When I was a Senior at E. C. Glass High School in Lynchburg， Virginia during the 1961～1962 school year， we had a mean and nasty teacher named A. J. Fielder， better known as “Happy Jack”. Happy Jack taught hard courses in Chemistry and Physics. He gave low grades to his students. Many students needed high grades to get into the college of their choices. Students who were hoping to be at the top of their class or who needed a good mark to be admitted into college avoided taking classes taught by Happy Jack.

However， some students wanted to become physical sciences majors in college， so they felt obliged1） to take the risk of taking Happy Jacks classes. I was one of those who decided to take the risk. I took chemistry as a junior in high school and physics as a senior in high school.

A crisis developed while I was taking physics. Happy Jack gave very hard tests. Almost all of us got no better than 50 or 60 on these tests. In other words， we were failing. If we failed， we would not be able to go to college at all， much less into the college of our choice.

However， there was one kid in the class who always got 100 on every physics test. His name was Charles Pryor.

Charles Pryor was not regarded as one of the smartest kids in the school. Actually， I was regarded as the smartest kid in the school， although I knew that in reality I was not. There was a mousy2 little girl named Martha Sue Herley who always got test scores higher than I did. She was not taking physics， but Charles Pryor was.

I had close friends named Jimmy and Johnny Farrar， who were identical3 twins. They were also among the smartest kids in the school and were taking the same physics class from Happy Jack. I went over to their house many times to discuss this problem.

We knew that something had to be done about this. We were desperate. By getting 100 on every test while the rest of us were getting not more than 60， Charles Pryor was placing us all in a difficult situation. We were all studying hard. We did not think that he was very smart， so it could not have been that he knew the material better than we did.

We finally figured out how he did it.

There were three physics classes， taught in periods 4， 5 and 6. Charles Pryor was in sixth period. Happy Jack gave the same tests to all three periods. Therefore， during period 5 Charles Pryor could meet with a student from period 4 who had just taken the test， find out what the questions were and look up the answers before period 6. In addition， Happy Jack would sit in the back of the classroom while the tests were being taken and grade the tests handed in by the pervious students. Charles Pryor could go to the back of the room to ask the teacher a question， lean over Happy Jacks shoulder and see what answers the other students had given and whether Happy Jack had marked them right or wrong. We became convinced that this was what Charles Pryor was doing.

Now， what to do about this？ Finally， we decided to write an anonymous letter to Happy Jack explaining what Charles Pryor was doing. However， we did not want to say that it was Charles Pryor who was doing it. We just said that some student was doing this. I wrote the letter， with editorial help from Jimmy and Johnny Farrar. In order to make sure that nobody would ever know who had written the letter， we put on gloves and bought a new pad of paper from Pearsons Drug Store， so that our fingerprints would not appear on the paper. We went through newspapers and found the words we wanted to write， cut them out with scissors and pasted them with glue from a new bottle of glue onto the paper. We got a new envelope and put the letter in the envelope. We put an obviously fake return address on the letter and put postage stamps on sideways in a distinctive manner. Then， we mailed the letter to Happy Jack.

A few days later， Happy Jack had an announcement to all the physics classes. He read the letter in class. He demanded to know immediately who had written the letter and who the cheating student was. I kept silent and did not raise my hand and neither did Jimmy or Johnny Farrar.

A few days later， Happy Jack gave us another test. However， departing from his usual practice， he did not give the same test to all three classes. Instead， he gave an easy test to the students in period 4. Everybody in that class got 100 on that test. However， he gave an extremely difficult test to the students in periods 5 and 6. His message was clear：“If you do not reveal the name of the cheating student， all of you will flunk4. You will not be able to go to college and your futures will be ruined.”

I went over to Jimmy and Johnny Farrars house again. Now， we were really worried. We decided that we had no choice. We wrote another letter.

In the second letter， we also cut out words from a newspaper， provided the same fake return address and glued the stamps on in the same way sideways， details which Happy Jack had never told the classes about. In this way， we could insure that he would know that the persons writing the first letter had also written the second.

The second letter contained only one sentence：“The person referred to in the previous letter is Charles Pryor.”

