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MohamadJebara_2017S-_用金钱奖励孩子完成数学作业的公司_
For as long as I remember, I've loved mathematics . 在我的印象中,我一直深爱数学。
as long as:conj.只要;长达;如果;既然; mathematics:n.数学;数学运算;
Actually, it's not 100 percent true. 其实这个说法也不是绝对准确。
I've loved mathematics for all but a two-week period in senior high school . 确切地说,我一直深爱数学, 除了高中时期的两个礼拜。
senior high school:高中;
(Laughter) （笑声）
I was top of my class, and we were about to start the Extension Maths course. 我当时在班里名列前茅, 我们正要开始学习扩展数学课程。
were about to:眼看就要;即将;正要;行将; Extension:n.延长;延期;扩大;伸展;电话分机; Maths:数学(课)
I was really excited about this brand new topic coming up, complex numbers. 我对这个全新的领域兴奋不已, 复数。
brand new:adj.崭新的;最近获得的; complex:adj.复杂的;合成的;n.复合体;综合设施;
I like complex. 我喜欢复杂的东西。
My teacher was priming us for the concepts with some questions about square roots. 老师给我们铺垫了一些概念, 提出了一些关于平方根的问题。
priming:n.起爆; v.事先指点; (prime的现在分词)
Square of nine -- three; square of 256 -- sixteen. 9开二次方是多少——3; 256开二次方是多少——16。
Too easy. 这太容易了。
Then she asked the trick question: 之后老师问了我们一个难题:
What about the square root of negative one? 1开平方是多少呢？
square root:平方根; negative:adj.[数]负的;消极的;否定的;阴性的;n.否定;负数;[摄]底片;v.否定;拒绝;
Of course, we were all over it -- "Come on, Miss! 当然,我们都认为这不可能 —— “拜托,老师！
We all know you can't take the square root of a negative." 我们都知道不能对负数开方。”
'"That's true in the real world," she said. 老师说:“在实数域中确实是这样,
'"But in the complex world, the square root of negative one is the imaginary number i." 但是在复数的范畴里, -1的平方根是虚数 i。”
imaginary number:n.虚数;
(Laughter) （笑声）
That day, my entire mathematical world came crashing down on me. 那一天, 我的整个数学观都坍塌了。
mathematical:adj.数学的,数学上的;精确的;
(Laughter) （笑声）
'"Imaginary numbers? “虚数？
Seriously? 真的吗？
But mathematics is a source of truth, please don't go abstract on me. 数学是真理的来源, 请别把它搞抽象了。
source:n.来源;水源;原始资料; abstract:n.摘要; adj.抽象的; vt.摘要; vi.做摘要;
I would have studied art if I wanted to play with imaginary numbers." 如果要和 虚构的数字打交道, 我情愿去学艺术。”
(Laughter) （笑声）
'"This is Extension Maths, let's get back with our program!" “这是扩展数学 , 让我们回到数学的正题上来！”
She didn't, and over the next couple of weeks, 但老师没有这么做, 在接下来的几周,
I reluctantly performed meaningless calculations, 我不情愿地进行着没意义的计算,
reluctantly:adv.不情愿地;嫌恶地; performed:v.表演;执行;履行;演出;工作,运转(好/不好)(perform的过去分词和过去式)
(Laughter) （笑声）
finding imaginary solutions to quadratic equations . （笑声）
quadratic:adj.[数]二次的;n.二次方程式; equations:n.方程式;等式;均等;均势(equation的复数形式);
(Laughter) （笑声）
But then something amazing happened. 但之后发生了令人惊讶的事情。
We began finding elegant solutions to real-world problems we previously had no answers to, starting with the complex world of imaginary numbers. 我们开始找到之前 在现实世界中无解问题的答案, 而这都要从复杂的虚数开始。
elegant:adj.高雅的,优雅的;讲究的;简炼的;简洁的; real-world:adj.现实生活的;工作的; previously:adv.先前;以前;
So some mathematician 500 years ago decides to have some fun and make up these imaginary numbers, and because of that we can now derive these amazing identities with applications in the real world, in fields like electrical engineering . 500年前的一群数学家 想找点乐子 , 于是构想出了这些虚数, 我们也因此将这些神奇的记号 运用到了现实世界中, 例如电力工程领域。
