CNN 2011-02-20

pounds of Alaskan cod¹, 45 pounds of organic vegetables, and 4 gallons of salsa. These mouth-watering ingredients top our trek² Cross Country. Students and staff at Atlanta's Emory University actually combined those items to make 260 fish tacos lined up end-to-end. And the goal? To break the record for the world's longest taco line.

Next stop, the campus of Auburn University, where officials say that some of the school's iconic oak trees have been poisoned. Auburn fans traditionally cover the trees with toilet paper to make big game wins. Now the university says that the culprits applied³ a herbicide commonly used to kill trees. The school says that the trees, believed to be more than 130 years old, are probably not going to survive.

And then, finally, in Phoenix⁴, Arizona, dramatic horse rescue is caught on tape. A filly named Sugar was out for a ride with her owner when something spooked her, sending her falling into a canal. The owner managed to get out, but it took rescuers about a half an hour to actually pull Sugar out and get her to safety.

All right, Mom and Dad, how would you feel if a teacher described your son or daughter as lazy, disengaged, a whiner⁵, an oaf, entitled, or even annoying? Would you be upset with the teacher, with your kid, with yourself maybe?

One high school English teacher near Philadelphia, Natalie Munroe, used those very words to describe her students and posted them on her personal blog for all to see. Now, she never identified the school. She didn't identify the kids. She didn't even identify herself, but the school found out anyway and they suspended her. So, are you thinking, "Bravo, Miss Munroe, what a way to tell the painful truth"? Or do you think that she could have picked maybe a more private, less snarky way to express herself? Well, Natalie is with us this morning, and so is her attorney, Steven Rovner. They join us from Philadelphia.

And Natalie, let me ask you, why did you write these things on your blog? Was this a way to just vent⁶? Or were you frustrated⁷ and hoping somehow this would send out a message to these kids?

I was just writing for my friends and for myself. It was a personal blog. It was a way to keep in touch with my friends. I had seven followers⁸. I really never thought that anyone would see it.

You had seven followers?

Seven.

OK. Well, I think that's increased quite a bit, now that you're talking about this on a national level.

Yes.

And let me just,you know,I mentioned some of the words that you used to describe your students. But I want to go into your fantasy report card.

You actually wrote that if you had a chance to do the report cards for their parents to read, you would actually say things like this. "I hear the trash company is hiring." "I called out sick a couple of days just to avoid your son." "Just as bad as his sibling⁹. Don't you know how to raise kids?" "Nowhere near as good as her sibling. Are you sure they're related?"

OK, we understand free speech. But you had to know that maybe, possibly, a student or two might be following you online and, so, were you thinking, constructive¹⁰ criticism? They've got to hear it somehow? Or did you ever imagine it would be controversial? Do you think this was the right thing to do?

I never, ever thought that it would be controversial or that anyone would see it. Because, again, I wrote it anonymously¹¹, I never posted any student names, I never posted my district's name, I never posted my school name.

So, it was really -- I mean, it was up there for over a year. It was discovered over a year after it had been written long since. So, it was never, no, it never occurred to me that anybody would find it or read it or anything like that. I wasn't making a social commentary when I wrote it. I was simply communicating with friends, like a diary for myself and my friends.

OK. So, when you wanted to become a teacher, what were you thinking? Were you thinking, oh, this is going to be great. I'm going to meet some fabulous¹² kids, I'm going to make an impact in their life, I'm going to change the world. Why did you want to become a teacher?

All of those things. I love English, I love literature. I always wanted to be able to use my knowledge and sort of help change the world kind of thing. Even if it's on a small scale or a large scale. So, I was very enthusiastic to become a teacher.

I remember five years ago, when I got my own classroom, how exciting it was to go in the summer and set things up, and that was my intention for the whole time. So -- and that has never changed.

No. So, you still feel that way. That's still what you would like to do?

I had no plans for a career change. This is just -- this kind of blindsided me so, yes.

Now, you seem very young. How long have you been teaching? How many years?

cod  n.鳕鱼肉; 鳕鱼

culprit  n.犯过错者, 罪犯

herbicide  n.灭草剂

spook  n.鬼   vt.吓; 吓唬

disengaged  adj.闲散的,空闲的

snarky  adj.恶声恶气的，（突然）咬人的

sibling  n.兄弟, 姐妹

1 cod   

n.鳕鱼；v.愚弄；哄骗

参考例句：

• They salt down cod for winter use.他们腌鳕鱼留着冬天吃。
• Cod are found in the North Atlantic and the North Sea.北大西洋和北海有鳕鱼。

2 trek   

vi.作长途艰辛的旅行；n.长途艰苦的旅行

参考例句：

• We often go pony-trek in the summer.夏季我们经常骑马旅行。
• It took us the whole day to trek across the rocky terrain.我们花了一整天的时间艰难地穿过那片遍布岩石的地带。

3 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

4 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。

5 whiner   

n.哀鸣者，啜泣者，悲嗥者，哀诉者

参考例句：

• He was a whiner, always complaining of the costs in his Family business. 他整天嘀嘀咕咕，老是埋怨自己的家族企业开销太大了。 来自教父部分
• And finally, make sure your boss sees you as a winner and not a whiner. 最后，确定你的老板认为你是一个成功者，而不是一名哀诉者。 来自互联网

6 vent   

n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄

参考例句：

• He gave vent to his anger by swearing loudly.他高声咒骂以发泄他的愤怒。
• When the vent became plugged,the engine would stop.当通风口被堵塞时，发动机就会停转。

7 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。

9 sibling   

n.同胞手足(指兄、弟、姐或妹)

参考例句：

• Many of us hate living in the shadows of a more successful sibling.我们很多人都讨厌活在更为成功的手足的阴影下。
• Sibling ravalry has been common in this family.这个家里，兄弟姊妹之间的矛盾很平常。

10 constructive   

adj.建设的，建设性的

参考例句：

• We welcome constructive criticism.我们乐意接受有建设性的批评。
• He is beginning to deal with his anger in a constructive way.他开始用建设性的方法处理自己的怒气。

11 anonymously   

ad.用匿名的方式

参考例句：

• The manuscripts were submitted anonymously. 原稿是匿名送交的。
• Methods A self-administered questionnaire was used to survey 536 teachers anonymously. 方法采用自编“中小学教师职业压力问卷”对536名中小学教师进行无记名调查。

12 fabulous   

adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的

参考例句：

• We had a fabulous time at the party.我们在晚会上玩得很痛快。
• This is a fabulous sum of money.这是一笔巨款。