摸底考试

Susan著 小哭译

今天上午我刚刚考了摸底考试！这是一次有趣儿的经历。虽说有点枯燥，但是总体来讲还是很有趣儿。因为我从来没有参加过和这么多的人（大约700人）一起考的试，也从来没有在这么大的一个房间（我们在体育馆考的试）里考过试。尽管环境很奇怪，但我觉得答得还相当不错。

这段时间以来，老师们一直在跟我们讲摸底考试的事情。这个考试是让高中知道我们已经学了多少东西，以及我们还应该学习什么。考试将有助于决定我们需要什么样的课程安排。我认为，考试的结果（译者注：指学生的学业情况）在考前就摆在那里了，只是我们要么已经知道了、要么还不知道而已。因此，这事儿没有什么压力，因为我们在考试中所需要做的就是展示出来我们的真实水平——我们真实的能力。那是我们无法改变的事情，所以有什么好担忧的呢？之前我没有担忧，现在我也不担忧。然而我的几个同学真的是很紧张，我不明白为什么。也许可能是因为我确信自己会得到一个好分数吧。

网上有一些练习题，但是直到考试那天早晨我才找到。 从家走（去高中，我们考试的地方）之前我粗略地看了一下问题，感到很惊讶。问题比我想的要简单得多！然后，爸爸就开车送我去高中考试了。他把我送到就走了，因为他不能进到楼里。带上我的小包下了车后，我就进去了。

开始我还担忧可能找不到考试的房间。但进去之后，一看到人们都在那儿我就不担忧了。他们都在向着同一个方向移动，在一个拐角处消失，同时有更多的人从门口进来（这让我想到河水是如何从一个方向涌进又从另一方向泄出的）。人还没多到使得走廊很拥挤，却也足够形成一个稳定的人流。我随着人流走进了另一个走廊，那里有很多纸贴在书包柜上，上面依着字母顺序列有我们的名字、学校和考试地点。

我觉得自己一个人看着这些名单有点奇怪，因为别人都有朋友。然而，我没有流露出来不自然，就装作我知道我正在做什么的样子，沿着墙边坚定地迈着步子，寻找着我的名字。我的目光一下子就落在了一个同我的姓氏很相似的姓氏上面——CHOI。A.蔡，那个真是不错的韩国男孩，一个搞笑、聪明和有趣的人。他的座位在体育馆的109桌。我再往下看，看到了我的座位在106桌，也是在体育馆。我觉得有点怪怪地失望。现在回头看，我想我可能有点希望他和我坐在一张桌子上，这件事发生的机率有3%。还算幸运，他和我坐在一个区域里。

几分钟后，体育馆的门开了，所有的学生都冲了进去。我很震惊。我没想过应该会怎么样，但却肯定不是我所看到的那样。巨大的体育馆里摆满了桌子，大概有三百五十张，每张桌子的两边配有两把椅子。我原来想像着四或五个人坐在一张桌子上，但是结果却是只有两个人。我不知道为什么一张桌子坐两个人，而不是一个人。随着更多的人涌进来，我走到了我的桌子边上，坐下来，等待。

106桌和109桌相距有点远。虽然在同一排，但却隔着三张桌子。A.蔡正坐在那张桌子的左边。另一边坐着尼科尔。看起来她对于不得不坐在蔡的旁边并不开心，因为蔡是一个“让人烦得要死”的人。听到尼科尔的这个评价我不太高兴。蔡是一个很不错的人，如果她不能欣赏的话，她就不配坐在他的旁边！过后，我弄明白了自己怎么会这么想。我意识到我可能正在将A.蔡当成暗恋的对象。

二十分钟后，我们都安静了下来。我们已经和朋友们说完了想说的话，现在每个人都准备考试了。我的搭档和我在同一所学校，可是我却从来也没有遇到过他。他看起来挺好，虽然有点乏味。他没有和我聊太多。我并不是报怨他，我也没有和他多说什么。等到我们都安静了，老师开始给我们发试卷（实际上，他们已经把试卷分放在每排末端的桌子上了。那些试卷上面有一堆我们所需要的杂物，坐在那些桌子上的学生们负责派发）。然后，他们开始给我们一步步地介绍我们在试卷上要填的空格以及什么空格要留在那里。这是件很枯燥的事儿。我们不得不非常地小心，不要填借行，也不要答错问题。我觉得他们应该把那些不需要我们回答的问题拿走，省掉我们这份辛苦。

