Final Exam期末考試

Two guys were taking Chemistry at the University of Mississippi.

They did pretty well on all of the quizzes and the midterms and labs， such that1) going into the final they had a solid \"A\". These two friends were so confident going into the final that the weekend before finals week (even though the chemistry final was on Monday)， they decided to go up to the University of Tennessee and party with some friends.

They had a great time. However， with hangovers2) and everything， they overslept3) all day Sunday and didn't make it back to Mississippi until early Monday morning. Rather than taking the final then， they found their professor after the final to explain to him why they missed the final.

They told him that they went up to the University of Tennessee for the weekend， and had planned to come back in time to study， but that they had a flat4) tire on the way back and didn't have a spare5) and couldn't get help for a long time， so they were late in getting back to campus. The professor thought this over and told them they could make up the final on the following day. The two guys were elated6) and relieved. They studied that night and went in the next day for the final.

The professor placed them in separate rooms， and handed each of them a test booklet and told them to begin. They looked at the first problem， which was worth 5 points. It was something simple about Molarity7) Solutions8).

\"Cool，\" they thought. \"This is going to be easy.\"

They did that problem and then turned the page.

They were not prepared， however， for what they saw on this page.

It said: (95 Points) Which tire?有兩個人在密西西比大學(xué)讀化學(xué)專業(yè)。

他們所有的測驗、期中考試和實驗課的成績都很不錯，如此下來期末考試他們可以穩(wěn)拿“A”。這倆朋友對期末考試非常自信，以至于在考前的那個周末(即便周一就是化學(xué)期末考試)，他們還決定去田納西大學(xué)和一些朋友聚會。

他們玩得非常開心，但是由于宿醉和各種事情，周日他們整整睡了一天，直到周一一早才回到密西西比。他們當時沒去參加期末考試，而是等到考試結(jié)束后去找他們的教授，向其解釋錯過考試的原因。

他倆告訴教授，他們?nèi)ヌ锛{西大學(xué)過周末，本來計劃及時回來學(xué)習(xí)，但是在回來的路上輪胎漏氣，他們沒有備胎，而且很長時間都找不到人幫忙，所以才回學(xué)校晚了。教授想了想之后對他們說，他們可以第二天來補考。倆人非常高興，松了一口氣。當天晚上復(fù)習(xí)之后，第二天他們就去參加考試了。

教授把他們安排在不同的教室，給了每人一份考卷，并告訴他們可以開始了。倆人看了看第一道題，分值為5分。題目很簡單，是關(guān)于摩爾濃度和溶液的。

“太好了，”他們心想，“這很容易啊?！?/p>

在答完這一題之后，他們翻到了下一頁。

然而，這一頁所看到的題目他們完全沒有準備。

上面寫著：(95分)哪個輪胎漏氣了？1.such that: 到這樣的程度

2.hangover [#712;h#230;#331;#601;#650;v#601;(r)] n. (酗酒后的)宿醉(指第二天早晨的頭痛、惡心等)

3.oversleep [#716;#601;#650;v#601;#712;sli#720;p] vi. 睡得過久；睡過頭

4.flat [fl#230;t] adj. (輪胎等)充氣不足的，癟的

5.spare [spe#601;(r)] n. 備用輪胎

6.elated [i#712;le#618;t#618;d] adj. 興高采烈的；得意洋洋的

7.molarity [m#594;#712;l#230;r#601;t#618;] n. 【化】摩爾濃度，容模

8.solution [s#601;#712;lu#720;#643;n] n. 溶液

若要在一年內(nèi)了解全世界，你會采取什么方式？暢游世界、看紀錄片，還是讀游記？誠然，這些辦法都不錯，只是不論是匆匆地跋涉、囫圇吞棗地觀看還是品讀他人游記，你都不過是個過客，只能走馬觀花。而本文的作者則選擇從世界196個國家各選一本文學(xué)作品品讀，從而透過當?shù)厝说难劬词澜?，體會他們的喜樂苦悲。這一方法雖然挑戰(zhàn)重重，卻給她帶來了獨一無二的深刻體驗。I used to think of myself as a fairly cosmopolitan1) sort of person， but my bookshelves told a different story. Apart from a few Indian novels and the odd2) Australian and South African book， my literature collection consisted of British and American titles. Worse still， I hardly ever tackled3) anything in translation. My reading was confined to stories by English-speaking authors.

