纸质书地位岌岌可危英国教育大臣担心英国孩子阅读不足

2014-05-08 14:48:39来源：可可英语

　　That is not the only apparent disconnect between educationalists and politicians. Gove wants children to study more books, and has amended the GCSE syllabus accordingly. His critics worry that will turn children away from reading for pleasure. “Teachers almost don’t have time for children to be relaxed around books,” says Sue Cowley, an educational author. “Reading starts to become something that’s done to be measured, not done out of choice.”

　　这并非教育家与政客意见唯一明显的南辕北辙之处。教育大臣戈夫希望孩子们读更多书，并为此修改了英国普通中等教育证书(GCSE)考试大纲。批评他的人则担心此举会让孩子离快乐阅读渐行渐远。“教师几乎没有让孩子放松阅读的时间，” 教育作家苏•考利(Sue Cowley)说。“阅读不是因为个人兴趣使然，而是开始成为考量的工具。”

　　Some also detect an unwelcome snobbishness in Gove’s desire for the books to be harder – he has expressed particular gripes against John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men (too short) and Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series (too easy). “If someone’s reading a football magazine, shouldn’t we just be happy that they’re reading?” says Richard Mollet of the Publishers Association. “If a child is reading and enjoying the immersion, then surely that’s the most important thing.”

　　从教育大臣戈夫希望增加书籍难度的意图中，有些专家还嗅出了一丝势利意味，这着实让人反感————他曾经大大抱怨斯坦贝克(John Steinbeck)的《人鼠之间》(Of Mice and Men)太过简短以及斯蒂芬妮•梅尔(Stephenie Meyer)的《暮光之城》(Twilight)太过浅显。“如果读的是足球杂志，我们难道不该为此感到高兴吗?”英国出版协会(Publishers Association)执行总裁理查德•摩勒(Richard Mollet)说。“孩子阅读书籍，并且沉醉其中，这才是最最重要的事。”

　　While that debate rumbles on, a wave of technological change means that children may find it harder to reserve time for reading. Technology has helped people to enjoy books – a backlit e-reader means no more torches under the duvet – but it has helped other media more. Long train journeys once meant hours reading or hours gazing out the window. Now, with an iPad, they can mean computer games and the previous evening’s TV programmes.

　　尽管上述争论仍没完没了，但新一波科技进步意味着孩子们越来越难预留出阅读时间。科技帮助人类从书籍中获得了快乐————背光式电子阅读器意味着无需再拿着手电趴在被窝中看书——但它也帮助了其它媒介。过去坐火车长时间旅行意味着可以长时间读书或是眺望窗外美景。如今有了iPad，长途旅行意味着玩电脑游戏以及补看前一天晚上的电视节目。

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