哈佛大學(xué)校園英語情景對話18：獨(dú)立思想

Li Lei is calling Han Meimei.

H： Hello, who’s calling?

H:你好，是誰呀?

L： Hi, Han, this is Li Lei.

L:嗨，韓，是李雷。

H： Hi, Li Lei, haven’t heard from you these days. How is everything going?

H:嗨，李雷，最近幾天沒有你的消息了，一切還好吧?

L: Oh, tiring but fulfilling.

L:哦，很累但很充實。

H: What were you busy with? Mid-term exams?

H:在忙什么呢?期中考試?

L： Exams are easy to deal with. We’re old hands at exams.

L:考試很好對付，都是考試?yán)鲜至恕?/p>

H： Haha! That’s true. Then what makes you sound so exhausted?

H:哈哈!那倒是真的。那是什么事讓你聽起來筋疲力盡的。

L: I had a lot of reading task, and prepared for my debate with my history teacher.

L：我有很多書要讀，要準(zhǔn)備和我的歷史老師辯論。

H： Come to think of It. John told me that you guys have to challenge and debate with your teachers. No, he referred to graduate students.

H:我想起來了，約翰告訴過我你們要挑戰(zhàn)老師，和他們進(jìn)行辯論。不對，他指的是 研究生啊。

L: Come on, Han, we suffer as much as, if not more miseries than them.

L:得了，韓，我們受的罪就算設(shè)他們多，也至少和他們一樣多了。

H: So you，re calling to pour out your complaints before me?

H:所以你給我打電話想在我面前訴苦?

L： Not exactly. I said it's painful but meaningful.

L:也不全是，我說過，很痛苦但很有意義。

H: Li, until now you haven’t told me what exactly happened.

H:李，到現(xiàn)在你也設(shè)告訴我到底發(fā)生了什么。

L: Let me ask you: why did the United States get involved in World War I?

L:我問為什么美國參加一戰(zhàn)?

H: Well...It’s complicated. Because American ships were sunk by German U-boats and wantedrevenge?

H:這個……很復(fù)雜，因為美國的船被德國的潛水艇 弄沉了，想要報復(fù)?

L： That may be the direct cause. In class, I was sitting there and waiting for answers from my teacher.

L:那可能是誘因。在課堂上，我就坐著，等老師綰 我答案。

H： That’s what we did in China. We like to know the exact answers so that we can do well in our exams. I guess it won’t work here.

H:那是我們在國內(nèi)干的事，我們喜歡知道準(zhǔn)確答案，這樣我們就可以在考試中取得 好成績了。我想在這兒是行不通的。

L： I know. But I thought that history should be different because it’s about facts. There should be answers. Yet my teacher told us to find out the causes ourselves and discussed with him in the next class.

L:我知道，但我想歷史都是事實，應(yīng)該不一樣，應(yīng)該有答案。但老師讓我們自己找 出原因，然后下一節(jié)課和他討論。

H: Then?

H:然后呢?

L: Well, I found some reasons that I believed were the right answers. I thought my

classmates，answers must be almost the same as mine.

L：我找了一些我認(rèn)為是正確答案的原因，我以為其他同學(xué)的答案和我的應(yīng)該差不多 —樣。

H: Weren’t they?

H:難道不是嗎?

L: No, everyone only insisted on one or two causes which they believed to be the

fundamental causes. Some argued from economic perspectives, some political, and others military.

L:不是，每個人都只堅持一兩個他們認(rèn)為是最重要的原因。一些人從經(jīng)濟(jì)角度爭辯， 一些人從政治角度，還有的從軍事角度。

H: That must be a heated debate. What did you argue for?

H:那肯定是一場很激烈的辯論。你的觀點(diǎn)是什么?

L: It’s very embarrassing. I only collected the so-called answers and didn’t even ask why. So I didn’t talk much and sit there like a fool.

L:很丟人，我只是收集了一些所謂的答案，也沒問為什么，所以我沒有談很多，像 個傻子一樣坐著。

H： Oh, poor Li. Never mind, a fall into the pit and a gain in your wit.

H;哦，可憐的李，不要緊，吃一塹長一智。

L: You’re right. At least I began to know Harvard ’teaching spirit’

L:也是，最起碼我開始了解哈佛的教學(xué)精神了。

H: What’s it?

H:是什么?

L: “To have an independent mind”，namely，“to think independently”，which is different fromspoon-fed education.

L: “要有獨(dú)立思想"，也就是"獨(dú)立思考' 這不同于填鴨式敎育。

H： I know that, and China has also noticed that.

H:我知道，國內(nèi)也開始注意這些了。

L: But few Chinese schools or universities can do what they say. I mean, in class, teachers still play the role of transmitting knowledge to students rather than act as students’ guide. At Harvard, students and teachers rap off freely in seminars. What's more, I think few Chinese teachers can bear challenges from students.

L:但國內(nèi)很少有學(xué)校言行一致。我的意思是，在課堂上，老師仍然扮演著傳授知識 的角色，而不是做學(xué)生的向?qū)АＴ诠?，學(xué)生和老師在研討會上自由交流思想。 此外，我認(rèn)為國內(nèi)很少有老師能忍受學(xué)生對他們的挑戰(zhàn)。

H: And Chinese students often borrow from others' ideas and use them in their own papers as if the ideas were their own. That’s plagiarism. My cousin told me that.

H:中國學(xué)生還經(jīng)常在自己的論文里引用他人的觀點(diǎn)當(dāng)做自己的觀點(diǎn)，這是抄襲。是 我表姐告訴我的。

L: I think that’s the biggest difference between Harvard-style education and Chinese education.

L:我想這就是哈佛式教育和中國教育最大的不同吧。

H: Only when people think independently and have their own thoughts can they become fully humans.

H:只有當(dāng)人獨(dú)立思考，有自己的思想時，才能成為真正的人吧。

L: And only in this way can a nation has its own soul and grows stronger.

L:只有這樣一個民族才能有自己的靈魂，才能變得更強(qiáng)大。