Morrie:My Old Professor

莫里：我的老教授

Have you ever really had a teacher? One who saw you as a raw but precious thing, a jewel that, with wisdom, could be polished to a proud shine? If you are lucky enough to find your way to such teachers, you will always find your way back.

你曾真正擁有一位良師嗎？ 一位認為你雖然未加雕琢卻彌足珍貴的老師，一位 視你為珠寶，認為你充滿智慧并能打磨出驕傲光芒的老師？如果你足夠幸運能找到這樣的老師，你將總會找到回來的路。

My old professor’s death sentence came in the summer of 1994. Doctors guessed he had two years left. Morrie knew it was less. But my old professor had made a profound decision, one he began to construct the day he came out of the doctor’s office with a sword hanging over his head.0 Do I wither up and disappear, or do I make the best of my time left? He had asked himself. He would not wither. He would not be ashamed of dying. Instead, he would make death his final project, the center point of his days. Since everyone was going to die, he could be of great value, right? He could be researched. A human textbook. Study me in my slow and patient demise. Watch what happens to me. Learn with me. Morrie would walk that final bridge between life and death, and narrate the trip.

我的老教授的死亡判決是在1994年的夏天下達的。醫(yī)生估計他還有兩年的時 間，而莫里知道他的時日還要更短。但我的老教授作出了一個重大決定，這個決定 是在他頭頂懸著利劍、走出診所的那天就開始醞釀的。我就這樣枯竭下去直到消亡 嗎？還是充分利用所剩下的時間？他問自己。他不甘心枯竭而死。他絕不會因為死 亡而羞愧，相反，他要把死亡當做他最后的課題，作為他余生的主要功課。既然每 個人都有一死，他為何不能死有所值呢？他可以讓別人去研究。他可以成為一本關(guān) 于人的教科書。研究我緩慢而耐心的死亡過程，觀察在我身上發(fā)生的一切，從我這 兒學(xué)到點什么。莫里將走過最后那座連接生與死的橋梁，并講述這段旅程。

The last class of my old professor’s life had only one student. I was the student. The last class took place once a week in his house, by a window in the study where he could watch a small hibiscus plant shed its pink leaves. The class met on Tuesdays. It began after breakfast. The subject was The Meaning of Life. It was taught from experience. No grades were given, but there were oral exams each week. You were expected to respond to questions, and you were expected to pose questions of your own. You were also required to perform physical tasks now and then, such as lifting the professor’s head to a comfortable spot on the pillow or placing his glasses on the bridge of his nose. Kissing him good-bye earned you extra credit. No books were required, yet many topics were covered, including love, work, community, family, aging, forgiveness, and, finally, death.

我的老教授一生中的最后一門課只有一個學(xué)生。我就是那個學(xué)生。最后一門課 程每星期在他家里上一次，就在書房的窗前，他在那兒可以看到淡紅色的樹葉從一 棵小木槿上掉落下來。上課的時間是每個星期二，吃完早餐便開始。課的主題是生 活的意義，這是用他的親身經(jīng)歷來教授的。不打分數(shù)，但每星期都有口試。你得準 備回答問題，還得準備提出自己的問題。你還要不時干一些體力活，比如把教授的 頭在枕頭上挪動一下，或者把眼鏡架到他的鼻梁上。分別時親吻他能得到額外的 學(xué)分。課堂上不需要教材，但涉及的題目很多，包括愛情、工作、社會、家庭、衰 老、諒解，以及最后的話題——死亡。

I look back sometimes at the person I was before I rediscovered my old professor.I want to talk to that person. I want to tell him what to look out for, what mistakes to avoid. I want to tell him to be more open, to ignore the lure of advertised values, to pay attention when your loved ones are speaking，as if it were the last time you might hear them. Mostly I want to tell that person to get on an airplane and visit a gentle old man in West Newton, Massachusetts sooner rather than later, before that old man gets sick and loses his ability to dance. I know I cannot do this. None of us can undo what we’ve done, or relive a life already recorded. But if Professor Morris Schwartz taught me anything at ail, it was this: there is no such thing as “too late” in life. He was changing until the day he said good-bye.

有時，我會回想在我再次找到老教授之前的那個自己。我想和過去的自己談一 談。我想告訴他應(yīng)該追尋什么，應(yīng)該避免哪些錯誤。我想告訴他要更加寬容，要忽 視商業(yè)價值的誘惑，要注意傾聽所愛之人的言語，就仿佛這是你最后一次聽他們說 話一樣。而我最想告訴他的是：乘飛機去看望住在馬薩諸塞州西紐頓的那個溫柔的 老人吧，宜早不宜遲，在那個老人生病之前，在他失去跳舞能力之前就去拜訪他 吧！我知道我不能這樣做了。沒有人能讓我們回到從前，把過去重新來過，把已經(jīng) 逝去的生命重新喚醒。但是，如果莫里?斯瓦茲教授教給我了什么，那就是：生活 中永遠沒有“太遲”。直到他與世長辭的最后一刻他都沒有停止改變。

課堂筆記：
1.“one”在此作“a profound decision”的同位語，其后是省略了“that”的定語從句。從 句中還包含另一個定語從句 “he came out of the doctor’s office with a sword hanging over his head”，用來修飾 “the day”。介詞短語 “with a sword hanging over his head ” 作伴 隨狀語，修飾謂語動詞“came”。
2.三個句子中的情態(tài)動詞“would”都表示“意愿”之意。前兩句談到老師不愿發(fā)生的事情，副詞“instead”的使用，使第三句和前兩句形成鮮明對比，顯示了這位老師的與眾不同。
3.句中的“study”是“書房”的意思，“where”引導(dǎo)的定語從句用來修飾“study”。感 官動詞“watch”構(gòu)成的結(jié)構(gòu)“watch sb. do sth.”表示目睹動作發(fā)生的全過程。
4.句中的“the person”是指拜訪老師之前的過去的自己。這一段是作者的內(nèi)心獨白，通過 對兩個不同階段的自己的對比，對兩個自己的不同精神世界的對比，作者感人至深地向 可親可敬的莫里教授表達了深深的謝意，更使讀者真實地感受到了教授的崇高和偉大。
5.“as if”引導(dǎo)的從句使用了虛擬語氣，“be”動詞為“were”，表示對現(xiàn)在的虛擬。
6.西紐頓（West Newton)是馬薩諸塞州（Massachusetts)的一個村莊，位于紐頓中北部。

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