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Another School Year — What For?--John Ciardi

Let me tell you one of the earliest disasters in my career as a teacher. It was January of 1940 and I was fresh out of graduate school starting my first semester at the University of Kansas City. Part of the student body was a beanpole with hair on top who came into my class, sat down, folded his arms, and looked at me as if to say "All right, teach me something." Two weeks later we started Hamlet. Three weeks later he came into my office with his hands on his hips. "Look," he said, "I came here to be a pharmacist. Why do I have to read this stuff?" And not having a book of his own to point to, he pointed to mine which was lying on the desk.

New as I was to the faculty, I could have told this specimen a number of things. I could have pointed out that he had enrolled, not in a drugstore-mechanics school, but in a college and that at the end of his course meant to reach for a scroll that read Bachelor of Science. It would not read: Qualified Pill-Grinding Technician. It would certify that he had specialized in pharmacy, but it would further certify that he had been exposed to some of the ideas mankind has generated within its history. That is to say, he had not entered a technical training school but a university and in universities students enroll for both training and education.

I could have told him all this, but it was fairly obvious he wasn't going to be around long enough for it to matter.
Nevertheless, I was young and I had a high sense of duty and I tried to put it this way: "For the rest of your life," I said, "your days are going to average out to about twenty-four hours. They will be a little shorter when you are in love, and a little longer when you are out of love, but the average will tend to hold. For eight of these hours, more or less, you will be asleep."

"Then for about eight hours of each working day you will, I hope, be usefully employed. Assume you have gone through pharmacy school — or engineering, or law school, or whatever — during those eight hours you will be using your professional skills. You will see to it that the cyanide stays out of the aspirin, that the bull doesn't jump the fence, or that your client doesn't go to the electric chair as a result of your incompetence. These are all useful pursuits.

They involve skills every man must respect, and they can all bring you basic satisfactions. Along with everything else, they will probably be what puts food on your table, supports your wife, and rears your children. They will be your income, and may it always suffice."

参考译文

来讲一个我教师职业生涯中遇到的最早的棘手问题。那是1940年的1月，我刚从研究生院毕业，在堪萨斯城大学教第一学期的课。一个瘦高，长得就像顶上有毛的豆角架一样的男生进入我的教室，坐下，双臂交叉，看着我，好像在说：“好吧，教我些东西吧。”两周后我们开始学习《哈姆雷特》，三周后他双手叉腰走进我的办公室，“看，”他说，“我来这里是想学做药剂师的，干嘛必须要学习这些东西？”他没有带自己的书，就指着书桌上放着的我的书。

虽然我是个新老师，我本来是可以给这个家伙讲很多事情的，我本想告诉他，把他招收来的不是制药技术学校，而是大学，毕业时得到的学位证书是理学学士，而不是“合格的磨药工”，这张证书证明他专修过制药学，但它还可以证明，他还学到人类有史以来的一些思想。也就是说，他所上的不是一个技术培训学校，而是一所大学，大学里学生可以得到培训又可以得到教育。

我原本可以把这些话都讲给他，可是很显然，他不会呆多久，说了也没用。

然而，我当时很年轻，责任感也很强，我就试着这么跟他说：“在你的余生中，”我说，“平均每天大约24小时，谈恋爱时，你会觉得有点短，失恋时你会觉得有点长，但是平均的时间不变。其中大约8个小时你在睡觉。”

“每个工作日的其中八个小时，我希望，你会忙些有用的事情。假设你已经从药科大学--或工程大学，法学院，或者其他什么大学--在这八个小时你要用自己的专业技能。作为药剂师，你要确保氰化物没有和阿司匹林混在一起，作为工程师，你要确保一切都在你的掌控之中，作为律师，你要确保你的委托人没有你的无能而处以电刑。这些都是有用的工作，它们涉及到人们都必须尊重的技能，它们会给你带来基本的满足。不管你做什么，它们可能是你养家糊口的本领。它们会给你带来收入，但愿你的收入总能够用。”

词汇释义

1.pharmacist n.制药者；药商；药剂师

例句：

A pharmacist compounds drugs from prescribed ingredients.
药剂师把处方的各种成分配制成药品。

2.grind vt.磨[碾]碎；磨快[光]; 磨成粉

例句：

Grind wheat into flour.
把小麦磨成面粉

3.certify vt.证明；证明合格; 授给执照

例句：

Ask the manager to certify this check.
请银行经理来确认这张支票。

4.average out v.达到平均数, 最终得到平衡

例句：

Months of high and low sales average out over the year.
销售额高低不同的月份按全年统算达到一般水平。

5.see to v.负责, 注意

例句：

Will you see to the children?

你可以照看下孩子们吗？

难句解析

1.Part of the student body was a beanpole with hair on top who came into my class, sat down, folded his arms, and looked at me as if to say "All right, teach me something."

【难句释义】One of the students who was thin and tall, entered my class, sat down, folded his arms, and looked at me as if to say "All right, teach me something."

【难句解析】beanpole 本指“种豆角时用的长竹竿”，此处表明了作者对学生的印象之糟糕，同时，这名学生的举止也激怒了作者。“body”意为“一群（人），团体，机关”，“the student body”此处指“全体学生”。

2....and may it always suffice.

【难句释义】...I hope your income will always be enough.

【难句解析】这里是虚拟语气，如：May you a smooth journey!