Final Exam期末考试

Two guys were taking Chemistry at the University of Mississippi.

They did pretty well on all of the quizzes and the midterms and labs， such that1) going into the final they had a solid \"A\". These two friends were so confident going into the final that the weekend before finals week (even though the chemistry final was on Monday)， they decided to go up to the University of Tennessee and party with some friends.

They had a great time. However， with hangovers2) and everything， they overslept3) all day Sunday and didn't make it back to Mississippi until early Monday morning. Rather than taking the final then， they found their professor after the final to explain to him why they missed the final.

They told him that they went up to the University of Tennessee for the weekend， and had planned to come back in time to study， but that they had a flat4) tire on the way back and didn't have a spare5) and couldn't get help for a long time， so they were late in getting back to campus. The professor thought this over and told them they could make up the final on the following day. The two guys were elated6) and relieved. They studied that night and went in the next day for the final.

The professor placed them in separate rooms， and handed each of them a test booklet and told them to begin. They looked at the first problem， which was worth 5 points. It was something simple about Molarity7) Solutions8).

\"Cool，\" they thought. \"This is going to be easy.\"

They did that problem and then turned the page.

They were not prepared， however， for what they saw on this page.

It said: (95 Points) Which tire?有两个人在密西西比大学读化学专业。

他们所有的测验、期中考试和实验课的成绩都很不错，如此下来期末考试他们可以稳拿“A”。这俩朋友对期末考试非常自信，以至于在考前的那个周末(即便周一就是化学期末考试)，他们还决定去田纳西大学和一些朋友聚会。

他们玩得非常开心，但是由于宿醉和各种事情，周日他们整整睡了一天，直到周一一早才回到密西西比。他们当时没去参加期末考试，而是等到考试结束后去找他们的教授，向其解释错过考试的原因。

他俩告诉教授，他们去田纳西大学过周末，本来计划及时回来学习，但是在回来的路上轮胎漏气，他们没有备胎，而且很长时间都找不到人帮忙，所以才回学校晚了。教授想了想之后对他们说，他们可以第二天来补考。俩人非常高兴，松了一口气。当天晚上复习之后，第二天他们就去参加考试了。

教授把他们安排在不同的教室，给了每人一份考卷，并告诉他们可以开始了。俩人看了看第一道题，分值为5分。题目很简单，是关于摩尔浓度和溶液的。

“太好了，”他们心想，“这很容易啊。”

在答完这一题之后，他们翻到了下一页。

然而，这一页所看到的题目他们完全没有准备。

上面写着：(95分)哪个轮胎漏气了？1.such that: 到这样的程度

2.hangover [#712;h#230;#331;#601;#650;v#601;(r)] n. (酗酒后的)宿醉(指第二天早晨的头痛、恶心等)

3.oversleep [#716;#601;#650;v#601;#712;sli#720;p] vi. 睡得过久；睡过头

4.flat [fl#230;t] adj. (轮胎等)充气不足的，瘪的

5.spare [spe#601;(r)] n. 备用轮胎

6.elated [i#712;le#618;t#618;d] adj. 兴高采烈的；得意洋洋的

7.molarity [m#594;#712;l#230;r#601;t#618;] n. 【化】摩尔浓度，容模

8.solution [s#601;#712;lu#720;#643;n] n. 溶液

若要在一年内了解全世界，你会采取什么方式？畅游世界、看纪录片，还是读游记？诚然，这些办法都不错，只是不论是匆匆地跋涉、囫囵吞枣地观看还是品读他人游记，你都不过是个过客，只能走马观花。而本文的作者则选择从世界196个国家各选一本文学作品品读，从而透过当地人的眼睛看世界，体会他们的喜乐苦悲。这一方法虽然挑战重重，却给她带来了独一无二的深刻体验。I used to think of myself as a fairly cosmopolitan1) sort of person， but my bookshelves told a different story. Apart from a few Indian novels and the odd2) Australian and South African book， my literature collection consisted of British and American titles. Worse still， I hardly ever tackled3) anything in translation. My reading was confined to stories by English-speaking authors.

