TED演讲:我们不要一成不变的教育(3)

 　　Now look, I'm a technology fan, but I have to admit to you all I'm a little old. 我是一个技术发烧友，但我得承认我年纪是大了点。

　　So I was a little slow, and I did not trust technology, and when they first came out with those new contraptions, 所以，我会有点跟不上形势，我也不相信技术，尤其是我第一次看到的新玩意儿，

　　these tellers¹ that you put in a card and they give you money, 就是这些你将银行卡塞进去就能给你吐出钱来的自动取款机。

　　I was like, "There's no way that machine is going to count that money right. I am never using that, right?" 我想，这些机器没法数准这些钱吧！我从没用过取款机。对吧？

　　So technology has changed. Things have changed. Yet not in education. Why? 其实技术已经变了很多。世上的事情也在变。可就是教育从来没变过。为什么？

　　Why is it that when we had rotary² phones, when we were having folks being crippled³ by polio, 为何在我们还使用旋转式拨号电话机时，当我们还有人因脊髓灰质炎而至残跛行时，

　　that we were teaching the same way then that we're doing right now? 我们所受的教育和现在的孩子所受的教育还是完全一样的呢？

　　And if you come up with a plan to change things, people consider you radical⁴. 而如果你有计划做一些改革，人们又会说你激进。

　　They will say the worst things about you. 他们还会讲你很多坏话。

　　I said one day, well, look, if the science says -- this is science, not me 我曾说过，某天，如果科学说：是科学--而不是我，

　　that our poorest children lose ground in the summertime -- You see where they are in June and say, okay, they're there. 使得我们最贫穷的孩子在夏天里像一盘散沙一般没学上--六月时可能你发觉他成绩还不错的，然后你会说，没事啊，他们成绩还可以的。

　　You look at them in September, they've gone down. You say, whoo! 可等你在九月开学再看到他们时，他们的成绩已经一落千丈了。你会说，哇！

　　So I heard about that in '75 when I was at the Ed School at Harvard. 所以，在1975年我听到这样说法，当时我还在哈佛的Ed学校。

　　I said, "Oh, wow, this is an important study." 我说，“哇，这是一个很重要的研究。”

　　Because it suggests we should do something. 因为这表明我们应该做些事情来改变这一状况。

　　Every 10 years they reproduce⁵ the same study. 每10年他们都会重复这一研究。

　　It says exactly the same thing: Poor kids lose ground in the summertime. 说的还是同样的事：穷学生在暑假时学业会一落千丈。

　　The system decides you can't run schools in the summer. 我们的教育体系决定了我们的学校暑假不上课。

1 tellers   

n.（银行）出纳员( teller的名词复数 )；（投票时的）计票员；讲故事等的人；讲述者

参考例句：

• The tellers were calculating the votes. 计票员正在统计票数。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The use of automatic tellers is particularly used in large cities. 在大城市里，还特别投入了自动出纳机。 来自辞典例句

2 rotary   

adj.(运动等)旋转的；轮转的；转动的

参考例句：

• The central unit is a rotary drum.核心设备是一个旋转的滚筒。
• A rotary table helps to optimize the beam incidence angle.一张旋转的桌子有助于将光线影响之方式角最佳化。

3 crippled   

adj.跛腿的，残废的

参考例句：

• He was crippled by polio as a child. 他幼年患过小儿麻痹症，结果腿就瘸了。
• It is not decent to laugh at a crippled person. 笑话一个瘸子是不得体的行为。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

5 reproduce   

v.生育，繁殖，复制，重做

参考例句：

• The machine can reproduce a key in two minutes.这机器能在两分钟内复制一把钥匙。
• The picture will reproduce well.这照片会印得很清楚。