213.The superficial superintendent
第213课 肤浅的校长

The superficial qualities of the superintendent of the school led many to question his suitability for the job.
这所学校的校长资质肤浅，令很多人对他能否胜任工作提出质疑。
Most couldn't wait for a new supervisor to supersede him.
大多数人迫不及待地希望有个新的校长取代他。
He acted so superior and thought he possessed superb good looks.
他举止傲慢，认为自己拥有第一流的长相。
He would lay out in the sunlight in order to get a tan.
他经常躺在阳光下晒皮肤以使肤色变深，
But the joke was on him, because his sunburn would be so bad that he looked like an evil, supernatural being.
但弄巧成拙，他的晒斑往往太严重，使他看上去像个邪恶的精灵。
He was superbly unknowledgeable, reaching unseen summits of ignorance,
他的知识极为贫乏，无知到了极点，
but because he had powers of supervision over young students,
但是因为他有管理年轻学生的权力，
he thought he could get away with supplanting truth with lies.
他觉得自己可以用谎言代替真相。
He claimed he had a beautiful sunlit in Beverly Hills.
他声称自己在贝弗利山庄拥有一套充满阳光的漂亮房子。
He would pack his suitcase and go across the country every weekend to stay there.
他会在每个周末打点手提箱，穿过乡村去那里小住。
"I eat the most sumptuous food in Beverly Hills restaurants," he claimed.
“我在贝弗利山庄的饭店里吃最丰盛的饭菜，”他说。
While chatting about history, he even tried to claim that an ancestor of his invented the sundial!
在闲聊历史的时候，他甚至宣称他的一个祖先发明了日晷！
Sometimes the stories would border on the absolutely fantastic.
有时他的说法简直荒唐可笑。
He once told the students that he could hover in the middle of the air when on one was looking.
他曾告诉学生，没人在场时，他可以在空中飞旋。
He also claimed to be able to summon dead spirits.
他还说自己可以召唤亡灵。
Did he think the students were believers in superstition?
他认为学生们信迷信吗？
It seemed he needed a psychiatrist to closely supervise his activities.
似乎他需要有位精神病医生来密切监督他的行为。
On one occasion, the students paid one to listen to the superintendent's rants.
有一次，学生们雇了一位医生来听这位校长的夸夸其谈。
"What I see," the doctor said afterward, "is a very sullen man. He actually has a very supple mind.
“我所看到的，”后来这位医生说，“是个郁郁寡欢的人。
He suffers from an overly strong desire to make his agile mind public knowledge.
实际上他头脑灵活。他有一种过分强烈的欲望，要让大家知道他头脑灵活。
This desire is supplemented by a fear of dying as an unknown."
这种欲望被死于默默无闻的担心所取代。”
Whatever the situation, the superintendent remained as he always had been.
不管怎样，这位校长依然故我。