So， at the start of 2012， I set myself the challenge of trying to read a book from every country in a year to find out what I was missing.

With no idea how to go about4) this beyond a sneaking suspicion5) that I was unlikely to find publications from nearly 200 nations on the shelves of my local bookshop， I decided to ask the planet's readers for help. I created a blog called A Year of Reading the World and put out an appeal for suggestions of titles that I could read in English.

The response was amazing. Before I knew it， people all over the planet were getting in touch with ideas and offers of help. Some posted me books from their home countries. Others did hours of research on my behalf. In addition， several writers， like Turkmenistan's Ak Welsapar and Panama's Juan David Morgan， sent me unpublished translations of their novels， giving me a rare opportunity to read works otherwise unavailable to the 62% of Brits who only speak English. Even with such an extraordinary team of bibliophiles6) behind me， however， sourcing books was no easy task. For a start， with translations making up only around 4.5 per cent of literary works published in the UK and Ireland， getting English versions of stories was tricky.以前我一直以为自己还算是见多识广的那种人，但是我的书架却显示出另一番景象。除了寥寥几本印度小说和零散的几本澳大利亚和南非的书， 我收藏的文学作品全都来自英国和美国。更糟糕的是，我几乎没有做过任何翻译。我的阅读仅限于英语作家所写的故事。

因此，2012年伊始，我给自己设了一个挑战，即设法在一年时间里阅读每个国家各一本书，看看自己过去在错过些什么。

我不知道该如何着手，只是内心里觉得毋庸置疑的是，我不太可能在我这边书店的书架上找到近两百个国家的书籍，于是我决定向全球的读者求助。我创建了一个名为“一年读遍全世界”的博客，发布了一个请求，请大家推荐可供我用英语阅读的书籍的书名。

人们的回复令人惊异。不知不觉间，来自全球各地的人们都开始联系我，给我出主意，为我提供帮助。有人将自己国家的书寄给我，有人替我做了数小时的调研。此外，有几位作家，包括土库曼斯坦的阿克·威尔斯帕和巴拿马的胡安·大卫·摩根还寄来了他们未出版的小说译本，让我有难得的机会去阅读62%只讲英语的英国人无法接触到的作品。不过，纵然我背后有这样一个非凡的书籍爱好者团队，寻获书籍依旧不是一件容易的事。首先，面对译本仅占英国和爱尔兰出版的文学作品约4.5%这一现状，想要获得英语版本的书籍就是一个棘手的问题。This was particularly true for francophone7) and lusophone8) African countries. There's precious little9) on offer for states such as the Comoros， Madagascar， Guinea-Bissau， and Mozambique—I had to rely on unpublished manuscripts for several of these. And when it came to the tiny island nation of Sao Tome Principe， I would have been stuck without a team of volunteers in Europe and the US who translated a book of short stories by Santomean writer Olinda Beja just so that I could have something to read.

Then there were places where stories are rarely written down. If you're after a good yarn10) in the Marshall Islands， for example， you're more likely to go and ask the local chief's permission to hear one of the local storytellers than you are to pick up a book. Similarly， in Niger， legends have traditionally been the preserve11) of griots12) (expert narrators-cum-13)musicians trained in the nation's lore14) from around the age of seven). Written versions of their fascinating performances are few and far between15)—and can only ever capture a small part of the experience of listening for yourself.

If that wasn't enough， politics threw me the odd curveball16) too. The foundation of South Sudan on 9 July 2011—although a joyful event for its citizens， who had lived through decades of civil war to get there—posed something of a challenge. Lacking roads， hospitals， schools， or basic infrastructure， the six-month-old country seemed unlikely to have published any books since its creation. If it hadn't been for a local contact putting me in touch with writer Julia Duany， who penned17) me a bespoke18) short story， I might have had to catch a plane to Juba and try to get someone to tell me a tale face to face.

