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Lesson27 Learning.
第27課學(xué)習(xí)。
The attitude toward writing that these students have developed is well illustrated by a story told by the Russian writer Chekhov about a kitten that was given to his uncle. The uncle wanted to make the kitten a champion killer of mice, so while it was still very young, he showed it a live mouse in a cage.
俄羅斯作家契訶夫所講述的關(guān)于一只送給他叔叔的小貓的故事很好地闡明了這些學(xué)生對(duì)寫作的態(tài)度。叔叔想要把這只小貓訓(xùn)練成一只超級(jí)老鼠殺手。所以在貓還很小的時(shí)候，叔叔就向它展示一只關(guān)在籠子里的活老鼠。
Since the kitten's hunting instinct had not yet developed, it examined the mouse curiously but without any hostility. The uncle wanted to teach it that such fraternizing with the enemy was wrong, so he slapped the kitten, scolded it and sent it away in disgrace.
小貓的捕殺本能還沒有發(fā)展起來，它只是好奇地打量著這只老鼠，沒有一絲敵意。叔叔想要讓它知道，對(duì)敵人這么友好是錯(cuò)的，于是就打了小貓一巴掌，訓(xùn)了它一頓，打發(fā)它灰溜溜地走了。
The next day the same mouse was shown to the kitten again. This time the kitten regarded it rather fearfully but without any aggressive intent. Again the uncle slapped it, scolded it and sent it away. This treatment went on day after day. After sometimes, as soon as the kitten saw or smelled that mouse, it screamed and tried to climb up the walls. At that point the uncle lost patience and gave the kitten away, saying that it was stupid and would never learn.
第二天，叔叔又把這只老鼠拿來展示給小貓。這一次，小貓有點(diǎn)膽怯地注視著老鼠，但是還是沒有任何攻擊的企圖。于是叔叔又打了它一巴掌，罵了它幾句，讓它到一邊去了。這樣的情形天天如此，持續(xù)了好些天。過了一段時(shí)間，小貓一看到這只老鼠或者聞到它的味道，就會(huì)尖叫一聲，想要朝墻上爬。到這時(shí)，叔叔再也忍受不下去了，就把小貓送人了，還說這只貓?zhí)苛耍恢缹W(xué)習(xí)。
Of course the kitten had learned perfectly, and had learned exactly what it had been taught, but unfortunately not what the uncle intended to teach. "I can sympathize with that kitten," says Chekhov, "because that same uncle tried to teach me Latin."
當(dāng)然，這只貓學(xué)得非常好，它學(xué)到了叔叔教給它的東西，然而遺憾的是，這不是叔叔想要教的。“我很同情這只貓，”契訶夫說，“因?yàn)檎沁@位叔叔試圖要教我學(xué)拉丁語。”
