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GeverTulley_2007U-_应该让孩子做的五件“危险”的事情_
Welcome to "Five Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Children Do." 欢迎各位出席我的演讲,我演讲的主题是:应该让孩子做的五件“危险”的事情。
I don't have children. 我自己并没有孩子。
I borrow my friends' children -- so 因此,我只好借来了我朋友们的小孩。
(Laughter) （笑）
Take all this advice with a grain of salt. 对于我今天所谈及的内容,大家尽可以持保留态度。
grain:n.粮食; v.把…作成细粒;
I'm Gever Tulley. 我叫吉佛·图利。
I'm a contract computer scientist by trade, but I'm the founder of something called the Tinkering School. 我的职业是一名计算机科学家, 同时我也是“探索训练营”的创始人。
contract:v.收缩;感染;订约;n.合同;婚约; founder:vi.失败;沉没;倒塌;变跛;vt.破坏;使摔倒;垮掉;n.创始人;建立者;翻沙工; Tinkering:v.(尤指不起作用地)小修补,小修理;(tinker的现在分词)
It's a summer program which aims to help kids to learn how to build the things that they think of. 这是一个旨在帮助孩子们 学会如何随心所欲地去搭建各种玩意儿的暑期项目。
So we build a lot of things. 因此,我们建造了许多东西。
And I do put power tools into the hands of second-graders. 而且,我还让这些二年级的小朋友们去接触一些电动工具。
So if you're thinking about sending your kid to Tinkering School, they do come back bruised , scraped and bloody . 如果你正考虑把你的孩子送到我们的探索训练营来的话, 他们回家的时候,身上准会青一块紫一块,遍体鳞伤。
bruised:v.(使)出现伤痕;撞伤;擦伤;打击;挫伤(bruise的过去分词和过去式) scraped:v.刮掉;削去;擦坏;擦伤;刮坏;(scrape的过去分词和过去式) bloody:adj.血腥的;血淋淋的;v.血染;
So, you know, we live in a world that's subjected to ever more stringent child safety regulations . 大家都知道, 在我们所生活的这个世界里,关于儿童安全方面的准则制定得越来越严格。
stringent:adj.严格的;严厉的;紧缩的;短缺的; regulations:n.章程;规则;法规;管理,控制;(regulation的复数)
There doesn't seem to be any limit on how crazy child safety regulations can get. 对于儿童安全准则的制定, 其严苛程度,近乎疯狂。
We put suffocation warnings on all the -- on every piece of plastic film manufactured in the United States or for sale with an item in the United States. 我们在所有美国制造的塑料袋上都印有令人窒息的安全警告, 那些随商品出售的塑料袋上, 也不能幸免。
suffocation:n.窒息;闷死; manufactured:adj.制造的,已制成的;v.制造,加工(manufacture的过去式); United:adj.联合的; v.联合,团结; (unite的过去分词和过去式) item:n.条款,项目;一则;一件商品(或物品);adj.又,同上;
We put warnings on coffee cups to tell us that the contents may be hot. 连咖啡杯上也印有 “以防液体烫伤”这样的安全警示。
contents:n.内容; v.知足; (content的第三人称单数和复数)
And we seem to think that any item sharper than a golf ball is too sharp for children under the age of 10. 对那些十岁以下的孩子们而言, 人们似乎想当然的认为, 只要是比高尔夫球尖锐一些的物体,都可被视为是锋利的。
sharper:n.骗子;赌棍;欺诈犯; under the age of:在年龄之下;16岁以下;
So where does this trend stop? 这样的一种趋势什么时候才能到头呢？
trend:n.趋势;动向;趋向;动态;v.走向;趋向;
When we round every corner and eliminate every sharp object, every pokey bit in the world, then the first time that kids come in contact with anything sharp or not made out of round plastic, they'll hurt themselves with it. 当我们把所有的角都磨圆, 让一切锋利的物体都消失殆尽, 那么当孩子们第一次接触到 那些由带有棱角的塑料制成的物体时, 他们会伤到自己。
eliminate:v.消除;排除; pokey:adj.迟钝的;狭小的;n.监狱; come in contact with:接触;
So, as the boundaries of what we determine as the safety zone grow ever smaller, we cut off our children from valuable opportunities to learn how to interact with the world around them. 因此,随着我们对什么是安全区域的界定变得越来越严苛, 与此同时,我们也切断了让孩子们与周遭的世界 相处的宝贵机会。
