Hunter and Hussar

Chapter 25 Coffee and a Space Odyssey

However, after school on Friday, I still did not escape the coffee.The old class called me to the office as soon as possible after class.I followed obediently and found that Teacher Huang was waiting for me there too.It stands to reason that my midterm exam results were neither too good nor too bad, and I was in the early [-]s. I really don't know why the teachers wanted to talk to me so much.

They didn't praise me or scold me. At first they just dragged the report card around the old class's computer.How many times have I said in the class meeting that the senior high school entrance examination is not only a test of language and mathematics, but also the scores of political history.If you score more in these two subjects, you will be firmly in the top [-].Old Ben said so.

But Mr. Liu, you don’t seem to have enough time for homework on political history in your evening self-study.Of course, I dare not say this sentence.

"Pei Wei, do you know how your friend did in the exam?" Teacher Huang asked beside him with a very kind face.The old class also looked at me with a smile.

my friend?Why do you ask me this question?It's been a long time since anyone asked me about my friends.Maybe it's because I don't have many friends.

"I... I don't know who you are talking about, teacher? Mi Le? Or Ye Ruiyang? Or..."

"Let's just talk about the two of them." Teacher Huang interrupted my faltering.

"They all did better than me. Ye Ruiyang should be 153? Mi Le is better, 31. I am far behind my friends, and I will work hard next time..."

"Don't lower your head, we're not here to criticize you." Sitting on the chair with his legs crossed, Lao Ban patted my head with his hands.

I am more puzzled.

"We can slowly improve your grades. The teachers can see that you are a child who is very interested in learning and has a high degree of self-consciousness. So we all believe that you will definitely get better and better in the future." Teacher Huang's words seem to be Explained why they wanted me.Maybe you want to motivate me, after all your friends have such good grades, why don't you work hard yourself?But before saying this, I have to have a chicken soup for the soul of "appreciation education" as usual.

"'What is appreciation education?' 'It doesn't matter if he is a lunatic or a fool, he will always say, you are awesome.'" It seems to be seen in which TV series, I can't remember.I think I know exactly who I am, so these words don't work for me.

"But it's not these things that the teachers appreciate most about you." Teacher Huang suddenly changed the subject, "It's that we think you are a child who can infect and influence others."

what?
Looking at me who was stunned, the two teachers told me to take it easy and not be too serious.But it's hard, not just because I'm in an office, but because I don't think "influencing people" is a good word.At least in school, the most common thing every student hears is the admonition of "less influence on others".

"Don't be afraid. The influence we are talking about is good influence." Teacher Huang seemed to see through my mind, "Take Mi Le in our class as an example. His Chinese performance has improved a lot. He said that he quoted in the composition Many poems I saw in the activities of the literary club, and you were the one who took him to the literary club to play. He also told me that you like to read, and because he always stays with you, he has become willing to read."

"Ye Ruiyang also told me that he usually can't calm down at home and always wants to play. But when he was studying at school with you, he seemed to be particularly easy to meditate and was very efficient." The old class also spoke, " You often discuss issues with each other, isn't that right?"

"But these are just ordinary things. I didn't do anything." I replied in a low voice.

"Don't underestimate these small things. They are very important to you and your friends. Tolstoy once said, 'All ideas that can have a great impact are always very simple'. In fact, you have Some very simple and shining places, everyone can feel and like it. The teacher can tell that you are a child who likes to think. But the teacher wants to tell you that life is equally important than knowledge. The German University The poet Goethe said, 'All ideas are gray, but the golden tree of life is evergreen'. In life, you should be more lively and confident, so that all aspects will be the same, and everyone will like you more."

I don't know what kind of spirit Mr. Huang is talking about.But for some reason, listening to what he said made me feel a lot more peaceful.

He must have read a lot, it was good to read.

"This guy is really good, I want to get him in my class." He patted me on the shoulder.

"You have to exchange for the number one in your class, otherwise there will be no discussion!" Lao Ban's words immediately made me feel that I have some value, like a free agent who will be bid by everyone in the football transfer market.

"Then Pe Wei will definitely not agree. Mi Le and him are fine. You see, he is waiting for him at the door now."

I looked outside, Mi Le was really hanging around the door, and Ye Ruiyang was also there.

"Going to play against Beichuan tomorrow, right? Go back and have a good rest." Teacher Huang said, "Let's go find your friends."

