【課文】
First listen and then answer the following question.
聽錄音，然后回答以下問題。
Why is education democratic in bookless, tribal societies?
Education is one of the key words of our time. A man without an education, many of us believe, is an unfortunate victim of adverse circumstances, deprived of one of the greatest twentieth-century opportunities. Convinced of the importance of education, modern states 'invest' in institutions of learning to get back 'interest' in the form of a large group of enlightened young men and women who are potential leaders. Education, with its cycles of instruction so carefully worked out, punctuated by textbooks -- those purchasable wells of wisdom-what would civilization be like without its benefits?
So much is certain: that we would have doctors and preachers, lawyers and defendants, marriages and births -- but our spiritual outlook would be different. We would lay less stress on 'facts and figures' and more on a good memory, on applied psychology, and on the capacity of a man to get along with his fellow-citizens. If our educational system were fashioned after its bookless past we would have the most democratic form of 'college' imaginable. Among tribal people all knowledge inherited by tradition is shared by all; it is taught to every member of the tribe so that in this respect everybody is equally equipped for life.
It is the ideal condition of the 'equal start' which only our most progressive forms of modern education try to regain. In primitive cultures the obligation to seek and to receive the traditional instruction is binding to all. There are no 'illiterates' -- if the term can be applied to peoples without a script -- while our own compulsory school attendance became law in Germany in 1642, in France in 1806, and in England in 1876, and is still non-existent in a number of 'civilized' nations. This shows how long it was before we deemed it necessary to make sure that all our children could share in the knowledge accumulated by the 'happy few' during the past centuries.
Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means. All are entitled to an equal start. There is none of the hurry which, in our society, often hampers the full development of a growing personality. There, a child grows up under the ever-present attention of his parent; therefore the jungles and the savannahs know of no 'juvenile delinquency'. No necessity of making a living away from home results in neglect of children, and no father is confronted with his inability to 'buy' an education for his child.
JULIUS E. LIPS The Origin of Things
【New words and expressions 生詞和短語】
adverse adj. 不利的
purchasable adj.可買到的
preacher n. 傳教士
defendant n. 被告
outlook n. 視野
capacity n. 能力
democratic adj. 民主的
tribal n. 部落的
tribe n. 部落
illiterate n. 文盲
compulsory adj. 義務(wù)的
deem v. 認(rèn)為
means n. 方法，手段，財產(chǎn)，資力
hamper v. 妨礙
savannah n. 大草原
juvenile adj. 青少年
delinquency n. 犯罪
【課文注釋】
1.adverse adj. 不利的, 逆向的, 有害的
例句： The development was adverse to our interests.
這種發(fā)展與我們的利益背道而馳。
【詞義辨析】
opposite, contrary, adverse, reverse, converse這些形容詞均含“相反的、對立的”之意。
opposite: 指位置、方向、行動或想法等完全相反。
contrary: 一般指與某種主張、看法或行為等正好相反，隱含否定一方并不意味著肯定另一方的意味。
adverse: 通常指違害利益的、無生命的勢力或條件等，側(cè)重分歧。
reverse: 指朝相反方向的或反面(背面)的。
converse: 指在方向、行動或意見上相反的。
2.deprive of 剝奪, 使失去 ... (權(quán)利)
例句：What will a student do if he were deprived of his books?
一個學(xué)生如果沒有了書籍，將怎么辦?
deprive vt v. 剝奪, 失去, 免職
例句： We have no right to deprive their life.
我們沒有權(quán)利去剝奪它們的生命。
【詞義辨析】
rob, steal, plunder, deprive這些動詞均含“偷，搶，奪”之意。
rob: 常用詞，指用暴力恐嚇或哄騙等非法手段搶奪財物。
steal: 普通用詞，指暗中行竊。
plunder: 指大規(guī)?；虼蠓秶芈訆Z。
deprive: 多指奪去或扣留別人擁有或可能擁有的有價值或必需的東西，也可用于指抽象的事物。
3.Education, with its cycles of instruction so carefully worked out, punctuated by textbooks 這句話中的主語Education與punctuated并不是一種主謂關(guān)系，因此，這句話在語法上被稱作單元句。
punctuate v.
①加標(biāo)點(diǎn)于
例句：The children have not yet learned to punctuate correctly.
這些小學(xué)生尚未學(xué)會正確使用標(biāo)點(diǎn)符號
?、趶?qiáng)調(diào)
例句：He made gestures to punctuate his speech.
他打手勢來強(qiáng)調(diào)他的講話。
?、鄄粫r打斷
例句：He punctuated his remarks with thumps on the table.
他講話時不時地捶著桌子。
4.So much is certain[b] 有承上啟下的作用，一方面回答了前一段的后一句的提問，另一方面開始列舉沒有教育將會給社會文明帶來的影響。
5.[b]lay stress on 強(qiáng)調(diào)(著重, 重視)
例句：They lay too much stress on money.
他們太看重金錢了。
6.capacity n.
?、倌芰? 例句：He has a great capacity for learning languages.
他學(xué)語言的能力很強(qiáng)。
②容量, 容積
例句：What is the capacity of this jug?
這個水壺的容積多大?
?、勐毼? 資格
例句：He participated in an unofficial capacity.
