Unit 1 - How I Got Smart（我是如何變聰明的）

How I Got Smart

Steve Brody

A common misconception among youngsters attending school is that their teachers were child prodigies. Who else but a bookworm, with none of the normal kid's tendency to play rather than study, would grow up to be a teacher anyway?

I've tried desperately to explain to my students that the image they have of me as an enthusiastic devotee of books and homework during my adolescence was a bit out of focus. On the contrary, I hated compulsory education with a passion. I could never quite accept the notion of having to go to school while the fish were biting.

But in my sophomore year, something beautiful and exciting happened. Cupid aimed his arrow and struck me right in the heart. All at once, I enjoyed going to school, if only to gaze at the lovely face in English II.

My princess sat near the pencil sharpener, and that year I ground up enough pencils to fuel a campfire. Alas, Debbie was far beyond my wildest dreams. We were separated not only by five rows of desks, but by about 50 I.Q. points. She was the top student in English II, the apple of Mrs. Larrivee's eye.

Occasionally, Debbie would catch me staring at her, and she would flash a smile that radiated intelligence and quickened my heartbeat. It was a smile that signaled hope and made me temporarily forget the intellectual gulf that separated us.

I schemed desperately to bridge that gulf. And one day, as I was passing the supermarket, an idea came to me. A sign in the window announced that the store was offering the first volume of a set of encyclopedias at the special price of 29 cents. The remaining volumes would cost $2.49 each.

I purchased Volume I — Aardvark to Asteroid — and began my venture into the world of knowledge. I would henceforth become a seeker of facts. I would become Chief Brain in English II and sweep my princess off her feet with a surge of erudition. I had it all planned.

My first opportunity came one day in the cafeteria line. I looked behind me and there she was.

"Hi," she said.

After a pause, I wet my lips and said, "Know where anchovies come from?"

She seemed surprised. "No, I don't."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "The anchovy lives in salt water and is rarely found in fresh water." I had to talk fast, so that I could get all the facts in before we reached the cash register. "Fishermen catch anchovies in the Mediterranean Sea and along the Atlantic coast near Spain and Portugal."

"How fascinating," said Debbie, shaking her head in disbelief. It was obvious that I had made quite an impression.

A few days later, during a fire drill, I casually went up to her and asked, "Ever been to the Aleutian Islands?"

"Never have," she replied.

"Might be a nice place to visit, but I certainly wouldn't want to live there," I said.

"Why not?" said Debbie, playing right into my hands.

"Well, the climate is forbidding. There are no trees on any of the 100 or more islands in the group. The ground is rocky and very little plant life can grow on it."

"I don't think I'd even care to visit," she said.

The fire drill was over and we began to file into the building, so I had to step it up to get the natives in. "The Aleuts are short and sturdy and have dark skin and black hair. They live on fish, and they trap blue foxes and seals for their valuable fur."

Debbie's eyes widened in amazement.

One day I was browsing through the library. I spotted Debbie sitting at a table, absorbed in a crossword puzzle. She was frowning, apparently stumped on a word. I leaned over and asked if I could help.

"Four-letter word for Oriental female servant," Debbie said.

"Try amah," I said, quick as a flash.

Debbie filled in the blanks, then turned to stare at me in amazement. "I don't believe it," she said. "I just don't believe it."

And so it went, that glorious, joyous, romantic sophomore year. Debbie seemed to relish our little conversations and hung on my every word. Naturally, the more I read, the more my confidence grew.

In the classroom, too, I was gradually making my presence felt. One day, during a discussion of Coleridge's "The Ancient Mariner", we came across the word albatross.

"Can anyone tell us what an albatross is?" asked Mrs. Larrivee.

My hand shot up. "The albatross is a large bird that lives mostly in the ocean regions below the equator, but may be found in the north Pacific as well. The albatross measures as long as four feet and has the greatest wingspread of any bird. It feeds on fish and shellfish. The albatross has an enormous appetite, and when it's full it has trouble getting into the air again."

There was a long silence in the room. Mrs. Larrivee couldn't quite believe what she had just heard. I sneaked a look at Debbie and gave her a big wink. She beamed proudly and winked back.

