My Freshman¹ Football Coach in high school. He was a grade-A asshole.

我上高一时的橄榄球教练，他是头号大混蛋。

We were doing drills practicing catching² the football. He threw me a pass and I dropped it. He started yelling at me. I went back in line embarrassed. My friend was up next. Coach throws him the football. He drops it, too. Coach says nothing. Annoyed, I mumbled³ under my breath, “Why didn’t he get yelled at?” Coach: “What was that Doherty?!” (I forgot I whispered like a freight train) Me: “Uhh…” Coach: “Take off, Doherty! TAKE OFF!!!” He didn’t say where to take off to, and I wasn’t going to ask. So, like Forest Gump, I just started running until practice was over.

我们正在训练接球，他把球扔给我，我没接住。他开始朝我大喊，我尴尬地回到排里。接着我朋友上场，教练把球扔给他，他也没接住，教练什么都没说。我生气地小声咕哝：“为什么不朝他喊？”教练说：“Doherty，你在说什么？”（我忘了自己说话的声音像运货的火车一样大），我说：“嗯…”教练说：“滚，Doherty！滚！！！”他没说让我往哪儿滚，我也没打算问，就开始像阿甘一样跑，一直跑到训练结束。

After practice he came and talked to me. Stephen - the reason I yelled at you and not the other guy is because I expect more out of you. If I am yelling at you, then it’s because I expect more out of you and know you can get better.” It’s when we stop yelling at you when you mess up that you should begin to worry. Because if the day comes we stop yelling when you mess up, it means we’ve given up on you.

训练结束后他来跟我说：“Stephen，我对你喊而没对别人喊是因为我对你期望更高。如果我对你喊了，那是因为我对你期望更高，而且知道你能变得更好。你表现不好我们却不对你喊时你才该担心，因为如果有哪一天你表现不好我们也不对你喊了，那就意味着我们放弃你了。”

Wow. That single sentence by a football coach taught me more about life in one sentence than any other teacher or class ever had. He was the biggest asshole I ever met. But he was the greatest teacher I ever had.

哇哦，橄榄球教练的一句话教给我的生活道理要比其他任何老师或课上教给我的都多。他是我见过的头号混蛋，但也是我最棒的老师。

The one who first springs to mind was my PhD supervisor⁴, Ken⁵ Crowe. He had a reputation for making grown men cry when they crewed on his racing⁶ sailboat, and other grad students were terrified of him, but I was fascinated by the topic he was working on, so I joined his group.

第一个出现在我脑海中的是我读博时的导师Ken Crowe。他名声在外，据说能把跟着他做项目的成年人弄哭，其他研究生都很怕他。但我对他正在做的项目很感兴趣，所以加入了他的团队。

He gave me an assignment: to figure out what was causing muons to get depolarized in liquids. I knew it involved muonium formation, so I went off to learn all about muonium. After a week or two I came to Ken’s office to tell him about it. He listened for a few minutes and then yelled at me, “You have no idea what you’re talking about! Get out and don’t come back until you do!”

他给我一个任务：弄清楚什么能导致μ(介)子在液体中去极化。我知道这涉及到 μ子素的形成，所以我去了解了所有关于μ子素的知识。一两周后我去Ken的办公室向他汇报，他听了几分钟就朝我吼起来：“你根本不知道自己在说什么！滚，弄明白了再回来！”

So I went away and learned more, better, about muonium. I really got into it, and a week later I came back to tell Ken about it. Again he listened for a few minutes and then threw me out.

然后我就走了，关于μ子素我了解得更多更好了。我真的钻研了，一周以后我回去向Ken汇报，他又听了几分钟就把我赶了出来。

Now I was starting to get mad. I bored down on the problem until I understood it so well that to this day it is one of my most proud accomplishments⁷. Then I went back to tell Ken what I had figured out. Again he interrupted me a few minutes into my presentation, at which point I said, “Shut up and listen!” Which he did. And when I finished he complimented me on doing some very original research. From that day forward he supported and promoted me until we became great friends and respected colleagues.

现在我开始要疯了，我深入研究了这个问题，弄得非常明白，直到今天都是我最自豪的成果之一。我又回去告诉Ken我弄明白了什么，我说了几分钟之后他再次打断我，就在那时我说：“闭嘴，听我说！”他照做了，我说完之后他称赞我真是做了原创研究。从那天起他支持并提拔我，最后我们成了好朋友和互相尊重的同事。

So don’t ever begrudge⁸ your “mean” teachers their high standards. They may spur you to accomplishments you will be proud of decades later.

所以永远不要抱怨“刻薄”老师的高标准，他们可能会激励你取得几十年后仍引以为傲的成就。