Kim-Chi Trinh was just nine when her father used his savings to buy a passage for her on a fishing boat that would carry her from Vietnam. It was a heartbreaking and costly sacrifice for the family, placing Kim-Chi on the small boat, among strangers, in hopes that she would eventually reach the United States, where she would get a good education and enjoy a better life.
当郑金枝的父亲用积蓄的钱为她买了一张票让她乘上一条将带她离开越南的渔船时她才9岁。对这个家庭来说将金枝送上小船置身于陌生人中间是一种令人心碎、代价昂贵的牺牲。他们只愿她最终能到达美国在那儿受到良好的教育，享受更美好的生活。 It was a hard journey for the little girl, and full of risks. Long before the boat reached safety, the supplies of food and water ran out. When Kim-Chi finally made it to the US, she had to cope with a succession of three foster families. But when she graduated from San Diego's Patrick Henry High School in 1988, she had straight A's and scholarship offers from some of the most prestigious universities in the country.
对小女孩来说这是一次充满危险的艰苦旅程。 在小船到达安全之地以前很久食物和水的贮备已经用完。当金枝最终到达美国后她又不得不同一连3个收养家庭相处。但是当她1998年从圣地亚哥的帕特里克?亨利中学毕业时，她取得了全优的成绩以及这个国家最享盛名的几所大学提供的奖学金。
\it to my parents in Vietnam.\
“我必须取得好成绩”这个现为康奈尔大学二年级学生的19岁姑娘说“这样我才对得起在越南的父母。”
Kim-Chi is part of a wave of bright, highly - motivated Asian - Americans who are suddenly surging into our best colleges. Although Asian - Americans make up only 2.4 percent of the nation's population, they constitute 17.1 percent of the undergraduates at Harvard, 18 percent at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and 27.3 percent at the University of California at Berkeley.
金枝是一群聪明伶俐、积极进取的美籍亚裔中的一员他们正突然潮水般地涌入我们最好的大学。虽然美籍亚裔只占全国人口的2.4%但他们在哈佛的本科生中却占了17.1%，在麻省理工学院占了18%在加州大学伯克利分校占了27.3%。
Why are Asian - Americans doing so well? Are they grinds, as some stereotypes suggest? Do they have higher IQs? Or can we learn a lesson from them about values we have long treasured but may have misplaced — like hard work, the family and education?
为什么美籍亚裔的成绩这样优秀呢? 他们是否像一些陈旧的看法所暗示的那样是些埋头用功的学生? 他们是否有更高的智商? 或者在我们一向珍视但也许已经丢失的价值观----如敬业、家庭和教育等方面我们是否可以向他们学到一些有用的东西呢?
Not all Asians are doing equally well; poorly - educated Cambodian refugee children, for instance, often need special help. And many Asian - Americans resent being labeled a \feeling that this is reverse discrimination by white Americans — a contrast to the laws that excluded most Asian immigrants from the US until 1965, but prejudice nevertheless.
并非所有的亚裔人都学得一样好比如没受过什么教育的柬埔寨难民的孩子就常常需要特殊的帮助。许多美籍亚裔人不喜欢被称为“模范的少数民族”他们感到这是美国白人的逆向歧视----虽与1965年以前排斥大多数亚洲移民进入美国的法律截然不同但仍是一种偏见。
The young Asians' achievements have led to a series of fascinating studies. Perhaps the most disturbing results come from the research carried out by a University of Michigan psychologist, Harold W. Stevenson, who has compared more than 7,000 students in kindergarten, first grade,
third grade and fifth grade in Chicago and Minneapolis with counterparts in Beijing, Taipei and Sendai. On a battery of math tests, the Americans did worst at all grade levels.
亚裔年轻人的成绩已经引发了一系列引人注目的研究。也许最令人不安的结果来自于密歇根大学心理学家哈罗德?W?斯蒂文森进行的研究。他将芝加哥和明尼阿波利斯7000多名幼儿园、一年级、三年级和五年级的学生同他们在北京、台北和仙台的同级伙伴作了比较。在一组数学测试中美国学生在所有的年级层次上都考得最差。
Stevenson found no differences in IQ. But if the differences in performance are showing up in kindergarten, it suggests something is happening in the family, even before the children get to school.