boundaries:n.边界;分界线;(boundary的复数) determine:v.决定;确定;测定;查明;形成;影响;裁决;安排; valuable:adj.有价值的;贵重的;可估价的;n.贵重物品; interact:v.互相影响;互相作用;n.幕间剧;幕间休息;
And despite all of our best efforts and intentions , kids are always going to figure out how to do the most dangerous thing they can, in whatever environment they can. 尽管我们所做的努力和意图是好的, 但孩子们终究必须学会如何 去应付各种各样环境下的,那些在他们能力所及范围内的 所谓最危险的事。
despite:prep.尽管,不管;n.轻视;憎恨;侮辱; intentions:n.目的,意向,意图;打算;(intention的复数)
So despite the provocative title, this presentation is really about safety and about some simple things that we can do to raise our kids to be creative , confident and in control of the environment around them. 因此,尽管这个标题看上去有些触目惊心, 但这篇讲演的主旨实际上是关于安全的,以及我们能做的一些简单的小事, 通过这些小事,可以提高孩子们的创造力、自信心 以及对他们周遭环境的控制能力。
provocative:adj.刺激的,挑拨的;气人的;n.刺激物,挑拨物;兴奋剂; presentation:n.展示;描述,陈述;介绍;赠送; creative:adj.创造性的; confident:adj.自信的;确信的;
And what I now present to you is an excerpt from a book in progress. 我现在向大家介绍的是来自于一本未完成书中的节选。
excerpt:n.摘录,引用;vt.引用,摘录;vi.摘录,引用;
The book is called "50 Dangerous Things." 这本书名字叫做“50件危险的事”。
This is five dangerous things. 我节选了其中的5件。
Thing number one -- play with fire . 第一件事—玩火。
play with fire:玩火;轻举妄动;
Learning to control one of the most elemental forces in nature is a pivotal moment in any child's personal history. 学会如何控制自然界中这一最基本的力量 是每一个孩子个人成长历史中的关键时刻。?
elemental:adj.基本的;主要的;自然力的;四大要素的(土,水,气,火); pivotal:adj.关键的;中枢的;枢轴的;n.关键事物;中心事物; personal:adj.个人的;身体的;亲自的;n.人事消息栏;人称代名词;
Whether we remember it or not, it's a -- it's the first time we really get control of one of these mysterious things. 无论我们对于第一次和火打交道的经历是否记忆犹新, 这是我们第一次真正能够控制 大自然界万千神秘事物之一。
mysterious:adj.神秘的;不可思议的;难解的;
These mysteries are only revealed to those who get the opportunity to play with it. 这些神秘的面纱只有那些 有机会去接触和体验它们的人们才能揭开。
revealed:v.揭示;显示;露出;(reveal的过去分词和过去式)
So, playing with fire . 因此,应该让孩子们去玩火。
playing with fire:玩火(playwithfire的现在分词形式);
This is like one of the great things we ever discovered, fire. 火是人类伟大的发现。
From playing with it, they learn some basic principles about fire, about intake , about combustion , about exhaust . 通过玩火,孩子们可以学到关于火的一些最基本的知识, 以及关于进气、燃烧、排气等基本相关知识。
principles:n.原则;主义;本质;政策;(principle的复数) intake:n.摄取量;通风口;引入口;引入的量; combustion:n.燃烧,氧化;骚动; exhaust:v.耗尽; n.(车辆、发动机或机器排出的)废气;
These are the three working elements of fire that you have to have to have a good controlled fire. 这是三个最基本的火的工作原理。 只有掌握了这些基本知识,我们才能更好的利用火。
elements:n.要素;基本部分;少量;一群;(element的复数)
And you can think of the open-pit fire as a laboratory . 我们可以把露天矿区燃烧的火想象成一个实验室。
laboratory:n.实验室,研究室;
You don't know what they're going to learn from playing with it. 虽然,通过玩火孩子们能够从中学到些什么我们无从而知。
You know, let them fool around with it on their own terms and trust me, they're going to learn things that you can't get out of playing with Dora the Explorer toys. 但是,请相信我,让他们随心所欲地玩火, 他们一定能够学到 比玩玩具“探险家Dora”所学不到的知识。
fool around with:与不三不四的人鬼混;乱搞男女关系;玩弄 Explorer:n.探险者;勘探者;考察者;
