Jill Carmer was the first student to walk through the classroom door.

"Good morning, my flower," Mr. El said as he finished writing the morning assignments on the board for his fourth graders.He was especially fond of Jill.She had a lot of qualities, Mr. El's favorite being that she always laughed at all his jokes.

"Mr. El, I like your blue jeans. You look cool!" Jill said as she took her seat.

Before Mr. El could acknowledge1 the compliment2, Tommy and Alex Howard,the twins,walked in."Cool jeans, Mr. El," Alex announced.

Soon the rest of the class was streaming in,and a chorus3 of similar comments could be heard.

"Thank you, thank you," Mr. El said to the class. "I'm glad you guys like my new jeans. I wear Levi's jeans almost every day and this is the first time anybody has even noticed."

Angela Williams, the self-appointed fashion expert of the class. raised her hand and spoke without waiting to be called on."That's because all the other jeans you wear are brown, black, green, tan, or gray."

David Tyler waved both hands furiously4 until the teacher pointed at him. "You see, Mr. El, you're wearing blue jeans, just like a real person."

"Thank you, David" Mr. El responded and then addressed the entire class. "Does it really matter what color denim jeans5 are?Think about it and we'll discuss the matter later."

Mr. El took the roll call6 quickly and was pleased to find that no one was absent.This was that annoying day of the week when he had to get his kids to their gym class first thing in the morning.

The class walked down the long hallway to the gym with Mr. El at the end of the line. He opened the door to the faculty room7 as he watched the last child in line disappear into the gym. Miss Joan was the only person in the room.

"Mr. El, what kind of field trip are you taking?" she asked.

"What field trip?"

"You're wearing jeans. Isn't that a little unusual?"

"I wear jeans all the time. These just happen to be blue."

At that moment, Mr. Kay, the principal, walked into the room. He glanced at Mr. El who was still standing by the door. "Hmmm," he said as he walked over to the refrigerator that stood in the far corner of the room. He placed his brown paper lunch bag into it and walked back toward the door. "How are you people this morning?" he asked, and walked out before anyone could reply.

"Those are very nice jeans," Miss Joan continued, "but aren't they a little, shall we say, undignified8 for a professional position?" Before Mr. El could respond, she added, "Not that I mean to suggest that you ever are dignified."

Mr. El smiled. He would have been disappointed if Miss Joan had not made the latter remark. "How come you haven't made any comments all the other times I wore different color jeans?"

"I hadn' t noticed. Besides, they weren' t blue jeans."

"They were the same brand, the same style, the same material. No one noticed, no one cared."

Miss Joan sighed, "I get the feeling you're trying to make some profound point."

Mr. El sat down at the long table that practically went from one end of the room to the other. "My point,"he said, "is that humans are a strange species. They tend to put a lot of importance on unimportant differences."

Miss Joan smiled. "That's true," she replied. "But there are times when you have to pretend to be a human if you want to live successfully among them."

吉爾·卡默是第一位走進(jìn)教室門的學(xué)生。

“早上好，我的好學(xué)生?！卑栂壬蛑泻?，他剛在黑板上寫下了為四年級學(xué)生留的晨課作業(yè)。他特別喜歡吉爾。她有許多逗人之處，埃爾先生最喜歡的是她對他所有的笑話都回應(yīng)以笑聲。

吉爾一邊坐到位子上，一邊說：“埃爾先生，我喜歡你的藍(lán)色牛仔褲。你看上去很酷!”

埃爾先生還沒來及道謝，湯米和亞力克斯·霍華德這對雙胞胎走了進(jìn)來。亞力克斯接過話茬兒：“酷牛仔褲，埃爾先生?！?/p>

很快，班上其他的同學(xué)陸續(xù)進(jìn)來，類似的評價也不絕于耳。

“謝謝，謝謝，”埃爾先生對同學(xué)們說，“我很高興你們大家都喜歡我的新牛仔褲。我?guī)缀趺刻於即┲罹S斯牌子的牛仔褲，但今天大家才第一次都注意到了這回事。”

安吉拉·威廉姆斯，自封為班上的時尚專家，沒等被點名就舉著手嚷嚷：“那是因為你穿的所有那些牛仔褲都是棕色的、黑色的、綠色的、黃褐色的、灰色的。”

戴維·泰勒拼命搖晃著雙手直到老師點到他?！澳忝靼装桑栂壬?，你穿著藍(lán)色牛仔褲，才像一個真正的男人。”

埃爾先生答道：“謝謝你，戴維”。

轉(zhuǎn)而對全班人說：“這真的和粗棉牛仔褲的顏色有關(guān)系嗎?考慮一下稍后我們再討論這件事情?！?/p>

埃爾先生快速點了一遍名，沒發(fā)現(xiàn)有人缺席，他很滿意。這是一周中令人煩心的日子，他不得不一早就先領(lǐng)他的孩子們?nèi)ド象w育課。

埃爾先生跟在全班隊伍的最后走下通往體育館的長長走廊。目送完最后一個孩子走進(jìn)體育館后，他打開了教員室的門。只有瓊小姐一個人在房間里。

“埃爾先生，你在進(jìn)行什么樣的校外考察旅行?”她問。

“考察旅行?”

“你穿著牛仔褲。難道沒有一點特別嗎?”

“我總是穿牛仔褲。只不過這恰巧是藍(lán)色的?！?/p>

剛好那會兒，校長凱先生走進(jìn)了房間。他瞥了一眼還站在門邊的埃爾先生；“唔，”他一邊說一邊走到放在屋子最里面角落處的冰箱旁，把他的棕色紙制午餐包放了進(jìn)去，然后走回門邊。他問：“你的學(xué)生今早表現(xiàn)如何?”說著沒等任何人回答就走了出去。

“那條牛仔褲不錯，”瓊小姐繼續(xù)說，“不過，我說，穿著它難道就沒有一點有損專業(yè)人士的身份嗎?”沒等埃爾先生回應(yīng)，她又說：“我沒有暗示你曾穿著不得體的意思?！?/p>

埃爾先生笑了。如果瓊小姐沒有說出后面的一番評價的話，他會很失望的?！拔掖┲鴦e的顏色的牛仔褲時你怎么不加評論呢?”

“我沒有注意到，況且，它們不是藍(lán)色牛仔褲?！?/p>

“它們是同樣的牌子，相同的樣式，連料子都是一樣的，卻沒有人注意到，沒有人在意過?！?/p>

瓊小姐嘆了口氣說：“我感覺你正在試圖證明某個深刻的，問題?！?/p>

埃爾先生坐在長桌邊，那條長桌幾乎從房間的一頭橫到另一頭，他說：“我的看法是，人是一種奇怪的物種。他們喜歡在微不足道的差別上大做文章?！?/p>

瓊小姐笑了。她回答：“這是真的。但有時候如果你想要在人群中活得順順當(dāng)當(dāng)?shù)脑?，你不得不佯裝成一個人?！?/p>

注釋

1. acknowledge vt. 就…表示感謝

2. compliment n. 贊美（話）；恭維（話）

3. chorus n. 齊聲，一齊

4. furiously adv. 猛烈地，熱烈興奮地

5. denim jean 粗棉布牛仔褲

6. roll call 點名

7. faculty room 教師辦公室

8. undignified adj. 無尊嚴(yán)的，有損尊嚴(yán)的