20. A Wonderful Teacher 一位好老师

Allison was still on the nineteenth story.

The desks were arranged in clusters¹ of four. Allison sat at a cluster² with a girl named Virginia, a boy named Nick, and a boy named Ray.

But Virginia looked old enough to be her mother. And Nick looked like he should be in high school. Ray was a couple of years younger than Allison.

"Miss Zarves is a wonderful teacher," said Virginia in a singsong voice. "She's the nicest teacher I ever had."

112

"She's the only teacher you ever had," said Nick.

"So? She's still nice," said Virginia. "I've always gotten all A's."

"Aren't you a little old to be going to school?" Allison asked her.

"You're never to old to learn," said Virginia.

"No one ever leaves Miss Zarves's class," said Nick. "How long have you been here, Virginia?"

Virginia thought a moment. "Thirty-two wonderful years."

"I've been here nine years," said Nick.

"But she always gives us good grades," said Virginia.

"That's true," Nick agreed. "I've gotten all A's since I've been here too."

"Me too," said Ray. "And sometimes I answer all the problems wrong on purpose!"

"Where were you before you came here?" Allison asked him.

"I went to, um, I was ..." Ray shook his head. "That's funny-I don't remember."

"I don't remember where I came from either," said Virginia.

"Well, I do!" said Allison. "I was in . . ." But suddenly she couldn't remember either. Then it came to her. "Mrs. Jewls's class! And Rondi was in the class, and Jason, and Dana, and Todd ..."

She named every member of the class, including all three Erics. She didn't want to forget where she

113

came from. If I forget where I came from, I might never get back, she thought.

"Did you say there was a girl named Bebe Gunn?" asked Ray.

"Yes," said Allison. "Bebe's a very good artist."

"My last name is Gunn, too," said Ray. "I wonder if we're related."

"Ray, no talking please," said Miss Zarves. "Now, everyone please take out a pencil and some paper. I want you to write all the numbers from zero to a million in alphabetical³ order."

"From zero to a million?" asked Allison. She couldn't believe it.

"Don't worry," said Virginia. "If you run out of paper, Miss Zarves has more in the closet."

Allison stared at her in horror. "But it will take over a hundred years," she said.

"So?" asked Virginia. "What's your hurry?"

Allison started to work. It was bad enough having to write down all the numbers from zero to a million, but she couldn't imagine how she'd ever put them in alphabetical order.

One came before two.

Three came after one, but before two.

Four came before one.

Five came before four.

Six came after one, but before three.

"Don't worry," said Virginia. "Even if you miss a

114

few, Miss Zarves will give you an A when you finish."

Seven came after one and before six.

Eight came first. Allison couldn't think of any number that would come before eight, so she wrote it down. She also knew zero would come last, if she ever got that far. By then she'd be older than Virginia.

Ill talk to Louis at recess⁴, she thought. He'll save me.

"When's recess?" she asked.

"There is no recess," said Ray. "We're not allowed out of the classroom."

"What about if you have to go to the bathroom?"

"What's a bathroom?" asked Virginia.

"We don't eat, either," said Nick. "We just work all the time."

"But we never have homework," Virginia said cheerfully.

"That's because we never go home," said Nick. "We get a two-minute break every eleven hours."

"But don't worry," said Virginia. "Miss Zarves always gives us good grades."

Miss Zarves walked around the room checking everybody's work. "Excellent, Ray!" she said. "Very good, Virginia. You're doing wonderfully, Allison. You get an A for the day."

Big deal! thought Allison. She had to figure out some way out of there. It was clear that Virginia, Nick, and Ray were all too far gone to help her.

115

"Are there any other new kids in the class?" she asked.

"Ben's new," said Nick. He pointed⁵ Ben out to her.

Ben appeared to be about Allison's age. She was glad about that. When the two-minute break came, she went over and talked to him.

"Are you Ben?" she asked.

"No," he said.

"Oh," said Allison. "I was looking for Ben."

"That's me," said the boy.

"But you just said-"

"My name's Mark Miller⁶," said the boy. "But for some reason everybody calls me Benjamin Nushmutt."

"There's a Mark Miller in my class!" exclaimed Allison.

"I know, that's me," said Mark. "I'm Mark Miller."

"No, I mean my other class," said Allison.

"What other class?"

Allison thought a moment. "I don't remember. ..." she said.

After putting numbers in alphabetical order for eleven hours, her brain had turned into spaghetti.

"Time's up," said Miss Zarves. "Everyone back to work."

1 clusters   

n.（果实、花等的）串( cluster的名词复数 )；簇；（人、物等的）群；组v.（使）集中( cluster的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• These small particles agglomerate together to form larger clusters. 这些颗粒聚结形成较大的团。
• Sometimes several clusters of white clouds drift across the blue sky. 蔚蓝色的天空中，时而飘过几朵白云。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 cluster   

n.串，簇，群，组；vi.群集，丛生；vt.集中

参考例句：

• She held a cluster of flowers in her arms.她抱着一束鲜花。
• A cluster of tourists was surrounded in the hill.一群游客被困在了山中。

3 alphabetical   

adj.字母（表）的，依字母顺序的

参考例句：

• Please arrange these books in alphabetical order.请把这些书按字母顺序整理一下。
• There is no need to maintain a strict alphabetical sequence.不必保持严格的字顺。

4 recess   

n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处）

参考例句：

• The chairman of the meeting announced a ten-minute recess.会议主席宣布休会10分钟。
• Parliament was hastily recalled from recess.休会的议员被匆匆召回开会。

5 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

6 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。