This is not to say that Tim's walking is some clunky metaphor. Mr Ferris is wise enough not to teach a lesson.

这并不是说缇姆的行路癖是一个拙劣的隐喻，菲尔斯先生有足够的智慧使他的作品不流于说教。

youdao

Mr Ferris is wise enough not to teach a lesson. Rather, he has teased ordinary circumstances into something extraordinary, which is exactly what we want our fiction writers to do.

费里斯先生很明智，他没有在小说里进行说教，而是通过戏谑的方式将人生中的寻常境况变得不同寻常，而这正是我们希望小说家们都去做的。

youdao

He wanted to teach her a lesson for showing him up in front of Leonov.

他因她在列昂诺夫面前使他难堪而想教训她一顿。

《柯林斯英汉双解大词典》

With schools closed for a holiday, some parents took the opportunity to teach their children a lesson in charity.

VOA: standard.2010.01.18

"The plan was to teach a lesson, " Mr Heywood said.

BBC: Danny O'Shea murder accused 'told pack of lies'

Mr Ferris is wise enough not to teach a lesson.

ECONOMIST: New fiction 1

So you can see why that would be kind of waving a red flag in front of the military and why they might, as you point out, want to teach a lesson of their own.

NPR: What Does Watada Case Mean for Military Law?