陈老师的新名单
The retired teacher: a Chinese short story
Name: ________________ Date: ________
陈老师当了三十八年的语文老师，今年六月，终于退休了。
退休后的第一天早上，她六点就醒了。她按照几十年的习惯，起床、洗脸，然后去书桌上找没批改完的作业，找到一半才想起来：从今天开始，她不用再上课了。她默默地在沙发上坐下，屋子里安静得让人难受。她第一次觉得，时间过得这么慢。
一个星期过去了，她每天只做三件事：买菜、做饭、看电视，日子过得平平淡淡。女儿在国外工作，偶尔才打一次电话；丈夫几年前就去世了。有时候她会想：这辈子教过的学生有一千多个，可是现在，还有谁记得我呢？想到这里，她心里有点儿寂寞。
这天下午，她的自行车坏了。她推着车，走到路口的修车铺。修车的师傅是一个胖胖的中年男人。他抬头看了她一眼，愣住了。他的动作很熟练，很快就把车修好了，却礼貌地拒绝了她的钱。
“陈老师，您不记得我了？我是刘强啊！1995年毕业的，上课总迟到的那个！”他笑着说，“您那时候每天都站在学校门口等着我，说我再迟到，就让我站着上课。后来，我真的一次也没有迟到过。”
陈老师也笑了，心里很感动。她终于想起来了：那个瘦瘦小小的男孩，现在竟然比她高一个头了。
从那以后，奇怪的事情一件接着一件。在药店里，给她拿药的年轻女孩小声问：“陈老师，您还好吧？”在公共汽车上，司机认出了她，特意等她坐好了才开车。在菜市场，卖鱼的老板坚持要给她挑最大的一条。原来，这个小城里到处都是她的学生，只是她以前从来没有注意过。
一个月以后，她感冒发烧，只好去了医院。年轻的医生戴着眼镜，看了半天她的病历，突然抬起头：“陈老师，您还记得我吗？我是那个上课总睡觉的学生啊！”
陈老师犹豫了一下，又仔细地看了他一会儿，说：“记得。你睡觉的时候，还打呼噜。”
医生的脸一下子红了，旁边的护士忍不住笑出了声。陈老师自己也笑了，好像又回到了教室里。
那天晚上，陈老师戴上老花镜，找出一个新本子。她在第一页上写：“修车铺，刘强，不迟到了。”然后是药店、公共汽车、菜市场、医院……她写了一页又一页。
写完以后，她看着这个本子，觉得它很像一份新的学生名单。她决定，明天还要去公园走走，看看那里还有谁。
Key words
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 习惯 | xíguàn | habit; custom; to be used to; to get used to |
| 作业 | zuòyè | work; operation |
| 不用 | búyòng | need not; don't have to |
| 当 | dāng | when; at the time of |
| 醒 | xǐng | to wake up |
| 按照 | ànzhào | according to; in accordance with |
| 难受 | nánshòu | uncomfortable; ill; unwell |
| 偶尔 | óu’ěr | occasionally; once in a while |
| 推 | tuī | to recommend (as in 推荐) |
| 抬头 | táitóu | to raise one's head |
| 动作 | dòngzuò | movement; action; move; motion |
| 礼貌 | lǐmào | courtesy; manners; polite; courteous |
English (for the teacher)
Teacher Chen had taught Chinese for thirty-eight years, and this June she finally retired.
On the first morning of her retirement, she was awake by six. Following the habit of decades, she got up, washed her face and went to her desk to look for the homework she hadn't finished marking, and only halfway through the search did she remember: from today on, she didn't have to teach any more. She sat down quietly on the sofa; the flat was so quiet it hurt. For the first time, she felt how slowly time could pass.
A week went by, and every day she did just three things: buy groceries, cook and watch TV, her days plain and uneventful. Her daughter worked abroad and only called now and then; her husband had died a few years before. Sometimes she thought: I've taught more than a thousand students in my life, but now, who still remembers me? Thinking about it made her feel a little lonely.
That afternoon, her bike broke down. She pushed it to the repair stall at the corner. The repairman was a chubby middle-aged man. He looked up at her and froze. His hands were quick and skilled, and he soon had the bike fixed, but he politely refused her money.
“Teacher Chen, don't you remember me? It's me, Liu Qiang! Class of 1995, the one who was always late for class!” He laughed. “Back then you stood at the school gate every day waiting for me, and said if I was late again I'd have to stand through the lesson. After that, I really was never late again, not once.”
Teacher Chen laughed too, deeply touched. At last she remembered: that skinny little boy was now a whole head taller than her.
From then on, strange things happened one after another. At the pharmacy, the young woman getting her medicine asked quietly: “Teacher Chen, are you keeping well?” On the bus, the driver recognised her and waited specially until she was sitting down before he pulled off. At the market, the fish seller insisted on picking out the biggest fish for her. It turned out this little town was full of her students; she had just never noticed before.
A month later she caught a cold with a fever and had to go to the hospital. The young doctor, in glasses, studied her medical record for a long time, then suddenly looked up: “Teacher Chen, do you remember me? I'm the student who always slept in class!”
Teacher Chen hesitated, looked at him carefully for a moment, and said: “I remember. You used to snore, too.”
The doctor went red at once, and the nurse beside him couldn't help laughing out loud. Teacher Chen laughed as well, as if she were back in the classroom.
That evening, Teacher Chen put on her reading glasses and found a new notebook. On the first page she wrote: “Bike repair stall, Liu Qiang, not late any more.” Then came the pharmacy, the bus, the market, the hospital… She filled page after page.
When she had finished, she looked at the notebook and thought it looked a lot like a new class list. She decided that tomorrow she would take a walk in the park, too, and see who else was there.