有一些行很容易填写，比如“姓名”、“学校”或“出生日期”。也有一些很难填写，比如“你父母的受教育程度”（译者注：我很意外Susan竟然不知道这些信息）。然后就开始了真正难写的部分，“你在高中打算做什么”、“选择一个你觉得当你长大时最适合你的最好的职业”，和“你觉得这个活动怎么样：喜欢、不喜欢或无所谓”。最后三个问题很难回答，谢天谢地，我在暑假前已经想过了，所以在老师说下一道题之前我都给答完了。回答那些问题花了我们至少半个小时的时间。其中一个问题很搞笑：“你喜欢、不喜欢，还是觉得无所谓：开割草机”。哇，好像会有人喜欢做那事儿似的。

好了，到了考试的时间了。我们都可以站起来、伸展一下，从心理上做好准备，然后，嗖！一下子，我们又全都坐下去了，这次我们手上拿着铅笔和计算器，考试了。

第一个是写作考试。他们让我们阅读一段文章，其中有一部分标注了下划线。问题都是围绕着下划线的部分，问的都是一些怎么改进那部分的题。由于这部分内容与主题无关，可以将其删除吗？或者这部分的语法可以改改吗？如果可以，怎么改？可以将其放在某一个句子后面吗？或者是否这部分就应该这样保留着？我真的很喜欢这个写作考试。我喜欢编辑，特别是编辑别人的东西，整个写作考试就是编辑他们提供的一段话。这是整个考试中最好的部分、最好玩的部分。

40个问题只有半个小时的时间。过了半个小时，就考数学了。写作考试我剩了五分钟（他们每过五或十分钟就告诉我们一下时间）。数学考试，我就没有那么幸运了。是的，考试很简单，每一个问题我都非常地懂，但是做完总是需要一些时间的。最近我没怎么做过代数题，所以我在几个问题上答得很慢。最后，我不得不去猜最后一题，因为我根本没有足够的时间做了。

幸运的是，考完数学后，我们又可以站起来休息十分钟了。我用了五分钟的时间在卫生间门口排队，又用了宝贵的两分钟呆在里面，另有两分钟用在了去卫生间的路上，最后只有一分钟的时间和朋友说说话。他们都有几道数学题是猜的，这让我感觉好多了。

释放掉这一个小时的考试所憋出来的那部分能量后（虽然这是相当有趣儿的考试。编辑文字和做数学题很好玩儿。特别是数学题。我有点沉浸在我做的那么多的数学题中了。好像我不再意识到我所处的环境了，脑子中只有数学题。太有趣儿了），我们又坐了回去，该考阅读理解了。开始前，老师给我们鼓了鼓劲儿，说是我们已经考完一半多了，让我们振作精神。我吃了零食，看了看同一排的人都在干什么。蔡刚巧看向我这个方向，他咧嘴笑了笑，对我挑了挑眉毛。很古怪，但是很有趣儿。我们凝视着对方，最后，我突然笑了起来（当然，静悄悄地），然后我们就回去看试题了。

和数学及写作相比，考阅读理解一点也不好玩。回答那些模棱两可的问题很枯燥。然而，考的并不难。前两个考试我没有觉得无聊，但是这一个，我觉得无聊极了。这半个小时之后没有休息时间，马上就接着考科学。答完两个问题后，我开始有点稳不住神了。

我无法专心考试，周围的环境变化我都知道。突然间我意识到自己正呆在一个多么奇怪的地方。这么大的一个体育馆，这么多的学生，所有的学生都在同一个地方做着同一件事情。天气有点凉，周围很安静……我觉得自己要么是觉得无聊得要死，要么就是会突然间笑起来。我能意识到正在发生着什么。坐了这么久，答了这么多完全无趣的东西，我开始待不住了。我想从房间里溜走，但是我不能，我不得不待在我的座位上。我觉得彻底绝望了，因为我还要回答二十个问题，还要再坐在这里至少二十分钟，干不了什么。我的屁股都坐麻了。最后，我回到了考试中，继续做题，心里却烦得想喊。

到点了！！！考试结束了！我跑到朋友们那边，一边谈论着我们考得怎么样，一边向食堂走去，家长们正在食堂那里等着我们呢。我跳来转了一圈，觉得自己拥有整个世界的能量，等不及将其释放掉。我从来都不知道无聊能让我变成这样。嗯，有趣儿。他们都认为考试很无聊，但是他们看起来不象我这样憋得够呛。当然，我看起来也不是我自己感觉的这个样儿。蔡就在我旁边，但是我们没说话。他很奇怪。有时，他表现得就象我们是很亲密的朋友；可有时，他又好像根本就没有注意到我的存在。怪怪地。