"Competition against Beichuan Middle School?" The old class became more energetic when he heard that, "Then you have to play hard and don't lose to me. Okay, let's relax. Tonight's self-study is also a movie. It's been a week of hard work. "

I thanked the two teachers, said that you have worked hard, said goodbye to them, and turned around and left the office.When Mi Le and Ye Ruiyang saw me coming out, they asked me if I had been scolded.This time I didn't lie, I told them I didn't.So they asked me if I would like to go to Qinhan Square to have a good meal together. After all, I will watch a movie today, and there will be no roll call for evening self-study. Most of the people who usually come have gone home.

I don't have any opinion, I'll ask Brother Chuan.Ye Ruiyang said that he felt that he did not do well in the exam and was under a lot of pressure, so he went back to study.

Brother Chuan and Ye Ruiyang scored almost the same in the exam, both were over 100, and they were in the top three in the ordinary class.Mi Le did really well in the exam this time. He ranked 31st in the school, and his Chinese language progress was especially great. He scored 94 points in the exam, which should be among the top few in his grade.He said that he used a lot of verses from the last poetry reading when he wrote the composition, and the teacher gave him a high score.Only then did I know that after the event, he took away all of Mr. Zhou's papers.

"Ke Ke, you have to work hard. This is your best subject. You can't be lower than me next time." When talking about Chinese scores, he seemed a little embarrassed, as if he stole my limelight. of.

"Can you please stop doing this, how can a person like me with a score in the early 80s live?" Ye Ruiyang smacked his lips in dissatisfaction.However, his mathematics and English are good enough, and his biogeography is also good. Although his Chinese test is not good, his overall score is quite good.

"By the way, you and Brother Chuan both have more than 100 people, so how can I live with more than 200 people?" I also shrugged pretending to be dissatisfied.

"I think this is like the ranking of the Chinese team. You see, everyone scolds the national team every day and treats the national team as a spittoon. In fact, the international ranking is basically above 70. But FIFA (International Football Federation, referred to as FIFA) There are more than 200 members in the Chinese team, are those behind the Chinese team going to commit seppuku? So we still want to open up a little bit and stop comparing each other."

This is the truth, if there is another classmate with slightly worse grades than me next to me, maybe the three of us will feel that we are showing off.In fact, everyone has their own troubles, and the results may vary, but the pressure they bear may be the same.

Ye Ruiyang suddenly giggled without warning. If he wasn't wearing a junior high school uniform, everyone on the street would probably think he was crazy.We asked him what was going on, and he took a breath and said, there are just over 600 people in our grade. If you multiply the number of FIFA members by three, you get the number of grades, and then multiply the ranking of the national team by three, which is almost the same as mine.In other words, my level at school is equivalent to the level of the Chinese team in world football.

"I understand the truth, but why do you feel like you're swearing?" Mi Le smiled and pushed Ye Ruiyang.It's great to be a child, and no one will care about you playing on the street.

We chose a dry pot restaurant in Qinhan Square and ordered a large pot of shrimp.Ye Ruiyang said that his ideal is to eat shrimp and eat them to death, but after the dishes came out, he still held back a bit.Now we have reached the stage of adding water to rinse the vegetables, but Mi Le's plate has the most shrimp shells.However, it was strange that Mi Le said that he had to go to the bathroom halfway, and left for a long time.As soon as he came back, Ye Ruiyang said that he had to go to the bathroom too, as if he was infected.

"By the way, Brother Chuan and his parents are also watching him very closely?" Mi Le asked.

Ye Ruiyang chewed the noodles, "Not at all, it's the complete opposite of my father. His parents support everything he does."

"Then why is he so nervous? Originally, I expected four of us to come out to play cards."

"So you wanted to play cards. I thought you would drag me to some library to study by myself tonight." I said while picking up vegetables for him with a colander.

"I'm too lazy to go. I just finished the exam and there's a competition tomorrow. Who wants to go to the library." As he spoke, his face was pinched again, "Why, do you want to go? I'll accompany you if you want to go."

Of course I didn't think so.

"I actually understand Brother Chuan quite well. As for me, the pressure is actually not that great. After all, my father doesn't listen to everything I say, and always calls me rebellious and adolescent. Where can I go? Anyway, I never believed me, no So I feel that study has nothing to do with him, it is entirely my own business, just do a good job, so that he has nothing to say. On the contrary, Brother Chuan, his parents are university teachers, they are very easy-going, and they don’t give up. He has too many demands. His parents trust him completely, so he must feel that he has to perform well to be worthy of them. Moreover, his family is too powerful. His brothers and sisters are either Harvard, Yale or Oxford and Cambridge. Going to Peking University and Tsinghua University is nothing new. Think about it, can he not be under too much pressure?"

