Follow with heart

As we enter the second month of the new school year, having just passed the summer heat, the coolness of autumn has brought much-needed relief from the heat.

In an office on the second floor of the school, a meeting of grade-level teachers was being held, chaired by Mr. Li, the homeroom teacher of the senior year science class.

"Teachers of all subjects, I'm afraid I'll have to take up a little of your time this time."

"Next week we will have our first diagnostic test for our grade. I have placed all the test papers and standard answers in front of you. Before you take these test papers, I want to tell you something."

Teacher Li paused for a moment and glanced at everyone.

"You may have noticed that the exam paper has been opened and are worried that the questions might be leaked, right? I want to say that you have absolutely no need to worry about that."

"I opened this exam paper and took a set of exam papers. This was not my personal action; I did it according to the principal's instructions."

Before explaining this issue, let me mention a student.

"Many teachers probably know that our school had a prodigy in junior high who failed the high school entrance exam because of illness."

"You mean Zhao Changling, right?" English teacher Mao interjected.

She taught English to both junior high and high school students and had taught Zhao Changling.

"Yes, it's him," Teacher Li confirmed.

"On the first day of school, the principal called me to his office and gave me this set of test papers to answer."

"Zhao Changling used three class periods plus the break time to finish all six test papers. I graded the math test paper on the spot, and I kept the others safe until now. The principal was present and can testify to this."

"How is that possible? Six exam papers completed in just over three hours? Even the essays take half a day to write."

The Chinese language teacher found it unbelievable.

"That's just how it is," Teacher Li said with a smile.

"However, this kid used a little trick. After finishing the Chinese test, he left the composition unwritten. He glanced at the questions and then went on to finish the chemistry test. After finishing the chemistry test, he started writing the composition."

"I think he used the time he spent answering the chemistry exam to mentally prepare his essay after reading the topic. But one thing I'm sure of is that the time he spent on the Chinese and chemistry exams combined didn't exceed the time allotted for the Chinese exam in the college entrance exam."

"Alright! Enough with the nonsense."

Teacher Li got back to the main topic, "Now I'm going to distribute Zhao Changling's test papers to all the subject teachers so you can grade them on the spot."

"Let me state first that this set of test papers is a mock test paper from Xiangnan No. 2 Middle School before this year's college entrance examination. The full score is 670 points. Xu Boyi, the top scorer in this province's college entrance examination this year, scored 627 points on this set of papers."

"There's a reward for the papers you graded today, which I managed to get from the principal after a lot of effort. The reward is 10 yuan for every point deducted, and we'll use that money to treat the teachers to a meal this weekend."

"Don't cheer yet. The principal's limit is 300 yuan, and I've already received the money."

"Don't think the principal is stingy. I'm worried that I won't even be able to scrape together 300 yuan, because I've already finished grading the math problems and I can't deduct a single point."

"Everyone, please put in some effort. If we really can't raise enough money, I'll have to cover the meal cost myself. We're all good brothers and sisters, so please lend a hand to your brother."

Hahaha! The teachers burst into laughter and immediately began to seriously grade the papers.

Soon, the English teacher finished grading: "I lost 7 points in English."

"I lost 12 points in Chinese."

"Damn it! Teacher Wang, you deducted 8 points from someone else's composition. At this rate, will anyone in your class pass their Chinese composition?"

"Hehe! We need to be strict with outstanding students."

"Teacher Wang, you're being too shameless."

"I lost 2 points in chemistry. I tried my best, and I'm really embarrassed to do it again."

"I lost 5 points in physics."

"Wait a minute! Isn't that guy the best at physics? How could you lose so many points? Damn, he just missed a unit in his equation, and you lost 5 points on an 8-point question. No way, I'm going to re-grade his math; I'll deduct a few points from him too."

"Teacher Zhou, everyone has finished grading the papers, and you still haven't finished?"

With a mournful face, Teacher Zhou said, "I'm sorry everyone, I've read the history and social studies sections twice, but I still can't get a single point deducted."

Teacher Li ignored it all, picked up a calculator and started adding up the total score. He stopped looking at the math section and deducted 2 points from the total score himself.