mathematician:n.数学家;善作数字计算的人; derive:vt.源于;得自;vi.起源; identities:n.身份;本身;本体;特征;同一性;相同;(identity的复数) electrical engineering:n.电气工程;电机工程学;
Wow! 哇！
I gained a whole new level of appreciation for mathematics. 我对数学的欣赏 上升到了一个全新的阶段。
appreciation:n.升值;欣赏;感谢;增值;
And after my brief mistrust , 在经历了短暂的不信任之后,
mistrust:vt.猜疑;不信任;n.猜疑;疑虑;不信任
I was now in love with the subject more than ever. 现在的我比以往更爱这个学科了。
Francis Su, the mathematician, sums it up beautifully when he says, "We study mathematics for play, for beauty, for truth, for justice and for love." 数学家弗朗西斯·苏 有一句优美的总结: “我们学习数学 是为了乐趣,为了美好, 为了真理, 为了公正,也为了热爱。”
sums:n.算术题;总数;全部;v.归纳;总计;(sum的第三人称单数和复数) justice:n.公平;公正;司法制度;审判;
But if you ask a student today, you'll probably hear a different story. 但现在,如果你问一个学生, 你可能会得到不同的答案。
You might hear "difficult" and " boring ." 你可能会听到“困难”和“无聊”。
boring:adj.无聊的;令人厌烦的;n.钻孔;v.使厌烦;钻孔;(bore的现在分词)
And they might be right about difficult. 说数学困难可能有些道理,
But it's certainly not boring. 但数学肯定不是无聊的。
In fact, I'd say being difficult to master is part of what makes it beautiful. 我其实觉得,数学的一大魅力 就在于它难以掌握。
Because nothing worth doing is easy. 因为有价值的事情 做起来都不会容易。
So we need students to stick around long enough through the difficult parts to appreciate the beauty when it all ties together. 我们需要学生们 长期坚持,面对数学之难, 将难的内容联系起来时 才能感受到数学的美。
to stick around:别走开; appreciate:v.欣赏;感激;感谢;理解;
Much like I did for that brief couple of weeks in high school. 这和我在高中 那几周的经历差不多。
Unfortunately , our school systems -- we move students through mathematics in a lockstep process . 遗憾的是,我们的教育体制—— 只是单纯地对所有学生采用 统一的教学进度。
Unfortunately:adv.不幸地; lockstep:n.因循守旧;密集连锁的步伐;步伐一致; process:v.处理;加工;列队行进;n.过程,进行;方法,adj.经过特殊加工(或处理)的;
So those who fall a little behind find it near impossible to ever catch up and appreciate that beauty. 那些落后一点的学生 会认为赶上别人、学会欣赏数学 几乎是不可能的事情。
But why is this a problem? 为什么这是个问题呢？
Why should we care? 为什么我们应当关心这个问题？
Well today, more than ever, our world needs every citizen to be skilled in mathematics. 当今世界对人们数学能力的需求 比以往任何时候都要迫切。
skilled:adj.熟练的;有技能的;需要技能的;
With the advent of artificial intelligence and automation , many of the jobs we see today will either not exist or be transformed to require less routine work and more analysis and application of expertise . 随着人工智能和自动化时代的到来, 我们现在的许多工作 未来都将不复存在, 或者被迫进行改革 , 以减少常规工作, 并加强专业化的分析和应用。
advent:n.到来;出现;基督降临;基督降临节; artificial intelligence:n.人工智能; automation:n.自动化;自动操作; transformed:v.使改变形态;使改变外观(或性质);(transform的过去分词和过去式) analysis:n.分析;分解;验定; application:n.应用;申请;应用程序;敷用; expertise:n.专门知识;专门技术;专家的意见;
But we're not producing the extra mathematics students to fill these new roles. 但我们没有足够的数学专业学生 来填补这些新增职位。
extra:adj.额外的:n.额外的事物:adv.额外:另外:
This graph shows the number of students taking Standard Mathematics and Advanced Mathematics over a period of 20 years in Australia. 这幅图显示了20年间, 在澳大利亚 学习普通数学 和高等数学的学生数量。
Standard:n.标准;水准;旗;度量衡标准;adj.标准的;合规格的;公认为优秀的; Advanced:adj.先进的; v.前进; (advance的过去式和过去分词形式)
It's clear that while we have demand for mathematics skills rapidly increasing, supply is in steady decline . 结果一目了然,虽然我们对 数学人才的需求快速增加, 具备这些能力的人数却在稳定下降。