Number two -- own a pocket knife. 第二件事—拥有一把小刀。
Pocket knives are kind of drifting out of our cultural consciousness , which I think is a terrible thing. 小刀是一种游离于我们文化意识之外的东西, 我也挺讨厌它。
drifting:v.漂流;漂移;缓慢行走;顺其自然地做;(drift的现在分词) cultural:adj.与文化有关的;文化的;与艺术、文学、音乐等有关的; consciousness:n.意识;知觉;觉悟;感觉;
(Laughter) （笑）
Your first -- your first pocket knife is like the first universal tool that you're given. 你所拥有的第一把小刀是你的第一个万能的工具。
universal:adj.普遍的;全体的;全世界的;共同的;
You know, it's a spatula , it's a pry bar, it's a screwdriver and it's a blade . 可以当铲子用,可以当撬子用, 可以当成螺丝起子,也可以用作小刀。
spatula:n.(调和,涂抹用)抹刀,小铲;[医]压舌板; pry:v.撬动,撬开;刺探,探查;n.窥探;杠杆; screwdriver:n.螺丝刀; blade:n.叶片;刀片,刀锋;剑;
And it's a -- it's a powerful and empowering tool. 小刀是一个强大的万能工具。
empowering:v.授权;给(某人)…的权力;增加(某人的)自主权;(empower的现在分词)
And in a lot of cultures they give knives -- like, as soon as they're toddlers they have knives. 在很多不同的文化背景中, 刚会学步的小孩就可以有小刀玩。
as soon as:一…就; toddlers:n.初学走路的孩子;儿童短衫(toddler的复数形式);
These are Inuit children cutting whale blubber . 这些因纽特小孩正在用他们手里的刀切鲸鱼油脂。
Inuit:n.因纽特人(加拿大北部以及格陵兰和阿拉斯加部分地区的一个种族的人,有时误指西伯利亚及阿拉斯加南部和西部的人); blubber:n.鲸脂;哭泣;vi.又哭又闹;vt.又哭又闹;adj.肿大的;
I first saw this in a Canadian Film Board film when I was 10, and it left a lasting impression , to see babies playing with knives. 我第一次看到这个是我十岁的时候,在一个加拿大电影公告牌上, 小婴儿玩刀的情景给我留下了非常深刻的印象。
impression:n.印象;影响;效果;感想;
And it shows that kids can develop an extended sense of self through a tool at a very young age. 这表明,孩子们在他们很小的时候 就可以通过工具培养出一种自我引申意识。
extended:adj.延长了的;扩展了的;v.使伸长;扩大;扩展;(extend的过去式和过去分词)
You lay down a couple of very simple rules -- always cut away from your body, keep the blade sharp, never force it 你只需要定下几个非常简单的规定, 诸如不要把刀口对向自己的身体,保持刀的锋利,不要对它施加强力等等。
- and these are things kids can understand and practice with. 这些规定都很易于孩子们理解和掌握。
And yeah, they're going to cut themselves. 但是,他们不免会用小刀伤到自己。
I have some terrible scars on my legs from where I stabbed myself. 我的腿上至今还留着被刀刺伤的疤痕。
stabbed:v.刺,戳,捅;(stab的过去分词和过去式)
But you know, they're young. They heal fast. 但他们毕竟是孩子嘛,伤口很快就会愈合了。
heal:v.复原;治疗(病人);使又愉快起来;(使)结束
(Laughter) （笑）
Number three -- throw a spear. 第三件事—玩扔长矛的游戏。
It turns out that our brains are actually wired for throwing things and, like muscles , if you don't use parts of your brain, they tend to atrophy over time. 研究证明,我们的大脑天生就懂得如何进行投掷, 就如同我们的身体肌肉一样,如果你不经常使用你的大脑, 它也会慢慢萎缩退化的。
muscles:n.肌肉(muscle的复数); atrophy:n.萎缩,萎缩症;发育停止;vi.萎缩;虚脱;
But when you exercise them, any given muscles adds strength to the whole system and that applies to your brain too. 但当你经常锻炼它的时候, 特定部位的肌肉就会给整个身体系统施加力量 这些力量也会同时作用于你的大脑。
applies:v.适用;申请;运用;专心;(apply的第三人称单数)
So practicing throwing things has been shown to stimulate the frontal and parietal lobes , which have to do with visual acuity , 3D understanding, and structural problem-solving , so it gives a sense -- it helps develop their visualization skills and their predictive ability. 因此,研究表明练习投掷 可以刺激额叶和顶叶, 额叶和顶叶又与视觉灵敏度、三维感知能力, 以及结构性解决问题能力相关, 因此它在培养孩子们想象技巧和预知能力方面具有重要的意义。