"Hey, this is too scary. If someone in our hometown can be admitted to Qingbei, the ancestral grave will not be smoking, but fireworks." Mi Le shook his head repeatedly, "But, I seem to be the first I was a little unaccustomed to hearing Boss Ye say that about Brother Chuan once. It seems that he is still a very important friend to you."

"Hmph, it's father's job to care about his son."

After dinner, the three of us walked around the mall and found that there were no good movies in the theater.Mi Le complained that Ye Ruiyang didn't want to pull us out, but the movies in theaters were not as good as those shown in schools.Ye Ruiyang spread his hands, saying that there was nothing he could do, the sci-fi films that were arranged by the theater were really not so good.

"Science fiction is not as good as it used to be, especially in foreign countries. The routines are the same, and the results are similar, no different from online cool articles. If you want me to say, the best is "2001: A Space Odyssey". The film in 68, although I read it three times and didn't quite understand it, but I will watch it the fourth time.”[1]
Boss Ye's small popular science class started again.

"Do you know what Liu Cixin said? When Liu read this work, he was a middle school student like us, but he read novels. Wait..." He turned on his phone and looked anxiously. Fortunately, he quickly found the What I was looking for, "'I remember the winter night 20 years ago, I finished reading Clarke's "2001: A Space Odyssey", went out to look up at the night sky, and suddenly felt that everything around me disappeared, and the ground under my feet became an infinitely extending snow-white smooth pure Geometric plane. Since then, the starry sky has looked different in my eyes. It feels like leaving the pond and seeing the sea. This makes me deeply appreciate the power of science fiction.’ To be honest, although I can’t understand it The movie, but after watching it, I feel exactly the same as him, everything in life seems to have changed, and the sky above my head is deeper and farther.”

We walked to the street, and the chilly autumn wind blew on our faces, Ye Ruiyang's teeth were shaking, as if he was frozen, but actually he was very excited.I can't help but look up at the sky, the lights here are too dense to see a few stars.There is almost nothing in the night sky but darkness and light.

"How vast is the universe, and how small are human beings? After reading such works, the fights with aliens made up by humans are really not worth mentioning. Have you ever thought about it? If one day, If a civilization that is countless times ahead of us really invades, what will happen to human beings? What will happen to the earth?"

"If they are much more advanced than us, shouldn't they value the resources of the earth?" Miller replied.

"That's not necessarily the case. Maybe they don't have the set of emotions and values ​​that we humans have. To them, we are like flies and mosquitoes. What is life? They probably don't have this concept. Billions of people, move The fingers are just wiped out, which is not something worth thinking about. Maybe in the next second, an alien civilization will press the button to destroy the earth."

"It's terrible." Mi Le shuddered, and looked at me, "It can't be like this, so how will we live?"

I don't know what to say, except to put my hand on his shoulder.I think Boss Ye is right. The fate of mankind may be destroyed suddenly, just like a person cannot know whether he will disappear suddenly one day.

We walked away from the square, people and vehicles became rarer, and the night sky gradually became dark and mysterious, like an unknown fate, burying endless guesses.

"I sounded too scary." Ye Ruiyang scratched his head, "I'm getting a little hairy."

"You really panicked me." Mi Le frowned, "I just begged God to bless me in my heart, let the whole world be safe before I die, don't let everyone disappear all at once."

Yeah, we're all going to die someday.I will die, Ye Ruiyang will die, and of course Mi Le will die too. Every plant and tree I see on the road will die, and the flying insect that just flew past my eyes may die in the next second.But death is still a long way from us, otherwise, we would not be so worried that the world will be destroyed before we die.

"It's better for human beings to shrink down, so as not to let aliens find them. However, it doesn't mean that you can hide if you want to hide. I really don't know what to do. In the universe, the entire human being is like one person, all Vulnerable."

I talked a lot today and listened to a lot.I can feel something growing, but I can't describe it, I can only cast my gaze overhead again.The night sky is deep and wondrous.There are too many things that cannot be known, the only thing that is certain is that the three of us are walking side by side on the road, and the wind is flowing through us.

[1] "2001: A Space Odyssey" (2001: A Space Odyssey) is an American science fiction film directed by Stanley Kubrick and adapted from the novel of the same name by science fiction writer Arthur Clarke. It was released in 1968 and is known as the "Milestones in Modern Science Fiction Film Technology".The film was nominated for 4 Oscars including Best Art Direction, Best Director, and Best Screenplay, and won the Best Visual Effects Award, and the 1968 British Academy of Film Awards for Best Cinematography, Best Sound, and Best Artwork.

(End of this chapter)