Trying to make some money before entering university, the author applies for a teaching job. But the interview goes from bad to worse ...
为了想在进大学前赚些钱,作者申请了一份教职。但面试情况却越来越糟……
My First Job
我的第一份工作
Robert Best
罗伯特·贝斯特
While I was waiting to enter university, I saw advertised in a local newspaper a teaching post at a school in a suburb of London about ten miles from where I lived. Being very short of money and wanting to do something useful, I applied, fearing as I did so, that without a degree and with no experience in teaching my chances of getting the job were slim.
在我等着进大学期间,我在一份地方报纸上看到一则广告,说是在离我住处大约十英里的伦敦某郊区,有所学校要招聘一名教师。我因为手头很拮据,同时也想干点有用的事,于是便提出了申请,但在提出申请的同时我也担心,自己一无学位,二无教学经验,得到这份工作的可能性是微乎其微的。
However, three days later a letter arrived, asking me to go to Croydon for an interview. It proved an awkward journey: a train to Croydon station; a ten-minute bus ride and then a walk of at least a quarter of a mile. As a result I arrived on a hot June morning too depressed to feel nervous.
然而,三天之后,却来了一封信,叫我到克罗伊顿去面试。这一路去那儿原来还真麻烦:先乘火车到克罗伊顿车站,再乘十分钟的公共汽车,然后还要步行至少四分之一英里。结果,我在六月一个炎热的上午到了那儿,因为心情非常沮丧,竟不感到紧张了。
The school was a red brick house with big windows. The front garden was a gravel square; four evergreen shrubs stood at each comer, where they struggled to survive the dust and fumes from a busy main road.
学校是一座装着大窗户的红砖房子。前庭园是个铺着砂砾的正方形:四个角上各有一丛冬青灌木,它们经受着从繁忙的大街上吹来的尘烟,挣扎着活下去。
It was clearly the headmaster himself that opened the door. He was short and fat. He had a sandy-coloured moustache, a wrinkled forehead and hardly any hair.
开门的显然是校长本人。他又矮又胖,留着沙色的小胡子,前额上布满皱纹,头发差不多已经秃光。