小故事

A Math Teacher's Story
数学老师的魔法
Years ago, I was taking an algebra class over the summer, and had a teacher who liked to reminisce about his past with funny stories. He relates that he had been a math teacher in the Air Force, where it was his duty to force sleepy young recruits to stay awake for an hour of math at 8:00 in the morning in a large, warm, dimly-lit auditorium. One day, he came into the auditorium and saw his class even sleepier and less attentive than usual. He realized that something drastic would have to be done.
记得多年前，一位非常喜欢缅怀过去，满腹幽默故事的老师教了我整个夏天的代数课。一次，他讲起了从前执教的经历。他曾是空军部队的数学老师，每天早晨八点要到一个宽敞、温暖而光线昏暗的大礼堂上一个小时的课。他要让那群昏昏欲睡的新兵学生保持清醒，认真听讲。有一天，他刚走进教室就发现学生们睡眼惺忪，无精打采，比平时还糟。他意识到必须采取强有效的措施了。
Now this classroom was very old, and the blackboards, which had been nailed on to the walls with old black iron nails, had become loose over the years. As a result, these black nails jutted almost invisibly from the blackboard and this teacher kept banging his hands on them while erasing the board. He decided to put them to good use.
当时，他上课的教室十分陈旧。黑板是用黑铁钉钉在墙上的，但在使用多年后已经松动了，所以原本突出的黑铁钉现在几乎看不到了，再加上，老师边擦黑板边把钉子往里按紧，这下就更隐蔽了。他决定要好好利用这几样道具。

重点讲解

重点讲解：
1. reminisce about
追忆；回忆；叙旧；
eg. Ray and I ate our meal and reminisced about the trip.
雷和我吃着饭，回忆起那次旅行。
eg. Old friends like to reminisce about the good old days.
老朋友们总喜欢谈论那“美好的往昔”。
2. force sb. to do sth.
迫使某人做某事；
eg. The pressure of city life force him to move to the country.
都市生活的艰难迫使他迁往乡村。
eg. Their parents forced them to break up.
他们的父母强迫他们分手。
3. as a result
结果，因此；
eg. As a result of the inquiry, two students have been sent down.
调查结果，两个学生被开除了。
eg. He lost his job as a result of the dispute.
由于这次争端，他的工作丢掉了。