A Math Teacher’s “Magic”数学老师的“魔法”

Years ago， I was taking an algebra class over the summer， and had a teacher who liked to reminisce about his past with funny stories. He related that he had been a math teacher in the Air Force， where it was his duty to force sleepy young recruits to stay awake for an hour of math at 8：00 in the morning in a large， warm， dimly-lit auditorium. One day， he came into the auditorium and saw his class even sleepier and less attentive than usual. He realized that something drastic would have to be done.

几年前，我花了整整一个夏天来修代数这门课。教这课的老师总喜欢回忆以前发生的趣事。他说他曾在空军部队里教书，在那里他的工作是在早晨八点的时候，强迫一群睡意正浓的新兵在一间既温暖又灯光昏暗的大礼堂里精神百倍地上一个小时的数学课。一天，当他走进礼堂的时候，发现他的学生们比平时更加昏昏欲睡，注意力分散，于是他意识到必须做点有刺激性的事。

Now this classroom was very old， and the blackboard， which had been nailed on to the walls with old black iron nails， had become loose over the years. As a result， these black nails jutted almost invisibly from the blackboard and this teacher kept banging his hands on them while erasing the board. He decided to put them to good use.

当时，他上课的礼堂十分陈旧，黑板是用老式的黑铁钉钉在墙上的。经过这么多年，钉子已经松动了。由于钉子的颜色和黑板一样，都是黑色，即使突出来也不明显。再加上，老师边擦黑板边把钉子往里按紧，这下就更加隐蔽了。老师便打算充分利用这些钉子。

To guarantee the classs attention， he went to the front of the room， near one edge of the board. Then， clearing his throat， he drew a coat hook right near one of the protruding nails. He proceeded to hang his coat and hat on the hook that he had drawn in chalk （really on the nail， of course）. Then he went on to give that days lecture. He told us that the entire class had their eyes to the front of the room throughout the lecture. He didnt know if theyd heard a single word he'd said， but at least they looked attentive.

為了吸引全班学生的注意，他走到教室的前面，站在黑板边。接着，他清了清嗓子，在一枚突出的黑钉子旁边画了一个挂衣钩。随后，他便把自己的外套和帽子挂在那个用粉笔画的衣钩上（其实是挂在那枚钉子上），然后继续讲课。他说整整一节课全班同学都盯着教室前方。虽然不知道学生是否在用心听课，但至少他们看上去注意力集中了。

At the end of the class， the lecturer would usually leave by a small door near the blackboard， while the class would leave through the large doors at the back of the hall. When class was over that day， he took his coat and hat， erased the coat hook， and left through the small door—and was followed by the entire class， lining up to go past the blackboard to see how he'd done it.

通常，讲完课老师是从黑板边的一个小门离开，而学生走礼堂后面的大门。可那天下课后，老师取下外套和帽子，擦掉那个衣钩，从小门离开时，却发现整个班的学生都排成队跟在他后面，想走到黑板前看看老师究竟是如何做到的。

Vocabulary

algebra n.代数

reminisce v.回忆，追忆

relate v.（过去式related）叙述;讲述

recruit n.新兵

auditorium n.礼堂

attentive adj.注意的;专心的

jut v.（过去式jutted）突出，伸出

hang v.悬挂

line up（现在分词lining）站队;排队