不管怎么说，我找到了父母，和我的朋友说完再见，就离开了高中。过了一会儿，我突然间觉得非常非常地累。这个考试消耗掉了我许多的脑力和体力。但是，我想我确实做得很好。这真的是一个既好玩又有趣的经历。

 

【小哭介绍背景】这个考试学校早就下达了通知。当时我只是在日历上标注了一下而已。事实上还是需要一点准备工作的，可是我觉得那是学生们自己的事情，压根就没觉得跟自己有多少关系。Susan爸就不同了，一会提醒我是否填好了粉红色的表格？那可是孩子考试的入门卷，我说还真的忘记了，于是赶紧给填好；一会儿又说，他在查看学校的地图，研究#5号门在哪里。我说提前一天开车过去看看不就行了吗？正好那天Susan爸不上班，于是一大早送完小宝上学，我们就去高中采点了，提前了一周。在高中转了一圈，感觉颇好。学校占地很大，停车场也很大，估计很多学生是开车上学的。

等到上周五的晚饭时分，Susan爸提醒Susan是否把考试的工具都准备好了。这个提醒可真的管用了！Susan说，放学前发现笔盒丢了，里面有第二天考试指定的计算器，还有她全部的U盘等东西。唉，这孩子，怎么这么糊涂呢？这么大的事回家了一直都没说。我说赶紧，这才七点多点，马上出发去商店买计算器吧，再晚要关门了。Susan倒镇定，说是没关系，就拿爸爸的好了。我说爸爸的是工程计算器，太复杂了，你一下子找不到按钮，会有麻烦的。Susan爸也说还是去买学生用的吧，保险。于是一家人赶紧出门购物。

这和团契的活动就连上了，Susan必须得跟着我们一起去活动。最后回到家都十点了，加上Susan爸又让她再多削一根铅笔，东搞西搞的半个小时又过去了，我说再不睡觉就别考试了吧，还有比按时睡觉更重要的了吗？晚睡的结果就是第二天不能按计划早起，不过一切还算顺利。Susan说，一些人很紧张，她一点也不。她说这就是一个摸底考试而已，考查的是学生们的真实水平，有什么好紧张的呢？

我们家长在指定的时间到学校食堂等待，竟然有那么巧，我旁边坐的就是Susan最好的两个朋友的家长。大家一聊 ，也都知道这几个孩子是好朋友，于是我们家长就好像也是好朋友了似的：）后来还看到了教会的一个朋友，感觉，慢慢地，我们在小村这里就开始扎下根了。

本来这周末Susan正在写一篇介绍她的数学课的作文。她说数学课内容很少，没有什么好写的，于是我说那就先写这个考试的吧。她说太好了，她很想写写这个考试，太不一样的经历了。于是，就写了很多很久。还说，没有办法写得更少了，因为一下子考了那么多科啊！

看她数学答得不够时间，我就想“时间用在这里就不在那里”，数学上没有花时间，当然就不熟练。考试的技巧很多是和熟练程度挂钩的，虽然这个技巧在日常生活中作用并不大，但是了为了考试分数，还真得试着做点练习。这ELA的作业每天投入二个小时多，数学也就半个小时，确实在考试上就反应出来了。很明显，Susan练了啥，她就熟练啥。她说写作考试的编辑内容好玩儿，是因为他们的ELA课上，必须得完成两篇命题作文。老师让同学们先相互查错，结果因为Susan忘带了自己的作文，就非常认真地给别人编辑改错。最后不少同学都让她帮着查错，因为ELA老师对低级错误的容忍度相当地低！威尔基女士在班上讲，她会因为一些上级主管部门发的邮件里面有语法错而回信去编辑人家的邮件！而我所介绍的作者尼尔.舒斯特曼，他的一本获奖书，就是请威尔基女士编辑的！

Susan说她很喜欢去编辑同学们的作文，但是她自己的作文就只能是回家自己给自己编辑了。她说得试着把自己的文章当成别人的才行，否则就不会认真地去查错。当时我还想，这孩子咋这么不会拒绝别人呢？明明是只查搭档的错，管那么多闲事干什么呢？回头想想，上帝自有安排，上帝的规划我们当时并不懂。Susan做了她心里想做的事，顺从了上帝，于是便得到了上帝的奖赏：）当然，话说回来，谁能证明她顺从的是上帝的安排呢？这简直是无法说清的事情。也许她顺从的是原罪所带来的一种本能的“罪性”呢？无从得知。我事后诸葛亮一把，总归结局很不错。

