正确对待期终考试题 Final Exam Question

　　This past fall semester, at Duke University, there were two sophomores who were takingOrganic Chemistry and who did pretty well on all of the quizzes and the midterms and labs, etc. , such that 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 Chem final was on Monday, they decided to go up to the University of Virginia and party with some friends up there. So they did this and had a great time. However, with their hangovers and everything, they overslept all day Sunday and didn’t make it back to Duke until early Monday morning. 上个秋季学期，杜克大学两名学有机化学的二年级学生，每次测验的成绩都不错，期中考试和实验课等等的成绩也很好，以致期终考试时他们已经稳稳当当地拿到了 A。这两个朋友对期终考试充满了信心，在考试周到来的前一个周末，尽管周一就是化学考试，他们还是决定去弗吉尼亚大学和朋友们聚聚。他们不仅去了，而且玩得很开心。可是，由于宿醉等等原因，整个星期天他们都睡过去了，直到周一清早才回到杜克大学。 Rather than taking the final then, what they did was to find Professor Aldric after the final and explain to him why they missed the final. They told him that they went up to UVA for the weekend, and had planned to come back in time to study, but that they had a flat tire on the way back and didn’t have a spare and couldn’t get help for a long time and so were late getting back tocampus.

　　他俩没有当时就参加考试，而是在考试结束之后找到阿尔德里克教授，跟他解释为什么他们没能参加考试。他们告诉他周末他们去了弗吉尼亚大学，本来是打算按时回来学习的，可是回来的路上他们的车胎漏了气，又没有备用轮胎，好长时间也没找到人帮忙，所以回到学校就晚了。 Aldric thought this over and then agreed that they could make up the final on the following day. The two guys were elated and relieved. So, they studied that night and went in the next day at the time that Aldric had told them. He placed them in separate rooms and handed each of them a testbooklet and told them to begin.

　　阿尔德里克仔细想了想，然后同意他们第二天补考。两个人兴高采烈，愁眉尽展。那天晚上他们好好准备了一下，第二天按阿尔德里克说的时间来考试了。他把他们安排在不同的房间里，给了每人一份考卷，告诉他们可以开始了。 They looked at the first problem, which was something simple about free radical formation and was worth 5 points. “Cool, ” they thought, “this is going to be easy.”They did that problem and then turned the page. They were unprepared, however, for what they saw on the next page. 他们看了第一道考题，挺简单的，是关于自由基的形成，占 5 分。“太棒了，”他们想，“看来不会太难。”他们做完那道题，翻到了第二页。对于这一页的考题，他们可是毫无准备。 It said: (95 points) Which tire was flat?

　　上面的问题是：(95 分)哪一只轮胎瘪了?

　　Vocabulary

　　fall a. 秋季的

　　semester n. 学期

　　Duke University 杜克大学

　　sophomore n. 大二学生

　　Organic Chemistry 有机化学

　　midterm n. 期中考试

　　lab n. 实验室

　　such that 如此…以致

　　final n. 期终考试

　　solid a. 牢固的

　　Chem=Chemistry 化学

　　University of Virginia (UVA) 弗吉尼亚大学

　　party v. 参加社交集会

　　hangover n. 宿醉

　　and everything 以及其他等等

　　oversleep v. 睡过头

　　Professor Aldric 阿尔德里克教授

　　a flat tire 漏气的车胎spare n. 备用轮胎

　　campus n. 大学校园

　　think over 仔细考虑

　　make up 补(考)

　　elated a. 兴高采烈的

　　relieved a. 宽心的

　　booklet n. 小册子

　　free radical 自由基

　　文章选自《用英语点亮人生》/ 胡敏主编