首页 > 其他分享> > 现代大学英语精读第二版（第二册）学习笔记（原文及全文翻译）——1B - Unforgettable Miss Bessie（令人难忘的贝茜老师）

现代大学英语精读第二版（第二册）学习笔记（原文及全文翻译）——1B - Unforgettable Miss Bessie（令人难忘的贝茜老师）

2021-10-09 14:57:57 作者：互联网

Unit 1B - Unforgettable Miss Bessie

Unforgettable Miss Bessie

Carl T. Rowan

She was only about five feet tall and probably never weighed more than 110 pounds,

but Miss Bessie was a towering presence in the classroom.

She was the only woman tough enough to make me read Beowulf and think for a few foolish days that I liked it.

From 1938 to 1942, when I attended Bernard High School in McMinnville, Tenn.,

she taught me English, history, civics—and a lot more than I realized.

I shall never forget the day she scolded me into reading Beowulf.

"But Miss Bessie," I complained, "I ain't much interested in it."

"Boy," she said, "how dare you say 'ain't' to me! I've taught you better than that."

"Miss Bessie," I pleaded,

"On the football team, if I go around saying '"it isn't' and 'they aren't,' the guys are gonna laugh me off the team."

"Boy," she responded, "you'll play football because you have guts.

But do you know what really takes guts?

Refusing to lower your standards to those of the crowd.

It takes guts to say you've got to live and be somebody fifty years after all the football games are over."

I started saying "it isn't" and "they aren't," and I still did well on the team—and became top of the class—without losing my buddies' respect.

During her remarkable 44-year career, Mrs. Bessie Taylor Gwynn taught hundreds of economically deprived black youngsters—including my mother, my brother, my sisters and me. I remember her now with gratitude and affection—especially in this era when Americans are so upset about a "rising tide of mediocrity" in public education and the problems of finding competent, caring teachers. Miss Bessie was an example of an informed, dedicated teacher, a blessing to children and an asset to the nation.

Born in 1895, in poverty, she grew up in Athens, Ala., where there was no public school for blacks. She attended Trinity School, a private institution for blacks run by the American Missionary Association, and in 1911 graduated from the Normal School at Fisk University in Nashville. Mrs. Gwynn, never talked about her years in Athens; only in the months before her death did she reveal that she had never attended Fisk University itself because she could not afford the four-year course. At Normal School she learned a lot about Shakespeare, but most of all about the profound importance of education—especially, for a people trying to move up from slavery. "What you put in your head, boy," she once said, "can never be pulled out by the Ku Klux Klan, the congress or anybody."

Miss Bessie's bearing of dignity told anyone who met her that she was "educated" in the best sense of the word. There was never a discipline problem in her classes. We didn't dare mess with a woman who knew about the Battle of Hastings, the Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights—and who could also play the piano.

This frail-looking woman could make sense of Shakespeare, Milton, Voltaire, and bring to life Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. DuBois. Believing that it was important to know who the officials were that spent taxpayers' money and made public policy, she made us memorize the names of everyone on the Supreme Court and in the President's Cabinet. It could be embarrassing to be unprepared when Miss Bessie said, "Get up and tell the class who Frances Perkins is and what you think about her.

Miss Bessie knew that my family, like so many others during the Depression, couldn't afford to subscribe to a newspaper. She knew we didn't even own a radio. Still, she prodded me to "look out for your future and find some way to keep up with what's going on in the world." So I became a delivery boy for the Chattanooga Times. I rarely made a dollar a week, but I got to read a newspaper every day.

Miss Bessie noticed things that had nothing to do with schoolwork, but were vital to a youngster's development. Once a few classmates made fun of my old worn-out overcoat. As I was leaving school, Miss Bessie patted me on the back of that old overcoat and said, "Carl, never worry about what you don't have. Just make the most of what you do have—a brain."

