美国学生世界地理教材 第2期:前言(2)

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and there were only three things I can remember that I ever learned for sure that the Dutch children wore wooden shoes,  我记得只有三个细节我学得非常牢固：荷兰孩子穿着木靴，

the Eskimos lived in snow houses, and the Chinese ate with chopsticks. 爱斯基摩人住在雪屋里，中国人吃饭用筷子。那时我们用的是一套问答形式的教科书，

We had a question and answer catechism which we learned as we did the multiplication¹ tables.  我们像学习乘法表一样机械地学习这本书。

The teacher read from her book: 老师捧着书本照着念：

Question.What is the condition of the people of the United States?  问：美国人的状况是什么样的？

and a thirteen-year-old boy in the next seat answered glibly:  旁边座位上一个13岁的男孩流利地回答：

Answered. They are poor and ignorant and live in miserable² huts.  他们贫穷、愚昧，住在可怜的小屋中。

At which astounding³ statement the teacher unemotionally remarked,  对这样错得离谱的回答，老师无动于衷地说：

No, that' s the answer to the next question,What is the condition of the Eskimos? 错。这是下一题的答案，爱斯基摩人的状况是怎样的？

When my turn came to teach geography to beginners nine years of age,  轮到我给初学地理的9岁的孩子上地理课时，

I found the available textbooks either too commercial and industrial on the one hand,  我发现手边的教科书要么过多地涉及商业和工业，

or too puerile⁴ and inconsequential on the other.  要么就是太幼稚，没有条理。

Statistics and abstractions were entirely⁵ beyond the ken⁶ of the child of nine, and random⁷ stories of children in other countries had little value as geography. 数据和抽象的概念完全超出了9岁孩子的理解能力，而随意选取的讲述其他国家孩子的故事作为地理知识没有什么用处。

As I had been a traveler for many years, had visited most of the countries of the Globe,  我有过多年旅行的经历，到过世界上大多数的国家，

and in actual mileage⁸ had been five times the distance around the World, I thought I could write a geography myself.  走过的路加起来可以绕地球五圈，那么，我想我自己可以写一本地理书。

Vain conceit⁹! 是不是自负又自大的想法？！

A class would listen with considerable attention to my extemporaneous¹⁰ travel talks, so I had a stenographer¹¹ take down these talks verbatim.  我把我的旅行见闻即兴讲述给一个班的学生听，学生们总是很专注地听着，于是我请一个速记员逐字把这些讲课全记下来。

But when I read these notes of the same talk to another class, then it was that I discovered a book may be good-until it is written.  但是当我把同样的内容按照记录读给另一个班级时，我发现把讲稿写成书也许会有用。

So I've had to try, try again and again, for children's reactions can never be forecast.  于是我必须不断尝试，因为孩子有什么反应是无法预测的。

Neither can one tell without trial what children will or will not understand.  不经过试讲就无法知道什么是孩子理解的，什么是孩子不理解的。

Preconceived notions of what words they should or should not know are worthless:  对他们懂或不懂什么词汇的先入之见都是没有用的，

Stupendous and appalling¹² presented no difficulties whatever but much simpler words were misunderstood. 令人惊叹的和令人震惊的这样的大词他们理解起来没有任何困难，而那些简单得多的小词却让他们产生误解。

I had been reading to a class from an excellent travel book for children.  我在课堂上向学生读过一本写给孩子看的游记。

The author said, We arrived, tired and hungry, and found quarters in the nearest hotel.  作者写道：我们到了，又累又饿，就在最近的旅馆住了下来。

The children understood found quarters to mean that the travelers had picked up 25-cent pieces in the hotel!  孩子们把住了下来理解成了旅行者在旅馆里捡到了多枚25美分的硬币！

Then again I had been describing the Bridge of Sighs, in Venice, and picturing the condemned¹³ prisoners who crossed it.  当我向孩子们讲述威尼斯的叹息桥时，我绘声绘色地描绘了被判处死刑的囚犯过桥时的情景。

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