So， at the start of 2012， I set myself the challenge of trying to read a book from every country in a year to find out what I was missing.

With no idea how to go about4) this beyond a sneaking suspicion5) that I was unlikely to find publications from nearly 200 nations on the shelves of my local bookshop， I decided to ask the planet's readers for help. I created a blog called A Year of Reading the World and put out an appeal for suggestions of titles that I could read in English.

The response was amazing. Before I knew it， people all over the planet were getting in touch with ideas and offers of help. Some posted me books from their home countries. Others did hours of research on my behalf. In addition， several writers， like Turkmenistan's Ak Welsapar and Panama's Juan David Morgan， sent me unpublished translations of their novels， giving me a rare opportunity to read works otherwise unavailable to the 62% of Brits who only speak English. Even with such an extraordinary team of bibliophiles6) behind me， however， sourcing books was no easy task. For a start， with translations making up only around 4.5 per cent of literary works published in the UK and Ireland， getting English versions of stories was tricky.以前我一直以為自己還算是見多識廣的那種人，但是我的書架卻顯示出另一番景象。除了寥寥幾本印度小說和零散的幾本澳大利亞和南非的書， 我收藏的文學(xué)作品全都來自英國和美國。更糟糕的是，我?guī)缀鯖]有做過任何翻譯。我的閱讀僅限于英語作家所寫的故事。

因此，2012年伊始，我給自己設(shè)了一個挑戰(zhàn)，即設(shè)法在一年時間里閱讀每個國家各一本書，看看自己過去在錯過些什么。

我不知道該如何著手，只是內(nèi)心里覺得毋庸置疑的是，我不太可能在我這邊書店的書架上找到近兩百個國家的書籍，于是我決定向全球的讀者求助。我創(chuàng)建了一個名為“一年讀遍全世界”的博客，發(fā)布了一個請求，請大家推薦可供我用英語閱讀的書籍的書名。

人們的回復(fù)令人驚異。不知不覺間，來自全球各地的人們都開始聯(lián)系我，給我出主意，為我提供幫助。有人將自己國家的書寄給我，有人替我做了數(shù)小時的調(diào)研。此外，有幾位作家，包括土庫曼斯坦的阿克·威爾斯帕和巴拿馬的胡安·大衛(wèi)·摩根還寄來了他們未出版的小說譯本，讓我有難得的機會去閱讀62%只講英語的英國人無法接觸到的作品。不過，縱然我背后有這樣一個非凡的書籍愛好者團隊，尋獲書籍依舊不是一件容易的事。首先，面對譯本僅占英國和愛爾蘭出版的文學(xué)作品約4.5%這一現(xiàn)狀，想要獲得英語版本的書籍就是一個棘手的問題。This was particularly true for francophone7) and lusophone8) African countries. There's precious little9) on offer for states such as the Comoros， Madagascar， Guinea-Bissau， and Mozambique—I had to rely on unpublished manuscripts for several of these. And when it came to the tiny island nation of Sao Tome Principe， I would have been stuck without a team of volunteers in Europe and the US who translated a book of short stories by Santomean writer Olinda Beja just so that I could have something to read.

Then there were places where stories are rarely written down. If you're after a good yarn10) in the Marshall Islands， for example， you're more likely to go and ask the local chief's permission to hear one of the local storytellers than you are to pick up a book. Similarly， in Niger， legends have traditionally been the preserve11) of griots12) (expert narrators-cum-13)musicians trained in the nation's lore14) from around the age of seven). Written versions of their fascinating performances are few and far between15)—and can only ever capture a small part of the experience of listening for yourself.

If that wasn't enough， politics threw me the odd curveball16) too. The foundation of South Sudan on 9 July 2011—although a joyful event for its citizens， who had lived through decades of civil war to get there—posed something of a challenge. Lacking roads， hospitals， schools， or basic infrastructure， the six-month-old country seemed unlikely to have published any books since its creation. If it hadn't been for a local contact putting me in touch with writer Julia Duany， who penned17) me a bespoke18) short story， I might have had to catch a plane to Juba and try to get someone to tell me a tale face to face.