Among the things that I did not have was electricity in the little house that my father had built for $400 with his World War I bonus. But because of her inspiration, I spent many hours beside a kerosene lamp reading Shakespeare and other famous writers.

No one in my family had ever graduated from high school, so there was no tradition of commitment to learning for me to lean on. Like millions of youngsters in today's ghettos, I needed the push and stimulation of a teacher who truly cared. Miss Bessie gave plenty of both, as she immersed me in a wonderful world of simile and metaphors. She led me to believe that I could write sonnets as well as Shakespeare, or verse to put Alexander Pope to shame.

In those days the McMinnville school system was rigidly "Jim Crow," and poor black children had to struggle to put anything in their heads. Our high School was only slightly larger than the once-typical little red schoolhouse, and its library was outrageously inadequate—so small, I like to say that if two students were in it and one wanted to turn a page, the other one had to step outside.

Negroes, as we were called then, were not allowed in the town library, except to mop floors or dust tables. But through one of those secret Old South arrangements between whites of conscience and blacks of stature, Miss Bessie kept getting books smuggled out of the white library. That is how she introduced me to the Brontes, Byron, Coleridge, Keats and Tennyson. "If you don't read, you can't write, and if you can't write, you might as well stop dreaming," Miss Bessie once told me.

So I read whatever Miss Bessie told me to, and tried to remember the things she insisted that I store away. Forty-five years later, I can still recite her "truths to live by," such as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's lines from "The Ladder of St. Augustine":

The heights by great men reached and kept

Were not attained by sudden flights.

But they, while their companions slept,

Were toiling upward in the night.

Years later, her inspiration, urging, anger, and persuasion and passion for learning finally led to that lovely day when Miss Bessie dropped me a note saying, "I’m so proud to read your column in the Nashville Tennessean.”

Miss Bessie was 80 when I went back to McMinnville and visited her in a senior citizens' apartment building. Pointing out proudly that her building was racially integrated, she reached for two glasses and a pint of bourbon. I was momentarily shocked, because it would have been scandalous in the 1930s and ’40s for word to get out that a teacher drank, and nobody had ever raised a rumor that Miss Bessie did.

I felt a new sense of equality as she lifted her glass to mine. Then she revealed a softness and compassion that I had never known as student.

"I've never forgotten that examination day," she said, "when Buster Martin held up seven fingers, obviously asking you for help with question number seven. 'Name a common carrier.’ I can still picture you looking at your exam paper and humming a few bars of "Chattanooga Choo Choo." I was so amused, I couldn't punish either of you."

Miss Bessie was telling me that I had never fooled her for a moment.

When Miss Bessie died in 1980, at age 85, hundreds of her former students mourned. They knew the measure of a great teacher, love and motivation. Her wisdom and influence had spread across generations.

Some of her students who might normally have been doomed to poverty went on to become doctors, dentists and college professors. Many, guided by Miss Bessie's example, became public- school teachers.

"The memory of Miss Bessie and how she conducted her classroom did more for me than anything I learned in college," recalls Gladys Wood of Knoxville, Tenn., a highly respected English teacher who spent 43 years in the state's school system. "So many times, when I faced a difficult classroom problem, I asked myself, How would Miss Bessie deal with this? And I'd remember that she would handle it with laughter and love."

No child can get all the necessary support at home, and millions of poor children get no support at all. This is what makes a wise, educated, warm-hearted teacher like Miss Bessie so vital to the minds, hearts and souls of this country's children.