steady:adj.稳定的; v.使稳定; v.稳定地; n.关系固定的情侣; decline:v.下降;衰退;减少;谢绝;n.下降;
To put things in perspective , half of the students completing high school today in Australia are not prepared to understand any argument about rates of change in data. 也就是说, 如今在澳大利亚,一半高中毕业生 都不能够完全理解 有关数据变化率的 任何论点。
perspective:n.观点;远景;透视图;adj.透视的;
In this digital age where fake news can influence election results, this is very concerning . 现在可是数字时代, 假新闻都能够影响选举结果, 这非常令人担忧。
digital:adj.数字的;手指的;n.数字;键; fake:n.假货;骗子;假动作;v.捏造;假装…的样子;adj.伪造的; influence:n.影响;势力;感化;有影响的人或事;v.影响;改变; concerning:prep.关于;涉及;v.影响,牵涉(某人);与…有关;涉及;(concern的现在分词)
Let me give you a concrete example. 给大家一个具体的例子。
concrete:n.混凝土;adj.混凝土制的;确实的,具体的;vt.用混凝土覆盖
Let's take a closer look at that graph. 我们再看看这幅图。
Can everyone see what I've done there to stress my point? 大家能看出来 我为了突出重点做了什么吗？
If you can't, let me show you now, with the vertical axis starting at zero, where it should be. 如果你看不出来,我来告诉你, 纵轴的起始点本应该是0。
vertical:n.垂直线;垂直位置;adj.竖的;垂直的;直立的;纵向的; axis:n.轴;轴线;轴心国;
There, you see it now, right? 现在能看出来了吧？
It's the exact same data but I've manipulated the representation to influence you. 本来是一模一样的数据, 但是我在展现方式上 做了手脚来影响你们。
manipulated:v.(暗中)控制,操纵,影响;使用;治疗脱臼;(manipulate的过去式和过去分词) representation:n.表现;代表;描述;陈述
And that's cool, that's my job up here. 这很酷,也正是我站在这儿目的。
(Laughter) （笑声）
But in all seriousness , unless we do something to drastically improve student engagement with mathematics, we'll not only have a huge skills shortage crisis but a fickle population, easily manipulated by whoever can get the most air time. （笑声） 除非我们做些什么 来大幅增加学生们 在数学课程上的投入, 否则我们将不仅面临 巨大的技能短缺, 而且人们的思想也将摇摆不定, 轻而易举地被电视里 出镜最多的人操控。
seriousness:n.严重性;严肃;认真; drastically:adv.彻底地;激烈地; improve:v.改进;改善; engagement:n.婚约;约会;交战;诺言;n.参与度; shortage:n.短缺;不足;缺少; crisis:n.危机;危险期;决定性时刻;adj.危机的;用于处理危机的; fickle:adj.浮躁的;易变的;变幻无常的; whoever:任何人:无论是谁:
So what's the solution ? 那么,有什么解决办法吗？
solution:n.解决方案;溶液;溶解;解答;
There are a lot of things we have to do. 这项工作任重道远。
We need curriculum reform . 我们需要课程改革。
curriculum:n.课程;总课程; reform:v.改革;改进;改良;(使)悔改;n.改革;改良;改善;
We need our best and brightest encouraged to become teachers. 我们需要最棒、 最聪明的人成为老师。
We need to put an end to high-stakes tests and instead follow a mastery-based learning approach . 我们需要取消 “一考定终身”的制度, 改用以能力为基础的教学方法。
put an end to:结束;终止; high-stakes:adj.高风险; approach:n.方法;路径;v.接近;建议;着手处理;
But all these things take time. 但所有这些都不能一蹴而就。
And I'm impatient . 而我又没什么耐心。
impatient:adj.焦躁的;不耐心的;
See, I've been thinking about this for eight years now. 八年前,我辞掉了 金融衍生品交易员的工作。
Ever since I left my job as a derivative trader to build a web application to help students learn mathematics. 从那时起我就一直致力于此, 开发网络应用,帮助学生学习数学。
derivative:n.[化学]衍生物,派生物;导数;adj.派生的;引出的;
Today, our app is used by schools across the globe. 如今,我们的应用 被全球各地学校广泛使用。
And we're seeing big improvements for students who use the program regularly . 经常使用它的学生 在成绩上也有了显着提高。
improvements:n.改善;改进;改善的事物;(improvement的复数) regularly:adv.经常地;有规律地;定期的
But here's the thing -- we're only seeing it for students who use the program regularly. 但有一个问题—— 这种提高只体现在 经常使用应用的学生身上。