All in all， tracking down stories like these took as much time as the reading and blogging. It was a tall order19) to fit it all in20) around work and many were the nights when I sat bleary21)-eyed into the small hours22) to make sure I stuck to my target of reading one book every 1.87 days.这一难题对说法语和葡萄牙语的非洲国家尤为明显。某些国家的书在售的少之又少，如科摩罗、马达加斯加岛、几内亚比绍共和国和莫桑比克，对于其中几个国家，我不得不依赖于未出版的手稿。而在寻找圣多美和普林西比这一小岛国的作品时，若不是欧洲和美国的一批志愿者帮忙，我就会陷入困境。多亏这些志愿者翻译了圣多美作家奥林达·贝雅的一部短篇小说集，我才有了阅读材料。

还有一些地方，故事几乎不写下来。比如，你若想在马绍尔群岛找一个好故事，很可能要去征求当地首领的同意，以便去听当地某个说书人讲述，而不是去捧起一本书阅读。同样，在尼日尔，传奇故事历来是歌舞艺人(从七岁左右开始接受尼日尔传说故事培训的专业说书人兼音乐人)的专属领域。他们精彩表演的书面版本寥寥无几，而且也仅能描述出现场听书感受的一小部分。

这还不够，就连政治也冷不丁给我丢来了不寻常的难题。2011年7月9日，南苏丹共和国成立了。尽管这对它的人民来说是一件值得高兴的大事——他们经受了几十年内战才走到今天——但这也带来了某种挑战。缺少公路、医院、学校或基础设施，这个只有六个月历史的国家似乎自建国以来就不太可能出版过什么书籍。若不是通过与当地人接触联系上了一位名为茱莉娅·端尼的作家，她专门为我写了一篇短篇小说，我可能还得乘飞机去朱巴(编注：南苏丹首都)，设法找一个人面对面地给我讲个故事。

总而言之，我在寻找此类故事上花费的时间与阅读、写博客花费的时间一样多。工作之余要做所有这些事真是高难度任务，许多时候都是在夜晚，我睡眼惺忪地坐到下半夜，以确保自己能坚持完成每1.87天读完一本书的目标。1.cosmopolitan [#716;k#594;zm#601;#712;p#594;l#618;t#601;n] adj. 见多识广的

2.odd [#594;d] adj. 单只的；不成对的；零星的。the odd: 少量的；微小的

3.tackle [#712;t#230;kl] vt. 对付，处理，解决

4.go about: 着手干；做

5.beyond suspicion: 毋庸置疑。sneaking [#712;sni#720;k#618;#331;] adj. 私下的；暗自的；不敢公开承认的。suspicion [s#601;#712;sp#618;#643;n] n. 怀疑；猜疑；疑心

6.bibliophile [#712;b#618;bli#601;fa#618;l] n. 书籍爱好者；图书收藏者，藏书家

7.francophone [#712;fr#230;#331;k#601;f#601;#650;n] adj. 讲法语的

8.lusophone [#712;lu#720;s#601;f#601;#650;n] adj. 说葡萄牙语的

9.precious little: 一点点；极少

10.yarn [jɑ#720;n] n. (经添油加醋而更加扣人心弦的)故事；奇谈

11.preserve [pr#618;#712;z#601;rv] n. [正式]独占的活动范围；独占的领域

12.griot [#712;ɡri#720;#601;#650;] n. (说唱部落史和家族史等的)西非歌舞艺人

13.-cum-: 置于两名词之间以构成复合名词，表示“连同、兼作”等意。

This was particularly true for francophone7) and lusophone8) African countries. There's precious little9) on offer for states such as the Comoros， Madagascar， Guinea-Bissau， and Mozambique—I had to rely on unpublished manuscripts for several of these. And when it came to the tiny island nation of Sao Tome Principe， I would have been stuck without a team of volunteers in Europe and the US who translated a book of short stories by Santomean writer Olinda Beja just so that I could have something to read.