642 points!! Teacher Li was dumbfounded.

This is the raw score! He didn't even look at the paper and lost 2 points, and he still hasn't reached the principal's goal of 300 yuan.

"Alright, meeting adjourned. My treat is after the exams this weekend."

After seeing everyone else off, Teacher Li began to consider something.

......

This past Friday, two days after the senior high school's mock exam, Mr. Li, the senior high school's homeroom teacher, was giving a lesson to his students.

"Students, the diagnostic test is over, and the results are in."

"To be honest, this exam was quite difficult, and the full score was only 670 points, not the 750 points for the college entrance exam."

"In our class, only three students scored over 400 points this time: Zhou Haozhi (412 points), Yu Xiaojuan (404 points), and Xie Jun (400 points)."

"In the past, I would have been quite satisfied with this result, because this year's top scorer in the province only scored 627 on this test paper."

"Those of us who scored over 400 points, let's give it our all this year. If we perform well, we still have a chance to get into a second-tier university, and a third-tier university is definitely no problem."

"But now, I want to tell you all to wake up, this score is absolutely laughable."

"After seeing your exam results, your homeroom teacher is now too ashamed to look up in the entire high school, for fear of being recognized and laughed at."

"Do you know why?" Teacher Li walked around the podium and suddenly raised her voice.

"On the very first day of school, a first-year high school student, in front of me and the principal, completed the entire test that you had been taking two days to finish in just three class periods."

"On Monday, all of us teachers graded his test paper together, and even with the worst possible grading, he still got 642 points."

The classroom erupted in cheers!

"Is this something a human being would do?"

"A high school freshman? How is that possible? Why don't they just go straight to the Junior Science and Technology University?"

"Based on this calculation, wouldn't he be the top scorer in our province's college entrance examination this year?"

"It's a tragedy for other top students to be in the same era as this classmate."

"What does it matter to you how sad you are? You're still more than 300 points behind the top student."

"Class, please be quiet and listen to what I have to say next."

Teacher Li quelled the noise, "This student is Zhao Changling from Class 1, Grade 11."

Before the students could speak again, Teacher Li raised his voice.

"Just yesterday, I finally managed to persuade Mr. Wan, the homeroom teacher of the first-year high school class, to let Zhao Changling take time out of his busy schedule to give you a detailed analysis of the answering strategies for this test paper this Saturday."

"Don't think I was being pedantic by using the phrases 'in the midst of my busy schedule' and 'in detail' just now. Your homeroom teacher isn't that sophisticated."

"Because Zhao Changling is really busy, busy with things you can't even imagine."

"Moreover, after listening to his explanations of the solutions and approaches to several problems, I realized that his analysis was truly in-depth. I, your teacher, could never explain it at that level."

"Compared to him, my explanation of the question was merely providing the correct answer. Therefore, I handed over the exam paper to him this time."

"If any of you students want to take this further, then come to school for extra classes this Saturday."

"Let me clarify first: it's entirely voluntary; the teachers will not force you to take extra classes."

"But I still want to emphasize that people strive for higher goals, just as water flows downhill. Those of you who have a chance of getting into a second-tier or third-tier university might as well broaden your horizons and work towards getting into a first-tier university while securing a second-tier one."

"You only have one chance to take the college entrance exam. Give it a try, and you might be able to face it with a clear conscience in the future. Okay! I've taken up too much of your time, let's begin the lesson."

This was just a minor incident; Teacher Li was in a hurry to finish the lesson, as he had other tasks to complete.

Because after the physics and chemistry teachers heard about what he had done, they begged him to talk to Teacher Wan again.

They also hoped that Zhao Changling could explain the exam paper in the same way for their physics and chemistry subjects.

When Teacher Li arrived at Wan Chunyan's office, she saw Zhao Changling busy writing something at Teacher Wan's desk.

"Hello, Teacher Wan! I have something else to ask you. Zhao is here too, what are you busy with instead of class?"

Teacher Li sat down with a smile. He was quite familiar with Teacher Wan now, so he was relatively easy to talk to.

