There were the hugs goodbye, the exchanges of phone numbers and the almost sure to be broken promises of keeping in touch. They packed up their bags one last time and left Room 619, which had been their daytime home for months, if not years. At the "rubber room" on West 125th Street, New York, June 28 was the end of an era。

　　6月28日，纽约西125大街，619房间里的人们紧紧拥抱，互留号码，相约再见。这些遭“白日禁闭”数月甚至数年的教师，最后一次打点行李，然后离开。这一天，见证了纽约一个备受争议的教育制度的终结。

　　For the last several years, teachers accused of incompetence or wrongdoing have been forced into rubber rooms, formally called Temporary Reassignment Centers, where they receive a full salary but do not work while they wait for the Department of Education or a hearing officer to decide their fate. But in April, city officials and the teachers’ union agreed to eliminate the rooms, which had been a source of embarrassment for all. Beginning in the fall, those teachers will perform administrative duties or be sent home if they are deemed a threat to students。

　　上世纪90年代，纽约教育部门专门成立“教师再分配中心”——亦称“橡胶屋”——用以容留“不达标或做错事”的教师。这些教师拿薪水，但不能被解雇，且在教育部调查清楚前不能返回课堂，他们于是被迫每日白天在“橡胶屋”度过。教师眼中臭名昭著的“橡胶屋”自出现伊始就成了纽约教育制度的最大尴尬。今年4月，纽约政府不堪压力，最终与教师联合会达成协议决定取消这一机构。今年秋天开始，被诉教师将从课堂调离到行政办公室从事临时工作，与学生隔离开来，或者回到家里等待最终调查结果。

　　So Monday was the last day for the roughly 700 teachers and administrators spread among seven reassignment centers, where they were sent after being accused of transgressions as small as persistent tardiness and as serious as sexually harassing students。

　　于是，28日，滞留于纽约7家“橡胶屋”的700名教师与“橡胶屋”永久告别。这里的教师所犯错误程度不一。最严重的莫过于被指控对学生进行性侵犯，还有一些人只因“上课拖拖拉拉”就被送了进来。

　　There is no rubber on the walls —the name comes from the notion that it would be difficult not to go mad after spending day after day in a windowless room like the one on 125th Street. In fact, there was hardly a thing on the walls at all. Earlier this year, a few teachers tried to liven up the place with a few drawings from some amateur artists sentenced to the room. But building officials made them take them down, saying they could damage the walls. Just a calendar remained, along with a couple of bulletin boards and newspaper clippings about teacher’s pay. Tacked to one board was a stern warning: “Protect yourself when approached by an investigator —do not answer any questions."

　　所谓的“橡胶屋”其实和橡胶全无关联，因其四面围墙没有窗户、让人日久发疯而得名。事实上，四周墙面上什么都没有。今年早些时候，几个教师想用几张画来装饰墙壁，却被管理员禁止，理由是他们这样做可能会毁坏墙壁。屋内徒有一张日历、一些公告牌和几张报纸。醒目告示上的字体极大：“当调查人员来到这里时要注意保护自己——不要回答任何问题”。

　　There are rules to obey. Teachers must show up at 8 am, but a security guard must escort them to the room. They must stay until 2:50 pm. And although they are permitted to leave for a break and lunch, they cannot use the lunchroom down the hall. If they want to wash their dishes, they must use the bathroom sink. There were inevitable conflicts in such close quarters. This year, one teacher called the police after another threw a fast-food wrapper into the trash can, nearly hitting her with the garbage. And two teachers scuffled over whether they could share one of the half-dozen tables in the room。

　　“橡胶屋”有着严格的规定。每天早上8点，“服刑”教师准时出现在中心门口，由一名保安“押送”进“橡胶屋”，下午2点50分前绝不能离开。教师甚至不被获准到中心餐厅吃饭，自带餐具也只能在厕所的水槽清洗。封闭的环境也是精神折磨。就在今年，一位教师向警方提起诉讼，称“橡胶屋”某人投掷速食包装纸险些砸到了她；而两外两名教师则为屋内一张桌子的使用权展开混战。

　　Teachers refused to allow their full names to be used, saying they worried about reprisals from administrators. None of the teachers know where they will be assigned next year, but a few think it will be an improvement. "We're pretty much the epitome of uselessness here," one woman said. As the guitar player strummed a few bars of "Let It Be," one woman began to clock out one last time. "You sound like a sick cat," she snapped at him. "All right, time to go —it's been charming," she called out as she walked out the door。

　　教师们因担心遭到报复，不敢向记者留名。他们中没有一个人只扫自己下一年何去何从，但是有些人还是比较看得开。“我们在这里简直就是无能的集大成者，”其中一个说道。一个会弹吉他的则拨了几小节的“顺其自然”(歌曲)，另一个女教师斥责道：“你弹的曲子听起来像病猫。”然而，就在她走出“橡胶屋”大门的时候，她又喊道：“好吧，该动身了。这曲子听起来曾经是那么动听。”