What Makes a teacher为师之道

TeacherIt is customary for adults to forget how hard and dull and long school is.

成年人往往忘了当年上学多艰苦、多乏味、日子多漫长。

The learning by memory of all the basic things one must know is a most incredible and unending effort.

为了记住那些必须知道的基础知识，我们花费的气力真可谓无穷无尽，令人难以置信。

Learning to read is probably the most difficult and revolutionary thing that happens to the human brain

识字读书是人脑发生的最艰苦、变革性最大的事情，

and if you don’t believe that, watch an illiterate adult try to do it.

你若不信，就请看看成年的文盲是怎样开始识字的吧。

School is not easy and it is not for the most part very much fun,

上学不是轻松之事，大部分时光也没有什么乐趣，

but then, if you are very lucky, you may find a real teacher.

不过，要是你的运气好，也许会遇上真正的好老师。

Three real teachers in a lifetime is the very best of my luck.

我最大的幸运，就是一生中有过三位好老师。

My first was a science and math teacher in high school,

第一位是中学时教数理化的老师，

my second, a professor of creative writing at Stanford,

第二位是斯坦福大学里教写作的教授，

and my third was my friend and partner, Ed Ricketts.

第三位就是我的朋友、合作者——埃德·雷克茨。

<2>

I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist

如今，我相信一位良师就是一名伟大的艺术家，

and that there are as few as there are any other great artists.

而且良师就像伟大的艺术家一样的难得。

It might even be the greatest of the arts

教书甚至可以说是一门最伟大的艺术，

since the medium is the human mind and spirit.

因为这门艺术传播的是人的思想和精神。

My three had these things in common:

我的三位良师有如下共同之处：

they all loved what they were doing.

他们都热爱自己的工作；

They did not tell, they catalyzed a burning desire to know.

他们并不灌输知识，而是激发学生求知的欲望。

Under their influence, the horizons sprung wide and fear went away and the unknown became knowledge.

在他们的影响下，我的眼界豁然开朗，忧虑消失了，未知变成了可知。

But most important of all, the truth, that dangerous stuff, became beautiful and precious.

最为重要的是，我们所寻求的真知，不再令人望而却步，而是变得美好、珍贵了。

<3>

I shall speak only of my first teacher because in addition to the other things, she brought discovery.

我特别要说说我的第一位老师，她除了教会我们知识，也教会我们如何探求知识，

She aroused us to shouting, book-waving discussion.

她鼓励我们大声讨论，甚至可以挥舞着书本去表达，

She had the noisiest class in school and she didn’t even seem to know it.

她的课堂是全校最乱的课堂，而她对此却好像全然不知。

We could never stick to the subject.

我们从不会拘泥于一个科目上。

Our speculation ranged the world.

我们探讨的内容遍布全世界。

She breathed curiosity into us so that we brought in facts or truths

她培养我们的好奇心，让我们自己去发现事实和真理，

shielded in our hands like captured fireflies.

把它们攥在手中，像被捕捉的萤火虫一样。

<4>

She was fired and perhaps rightly so, for failing to teach fundamentals.

不过，她因未能教授我们基础知识而被解雇了，

Such things must be learned.

因为这些知识一定要学。

But she left a passion in us for the pure knowable world and she inflamed me with a curiosity which has never left.

但是，她给我们留下了对纯粹的可知世界的热情，燃起我求知的热情，这种热情前所未有。

I could not do simple arithmetic but through her I sensed that abstract mathematics was very much like music.

我虽然不会简单的算术题，但是通过她，我感到抽象的数学与音乐非常地相似。

When she was relieved, a sadness came over us but the light did not go out.

当她被解聘时，我们都很难过，但她带给我们的那片光明并没有消失。