ALICE (not her real name) never felt comfortable at Cambridge University. It was too elitist(精英主义的，精英统治的). But during her MPhil in education in 2024, one professor stood out(突出，显眼). Gentle and dreadlocked(留脏辫的), he took the time to learn students’ names, the sports they liked. He made them feel any one of them could be an academic. Autistic and, he claimed, non-verbal until he was 11, he did not learn to read and write properly until 18, but still became Cambridge’s youngest black professor at the age of 37.(他患有自闭症，自称11岁前不会说话，18岁才学会读写，但仍在37岁成为剑桥最年轻的黑人教授。) “Most of my cohort(同届学生，一群人) agree,” says Alice. “He’s genuinely the best teacher we ever had.”
爱丽丝（化名）在剑桥大学从未感到自在。这里太过精英主义。但在2024年攻读教育学硕士期间，有一位教授脱颖而出。他温和而留着脏辫，花时间记住学生的名字和他们喜欢的运动。他让他们觉得，他们中的任何一个人都能成为学者。他患有自闭症，自称直到11岁都不会说话，18岁才真正学会读写，但仍在37岁时成为剑桥最年轻的黑人教授。“我们同届的大多数人都同意，”爱丽丝说，“他确实是我们遇到过的最好的老师。”
Granted, Jason Arday wasn’t for everyone. Traditionalists disliked his classes, which included little critical study of texts and lots of ramblings(漫谈，胡扯) about song lyrics. He often went off on(开始大发议论，跑题) unfocused rants(咆哮，激昂的演说), Alice recalls, and was “very attached” to his personal story. Still, it was a shock when, in July, allegations grew that he had plagiarised(抄袭，剽窃) extensively, fabricated(捏造，伪造) research and lied about his CV. When he resigned on August 5th, hours after Cambridge opened an investigation into his qualifications, Alice was confused and disappointed.(当他于8月5日辞职时——就在剑桥大学对其学历展开调查的几个小时后——爱丽丝感到困惑和失望。) Nine days later, when he was found dead (in circumstances police called unexpected but not suspicious), she was angry.(九天后，当他被发现死亡（警方称情况意外但无可疑）时，她感到愤怒。)
诚然，杰森·阿迪并非适合所有人。传统主义者不喜欢他的课程，这些课程很少对文本进行批判性研究，却大量漫谈歌词。爱丽丝回忆说，他经常跑题，发表漫无目的的咆哮，并且“非常执着”于自己的个人故事。尽管如此，当7月份关于他大量抄袭、捏造研究、简历造假的指控愈演愈烈时，人们还是感到震惊。当他于8月5日辞职时——就在剑桥大学对其学历展开调查的几个小时后——爱丽丝感到困惑和失望。九天后，当他被发现死亡（警方称情况意外但无可疑）时，她感到愤怒。
By conventional measures(按照常规标准), Mr Arday should never have been appointed to a chair(教授职位) at one of the world’s top-ranked universities. Only six years earlier he had been lecturing in physical education at Leeds Beckett University, a former polytechnic(理工学院). His first academic paper appeared in 2018.
按照常规标准，阿迪先生本不应被任命为世界顶尖大学之一的教授。仅仅六年前，他还在前理工学院利兹贝克特大学讲授体育教育。他的第一篇学术论文发表于2018年。
Myths and the man
神话与本人