西南大学在职研究生英语作业

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导语：

从教数载，你一定收到过无数的请假条，请假的理由五花八门：自个儿生病；父母亲生病；爷爷奶奶生病；小狗生病；小猫生病；跌倒摔倒；闹钟未响；车船晚点……等等等等。当然，这些理由真真假假。要当面揭穿孩子们的谎话还真不是件容易的事。等等！干嘛一定要当面揭穿？这不，Ralph Mckee V ocational School的写作课老师Frank灵机一动：与其当面让孩子难堪，何不将计就计？一堂创意写作课由此而生。其实，教学也需要创意，你说呢？让我们都跟本文的作者Frank学学吧！

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Excuses, Excuses1

2

Frank McCourt

My students forge (编造)the notes. I turned them into a lesson plan.

[1] I was in my third year of teaching creative writing at Ralph Mckee V ocational School in

Staten Island, New York, when one of my students, 16-year-old Mikey, gave me a note from his

mother. It explained his absence from class the day before.

[2] “Dear Mr. McCourt, Mikey?s grandmother who is eighty years of age fell down the stairs

from too much coffee3 and I kept Mikey at home to take care of her and his baby sister so I could go to

my job at the ferry（渡轮）terminal（航空站）. Please excuse Mikey and he?ll do his best in the future.

disguise: [dis'ɡaiz] v . 伪装；假装

forge: [f ?:d ?] v . 伪造

genuine: ['d ?enjuin] adj . 真实的 lunatic: ['lju:n ?tik] adj . 疯狂的；愚蠢的 epiphany: [i'pif ?ni] n . 顿悟

anthology: [?n'θ?l ?d ?i] n . 选集

P.S. His grandmother is ok.” I had seen Mikey writing the note at his desk, using his left hand to disguise （伪装） his handwriting. I said nothing.

[3] Most parental-excuse notes I received back in those days were penned by my students. They?d been forging （编造） excuse notes since they learned to write, and if I were to confront （面对） each forger I?d be busy 24 hours a day.

[4] I threw Mikey?s note into a desk drawer along with dozens of （很多） other notes. While my classes took a test, I decided to read all the notes I?d only glanced at （看了） before. I made two piles, one for the genuine （真实的） ones written by mothers, the other for forgeries. The second was the larger pile, with writing that ranged from imaginative （想象地，虚假的） to lunatic （愚蠢的）.

[5] I was having an epiphany （顿悟）.

[6] Isn?t it remarkable （非凡的）, I thought, how the students whined （发牢骚）and said it was hard putting 200 words together on any subject? But when they forged excuse notes, they were brilliant. The notes I had could be turned into an anthology （选集） of Great American Excuses. They were samples of talent never mentioned （提到） in song, story or study.

[7] Here was American high school writing at its best ---raw （未加工的）, real, urgent （紧急的）, lucid （清晰的）, brief, and lying. I read:

[8] The stove （炉灶） caught fire and the wallpaper went up and the fire department kept us out of

[9] Arnold was getting off the train and the door closed on his school bag and the train took

it away, He yelled to the conductor who said very vulgar（粗俗的）things as the train drove

away.

[10] His sister?s dog ate his homework and I hope it chokes him.

[11] We were evicted（赶出）from our apartment and the mean sheriff（州长）said if my

son kept yelling for his notebook he?d have us all arrested.

[12] The writers of these notes didn?t realize that honest excuse notes were usually dull:

“Peter was late because the alarm clock didn?t go off.”

[13] One day I type out a dozen excuse notes and distributed（分布）them to my senior

classes. The students read them silently, intently（专心）. “Mr. Mccourt, who wrote these?” asked

one boy.

[14] “You did,” I said. “I omitted（省略）names to protect the guilty（内疚的）. They?re

suppos ed to be written by parents, but you and I know the real authors. Yes, Mikey?”

[15] “So what are we supposed to do?”

[16] “This is the first class to study the art of the excuse note---the first class, ever, to

practice writing them. You?re so lucky to have your best writing and turned it into a subject

worthy of study.”

