The time passed in such meditations, and when the teacher came, the lesson about the adverbs of place and time and manner of action was not ready, and the teacher was not only displeased, but hurt. This touched Seriozha. Still he was sorry that he had disappointed the teacher, and he was anxious to comfort him. He chose a moment when the teacher was looking in silence at the book. You'd much better be thinking about your work.
Birthdays are of no importance to a rational being.
It's a day like any other, on which one has to do one's work. Seriozha looked intently at the teacher, at his scanty beard, at his spectacles, which had slipped down below the ridge on his nose, and fell into so deep a reverie that he heard nothing of what the teacher was explaining to him.