What I failed to perceive was that Debbie all this while was going steady with a junior from a neighboring school — a basketball player with a C+ average. The revelation hit me hard, and for a while I felt like forgetting everything I had learned. I had saved enough money to buy Volume II — Asthma to Bullfinch — but was strongly tempted to invest in a basketball instead.

I felt not only hurt, but betrayed. Like Agamemnon, but with less drastic consequences, thank God.

In time I recovered from my wounds. The next year Debbie moved from the neighborhood and transferred to another school. Soon she became no more than a memory.

Although the original incentive was gone, I continued poring over the encyclopedias, as well as an increasing number of other books. Having tasted of the wine of knowledge, I could not now alter my course. For:

"A little knowledge is a dangerous thing:

Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring."

So wrote Alexander Pope, Volume XIV — Paprika to Pterodactyl.

New Words

prodigy

n. a person who has unusual and very noticeable abilities, usually at an early age 奇才；天才

child prodigy

an unusually clever child 神童

bookworm

n. a person devoted to reading 極愛讀書者；書呆子

devotee

n. a person strongly devoted to sth. or sb. 熱愛…者；獻身于…的人

adolescence

n. 青春期

compulsory

a. required by law or a rule 義務的；強制的

compel

vt. oblige or force (sb.) to do sth. 強迫；強求

passion

n. a strong, deep, often uncontrollable feeling 熱情；激情

gaze

vi. look fixedly 注視；凝視

princess

n. 1. 理想中的女友；心目中追求的女友

2. (oft, cap.) a female member of the royal family, usually the daughter of a king or queen or the wife of a prince ［常大寫］公主；王妃

prince

n. 1. 少女理想中的未婚者，白馬王子

2. a male member of the royal family, especially the son of a king or queen 王子；親王

3. (usu. sing.) (among, of) a very great, successful or powerful man of some stated kind ［常單數］（喻）大王；巨頭；名家

sharpener

n. 卷筆刀；卷筆器

campfire

n. a wood fire made in the open air by campers 營火，冓火

quicken

v. (cause to) speed up 加快

scheme

v. make plans (for); plan in a deceitful way 計劃；謀劃

n. 1. a formal, official or business plan 計劃；規劃

2. a clever, dishonest plan 陰謀，詭計

volume

n. 1. one of a set of books of the same kind （一套書的）一冊；一卷

2. (of) 體積；容積

encyclop(a)edia

n. a book or set of books dealing with a wide range of information presented in alphabetical order 百科全書

aardvark

n. 土豚，非洲食蟻獸

asteroid

n. 小行星；海星

henceforth

ad. from this time onwards 自此以后

hence

ad. 1. for this reason, therefore 因此，所以

2. from this time on 今后，從此

erudition

n. learning acquired by reading and study 博學；學問

cafeteria

n. a self-service restaurant 自助餐廳

anchovy

n. 鳳尾魚

sigh

n. the act or sound of sighing 嘆息（聲）；嘆氣（聲）

relief

n. feeling of comfort at the end of anxiety, fear, or pain （焦慮等的）解除；寬慰

casually

ad. in a relaxed way 隨便地；漫不經心地

casual

a. relaxed; not formal 隨便的；漫不經心的；非正式的

sturdy

a. physically strong 強壯的

seal

n. 1. 海豹

2. 印記，印章

vt. 1. 蓋章于

2. 封，密封

widen

v. make or become wider 加寬；變寬

browse

v. casually look or search, e.g. in a shop, in a library, at a book, etc., with no specific aim or object in mind 瀏覽

