What Makes a Teacher?
2010-03-17 21:23阅读：
本文原载于教育部优秀免检期刊《英语知识》杂志2006年第9期，发表时有所删节，此处是投稿时全文，请博友批评！
What makes a Teacher？
By John Steinbeck
赵继光 译析
【作者简介】约翰·斯坦贝克（John Steinbeck
1902——1968），美国小说家。1920-1925就读于斯坦福大学并专修英国文学。其最好的作品是《愤怒的葡萄》（1939），描写了
30年代被剥夺了土地的俄克拉荷马农民的处境。1962年获诺贝尔文学奖。
【作品分析】我们都曾经有过许多老师，但我们是否都像斯坦贝克那样幸运？要知道良师就像大艺术家一样可遇而不可求。斯坦贝克用纯正而优美的英语，揭示了为师之道的精髓所在。早在古希腊和古罗马时代，曾先后出现了苏格拉底（Socrates,公元前469-前399）、柏拉图、亚里士多德和昆体良等著名思想家。苏格拉底强调完善人格的道德教育，并在讲学中采用启发式教学方法——“产婆术”，至今还具有实践指导意义。人类文明的真谛不会因为语言和种族的不同而受到约束，为师之道的精髓在我国又何尝不是这样？从被誉为中国现代圣人的前北大校长胡适（1946-1948）的感叹：“校园里，最幸福的便是对自己的职业感兴趣的老师和对学习感兴趣的同学”。到前北京师范大学校长（1952-1971）陈垣所提倡的“启发式教学”。我们不难发现良师们的共同之处是：他们全都热爱自己的工作；他们并不灌输知识，而是激起学生求知的欲望，教会学生如何去发现。他们用思想和精神，把教书变成了一门伟大的艺术。良师是照亮黑暗的一盏明灯，拥有良师是人生最大的幸福之一。愿所有的老师都变成良师，愿所有的学生都遇见良师。
【作品原文】 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 ending 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
[1]，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[2]a burning desire to know.
Under their influence，the horizons sprung wide and fear went away
and the unknown became knowable . But the 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，bookwaving
discussions．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 [3]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．She left her signature on us，the literature of the teacher
who writes on minds. I have had many teachers who told me soon
forgotten backs[4] but only three who
created in me a new thing，a new attitude and a new hunger．I
suppose that to a large extent I am the unsigned manuscript of the
high school teacher. What deathless power lies in the hands of such
a person. I can tell my son who looks forward with horror to
fifteen years of drudgery that somewhere in the dusty dark a magic
may happen that will light up the years . . . if he is very
lucky.
【作品译文】
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富有创造力的写作教授；最后一位是我的朋友，同时又是我的搭档爱德华·理克茨。
我坚信一位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，而是变得奇妙而珍贵了。
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。我做不出简单的数学题，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。她给我们签了名，她的留言深深地铭印在我们心中,
我有很多位教过我的老师,却只有三位使我萌生新的东西、新的态度和新的渴望，其他老师教的东西很快就忘了。我想自己在很大程度上就是那位中学老师未署名的手稿。这样一个人的手里蕴藏着多么不朽的力量啊！我可以告诉害怕即将承受15年单调乏味的寒窗之苦的儿子，如果他很幸运的话，在黑暗的某处，可能会出现一个奇迹（一位杰出的教师），将会照亮他以后的岁月……
英语原文出处：
李广良, 2000,《名人英语随笔》［C］, 北京: 中国对外经济贸易出版社.P:117-119.
[1] Stanford，斯坦福大学，系美国名牌大学之一，在加州。
[2] catalyzed，催化，此处转义为激发。
[3] breath，呼吸，此处转义为注人、灌输。
[4] soon－forgotten backs，意思为过去教过的旧课程。