"It's almost final exam time, and my younger brother is helping me create a targeted test paper. He's so busy he doesn't even have time to eat."

Wan Chunyan was heating up food in a rice cooker at that moment.

What? Zhao Changling can set his own exam questions now?

Teacher Li himself has also given questions to students, but they are all copied and pieced together from various sources.

He stood up and walked to Zhao Changling's side.

Huh? It's a math exam again?

He assumed Zhao Changling was in Teacher Wan's office and that any exam he was going to give would be a physics test.

He could understand the math exam paper, so he started looking at Zhao Changling's math exam paper.

Zhao Changling's exam paper is almost finished, with only two or three major questions left.

Teacher Li looked at these test questions and found that the question types were novel, the thinking was clear, and most importantly, they were quite difficult.

These question types are very intellectually stimulating; many of them are types he has never seen before, let alone asked to create them.

He stood to the side watching, trying to figure out how to solve the problems. He had ideas for two or three of them, but... it seemed like he couldn't solve them for the time being.

This was just a question on the basic knowledge of first-year high school students, and Teacher Li was confident that he could answer it all.

However, he knew he wasn't confident he could answer all the questions correctly within the allotted time.

Teacher Li took a deep breath; he had an idea.

"Teacher Wan! Our senior year final exams are coming up soon, and we don't have any practice tests to prepare for them."

"Excuse me, could you please help us prepare a final exam paper, Zhao?"

Teacher Li said, feigning a pitiful expression.

"This?" Wan Chunyan hesitated.

Teacher Li is a very senior teacher at the school, and now that he's lowered himself to ask her, a newcomer, for a favor, she really feels bad refusing.

"Changling is only a first-year high school student. I don't know if he has the ability to create exam papers for senior high school students."

"Hey! There's potential!" Teacher Li's eyes lit up as she turned to look at Zhao Changling.

"Zhao, I looked at the questions you just gave. I think you're good at math, at least. Let's use the same difficulty level as your test and help Teacher Li out, okay?"

It's a senior high school exam paper! Haha.

Zhao Changling now has all the college entrance examination questions from 2000 to 2005 in his mind, not to mention that the fairy has also improved the intelligence of all of them.

He only needs to incorporate some of the 2003 college entrance examination questions to create a high-quality mock exam, and he will have no problem doing so.

Zhao Changling nodded.

"The exam paper is fine; the key issue now is time."

"I'm very busy right now, and I also have to take care of the first-year high school students. I really can't guarantee that. You should ask my older sister; I'll follow her arrangements completely."

Zhao Changling completely pushed the matter onto Wan Chunyan, constantly referring to her as his "older sister." Anyone who wasn't a fool would have to remember Wan Chunyan's favor.

Teacher Li wasn't stupid; he kept thanking him.

"I'm so grateful to Teacher Wan this time. If you ever need my help in the future, I, Lao Li, will never hesitate to lend a hand."

After saying this, Teacher Li was filled with emotion: Teacher Wan really hit the jackpot. Look at her younger brother, he listens to her every word.

While Zhao Changling was busy setting questions, Wan Chunyan was busy heating up food.

This doesn't look like a teacher at all; it's more like a housekeeper hired to cook for you.

"Oh! Teacher Li, is there anything else? How about we grab something to eat together?"

Wan Chunyan served the food with the demeanor of a nanny.

Oh! Teacher Li remembered the real reason he came here, and he rubbed his hands together sheepishly.

"Well, here's the thing, didn't Xiao Zhao promise to give a long lecture to our class on Saturday? Um..."

"Our physics and chemistry teachers have also heard about this, and they would like to ask Xiao Zhao to explain physics and chemistry to the senior students this Sunday."

"Isn't it because they're not familiar with each other and are too embarrassed to speak up? So I'm here to act as a mediator."

"That's going too far!" Wan Chunyan protested.

Teacher Li was completely baffled. He couldn't understand why Wan Chunyan, who was always good-tempered, would suddenly lose her temper.

"We agreed before that we would only use half a day on the weekend. Saturday will be for your class to tutor math, and Sunday will be for the humanities class to tutor English."