斯蒂文森没有发现智商上的差别。 但是如果成绩上的差异在幼儿园就开始显现那就表明事情出在家庭中甚至是在孩子们上学之前。
It is here that various researchers' different studies converge: Asian parents are motivating their children better. \
正是在这一点上各研究者的不同研究趋于了一致亚洲的父母在激发孩子的学习动力方面做得更好。“决定的因素是亚洲孩子学习努力。”斯蒂文森说。
The real question, then, is how Asian parents imbue their offspring with this kind of motivation. Stevenson's study suggests a critical answer. When asked why they think their children do well, most Asian parents said \
接下来真正要弄清的问题是亚洲父母是如何将这种学习动力灌输给他们的后代的。 斯蒂文森的研究提出了一个重要的答案。当被问及他们认为他们的孩子为什么学得好时大多数亚洲父母说是“用功”。而美国父母则说是“天赋”。
\ahead in life through hard work. Instead, Americans now believe that some kids have what it takes and some don't. So we start dividing up classes into?fast learners?and?slow learners?, whereas the Chinese and Japanese feel all children can succeed in the same curriculum.\
“依我看”斯蒂文森说“对于我们都能通过艰苦努力在生活中取得成功的观念我们已经不再相信。相反美国人现在认为有的孩子具备成功所必需的素质而有的孩子则不具备。于是我们开始把班级分为‘快班’和‘慢班’而中国人和日本人则认为所有的孩子都能在同一课程中成功。”
This belief in hard work is the first of three main factors contributing to Asian students' outstanding performance. It springs from Asians' common heritage of Confucianism, the
philosophy of the 5th-century-BC Chinese sage whose teachings have had a profound influence on Chinese society. One of Confucius's primary teachings is that through effort, people can perfect themselves.
这种对于勤奋的信念是促成亚洲学生成绩突出的三大要素中的第一个。它来源于亚洲人共同的儒教传统即公元前5世纪那位中国圣人的哲学思想他的教义对中国社会产生了深远的影响。孔夫子的主要教义之一是人们通过努力能够完善自我。
Confucianism provides another important ingredient in the Asians' success as well. In Confucian philosophy, the family plays a central role — an orientation that leads people to work for the
honor of the family, not just for themselves. One can never repay one's parents, and there's a sense of obligation or even guilt that is as strong a force among Asians as Protestant philosophy is in the West.
儒教也为亚洲人的成功提供了另一个要素。在孔夫子的哲学中家庭起着最重要的作用----这种定向引导人们为家庭的荣誉而学习工作而不仅仅是为了他们自己。一个人永远无法
报答他的父母而且在亚洲人中间还有一种责任感、乃至负罪感这是一种如同新教哲学在西方一样的强大力量。
There's yet another major factor in this bond between Asian parents and their children. During the 15 years I lived in China, Japan, and Vietnam, I noticed that Asian parents establish a closer physical tie to their infants than most parents in the United States. When I let my baby daughter crawl on the floor, for example, my Chinese friends were horrified and rushed to pick her up. We think this constant attention is old-fashioned or even unhealthy, but for Asians, it's highly effective. 还有另外一个重要因素存在于亚洲父母及其子女的这种关系中。 在我住在中国、日本和越南的15年间我注意到同大多数美国父母相比亚洲父母同他们的婴儿建立了一种更为亲密的身体联系。比如当我让幼小的女儿在地板上爬时我的中国朋友们会大惊失色冲过去把她抱起来。我们认为这种无时不在的关心已经过时、甚至是不健康的但是对于亚洲人来说它却十分有效。
Can we learn anything from the Asians? \transplanted,\
我们能从亚洲人那儿学到点什么吗“我还没有天真到认为亚洲的每样东西都能被移植过来。”斯蒂文森说。但是他却提出了3条建议。
\become professional athletes without practicing hard.\
“首先”他说“我们需要为我们的孩子们确立更高的目标。我们不会指望他们不经过刻苦训练就能成为职业运动员。”
Second, American parents need to become more committed to their children's education, he declares. \Asian parents spend more time helping their children with homework or writing to their teachers than American parents do.
第二他宣称美国父母需要更加关心子女的教育。“在孩子表现不好时表示理解是不够的。” 斯蒂文森发现亚洲父母比美国父母花费更多的时间帮助孩子做作业或者写信给孩子的老师。
And, third, our schools could be reorganized in simple but effective ways, says Stevenson. Nearly 90 percent of Chinese youngsters say they actually enjoy school, and 60 percent can't wait for school vacations to end. This is a vastly more positive attitude than youngsters in The US express. One reason may be that students in China and Japan typically have a break after each class, helping them to relax and to increase their attention spans.