Then there were places where stories are rarely written down. If you're after a good yarn10) in the Marshall Islands， for example， you're more likely to go and ask the local chief's permission to hear one of the local storytellers than you are to pick up a book. Similarly， in Niger， legends have traditionally been the preserve11) of griots12) (expert narrators-cum-13)musicians trained in the nation's lore14) from around the age of seven). Written versions of their fascinating performances are few and far between15)—and can only ever capture a small part of the experience of listening for yourself.

If that wasn't enough， politics threw me the odd curveball16) too. The foundation of South Sudan on 9 July 2011—although a joyful event for its citizens， who had lived through decades of civil war to get there—posed something of a challenge. Lacking roads， hospitals， schools， or basic infrastructure， the six-month-old country seemed unlikely to have published any books since its creation. If it hadn't been for a local contact putting me in touch with writer Julia Duany， who penned17) me a bespoke18) short story， I might have had to catch a plane to Juba and try to get someone to tell me a tale face to face.

All in all， tracking down stories like these took as much time as the reading and blogging. It was a tall order19) to fit it all in20) around work and many were the nights when I sat bleary21)-eyed into the small hours22) to make sure I stuck to my target of reading one book every 1.87 days.这一难题对说法语和葡萄牙语的非洲国家尤为明显。某些国家的书在售的少之又少，如科摩罗、马达加斯加岛、几内亚比绍共和国和莫桑比克，对于其中几个国家，我不得不依赖于未出版的手稿。而在寻找圣多美和普林西比这一小岛国的作品时，若不是欧洲和美国的一批志愿者帮忙，我就会陷入困境。多亏这些志愿者翻译了圣多美作家奥林达·贝雅的一部短篇小说集，我才有了阅读材料。

还有一些地方，故事几乎不写下来。比如，你若想在马绍尔群岛找一个好故事，很可能要去征求当地首领的同意，以便去听当地某个说书人讲述，而不是去捧起一本书阅读。同样，在尼日尔，传奇故事历来是歌舞艺人(从七岁左右开始接受尼日尔传说故事培训的专业说书人兼音乐人)的专属领域。他们精彩表演的书面版本寥寥无几，而且也仅能描述出现场听书感受的一小部分。

这还不够，就连政治也冷不丁给我丢来了不寻常的难题。2011年7月9日，南苏丹共和国成立了。尽管这对它的人民来说是一件值得高兴的大事——他们经受了几十年内战才走到今天——但这也带来了某种挑战。缺少公路、医院、学校或基础设施，这个只有六个月历史的国家似乎自建国以来就不太可能出版过什么书籍。若不是通过与当地人接触联系上了一位名为茱莉娅·端尼的作家，她专门为我写了一篇短篇小说，我可能还得乘飞机去朱巴(编注：南苏丹首都)，设法找一个人面对面地给我讲个故事。

总而言之，我在寻找此类故事上花费的时间与阅读、写博客花费的时间一样多。工作之余要做所有这些事真是高难度任务，许多时候都是在夜晚，我睡眼惺忪地坐到下半夜，以确保自己能坚持完成每1.87天读完一本书的目标。But the effort was worth it. As I made my way through23) the planet's literary landscapes， extraordinary things started to happen. Far from24) simply armchair travelling25)， I found I was inhabiting the mental space of the storytellers. In the company of Bhutanese writer Kunzang Choden， I wasn't simply visiting exotic26) temples， but seeing them as a local Buddhist would. Transported by the imagination of Galsan Tschinag， I wandered through the preoccupations27) of a shepherd boy in Mongolia's Altai Mountains. With Nu Nu Yi as my guide， I experienced a religious festival in Myanmar from a transgender medium's28) perspective.