A few days later， I was walking down the high school corridor and I happened to glance through the classroom door and see Happy Jack with my letter in his hand， having a heart-to-heart talk with Charles Pryor. I do not know what happened next and heard nothing more about this.

We all passed and went to college.

For 40 long years since 1961 I have been harboring5 this secret. In all these years， until today， I have never told anyone about this letter， that I wrote it or that Charles Pryor was the subject of the letter.

Today， after 40 years， I decided to look up Charles Pryor on the Internet， and here is what I found：

Charles W. Pryor has a Ph.D. degree in Physics and is the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Westinghouse Electric Corporation， the largest provider of nuclear power plants in the world. Charles W. Pryor won the Academy of Distinguished Alumni Award for 1998.

We must now realize that he was not cheating after all. He was simply better at physics than we were.

1961～1962學(xué)年，我是弗吉尼亞州林奇堡市E. C. Glass高中的一名畢業(yè)班學(xué)生。那時有一位教我們的老師為人刻薄，令人討厭，他叫A. J. 菲爾德，不過他更為人所知的名字是“快樂杰克”?？鞓方芸私涛覀兓瘜W(xué)和物理，課程難度很大，他給學(xué)生打分也很低。但很多學(xué)生都需要高分以便進(jìn)入自己心儀的大學(xué)，因此，那些希望自己在班里名列前茅的學(xué)生或那些需要高分進(jìn)入大學(xué)的學(xué)生都不選快樂杰克的課。

然而，一些學(xué)生想在大學(xué)主修物理學(xué)專業(yè)，因此不得不鋌而走險(xiǎn)選修快樂杰克的課程。我就是其中一個決定冒險(xiǎn)的學(xué)生，于是我在11年級時選修了化學(xué)，12年級時又選修了物理（編注：美國高中有四年，即9-12年級，分別相當(dāng)于中國的初三、高一、高二、高三）。

在修物理課時，危機(jī)降臨了?？鞓方芸顺龅膸追菰嚲黼y度都很大，我們每個人的成績幾乎都不到50或60分。也就是說，我們都沒及格。如果考試掛科，我們根本不可能上大學(xué)，就更別提進(jìn)心儀的大學(xué)了。

然而，班里卻有一個學(xué)生例外，他每次物理測試都能得滿分。他的名字叫查爾斯·普萊爾。

查爾斯·普萊爾并不是我們學(xué)校公認(rèn)的最聰明的學(xué)生之一。事實(shí)上，我才被認(rèn)為是學(xué)校里最聰明的學(xué)生，盡管我明白實(shí)際上并非如此。有一個內(nèi)向害羞的女孩叫馬莎·休·赫利，她的考試成績就總比我好，但她沒有選修物理，而查爾斯·普萊爾選了。

我有兩個要好的朋友，吉米和約翰尼·法勒。他倆是雙胞胎，長得一模一樣。他們也在全校公認(rèn)最聰明的學(xué)生之列，也同樣選修了快樂杰克的物理課。于是，我去了他們家好幾次，和他們一起商量關(guān)于考試成績的事兒。

我們知道對此我們必須得做點(diǎn)什么，我們都要絕望死了。每次考試查爾斯·普萊爾都得滿分，而我們其他所有人都及不了格，查爾斯使我們所有人都處在了難堪的境地。我們都是刻苦學(xué)習(xí)的孩子。我們并不覺得他有多聰明，所以他不可能比我們更熟悉所學(xué)的物理課內(nèi)容。

我們最終猜到他是如何考取滿分的了。

當(dāng)時有三個物理班，分別在第四、第五和第六節(jié)課上。查爾斯·普萊爾上的是第六節(jié)課的那個班。由于快樂杰克總是給三個班出相同的試題，因此，第五節(jié)課開始時，查爾斯·普萊爾就能與剛在第四節(jié)課上考完試的同學(xué)見面，弄清試題內(nèi)容，并在第六節(jié)課開始前查到答案。另外，考試時，快樂杰克總會坐在教室后面，判前一個班的學(xué)生交上來的卷子。此時，查爾斯·普萊爾就可以走到教室后面請教快樂杰克問題，從他肩膀上方探著身子查看別人卷子上的答案和他批改的對錯情況。我們越來越確信這就是查爾斯·普萊爾的所作所為。