第三我们的学校可以用简单而有效的方式加以重组斯蒂文森说。近90%的中国年轻人说他们确实喜欢学校 60%的年轻人迫不及待地盼着学校假期结束。同美国年轻人所表示的态度相比这种态度要积极得多。原因之一也许是中国和日本的学生一般在每节课后都有一段休息时间 这有助于他们放松并增加注意力集中的持续时间。
\\lot of wasted potential among the Americans.\
“我并不认为亚洲人更聪明。”伯克利的一位美籍亚裔学生李?唐说“在我的化学班里有一些很聪明的美国人。但是亚洲学生更刻苦。我在美国人身上看到很多被浪费的潜能。” Text B、Methods of Education: East and West
1.A teacher from Canada recently visited an elementary school in Japan. In one class, she watched sixty young children as they learned to draw a cat. The class teacher drew a big circle on the blackboard, and sixty children copied it on their papers. The teacher drew a smaller circle on top of the first and then put two triangles on top of it; the children continued their cats in exactly the same way. The lesson continued until there were sixty-one identical cats in the classroom. 一位来自加拿大的老师最近参观了一所日本的小学。 在一堂课上， 她观看了60个小孩子在学习画猫。 任课老师在黑板上画了一个大圆圈，60个孩子就模仿着画在纸上。老师在第一个圆圈上面画了一个小些的圆圈，然后又在小圆圈上面画了两个三角形；孩子们也以完全相同的方式继续画着他们的猫。这堂课就这么继续着，直到教室里有了61只一模一样的猫。 2.The Canadian teacher was startled by the lesson. The teaching methods — and their effects — were very different from those in her own country. An art lesson in a Canadian school would lead to a room full of unique pictures, not a series of identical cats. Why? What causes this difference in educational methods? 这节课让那位加拿大老师大为吃惊。 这类教学方法--以及它们的效果--同她自己国家的迥然不同。 加拿大学校里的一节美术课会产生满满一屋子独一无二的图画，而不是一张又一张完全相同的猫。 为什么呢? 是什么造成了这种教学方法上的不同呢?
3.In any classroom in any country, the instructor teaches more than just art or history or language. Part of what's going on — consciously or not — is the teaching of culture: the attitudes, values and beliefs of the society. Every education system is inevitably a mirror that reflects the culture of the society it is a part of.在任何国家的任何一个教室里，老师教的都不仅仅是艺术、历史或语言。课堂活动的一部分--有意识或无意识地--是在传授文化：社会的观念、价值观和信仰。每一种教育制度都不可避免地是一面反映其所在社会的文化的镜子。
4.In many Western societies, such as the United States or Canada, which are made up of many different nationalities, religious groups and cultural orientations, individualism and independent thinking are highly valued. And these values are reflected by the education systems in these countries. Teachers emphasize the qualities that make each student special. Students are seldom expected to memorize information; instead, they are encouraged to think for themselves, find answers on their own and come up with individual solutions. At an early age, students learn to form their own ideas and opinions, and to express their ideas in class discussion. 在像美国或加拿大这样由许多不同的民族、宗教团体和文化取向构成的西方社会中，个性和独立思考受到高度重视。这些价值观通过这些国家的教育制度反映出来。老师们强调那些使每个学生都与众不同的品质。他们很少要求学生熟记信息；却鼓励他们独立思考，独自寻找答案，并提出各自的解决方法。学生们从小就学着形成自己的意见和看法，并在课堂讨论中各抒己见。
5.In Japan, by contrast, the vast majority of people share the same language, history, and culture. Perhaps for this reason, the education system there reflects a belief in group goals and traditions rather than individualism. Japanese schoolchildren often work together and help one another on assignments. In the classroom, the teacher is the main source of knowledge: He or she lectures, and the students listen. There is not much discussion; instead, the students recite rules or
information that they have memorized. 在日本则截然不同，绝大多数人有着同样的语言、历史和文化。也许是由于这个缘故，那儿的教育制度反映了一种对集体目标和传统而不是对个性的信念。日本的学童经常在一起学习，做作业时相互帮助。在教室里，教师是主要的知识来源：教师讲，学生听。没有很多的讨论；学生们却要背诵他们已经记住的规则或信息。
6.The advantage of the education system in Japan is that students there learn the social skill of cooperation. Another advantage is that they learn much more math and science than most American students. They also study more hours each day and more days each year than their North American counterparts do. The system is demanding, but it prepares children for a society that values discipline and self-control. There are, however, disadvantages. For one thing, many students say that after an exam, they forget much of the information they memorized. For another,