1 Mr Pent's Balls

MR PENT'S BALLS ONCE UPON A TIMES TABLE, there was a Maths teacher named Mr Pent. He certainly looked like a textbook Maths teacher, with his wire-rimmed glasses, brown suit and comb-over. However, Mr Pent was anything but your average Maths teacher.

彭特先生的蛋蛋从前，在乘法表上，有一位名叫彭特先生的数学老师。 他戴着一副金属框眼镜，穿着棕色西装，梳着一顶梳子，看上去确实像个教科书上的数学老师。 然而，彭特先生绝不是普通的数学老师。

Oh no, he was one of the world's very worst teachers. That was because Mr Pent's every waking moment was taken up with one dark obsession. Balls. He had a deep loathing of them. But where did this strange fixation with spherical objects come from? Our story begins when Mr Pent was still a child. It is easy to forget that teachers were once children, but in most cases they were. Some babies you knew immediately were destined to be teachers, because they were born with a teacherly scowl of disapproval on their face: Normal baby Teacher baby

哦，不，他是世界上最糟糕的老师之一。 那是因为彭特先生醒着的每一刻都被一种黑暗的执念占据了。 球。他对他们深恶痛绝。 但这种对球形物体的奇怪迷恋是从哪里来的呢？ 我们的故事开始于彭特先生还是个孩子的时候。 人们很容易忘记老师曾经也是孩子，但在大多数情况下，他们曾经是。 有些你一眼就能认出来的孩子注定会成为老师，因为他们一出生就带着老师不赞成的怒容：正常的孩子，老师的孩子

As soon as he was put in his cot, Baby Pent was counting the beads above his head. Soon he was writing complex mathematical equations on the wall with his Alphabetti Spaghetti. It was when, as a toddler, he began giving his parents algebra homework that they knew for sure their little boy was destined to be a Maths teacher. One day, when Master Pent was just ten years old, That's 2x5. 7+3, 20-10, or 50÷5. he suffered a terrible accident. The boy was struck on the head by a ball. Not just any ball.

小彭特刚被放进婴儿床，就开始数他头顶上的珠子。 不久，他就开始用他的“字母意大利面”在墙上写下复杂的数学方程式。 当他还是个蹒跚学步的孩子时，他开始给父母布置代数作业，他们就确信他们的小男孩注定会成为一名数学老师。 有一天，彭特少爷才十岁，那是2x5。 7+ 3,20 -10，或50÷5。他遭遇了一场可怕的事故。 那个男孩的头被球击中了。 不是一般的球。

A DEMOLITION BALL. As balls go, this has to be one of the biggest and heaviest there is. After all, it is made of steel and swung from a crane to destroy buildings. BISH! BASH! BOSH! Being a child whose fate it was to become a Maths teacher, it will not surprise you to learn that Master Pent had no time for toys or games or anything that might be considered fun. No, this mathematics-loving child filled his days with times tables, prime numbers, fractions, quadratic equations, trigonometry and (for most of us normal folk, the absolutely dreaded) long division. In some countries, long division is actually a form of torture. "NO! NO! NOT LONG DIVISION! ANYTHING BUT LONG DIVISION! I CONFESS!" One rainy afternoon, Master Pent was on his way home from his school Maths Club. Maths Club was the world's most boring after-school club. Master Pent was, in fact,

爆破球。就球而言，这肯定是最大最重的球之一。 毕竟，它是由钢铁制成的，用起重机摆动来摧毁建筑物。 第一!BASH !波什!作为一个命中注定要成为一名数学老师的孩子，当你得知彭特大师没有时间玩玩具或游戏或任何可能被认为有趣的东西时，你不会感到惊讶。 不，这个热爱数学的孩子每天都在学习乘法表、质数、分数、二次方程、三角函数和（对我们大多数普通人来说，绝对可怕的）长除法。 在一些国家，长除法实际上是一种折磨。 “不!不!不长除法！除了长除法！我承认!”一个下雨的下午，彭老师从学校的数学俱乐部回家的路上。 数学俱乐部是世界上最无聊的课外俱乐部。 事实上，彭特少爷