To study to become a State Registered Nurse（注1） in England, one has to pass certain examinations. Then, after quite a long course of practical and theoreticalstudy, one has to pass more examinations.（注2）

Timothy Lloyd, whose parents were both doctors, had always wanted to work in medicine. When he was a small boy, he had persuaded his parents to buy him a toy nurse's outfit（注3）. It had a white plastic apron, a white plastic cap for tying round your head, a toy thermometer to see whether you had a fever, a wooden thing for pressing a patient's tongue down so that you could see her or his throat, some real bandages, and so on.（注4）

Later, at school, Timothy was particularly interested in science, especially biology. Seeing that he was more interested in practical things, he was always thought to be likely to become a nurse. He was gentle（注5）, he believed that people should help one another, and he was not afraid of blood or dirt or danger, so he was a boy whose teachers all agreed would make an excellent nurse.

Timothy did quite well in his science examinations at school, at least well enough to get into a school of nursing, so after searching around, he found himself applying to the one in his town for a place.（注6） He soon met with（注7） success, and the next thing to do was to get the clothes he would need for the practica l work.

The first day of term（注8） arrived. Timothy was so excited that he could hardly eat any breakfast, and he left home so early that he was at the school long before it opened.

The first thing he had to do was to attend a meeting with the head of the school, whose name was Thompson, and the other new students. The head, a woman who had herself been in the nursing profession for many years, congratulated the new students on entering the nursing profession, shook hands with each of them and told them what would be expected of them during their time at the school.（注9） She warned them that their work would not be easy, begged them always to remain sincereand loyal to their chosen profession and then wished them all good luck.（注10）`

When that was all over, the new students went off（注11） to their first lesson.The teacher whose class they joined always gave his new students a general test on the first day, to judge how much they already knew, to see how clever they were, and so on.

"Does anyone know," he asked, "why a doctor wears a mask while he or she is doing an operation?"（注12）

"Oh, yes," Timothy answered eagerly, "because then, if the operation isn't successful, the patient won't know whose fault it was!"

1. 国家注册护士。在英国，护理已成为一门独立的学科，护士从业人数众多（其中包括很多男性护士）。护生都是高中毕业以后经考试入学，学制分三年、四年两种，毕业后成为国家正规注册护士。

2. 然后是一系列的实践和理论学习，之后还得通过更多的考试。course: 系列,连续；theoretical: 理论上的。

3. outfit: 全套装备,全部用品。

4. 它包括一个塑料白围裙，一个扎在头上的塑料白帽子，一个测你发不发烧的玩具体温表，一个用来按下病人舌头检查喉咙的木制压舌板，一些真正的绷带，等等。

5. gentle: （性格）温和的。

6. 蒂莫西在学校理科考试中成绩很不错，至少足够考上护理学校了。在研究了一番之后，他还是报考了本镇的一所护理学校。find oneself doing: 发现自己不知不觉做某事。

7. meet with: 获得。

8. term: 学期。

9. 校长，一位在护理行业工作多年的女性，祝贺新生加入护理行业，和每一位新生握手，并告诉他们在校期间的安排。

10. 她告诫说他们的课程并不轻松，请求他们要真诚看待并忠于自己选择的职业，然后祝他们好运气。

11. go off: 出发。

12. 为什么医生在做手术时要戴着口罩呢？operation: 手术。