Chapter 81 Section 5 Expansion of the teaching field

One afternoon in 1961, when it was raining heavily, someone suddenly rang the doorbell.I opened the door and saw that it was a repairman wearing an airtight repair suit.An old nun in her fifties.She held a big umbrella in her hand and asked loudly as soon as she entered the door: "Are you Qi Bangyuan?" I said: "Yes." She said: "We need someone who teaches American literature now, please come here Teach." I was taken aback and said, "I'm not qualified to teach, and American literature wasn't prepared." Instead of listening to my explanation, she said, "You can teach, and you can teach, I know because I've looked it up your information."

It turned out that she was sister Frances, the head of Jingyi Women's College of Arts and Sciences (now Jingyi University). Jingyi was a school run by a religious order, and the person in charge of the religious order was the head of the school.When she came to me, her attitude was very tough and she was very imposing. I refused again and again, but she seemed about to lose her temper, and said, "You Chinese are too polite. Let me tell you, I came here after consideration. I sent students to ZTE to listen to your English course selection." I was too surprised, he was too surprised, dared not argue with her, and didn't even have the ability to say: I`ll try". She immediately explained which day the class would start, and after she finished speaking, she left a schedule and held up the big umbrella , disappeared from the entrance. In this way, in Taichung in 1961, I really started teaching literature classes.

Jing Yi was highly valued at that time, because she was an English-based college, and students were snatched away as soon as they graduated. "American Literature" is a third-year class. The textbook is designated by the school. There are two thick volumes, two of which are works, and one third is background narrative, which relieves my pressure a little. But in any case, "American Literature" is a heavy subject in the Department of Foreign Languages. I am naturally timid and nervous, and I feel that I have no experience, so I can only study hard and study hard.At that time, Jingyi Library had a rich collection of books, all of which were sent directly from the United States. In addition to the Meixin Department, this place also became a place for me to hunt for treasures.I taught this course, teaching and learning benefited each other. I read all the books on American literature in the Jingyi Library, and the notebooks and textbooks were densely written in small characters.Although I knew that I didn't dare to teach a course, as Mr. Hu Shi said, it took more than eight or ten years of research, but I was always one or two years ahead at that time.

Most of Jingyi's English teachers are foreign nuns. In order to cultivate students' English proficiency, they do not use Chinese to teach.In the first year of teaching, the students responded well, and I guess it was my attitude towards literature that attracted them. Sister Frances is a very strict person, holding a big umbrella, patrolling everywhere, keeping a close eye on the teacher's teaching quality, and often going to listen to the teacher's class.She dedicates herself wholeheartedly to the school and regards the school as her home.She is also very strict with students, taking care of appearance, dining etiquette, and daily life routines. She once said: "Girls dress up cleanly and beautifully not just to look good, but to be polite." Cong Jingyi in the 1960s Graduation girls will tremble when they hear SiSter FranCeS.But she also developed at a fairly high level.

It was a complete accident that I taught in the Department of Foreign Languages ​​of Tunghai University.Just like Sister FranCeS hit me on the head with a big umbrella, and I went to teach: but this time it wasn't the umbrella that hit me, it was a letter. One day, I received a letter from Professor Du Hengzhi, who was not very knowledgeable. He said that he was teaching translation in the Department of Foreign Languages ​​and Literatures of Dongfang University. Because he was too busy, he asked me if I could take this course? I don’t know how he knew me, and I didn’t know him either.However, I accepted another challenge.

Tunghai University’s Department of Foreign Languages ​​was more popular and valued than it is today, because they did a lot of pioneering things, and the school’s architecture and planning were forward-looking, and the principal was also a person with social status at that time, so Much attention. The earliest head of the Department of Foreign Languages ​​was Miss Cockran, followed by Miss CraWford, who used to be the director of the library, and then Professor Ian Shepard took over.Almost all teachers in the department are foreigners, and I am the only Chinese teacher.In order to teach translation, I use my Lao Niu Jin to compile teaching materials by myself.Every week, students are given assignments to translate Chinese into English and English into Chinese.It was very hard work, I took it back for corrections, and after the corrections were completed, the homework was returned and discussed in the first hour of the next class.In each paragraph, I have extracted the key points.Talk to students about the possibilities of translation.