All in all， tracking down stories like these took as much time as the reading and blogging. It was a tall order19) to fit it all in20) around work and many were the nights when I sat bleary21)-eyed into the small hours22) to make sure I stuck to my target of reading one book every 1.87 days.這一難題對說法語和葡萄牙語的非洲國家尤為明顯。某些國家的書在售的少之又少，如科摩羅、馬達加斯加島、幾內(nèi)亞比紹共和國和莫桑比克，對于其中幾個國家，我不得不依賴于未出版的手稿。而在尋找圣多美和普林西比這一小島國的作品時，若不是歐洲和美國的一批志愿者幫忙，我就會陷入困境。多虧這些志愿者翻譯了圣多美作家奧林達·貝雅的一部短篇小說集，我才有了閱讀材料。

還有一些地方，故事幾乎不寫下來。比如，你若想在馬紹爾群島找一個好故事，很可能要去征求當?shù)厥最I(lǐng)的同意，以便去聽當?shù)啬硞€說書人講述，而不是去捧起一本書閱讀。同樣，在尼日爾，傳奇故事歷來是歌舞藝人(從七歲左右開始接受尼日爾傳說故事培訓(xùn)的專業(yè)說書人兼音樂人)的專屬領(lǐng)域。他們精彩表演的書面版本寥寥無幾，而且也僅能描述出現(xiàn)場聽書感受的一小部分。

這還不夠，就連政治也冷不丁給我丟來了不尋常的難題。2011年7月9日，南蘇丹共和國成立了。盡管這對它的人民來說是一件值得高興的大事——他們經(jīng)受了幾十年內(nèi)戰(zhàn)才走到今天——但這也帶來了某種挑戰(zhàn)。缺少公路、醫(yī)院、學(xué)?；蚧A(chǔ)設(shè)施，這個只有六個月歷史的國家似乎自建國以來就不太可能出版過什么書籍。若不是通過與當?shù)厝私佑|聯(lián)系上了一位名為茱莉婭·端尼的作家，她專門為我寫了一篇短篇小說，我可能還得乘飛機去朱巴(編注：南蘇丹首都)，設(shè)法找一個人面對面地給我講個故事。

總而言之，我在尋找此類故事上花費的時間與閱讀、寫博客花費的時間一樣多。工作之余要做所有這些事真是高難度任務(wù)，許多時候都是在夜晚，我睡眼惺忪地坐到下半夜，以確保自己能堅持完成每1.87天讀完一本書的目標。1.cosmopolitan [#716;k#594;zm#601;#712;p#594;l#618;t#601;n] adj. 見多識廣的

2.odd [#594;d] adj. 單只的；不成對的；零星的。the odd: 少量的；微小的

3.tackle [#712;t#230;kl] vt. 對付，處理，解決

4.go about: 著手干；做

5.beyond suspicion: 毋庸置疑。sneaking [#712;sni#720;k#618;#331;] adj. 私下的；暗自的；不敢公開承認的。suspicion [s#601;#712;sp#618;#643;n] n. 懷疑；猜疑；疑心

6.bibliophile [#712;b#618;bli#601;fa#618;l] n. 書籍愛好者；圖書收藏者，藏書家

7.francophone [#712;fr#230;#331;k#601;f#601;#650;n] adj. 講法語的

8.lusophone [#712;lu#720;s#601;f#601;#650;n] adj. 說葡萄牙語的

9.precious little: 一點點；極少

10.yarn [jɑ#720;n] n. (經(jīng)添油加醋而更加扣人心弦的)故事；奇談

11.preserve [pr#618;#712;z#601;rv] n. [正式]獨占的活動范圍；獨占的領(lǐng)域

12.griot [#712;ɡri#720;#601;#650;] n. (說唱部落史和家族史等的)西非歌舞藝人

13.-cum-: 置于兩名詞之間以構(gòu)成復(fù)合名詞，表示“連同、兼作”等意。

This was particularly true for francophone7) and lusophone8) African countries. There's precious little9) on offer for states such as the Comoros， Madagascar， Guinea-Bissau， and Mozambique—I had to rely on unpublished manuscripts for several of these. And when it came to the tiny island nation of Sao Tome Principe， I would have been stuck without a team of volunteers in Europe and the US who translated a book of short stories by Santomean writer Olinda Beja just so that I could have something to read.