stimulate:v.刺激;激发;促进;激励; frontal:adj.额的;正面的,前面的;n.额骨,额部;房屋的正面; parietal:adj.[解剖]腔壁的;颅顶骨的;(美)学院生活的;n.顶骨,头顶骨; lobes:n.耳垂;脑叶(lobe的复数形式); have to do with:与…有关; acuity:n.敏锐;尖锐;剧烈; structural:adj.结构的;建筑的; problem-solving:adj.问题解决的;n.解决问题;找出问题的答案; visualization:n.形象化;清楚地呈现在心; predictive:adj.预言性的;成为前兆的;
And throwing is a combination of analytical and physical skill, so it's very good for that kind of whole-body training. 而且投掷是分析技巧和物理技巧的结合, 对于全身性的锻炼非常有好处。
combination:n.结合;组合;联合;[化学]化合; analytical:adj.分析的;解析的;善于分析的; physical:adj.[物]物理的;身体的;物质的;符合自然法则的;n.体格检查;
These kinds of target-based practice also helps kids develop attention and concentration skills. 这种具有目标性的活动 对孩子们注意力的集中大有裨益。
concentration:n.浓度;含量;集中;专心;
So those are great. 因此,这是一项非常好的活动。
Number four -- deconstruct appliances . 第四件事—拆解家电。
deconstruct:vt.解构;拆析; appliances:n.(家用)电器,器具;(appliance的复数)
There is a world of interesting things inside your dishwasher . 你知道吗,家里摆放着的其貌不扬的洗碗机的内部其实是一个有趣的世界。
dishwasher:n.洗碗工;洗碟机;
Next time you're about to throw out an appliance, don't throw it out. 下次一定记得,当你准备扔掉一件旧家电的时候,千万要手下留情。
throw out:v.扔掉;伸出;说出;否决;突出;
Take it apart with your kid, or send him to my school and we'll take it apart with them. 你应该做的是和你的孩子一起把它拆开,或者直接把它送到我的学校来, 我们会和孩子们一起拆解这些旧家电。
Even if you don't know what the parts are, puzzling out what they might be for is a really good practice for the kids to get sort of the sense that they can take things apart, and no matter how complex they are, 即便你对这些零件一无所知, 但是动动脑筋,想想每个零件是干什么用的, 这本身已是对孩子们很好的锻炼。 孩子们可以形成这样一种意识, 就是不论机器的内部构造多么复杂,他们都可以把它拆解开,
puzzling:adj.使为难的;费解的;v.迷惑;使困惑;(puzzle的现在分词) complex:adj.复杂的;合成的;n.复合体;综合设施;
they can understand parts of them and that means that eventually , they can understand all of them. 他们能够从知晓每个零件的功能开始, 慢慢弄清楚整个机器的原理。
eventually:adv.最后,终于;
It's a sense of knowability, that something is knowable . 这是一种对于可知性的领悟力,即某些事物是可知的。
knowable:adj.可知的;能认识的;易知的;
So these black boxes that we live with and take for granted are actually complex things made by other people and you can understand them. 我们要让孩子们明白那些我们习以为常的和我们共同生活在一起的黑盒子 实际上是由他人制造出来的复杂的的事物, 通过不断领悟我们也可以明白它们的原理。
take for granted:认为…理所当然;
Number five -- two-parter. 第五件事—由两部分组成。
Break the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. 首先要打破千年数字版权法。
Digital:adj.数字的;手指的;n.数字;键; Millennium:n.千年期,千禧年;一千年,千年纪念;太平盛世,黄金时代; Copyright:n.版权;著作权;adj.受版权保护的;未经准许不得复制的;v.获得…的版权;
(Laughter) （笑）
There are laws beyond safety regulations that attempt to limit how we can interact with the things that we own -- in this case, digital media . 除了安全准则之外还有很多法律 这些法律试图限制我们和我们所拥有的东西之间的互动。 那些数码媒体播放器就是一个很好的例子。
attempt:n.企图,试图;攻击;v.企图,试图;尝试; media:n.媒体;媒质(medium的复数);血管中层;浊塞音;中脉;
It's a very simple exercise -- buy a song on ITunes , write it to a CD, then rip the CD to an MP3 and play it on your very same computer. 举一个非常简单的例子—在ITunes上买一首歌,把歌写成CD, 然后把CD在电脑上转成MP3,再在这台电脑上播放MP3.
