前天晚饭后，女儿在学校网站上查看成绩。刚一打开，就大叫了起来： “This is unfair!” 我连忙问怎么回事。她解释说，英语老师今天上课让大家拿张纸回答谁是Director of the Education Board. 大家都以为是for fun, 没想到算作一次小测验，她得了零分。这太喜剧了，居然还考这个！不过小事一桩，就安慰她：“没啥，再考几次，这个分就不占比例了。”但女儿很生气，表示明天要去complain. 我转念一想，这不也是一个挺好的锻炼机会吗，让她去试一下。
于是我问她，“你想好怎么说了吗？”“没有，那我应该怎么说？”
“我觉得，首先想想你的目的。你是希望老师取消这次测验，不计成绩。其次，记住老师是decision maker。 所以原则上，be polite and also be very clear about what you are asking for. Don’t sound like blaming anybody. Make sense?“
“Good idea. 那我就说，Ms. D (老师)，I don’t think this is related to our class topic, besides, nobody got it
right. It is unfair to be counted as a quiz. Would you please take it out from
the grade?”
right. It is unfair to be counted as a quiz. Would you please take it out from
the grade?”
“不错。 不过如果我是你的话，第一，去掉 nobody got it right, 因为它不是一个有效的理由（valid reason）. 没人做对，不等于这个问题有错。再说，你并不知道是否有人做对。这反而减弱了你的真正的理由。你需要强调的是，与课程内容无关。第二，我会再加一点humor，比如说，we thought this was just a fun fact, actually it is a good question for school Jeopardy. Something like that. 记住，这不是你赢我输。你只需要让老师觉得你讲得有道理，就行了.”
“嗯，知道了。”
欲知后事如何，且听下回分解。
