No one ever mentioned those pieces of paper in class again. I never knew if they discussed them after class or with their parents.

　　后来再没人在课堂上提起过这些纸，我也不清楚他们有没有在课下与同学或者父母谈论过。

　　Soon I was asked to teach junior-high math. The years flew by, and before I knew it Mark was in my classroom again. He was more handsome and more polite than ever. Maybe since he had to listen carefully to my instruction in the "new math", he did not talk as much in the ninth grade as he had in the third.

　　很快我就被调去教初中数学了。几年的时间一晃而过，在我还未意识到的时候，马克又出现在了我的课堂。他比以前帅气了，人也更加彬彬有礼。也许是因为他必须认真听我用“新数学”法讲课，九年级的他不再像三年级时那样爱讲话了。

　　That group of students moved on.

　　就这样，这一批学生毕业了。

　　Several years later, after I returned from vacation, my parents met me at the airport. Mother gave Dad a side-ways glance and simply said, "Dad?" My father cleared his throat as he usually did before saying something important. "The Eklunds called last night," he began. "Really?" I said. "I haven’t heard from them in years. I wonder how Mark is." Dad responded quietly. "Mark was killed in Vietnam," he said. "The funeral is tomorrow, and his parents would like it if you could attend."

　　几年后的一天，我度假归来，父母来机场接我。妈妈斜斜地瞟了爸爸一眼，只说了两个字：“她爸？”爸爸清了清嗓子——但凡有要事宣布，他都会这样。说：“埃克隆家昨晚打了个电话过来。”“是吗？”我说，“好几年没他们的消息了，不知道马克怎么样了。”爸爸轻声地回答道：“马克在越战中牺牲了，葬礼在明天举行。他父母希望你能去参加。”

　　I had never seen a serviceman in a military coffin before. Mark looked so handsome, so mature.

　　我从未见过军人躺在军用棺材里的样子。马克看上去是那样英俊，那样成熟。

　　After the funeral, Mark’s mother and father found me. "We want to show you something," his father said. "They found this on Mark when he was killed. We thought you might recognize it." Opening a billfold, he carefully removed two worn and frazzled pieces of notebook paper that had obviously been taped, folded and refolded many times. I knew without looking that the pieces of paper were the ones on which I had listed all the good things that Mark’s classmates had said about him. "Thank you so much for doing that." Mark’s mother said. "As you can see, Mark behaved better and better at school. It’s all because of you and your list."

　　葬礼结束后，马克的父母找到了我。“我们想给您看一样东西，”他爸爸说，“马克牺牲的时候他们在他身上找到了这个。我们想您可能认得。”他打开皮夹，小心翼翼地取出两张破损不堪的笔记本纸。很明显，这两张纸用胶带补过、反复折叠过。不用看我也知道，这就是当初那两张纸，我当时把马克的同学们对他的表扬都写在了上面。“您所做的这些，我们感激不尽，”马克的妈妈说，“您也看到了，马克在学校里的表现越来越好。这都归功于您和您的这张单子。”

　　Mark’s classmates started to gather around us. Charlie smiled rather sheepishly and said, "I still have my list. It’s in the top drawer of my desk at home." Chuck’s wife said, "Chuck asked me to put this in our wedding album." "I have mine too," Marilyn said. "It’s in my diary." Then Vicki, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook, took out her wallet and showed her worn list to the group. "I carry this with me at all times," Vicki said without batting an eyelash. "I think we all saved our lists."

　　这时，马克的同学们也围了过来。查利腼腆地笑着说：“这张单子我现在还保留着，就在我家书桌最上面的抽屉里。”查克的妻子说：“查克让我把这个放在我们的结婚纪念册里。”“我的也在，”玛丽莲说，“就在我日记本里。”接着，另一个同学维姬从手提袋里取出钱包，给大家看那张已经磨损了的纸。“我一直把这个带在身上，”维姬眼睛一眨不眨地说，“我想我们都保存着自己的单子。”