完美出勤十三年

这年头,学生要做到全勤可不容易。即使是像Grace这样的乖乖学生当年也没法做到,所以当Grace听说美国居然有学生13年全勤,当即佩服得五体投地……

Cal Ripken, Iron Man of the Baltimore Orioles, played in 2,632 1)consecutive baseball games.

Stefanie Zaner, Iron Kid of Darnestown, is 2)closing in on her 2,340th straight day of public school.

When she arrives at Northwest High School on Friday for the last day of senior注1 classes in Montgomery County, the 18-year-old is unlikely to get the 3)ovation afforded Ripken for his 4)streak.

But hers is a rare 5)accomplishment. Not once in 13 years was Stefanie marked 6)absent: not for a cold, a family vacation or a college visit. She once went on a freshman trip to Shanghai with the school marching band only after ensuring the trip would not count as an absence. She has never

broken a bone, thrown up or caught the flu or even a bad cough, she said.

“There were days in high school when I thought she was too tired to get up,” said Debbie Zaner,

Stefanie’s mother. “But by high school, it was up to her. It wasn’t up to me.”

Perfect 7)attendance for even one year is difficult to achieve. Schools are 8)germ factories. Kids play 9)hooky. Families travel. Even 10)conscientious students take the occasional personal day to prepare for a test or catch up on homework.

An informal survey of 20 local school systems turned up just one other student with perfect attendance since kindergarten: Kristen Waddle, 18, of Brentsville District High School in Prince William County. A third student, Austin White of Mountain View High School in Stafford County, hasn’t missed a day since first grade. There might be others.

Kristen’s attendance effort in elementary school was 11)nothing short of heroic: She showed up every day despite moving twice and changing schools three times. Staying home was boring or so she heard from her brother. There was a no-TV rule, strictly 12)enforced.

“We could sit in our room and read. That was it,” she said.

Austin, 18, thinks he knows the moment he decided nothing would keep him from school. It was about fifth grade, the night before a test. “I was puking buckets, and my Mom asked, ‘Do you want to stay home?’ And I said, ‘No, I’ve got to go to school, I’ve got to take the test.’ ”

To keep the streak alive, he has 13)passed up national

baseball 14)tournaments. Even an ankle 15)sprain sophomore year, he said, “wasn’t a good-enough reason to stay home.”

Stefanie, like Kristen and Austin, didn’t enter kindergarten intent on never missing school. The goal crept up on her. Her 16)principal at Darnestown Elementary School, Larry Chep, gave out 17)annual awards for perfect attendance. She won a couple, then found she “really liked being recognized for something.”

Iron Man Cal earned his nickname by playing through injury. So did Stefanie, in a way, coming to school sick or, more often, dead tired. She’s never had a serious illness or a high fever, she said. Austin and Kristen, too, are 18)preternaturally healthy.

Stefanie will attend the University of Maryland. She wants to be a doctor. She is a straight-A student.

“That’s since third grade,” her mother said in the family kitchen.

“Since fourth grade,” Stefanie 19)interjected.

And just what sort of person earns straight A’s for 10 years make that nine without missing a day of school? A perfectionist.

A worrier. An 20)overachiever. Stefanie is all of those.

The past two years “have probably been the most stressful years of my life,” she said. It wasn’t just the homework, the 21)strain of taking 22)multivariable calculus and studying for Advanced Placement注2 tests. It was the pressure to stay perfect, to get to school every day, to earn only A’s.

“There were times I felt completely 23)overwhelmed and thought I was never going to be able to

maintain this image that everyone had of me,” she said.

Stefanie came to school early many mornings and visited the classroom of Carolyn Diggs, her math teacher, who became her 24)confidante. She would 25)vent to Diggs when things weren’t perfect. The teacher helped her learn to lose a few battles and focus on winning the war.

“Nothing less than 100 percent is good enough for her,” Diggs said.

Her parents, Debbie and Rob Zaner, recall leaning more on Stefanie’s older brother, Jordan.

“Jordan would say, ‘If I get the B, I’m happy,’ ”

Rob Zaner recalled. “Stefanie would say, ‘If I don’t get the A, my life is coming to an end.’ ”

Stefanie’s friends like her partly for her imperfections, such as her weakness for 26)bling and 27)propensity to show up at tennis practice in the latest fashions, says her friend Chelsea Hoggle, 17. Chelsea also recalls the hours Stefanie 28)toiled last year creating photo albums for friends as graduation gifts, and the many lunch periods her friend spent visiting teachers and 29)tutoring classmates.

“She doesn’t do things halfway,” Chelsea said.