And most of them don't. 而这类学生只占少数。
So after years of developing and refining the application, our biggest challenge was not so much product related, our biggest challenge was motivating students to want to work on their gaps in understanding. 因此,我们虽然 花费数年开发和改进应用, 但面临的最大挑战 却并非来自产品, 而是如何激励学生, 让他们愿意克服理解数学的障碍。
refining:v.精炼;提纯;去除杂质;改进;(refine的现在分词) motivating:v.激励;刺激;调动…的积极性(motivate的ing形式); gaps:n.差异,缺口;缝隙(gap的复数形式);v.裂开;使豁裂(gap的第三人称单数形式);
You can imagine in today's attention economy , we're competing against Facebook, Snapchat and PlayStation to try and get these students' time. 如今是注意力经济时代, 我们是在和Facebook, Snapchat,Playstation竞争, 努力争取学生们的时间。
economy:n.经济;节约;理财; competing:adj.相互冲突的;相互矛盾的;v.竞争;对抗;参加比赛;(compete的现在分词) PlayStation:n.游戏机;
So we went back to the drawing board and started to think about how we could make it worthwhile for students to spend some of their "attention budget " 于是我们退后一步, 开始思考如何能让学生认为 分一些有限的精力在教育上
back to the drawing board:重新开始;失败后另起炉灶;重来一次; worthwhile:adj.值得做的,值得花时间的; budget:n.预算,预算费;v.安排,预定;把…编入预算;adj.廉价的;
on their education. 是值得的。
We tinkered with gamification elements like points, badges and avatars , and we'd see a temporary spike in engagement but things would go back to normal as soon as the novelty wore off. 我们在应用中 添加了一些游戏元素, 例如积分、勋章、炫酷的形象等, 我们发现参与度短暂上升, 但当新鲜感褪去后, 一切又迅速回到正常水平。
tinkered:n.补锅匠; vi.做焊锅匠; vt.修补; gamification:n.游戏化; elements:n.要素;基本部分;少量;一群;(element的复数) badges:n.[轻]徽章(badge的复数);v.以…为标志;授予…奖章(badge的三单形式); avatars:n.神使;头像;形象化符号;(avatar的复数) temporary:adj.暂时的,临时的;n.临时工,临时雇员; spike:n.长钉,道钉;钉鞋;细高跟;vt.阻止;以大钉钉牢;用尖物刺穿; as soon as:一…就; novelty:n.新奇;新奇的事物;新颖小巧而廉价的物品;
Then one day, my cofounder , Alvin, came across a study of students in Chicago led by the behavioral economist, Steven Levitt, where they paid students who improved on their test scores. 我们的联合创始人埃尔文 某天偶然看到芝加哥 一项关于学生的研究, 这项研究由行为经济学家 斯蒂芬·莱维特发起, 他们付钱给测验成绩提高的学生。
cofounder:n.共同创办人; behavioral:adj.行为的; improved:adj.改良的:v.改进:改善(improve的过去分词和过去式)
He started telling me about some of the things they tested for and the interesting findings they had. 他告诉我了一些测试的内容, 以及一些有趣的研究发现。
findings:n.调查发现;判决;裁决;(finding的复数)
For instance , they found that incentivizing students for inputs , like effort, worked a lot better than incentivizing for outputs , like test scores. 例如,他们发现 对学生的努力程度等投入 进行奖励, 其效果要好于对分数等结果 进行奖励。
instance:n.实例;情况;建议;v.举...为例; incentivizing:以物质刺激鼓励; inputs:n.[自][电子]输入;投入(input的复数); outputs:n.[计]输出; v.生产;
They found that for younger students, you could win them over with a trophy but for older students, you really needed cash. 他们还发现, 可以给年龄小的学生奖杯, 但对于年龄大一些的学生, 则需要给他们金钱奖励。
trophy:n.奖品,奖杯;奖;纪念品,战利品;adj.炫耀的;摆阔的;招摇的;
(Laughter) （笑声）
And the amount of cash mattered -- 10 dollars was good, 20 dollars -- even better. 钱的额度也很重要, 10美元还不错, 20美元就更好了。
But perhaps most importantly, they found that the rewards had to be instant rather than promised at a later date. 但也许更重要的一点是, 他们发现这种奖励必须及时, 不能延迟发放。
rewards:n.[劳经]奖励; v.[劳经]奖赏; instant:n.瞬间; adj.立即的; conj.同"assoonas";
