9-4“我们全都是为了学习而来这儿的”

 “We’re All Here to Learn”

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.—Eleanor Roosevelt

“Sixteen,” I said. I have forgotten the math question my second? grade teacher, Joyce Cooper, asked that day, but I will never forget my answer. As soon as the number left my mouth, the whole class at Smallwood Elementary School in Norfolk, Virginia, started laughing. I felt like the stupidest person in the world.

Mrs. Cooper fixed 1 them with a stern look. Then she said, “We’re all here to learn.”

Another time, Mrs. Cooper asked us to write a report about what we hoped to do with our lives. I wrote, “I want to be a teacher like Mrs. Cooper.”

She wrote on my report, “You would make an outstanding teacher because you are determined 2 and you try hard.” I was to carry those words in my heart for the next 27 years.

After I graduated from high school in 1976, I married a wonderful man, Ben, a mechanic1. Before long, Latonya was born.

We needed every dime 32 just to get by3. College – and teaching –was out of the question.I did, howerve, wind up with4 a job in a school --as a janitor 4’s5 assistant. I cleaned 17 classrooms at Larrymore Elmentary School each day, including Mrs. Cooper’s. She had transferred to Larrymore after Smallwood closed down.

I would tell Mrs. Cooper that I still wanted to teach, and she would repeat the words she had written on my report years earlier. But bills always seemed to get in the way6.

Then one day in 1986 I thought of my dream, of how badly I wanted to help children. But to do that I needed to arrive in the mornings as a teacher -- not in the afternoons to mop up.

I talked it over with Ben and Latonya, and it was settled: I would enroll 57 at Old Dominion 6 University. For seven years I attended classes in the mornings before work. When I got home from work, I studied. On days I had no classes to attend, I worked as a teaching assistant for Mrs. Cooper.

Sometimes I wondered whether I had the strength to make it. When I got my first failing grade, I talked about quitting. My younger sister Helen refused to hear it. “You want to be a teacher,” she said. “If you stop, you’ll never reach your dream.”

Helen knew about not giving up -- she’d been fighting diabetes 7. When either of us got down, she would say, “You’re going to make it. We’re going to make it.”

In 1987, Helen, only 24, died of kidney failure related to diabetes. It was up to me to make it for both of us.

On May 8, 1993, my dream day arrived -- graduation. Getting my college degree and state teaching license 8 officially qualified 9 me to be a teacher.

I interviewed with three schools. At Coleman Place Elementary School, principal Jeanne Tomlinson said, “Your face looks so familiar.” She had worked at Larrymore more than 10 years earlier. I had cleaned her room, and she remembered me.

Still, I had no concrete offers. The call came when I had just signed my 18th contract as a janitor’s assistant. Coleman Place had a job for me teaching fifth grade.

Not long after I started, something happened that brought the past rushing back. I had written a sentence full of grammatical errors on the blackboard. Then I asked students to come and correct the mistakes.

One girl got halfway 10 through, became confused and stopped. As the other children laughed, tears rolled down her cheeks. I gave her a hug and told her to get a drink of water. Then, remembering Mrs. Cooper, I fixed the rest of the class with a firm look. “We’re all here to learn,” I said.

注释:

1. mechanic [mi5kAnik] n. 机械工，机修工

2. dime [daim] n.（美国、加拿大的）10分铸币

3. get by（勉强）过活，（勉强）对付过去

4. wind up with [口] 最后得到

5. janitor [5dVAnitE] n.（公寓、学校、办公楼等处的）照管房屋的工友

6. in the way 挡道的，妨碍人的

7. enroll [in5rEJl] vi. 加入，参加，注册，入学

“我们全都是为了学习而来这儿的”

未来属于那些相信他们的梦想是美好的人们－埃莉诺·罗斯福

我说：“16。”我已经不记得我二年级老师乔伊斯·库珀那天问的是什么算术问题，可我永远不会忘记我的回答。那数字一脱口而出，弗吉尼亚州诺福克市斯莫尔伍德小学的全班同学就开始大笑。我觉得我是世界上最愚蠢的人。

乔伊斯·库珀夫人用严厉的目光凝视着他们，然后说：“我们全都是为了学习而来这儿的。”

还有一次，库珀夫人要我们写一篇关于我们希望今后做什么的作文。我写道：“我要成为像库珀夫人那样的教师。”

她在我的作业上写道：“你会成为一个杰出的教师，因为你有决心并且非常努力。”之后的27年里，我心中一直牢牢铭记着她的这些话。

1976年我从中学毕业后，跟一个叫本的出色的男人结了婚。他是个机械师。不久，我生下了拉托尼娅。

为了维持生计，我们需要每一分钱，上大学和教书是不可能的。不过，我最后在一所学校找到一份工作——当门房的助手。我每天打扫拉里莫尔小学的17间教室，其中包括库珀夫人的教室。斯莫尔伍德小学关闭后她调到了拉里莫尔小学。

我经常对库珀夫人说我仍然想教书，而她总是重复前几年在我作业上写下的那番话。但是，各种开支的账单似乎总是在妨碍我。

1986年的一天，我想起我的梦想，想起我多么想帮助孩子们。但是，要做到这点我必须作为教师在早上来到学校，而不是下午来拖地。

我跟本和拉托尼娅商量，问题得到了解决：我上老自治领大学。7年来，上午上班前，我去上课；下班回家后，我学习。没有课的时候，我担任库珀夫人的教学助理。

有时我怀疑自己是否有获得成功的力量。第一次成绩不及格时，我谈到退学。我的妹妹海伦不想听我说这种话。“你想当老师，”她说。“要是你放弃的话，你永远也圆不了你的梦。”

海伦知道坚持的含义是什么——她一直在和糖尿病作斗争。当我们俩中间有一个情绪低落时，她就会说：“你会成功的。我们会成功的。”

1987年，只有24岁的海伦因糖尿病引发的肾衰竭去世。要由我为了我们俩去赢取成功。

1993年5月8日，是我圆梦的日子——毕业。获得大学学位和州颁发的教学许可证使我正式具备了教书的资格。

我去了三所学校面谈。在科尔曼普莱斯小学，校长珍妮·汤姆林森说：“你看起来很面熟。”10多年前她在拉里莫尔小学工作过。我打扫过她的房间，她记得我。

我仍然没有得到具体的答复。在我刚签完第18份担任门房助手的合同时，电话来了。科尔曼普莱斯小学给了我一份教5年级的工作。

就在我任教不久，发生了一件事，使过去一下子回到了眼前。我在黑板上写下一个满是语法错误的句子，然后让学生来修改错误。

一个女孩改到一半就糊涂了，她停下了笔。当其他孩子发笑时，泪水淌下她的双颊。我抱了她一下，让她喝点水。这时，我想起了库珀夫人。我以坚定的目光凝视着全班，说道：“我们全都是为了学习而来这儿的。”