I am not in favor of translation talking about theory, and even today I don't think theory can help people.My translation class is completely hands-on. Accumulated English skills cannot be acquired for nothing. There must be good examples. I have to look around and listen to all directions to find a lot of information in order to be able to teach fully. . Once, I asked students to do a translation of "To Mona Lisa" by Walter Pater (Walter Pater1839-1894), and everyone sat in their seats and did it "nearly dying".That is really a big challenge, that short page is full of literary and artistic knowledge, and deeply describes the inner mysteries.Everyone is frowning, looking like they are about to die, which is really brilliant.The translation class is for juniors, with more than 20 students each year. The earliest students include Zhong Ling, Sun Kangxuan, Guo Zhichao, etc.Zhong Ling once wrote a poem "Listening to the Rain" as a gift to me.

I went to the United States to study in 1967, and Guo Zhichao at Indiana University took care of me everywhere. He often invited me to attend Indiana University's famous concerts and operas, and he made many lifelong friends. In 1967, Yuchang suddenly received a transfer order and was transferred to the General Administration to be responsible for the research and preparation of railway electrification, so the family had to move to Taipei. At the beginning of this year, a very important American "American Scholars Foundation" (Amercan Learned SociCty) sent a letter through the US Information Service, saying that they began to give two scholarships to Taiwan for humanities study (the scholarship is very high). Among them, one item is "under the age of forty-five".This year, I was already forty-four years old, and I have entered middle age from youth. In terms of learning, I have been rubbing snakes for ten years without realizing it... Over the years, my father said more than once that you will be a teacher all your life. It's a pity.He seems to have forgotten that when I graduated from college, during the turmoil of the war, he opposed my study abroad, even though I had been admitted to Holyoke College at that time. He was afraid that I would lose contact with my family, and even more afraid that I would become a lonely nerd and delay my marriage.In the past ten years, the school has issued some international exchange notices every year, but my husband is extremely busy at work and my three children are still young.Now it is found that all public funding eligibility is limited to forty-five years old.Since the family has to move to Taipei, it can be moved near the parents' house, and it is easy for the mother to lend a helping hand.If you want to stay in the university to teach and not be eliminated in the future, this year is your last chance.

The foundation approved my application in the first review, but I have to go to New York for an interview before August 30th and then wait for the decision.At the same time, I also applied for the travel and book grants of the Fulbright exchange program. It was another "three-session review" type of exam... One of them was Mr. Xia Zhiqing who had just visited Taiwan from Columbia University.He asked me what I thought of T.S. Eliot's plays? Just the previous summer I had read three of his plays, Murder in the Cathedral, House Party and Cocktail Will", so there is quite a lot to talk about.

During the summer vacation of this year, the two eldest children transferred to the first and second grades of senior high schools, and the youngest son was admitted to the first year of junior high school in Da’an Middle School (I thought I had settled down at the time, but today I think about it. How ignorant), Chung Hsing University organized it for me. Only by staying in my job and studying with a salary for one year (the current salary is converted in Taiwan dollars, less than 100 U.S. dollars), I have the status to receive the award of the exchange plan.But at the end of the term, they must return to the original school to teach for three years.This summer vacation, I was approved by the Ministry of Education and promoted to full professor. It has been 20 years since I came to Taiwan, and I am still struggling to obtain a degree in academia!

That July was unforgettably hot. Our family of five gave up all the cats and brought only one puppy. We moved from the large courtyard in Taichung and the elevated Japanese-style house to the third house on Jinhua Street where the ancestors of the Railway Bureau lived. The ten-square-meter apartment seemed to be stuffed into a steamer (air-conditioning was not common at that time), and the three teenagers lost the space to stretch out, restless.But after I "settle down", I immediately have to cross the ocean to pursue an "academic ideal" that they don't understand, and maybe he still doesn't understand! , have completely lost sight of the stars in the sky.