[17] Everyone smiled as I went on. “You didn?t settle for（满足于）the old alarm clock story. You used your imaginations. One day you might be writing excuses for your own children when they?re late or absent or up to some devilment（坏事）. So try it now. Imagine you have a 15-year-old who needs an excuse for falling behind in English. Let it rip（let us begin）4.”

[18] The students produced a variety of excuses, ranging from a 16-wheeler crashing into a house to a severe case of food poisoning（中毒）blamed on the school cafeteria. They said, “More, more. Can we do more?”

[19] So I said, “I?d like you to write---”And I finished, “…An Excuse Note from Adam 5 to God? or …An Excu se Note from Eve 6to God.?” Heads went down. Pens raced across paper.

[20] Before long the bell rang. For the first time ever I saw students so immersed（沉浸）in their writing they had to be urged to go lunch by their friends: “Yo, Lenny. Come on. Fini sh it later.”

[21] Next day everyone had excuse notes, not only from Adam and Eve but from God and Lucifer.One girl defended （辩护）the seduction（魅力）of Adam on the grounds that Eve was tired of lying around Paradise（仙境）7 doing nothing, day in and day out（日复一日）. She was

also tired of God sticking his nose into their business.

[22] Heated discussions followed about the relative guilt and sinfulness of Adam and Eve. No one said anything negative（消极的）

about God, though there were hints. He could have been more understanding of the plight of（的

[23] I asked the class to think about anyone in history who could use a good excuse note. I

wrote suggestions on the board: Eva Braun, Hitler?s girlfriend. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg8,

executed for treason（判处叛国罪）. Judas. Attila the Hun, Lee Harvey Oswald. Al Capone.

[24] “Yo, Mr. McCourt, could you put teachers up there?” said a student.

[25] And then I heard, “Mr. McCourt, the principal（主要的）is at the door.”

[26] My heart sank as the principal entered, along with the superintendent（负责人）of

schools. Neither acknowledged me. They walked up and down, peering at papers（看报纸）. The

superintendent picked one up, showed it to the principal.

[27] The superintendent frowned（皱了皱眉头）. The principal pursed his lips 9. On their

way out, the principal said the superintendent would like to see me.

[28] Here it comes, I thought. The reckoning. The principal was sitting at his desk; the

superintendent was standing. “Come in,” said the superintendent. “I just want to tell you that that

lesson, that project, whatever the hell you were doing, was topnotch（最高质量的）10. Those kids

were writing on the college level.”

[29] He turned to the principal and said, “That kid wr iting an excuse note for Judas.

Brilliant. I just want to shake your hand,” he said, turning back to me. “There might be a letter in

your file attesting（证明）to your energetic and imaginative teaching. Thank you.”

[30] God in heaven. High praise from an important person. Should I dance down the hallway,

or lift and fly? Next day in class, I just started singing.

[31] The kids laughed. They said, “Man, school should be like this every day, us writing

excuse notes and teachers singing all of a sudden(突然地).” Sooner or later(早晚有一天), I figured, everyone needed an excuse. Also, if we sang today we could sing tomorrow, and why not? You don?t need an excuse for singing.

N o t e s

1.This text is excerpted from Teacher Man, 2005 memoir written by Frank McCourt which describes and reflects on his teaching experiences

in New York high schools and colleges.

2.Frank McCourt, born in 1930 in Brooklyn, New York, began a process of self-education and improvement that led, eventually, to a career as

a high-school teacher.

3.too much coffee: she drank too much coffee.

4.Let it rip: let us begin.

5.Adam: Adam was the first man in the world according to Bible.亚当

6.Eve：Eve was the first woman who lived with Adam in the garden of Eden. 夏娃

7.Paradise：Paradise is a place where good people will live in happiness. 天堂

8.Judas. 犹大，叛徒。Lucifer: 魔鬼，撒旦

9.…pursed his lips: 撮起嘴唇

10.topnotch: excellent

P h r a s e s a n d E x p r e s s i o n s

be evicted from to be forced to leave somewhere 驱逐，赶走glance at to give a quick short look 一瞥

turn into to change into 进入, (使)变成be worthy of deserving respect, admiration or support: 值得的

R e a d i n g C o mp r e h e n s i o n

Choose the best for each of the following.