还有，这个暑假，因为我从国内带回了一本“人生设计在童年”的中文书，书中提到的一些议题我觉得有道理，于是开始和Susan讨论她未来的职业规划，问她愿不愿去了解一些不同的职业，想想她自己长大了想干啥。结果她很快地就得出结论：她想做导演！不管行与不行，反正她有明确的想法，因此在这个摸底考试中回答关于理想的问题时，就不用在考场现想一番了。看来，那本书也确实值得一看，至少带来了这样的一个作用——帮助 Susan在考试伊始可以从容镇定，不会一上来就觉得心烦意乱地。能够平静愉快地进行一场考试是一个很好玩的经历，看她写的作文，除了最后科学考试坐不了住了之外，基本上是这样的，那就行了。

不知道是小村这里学习风气如此，还是整个伊州都是这样，反正以前没有听说过高中还会在学生们八年级的时候就把孩子召过去进行一次摸底考试的。跟着Susan继续了解她的校园生活吧。

附上英文原文：

            Explore Test

I just took the Explore Test this morning! It was an interesting experience. A bit boring, but overall interesting, because I’ve never taken a test with so many people before (about 700) and never in such a big room (we took the test in the gymasium). Despite how strange the environment was, I think I did pretty well.

For a while, the teachers have been talking to us about the Explore Test. The test is suppose to let the high school people know how much we already know and how much we still need to learn. It would determine what sort of classes we need. The way I figure it, the results for the test were pretty much already decided before we took it, since we either already knew it or we didn’t. Therefore, there should’ve been no pressure, since all the test was supposed to do was to show us the truth. The truth about our abilities. That’s something we can’t change, so why be worried about it? I wasn’t worried, and I’m still not worried. A few of my classmates were really nervous, though, and I can’t understand why. Or maybe that’s just because I’m sure I got a good score on it.

There were practice questions, but I couldn’t find them online until the morning of the test. I skimmed through the questions before I left the house (to go to the high school, where the test was taking place), and I was surprised. The questions were easier than I had thought! Then, my dad drove me to the high school and dropped me off, since he wasn’t allowed to go inside. I got off, took my purse, and went inside.

I had been worried that I wouldn’t be able to find the testing room. Well, I worried no more the moment I entered the building and saw all the people. They were all moving towards one direction, disappearing around a corner while more people came in through the door (reminded me of how the water of a river rushes in one way and out the other). There weren’t enough people to make the hallway crowded, but enough to form a steady stream. I went with the flow and entered another hallway, where there were papers taped onto lockers that had our names, school, and testing room on them in alphabetical order.

I felt a bit strange looking at the list of names myself, since everyone else had a friend with them. However, I swallowed my self-consciousness, pretended like I knew what I was doing, and stroded purposefuly along the wall, looking for my name. My gaze inadvertently landed on another last name, similar to mine. Choi. A Choi**, that Korean guy that’s really nice and funny and smart and fun to be around. He was supposed to be seated a table 109 in the gym. I looked further, and saw that I was supposed to be seated at table 106, also in the gym. I felt strangely dissapointed. Looking back on it now, I think I might’ve been hoping that he was going to sit at the same table as me. The chances of that would’ve been about 3%. I was lucky he was sitting in the same area.

After a few minutes, the door to the gym opened and all of the students rushed in. I was surprised. I had no idea what to expect, but I certainly wasn’t expecting what I saw. The huge gymnasium was filled with tables, about three hundred and fifty of them, each with two chairs side by side. I had imagined four or five people to a table, but it turned out that they sat only two. I wonder why it’s two people per table, and not one desk per person. More people flooded in, I went over to my table, sat down, and waited.

Table 106 is pretty far away from table 109. In the same row, but three tables away. A Choi was sitting on the left side of that table. On the other side sat Nicole. She didn’t seem happy about having to sit next to Choi, on account that he is “annoying as hell”. I wasn’t too happy to hear that. Choi is a great person, and if she can’t appreciate that, she shouldn’t deserve to sit next to him! Then, I caught myself, and realized that I might be developing a crush on A Choi.

About twenty minutes later, we all got settled down. We’ve talked all we wanted to our friends, and now everyone is ready to take the test. My partner is a guy from the same school as me that I’ve never met. He seems alright, although a bit boring. Didn’t talk to me much. Not that I’m in a possition to complain. I didn’t talk to him much either. The teachers waited till we were all quiet, then proceeded to passing us our test booklets (Actually, they were already passed out to the table at the end of each row. Those tables had a stack of all the stuff we need, and the students sitting at those tables were in charge of passing them out). Then, they proceeded to give us step- by-step instructions on what to fill out on the booklets and what to leave alone. It was tedious work. We had to be really careful not to fill in the wrong lines and not to answer the wrong questions. I feel like they should just take out the questions that we weren’t supposed to answer and spare us the hard work.

