Fond de l’Etang is a boarding school for troubled boys located in the French countryside. In the mid-twentieth century, it is run by the principal M. Rachin, an egotistical disciplinarian whose official unofficial mantra for the school is “action – reaction”, meaning that there will be severe consequences for any boy out of line. This approach does not seem to be working as the boys as a collective are an unruly bunch. In turn, the teachers don’t teach, but are always watching out for the next subversive act from the boys. January 15, 1949 marks the arrival to the school of the new supervisor, M. Clément Mathieu, a middle-aged man who is grasping at finding his place in life after a series of failed endeavors. Although he does find the boys an unruly lot, Mathieu does not believe in the “action – reaction” policy, and as such, butts heads with Rachin while secretly undermining the policy. Slowly, Mathieu’s approach of trying to match the discipline to the crime does have a positive effect on a handful of students. With the reluctant approval of Rachin, Mathieu begins a grander experiment of trying to transform the overall atmosphere within the school, core within the experiment being to start a choir among his students. This move is a difficult one for him as a failed musician, as well as for the initially reluctant students. During this process, Mathieu focuses on two different students for two different reasons. Pépinot, a younger boy, seems to lack guidance and focus, and who always says he is waiting for Saturday when his father will pick him up, he who never does. And Pierre Morhange, an older student, is the anachronism: introverted, but prone to outbursts of individual subversiveness – the devil with the face of an angel as the other teachers describe him. Behind the reason for his subversiveness, which Mathieu slowly learns, Morhange hides a love of music and a true talent in it. Beyond overcoming the obvious obstacles of Rachin and the students’ skepticism and Rachin’s egotism, Mathieu has another challenge in newly arrived Pascal Mondain, a truly troubled older boy with pathological tendencies whose presence alone may wreak havoc throughout the school, and not just with Mathieu’s project. Over fifty years later, Morhange and Pépinot, who have not seen each other since that time and who did not spend that much time together while at school, are reading through Mathieu’s memoirs from his time at the school, which unmasks the reason why the two are privy to the memoir and the effect he had on their lives.
参考翻译：
Fonde de l’Etang是一所寄宿学校，专为法国农村的问题男孩开设。在20世纪中期，学校由校长M.Rachin管理，他是一位利己主义的纪律主义者，学校的官方非官方口号是“行动-反应”，这意味着任何不守规矩的男孩都会受到严重后果。这种方法似乎不起作用，因为男孩们作为一个集体，是一群不守规矩的人。反过来，老师们也不教书，但他们总是在警惕男孩们下一次的颠覆行为。1949年1月15日标志着新主管M.Clément Mathieu来到学校，他是一名中年男子，在经历了一系列失败的努力后，正在努力寻找自己在生活中的位置。尽管马修确实觉得这两个男孩很难管教，但他不相信“行动-反应”政策，因此，他在暗中破坏该政策的同时与拉钦发生了冲突。慢慢地，马修试图将纪律与犯罪相匹配的方法确实对少数学生产生了积极的影响。在拉钦勉强同意的情况下，马修开始了一个更宏大的实验，试图改变学校的整体氛围，实验的核心是在学生中成立一个唱诗班。作为一名失败的音乐家，这一举动对他来说是困难的，对于最初不情愿的学生来说也是如此。在这个过程中，马修出于两个不同的原因关注两个不同的学生。小男孩佩皮诺似乎缺乏指导和专注，他总是说他在等待周六父亲来接他，而他从来没有这样做过。而年龄较大的学生皮埃尔·莫汉格则是一个时代错误：内向，但容易爆发出个人颠覆性——就像其他老师描述的那样，他是一个天使脸的魔鬼。在马修慢慢了解到的颠覆性原因背后，莫汉格隐藏着对音乐的热爱和真正的天赋。除了克服拉钦的明显障碍、学生的怀疑主义和拉钦的自我主义之外，马修在新来的帕斯卡尔·蒙丹身上还有另一个挑战。蒙丹是一个真正有病态倾向的困扰较大的男孩，他一个人的存在可能会在整个学校造成严重破坏，而不仅仅是马修的项目。50多年后，莫汉格和佩皮诺从那以后就再也没有见过面，也没有在学校里花那么多时间在一起，他们正在阅读马修在学校时的回忆录，这揭示了他们两人为什么知道这本回忆录，以及他对他们生活的影响。
重点词汇释义
boarding school寄宿学校
located in位于; 坐落于
out of line不一致; 不符合; 不在队列中; 不在一条直线上; 不服从; 出格; 举止不当
does not不; 不是; 否定就用
seem to be好像; 看来; 似乎是
In turn反过来; 继而; 转而; 逐一; 轮流地
out for一心谋求，力图获得
a series of一系列; 许多
