停止。

A teacher must believe in the value and interest of his subject as a doctor believes in health.

教师必须坚信自己所教的科目有价值，有乐趣，正如医生深信健康有价值。