多功能英语阅读16 Tough Lesson

Tough Lesson

Reza was very pleased to describe to me the old glories of the Buddhist¹ center,

Bihar, which was a famous place for education. He said that many scholars of Dhaka

who were held in high esteem² went to different parts of the world to impart their

knowledge and ideology³. But alas⁴! The standard of education had decreased so much.

Then he asked me, "Do you have any idea how nuch it costs to admit a little child

in any famous English medium school in Dhaka?"

I had no idea. But just wanted to take a chance, "Two thousand?"

"Twenty to thirty thousand takas! That is equivalent to one to two thousand

US dollars! A huge burden to most families."

"Only those who suffered knew the agony of the situation. Let me tell you the

experience of my uncle. Then you will understand." Reza added.

Reza continued...

"My uncle was working on an assembly line of audio-visual equipment in a

multi-national company. Most of his colleagues had children studying in English

medium schools and learning the alphabet and nouns in singular and plural⁵ forms

as well as adjectives and verbs at a very young age. Children at such school were

able to recite verses and compose English essays and write summaries in Grade 3;

they amplify⁶ matters with clarity and perception by illustration, analogy and

inference. Although he was a layman⁷ of juvenile⁸ education, empirically, he

calculated that the future of his son would be freferable if he could get the

oppertunity to study in an English medium school and fully⁹ harness his potential.

There were different rules in Englis medium schools. They used a special

criterion to appraise¹⁰ the qualifications of students. A child had to be admitted

in a school just at age of four. Some schools had provision that both the parents

must have obtained master degrees to be eligible¹¹ to fill out an admission form.

In this case my uncle faced a severe problem, as my aunt only had a Bachelor of

Arts degree. So my uncle had no alternatives but to admit her to a Master of Arts

program. After all, he wanted to avert¹² a similar situation at the time when his

son would apply for admission to a college in the future.

"My uncle started to search for best opportunity. But the job was not very

easy."

"Harvard International Islamic School, refused to accept his son in the

school, as he had no beard! Jupiter Garden School refused to accept a student

whose guardian's whose monthly income was less than 50 000 takas!!"

"My uncle was demoralized but did not abandon fighting for the welfare of

his little son. He went from school to school in search of an admission form.

"Finally he found it! The adjacent Lower Middle Class English Medium

School told him that they could admit his som if he passed the entry test.

The admission charge would be only 2000 takas and an additional charge of

10 000 takas had to be donated to the development fund. The monthly tuition

fee would be 2200 takas, including food.

"There was nothing in this world that could stop my uncle from taking

this opportunity. He sold his fertile land in the frontier village to collect

the money. He got his son admitted to three different kindergartens and

coaching centers. The preparation did not stop there. My aunt and uncle took

personal slots to teach the minor¹³ child. There was a 16-hour long curriculum.

"Just think about the poor child of four! He had gotten thinner. Even

some of his hair had turned gray! Obviously, studying all day without any

recreation had drained his energy; furthermore, his psychological condition

had deteriorated¹⁴ and his physical growth was constraind. But nobody had the

time to notice. Everybody was shouting, 'read, read!'

Finally the crucial deadline came. My uncle went with his son to the

school for the interview.

The principal of the school asked the little boy to sit in a chair right

beside her.

"What is the name of the president of America?" asked the principal

softly.

"Bush", said the child in a Dhaka accent.

"What is the name fo his dog?" the principal asked in a harsh voice,

looking at my uncle!

My uncle was astonished. "Are you asking me?"

"Yes, of course! We have to evaluate your qualification too!!"

My uncle started to feel like a fish out of water. He thought he knew the

name of the dog! But could not remember it properly.

"Tommy? Tony? No, no. Lora or may be Brownie?"

The principal started at him mercilessly. Then she turned towards the

little boy.

"What is the spelling of fox?"

"F-O-X", replied the child promptly¹⁵.

"Now, you", asked the principal, looking at my helpless uncle, "What is

the spelling renaissance¹⁶?"