Then there were places where stories are rarely written down. If you're after a good yarn10) in the Marshall Islands， for example， you're more likely to go and ask the local chief's permission to hear one of the local storytellers than you are to pick up a book. Similarly， in Niger， legends have traditionally been the preserve11) of griots12) (expert narrators-cum-13)musicians trained in the nation's lore14) from around the age of seven). Written versions of their fascinating performances are few and far between15)—and can only ever capture a small part of the experience of listening for yourself.

If that wasn't enough， politics threw me the odd curveball16) too. The foundation of South Sudan on 9 July 2011—although a joyful event for its citizens， who had lived through decades of civil war to get there—posed something of a challenge. Lacking roads， hospitals， schools， or basic infrastructure， the six-month-old country seemed unlikely to have published any books since its creation. If it hadn't been for a local contact putting me in touch with writer Julia Duany， who penned17) me a bespoke18) short story， I might have had to catch a plane to Juba and try to get someone to tell me a tale face to face.

All in all， tracking down stories like these took as much time as the reading and blogging. It was a tall order19) to fit it all in20) around work and many were the nights when I sat bleary21)-eyed into the small hours22) to make sure I stuck to my target of reading one book every 1.87 days.這一難題對說法語和葡萄牙語的非洲國家尤為明顯。某些國家的書在售的少之又少，如科摩羅、馬達加斯加島、幾內(nèi)亞比紹共和國和莫桑比克，對于其中幾個國家，我不得不依賴于未出版的手稿。而在尋找圣多美和普林西比這一小島國的作品時，若不是歐洲和美國的一批志愿者幫忙，我就會陷入困境。多虧這些志愿者翻譯了圣多美作家奧林達·貝雅的一部短篇小說集，我才有了閱讀材料。

還有一些地方，故事幾乎不寫下來。比如，你若想在馬紹爾群島找一個好故事，很可能要去征求當?shù)厥最I(lǐng)的同意，以便去聽當?shù)啬硞€說書人講述，而不是去捧起一本書閱讀。同樣，在尼日爾，傳奇故事歷來是歌舞藝人(從七歲左右開始接受尼日爾傳說故事培訓(xùn)的專業(yè)說書人兼音樂人)的專屬領(lǐng)域。他們精彩表演的書面版本寥寥無幾，而且也僅能描述出現(xiàn)場聽書感受的一小部分。

這還不夠，就連政治也冷不丁給我丟來了不尋常的難題。2011年7月9日，南蘇丹共和國成立了。盡管這對它的人民來說是一件值得高興的大事——他們經(jīng)受了幾十年內(nèi)戰(zhàn)才走到今天——但這也帶來了某種挑戰(zhàn)。缺少公路、醫(yī)院、學(xué)?；蚧A(chǔ)設(shè)施，這個只有六個月歷史的國家似乎自建國以來就不太可能出版過什么書籍。若不是通過與當?shù)厝私佑|聯(lián)系上了一位名為茱莉婭·端尼的作家，她專門為我寫了一篇短篇小說，我可能還得乘飛機去朱巴(編注：南蘇丹首都)，設(shè)法找一個人面對面地給我講個故事。

總而言之，我在尋找此類故事上花費的時間與閱讀、寫博客花費的時間一樣多。工作之余要做所有這些事真是高難度任務(wù)，許多時候都是在夜晚，我睡眼惺忪地坐到下半夜，以確保自己能堅持完成每1.87天讀完一本書的目標。But the effort was worth it. As I made my way through23) the planet's literary landscapes， extraordinary things started to happen. Far from24) simply armchair travelling25)， I found I was inhabiting the mental space of the storytellers. In the company of Bhutanese writer Kunzang Choden， I wasn't simply visiting exotic26) temples， but seeing them as a local Buddhist would. Transported by the imagination of Galsan Tschinag， I wandered through the preoccupations27) of a shepherd boy in Mongolia's Altai Mountains. With Nu Nu Yi as my guide， I experienced a religious festival in Myanmar from a transgender medium's28) perspective.