"My younger brother is busy preparing all sorts of test papers during the week, and you guys don't even give anyone else any time on the weekend."

"The New Year is almost here, and you're exploiting people like this. You're even worse than the tyrannical landlord Huang Shiren! Are you trying to prevent ordinary people from celebrating the New Year?"

Ah! Teacher Mao arranged extra English lessons for the humanities class on Sunday? He didn't even know that.

"I'm sorry, Teacher Wan! I didn't know about this. Forget what I said, thank you, Teacher Wan! I'll leave the final exam paper to Zhao. Thank you so much! I'm extremely grateful."

Teacher Li stood up, solemnly clasped her hands together, and quickly slipped away with a smile.

With the final exam papers, the matter of physics and chemistry tutoring can be disregarded.

Now, what Teacher Li needs to do is quickly discuss it with Teacher Mao from the humanities class.

Ms. Mao is the senior high school English teacher and also the homeroom teacher of the humanities class.

"Teacher Mao, that's really unfair of you."

"We share this set of English test papers between our two classes. As for tutoring and explaining the test papers, our two graduating classes can totally combine them together."

Teacher Mao took off his reading glasses, looked up and stared at Teacher Li, speaking in a serious and methodical manner.

"First of all, Sunday's tutoring session won't be about going over English test papers; instead, we'll have Zhao Changling share his English learning techniques."

"Secondly, I didn't inform you not because I wanted to keep it a secret, but because there were simply too many people, and the classroom simply couldn't accommodate everyone. In our humanities class, the number of students enrolled from the second and third years of high school has already exceeded forty."

"Oh! You're attending classes for both grades? There are quite a few studious people in this humanities class."

Teacher Li thought about it for a moment.

"Okay, we have 15 diligent students in our class this time, so they can attend your tutoring session on Sunday as well. As for the classroom, I'll go to the principal and borrow the meeting room."

"Sure! No problem at all. It's Sunday afternoon at 2 pm. I'll be there then. Just have one of your students come find me."

Teacher Mao put on her glasses and began to meticulously attend to her work.

On Sunday afternoon, in the school's conference room, Zhao Changling looked at the full audience of students, neither humble nor arrogant.

Some of the students looked at him with admiring eyes, while most were forced to come by their teachers and parents, and they looked around absentmindedly, whispering to each other.

"Class, today I'm going to talk about learning English."

Zhao Changling imitated the teacher's tone, but his childish voice caused some girls to giggle.

"We once studied an article about how Marx learned English. In it, Marx said that the best way to learn another language is to forget your mother tongue. I personally disagree with this."

Zhao Changling's opening was somewhat unconventional, which quieted down the noise below.

"Because Marx's native language was German, and German, like English, French, and Portuguese, is an alphabetic language. He had no problem learning these languages ​​based on his experience, but it was not suitable for Chinese."

"Chinese characters are square-shaped and pictographic. If we use this method when learning English, let alone whether we can forget our mother tongue, I'm worried that if we do forget it, we won't be able to find it again in the end."

The students burst into laughter, and the atmosphere was starting to resemble a lecture.

"The most important thing when we learn English is to understand the meaning and context of the language."

"The essence of English, simply put, is its meaning. Once you grasp the meaning, translating from English to Chinese or vice versa won't be difficult. For example..."

Zhao Changling wrote the English words "Follow me" on the blackboard.

"Follow me" in English means "come with me." However, translating this English phrase into Chinese in different contexts requires a complete understanding of its meaning and nuances to conform to Chinese usage.

"For example, if a teacher says this in class, the most appropriate translation is: Learn with me, or read with me, or repeat after me."

When a tour guide says this while you're on a group tour, the most accurate translation is: "Follow me," "Keep up with me," or "Stay close to me."

"On the battlefield, before the charge, if the commander shouts this phrase, it should be translated as: 'Follow me! Charge!'"

Similarly, when translating from Chinese to English, one needs to understand the meaning of the Chinese text.

