交白卷的差生逆袭成英国首相，秘诀竟是学好英语？

周末好！

关注英语环球双语散文的小伙伴一定知道，我们已经推送过不少英国传奇首相温斯顿·丘吉尔的作品。

无论是经典的二战演讲，还是战地日记，都可以从中领略到他的写作才能和独特风格。

不过，你知道吗？少年时期的丘吉尔曾经是一名公认的“差生”。

丘吉尔中学就读于英国名校哈罗公学。

哈罗公学创建于1572年，是英国最负盛名的私立学校之一，与伊顿公学齐名。哈罗公学有自己的特殊传统，最著名的代表是学生的硬草帽。

Harrow

Harrow School is an independent boarding school for boys in Harrow, London, England. The School was founded in 1572 by John Lyon under a Royal Charter of Elizabeth I, and is one of the original seven public schools that were regulated by the Public Schools Act 1868.

1888年3月，丘吉尔从汤姆逊学校转到哈罗公学读书。

因为父亲伦道夫勋爵的面子，丘吉尔被学校录取。但由于在考试中交了白卷，他被编在成绩最差的一个班中最末的一个组。

在《哈罗公学》中，丘吉尔回忆了那次入学考试，以及自己的中学时光。

今天推送的是这篇文章的上半部分。

先来学习一下文中出现的部分单词。

invariably adv. 不变地，无例外地

willingly adv. 欣然地，乐意地

discernment n. 洞察力

smudge n. 污迹，污点

foolscap n. 大页书写纸

alphabetical adj. 字母的

invidious adj. 引起反感的

irreverent adj. 无礼的，文不对题的

unpretentious adj. 不张扬的，谦逊的

dunce n. 笨蛋，笨学生

parse n. 语法分析

pithy adj. 精辟的

whip v. 鞭笞

请听沈汀、罗来明为您朗读。中文版本由王义国翻译。

Harrow

哈罗公学

I had scarcely passed my twelfth birthday when I entered the inhospitable regions of examinations, through which for the next seven years I was destined to journey. These examinations were a great trial to me. The subjects which were dearest to the examiners were almost invariably those I fancied least. I would have liked to have been examined in history, poetry, and writing essays. The examiners, on the other hand, were partial to Latin and mathematics. And their will prevailed. Moreover, the questions which they asked on both these subjects were almost invariably those to which I was unable to suggest a satisfactory answer. I should have liked to be asked to say what I knew. They always tried to ask what I did not know. When I would have willingly displayed my knowledge, they sought to expose my ignorance. This sort of treatment had only one result: I did not do well in examinations.

This was especially true of my entrance examination to Harrow. The headmaster, Dr. Welldon, however, took a broad-minded view of my Latin prose: he showed discernment in judging my general ability. This was the more remarkable, because I was found unable to answer a single question in the Latin paper. I wrote my name at the top of the page. I wrote down the number of the question “I.” After much reflection I put a bracket round it thus “(I)”. But thereafter I could not think of anything connected with it that was either relevant or true. Incidentally there arrived from nowhere in particular a blot and several smudges. I gazed for two whole hours at this sad spectacle: and then merciful ushers collected my piece of foolscap with all the others and carried it up to the headmaster’s table. It was from these slender indications of scholarship that Dr. Welldon drew the conclusion that I was worthy to pass into Harrow. It is very much to his credit. It showed that he was a man capable of looking beneath the surface of things: a man not dependent upon paper manifestations. I have always had the greatest regard for him.

In consequence of his decision, I was in due course placed in the third, or lowest, division of the Fourth, or bottom, Form. The names of the new boys were printed in the school list in alphabetical order; and as my correct name, Spencer-Churchill, began with an “S,” I gained no more advantage from the alphabet than from the wider sphere of letters. I was in fact only two from the bottom of the whole school; and these two, I regret to say, disappeared almost immediately through illness or some other cause.

The Harrow custom of calling the roll is different from that of Eton. At Eton the boys stand in a cluster and lift their hats when their names are called. At Harrow they file past a master in the school yard and answer one by one. My position was therefore revealed in its somewhat invidious humility. It was the year 1887. Lord Randolph Churchill had only just resigned his position as Leader of the House of Commons and Chancellor of the Exchequer, and he still towered in the forefront of politics. In consequence large numbers of visitors of both sexes used to wait on the school steps, in order to see me march by; and I frequently heard the irreverent comment, “Why, he’s last of all!”

I continued in this unpretentious situation for nearly a year, However, by being so long in the lowest form I gained an immense advantage over the cleverer boys. They all went on to learn Latin and Greek and splendid things like that. But I was taught English. We were considered such dunces that we could learn only English. Mr. Somervell – a most delightful man, to whom my debt is great – was charged with the duty of teaching the stupidest boys the most disregarded thing – namely, to write mere English. He knew how to do it. He taught it as no one else has ever taught it. Not only did we learn English parsing thoroughly, but we also practiced continually English analysis. Mr. Somervell had a system of his own. He took a fairly long sentence and broke it up into its components by means of black, red, blue, and green inks. Subject, verb, object: relative clauses, conditional clauses, conjunctive and disjunctive clauses! Each had its color and its bracket. It was a kind of drill. We did it almost daily. As I remained in the Third Fourth three times as long as anyone else, I had three times as much of it. I learned it thoroughly. Thus I got into my bones the essential structure of the ordinary British sentence – which is a noble thing. And when in after years my schoolfellows who had won prizes and distinction for writing such beautiful Latin poetry and pithy Greek epigrams had to come down again to common English, to earn their living or make their way, I did not feel myself at any disadvantage. Naturally I am biased in favor of boys learning English. I would make them all learn English: and then I would let the clever ones learn Latin as an honor, and Greek as a treat. But the only thing I would whip them for would be for not knowing English. I would whip them hard for that.