In the hands of gifted writers， I discovered， bookpacking29) offered something a physical traveller could hope to experience only rarely: it took me inside the thoughts of individuals living far away and showed me the world through their eyes. More powerful than a thousand news reports， these stories not only opened my mind to the nuts and bolts30) of life in other places， but opened my heart to the way people there might feel.

And that in turn changed my thinking. Through reading the stories shared with me by bookish strangers around the globe， I realised I was not an isolated person， but part of a network that stretched all over the planet.

One by one， the country names on the list that had begun as an intellectual exercise at the start of the year transformed into vital31)， vibrant32) places filled with laughter， love， anger， hope， and fear. Lands that had once seemed exotic and remote became close and familiar to me—places I could identify with33). At its best， I learned， fiction makes the world real.不过，这些努力是值得的。当我克服万难在世界文学的美景中穿行时，奇特的事情开始发生了。和足不出户通过影视等方式了解世界的旅游截然不同，我发现自己置身于作家们的精神世界。在名为孔章·乔登的不丹作家的陪同下，我不仅参观了一座座颇具异国风情的寺庙，还从当地佛教徒的角度去了解了它们。乘着格尔森·契那歌的想象力，我徜徉在蒙古国阿尔泰山一个小牧童专注的世界里。有努努依当向导，我得以从一个变性人巫师的角度体验缅甸的一个宗教节日。

我发现，通过才华横溢的作家的笔触，读书旅行可以提供身体力行的旅行者能够奢望的罕见体验：它带领我进入远居他乡的人们的思想，为我展示了他们眼中的世界。这些故事远远胜过一千条新闻报道，它们不仅开拓了我的视野，让我了解到别处的生活点滴，而且也让我敞开心灵，去体会当地人可能的感受方式。

这反过来也改变了我的想法。通过阅读与我素昧平生的、来自全球的读书爱好者跟我分享的故事，我意识到自己并非孤立的个体，而是遍布全球的网络中的一员。

清单上那些国家的名字在年初时还像一场智力测验似的，随后一个接一个地变成了生机勃勃、富有活力的地方，这些地方充满了欢笑、爱意、愤怒、希望和恐惧。那些曾经看起来充满异国情调又遥不可及的土地变得亲近又熟悉，成为我可以与之相关联的地方。最棒的是，我认识到，虚构的小说让世界变得真实。14.lore [l#596;#720;(r)] n. (某一文化或活动领域的)全部传说

15.few and far between: 稀少的

16.throw someone a curveball: 出人意料地给某人设置障碍

17.pen [pen] vt. 写；撰写

18.bespoke [b#618;#712;sp#601;#650;k] adj. 专门定做的

19.tall order: 难以完成的任务；过高的要求

20.fit in: 安排时间做(某事)

21.bleary [#712;bl#618;#601;ri] adj. (眼睛因睡眠不足等而)红肿多泪的；视线模糊的；惺忪的

22.the small hours: 下半夜；凌晨

23.make one's way through: 在阻碍重重的路上前行

24.far from: 和……完全不同

25.armchair travel: 通过看电视、电影、小说等方式足不出户了解世界

26.exotic [#618;ɡ#712;z#594;t#618;k] adj. 具有异国情调的；奇异的

27.preoccupation [pri#716;#594;kju#712;pe#618;#643;n] n. 全神贯注；令人全神贯注的事物

28.medium [#712;mi#720;di#601;m] n. 巫师；灵媒(自称能在死人和活人之间传递信息的人)

29.bookpacking: 该词从backpacking (背包旅行)演变而来，在此指“读书旅行”。

30.nuts and bolts: [俗]具体内容；基本内容

31.vital [#712;va#618;tl] adj. 充满活力的；生气蓬勃的

32.vibrant [#712;va#618;br#601;nt] adj. 有活力的；充满生气的；活跃的

33.identify with: 与……联系起来