"For example, a Chinese-to-English translation related to the above: 'Comrades! Follow me!' When people encounter this translation, they might translate it as 'Comrade Follow me.' This translation is correct; it's a textbook translation, and many textbooks teach it this way."

"However, I want to say that this kind of teaching is not advisable, because it easily leads students to develop a habit of translating word for word. To me, the sentence above can be simply translated as 'Follow me' to express its full meaning."

"Some students might disagree with this and think I'm being a bit nitpicky."

"Actually, that's not the case. I've personally experienced the harm of word-for-word translation while learning English, and I don't want students who are interested in English to develop this habit. How harmful is it? Let me give you an exaggerated example."

Zhao Changling began writing a string of English words on the blackboard, adding Chinese translations below each word. He wrote: "Li old big yourgrandfather me today come take your doglive" (李老大，你爷爷我今天来取走你的狗命).

"Look, the English above corresponds to the Chinese translation below, every word matches perfectly, right? But this kind of Chinese-English translation is a joke."

Zhao Changling pointed to the words on the blackboard, which caused the students below to burst into laughter once again.

"Alright, I was just using an extreme joke to illustrate the harmfulness of this kind of translation. Now let's get back to the serious lesson."

"Classmates! We all know that Chinese is profound and rich, with beautiful Tang and Song poems and other elegant writing. Actually, English also has such language, but you haven't noticed it because you haven't encountered good translations."

"A good translator is also an excellent writer and artist."

"Many people know about the famous foreign book 'Gone with the Wind'. Okay, I hear some of you have given the correct translation: yes, it means to drift away with the wind or to drift away."

"The translation is beautiful, isn't it? That's because the translation is so good that everyone has reached a consensus. Now, I'll give you a sample translation right now and see if anyone can come up with the most perfect answer."

Zhao Changling wrote on the blackboard: "Man will be boys." "Everyone, use your literary skills to translate this."

"Men are always boys."

"Boys never grow up"...

"Okay, I didn't hear a more appealing answer. My translation is: Men are boys until they die."

Wow! You've won me over!

Many girls were completely aroused.

"Teacher Mao, is this the standard answer for translating this sentence?"

The young English teacher sitting in the back row asked Teacher Mao a question.

The experienced English teacher considered it for a moment. "This is the first time I've seen this sentence either. Look it up online when you have time."

He finished speaking with a hint of indignation. "A man?? What does such a little brat know?"

On the podium, Zhao Changling.

"I see that everyone is starting to show interest in English, so I'll give you another English-to-Chinese translation exercise. If anyone can provide a fitting translation, I can congratulate you: you've graduated from English-to-Chinese translation and have entered the master level."

Zhao Changling wrote on the blackboard: "If you never abandon me, I will stay by your side until the end of my life."

"I'll give you five minutes to see which student can provide the most accurate translation."

Five minutes later, Zhao Changling looked around, and no one dared to raise their hand.

He pointed to a girl who seemed hesitant, "Why don't you try translating this?"

The girl stood up timidly and said in a voice as soft as a mosquito's buzz, "If you keep bothering me, I'll keep bothering you until I die."

Zhao Changling blinked, looked around, and asked, "Do any of the other students have anything to add?"

No one responded. Zhao Changling scratched his head. "Well, I'm not really sure how to evaluate this student's translation, haha. How about this, I'll write down my translation so everyone can get a feel for it; that might give you a deeper understanding."

Zhao Changling wrote on the blackboard: If you never leave me, I will be with you through life and death.

Wow! The girl who was translating just now sat down, covering her face, completely mortified.

"Oh my god! How can such a handsome guy be two years below us? God is so unfair."

"What are you afraid of? They don't prohibit relationships between older women and younger men anymore, so we still have a chance."

"That's right! After school, we'll ambush him on his way home..."

Some of the girls had already started whispering among themselves.

The things these girls said are secondary; many of them are just talking and rarely put their words into action.

To Zhao Changling's surprise, his English tutoring session led to a surge in English graduation messages at the affiliated middle school.

Several senior students even gave Zhao Changling, who hadn't graduated yet, a guestbook upon graduation, all written in English.