(美国职业棒球大联盟)巴尔的摩金莺队的卡尔・里普肯因连续参加了2632场棒球比赛而被誉为“铁人”。

而(美国马里兰州)达尼斯镇则有一名“铁童”,她叫斯蒂芬妮・扎内尔,已经在公立学校连续全勤2340天,快要赶上里普肯的纪录了。

星期五这一天,她来到蒙哥马利县西北高中上十二年级最后一天的课程。虽然18岁的她不会得到像里普肯连续出战时所得到的掌声――

但这其实是难得的成就。连续13年来,斯蒂芬妮一次都没有被登记缺勤:她从来没有因为感冒、家庭度假或是参观大学等原因缺过勤。有一次,她跟随学校步操管乐队组织的一个新生访问团前往上海,前提是她知道这次旅行不会被算作缺勤。她说,自己从未摔断过一根骨头,也不曾上吐下泻或者得流感,甚至连严重的咳嗽也没试过。

“她上高中时,有时我也认为她可能累得起不了床了,”斯蒂芬妮的妈妈黛比・扎内尔说。“但到了高中,要不要坚持是她说了算,我做不了主。”

即使要保持一年的完美全勤记录也不是易事。学校是细菌的温床,孩子们偶尔会翘课,一家人也会去旅行。即便是再认真的学生也偶然会给自己放个假,以便复习考试或者补齐落下的作业。

在一次对当地20所学校系统的非正式调查中,人们发现仅有另一名学生从幼儿园开始就保持了完美的全勤记录,她叫克里丝滕・沃德尔,18岁,就读于威廉王子县布伦特维尔区的高中。此外,斯坦福县山景高中的奥斯汀・怀特从一年级开始也从没缺过课。可能还有其他类似的例子。

克里丝滕读小学时保持的全勤史堪称英勇事迹:虽然其间搬过两次家、换过三所学校,她依然坚持每天上学。在家里待着很无聊――至少她哥哥是这样说的。他们家实行禁看电视条例,并且严格执行。

“我们只能坐在自己的房间里看书,也只能那样了,”她说。

18岁的奥斯汀知道自己是从什么时候决定不让任何事情阻止他去上学的。那是在大概五年级的时候,某次考试的前一天晚上。“那天我呕吐不止,妈妈问我:‘你想留在家里吗?’我说:‘不,我必须到学校去,我必须参加这次考试。’”

为了保持全勤记录,他甚至放弃了全国棒球锦标赛。十年级那一年,他曾扭伤过脚踝,可他说:“这个理由不足以让我留在家里。”

与克里丝滕和奥斯汀一样,斯蒂芬妮念幼儿园时还没有想过要保持全勤。这个目标在她心里悄然萌生。在达尼斯镇小学读书时,校长拉里・切普每年都会颁发全勤奖。获得两次全勤奖之后,斯蒂芬妮发现自己“真的很喜欢得到认可的感觉”。

“铁人”卡尔因带伤参赛而获得这个美名;从某个方面来说,斯蒂芬妮也一样――她常常带病上学,更确切来说是强撑着精疲力竭的身体来上学。她说自己从来未得过重病或发高烧。奥斯汀和克里丝滕也一样,健康得不得了。

不久后,斯蒂芬妮将会入读马里兰大学。她想成为一名医生。她是全优生。

“自从三年级开始,”她妈妈在家中的厨房说道。

“是从四年级开始的,”斯蒂芬妮插话更正。

什么样的人会连续10年保持全优的成绩――姑且作9年而论吧――而从来没有缺过一天的课呢?那只会是一个完美主义者,一个忧心忡忡的人,一名成绩异常优异的学生。这些都是斯蒂芬妮的特质。

过去的两年“也许是我生命中压力最大的时期,”她说。这不仅仅是由于功课繁重、学习多变量微积分或大学预修课程考试的压力,还有保持完美形象、每天坚持上学、每科只能考优的压力。

“有时候我感到力不从心,心想我永远都不能维持自己在每个人心目中的形象了,”她说。

许多个早上,斯蒂芬妮都会早早来到学校,到数学老师卡罗琳・迪格斯的办公室――她已经成了斯蒂芬妮的知心好友。每当事情不尽如人意时,斯蒂芬妮便会向她倾诉,而迪格斯老师也会教她如何放弃一些“小战役”,专注于“战争”全局的胜利。

“不是百分之一百的完美,对她来说就是不够好的,”迪格斯说。

她的父母黛比和罗布・扎内尔回忆道,他们更认同斯蒂芬妮的哥哥乔丹(的做法)。

“乔丹会说:‘如果拿到良,我会很高兴。’”罗布・扎内尔回忆说。“但斯蒂芬妮则会说:‘拿不到优,我就完蛋了。’”

然而,斯蒂芬妮的朋友们之所以喜欢她,一部分的原因正在于她这种不完美,例如她不太懂闪亮的装饰物,或是经常穿上时髦的服装参加网球训练――她的老朋友、17岁的切尔西・霍戈尔如是说。

切尔西还记得去年斯蒂芬妮为朋友们辛苦制作相册作为毕业礼物的事情,她的这位朋友还经常利用午餐时间探访老师、辅导同学。

“她做事从不半途而废,”切尔西说。