crossword

n. (= crossword puzzle) 縱橫字謎，縱橫填字游戲

frown

vi. contract the brows, as in displeasure or deep thought 皺眉頭

stump

vt. put an unanswerable question to; puzzle 把…難住；使為難

oriental

a. of, from or concerning Asia 東方的

amah

n. 阿媽（印度等一些東方國家的奶媽、女傭或保姆）

glorious

a. having or deserving glory; very delightful and enjoyable 榮耀的；令人愉快的

joyous

a. full of or causing joy 充滿歡樂的；令人高興的

romantic

a. 1. (of sth.) beautiful in a way that strongly affects one's feelings 有浪漫色彩的

2. (of sb.) showing strong feelings of love 多情的；浪漫的

3. being unrealistic or unpractical 不切實際的

relish

vt. get pleasure out of; enjoy greatly 從…獲得樂趣；很喜愛

confidence

n. belief in one's own or another's ability 信心

mariner

n. (obsolete) a sailor 〈廢〉水手

marine

a. 1. of ships and their goods and trade at sea 航海的；海事的

2. of, near, living in, or obtained from the sea 海洋的；海生的；海產的

n. 水兵

albatross

n. 信天翁

wingspread

n. the distance between the tips of a pair of fully spread wings 翼幅

shellfish

n. 貝殼類動物

shell

n. 1. the hard covering of a sea creature, egg, fruit, seed, etc. 動物的殼（如貝殼、蛹殼等），蛋殼；果殼；莢

2. the outside frame of a building （房屋的）框架；骨架

appetite

n. 1. one's desire to eat and one's feeling about how much to eat 食欲，胃口

2. (for) a strong desire 欲望；愛好

beam

vi. shine brightly; smile warmly 照耀；（面）露喜色；滿臉堆笑

n. 1. 微笑；喜色

2. 光束

perceive

vt. notice; be conscious of 注意到；感覺；察覺

revelation

n. the act of revealing sth., usually of great significance 揭示；暴露

asthma

n. 氣喘，哮喘

bullfinch

n. 紅腹灰雀

invest

vi. put money into sth. with the expectation of profit or other advantage 投資

investment

n. 1. 投資；投資額

2. the spending of (time, energy, etc.) to make sth. successful （時間、精力等的）投入

betray

vt. be disloyal or unfaithful to 出賣，背叛

drastic

a. strong, violent or severe 激烈的；迅猛的

consequence

n. (usu. pi.) the result or effect of an action or condition ［常復數］結果；后果

incentive

n. encouragement to greater activity; motivating factor; stimulus 鼓勵；刺激

paprika

n. 紅燈籠辣椒

pterodactyl

n. 翼手龍

Phrases and Expressions

out of focus

not sharply defined 焦點沒對準；模糊的

beyond one's wildest dreams

(in a way that is) better than what one expected or hoped for 超過某人所期望的（地）；出乎某人意料的（地）

the apple of sb.'s eye

a person or thing that is the main object of sb.'s love and attention 某人的掌上明珠；寶貝

sweep sb. off his/her feet

make sb. feel suddenly and strongly attracted to you in a romantic way 使某人傾心

get sth. in

manage to say sth. about a subject 設法說完

play into sb.'s hands

do something which gives sb. an advantage 干對某人有利的事

file into

enter in a single line 魚貫進入

step up

(infml) increase the size or speed of 〈口〉加快；增加

hang on sb.'s words

listen very carefully to 傾聽；注意地聽

feed on

eat habitually 以…為食物；靠…為生

go steady with

date sb. regularly and exclusively 僅與（同一異性）經常約會

invest in

1. buy (sth.) with the expectation of profit or some other kind of advantage 投資于

2. (infml) 〈口〉買

in time

1. eventually 經過一段時間后；最終

2. at or before the right or necessary time 及時

pore over

study or give close attention to 鉆研；專心閱讀

Proper Names

Steve Brody

史蒂文·布羅迪（男子名）

Cupid

丘比特（羅馬神話中的愛神）

Debbie

黛比（女子名）

Larrivee

拉里維（姓氏）

Spain

西班牙（歐洲西南部國家）

Portugal

葡萄牙（歐洲西南部國家）

Aleutian Islands

阿留申群島（美國阿拉斯加州西南部）

Aleut

阿留申人

Coleridge

柯爾律治（1772—1834，英國詩人，評論家）

"The [Rhyme of the] Ancient Mariner"

《古舟子詠》（柯爾律治的著名詩作）

Agamemnon

阿伽門農（希臘神話中邁錫尼的國王，特洛伊戰爭中希臘聯軍統帥，戰后回國被妻子及其情夫謀殺）

Pierian spring

比埃里亞圣泉；知識的源泉

參考資料：

21世紀大學英語讀寫教程第三冊 Unit01_大學教材聽力 - 可可英語

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