What Adults Can Learn from Kids

What Adults Can Learn from Kids

成年人能从孩子身上学到什么

by Adora Svitak

本篇适合：扩展知识面

这个女孩不简单，她就是生于1997年10月的美国华裔邹奇奇（Adora Svitak）。她3岁开始阅读各种书籍，4岁开始写作，5岁开始涉猎成年人的读物。7岁时，她已经读了超过1600本书，天文地理无所不包。她最喜欢玄幻与历史题材的书，在她看来，《哈利·波特》系列书的作者J.K.罗琳比《雾都孤儿》的作者狄更斯写得更好，因为后者的句子“太复杂了”。8岁时，她出版了12万字的故事集《飞扬的手指》轰动美国。2008年，她被美国媒体誉为“世界上最聪明的孩子”，也被美国广播公司誉为“美国文坛小巨人”。以下是她12岁时在TED大会上的演讲：《成年人能从孩子身上学到什么》。她的演讲相当有震撼力，使人产生强烈共鸣，值得我们学习！篇幅有限，演讲有所删减。

Kids already do a lot of learning from adults, and we have a lot to share. I think that adults should start learning from kids. Now, I do most of my speaking in front of an education crowd, teachers and students. It shouldn't just be a teacher at the head of the classroom telling students “do this, do that”. The students should teach their teachers. Learning between grownups and kids should be reciprocal. The reality, unfortunately, is a little different, and it has a lot to do with trust, or a lack of it.

Now, if you don't trust someone, you place restrictions on them, right? If I doubt my older sister's ability to pay back her last loan, I'm going to withhold her ability to get more money from me until she pays it back. True story, by the way. Adults seem to have a prevalently restrictive attitude towards kids from every “don't do that, don't do this” in the school handbook, to restrictions on school internet use.

What's even worse than restriction is that adults often underestimate kids' abilities. We love challenges, but when expectations are low, we will sink to them. My own parents had anything but low expectations for me and my sister. They didn't tell us to become doctors or lawyers or anything like that, but my dad did read to us about ＊Aristotle and pioneer germ fghters when lots of other kids were hearing ＊The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round.

＊Aristotle 亚里士多德，古希腊哲学家、科学家、教育家。

＊The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round《公车的轮子转呀转》，是内容简单的儿童绘本。

crowd[kraʊd] n. 人群

reciprocal[rı'sıprək（ə）l] adj. 相互的

unfortunately[ʌn'fɔːtjʊnətlı] adv. 不幸地

restriction[rı'strık∫（ə）n] n. 限制

（复数：restrictions）

loan[ləʊn] n. 贷款，借出的钱

withhold[wıð'həʊld] v. 拒给，抑制

prevalently['prevələntlı] adv. 盛行地，普遍地

restrictive[rı'strıktıv] adj. 限制的，限定的

underestimate[,ʌndər'estımeıt] v. 低估

expectation[,ekspek'teı∫（ə）n] n. 期望

（复数：expectations）

sink[sıŋk] v. 消沉，沦落

pioneer[paıə'nıə] n. 先锋，先驱

I loved to write from the age of four, and when I was six my mom bought me my own laptop. I wrote over 300 short stories on that little laptop, and I wanted to get published. Instead of saying wait until you're older, my parents were really supportive. Many publishers were not quite so encouraging. One large children's publisher ironically saying that they didn't work with children. Children's publisher not working with children? One publisher, Action Publishing, was willing to trust me, and to listen to what I had to say. They published my frst book, Flying Fingers.

laptop['læp,tɒp] n. 便携式电脑

publish['pʌblı∫] v. 出版（过去分词：published）

supportive[sə'pɔːtıv] adj. 支持的

ironically[aı'rɒnıkəlı] adv. 讽刺地

generation[,dʒenə'reı∫（ə）n] n. 一代人

cloning['kləʊnıŋ] n. 无性繁殖，克隆

involve[ın'vɒlv] v. 包括，涉及

（第三人称单数：involves）

Adults and fellow ＊TEDsters, you need to listen and learn from kids and trust us and expect more from us. You must lend an ear today, because we are the leaders of tomorrow. Really, we are going to be the next generation, the ones who will bring this world forward. And, in case you don't think that this really has meaning for you, remember that cloning is possible, and that involves going through childhood again, in which case, you'll want to be heard just like my generation. Thank you.

＊TED 是technology，entertainment，design的首字母缩写词，即技术、娱乐、设计；是美国一家私有非营利机构。该机构以它组织的TED大会而著称，这个会议的宗旨是“用思想的力量来改变世界”。TED诞生于1984年，其发起人是理查德·沃曼。到TED大会现场演讲的均是某一领域的佼佼者，或是某一新兴领域的开创人。TEDsters指的是TED大会现场的观众。

判断对错。正确的填T，错误的填F。

( ) 1. Adora Svitak's parents wanted her to become a doctor.

( ) 2. No children's publisher wanted to publish Adora Svitak's book.

( ) 3. Adora Svitak's frst book is Flying Fingers.

中文大意及答案请见第46页。