開學第一課

楊宇宸

又到了九月份，伴隨著秋天的腳步聲，莘莘學子迎來了新學年的開學季。通常，你們的開學第一天是怎樣度過的呢？在我的美國高中，學生們每年的課程安排都不同，因此每年都會遇到不同的老師。今年，我就碰上了一位有個性的老師，上了一堂有趣的“開學第一課”。

踏進教室的那一刻，我便感到不同尋常：學生們都太安靜了。一般來說，開學第一天，老師們都會熱情地迎接學生。但是他——L老師兀自坐在辦公桌后面，根本不理學生。我剛剛注意到他戴著面具，就聽到一個小小的聲音叫我的名字。

“宇宸！”

是我去年認識的朋友J。見到熟人，我松了一口氣，于是我走到他旁邊坐下。我們正要聊天，上課鈴聲便響了。L老師慢慢地走到教室前面。透過白色的面具，我們只能看到他不帶感情的眼睛。他用冰冷的聲音向我們講話。

“現在，我要給你們讀一個短篇故事，認真聽好了，因為讀完后我會給你們一個相關的測試。這會是本學年的第一個成績。”

話不多說，他開始朗讀那個故事。我遞給J一個疑問的眼神，但是他看起來和我一樣困惑。一般老師在開學第一天都會發給學生類似“個人問答”或者班規一類的紙。畢竟如果彼此不了解的話，要怎樣跟老師度過一整年呢？沒有人會在開學第一天就給學生測試——我們還什么都沒學呢。然而L老師似乎認為他在開學第一天的行為再正常不過了。我與J交換了一個“這位不好相處”的眼神。

隨后L老師把測試發了下來，但是題目讓人哭笑不得。都是過于注重細節的，諸如“一字不漏地默寫文章的第一句話”一類的題。我們并沒有紙質的文章，所以幾乎沒人能回答這些問題——除非有神童的記憶力。

“這不公平，”有人抱怨道，“沒人能答得出來！”

L老師冷冷地走近那個學生。我們都屏住呼吸，室內溫度仿佛降了5℃。“難道生活很公平嗎？”他冷酷地問道。

“不。”那個學生小聲答道。那一瞬間，L老師讓我想起了《哈利·波特》里的斯內普教授——冷酷、刻薄、嚴厲。今年一定不會好過，我想。

5分鐘后，L老師把我們的答卷收了上去。他把測試放到一邊，盯著我們。“那么，你們是怎么想的？”他問道，“目前為止，你們中的大多數人大概認為我冷酷又刻薄——從你們今天的表現來看。但你們真的了解我這個人嗎？”

整個教室鴉雀無聲。“不，”他繼續說道，“你們僅僅看到了我希望你們所看到的。你們只看到了面具，卻沒有看到面具背后的臉。”隨后，他慢慢地摘下那個戴了一整節課的白色面具，露出了他的真面目。沒有了面具，他看起來友善多了。“表象是很具欺騙性的。”他對著我們班微笑，“不要以貌取人。這就是我們的開學第一課。”

我和J對視一眼，和其他人一樣驚訝極了。“噢，順便提一句，那個測試不計成績。”L老師幽默地說，“如果我剛剛嚇到你們了，真是不好意思。”

我認為這是我上過的最好的“開學第一課”。語文老師們總是教我們“要展示給讀者，不要只敘述”，但L老師是第一個用言傳身教的方式來證明這個道理的人。

今年一定會是個很棒的學年。

Its September once again. As autumn approaches， the “back-to-school” season also approaches for the students. How do you get through your first school day？ In my American high school， students get different schedules every year. Thus， we meet new teachers every year. This year， I got an interesting teacher， and I learned a memorable first lesson.

The second I stepped into his classroom， I sensed something unusual. The students were too quiet. Usually， teachers would greet students with enthusiasm on the first day of school. But he， Mr. L， was sitting behind his desk， ignoring everyone. I just noticed his mask when a tiny voice called my name.

“Yuchen！”

It was my friend from last year， J. I was relieved to see someone I know， so I went to sit with him. We were about to start a conversation when the bell rang. Mr. L walked to the front slowly. We could only see his emotionless eyes through the white mask he was wearing. He spoke to us in a cold voice.

“I am going to read a short story to you now. Listen carefully， for you are going to have a quiz on this after I finish. This will be your very first grade of the year.”

Without any other explanation， he began reading the story. I gave J a questioning look， but he looked just as confused as I was. Usually， teachers would give out “get-toknow-you” or classroom expectation sheets to students on the first day. After all， how can we get along with the teacher for a whole year if we dont get to know each other？ No teacher ever gives out quizzes during the first lesson -we didnt learn anything yet. But Mr. L seemed to think that what he was doing was perfectly normal on the first school day. J and I exchanged a look that says， “This is going to be a tough one.”

Then Mr. L gave out the quiz， but it was ridiculously difficult. The questions were oddly specific， like “Write the first sentence of the short story word for word.” We didnt have a copy of the story， so nobody could answer the questions - unless they were a prodigy of memorization.

“This isnt fair，” someone complained，“no one can answer this！”

Mr. L approached that student dangerously. We held our breaths， the temperature suddenly dropped 5 degrees. “Is life fair？” Mr. L asked coldly.

“No，”the student answered in a whisper. All of a sudden， Mr. L reminded me of Professor Snape from Harry Potter - cold， mean， harsh. This is going to be a terrible year， I thought.

Mr. L collected our papers 5 minutes later. He put them away and stared at the class.“Well， what do you think？” he asked， “As of now， most of you probably think I am harsh and mean-because of what you experienced today. But do you really know what kind of person I am？”

The entire class was dead silent. “No，”he continued， “You only saw what I wanted you to see. You saw the mask， but not the face behind it.” Then， he slowly removed the white mask that he had been wearing for the entire period and revealed his face. Without the mask， he looked much more friendly.“Appearances can be deceiving，” he smiled at the class， “Dont judge a book by its cover. This is the first lesson of our class.”

J and I looked at each other， shocked like everyone else. “Oh， by the way， the quiz doesnt count，” Mr. L added humorously，“sorry if I scared you.”

I think this was the best “first lesson” I have ever had. Language Arts teachers always tell us， “Show， dont tell”， but Mr. L is the first one to prove why it works.

This is going to be a great year.