In the hands of gifted writers， I discovered， bookpacking29) offered something a physical traveller could hope to experience only rarely: it took me inside the thoughts of individuals living far away and showed me the world through their eyes. More powerful than a thousand news reports， these stories not only opened my mind to the nuts and bolts30) of life in other places， but opened my heart to the way people there might feel.

And that in turn changed my thinking. Through reading the stories shared with me by bookish strangers around the globe， I realised I was not an isolated person， but part of a network that stretched all over the planet.

One by one， the country names on the list that had begun as an intellectual exercise at the start of the year transformed into vital31)， vibrant32) places filled with laughter， love， anger， hope， and fear. Lands that had once seemed exotic and remote became close and familiar to me—places I could identify with33). At its best， I learned， fiction makes the world real.不過，這些努力是值得的。當我克服萬難在世界文學(xué)的美景中穿行時，奇特的事情開始發(fā)生了。和足不出戶通過影視等方式了解世界的旅游截然不同，我發(fā)現(xiàn)自己置身于作家們的精神世界。在名為孔章·喬登的不丹作家的陪同下，我不僅參觀了一座座頗具異國風(fēng)情的寺廟，還從當?shù)胤鸾掏降慕嵌热チ私饬怂鼈儭３酥駹柹て跄歉璧南胂罅?，我徜徉在蒙古國阿爾泰山一個小牧童專注的世界里。有努努依當向?qū)?，我得以從一個變性人巫師的角度體驗緬甸的一個宗教節(jié)日。

我發(fā)現(xiàn)，通過才華橫溢的作家的筆觸，讀書旅行可以提供身體力行的旅行者能夠奢望的罕見體驗：它帶領(lǐng)我進入遠居他鄉(xiāng)的人們的思想，為我展示了他們眼中的世界。這些故事遠遠勝過一千條新聞報道，它們不僅開拓了我的視野，讓我了解到別處的生活點滴，而且也讓我敞開心靈，去體會當?shù)厝丝赡艿母惺芊绞健?/p>

這反過來也改變了我的想法。通過閱讀與我素昧平生的、來自全球的讀書愛好者跟我分享的故事，我意識到自己并非孤立的個體，而是遍布全球的網(wǎng)絡(luò)中的一員。

清單上那些國家的名字在年初時還像一場智力測驗似的，隨后一個接一個地變成了生機勃勃、富有活力的地方，這些地方充滿了歡笑、愛意、憤怒、希望和恐懼。那些曾經(jīng)看起來充滿異國情調(diào)又遙不可及的土地變得親近又熟悉，成為我可以與之相關(guān)聯(lián)的地方。最棒的是，我認識到，虛構(gòu)的小說讓世界變得真實。14.lore [l#596;#720;(r)] n. (某一文化或活動領(lǐng)域的)全部傳說

15.few and far between: 稀少的

16.throw someone a curveball: 出人意料地給某人設(shè)置障礙

17.pen [pen] vt. 寫；撰寫

18.bespoke [b#618;#712;sp#601;#650;k] adj. 專門定做的

19.tall order: 難以完成的任務(wù)；過高的要求

20.fit in: 安排時間做(某事)

21.bleary [#712;bl#618;#601;ri] adj. (眼睛因睡眠不足等而)紅腫多淚的；視線模糊的；惺忪的

22.the small hours: 下半夜；凌晨

23.make one's way through: 在阻礙重重的路上前行

24.far from: 和……完全不同

25.armchair travel: 通過看電視、電影、小說等方式足不出戶了解世界

26.exotic [#618;ɡ#712;z#594;t#618;k] adj. 具有異國情調(diào)的；奇異的

27.preoccupation [pri#716;#594;kju#712;pe#618;#643;n] n. 全神貫注；令人全神貫注的事物

28.medium [#712;mi#720;di#601;m] n. 巫師；靈媒(自稱能在死人和活人之間傳遞信息的人)

29.bookpacking: 該詞從backpacking (背包旅行)演變而來，在此指“讀書旅行”。

30.nuts and bolts: [俗]具體內(nèi)容；基本內(nèi)容

31.vital [#712;va#618;tl] adj. 充滿活力的；生氣蓬勃的

32.vibrant [#712;va#618;br#601;nt] adj. 有活力的；充滿生氣的；活躍的

33.identify with: 與……聯(lián)系起來