参考译文——令人难忘的贝茜老师

令人难忘的贝茜老师

卡尔·T. 罗恩

贝茜老师只有五英尺高，体重可能从来没有超过110镑，

但她却是我们班里举足轻重的人物。

她是唯一一位严格到能让我读《贝奥武甫》的老师。而且有那么几天，我还真傻乎乎地认为我喜欢这部史诗。

从1938年到1942年我在田纳西州麦克明维尔市的伯纳德高中就读期间，

贝茜老师教过我英语、历史、公民学，并且远远不止这些。

我永远忘不了她责备我，并让我读《贝奥武甫》的那一天。

“贝茜老师，我对它并不感兴趣，”我抱怨道。

她说：“小伙子，你怎么敢在我面前说ain’t？我教过你该怎么说。”

“贝茜老师，”我争辩道，

“在足球队里如果我说it isn't或they aren't，那帮人会笑话我，会把我赶出足球队的。”

她回答说：“小伙子，你参加足球队是因为你有勇气。

你知道真正需要勇气的是什么吗？

不愿把自己的标准降低到和那帮人一样。

在所有的足球比赛都结束了的50年之后，你要成为一个大人物，要出人头地生活50年，说出这样的话需要勇气。”

于是我开始说it isn't和they aren't，结果我照样在队里表现很好——并且成了班里的尖子生——且没有失去伙伴们对我的尊重。

贝茜·泰勒格温老师在她44年辉煌的职业生涯中，教了数百个贫困的黑人青年学生——这其中就包括我的妈妈、哥哥、姐姐和我。如今我满怀感激和热爱之情地怀念她——尤其是在当今这个时代，国人对公共教育日益平庸化，对找不到称职、充满爱心的老师等问题深感困扰的时候。贝茜老师是一位知识渊博、致力于教育事业的老师，是学生的福音、国家的财富。

贝茜老师于1895年出生在一个贫困家庭，在亚拉巴马州的阿森斯长大。那里没有供黑人上学的公立学校。她上的是一所由美国教友协会开办的私立学校——三一学堂，并于1911年毕业于位于那什维尔的菲斯克大学附属师范学院。格温老师从没谈过她在阿森斯的生活。直到去世前的几个月她才说起，由于当时交不起四年的学费，她从来没上过菲斯克大学。

在师范学院的时候，贝茜老师读了很多莎士比亚的作品，但更重要的是她认识到教育的深远意义——尤其对于一个想摆脱奴役的民族极其重要。她曾经说过：“你学过的知识，一旦记在脑海里，就永远不会被那些三K党、国会或任何其他人掠夺走。”

贝茜小姐端庄的举止让所有认识她的人都觉得她是受过最好教育的人。在她的课堂上从来没有人捣乱。我们都不敢给一个既了解黑斯廷斯战役、大宪章和《权利法案》，又会弹钢琴的人惹麻烦。

这位看似弱不禁风的女人竟然能读懂莎士比亚、弥尔顿和伏尔泰的作品，并且把布克·T. 华盛顿和W. E. B.杜波伊斯讲述得栩栩如生。她认为记住那些花纳税人的钱并制定国家政策的官员的名字是非常重要的，因此她让我们记住最高法院和总统内阁全体成员的名字。要是贝茜老师说：“站起来，告诉大家谁是弗朗西斯·珀金斯，并谈一下你对她的看法”，而你对此毫无准备，那就太丢脸了。

贝茜老师知道，像很多在美国经济大萧条时期的家庭一样，我家订不起报纸。她也知道我们甚至连一台收音机也没有。但是她仍然督促我让我“放眼未来，并想办法与时倶进”。于是我成了查塔努加《泰晤士报》的一名报童。尽管我一周挣不到一美元，但是我每天都有报纸读。

贝茜老师会注意到一些跟学习无关但对青少年的发展至关重要的东西。一次几个同学拿我的一件破旧的大衣开玩笑。放学的时候，贝茜老师轻轻地拍拍我的背说：“卡尔，永远不要为你没有的东西而烦恼，好好利用你所拥有的东西，那就是你的大脑。”

我所没有的东西还有电。我们家住的那个小木屋是我爸爸用他那400美元的一战退伍军人补助金建起来的。但是由于贝茜老师的鼓励，我每天会花好几个小时在煤油灯前读莎士比亚和其他著名作家的作品。

