2018年考研英语二阅读 Text 1 原文翻译及答案解析

It is curious that Stephen Koziatek feels almost as though he has to justify his efforts to give his students a better future.

奇怪的是，斯蒂芬·科齐亚特克几乎觉得自己需要为努力给学生一个更好的未来而辩护。

Mr. Koziatek is part of something pioneering. He is a teacher at a New Hampshire high school where learning is not something of books and tests and mechanical memorization, but practical. When did it become accepted wisdom that students should be able to name the 13th president of the United States but be utterly overwhelmed by a broken bike chain?

科齐亚特克先生是某项开创性事物的一部分。他是新罕布什尔州一所高中的老师，在那里学习不是书本、考试和机械记忆，而是实用的。什么时候开始，学生应该能说出美国第13任总统的名字，却被一个断裂的自行车链条完全难倒，这成了公认的道理？

As Koziatek knows, there is learning in just about everything. Nothing is necessarily gained by forcing students to learn geometry at a graffitied desk stuck with generations of discarded chewing gum. They can also learn geometry by assembling a bicycle.

正如科齐亚特克所知，几乎每件事中都有学习。强迫学生在一张涂满涂鸦、粘满历代废弃口香糖的桌子上学习几何，未必能获得什么。他们也可以通过组装自行车来学习几何。

But he's also found a kind of insidious prejudice. Working with your hands is seen as almost a mark of inferiority. Schools in the family of vocational education "have that stereotype … that it's for kids who can't make it academically," he says.

但他也发现了一种潜在的偏见。用手工作几乎被视为低人一等的标志。他说，职业教育类的学校“有那种刻板印象……认为它是给那些学业上不行的孩子的”。

On one hand, that viewpoint is a logical product of America's evolution. Manufacturing is not the economic engine that it once was. The job security that the U.S. economy once offered to high school graduates has largely evaporated. More education is the new principle. We want more for our kids, and rightfully so.

一方面，这种观点是美国演变的逻辑产物。制造业不再是它曾经的经济引擎。美国经济曾经为高中毕业生提供的工作保障已基本消失。更多教育是新原则。我们想为孩子争取更多，这是理所当然的。

But the headlong push into bachelor's degrees for all — and the subtle devaluing of anything less — misses an important point: That's not the only thing the American economy needs. Yes, a bachelor's degree opens more doors. But even now, 54 percent of the jobs in the country are middle-skill jobs, such as construction and high-skill manufacturing. But only 44 percent of workers are adequately trained.

但盲目推动所有人都获得学士学位——以及微妙地贬低任何低于此的教育——忽略了一个重要观点：这不是美国经济唯一需要的东西。是的，学士学位打开了更多门路。但即便如此，全国54%的工作是中等技能工作，如建筑业和高技能制造业。但只有44%的工人受过充分培训。

In other words, at a time when the working class has turned the country on its political head, frustrated that the opportunity that once defined America is vanishing, one obvious solution is staring us in the face. There is a gap in working-class jobs, but the workers who need those jobs most aren't equipped to do them. Koziatek's Manchester School of Technology High School is trying to fill that gap.

换句话说，在工人阶级使国家政治动荡、因曾经定义美国的机会正在消失而感到沮丧的时期，一个明显的解决方案就在我们眼前。工人阶级工作存在缺口，但最需要这些工作的工人却无法胜任。科齐亚特克的曼彻斯特技术高中正试图填补这一缺口。

Koziatek's school is a wake-up call. When education becomes one-size-fits-all, it risks overlooking a nation's diversity of gifts.

科齐亚特克的学校是一个警钟。当教育变成一刀切时，它有可能忽视一个国家天赋的多样性。