They went as far as to give the students 20 dollars and say, "Touch it, feel it, smell it --" 研究人员甚至 拿出20美元对学生们说: “摸摸它,感受它,再闻闻它——
as far as:至于…;
(Sniffing) （闻一下）
'"It's all yours. 这都是你的。
But if you fail, I'm going to take it back." 但如果你失败,我就得把它拿回来。”
And that worked really well. 这样做的效果非常好。
I immediately got excited about the possibilities of implementing this in our program. 我立刻意识到将这项研究 应用到我们的项目上是可行的, 我对此十分兴奋。
implementing:n.实施,执行;实现;v.贯彻,执行(implement的现在分词);
But once the excitement settled down, there were a few concerns that crept in our minds. 但一旦冷静下来, 我的脑海里冒出了几个问题。
excitement:n.兴奋;刺激;令人兴奋的事物; settled:adj.稳定的; v.结束; (settle的过去分词和过去式) concerns:n.关注; v.使关心(concern的三单形式); crept:v.匍匐爬行(creep的过去式);
Firstly , was this ethical ? 第一, 这符合伦理道德么？
Firstly:adv.首先(主要用于列举条目,论点时);第一; ethical:adj.伦理的;道德的;凭处方出售的;n.处方药;
(Laughter) （笑声）
Secondly, how would we fund this thing? 第二,我们如何筹措资金？
fund:n.基金;资金;存款;v.投资;资助;
(Laughter) （笑声）
And finally , would the results be sustained if the students were no longer paid? 第三, 如果以后停止给学生金钱奖励, 这种效果还会持续么？
finally:adv.终于;最终;(用于列举)最后;彻底地; sustained:adj.持续的; v.维持; (sustain的过去分词和过去式)
Now, let's look at the ethical part first. 我们先来看看伦理问题,
I'm a bit of a mathematical purist . 我算是一个数学方面的 纯粹主义者。
purist:n.纯化论者,力求纯化的人;
So I'd be one of the first people to say that we should study mathematics for the sake of mathematics. 我就是那种认为应该为了数学 而学习数学的人。
for the sake of:为了;为了…的利益;
Remember -- for play, for beauty, for truth, for justice and for love! 要记住, 是为了乐趣、美好 真理、正义和热爱而学习数学。
Not for money! 不是为了钱！
(Laughter) （笑声）
As I struggled with this, I came to see that, while it's a way I look at mathematics now, it's only because I studied it long enough to appreciate it. 在内心挣扎的同时,我意识到 我现在这样看待数学 是因为学习了足够长的时间, 能够欣赏它的魅力。
struggled:v.奋斗;努力;争取;艰难地行进;抗争;(struggle的过去式和过去分词)
It's very difficult to tell a student struggling with mathematics today to work hard for a payoff in the distant future. 但对学数学很痛苦的学生来说, 你难以诱导他们, 努力学习终将有所回报。
payoff:n.报酬;结果;发工资;结算;adj.支付的;决定性的;产生结果的; distant:adj.遥远的;远处的;久远的;
And it's not so much bribery that's at work here, because I could bribe students by telling them about my big bonuses in my derivative trading days as a reward for doing well at maths. 这种诱导在这里行不通, 我满可以告诉学生们 做金融衍生品交易员有高额奖金, 这就是学好数学的回报。
bribery:n.[法]贿赂;受贿;行贿;
But it doesn't pay off for a very long time. 但这种回报要等很久才能实现。
So it's practically naught . 因此,这种鼓励几乎没什么作用。
practically:adv.实际地;几乎;事实上; naught:n.[数]零;无价值;adj.无价值的;无用的;
Behavioral economists call this hyperbolic discounting . 行为经济学家称之为“双曲贴现” （相比后期大回报,更看重眼前的小酬劳）。
hyperbolic:adj.双曲线的;夸张的; discounting:vt.[金融]贴现; vi.[金融]贴现;
And Levitt goes as far as to say that all motivating power vanishes when rewards are handed out with a delay. 莱维特甚至说, 当延迟发放奖励时, 一切激励作用都会消失。
vanishes:v.[数]消失(vanish的三单形式);
So, from a purely economic point of view : if we don't use immediate incentives , we are underinvesting in student outcomes . 因此,从一个纯粹的 经济视角来看: 如果不给予及时的奖励, 就等于没有对学生的成绩 进行足够的奖励。
purely:adv.完全;仅仅; economic:adj.经济的,经济上的;经济学的; point of view:观点;见地;立场; incentives:n.激励;奖励;诱因(incentive的复数形式);奖励措施; underinvesting:用法,发音,音标,搭配,同义词,反义词和例句等在线英语服务。; outcomes:n.结果;成果;后果;出路;(outcome的复数)
