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1、An Ideal PositionLife is good. My career in elementary education in Canada is now just a fond memory. I think back on the many years of service and I recall the many classed I taught, the different schools I worked at, the countless staff meetings I attended and the many committees I served on. I es
2、timate that the number of faculty members I worked with over the years is in the hundreds and well over a thousand students have called me teacher. Is it any wonder that I can say that I always felt comfortable walking in school corridors? Sometimes I worked with students at the intermediate level.
3、In Canada, students at that level are youth in their preteen(青春期前的) years as well as teenagers. When I decided to retire, I knew that the first step in the procedure was to write a letter to my employer, a school board, to resign my position. I postponed mailing the letter. I was reluctant to add th
4、e postage to the letter, knowing that once I mailed it, the decision could not be reversed. Because I was a veteran teacher of many years, I would be eligible to receive a pension. I calculated that the revenue(收入) I would receive each month would be sufficient to sustain my current lifestyle. If I
5、was smart about my spending habits, I might even have a surplus of money. I certainly would not need to pinch every penny. I knew the money would not come to me in the form of a check. Instead, it would be deposited directly into my bank account. I could withdraw cash from my investments if I needed
6、 to supplement my income, my credit rating would allow me to be eligible for a loan when some unforeseen(预料不到的) financial crisis a rose. I knew, therefore, that there was no reason to panic, as my future was secure even if inflation increased or a recession occurred. In either case my income would o
7、nly be minus a few dollars, a fraction of the total amount. I decided to take the plunge, but waited another fortnight before I mailed the letter. I even paused briefly(简短的,暂时的) with the letter part way into the mail slot(投信口,狭缝) before I thrust the letter into the mailbox. I knew that the simple ac
8、t of mailing that letter would alter my life. I looked for clues to determine how striking the changes in my daily life would be. How would I spend my time? In spite of having many long yearly vacations when I could pursue other interests, I had not bothered to make an earnest effort to confine my a
9、ctivities to one particular hobby. Would I find life as a retiree boring? What new adventures might await me? Would I use my time to volunteer at a hospital or maybe work for a local charity? Maybe I would apply for membership in a golf league. Maybe I would donate(捐赠) my time and work with the Bett
10、er Business Bureau. I night decide to enter local politics and run for a position on town council or I could run for the position of Deputy Mayor of my town, or maybe even consider submitting my name to be a candidate in an election for member of parliament(国会). I would need to campaign and then wai
11、t to see if people would vote for me on Election Day at the polls. In spite of the fact that the possibilities all had merit, I had to admit that I only had a superficial interest in pursuing any of them. In fact, I was indifferent to most of the options. Did I think they might interfere with other
12、commitments(义务,委托) or mean I would have to cancel other appointments? Or was I just too attached to the idea of teaching, feeling that it formed part of my identity? I examined my emotions about the new direction my life would take. Would retirement add a new dimension to my life and multiply my fee
13、ling of satisfaction or would the world apprehension(理解,领悟) be more applicable? Did I feel guilty about not being gainfully(有利益的) employed when I was qualified and capable? As a certified(被证明的) teacher, did I feel obligated to work in the field of education? Did I feel entitled to sleep in late each
14、 day, or would that bother my conscience? Would I simply grow old gracefully or would feel that ridiculous? My instincts told me that although I would feel grateful for my good health, curiosity about other countries and lifestyles would overtake the desire to spend my time with senior citizens, pla
15、ying board games, such as chess all day. Wouldnt I rather learn about other cultures and at the same time be an ambassador for my own country? I began to inquire about opportunities and whenever I searched the internet for jobs, I always seemed be drawn like a magnet to the category of teaching. It
16、did not take long before I found that there were countless positions available in many countries. Amid the listings I identified several that were for teaching positions in China. I decided that I would communicate with some of the people offering these positions. I sent e-mails and made phone calls to several prospective(可能的,未来的) employers. The feedback that I got from most of them was that they expected me to bring all the resources necessary. How could I pack enough i
