美语情景对话 第223期:Bad Students 坏学生

Todd: Norm, you said that you used to teach computers!

托德：诺曼，你说过你曾经教过计算机！

Norman: Yes! I did at the elementary school back in Canada.

诺曼：没错！我在加拿大的小学教过计算机。

Todd: And what was that like? Like how did you actually teach computers.

托德：那怎么样？你是怎么教计算机的。

Norman: Actually, I initiated a computer project. We were placed behind the gym, in the storage area. At the time we didn't have the state of the art computer labs. It was just starting in the eighties, it was like pioneering in the school.

诺曼：实际上，我启动了电脑计划。我们被安排在体育馆后面的储物区。那时我们没有最先进的计算机实验室。在80年代，计算机只是刚刚起步，有点像学校的先锋。

Todd: Oh, OK, well was it pretty easy to do?

托德：哦，那是不是很简单？

Norman: Ah, it was kind of difficult because being in the gym, when the students would play basketball, the basketballs would bounce against the, it was just a wooden door, and the students wouldn't be able to hear me and it was kind of difficult as well to see the whole class as there was a wall that was separating my class, so I could see only half the class at a time.

诺曼：嗯，有点难度，因为是在体育馆里面，那只有一扇木头门，学生在打篮球的时候，会有篮球弹跳的声音，而学生们就会听不清我讲的内容，还有就是我不能完全看到班里的学生，这也有困难，因为有一面墙把我的班级隔开了，所以我一次只能看到半个班的学生。

Todd: You could only see half the class and you were teaching computers!

托德：你只能看到半个班的学生，你还在教计算机！

Norman: That's right! That's right, and so I would have two boards. One board at one end where I would teach the lesson to half the half the class, and then I'd walk over to the other end and do the same thing.

诺曼：没错！是这样的，所以我有两块黑板。一块黑板放在教室这边，我给班里一半的学生讲授课程，然后我会走到另一边的黑板，给另一半学生讲同样的内容。

Todd: Oh, man that must have been a nightmare!

托德：哦，那一定是个噩梦！

Norman: It was. It was, because I could never see what the other half was doing in my absence.

诺曼：的确是。那真是噩梦，因为我不在的时候我根本不知道那半边学生在干什么。

Todd: So did they ever doing anything bad to get in trouble!

托德：那他们是不是会做一些坏事而惹上麻烦？

Norman: Oh, yes, they were, they were. I can remember one instance when one student calls me over and he said, "Mr. Groussier, I have Water in my external drive. At the time you used floppy disks and put them in the external drive. I said, "Water, oh no. There's no water!" So, I went over and I tried to insert the floppy disk, and it just wouldn't, there seemed to be something blocking the floppy disk from going in so I peak in and sure enough I see that it's stuffed with watermelon. So, hence, that external disk drive was useless from then on.

诺曼：对，他们曾经做过。我记得有一次，一名学生叫我过去，他说，“格罗西尔先生，我把水弄在外置驱动器上了。就在你用软盘，并把它们放进外部驱动器的时候。”我说，“水，没有水啊！”于是，我过去试图插入软盘，可是就是无法插入，似乎有什么东西阻挡了软盘，于是我看了一下，当然我看到了上面全是西瓜汁。所以，从那以后，那个外置硬盘驱动器就没法用了。

Todd: Wow, so how many years did you teach computers.

托德：哇，你教了几年的计算机？

Norman: Well, in that particular lab only one year and after that we moved to a full-fledged lab and I taught computer to my own class which meant once a week, a formal computer teaching and then we would go to the lab for other reasons like doing some research projects.

诺曼：嗯，在那个实验室只教了一年，之后我们搬到了一个成熟的实验室，我一周上一堂计算机课，一堂正规的计算机教学，之后我们会因为其他事情去实验室，比如做一些研究项目。

Todd: Oh, Wow. Did you like it, teaching computers?

托德：哦，哇。你喜欢教计算机吗？

Norman: In the computer lab, yes, because it was really well equipped with apple computers and printers and we had so many programs that students could use and do some really nice projects or nice cover pages, we had color printers and very efficient printers as well, so it was wonderful.

诺曼：喜欢在计算机实验室里教课，当然了，因为那里配有苹果电脑和打印机，我们有许多项目，学生们可以用这些设备进行真正好的项目，或是做出漂亮的封面，我们有彩色打印机，当然也有高效的打印机，那非常棒。

重点讲解：
1. state-of-the-art
使用最先进技术的；体现最高水平的；
eg. The system was state of the art.
这一系统是当时最先进的。
eg. This machine is one of the best examples of state-of-the-art technology.
这台机器是先进科技的最佳范例之一。
2. in one's absence
不在；缺席；
eg. We should not speak evil of a man in his absence.
我们不应该在背后说别人的坏话。
eg. They're the ones who are missed so terribly that everything falls apart in their absence.
他们是我们深深想念的人，他们不在时一切都变得不完整。
3. in trouble
处于困境；惹麻烦；将受惩罚；
eg. He was in trouble with his teachers.
老师们都想好好教训他。
eg. The person who loaned them to me got into terrible trouble for it.
把那笔钱借给我的那个人因此倒霉了。
4. be stuffed with
填满…，塞满…；
eg. His mouth was stuffed with food.
他的嘴里被食物塞得满满的。
eg. The staff's chests are stuffed with sufficient suffering.
职员们的胸中填满了足够的痛苦。
5. full-fledged
羽翼丰满的；完全成熟的；
eg. Hungary is to have a full-fledged Stock Exchange from today.
匈牙利从今天起将拥有一个完全成熟的证券交易所。
eg. The book was a full-fledged study of American history.
这是本很完备的美国历史书。