I took heart from that, and came to see that as a society, we're actually quite used to financial incentives. 我认真思考了这个问题, 发现不论经济奖励的提供者 是政府、雇主还是家庭,
financial:adj.金融的;财政的,财务的;
Whether it be by the government, by employers or at home. 我们其实早就习惯了它的存在。
employers:n.雇主;雇用者;(employer的复数)
For instance, many parents would pay their children an allowance or pocket money for doing chores in the house. 打个比方 , 很多孩子会帮忙做家务, 家长会因此奖励给孩子零花钱。
allowance:n.津贴;补贴;免税额;限额;v.给…发津贴;按定量供给; pocket money:n.零用钱;常用于英式英语;
So it wasn't really all that controversial . 因此,用钱激励学生 也并没有太大争议性。
controversial:adj.有争议的;有争论的;
As I thought about that, it started to answer that second question of how we were going to fund this. 想到这儿, 我开始思考第二个问题, 即我们如何提供资金支持？
Naturally , parents are the most invested in their children's education. 父母自然是 孩子教育的最大投资方。
Naturally:adv.自然地;自然而然地;轻而易举;天生地;大方地; invested:v.投资;投入;(invest的过去分词和过去式)
So, let's charge them a weekly subscription fee to use our program, but -- if the students complete their weekly maths goal, we'll refund the subscription amount directly into the child's bank account . 于是我们开始按周收取 软件使用费, 但是—— 如果学生达成了每周数学目标, 我们会把这笔费用 退回到他自己的银行账户。
subscription:n.捐献;订阅;订金;签署; refund:vi.退还;偿还,归还;n.退款;偿还,偿还额; directly:adv.直接地;立即;马上;正好地;坦率地;conj.一…就; bank account:n.银行账户;
We chose three exercises completed over a one week period for a 10 dollar reward. 我们设置了三个练习, 如果能在一周之内完成, 就可得到10美元奖励。
That way we're incentivizing effort rather than performance over a short enough period and with a substantial enough payout for the students to care. 我们奖励学生们付出的努力, 而不是他们的成绩, 这段时间比较短, 奖励也足够大, 能够引起学生的重视。
performance:n.性能;表现;业绩;表演; substantial:adj.大量的;实质的;内容充实的;n.本质;重要材料; payout:n.支出;花费;
Now, I remember when I first told my wife about this new business model. 我还记得,当我最初 把这个新商业模式告诉妻子时,
If she had any doubt left that I've gone completely mad, that pretty much confirmed it for her. 如果之前她还不确定我是否疯了, 我的这种想法就能 让她确定我真的疯了。
She said to me, "Mo ... 她说: 穆...
you realize that if everybody does their homework, which you want, you're not going to make any revenue , which you don't want. 你意识到没有,要是每个孩子 都如你所愿,完成作业, 你可就一分钱都赚不到啦。
revenue:n.收益;营业额;税务署;
Great business model." 这真是厉害的商业模式啊。“
(Laughter) （笑声）
I say it's more like an antibusiness model, it's free if you use it, but you pay if you don't. 我认为这更像是个反商业模式, 使用就免费,不使用则付费。
Now, I knew from experience that not everybody in the country was going to jump on and do their maths homework every week. 根据以往经验, 我知道在这个国家, 不是每个人都能斗志昂扬 每周做数学作业。
And if they did, sure we'd go bust pretty quickly, but hey, we would have solved the country's maths skills crisis. 如果真是如此 , 我们很快就破产了, 但是这样一来,数学能力 不足的问题不就解决了吗？
bust:n.(石或金属的)半身像; v.打破; adj.破碎;
(Laughter) （笑声）
As a company, we've always run a double bottom line , looking to both make a return for investors as well as improve student outcomes. 作为一家公司 , 我们总会有一条双重底线, 既要给投资商回报, 也要提高学生成绩。
bottom line:n.底线;归根结底;账本底线,盈亏一览结算线; as well as:也;和…一样;不但…而且;
We know that our path to long-term profitability is through improving student outcomes. 我们清楚,如果要长期盈利, 就要提高学生们的成绩。
