开学第一课

杨宇宸

又到了九月份，伴隨着秋天的脚步声，莘莘学子迎来了新学年的开学季。通常，你们的开学第一天是怎样度过的呢？在我的美国高中，学生们每年的课程安排都不同，因此每年都会遇到不同的老师。今年，我就碰上了一位有个性的老师，上了一堂有趣的“开学第一课”。

踏进教室的那一刻，我便感到不同寻常：学生们都太安静了。一般来说，开学第一天，老师们都会热情地迎接学生。但是他——L老师兀自坐在办公桌后面，根本不理学生。我刚刚注意到他戴着面具，就听到一个小小的声音叫我的名字。

“宇宸！”

是我去年认识的朋友J。见到熟人，我松了一口气，于是我走到他旁边坐下。我们正要聊天，上课铃声便响了。L老师慢慢地走到教室前面。透过白色的面具，我们只能看到他不带感情的眼睛。他用冰冷的声音向我们讲话。

“现在，我要给你们读一个短篇故事，认真听好了，因为读完后我会给你们一个相关的测试。这会是本学年的第一个成绩。”

话不多说，他开始朗读那个故事。我递给J一个疑问的眼神，但是他看起来和我一样困惑。一般老师在开学第一天都会发给学生类似“个人问答”或者班规一类的纸。毕竟如果彼此不了解的话，要怎样跟老师度过一整年呢？没有人会在开学第一天就给学生测试——我们还什么都没学呢。然而L老师似乎认为他在开学第一天的行为再正常不过了。我与J交换了一个“这位不好相处”的眼神。

随后L老师把测试发了下来，但是题目让人哭笑不得。都是过于注重细节的，诸如“一字不漏地默写文章的第一句话”一类的题。我们并没有纸质的文章，所以几乎没人能回答这些问题——除非有神童的记忆力。

“这不公平，”有人抱怨道，“没人能答得出来！”

L老师冷冷地走近那个学生。我们都屏住呼吸，室内温度仿佛降了5℃。“难道生活很公平吗？”他冷酷地问道。

“不。”那个学生小声答道。那一瞬间，L老师让我想起了《哈利·波特》里的斯内普教授——冷酷、刻薄、严厉。今年一定不会好过，我想。

5分钟后，L老师把我们的答卷收了上去。他把测试放到一边，盯着我们。“那么，你们是怎么想的？”他问道，“目前为止，你们中的大多数人大概认为我冷酷又刻薄——从你们今天的表现来看。但你们真的了解我这个人吗？”

整个教室鸦雀无声。“不，”他继续说道，“你们仅仅看到了我希望你们所看到的。你们只看到了面具，却没有看到面具背后的脸。”随后，他慢慢地摘下那个戴了一整节课的白色面具，露出了他的真面目。没有了面具，他看起来友善多了。“表象是很具欺骗性的。”他对着我们班微笑，“不要以貌取人。这就是我们的开学第一课。”

我和J对视一眼，和其他人一样惊讶极了。“噢，顺便提一句，那个测试不计成绩。”L老师幽默地说，“如果我刚刚吓到你们了，真是不好意思。”

我认为这是我上过的最好的“开学第一课”。语文老师们总是教我们“要展示给读者，不要只叙述”，但L老师是第一个用言传身教的方式来证明这个道理的人。

今年一定会是个很棒的学年。

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.