既然如此，那該怎么辦呢？最后，我們決定給快樂杰克寫一封匿名信，向他說明查爾斯·普萊爾的所為。不過，我們并不想明說作弊的人是查爾斯·普萊爾，因而只說是某學(xué)生考試作弊了。我寫信，吉米和約翰尼·法勒幫忙修改了一下。為了確保永遠(yuǎn)不會有人發(fā)現(xiàn)寫信的人是誰，我們戴上手套，從皮爾遜藥店買了一沓新紙，這樣我們的指紋就不會留在信紙上。我們仔細(xì)地在報(bào)紙上搜尋，找到想用的詞就用剪刀剪下來，然后用膠水粘在紙上（那瓶膠水也是新買的）。我們買了一個新信封，把那封信放在里面。接著，我們在信封上粘上一個明顯虛假的寄信人地址，并以一種特別的方式斜著貼上郵票。然后，我們把信寄給了快樂杰克。

幾天后，快樂杰克在三個物理班上都宣布了一件事。他在課堂上宣讀了那封信，要求我們立刻說出寫信者是誰，作弊者又是誰。我保持了沉默，沒有舉手。吉米和約翰尼·法勒也沒舉手。

又過了幾天，快樂杰克又組織了一次測試。然而，這次與以往不同，他沒有給三個班出同樣的試題。相反，他給第四節(jié)課的學(xué)生出了一份非常簡單的試題，使那個班所有學(xué)生都得了滿分。但是，他給上第五節(jié)課和第六節(jié)課的學(xué)生出了一份非常難的試題。他的用意很明顯：“如果不說出作弊學(xué)生的名字，所有人都別想通過考試。你們都上不了大學(xué)，你們的將來也都會毀掉?！?/p>

我又一次去了吉米和約翰尼·法勒家。這次，我們真的很擔(dān)心。我們斷定自己別無選擇，于是又寫了一封信。

第二封信中，我們依舊從報(bào)紙上剪下詞匯，寫上與上次相同的虛假寄信人地址，用同樣的方式把郵票斜著貼在信封上——這些細(xì)節(jié)快樂杰克從來沒有在班上提過。這樣，我們就可以確保他會知道寫第一封信和第二封信的是同一伙人。

第二封信里只有一句話：“上封信中所指的人是查爾斯·普萊爾?！?/p>

幾天后，我在學(xué)校走廊上走著，碰巧透過教室門縫看到快樂杰克手里拿著我寫的那封信，正在跟查爾斯·普萊爾促膝長談。我不知道后來發(fā)生了什么事，也再沒有聽到過關(guān)于這件事的任何消息。

我們所有人都通過了考試，上了大學(xué)。

自1961年以來的這漫長的40年里，我一直深藏著這個秘密。這么多年，直到今天，我從來沒有跟任何人提起過這封信，也從沒告訴任何人我寫那封信或查爾斯·普萊爾是那封信的主題。

40年后的今天，我決定在網(wǎng)上搜索一下關(guān)于查爾斯·普萊爾的信息，下面是我找到的資料：

查爾斯·W·普萊爾有物理學(xué)博士學(xué)位，目前擔(dān)任全球最大的核能供應(yīng)商西屋電氣公司的執(zhí)行總裁（編注：現(xiàn)已卸任）及董事長。查爾斯·W·普萊爾還榮獲了1998年度杰出校友獎。

現(xiàn)在，我們最終意識到當(dāng)年他并沒有作弊。他只是在物理方面學(xué)得比我們?nèi)魏稳硕己枚选?/p>

注釋

1. oblige vt. （以道義、法律或體力）強(qiáng)迫，迫使

2. mousy adj. 安靜害羞的；個性不強(qiáng)的

3. identical adj. 完全相同的

4. flunk vi. （在考試等中）失敗，不及格

5. harbor vt. 心懷，懷藏