2006年NPR美国国家公共电台六月-A School Sets the Stage for Life Changes(在线收听

On Fridays, we bring you StoryCorps. Ordinary people ask each other questions and their conversations add up to an oral history of America.

You almost never get a bad story when you ask: how did you two meet. That's where the story begins for Catherine and Scott Kohanek. They first met while working at an elementary school in Minnesota. And school became an unlikely source of good fortune.

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Scott Kohanek: We met each other at Kenwood Elementary in Minneapolis where I was a custodian and you, Catherine, were a special-ed teacher.

Catherine Kohanek: I remember watching you move around the school. You were sliding down the banisters, popping bubble gum and I used to think "They are watching you. Man, you have to be a good example to these kids". And then I watched you with your guitar, getting in the classrooms and singing and getting so involved with the kids. And so I asked you a question that you told me later a lot of people had asked---Why aren't you a teacher? Then I found out that you didn't think college was meant for you or you could cut it. And then, we started to talk. Because the teacher in me came out, I had questions for you, wayward boy.

Scott Kohanek: I was always ready for a conversation with you. It was the best time of my day.

Catherine Kohanek: I would sit there, you know, do my paper work at the end of the day, watch the clock, and I could hear you coming down the hall, because you were pushing the big rolling garbage can.

Scott Kohanek: People would often say you look like you're in a hurry. Well I had things to get done because I knew exactly what I wanted to do. Go hang out in your room.

Catherine Kohanek: When you came in and emptied my trash, you would always sit on the counter by the door.

Scott Kohanek: That was a favorite place of mine to sit, with my feet upon the chair and then our conversations would go on for hours and hours.

Catherine Kohanek: I remember thinking "Oh my gosh." I think I am falling in love. This isn't good. I remember that.

Scott Kohanek: And then there came a time when I realized that my path was, you know, seriously going to change. After 18 and a half years of being a custodian, and I stepped into a college for the first time.

Catherine Kohanek: And I remember when you first started college, you were pushing your garbage can and you came up to me, you were really really excited. You had written your first paper and you'd gotten an A. Do you remember that? You were...

Scott Kohanek: It was the scariest thing I had ever done. And when it came time to get a job, I'd went back to Kenwood as a second grade teacher and that's where I've been ever since. So it became obvious. Em....

Catherine Kohanek: What, what became obvious?

Scott Kohanek: That we, that we were going to get married. So why did we get married at Kenwood school?

Catherine Kohanek: Of course, we were gonna get married at the school. I do remember asking you what do you want and knowing it would be unconventional.

Scott Kohanek: We got married in the lunchroom and served milk and cookies.

Catherine Kohanek: And then the students always go, on that stage? Yeah, where we had the school store, yeah, on that stage. It's, it's funny, you know. You and I both work there now. We take our kids down to the lunchroom, you know, "get in line kids". And every once in a while I just turn my head and I glance up at that stage and, I just smile.

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Catherine and Scott Kohanek at the StoryCorps booth in New York City. These conversations are archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. To learn how to record an interview of your own, just visit NPR.org.

Major funding for StoryCorps comes from the corporation for public broadcasting.

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elementary school : a school in the US where basic subjects are taught for the first six years of a child's education;小学
custodian : someone who looks after a public building;管理人
special-ed : special-education,the education of children who have physical problems or learning problems;特殊教育
banister : a row of wooden posts with a bar along the top, that stops you from falling over the edge of stairs; 楼梯的扶栏
pop: to come suddenly or unexpectedly out of or away from something;突然爆裂。
bubble gum : a type of chewing gum that you can blow into a bubble;泡泡糖。
gosh : used to express surprise;表惊奇,多是失望、不爽意
lunchroom : a large room in a school or office where people can eat;美国(学校或办公场所)的餐厅
glance up : to quickly look at someone or something;一暼,暼见

  原文地址:http://www.tingroom.com/lesson/NPR2006/40831.html