英文原文
I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great 1)artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. It might even be the greatest of the arts since the 2)medium is the human mind and spirit.
I shall speak only of my first teacher because 3)in addition to the other things, she brought discovery.
She aroused us to shouting, bookwaving discussions. She had the noisiest class in school and she didn’t even seem to know it. We could never 4)stick to the subject. She breathed curiosity into us so that we brought in facts or truths 5)shielded in our hands like 6)captured 7)fireflies.
She was fired and perhaps 8)rightly so, for failing to teach 9)fundamentals. such things must be learned. But she left a passion in us for the pure knowable world and she 10)inflamed me with a curiosity which has never left. I could not do simple 11)arithmetic but through her I sensed that 12)abstract 13)mathematics was very much like music.
When she was relieved, a sadness came over us but the light did not go out. She left her 14)signature on us, the literature of the teacher who writes on minds. I suppose that to a large extent I am the unsigned 15)manuscript of the high school teacher. What deathless power lies in the hands of such a person.
I can tell my son who looks forward with horror to fifteen years of 16)drudgery that somewhere in the 17)dusty dark a magic may happen that will 18)light up the years... if he is very lucky.
【词汇注释】
1) artist n. 艺术家，画家
2) medium n. 媒体，媒介
3) in addition to 除……之外
4) stick to 坚持，固守
5) shield v. 遮蔽，防护
6) captured a. 被捕获的
7) firefly n. 萤火虫
8) rightly adv. 正当地，正确地
9) fundamental n. 基本原理
10) inflame v. 燃起
11) arithmetic n. 算术
12) abstract a. 抽象的
13) mathematics n. 数学
14) signature n. 签名
15) manuscript n. 原稿，手稿
16) drudgery n. 苦工
17) dusty a. 尘土的
18) light up 点亮
参考译文
良师，乃人生一幸
我相信一名好老师就是一名伟大的艺术家，而且相信好的老师和伟大的艺术家一样难得。教书也许是一门最伟大的艺术，因为它的媒体是人的大脑和灵魂。
我特别要说一说我的第一位老师，她教会我们其他知识，也教会我们如何探求知识。
她让我们大声讨论，挥舞着书本。她的课堂是全校最乱的课堂，而她对此却好像全然不知。我们从不会拘泥于一个科目上。她培养我们的好奇心，让我们自己去发现事实和真理，把它们攥在手中，像被捕捉的萤火虫一样。
她因未能教授我们基础知识而被解雇了，或许这理由很正当，因为这些知识一定要学。但是她给我们留下了对纯粹的可知世界的热情；她燃起我求知的热情，这种热情前所未有。我虽然不会计算简单的算术题，但是通过她，我感到抽象的数学与音乐非常地相似。
当她被解聘时，我们都很难过，但是那片光明并没有消失。她给我们留下她的签名，那是老师写在我们心中的作品。我想在很大程度上，我正是那位中学老师未经签名的手稿。这样一个人拥有多么永恒的力量啊。
我可以告诉我那恐惧地等待15年寒窗之苦的儿子，如果他非常幸运的话，在一片混沌黑暗中，也许会有神奇的事情发生，使他的学生时代一片光明。