There were easy lines to fill out, such as “Name”, “School”, or “Birthdate”. There were also harder ones, like “What is your parent’s degree of education”. Then came the really hard ones. “What do you plan to study in high school”, “Choose the best career that you feel is best for you when you grow up”, and “What do you feel about this activity: like, dislike, or indifferent”. The last three questions were hard to answer, Thankfully, I’ve thought about them before during the summer, and I managed to answer them before the teachers moved on. Answering those took us at least half an hour. One of the questions was funny: “Do you like, dislike, or feel indifferent about: running a lawn mower”. Wow. As if anyone would like that.

Alright. It was time for the test. We all were allowed to get up, stretch, mentally prepare ourselves, and then WOOSH! In a flash, we were all sitting down again, this time with a pencil and calculator in our hands, and a test in front of us.

The writing test came first. They gave us a passage to read, and underlined portions in the passage. The questions were all about the underlined portions, and they all asked about how that portion can be improved. Should it be deleted since it’s not relevant to the main idea? Should it be grammatically changed? And if yes, how? Should it be placed after the next sentence? Or should it just remain as it is? I really liked the writing test. I like editting, especially edditing somebody else’s writing, and the whole writing test was about editing the passages they provided. It was the best the more fun test out of all of them.

Only half an hour for 40 questions. Half an hour later, it was time for the math. I had finished the writing test with five minutes to spare (they tell us the time every ten or five minutes). With the math test, I was not that lucky. Yes, the test was easy, I could thoroughly understand every problem, but it took a while to do a some of them. I haven’t done much algabratic equations lately, so I was slow on a few of those problems. In the end, I had to guess on the last question, because I did not have enough time to do it.

Fortunately, after the math test, we were allowed to get up and take a ten-minute break. I spend a good five minutes of that break waiting in line for the bathroom, another good two minutes in the bathroom, another two minutes walking to and back from the bathroom, and only about one minute talking with my friends. They all guessed on a few problems for the math test, and that made me feel better.

After releasing some of that pent-up energy from a whole hour of testing (it was pretty fun testing though. Editing writings and doing math problems is fun. Especially the math problems. I go into sort of a trance when I’m doing a lot of math. It’s like I’m not aware of my surroundings anymore, just the math problem. It’s fun), we sat back down again to do the reading comprehension test. Before it started, the teachers gave us sort of a pep talk about how we’re more than halfway through and to keep our spirits up. I ate my snack, and looked down the row to see how other people were doing. Choi just happened to be looking in my direction, and he grinned and wiggled his eyebrows at me. Weird, but funny. We stared at eachother, and finally, I bursted out laughing (quietly, of course) and we looked back to our tests.

The reading comprehension test was nowhere as fun as the math or writing. It was boring, answering those ambiguous questions. However, it wasn’t really hard. I hadn’t feel bored for the last two tests, but on that one, I got bored as hell. We got no break after that half-hour of testing, and the science test came next. About two questions into the test, I was getting a little bit hyper.

I couldn’t pay attention to the test, and became highly aware of my surrounding. I suddenly realized what a strange place I was in. Such a huge gymnasium, with so many students, and all the students doing the exact same things in the exact same possitions. It was a bit cold, and so very quiet… I felt like I wanted to either die of boredom or burst out laughing. I realized what was happening. I was getting hyper from sitting down for so long and doing something so utterly boring for more than half an hour. I felt like I wanted to bolt from the room, but I knew I couldn’t, and I had to stay in my seat. I felt utterly hopeless, since I still had twenty-something questions to do, and at least twenty more minutes of sitting there in my seat not doing anything. My bottom felt numb. Finally, I turned back to the test and kept on working, mentally shouting in boredom.

FINALLY!!! THE TEST WAS OVER! I ran over to my friends and we talked about how we did on the way to the cafeteria, where the parents were waiting. I jumped around, feeling like I had all the energy in the world, and I couldn’t wait to let all of it out. I never knew boredom can do that to me. Huh, interesting. They all thought the test was boring, but they didn’t seem as hyper as I felt. Of course, I didn’t look as hyper as I felt either. Choi was right behind me, but we didn’t talk to eachother. He’s strange. Sometimes, he acts like as if we’re close friend, and other times, he seems to just not notice me. Weird.

Anyway, I found my parents, said goodbye to my friends, and left the high school. After a while, I suddenly felt really, really tired. That test took a lot out of me, mentally and physically. I think I did really good on it though. It was a really fun and interesting experience.