他參與了一個非官方的職位。
She alone was in a capacity to begin the negotiation.
只有她有資格開始談判。
【詞義辨析】
ability, capacity, capability, genius, talent, competence, faculty, gift, aptitude 這些名詞均可表示人的“能力，才能”之意。
ability: 普通用詞，指人先天的或?qū)W來的各種能力。
capacity: 側(cè)重指人的潛在能力，通常不指體力，多指才智，尤指接受與領(lǐng)悟能力。
capability: 多用于人，指勝任某項(xiàng)具體工作的能力，也指本身具有、尚未發(fā)揮的潛在能力。常與of或for連用。
genius: 語氣強(qiáng)，指天賦的高度才能與智力。
talent: 著重指人某方面具有可發(fā)展和培養(yǎng)的突出天賦才能，但語意比genius弱。
competence: 正式用詞，側(cè)重指令人滿意的業(yè)務(wù)能力與水平，達(dá)到勝任某項(xiàng)工作等的要求。
faculty: 指特殊的才能或智力。
gift: 著重個人的天賦的才能或在某方面的顯著本領(lǐng)，常暗含不能用一般規(guī)律作解釋的意味。
aptitude: 多指先天或后天習(xí)得的運(yùn)用自如的能力，常暗示接受能力強(qiáng)，能迅速掌握一種學(xué)術(shù)訓(xùn)練或藝術(shù)技巧。
7.be fashioned after 按......做成
例句：Her new dress was fashioned after a latest style.
她的新衣服是根據(jù)一種新款式制作的。
8.bind v.
?、偌s束,強(qiáng)迫
例句：I am bound by my promise.
我必須遵守自己的諾言。
The treaty binds each country to reduce pollution levels.
該條約迫使各國減少污染排放。
?、诶? 例句：She bound her hair with a handkerchief.
她用手絹把頭發(fā)扎了起來。
This hint was hard enough to bind my hands.
這個暗示已經(jīng)夠使我束手無策了。
9.without a script 沒有文字的
10.deem v. 認(rèn)為
例句：They were deemed to be illegal immigrants.
他們被認(rèn)為是不法移民。
They deemed that he was no longer capable of managing the business.
他們認(rèn)為他沒有能力再繼續(xù)管理這個公司了。
11.be entitled to 有權(quán), 有資格
例句：You are entitled to a free lunch.
你們有資格享用免費(fèi)午餐。
You may be entitled to reclaim some of the tax you paid last year.
你或許有權(quán)要求退回去年你交付的部分稅金。
12.hamper vt. 妨礙, 阻止
例句：Our progress was hampered by the bad weather.
我們前進(jìn)時受到了惡劣天氣的阻礙。
13.juvenile delinquency 青少年犯罪
【參考譯文】
教育是我們這個時代的關(guān)鍵詞之一。我們許多人都相信，一個沒有受過教育的人，是逆境的犧牲品，被剝奪了20世紀(jì)的優(yōu)越的機(jī)會之一。現(xiàn)代國家深深懂得教育的重要性，對教育機(jī)構(gòu)投資，收回的‘利息’便是培養(yǎng)出大批有知識的男女青年，這些人可能成為未來的棟梁。教育，以其教學(xué)周期如此精心地安排，并以教科書 -- 那些可以買到的智慧源泉 -- 予以強(qiáng)化，如果不受其惠，文明將會是個什么樣子呢?
至少，這些是可以肯定的：雖然我們還會有醫(yī)生和牧師、律師和被告、婚姻和生育，但人們的精神面貌將是另一個樣子。人們不會重視‘資料和數(shù)據(jù)’，而靠好記性、實(shí)用心理學(xué)與同伴相處的能力。如果我們的教育制度仿效沒有書籍的古代教育，我們的學(xué)院將具有可以想象得出的民主的形式了。在部落中，通過傳統(tǒng)繼承的知識為所有人共享，并傳授給部落中的每一個成員。從這個意義上講，人人受到的有關(guān)生活本領(lǐng)的教育是相等的。
這就是我們進(jìn)步的現(xiàn)代教育試圖恢復(fù)的“平等起步”的理想狀況。在原始文化中，尋求和接受傳統(tǒng)教育的義務(wù)對全民都有約束力。因而沒有“文盲”(如果這個字眼兒可以用于沒有文字的民族的話)。而我們的義務(wù)教育成為法律在德國是在1642年，在法國是在1806年，在英國是在1876年。今天，在許多“文明”國家里，義務(wù)教育迄今尚未實(shí)行。這說明，經(jīng)過了多么漫長的時間之后，我們才認(rèn)識到，有必要確保我們的孩子享有多少個世紀(jì)以來由‘少數(shù)幸運(yùn)者’所積累起來的知識。
荒涼地區(qū)的教育不是錢的問題，所有的人都享有平等起步的權(quán)利。那里沒有我們今天社會中的匆忙生活，而匆忙的生活常常妨礙個性的全面發(fā)展。荒涼地區(qū)的孩子無時無刻不在父母關(guān)懷下成長。因此，叢林和荒涼地區(qū)不知道什么叫“青少年犯罪”。人們沒有必要離家謀生，所以不會產(chǎn)生孩子無人管的問題，也不存在父親無力為孩子支付教育費(fèi)用而犯難的問題。