综合英语教程2课文文本10

10 Teenager's Nightmare

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Conversation (A: Bill's father B: Bill, a middle school student)

Conversation

A Bill, come over here. ... I hear that you've finished your school exams, haven't you?
B Yes, Dad.
A The school must have given you something, eh?
B Yes, Dad.
A Now, what are the results? Can I have a look at the school report?
B Sure, Dad, just a minute. .... Here you are.
A Let me see... er... English, C-... Maths, pass... French D... Physics, C- and Chemistry, D! What do you think of these results?
B It isn't too bad, is it? I've passed all the courses, haven't I? I think I've done my best, Dad.
A Have you? But I think you could have done much better than this if you spent less time in front of the television!
B I know what you mean, Dad. But the problem is that I simply couldn't remember so much and when the exams came, my mind was just blank.
A You ought to revise the lessons before the exams. If you had put in honest labour in revision, you would have got much better results.
B But revising the lessons is boring and tiring. I had to relax a little sometimes. Besides, I don't think watching TV is, is...
A ... is the cause of the poor results? If so, then what is the cause?
B I wish I knew. Er... oh, perhaps it's because I'm slow at study.
A Nonsense! You're as smart as everyone else. You just don't understand how important it is to study well.
B I understand perfectly, but I... I...
A Listen, Bill, from today on, you must spend at least one hour on your lessons every night. And don't watch TV for more than half an hour... don't go out to play football every day.
B Oh, no, how boring!
A I'm sorry to be so hard on you, but it seems very necessary.


What are they for?

Actual Words Spoken

a Do you mind not making so much noise?
b Follow me.
c You must be careful.
d You mustn't smoke in the office.
e You're to stay here until I return.
f Jack and Susan stand over there!
g Faster!
h Not so fast!
i Do you object to cleaning the room for the party?


Text

Teenager's Nightmare

Taking exams must be one of the most frightening experiences that anyone must go through. It is not so much the actual taking of the exams themselves which is so awful, although of course they play a great part in the general feeling of fear; no, the most awful time comes at the beginning and at the end.
The beginning is the time when you are meant to revise. Revision is a terrible time both if you revise and if you don't. Firstly, if you revise, concentrating on a pile of A4 pages covered in your untidy handwriting, you suddenly wish not only that you had written everything down a bit more clearly, but also that you had started revision a lot earlier. However, once resigned to the fact that you can't put the clock back, you prepare to give yourself up to full and thorough revision, putting aside all else

in life. Of course, such a hard decision is absolutely impossible to carry out, although you do try to fool yourself that you can undertake it easily. You let your attention wander away easily, finding you have a sudden, irresistible urge to tidy up your room, even though it has looked like a pigsty for the last three months.
When you are tempted away from your studying by such strange amusements, you are moving onto the territory of the second group concerning revision — those who know they need and should get down to hard studying, but somehow have neither got the determination nor the willpower to force themselves to sit down for hours on end digesting the delights of pure mathematics. Now, this second group in which we have all found ourselves from time to time suffer the most severe guilt complexes over their lack of revision. Although they are aware that they should be studying they cannot somehow bring themselves to the awful task; temptation has won over what they know they should be doing, and in a way they suffer far more than those who eventually find the willpower and determination to sit down and revise.
The end of the exam procedure, which is in some cases worse than the revision period, is awaiting the results. While waiting you can't do much about your own school work. You feel that it is very hard to resist the temptation to light a fire with all your notebooks and files instead of logs, but at the same time you feel that you had better keep all your notes safe in case you discover you have failed and need to re-take all your subjects. The worst day of all is the one when you know that the postman is to deliver the letter (always in a brown envelope to make it look more official and frightening) which will inform you whether the academic world (and society in general) considers you a failure or a success, whether you can get the job you want, or go to the university you wish to attend. That envelope is to contain the key to your future and, perhaps most importantly of all, to inform you whether you need to suffer again the horrors of exams.