在我家里没有人上过高中，因此家中没有用功读书的先例供我学习。像今天贫民区成千上万的孩子一样，我需要从真正关心我的老师那里得到动力和鼓励。当贝茜老师引导我沉浸在精彩的诗歌的海洋里时，这两样我都得到了。她让我相信我也能像莎士比亚一样写出好的十四行诗，能写出让亚历山大·蒲柏都自愧不如的韵文。

那时候麦克明维尔所有的学校对黑人学生实行种族歧视，贫穷的黑人学生要想学到一点东西就得发奋努力。我们的高中只比原先比较流行的红校舍稍微大一些，而图书馆更是严重不合格，它是如此之小，可以说，如果有两个学生同时在里面看书，一个学生要想翻页，另一个学生必须出去才能给他腾出空间。

那时候我们这些黑人（人们叫我们“黑鬼”）是不准进市图书馆的，除非是去擦桌子、拖地。但是贝茜老师利用在南北战争前有良知的白人和有影响力的黑人所达成的某种秘密协议，设法不断地将图书从白人图书馆里偷运出来。正是通过这种方法，贝茜老师让我接触了勃朗特、拜伦、柯尔律治、济慈和丁尼生。贝茜老师曾经告诫我：“不读书就不会写作，不会写作的话你就有可能放弃理想了。”

因此，只要是贝茜老师让我读的东西我都会去读，并且我会努力记住她让我记住的东西。45年后的今天，我仍然记着她的“生存准则”，比如说亨利·华兹华斯·朗费罗的“圣·奥古斯丁之梯”中的一段话：

伟人所能达到和保持的高度，

并不是瞬时间就能抵达的。

当同伴们都在休息时，

这些伟人却在艰难攀登。

许多年后，贝茜老师的激励和敦促、她的愤怒、她的劝诱、她对学习的热情终于迎来了一个美好的日子，那天她给我写了一封短信，上面写道：“能够在纳什维尔市的《田纳西人》上读到你写的专栏，我很为你骄傲。”

当我再次回到麦克明维尔并到老年公寓里看望贝茜老师的时候，她已经80岁了。她很骄傲地告诉我这所公寓里住着各色人种。然后她拿出了两个玻璃杯和一品脱波旁酒。我顿时愣住了，因为在二十世纪三、四十年代的时候如果老师喝酒的消息被传出去是很不体面的，而且没有人说过贝茜老师会喝酒。

当她和我碰杯时，我感受到一种前所未有的平等。当时她流露出来的温柔和怜爱是我以前作为一个学生时从来没有感受到的。

她说：“我永远不会忘记那天考试，巴斯特·马丁伸出七根手指，很明显他想问你第七个问题的答案，‘说出一种常见的运输工具’。我现在都还清楚地记得你看了看试卷，然后小声地哼起一小节‘查塔努加火车’。我被逗乐了，没有惩罚你们俩。”

贝茜老师是在告诉我我什么时候都蒙不了她。

贝茜老师1980年去世，享年85岁。她生前的很多学生都来哀悼她。从她那里他们知道了一个好老师的标准，那就是爱和激励。她的智慧和影响延续至几代人。

她的一些学生，原本也许注定穷苦一生，但后来成了医师、牙医和大学教授。还有很多人受贝茜老师的影响成了公立学校的老师。

“对贝茜老师以及对她的授课方式的记忆比在大学学到的任何东西都更有帮助。很多次当我在课堂上遇到麻烦时，我会问自己，贝茜老师会怎样解决？我就记起她都是用笑声和关爱来解决这些问题的，”格拉迪斯·伍德回忆道。她来自田纳西州诺克斯维尔市，是一名非常受人尊敬的英语老师，已从教43年。

没有孩子能够在家里得到所有必要的支持，而数百万贫穷家庭的孩子从家里根本得不到任何支持。正因为如此，像贝茜老师这样聪明、有学识、充满爱心的老师对我国孩子智力和心灵的发展就显得尤为重要。

