TED演讲:书呆子教你如何在线学习(4)

 And then, when I was in tenth grade, I went to this school, Indian Springs School, a small boarding school, 后来，在我十年级的时候，我转学了，我转到了一家名叫“印第安泉”的小型寄宿学校，

outside of Birmingham, Alabama. And all at once I became a learner. 位于阿拉巴马州伯明翰市郊区。一夜之间我就成了个好学的人。

And I became a learner, because I found myself in a community of learners. 之所以有这种变化，是因为我加入了一个学习社团。

I found myself surrounded by people who celebrated¹ intellectualism and engagement, 我周围的人全都信奉理智主义，喜欢与人交流，

and who thought that my ironic² oh-so-cool disengagement wasn't clever, or funny, 他们觉得我那种自以为很酷的逃避学习的行为既不聪明，也很无聊，

but, like, it was a simple and unspectacular response to very complicated and compelling problems. 仅仅只是一种在面对复杂而又无法逃避的问题时所采取的简单而不成熟的应对方式。

And so I started to learn, because learning was cool. 于是我也开始学习，因为学习这事儿变酷了。

I learned that some infinite sets are bigger than other infinite sets, 我明白了无限集合也有大小之分，

and I learned that iambic pentameter is and why it sounds so good to human ears. 我明白了什么是抑扬格五音步诗，还有它为什么听起来那么悦耳。

I learned that the Civil War was a nationalizing conflict, 我明白了南北战争实际上是民族冲突，

I learned some physics, I learned that correlation³ shouldn't be confused with causation 我还学了点物理，明白了相关不蕴含因果，

all of these things, by the way, enriched my life on a literally⁴ daily basis. 所有这些知识，让我的生活日渐丰富多彩。

And it's true that I don't use most of them for my "job," but that's not what it's about for me. 而这些知识中的大部分跟我的工作没有任何关系，其实我想说的并不是我自己。

It's about cartography. What is the process of cartography? 而是如何绘制地图。地图是怎么绘制出来的呢？

It's, you know, sailing upon some land, and thinking, "I think I'll draw that bit of land," 大体上，你航行到某一块陆地上，想着“我要把这块陆地画下来，”

and then wondering, "Maybe there's some more land to draw." 然后你就会想，“也许还有其他陆地可以画。”

And that's when learning really began for me. 我的学习就是从那时才真正开始的。

It's true that I had teachers that didn't give up on me, and I was very fortunate to have those teachers, 我的确遇到了没有放弃我的老师，能遇到他们是我的幸运，

because I often gave them cause to think there was no reason to invest in me. 因为我常常会让老师们觉得在我身上浪费时间很不值。

But a lot of the learning that I did in high school wasn't about what happened inside the classroom, 然而我高中时期学习的大部分过程，并没有发生在课堂上，

it was about what happened outside of the classroom. 而是在放学后。

For instance, I can tell you that "There's a certain Slant⁵ of light, Winter Afternoons 举个例子，我能背诵“冬日午后的阳光，以特定角度穿堂，

That oppresses, like the Heft Of Cathedral Tunes⁶..." 那沉重的压迫啊，似教堂圣歌在胸膛...”

not because I memorized Emily Dickinson in school when I was in high school, 并不是因为我在高中课堂上背熟了埃米莉·迪更生的诗，

but because there was a girl when I was in high school, and her name was Amanda, 而是因为我高中班上有个女孩，名叫阿曼达，

and I had a crush on her, and she liked Emily Dickinson poetry. 我很喜欢她，而她喜欢埃米莉·迪更生的诗。

The reason I can tell you what opportunity cost is, 而我知道什么是“机会成本”，

is because one day when I was playing Super Mario Kart on my couch, my friend Emmet walked in, 是因为有一天我躺在沙发上玩“超级玛丽赛车”，我的朋友艾米特走进来说，

and he said, "How long have you been playing Super Mario Kart?" “你在这玩‘超级玛丽赛车’多久了？”

And I said, "I don't know, like, six hours?" 我说，“记不得了，也许6个小时？”

and he said, "Do you realize that if you'd worked at Baskin-Robbins those six hours, 他说，“你知道吗，你要是在Baskin-Robbins冰激凌店打工6小时的话，

you could have made 30 dollars, so in some ways, you just paid thirty dollars to play Super Mario Kart." 你已经挣了30美元了，也就是说，你花了30美元来玩‘超级玛丽赛车’。”

And I was, like, "I'll take that deal." 而我说，“很便宜啊。”

1 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

2 ironic   

adj.讽刺的，有讽刺意味的，出乎意料的

参考例句：

• That is a summary and ironic end.那是一个具有概括性和讽刺意味的结局。
• People used to call me Mr Popularity at high school,but they were being ironic.人们中学时常把我称作“万人迷先生”，但他们是在挖苦我。

3 correlation   

n.相互关系，相关，关连

参考例句：

• The second group of measurements had a high correlation with the first.第二组测量数据与第一组高度相关。
• A high correlation exists in America between education and economic position.教育和经济地位在美国有极密切的关系。

4 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

5 slant   

v.倾斜，倾向性地编写或报道；n.斜面，倾向

参考例句：

• The lines are drawn on a slant.这些线条被画成斜线。
• The editorial had an antiunion slant.这篇社论有一种反工会的倾向。

6 tunes   

n.曲调，曲子( tune的名词复数 )v.调音( tune的第三人称单数 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• a potpourri of tunes 乐曲集锦
• When things get a bit too much, she simply tunes out temporarily. 碰到事情太棘手时，她干脆暂时撒手不管。 来自《简明英汉词典》