1. According to the passage, the teacher _______.

A. is angry with his students

B. does not like his students forging excuse notes

C. blames the parents

D. teaches a successful writing class 2. Mikey missed school______.

A. because his grandmother fell down from the stairs

B. because he did not like his teacher

C. because his parents wanted him to be home

D. because he did not want to go to school 3. When the students forged the excuse notes, they were _______. A. very smart and imaginative B. bored C. indifferent D. excited

4. The principal of the school ____________. A. blamed the teacher for what he had done in class B. praised the teacher for what he had done in class C. was disappointed with the teacher D. fired the teacher

√ √

√ √

5. Which of the following statements is NOT true?

A. The students enjoyed the teacher?s writing class very much.

B. The students were very creative in forging excuse notes.

C. The teacher enjoyed teaching writing.

D. The students did not enjoy the teacher?s writing class.

√

V o c a b u l a r y

I Choose the answer that best completes each sentence.

1. A number of ___D___works of art have been sold as genuine.作为真正的

A. false

B. beautiful

C. famous

D. forged

2. To __B_____ one?s power is to commit a crime and eventually end up in jail.

A. accuse指责

B. abuse 虐待；辱骂

C. deduce推断

D. excuse借口

3. Seeing the speeding car, the policeman ___B___the driver to pull up at the curb.

A. reckoned 估计

B. beckoned 示意

C. softened

D. stiffened

4. Unfortunately, he hit a traffic jam and missed the train_B___ a few minutes.

A. with

B. by

C. before

D. for

5. She gave a clear and __A____ account of her plans for the company?s future.

A. lucid

B. dull

C. unclear

D. ambiguous

6. Isn?t it rather ___C____ to talk about how much money you earn?

A. polite

B. boring

C. vulgar庸俗的

D. pleasant

7. The books will be __D___ free to local schools.

A. contributed贡献

B. tribute颂辞；证明

C. attributed 把…归于

D. distributed

8. The editor required him to __A____ some details各种细节of the article.

A. omit省略

B. permit许可证

C. summit最高级的；政府首脑的

D. illuminate 阐明

9. Few of us can be unmoved by the ___C____ of the Romanian orphans罗马尼亚孤儿.

A. light

B. might

C. plight困境

D. moonlight

10. I have to _B_____ my reputation.名声

A. detect发现

B. protect

C. intact完好无缺

D. prevent阻碍

II Fill in the blanks with the words or phrases given below. Change the form where necessary.

1.I know why this happened. You don?t have to find any ___excuse___.

2.He was __evicted_____ from the pub for drunken and violent behavior.

3.This emperor is said to have paid many personal visits to various counties __disguise___ as an ordinary citizen.

4.Every year she makes a large donation to a _worthy____ cause.

5.Children often have very vivid __imagination_______.

T r a n s l a t i o n

Put the following paragraphs into Chinese.

Reading is a pleasure of the mind, which means that it is a little like a sport: your eagerness（渴望）and knowledge and quickness（迅速地）make you a good reader. Reading is fun, not because the writer is telling you something, but because it makes your mind work. Your own imagination works along with the author?s or even goes beyond his. Your experience, compared with his, brings you to the same or different conclusions, and your ideas develop as you understand his.

阅读是心智的乐事，颇有点儿像从事一项运动：需要热情、知识、敏捷三者具备才能做好。读书之所以有趣，不是由于作者告诉了你什么，而是由于书本促使你思考。你的想象与作者的想象一道展开，甚至超过作者的想象你的体验与作者的体验进行对照，使你得出与作者相同或不同的结论，而你在了解作者思想的同时便形成了自己的思想。