Unit 11 On Becoming a Better Student课文翻译综合教程三.doc

Unit 11 On Becoming a Better Student (abridged) Donna Farhi Schuster 1 As students we expect a great deal from our teachers. We expect them to be enthusiastic. We expect them reliable. We may even have expectations that they be endless repositories of skill and knowledge from which we may partake at will. 2 As a teacher I have come to feel weighted by these expectations and have begun to see that it is really not possible to teach. All the words and theories and techniques are of no use to students who have yet to open themselves with receptivity and to take it upon themselves to practice. So in a sense I have given up trying to “teach,” for I’ve come to believe that the greatest thing I can offer my students is to help them learn how to find themselves through their own investigation. 3 Many factors come together to make a fine student. Find someone you think is extraordinary, and you will find many, if not all, of the following qualities. People who learn a great deal in what seems like a very short time embody these qualities. 4 Curiosity Such people are tremendously curious. The whole world is of interest to them, and they observe what others do not. Nobel Prize-winner physician Albert-Gyorgyi put it well when he said, “Discovery consists of looking at the same thing as everyone else and thinking something different.” With this curiosity comes an “investigative spirit”; the learning is not so much the acquisition of information as it is an investigation—a questioning, a turning over of the object of study to see all sides and facets. It is not knowing in the sense of having a rigid opinion, but the ability to look again at another time, in a different light, as Gyorgyi suggests, and to form a new understanding based on that observation. 5 Discipline Any discipline — but especially those with great subtlety and complexity, like yoga or t’ai chi — can be a lifelong pursuit. Persistence, consistency, and discipline are required. Without these, our l