美国学生世界地理教材 第2期:前言(2)

 The World was an orange when I went to school,  我上学的时候，世界对我来说就像一个橙子，

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。

1 multiplication   

n.增加，增多，倍增；增殖，繁殖；乘法

参考例句：

• Our teacher used to drum our multiplication tables into us.我们老师过去老是让我们反覆背诵乘法表。
• The multiplication of numbers has made our club building too small.会员的增加使得我们的俱乐部拥挤不堪。

2 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

3 astounding   

adj.使人震惊的vt.使震惊，使大吃一惊astound的现在分词)

参考例句：

• There was an astounding 20% increase in sales. 销售量惊人地增加了20%。
• The Chairman's remarks were so astounding that the audience listened to him with bated breath. 主席说的话令人吃惊，所以听众都屏息听他说。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 puerile   

adj.幼稚的，儿童的

参考例句：

• The story is simple,even puerile.故事很简单，甚至有些幼稚。
• Concert organisers branded the group's actions as puerile.音乐会的组织者指称该乐队的行为愚蠢幼稚。

5 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

6 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

7 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

8 mileage   

n.里程，英里数；好处，利润

参考例句：

• He doesn't think there's any mileage in that type of advertising.他认为做那种广告毫无效益。
• What mileage has your car done?你的汽车跑了多少英里？

9 conceit   

n.自负，自高自大

参考例句：

• As conceit makes one lag behind,so modesty helps one make progress.骄傲使人落后，谦虚使人进步。
• She seems to be eaten up with her own conceit.她仿佛已经被骄傲冲昏了头脑。

10 extemporaneous   

adj.即席的，一时的

参考例句：

• She made an extemporaneous speech on the ceremony.她在典礼上做了一次即兴演讲。
• Nixon carried away with it all,delivered his extemporaneous toast.尼克松对一切都很满意，颇有些情不自禁地发表了他的即席祝酒词。

11 stenographer   

n.速记员

参考例句：

• The police stenographer recorded the man's confession word by word. 警察局速记员逐字记下了那个人的供词。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A qualified stenographer is not necessarily a competent secretary. 一个合格的速记员不一定就是个称职的秘书。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

12 appalling   

adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的

参考例句：

• The search was hampered by appalling weather conditions.恶劣的天气妨碍了搜寻工作。
• Nothing can extenuate such appalling behaviour.这种骇人听闻的行径罪无可恕。

13 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。