My First Job

My First Job

My First Job

While I was waiting to enter university, I saw in a local newspaper a teaching post advertised at a school in a suburb（郊区；边缘） of London about ten miles from where I lived. Being very short of money and wanting to do something useful, I applied, fearing as I did so, that without a degree and with no experience of teaching my chance of landing the job were slim（adj 苗条的；修长的；无价值的 vt 使...体重减轻；使...苗条 vi 减轻体重，变细）.

However, three days later a letter arrived, summoning(召唤；召集；鼓起；振作） me to Croydon,for an interview. It proved an

awkward（adj ．．．．．．．．．．．尴尬的；笨拙的；棘手的；不合．．．．．．．．．．．．．．适的） journey:a train to Croydon station;a ．．．

ten-minute bus ride and then a walk of at least a quarter of a mile. As a result I arrived on a hot June too depressed（adj ．．．．．．．．．．．．．沮．

丧的；萧条的；压低的 v to ．．．．．．．．．．．使沮丧；使萧条）．．．．．．．．

feel nervous.

The school was a dreary（adj ．．．．．．．．．．沉闷的；．．．．

枯燥的）， gabled（adj 有山形墙的；人字板制．．．．

作的；三角墙的 v 砌三角墙；形成三角墙） Victorian house of red brick（n 砖；砖块物；心肠好的人 vt 用砖砌 adj 用砖做的；似砖的） and with big staring（adj 凝视的；目不转睛的；瞪着眼的；显眼的 v 凝视；盯着看；显眼） sash（腰带；肩带；饰带；框格 vt 系上腰带；装以窗框）-windows. The front garden was a gravel（碎石；沙砾 vt 用碎石铺；使船搁浅在沙滩上；使困惑） square; four evergreen（n 常绿树；常绿植物 adj 常绿的；永葆青春的 shrubs（灌木） stood at each corner, where they struggled to survive the dust and fumes ．．．．．from a busy main road.

It was clearly the headmaster himself that opened the door. He was short and rotund（洪亮的；圆胖的）.He had a sandy-coloured ．．．．．moustache, a freckled（adj有雀斑的；有斑点的 v 生斑点的；布满斑点） forehead（额；

前额） and hardly any hair. He was wearing a tweed （花呢；花呢服装）suit---one felt

somehow he had always worn it---and across ．．．．．．．

his ample（丰富的；足够的；宽敞的） stomach was looped a silver（n 银；银器；银币；银质奖章；餐具；银灰色 adj 银的；含银的；有银色光泽的；口才流利的；第二十五周年的婚姻 vt 镀银；使有银色光泽的） watch-chain（n链；束缚；枷锁 vt 束缚；囚禁；用铁链锁住）.

He looked at me with an air of surprised disproval, as a colonel(陆军上校） might ．．．．．．．．．．．．．look at a private(adj 私人的；私有的；私下的 n 列兵；二等兵） whose bootlaces were undone. “Ah yes,”he grunted（n ．．．．．．．．．咕哝；呼噜声．．．．．．

vi vt ,”You’d ．．作呼噜声发哼声．．．．．．．．．咕哝着说）．．．．．

better come inside.”The narrow, sunless hall smelled unpleasantly of stale( adj.陈腐的；．．．．．．．．．．．．．．

不新鲜的 vi.变陈旧；撒尿；变得不新鲜 vt.．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．使变旧；变得不新鲜 n.尿）cabbage; the ．．．．．．．．．．．．．

cream-printed walls had gone a dingy（adj．．．．．．．．．

昏暗的；肮脏的）margarine colour, except ．．．．．．．．

where they were scarred（伤痕累累的；有疤痕的） with ink marks;it was all silent. His study, judging by the crumbs（哎呀；天哪 n 粒状生胶；废胶末） on the carpet,was also his dining room. On the mantelpiece there was a salt cellar and pepper-pot. “you’d better sit down,”he said, and proceed( vi.开始；继续．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．

进行；发生；行进）to asked me a number of ．．．．．．．．．

question:what subjects had I taken in my General School Certificate; how old was I; what games did I play; the fixing me suddenly with his bloodshot（ adj.充血的）eyes, he ．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．asked me whether I thought games were a vital part of a boy’s education. I mumbled（含糊地说话） something about not attaching too much important to them. He grunted. I had said the wrong thing. The headmaster and I obviously had singularly（ 异常地；非常地；令人无法理解地） little in common.

The school,he said, consisted of one

class of twenty-four boys, ranging in age from seven to thirteen. I should have to teach all subjects except art,which he taught himself. Football and cricket（板球，板球运动；蟋蟀） were played in the Park, a mile away on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons.

The teaching set-up appalled（vt ．．．．．．．．．．．使胆．．

寒；使惊骇） me. I should have to split the ．．．．．．

class up into three groups and teach them in turn at three different levels; and I was dismayed at the thought of teaching algebra（代数学） and geometry（几何学）---two subjects at which I had been completely incompetent（力的，不胜任的；不合适的；不适当的；无力的 n 力者） at school. Worse perhaps was the Saturday afternoon cricket. It was not so much having to tramp（vi 流浪；践踏；脚步沉重地行走 n 流浪者；沉重的脚步声；徒步旅行 vt 践踏；走过) a mile along the dusty(落满灰尘的） streets of

Croydon, followed by a crocodile（鳄鱼） of small boys that I minded, but the fact that most of my friends would be enjoying leisure（n 闲暇；空闲；安逸 adj 空闲的；业余的；有闲的） at that time.

I said diffidently, “what would my salary（给...加薪；薪水） be?” “Twelve pounds a week plus lunch.” Before I could protest（vi ；断言 vt ；断言 n adj 表示的；性的） he got to his feet. “Now,” he said, “you’d better meet my wife. She’s the one who really runs this school.”

This was the last straw. I was very young: the prospect of working under a woman constituted the ultimate（adj ．．．．．．．．．．．．最终的；极限．．．．．．

的；根本的 n ．．．．．．终极；根本；基本原则）．．．．．．．．．．．

indignity.

The teaching A particular way set-up This was the of teaching This was the 教学安排 这是一系last straw trouble that made 列不快事

the situation 件中最终unbearable when 使我无法it was added to 忍受之事 the trouble I was experiencing I should have to teach all subjects except art,which he taught himself It was not so Should have to teach is the past tense form of shall have to teach It was not so much much having to having to tramp a mile tramp...that I along the minded, but the dusty streets fact that...——of Croydon, followed by a crocodile of small boys that I minded, what I minded was not having to tramp...but the fact that...

but the fact that most of my friends would be enjoying leisure at that time.