long-term:adj.长期的;从长远来看; profitability:n.赢利能力;收益性;利益率; improving:v.改进;改善;(improve的现在分词)
So our dual objectives should never be at odds . 我们的双重目标就不会相悖。
dual:adj.双的;双重的;n.双数;双数词; objectives:n.目的(objective的复数形式);目标;宗旨; odds:n.几率;胜算;不平等;差别;
So we're always looking to make our product decisions around helping students reach their weekly maths goal, effectively ensuring that they get paid and not us. 正因为如此, 能够帮助学生达成每周数学目标, 确保他们能够拿到钱, 而不管我们是否盈利。
ensuring:v.保证;确保;担保(ensure的现在分词);
Now you must be wondering: How is this crazy business model going? 你可能会问,这个疯狂的 商业模式如何运作？
You'll be glad to know we're still in business. 令人高兴的是我们仍在运营。
We've been testing this now for the last five months on just our personal home users in Australia before we think about rolling it out to schools. 在过去的五个月, 在我们将其推广到学校之前, 我们针对澳大利亚的 个人使用者进行了试验。
personal:adj.个人的;身体的;亲自的;n.人事消息栏;人称代名词;
And here are the early results. 以下是初期结果。
The green represents students who are completing their weekly maths goal and the red those who aren't. 绿色代表完成每周数学任务的学生, 红色代表没有完成的学生。
represents:v.代表;维护…的利益;相当于;(represent的第三人称单数)
You can see a lot more completing their homework than not. 可以看出完成作业的人数 远高于未完成的人数。
In fact, as our user base has grown, we found the percentage to be pretty steady, at around 75 percent. 事实上,随着我们的用户增多, 我们发现完成的人数比例 稳定在大约75% 。
percentage:n.百分比;百分率;利润的分成;提成;
So on average, we receive our weekly subscription fee once every four weeks, and the other three weeks, we're rewarding the students. 平均来看, 而在其他三周发放奖励给学生。
rewarding:adj.有益的;值得做的;报酬高的;v.奖励;奖赏;给以报酬;(reward的现在分词)
Now of course we're leaving some money on the table here, but guess what? 当然,我们已经赚了一些钱, 但你可能想不到,
It turns out these students are 70 percent more engaged than students not on the reward program. 与没有奖金回报的学生相比, 获得奖金的学生 参与度高出了70%。
engaged:adj.已订婚的; v.吸引住; (engage的过去分词和过去式)
Check. 目标达成！
From a business perspective, they are less likely to churn and more likely to refer friends, so we're hoping to trade off a lower revenue per user for a bigger and more engaged user base. 从商业视角来看, 这些学生用户很稳定, 也更倾向于把应用推荐给朋友, 我们希望通过 给单个用户更低的奖赏来 换取更大、参与度更高的用户群。
churn:v.剧烈搅动;(使)猛烈翻腾;反胃,恶心;感到不安;n.搅乳器; refer:v.参考;涉及;提到;查阅;
Check and check. 这两项都已经完成。
Now for that final question. 现在,还有最后一个问题。
Would they keep coming back if they were no longer paid? 如果不再付钱给学生, 他们还会继续使用这个应用么？
Mathematics is so much more than just a subject you study at school. 数学绝不仅仅是 在学校学习的一个科目。
It's a human endeavor . 它是人类的事业。
endeavor:n.v.努力;尽力;试图;
It's what helps us to understand the world around us. 它帮助我们了解周围的世界。
And the more you know, the more you want to know. 当你了解的越多 , 你就会更加希望深入这个领域。
So yes, we've triggered initial engagement with a financial reward. 因此,问题的答案是肯定的, 学生们的兴趣已经 被奖励激发出来了。
triggered:v.发动;引起;触发;开动;起动;(trigger的过去分词和过去式) initial:adj.最初的; n.(名字的)首字母; v.用姓名的首字母作标记(或签名)于;
But in the long run , the money won't matter anymore. 而长远来看, 钱不再是问题,
But in the long run:然而长远点说;但从长远来看;但凝望向前方;
Because in the long run, the wonder of mathematics will be the incentive and understanding it will be the reward. 因为从长远来看, 数学的奇妙就是最好的激励, 而理解了数学, 就是最好的回报。
Thank you. 谢谢。
(Applause) （掌声）