异类之不一样的成功启示录 第180期:假期是个问题

 　　But think back to that second settled statistics that showed what happened between September and June. Schools work.

　　回头看看第二个表格，显示的是9月到6月之间产生的差距。

　　The only problem with school, for the kids who aren't achieving, is that there isn't enough of it.

　　学校唯一要面对的问题是，学生没有进步，只是因为安排的作业不够多。

　　Alexander, in fact, has done a very simple calculation to demonstrate what would happen if the children of Baltimore went to school year-round.

　　事实上，亚历山大只是做了一个简单的计算，反映了巴尔的摩的孩子们如果一整年都上学将会由怎样的结果。

　　The answer is that poor kids and wealthy kids would, by the end of elementary school, be doing math and reading at almost the same level.

　　答案就是，穷孩子和富孩子在小学毕业时数学和阅读达到同等水平。

　　Suddenly the causes of Asian math superiority become even more obvious. Students in Asian schools don't have long summer vacations. Why could they?

　　突然之间，亚洲人在数学方面的优越性变得更明显了。亚洲的学生没有很长的暑假，为什么他们没有呢？

　　Cultures that believe that the route to success lies in rising before dawn 360 days a year are scarcely going to give their children three straight months off in the summer.

　　他们的文化认为一年之计在于春，一日之计在于晨，这是通往成功的道路，所以不可能给孩子放整整3个月的暑假。

　　The school year in the United States is, on average, about 180 days long. The South Korean school year is 220 days long.

　　美国的学年平均只有180天，韩国的学校有220天，

　　The Japanese school year is 243 days long.

　　日本的学校是243天。

　　One of the questions asked of test takers on a recent math test given to students around the world, for example,

　　在最近给全球学生的一个数学测试中，参试者被问到的问题之一就是，

　　Was how many of the questions they were asked in algebra¹, calculus², and geometry involved subject matter that they had previously³ covered in class.

　　在他们以前的代数、微积分、几何科目问题中有多少是学过的？

　　For Japanese twelfth graders, the answer was 92 percent. That's the value of going to school 243 days a year.

　　日本12年级学生的答案是92%，这就是一年243天学制的价值。

　　You have the time to learn everything that needs to be learned- and less time to unlearn it.

　　你必须要有时间学习所有需要学习的知识——没有时间让你闲下来什么也不学。

　　For American twelfth graders, the comparable figure was 54 percent.

　　而对于美国12年级的学生来说,问题的答案是54%。

　　For its poorest students, American doesn't have a school problem. It has a summer vacation problem, and that's the problem the KIPP schools set out to solve.

　　对于美国最穷的学生来说，上学不是问题，暑假却是个问题，这个问题也是KIPP学校需要解决的，

　　They decided⁴ to bring the lessons of rice paddy to the American inner city.

　　他们决定将稻田的故事拿出来教育美国的城市孩子。

1 algebra   

n.代数学

参考例句：

• He was not good at algebra in middle school.他中学时不擅长代数。
• The boy can't figure out the algebra problems.这个男孩做不出这道代数题。

2 calculus   

n.微积分；结石

参考例句：

• This is a problem where calculus won't help at all.对于这一题，微积分一点也用不上。
• After studying differential calculus you will be able to solve these mathematical problems.学了微积分之后，你们就能够解这些数学题了。

3 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。