UnitWhy I Teach課文翻譯大學英語三

1、Unit 3 Why I TeachPeter G. BeidlerEvery teacher probably asks himself time and again: What are the reasons for choosing teaching as a career? Do the rewards teaching outweigh the trying comments? Answering these questions is not a simple task. Let's see what the author says. Why do you teach? My

2、 friend asked the question when I told him that I didn't want to be considered for an administrative position. He was puzzled that I did not want what was obviously a "step up" toward what all Americans are taught to want when they grow up: money and power.Certainly I don't teach b

3、ecause teaching is easy for me. Teaching is the most difficult of the various ways I have attempted to earn my living: mechanic, carpenter, writer. For me, teaching is a red-eye, sweaty-palm, sinking-stomach profession. Red-eye, because I never feel ready to teach no matter how late I stay up prepar

4、ing. Sweaty-palm, because I'm always nervous before I enter the classroom, sure that I will be found out for the fool that I am. Sinking-stomach, because I leave the classroom an hour later convinced that I was even more boring than usual.Nor do I teach because I think I know answers, or because

5、 I have knowledge I feel compelled to share. Sometimes I am amazed that my students actually take notes on what I say in class!Why, then, do I teach?I teach because I like the pace of the academic calendar. June, July, and August offer an opportunity for reflection, research and writing. I teach bec

6、ause teaching is a profession built on change. When the material is the same, I change and, more important, my students change.I teach because I like the freedom to make my own mistakes, to learn my own lessons, to stimulate myself and my students. As a teacher, I'm my own boss. If I want my fre

7、shmen to learn to write by creating their own textbook, who is to say I can't? Such courses may be huge failures, but we can all learn from failures.I teach because I like to ask questions that students must struggle to answer. The world is full of right answers to bad questions. While teaching,

8、 I sometimes find good questions.I teach because I enjoy finding ways of getting myself and my students out of the ivory tower and into the real world. I once taught a course called "Self-Reliance in a Technological Society." My 15 students read Emerson, Thoreau, and Huxley. They kept diar

9、ies. They wrote term papers.But we also set up a corporation, borrowed money, purchased a run-down house and practiced self-reliance by renovating it. At the end of the semester, we would the house, repaid our loan, paid or taxes, and distributed the profits among the group.So teaching gives me pace

10、, and variety, and challenge, and the opportunity to keep on learning.I have left out, however, the most important reasons why I teach. One is Vicky. My first doctoral student, Vicky was an energetic student who labored at her dissertation on a little-known 14th century poet. She wrote articles and

11、sent them off to learned journals. She did it all herself, with an occasional nudge from me. But I was there when she finished her dissertation, learned that her articles were accepted, got a job and won a fellowship to Harvard working on a book developing ideas she'd first had as my student.Ano

12、ther reason is George, who started as an engineering student, then switched to English because he decided he liked people better than things.There is Jeanne, who left college, but was brought back by her classmates because they wanted her to see the end of the self-reliance house project. I was here

13、 when she came back. I was there when she told me that she later became interested in the urban poor and went on to become a civil rights lawyer.There is Jacqui, a cleaning woman who knows more by intuition than most of us learn by analysis. Jacqui has decided to finish high school and go to college

14、.These are the real reasons I teach, these people who grow and change in front of me. Being a teacher is being present at the creation, when the clay begins to breathe.A "promotion" out of teaching would give me money and power. But I have money. I get paid to do what I enjoy: reading, tal

15、king with people, and asking question like, "What is the point of being rich?"And I have power. I have the power to nudge, to fan sparks, to suggest books, to point out a pathway. What other power matters?But teaching offers something besides money and power: it offers love. Not only the l

16、ove of learning and of books and ideas, but also the love that a teacher feels for that rare student who walks into a teacher's life and begins to breathe. Perhaps love is the wrong word: magic might be better.I teach because, being around people who are beginning to breathe, I occasionally find

17、 myself catching my breath with them.我為何教書你為什么教書呢？當我告訴我的朋友我不想做任何行政職務時，他向我提出了這個問題。他感到大惑不解的是，為什么所有的美國人受到的教育都是長大后追求金錢和權利，而不是想要明明是通往這個目標的一個“階梯”性的工作當然，我教書并不是應為教書對我而言很容易。我曾做過多種工作來賺錢謀生，如做機修工，木工，作家，而教書是其中最難的。對我來說教書是一件令人眼睛紅腫，掌心出汗，精神沮喪的職業(yè)。眼睛紅腫是因為無論我備課到多晚從未覺得胸有成竹。掌心出汗是因為在走進教室之前，我總是非常緊張，學生們肯定會發(fā)現(xiàn)我原來是個笨蛋。精神沮喪是因為我

18、一個小時后我走出教室時總會覺得這節(jié)課比平常更加枯燥無味。我教書也不是因為我認為自己能夠解答問題，或因為我覺得自己有非與人分享不可的知識。又使我感到驚愕不已，因為學生竟真的把我課堂上講的東西做了筆記。那么我為什么還要教書呢？我教書，是因為我喜歡教學日歷的節(jié)奏。六月，七月，八月提供了思索，研究和寫作的機會。我教書，是因為教書是一種以變化為基礎的職業(yè)。當教材不變時，我在變-更重要的是我的學生在變。我教書，是因為我喜歡自由，我又犯錯誤的自由，吸取教訓的自由，激勵自己，激勵學生的自由。作為教師，我是自己的老板。如果我讓一年級的學生通過自己編寫課本的方式學習寫作，誰會干涉我呢？這樣的課程也許會徹底失敗，但

19、我們都可以從失敗中學習到很多東西。 我教書，是因為我喜歡問學生一些需要絞盡腦汁才能回答的問題。這個世界充滿了拙劣問題的正確答案。而我在教學中，有時也會發(fā)現(xiàn)一些不錯的問題。我教書，是因為我喜歡找到一些是我自己和學生們走出象牙塔，步入現(xiàn)實世界的方法。我曾經(jīng)開過一門叫做“在技術社會里如何自己更生”的課程。我的十五個學生讀了愛默生，梭洛和赫胥黎的作品，他們記了日記，并寫了學期論文。 但我們也組建了一個公司，借錢買了一座破舊的房子，通過對這座房子的整修翻新，我們實踐了自力更生的這一課題。學期末，我們賣掉了房子還清了貸款，交了稅，所生的利潤大家分了。 所以教書是我的生活節(jié)奏分明豐富多彩，也向我提出了挑戰(zhàn)，給了我不斷學習的機會不過，我還沒講到我教書最重要的原因呢.其中一個原因是維基。她是我的第一個博士，是一個精力充沛的學生。他孜孜不倦地撰寫了一