美語情景對話 第223期:Bad Students 壞學生
Todd: Norm, you said that you used to teach computers!
託德：諾曼，你說過你曾經教過計算機！Norman: Yes! I did at the elementary school back in Canada.
諾曼：沒錯！我在加拿大的小學教過計算機。Todd: And what was that like? Like how did you actually teach computers.
託德：那怎麼樣？你是怎麼教計算機的。
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.
諾曼：實際上，我啓動了電腦計劃。我們被安排在體育館後面的儲物區。那時我們沒有最先進的計算機實驗室。在80年代，計算機只是剛剛起步，有點像學校的先鋒。Todd: Oh, OK, well was it pretty easy to do?
託德：哦，那是不是很簡單？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.
諾曼：嗯，有點難度，因爲是在體育館裏面，那只有一扇木頭門，學生在打籃球的時候，會有籃球彈跳的聲音，而學生們就會聽不清我講的內容，還有就是我不能完全看到班裏的學生，這也有困難，因爲有一面牆把我的班級隔開了，所以我一次只能看到半個班的學生。Todd: You could only see half the class and you were teaching computers!
託德：你只能看到半個班的學生，你還在教計算機！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.
諾曼：沒錯！是這樣的，所以我有兩塊黑板。一塊黑板放在教室這邊，我給班裏一半的學生講授課程，然後我會走到另一邊的黑板，給另一半學生講同樣的內容。Todd: Oh, man that must have been a nightmare!
託德：哦，那一定是個噩夢！Norman: It was. It was, because I could never see what the other half was doing in my absence.
諾曼：的確是。那真是噩夢，因爲我不在的時候我根本不知道那半邊學生在幹什麼。Todd: So did they ever doing anything bad to get in trouble!
託德：那他們是不是會做一些壞事而惹上麻煩？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.
諾曼：對，他們曾經做過。我記得有一次，一名學生叫我過去，他說，“格羅西爾先生，我把水弄在外置驅動器上了。就在你用軟盤，並把它們放進外部驅動器的時候。”我說，“水，沒有水啊！”於是，我過去試圖插入軟盤，可是就是無法插入，似乎有什麼東西阻擋了軟盤，於是我看了一下，當然我看到了上面全是西瓜汁。所以，從那以後，那個外置硬盤驅動器就沒法用了。Todd: Wow, so how many years did you teach computers.
託德：哇，你教了幾年的計算機？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.
諾曼：嗯，在那個實驗室只教了一年，之後我們搬到了一個成熟的實驗室，我一週上一堂計算機課，一堂正規的計算機教學，之後我們會因爲其他事情去實驗室，比如做一些研究項目。Todd: Oh, Wow. Did you like it, teaching computers?
託德：哦，哇。你喜歡教計算機嗎？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.
諾曼：喜歡在計算機實驗室裏教課，當然了，因爲那裏配有蘋果電腦和打印機，我們有許多項目，學生們可以用這些設備進行真正好的項目，或是做出漂亮的封面，我們有彩色打印機，當然也有高效的打印機，那非常棒。
重點講解：
1. state-of-the-art
使用最先進技術的；體現最高水平的；
eg. The system was state of the art.
這一系統是當時最先進的。
eg. This machine is one of the best examples of state-of-the-art technology.
這臺機器是先進科技的最佳範例之一。
2. in one's absence
不在；缺席；
eg. We should not speak evil of a man in his absence.
我們不應該在背後說別人的壞話。
eg. They're the ones who are missed so terribly that everything falls apart in their absence.
他們是我們深深想念的人，他們不在時一切都變得不完整。
3. in trouble
處於困境；惹麻煩；將受懲罰；
eg. He was in trouble with his teachers.
老師們都想好好教訓他。
eg. The person who loaned them to me got into terrible trouble for it.
把那筆錢借給我的那個人因此倒黴了。
4. be stuffed with
填滿…，塞滿…；
eg. His mouth was stuffed with food.
他的嘴裏被食物塞得滿滿的。
eg. The staff's chests are stuffed with sufficient suffering.
職員們的胸中填滿了足夠的痛苦。
5. full-fledged
羽翼豐滿的；完全成熟的；
eg. Hungary is to have a full-fledged Stock Exchange from today.
匈牙利從今天起將擁有一個完全成熟的證券交易所。
eg. The book was a full-fledged study of American history.
這是本很完備的美國曆史書。
