It was a huge lecture hall in a university. About 1,000 students were having a Calculus1 final exam. Apparently this calculus teacher wasn't very well liked. He was one of those guys who would stand at the front of the class and yell out2 how much time was left before the end of a test.

During the exam he was so busy going around the room making sure that nobody cheated and that everyone was aware of how much time remained before their failure on the test was complete. He asked the students to stack3 the completed tests on the huge desk at the front of the room. This made for quite a mess,4 remember there were 1,000 students in the class.

Anyway, this was a particular final, everyone needed a decent5 grade. Many students did poorly when rushed.6 And the professor standing in the front of the room barking out7 how much time was left didn't help at all.

One of the students thought that he must assure himself of a good grade, so he hardly flinched8 when the professor said "pencils down and submit your exam sheets and work to piles at the front of the room"9.

Five minutes turned into ten, ten into twenty, twenty into forty... almost an hour after the test was "officially over10", our friend finally put down his pencil, gathered up his work, and headed to the front of the hall to submit his final. The whole time, the professor sat there, strangely waiting for the student to complete.

As the student stood in front of him about to put down his exam on one of the neatly stacked piles of exams (the professor had plenty of time to stack the mountain of papers while he waited), the professor asked, "What do you think you're doing?" It was clear that the professor had waited only to give the student a hard time.11

"Turning in my exam," retorted the student confidently.

"I'm afraid I have some bad news for you," the professor gloated12, "Your exam is an hour late. You've FAILED it and, consequently, I'll see you next term when you repeat my course."

The student smiled slyly13 and asked the professor, "Do you know who I am?"

"What?" replied the professor, annoyed that the student showed no sign of emotion.14

The student rephrased the question mockingly,15 "Do you know what my name is?"

"NO," snarled16 the professor.

The student looked the professor dead in the eyes17 and said slowly, "I didn't think so," as he lifted up one of the stacks half way, shoved his test neatly into the center of the stack,18 let the stack fall burying his test in the middle, turned around, and walked casually out of the huge lecture hall.

1. calculas：[数]微积分（学）。

2. yell out：大声叫喊。

3. stack：把……叠成堆，堆放于。

4. 这使教室里乱作一团。

5. decent：过得去的，还好的。

6. 许多学生因仓促完成，答卷做得很糟糕。

7. bark out：大声喊出。

8. flinch：退缩，畏缩。

9. 放下铅笔，将你们的考卷和答题纸放到教室前面的那摞卷子上。

10. officially over：正式结束。

11. 很显然教授一直等着只是为了让这个学生难堪。

12. gloat：幸灾乐祸地（说）。

13. slyly：狡猾地，诡诈地。

14. 这学生竟然无动于衷，令教授大为光火。

15. rephrase：重新措辞，改用别的措辞表述； mockingly：嘲笑地，嘲弄地。

16. snarl：咆哮着说。

17. look sb. dead in the eye(s)：紧盯着某人的双眼。

18. 他把一摞考卷拿起一半，利索地将自己的试卷塞了进去。