教师，是一个崇高的职业。因为教师是为社会培养人才的园丁，是人类灵魂的工程师。那么，当一名老师又能给教师自己带来什么呢？

　　Why I Teach

　　I teach because I like the pace of the academic calendar. June, July, and August offer an opportunity for reflection, research and writing.

　　I teach because teaching is a profession built on change. When the material is the same, I change — and, more important, my students change.

　　I teach because I like the freedom to make my own mistakes, to learn my own lessons, to stimulate myself and my students. As a teacher, I’m my own boss. If I want my freshmen to learn to write by creating their own textbook, who is to say I can’t? Such courses may be huge failures, but we can all learn from failures.

　　I teach because I like to ask questions that students must struggle to answer. The world is full of right answers to bad questions. While teaching, I sometimes find good questions.

　　So teaching gives me pace and variety, and challenge, and the opportunity to keep on learning①.

　　However, the most important reasons why I teach are that my students grow up and change in front of me. Some have become doctoral students with excellent success and found good jobs; some have become interested in the urban poor and served as civil rights lawyers; some have decided to finish high school and go to college.

　　But teaching offers something besides money and power: it offers love. Not only the love of learning and of books and ideas, but also the love that a teacher feels for that rare student who walks into a teacher’s life and begins to breathe. Perhaps love is the wrong word: magic might be better.

　　I teach because, being around people who are beginning to breathe, I occasionally find myself catching my breath with them.

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　　行文点评

　　文章第一段到第四段都采用了“I teach because...”的句型开头，句式统一，在内容上构成了并列。每段的第一句即为该段的主题句，先指出自己想要当老师的原因，接着再具体进行解释。在第五段中，作者用So概括了上述原因，再次重申“Why I Teach”，呼应主题。第六段开头借助“However”一词的过渡，指出教书最重要的理由，和前文构成了语义上的递进。文章最后一段还是用I teach because...结尾，与段首相呼应，使文章显得有始有终。

　　好文妙译

　　我为什么当老师

　　我教书，是因为我喜爱学校日程的安排。六月、七月和八月这三个月的暑假提供了一个思考、研究和创作的机会。

　　我教书，是因为教学是建立在变化基础上的职业。虽然教材还是原来的不变，但我自身却变了，更重要的是，我的学生变了。

　　我教书，是因为我喜欢有让自己犯错的自由，喜欢自己吸取教训的自由，喜欢激励自己和激励学生的自由。作为教师，我可以自行做主。如果我想要求一年级学生通过自己编写课本的方法来学习写作，谁会说我不能那样做呢?这样的课程也许会彻底失败，但我们都可以从失败中获得教益。

　　我教书，是因为我喜欢提出学生必须绞尽脑汁方能回答的问题。我们这个世界充满了对付拙劣问题的正确答案。我在教学过程中，有时也发现了一些好的问题。所以说，教书让生活变得有节奏、丰富多彩；教书向我提出了挑战，也给了我不断学习的机会。

　　然而，我教书最重要的理由是，我的学生在我面前成长、发展、变化。有些学生成了成就斐然的博士，找到了好工作；有些对城市贫民发生了兴趣，当了维护公民权力的律师；有些决定读完高中后继续上大学。

　　教书还带来了超越金钱和权力以外的东西：那便是爱。不仅是爱学习、爱书本、爱思想，还有老师对出类拔萃的学生的爱。这样的学生走进了老师的生活，开始成长起来。爱这个字也许用得不恰当，说是魔力也许更为贴切。

　　我教书，是因为与开始成长的学生朝夕相处打成一片，我偶尔发现自己也和他们一起开始成长了。

　　词汇斟酌

　　calendar n. 日历，月历

　　stimulate vt.刺激，激励

　　freshman n. 新生, 大学一年级学生

　　doctoral adj. 博士的

　　佳句临摹

　　①【注释】keep on (doing sth)继续(做某事)

　　【临摹】She kept on working although she was tired. 她累了,却仍在继续工作。

　　思如泉涌

　　Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass. 生活无目标，犹如航海无罗盘。

　　A burden of one’s choice is not felt. 爱挑的担子不嫌重。