Key Words:

Towering ['tauəriŋ]

adj. 高耸的，激烈的，杰出的动词tower的现在分

presence ['prezns]

n. 出席，到场，存在

competent ['kɔmpitənt]

adj. 有能力的，胜任的，足够的

institution [.insti'tju:ʃən]

n. 机构，制度，创立

gratitude ['grætitju:d]

n. 感恩之心

mediocrity [.mi:di'ɔkriti]

n. 平常，平庸之才

dedicated ['dedi.keitid]

adj. 专注的，献身的，专用的

remarkable [ri'mɑ:kəbl]

adj. 显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

affection [ə'fekʃən]

n. 慈爱，喜爱，感情，影响

blessing ['blesiŋ]

n. 祝福，祷告

poverty ['pɔvəti]

n. 贫困，贫乏

association [ə.səusi'eiʃən]

n. 联合，结合，交往，协会，社团，联想

dignity ['digniti]

n. 尊严，高贵，端庄

cabinet ['kæbinit]

n. 橱柜，内阁

adj. 私人的

discipline ['disiplin]

n. 训练，纪律，惩罚，学科

vt. 训练，惩

profound [prə'faund]

adj. 深奥的，深邃的，意义深远的

supreme [sju:'pri:m]

adj. 最高的，至上的，极度的

commitment [kə'mitmənt]

n. 承诺，保证; 确定，实行

bonus ['bəunəs]

n. 奖金，红利

verse [və:s]

n. 诗，韵文，诗节

vi. 作诗

inspiration [.inspə'reiʃən]

n. 灵感，吸入，鼓舞人心(的东西)

vital ['vaitl]

adj. 至关重要的，生死攸关的，有活力的，致命的

delivery [di'livəri]

n. 递送，交付，分娩

stimulation [.stimju'leiʃən]

n. 刺激，激励，鼓舞

depression [di'preʃən]

n. 沮丧，萧条

inadequate [in'ædikwit]

adj. 不充分的，不适当的

ladder ['lædə]

n. 梯子，阶梯，梯状物

n. （袜子）

recite [ri'sait]

vt. 背诵，逐一例举，叙述或回答问题

conscience ['kɔnʃəns]

n. 良心，责任心，顾忌

slightly ['slaitli]

adv. 些微地，苗条地

except [ik'sept]

vt. 除，除外

inspiration [.inspə'reiʃən]

n. 灵感，吸入，鼓舞人心(的东西)

rumor ['ru:mə]

n. 谣言，传闻

vt. 谣传

persuasion [pə(:)'sweiʒən]

n. 说服，劝说，信念

senior ['si:njə]

adj. 年长的，高级的，资深的，地位较高的

compassion [kəm'pæʃən]

n. 同情，怜悯

column ['kɔləm]

n. 柱，圆柱，柱形物，专栏，栏，列

passion ['pæʃən]

n. 激情，酷爱

amused [ə'mju:zd]

adj. 有趣的

poverty ['pɔvəti]

n. 贫困，贫乏

handle ['hændl]

n. 柄，把手

v. 买卖，处理，操作，驾驭

vital ['vaitl]

adj. 至关重要的，生死攸关的，有活力的，致命的

respected [ri'spektid]

adj. 受尊敬的 v. 尊敬；重视（respect的过

measure ['meʒə]

n. 措施，办法，量度，尺寸

v. 测量，量

doomed [dumd]

adj. 命中注定的动词doom的过去式和过去分词

spread [spred]

v. 伸展，展开，传播，散布，铺开，涂撒

参考资料：

现代大学英语精读(第2版)第二册:U1B Unforgettable Miss Bessie(7)_大学教材听力 - 可可英语

标签：精读,was,贝茜,she,第二册,Bessie,老师,Miss
来源： https://blog.csdn.net/hpdlzu80100/article/details/120671185