In Class at the Rabbit Pencil School(b)|玉兔铅笔学校，开学了

A pencil may seem simple, but it isn't easy to manufacture. There's the cutting, curing, and routing of wood as well as the mixing of components to form its core. Once the core and wood are bonded together, the pencil must be finished, painted, printed, and capped with an eraser before being packaged and shipped. By watching and listening carefully as you walk through the production line, you realize that making a pencil is no simple matter.

"You know what? A luxury car gets five coats of paint, but our Rabbit pencils get nine coats!" says Tang Jing-chuan, principal of the Rabbit Pencil School. He proudly points out how to distinguish between high and low quality as he picks up a Rabbit pencil and contrasts it with one from mainland China. Apart from producing shinier pencils, the Rabbit production process also emphasizes quality control. They reject pencils with imperfectly centered cores since they break easily when inserted into sharpeners and pencils with other kinds of blemishes. "People are shocked when we tell them that we deep fry the cores in lard." Tang explains that Rabbit is unique in taking this step to keep the pencil tip from tearing paper.

Standing in front of the school gate, Tang Jing-chuan holds a 220-centimeter pencil, which is taller than Chinese basketball player Yao Ming. With great feeling, he says that pencils accompany artists as they sketch, are used by scientists to explore new frontiers of knowledge, and have even accompanied astronauts into space. Unlike the writing made with fountain or ballpoint pens, pencil marks won't fade. The mission of the Rabbit Pencil School is to preserve the history of pencils and make sure that pencil culture never dies.

1 支小巧的铅笔，看似简单，但制作过程却不容易。从原木的大剖、烘染、干燥，到刨沟，接着是笔芯黏土的配料、粗芯、细芯、烧芯、合芯，木头与笔芯结合之后，还要成枝、油漆、打印、刨头和装橡皮擦，才能包装出货。这么繁复专业的过程，只要在生产线走 1 趟，仔细聆听与观看，就会明白铅笔的诞生多么不容易。

　　『你知道，1 台名车的烤漆不过 5 遍，但是我们玉兔铅笔 1 支要上漆 9 遍！』拿出 1 支大陆与玉兔生产的铅笔，玉兔铅笔学校校长唐镜川骄傲地指出铅笔的好坏怎么区分。除了制作外型细致光滑的铅笔，玉兔铅笔的生产过程亦注重品管，他们会挑出一放入自动削铅笔机，就容易扭断笔芯的歪心笔，以及其他的瑕疵铅笔。『最令民众诧异的是，我们会把笔芯放入猪油里过油一下！』唐镜川表示，这就是玉兔铅笔特别不刮纸的独门秘诀。

　　站在校门前，唐镜川抱着比篮球名人姚明还高的 220 公分高铅笔，他感性地说，铅笔是艺术家涂鸦的好伙伴，科学家思考的工具，即使到了外层空间，都还可以书写，而且不同于钢笔、原子笔，铅笔书写不会褪色。铅笔的故事无处不在，铅笔文化永不消失，这就是玉兔铅笔学校的使命。

本社为尊重《台湾光华杂志》，中文原文注销，仅供参考，中英文如有不尽相符之处，敬请包涵。