AT the end of the year 1999, Sophie was still leading the happy, free and dull freshman life. There were so few classes and so much freedom that she felt miserable. So she continued to study the novels. This term her favorite writer was Lu Yao, and she read Life and The Common World. Through the descriptions of the writer she got to know the bittersweetness Chinese people had tasted in the past centuries. She was deeply moved, but she always felt there was still something miserable in her mind and she found no link between the novels and her real life. 

In the morning Sophie checked the Class Diary Book and was touched to the heart. Coincidentally her classmates had focused on one problem: The vanity of college life. They all felt that they paid great effort to go to college, but once they were really here, they found their college life was full of vanity and complaints. They were too free to devote themselves to anything meaningful, and there were no goals in their lives, and could not feel their true values. Sophie felt the same. Ever since she became a freshman she played with everything she longed for in senior school, and now nothing could interest her anymore. 

At noon she had lunch low spiritedly. When she finished her meal and walked out of the dining hall, she saw the bullion board crowed with curious students. Sophie squeezed in to see what was doing. She saw large black characters brushed on a piece of large red paper: 

The Academy Weekend Forum

THE HISTORY OF WORLD SEA BATTLES

Lecturer: Yue Qun

Sophie was hesitating whether to come or not. A guy beside her said: “One of the four famous talented scholars of The Academy, I must come.”

When Sophie heard “Four Talented Scholars”, she was a little moved. But another voice reached her ears: “Yue Qun, nonsense! Inflaming talks to coax the childish freshmen.”

Walking back to her dorm, Sophie thought, just one professor, and he had attracted so much attention and various kinds of comments. This scholar must be very unique, and she was determined go and see for herself. 

When Sophie returned to the dorm, she saw everyone had their eyes half closed. She felt very sleepy also. 

A sudden “BANG!” alarmed everyone. 

“Such fun! Only see!” 

Everyone looked up. Li was waving the precious paper, and then proceeding to read it, with girlish delight:

“Lin Yilun comes! Lin Yilun comes here! He will sing in a performance in Tian Jin Stadium!”

Other girls gave a polite smile and returned to their own books. In the dorm only Helen liked Lin Yilun best. 

Li Ge could not keep quiet anymore, she pushed Cathy’ s book away. 

“Cathy, go to the performance with me. 

“No. I must do self study.”

“Please you!”

“No, not today.”

Having failed to invite Cathy, Helen turned to Sophie, begging her to go. Sophie hesitated, but finally decided to attend Yue Qun’ s lecture. After all, one could find many singers, but Professor Yue was unique. 

In the evening, Helen dressed herself gorgeously and set off for the performance. Sophie dressed up and walked slowly to the classroom. She thought she was very early, but when she arrived the room was piled with hundreds of students. Even the corridor was fully occupied. She found it very hard to pass and it took some time for her to squeeze into the hall. 

Ten minutes passed. The professor had not come yet. The atmosphere was unbearably stuffy and the noise was swelling. However, she remained still. It was obvious that Yue Qun was the most popular professor among the students. There must be some reasons for this kind of special popularity. She must know what the secret was. 

The buzz of chatter ceased almost at once. The crowd fell apart. Sophie knew Yue Qun had arrived. She stood on her toes. She brightened at the sight of the professor. 

It was could be seen in a glance that Professor Yue advancing nearer and nearer was a man of uniqueness and prominence. He was in an elegant manner of a gentle scholar, and he was full of young willpower. He was smiling at the sea of students modestly, but could not hide the sharpness inside his bone. He was different from every gentleman Sophie ever met in her life, because he was Yue Qun. 

Looking at Yue Qun’ s immaculate suit, Sophie thought: “Today I have broaden my horizons and saw the most talented scholar of The Academy. How lucky his wife to have him as her husband!”

Now the professor had proceeded to the platform. It was a classical teacher’s desk, with The Academy’ s school badge framed in the middle, reflected in the gloomy light. Sophie thought this platform was for Professor Yue, full of sense of history and the smack of culture. 

After a round of applause, the professor began to talk about the history of the world sea battles. He listed many heroes in the battles, and he even mentioned a woman hero. Then it was time for free questions. Some freshmen asked Professor Yue to talk about his own college experience, so Yue talked over old times and gave the freshmen many suggestions. He said as college students nowadays, they must be concerned with the world and motherland. They must bear a sense of crisis and be ready to take up their sacred missions. He warned the students not to believe in some popular opinions such as “The main stream of the world nowadays...”. He emphasized that the only eternal international rule was that “Lag behind, bullied.” If China did not want to be bullied by others, the only correct way out was to quicken the pace of development. When someone raised questions about the communication between schoolmates in everyday life, the professor asked his students sitting around in this way: “Did you ever attend the ‘Night Talk’ after the light is extinguished in the dorm? Be sure to say something. It is quite a good chance to practice eloquence.” When Sophie heard this, she gave a hearty smile. It seemed that Yue Qun was an original The Academy scholar. He knows the most secret “Night Talk” in the dorm. She was very curious, and did not know what odd talks he might be giving years ago when he was a freshman in his dorm. 

At last, Professor Yue artfully led the conversation to persuading the freshmen to be modest. He talked on about his own experience: “I remember many years ago when I was admitted to The Academy, I was wrapped up with praises every day. A lot of relatives and friends spoke highly of me. By and by I grew dreamy. I believed that I was really very excellent in everything, and I was sure a young elicit for China. But when I got peaceful and analysis myself carefully, I was awakened. Was I an elicit? No! Was I the most excellent? Far from it!…”

Now the huge classroom was very silent. Every one stood considering Professor Yue’s words. It had been long since Sophie ever received so sincere advice, and she found Professor Yue both a good teacher and a true friend, who always reminded his students of the most important points. 

Back to the dorm, everyone hastened to ask how Helen felt receiving Lin Yilun and Sophie receiving Yue Qun. Helen said she had seen Lin Yilun and she was very exited. She was most delighted of being able to touch his arms. She even said a little sarcastically, going to a lecture was not as interested as going to a performance. It was silly for a crowd of people to listen to one person talk on and on. At this, Sophie merely answered her with a slight smile, and said nothing. She thought: “Silly girl, you will never understand what I have learnt today. I will never regret tonight’s choice.”