我刚刚过完12岁的生日，便进入了考试的这些不友好的领域，在以后的7年时间里我注定要在这些领域里旅行。这些考试对我来说是一个巨大的磨难。考官们最珍视的那些科目，几乎毫无例外都是那些我最不喜欢的科目。我倒是想考历史、诗歌和文章写作，而考官们则偏爱拉丁文和数学。而他们的意志又占了上风。除此之外，在这两个科目上他们所问的问题，几乎毫无例外都是我无法提出一个令人满意的答案的问题。我倒是想被问到能说出我知道的事情的问题。他们总是试图问我不知道的事情。我倒是想欣然展现出我的知识，他们却寻求暴露出我的无知。这种对待只有一个结果，我考试成绩不好。

我的哈罗公学入学考试尤其如此。然而校长韦尔登博士，却对我的拉丁语散文诗有一种宽宏大量的看法；在判断我的总体能力上，他表现出了洞察力。这是愈加非同凡响了，因为人们发现，在拉丁文试卷上我一个问题都没有能力回答出。我在试卷顶部写上我的名字。我写下问题一的题号“I”。在思考再三后，我在题号上加上了括号。但在那以后，我无法想到与它有关的任何或者是相关或者是正确的事情。碰巧不知道从哪个特定的地方出现了一处墨水渍和几个污迹。整整两个小时我都是在凝视这个悲惨的景象：然后仁慈的助理教员收起了我的那张大页纸，连同别的卷子一起，送到了校长的桌子上。正是从学问的这些微不足道的蛛丝马迹中，韦尔登博士得出了结论，我应该是考试通过，可以入学哈罗公学。这在很大程度上归功于他。这表明，他是一个能够透过表面看到本质的人：是一个不以卷面取人的人。我始终都对他怀有最大的尊敬。

由于他的决定，我如期被安排在四年级三班，四年级是最低的年级，三班是四年级里最低的班。新生的名字按字母顺序印在学校名单上；鉴于我的正确的名字斯潘塞•丘吉尔是以“S”开头的，所以从字母表我也没有捞到比学问更广阔的领域更多的好处。事实上我是全校倒数第三名；而在我下面的那两位，我遗憾地说，他们由于生病或者某种别的原因又几乎立即消失了。

哈罗公学点名的习惯与伊顿公学不同。在伊顿，孩子们成群地站着，点到谁的名字谁就把帽子举起来。在哈罗，孩子们在操场里排成一列，从一位男教师的面前走过，一个又一个地回答。因而我的位置以其多少让我反感的谦恭被揭示出来了。那是1887年。伦道夫•丘吉尔爵士刚刚辞去了他的下议院领袖和英国财政大臣的职位，而他仍然在政治的前线屹立着。结果大量的男女访问者们也就往往站在学校的台阶上等着，为的要看我从面前走过，而我则频繁听到这个文不对题的评论，“哟，他是倒数第一名！”

几乎有一年的时间，我一直处于这种不张扬的形势之中。然而，由于在这么长的时间里呆在最低的年级里，与更聪明的孩子们相比，我取得了巨大的优势。他们全都继而学习拉丁语和希腊语以及类似的辉煌的东西。但教给我的却是英语。我们被看做是这样的笨学生，因而只能学英语。萨默维尔先生——一个最为讨人喜欢的人，我欠他的恩情是巨大的——交给他的任务就是把最不起眼的东西交给最笨的学生——也就是只不过写英语而已。他知道怎么去做。他的教法别的任何人都没有用过。我们不仅彻底地学习了作英语语法分析，而且还持续地练习英语分析。萨默维尔先生有他自己的一套系统。他取出一个相当长的句子，用黑色、红色、蓝色和绿色的墨水把它分成其构成部分。主语、动词、宾语；关系从句、条件从句、连接性从句、分离性从句！每一种都有其颜色和括号。那是一种操练。我们几乎每天都操练。由于我和任何别的人一样，有三次呆在四年级三班，呆的时间一样长，我也就重复三次受到了这样的训练。这样一来，普通英语句子的基本结构也就深入我的骨髓——这是一件高贵的事情。在以后的岁月里，我的那些因为写出了美丽的拉丁语诗歌和精辟的希腊语警句而获奖和赢得盛名的同学们，为了谋生或者飞黄腾达而再次涉及到普通英语，这时我并没有感到自己处于不利地位。自然我有一种偏见，赞同男孩子们学习英语。我会让他们全都学英语：然后我会让聪明的孩子学习拉丁语，把这当成一种荣誉，让他们学习希腊语，把这当成一种款待。但如果我会鞭笞他们的话，唯一的原因就是他们不懂英语，我会因此狠狠地鞭笞他们。

（王义国 译）

你上学时最喜欢的科目是什么？哪位老师对你的影响最深？

欢迎留言告诉我们。

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