ITunes:n.苹果公司最热门音乐软件(苹果公司开发的与iPod搭配的在电脑上使用的音乐播放器和音乐管理器); rip:v.撕破;突然拉开;割开;n.撕开的大口子;巨澜;清管器;废马;
You've just broken a law. 这样做的后果就是你已经触犯了法律。
Technically the RIAA can come and persecute you. 从法律角度来说,美国唱片工业联合会可以对你进行指控。
persecute:vt.迫害;困扰;同…捣乱;
It's an important lesson for kids to understand -- that some of these laws get broken by accident and that laws have to be interpreted . 对孩子们来说这是一个重要的教训— 有些法律是人们无意之中触犯的 这些法律应该得到解释,以被人们所知晓。
interpreted:v.诠释;说明;把…理解为;领会;口译;(interpret的过去式和过去分词)
And it's something we often talk about with the kids when we're fooling around with things and breaking them open and taking them apart and using them for other things -- and also when we go out and drive a car. 有些时候,当我们摆弄一些玩意的时候, 当我们把它们打开或者拆开的时候, 当我们把它们用作他用的时候,我们应该把孩子们叫过来,和他们一起交流讨论— 当我们开车出行的时候,也应该这么做。
Driving a car is a -- is a really empowering act for a young child, so this is the ultimate . 驾车对一个小孩来说是一项超乎他能力的行为, 因此这也是极限。
ultimate:adj.最终的;极限的;根本的;n.终极;根本;基本原则;
(Laughter) （笑）
For those of you who aren't comfortable actually breaking the law, you can drive a car with your child. 对于那些不愿意触犯法律的人而言, 你们可以带着孩子一起驾车。
This is -- this is a great stage for a kid. 对孩子来说,这是一个十分重要的成长阶段。
This happens about the same time that they get latched onto things like dinosaurs, these big things in the outside world that they're trying to get a grip on. 这个阶段发生的时间 与孩子们对外部世界 类似恐龙这样的大家伙着迷的时间大体上一致, 他们兴致勃勃的想试一把。
latched:adj.锁住;锁存的;锁闭的,关紧的,系住的;闩锁,门锁; grip:n.紧握;柄;支配;握拍方式;拍柄绷带;vt.紧握;夹紧;vi.抓住;
A car is a similar object, and they can get in a car and drive it. 对于车也一样,孩子们想进入到车的内部,享受驾驶的乐趣。
And that's a really like -- it gives them a handle on a world in a way that they wouldn't -- that they don't often have access to. 这就好比—在这样一个充斥着条条框框的世界里, 让孩子们得到了一定程度的自由—这种自由是不容易得到的。
handle:n.[建]把手;柄;手感;口实;v.处理;操作;运用;买卖;触摸;
So -- and it's perfectly legal . 因此,我们可以营造一种完全合法的状态。
legal:adj.法律的;合法的;法定的;
Find a big empty lot, make sure there's nothing in it and it's on private property, and let them drive your car. 找一块空地,确保没有别的障碍物, 并且空地位于私家场所,在这样的一块地方让孩子们享受驾驶的乐趣。
It's very safe actually. 事实上,这是非常安全的。
And it's fun for the whole family. 并且对于整个家庭来说都是一种莫大的乐趣。
(Laughter) （笑）
So, let's see. 就让我们来瞧瞧吧。
I think that's it. That's number five and a half. OK. 我想我该说的都已经说完了。这应当算作第五件半“危险”的事情吧。谢谢大家。