My uncle was completely lost. He started scratching his head. He tried

for several times to spell it but clearly understood that he just did not

know the spelling.

"Very sorry, we cannot admit your son in our school. You can go now. We

have other parents waiting," gestured the principal.

My uncle was so shocked that he did not say a word. He took his son and

started straight back for home.

He kept silent for the whole day. But his son was not silent. He told

everybody in the cabin word by word about what had happened inside the

principal's room. He even showed others, how his father reacted to different

questions by acting¹⁷ perfectly¹⁸.

Now my poor aunt got her oppertunity to take revenge. She yelled at the

top of her voice and reproached our uncle for his errors.

Finishing the story Reza started laughing.

"So, your cousing did not get admitted at school?" I inquired.

"Of course he did. My uncle took him to a Government Primary School the

next week and admitted him there. He now personally looks after the education

of his son. The memory of the English medium school has left my uncle. My

cousin finished first in the half yearly examination", concluded Reza.

1 Buddhist   

adj./n.佛教的，佛教徒

参考例句：

• The old lady fell down in adoration before Buddhist images.那老太太在佛像面前顶礼膜拜。
• In the eye of the Buddhist,every worldly affair is vain.在佛教徒的眼里，人世上一切事情都是空的。

2 esteem   

n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• The veteran worker ranks high in public love and esteem.那位老工人深受大伙的爱戴。

3 ideology   

n.意识形态，(政治或社会的)思想意识

参考例句：

• The ideology has great influence in the world.这种思想体系在世界上有很大的影响。
• The ideal is to strike a medium between ideology and inspiration.我的理想是在意识思想和灵感鼓动之间找到一个折衷。

4 alas   

int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等)

参考例句：

• Alas!The window is broken!哎呀！窗子破了！
• Alas,the truth is less romantic.然而，真理很少带有浪漫色彩。

5 plural   

n.复数；复数形式；adj.复数的

参考例句：

• Most plural nouns in English end in's '.英语的复数名词多以s结尾。
• Here you should use plural pronoun.这里你应该用复数代词。

6 amplify   

vt.放大，增强；详述，详加解说

参考例句：

• The new manager wants to amplify the company.新经理想要扩大公司。
• Please amplify your remarks by giving us some examples.请举例详述你的话。

7 layman   

n.俗人，门外汉，凡人

参考例句：

• These technical terms are difficult for the layman to understand.这些专门术语是外行人难以理解的。
• He is a layman in politics.他对政治是个门外汉。

8 juvenile   

n.青少年，少年读物；adj.青少年的，幼稚的

参考例句：

• For a grown man he acted in a very juvenile manner.身为成年人，他的行为举止显得十分幼稚。
• Juvenile crime is increasing at a terrifying rate.青少年犯罪正在以惊人的速度增长。

9 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

10 appraise   

v.估价，评价，鉴定

参考例句：

• An expert came to appraise the value of my antiques.一位专家来对我的古玩作了估价。
• It is very high that people appraise to his thesis.人们对他的论文评价很高。

11 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。

12 avert   

v.防止，避免；转移(目光、注意力等)

参考例句：

• He managed to avert suspicion.他设法避嫌。
• I would do what I could to avert it.我会尽力去避免发生这种情况。

13 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

14 deteriorated   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Her health deteriorated rapidly, and she died shortly afterwards. 她的健康状况急剧恶化，不久便去世了。
• His condition steadily deteriorated. 他的病情恶化，日甚一日。

15 promptly   

adv.及时地，敏捷地

参考例句：

• He paid the money back promptly.他立即还了钱。
• She promptly seized the opportunity his absence gave her.她立即抓住了因他不在场给她创造的机会。

16 renaissance   

n.复活，复兴，文艺复兴

参考例句：

• The Renaissance was an epoch of unparalleled cultural achievement.文艺复兴是一个文化上取得空前成就的时代。
• The theme of the conference is renaissance Europe.大会的主题是文艺复兴时期的欧洲。

17 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

18 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。