大學(xué)英語綜合教程第一冊(cè) Unit 8a

[00:00.00] Benjamin Stein weaves a tale to bring home to young Americans the need to change the way [00:07.18]They think about education. [00:10.19]Read it and see whether you think It holds any lessons for us as well. [00:16.56]FABLE OF THE LAZY TEENAGER by Benjamin Stein [00:21.92]One day last fall,I ran out of folders and went to the drugstore to buy more [00:29.15]I put handful of folders on the counter [00:32.89]and asked a teenage salesgirl how much they cost [00:37.75]"I don't know,"she answered. "But it's 12ents each." [00:42.50]I counted the folders. [00:45.43]"Twenty-three at 12 cents each,that makes $2.76 before tax,"I said. [00:53.97]"You did that in your head?"she asked in amazement."How can you do that?" [00:59.69]"It's magic,"I said. [01:02.62]"Really?''she asked. [01:05.12]No modestly educated adult Can fail to be upset by such an experience [01:11.65]While our children seem better-natured than ever, [01:15.99]they are so ignorant and so ignorant of their ignorance [01:21.16]that they frighten me.In a class of 60 seniors at a private college [01:28.08]where I recently taught, [01:30.62]not one student could write a short paper without misslpellings.Not one. [01:36.97]But this is just a tiny slice of the problem. [01:41.28]The ability to perform even the simplest calculations [01:46.34]Is only memory among many students I see, [01:45.34]and their knowledge of world history or geography is nonexistent. [01:50.67]Moreover,there is a chilling indifference about a11 this ignorance. [01:56.94]The attitude was summed up [01:59.79]by a friend's bright,lazy16-year-old son, [02:05.46]who explained why he preferred not to go to U.C.L.A. [02:10.11]I don't want to have to compete with Asians,"he said. [02:14.58]"They work hard and know everything." [02:17.81]In fact,this young man will have to compete with Asians whether he wants to or not [02:24.16]He cannot live forever on the financial,material [02:29.02]and human capital accumurated by his ancestors, [02:33.15]At some point soon, [02:36.15]his intellectual laziness will seriously affect his way of life [02:41.30]It will also affect the rest of us. [02:45.06]A modern industrial state cannot function with an idle [02:50.70]ignorant labor force. [02:53.55]Planes will crash.Computers will jam.Cars will break down. [02:59.79]To drive this message home to such young Americans, [03:04.60]I have a humble suggestion: a movie, or TV series [03:10.76]dramatizing just how difficult it was for this country to get where it is [03:16.80]and how easily it could all be lost.I offer the following fable. [03:23.59]As the story opens,our hero,Kevin Hanley1990,a 17-year-old high school senior [03:33.20]is sitting in his room feeling bitter. [03:39.45]His parents insist he study for his European history test [03:44.28]He wants to go shopping for headphones for his portable CD player [03:49.82]The book he is forced to read --The Wealth of Nations puts him to sleep. [03:56.32]Kevin dreams it is1835,and he is his own great-great-great-grandfather at 17 [04:05.75]a peasant in County Kerry Ireland. [04:11.32]He lives in a small hut and sleeps next to a pig. [04:17.35]He is always hungry and must search for food [04:21.58]His greatest wish is to learn to read and write so he might get a job as a clerk [04:28.01]With steady wages he would be able to feed himself and help his family. [04:35.85]But Hanley's poverty allows no leisure [04:40.81]for such luxuries as going to school. [04:44.57]Without education and money,he is powerless [04:49.40]His only hope lies in his children. [04:53.40]If they are educated,they will have a better life. [04:58.08]Our fable fast-forwards and Kevin Hanley1990 [05:04.11]is now his own great-grandfather, Kevin Hanley,1928 [05:10.46]He,too,is17 years old,and he works in a steel mill in Pittsburgh, [05:17.82]His father came to America from Ireland [05:22.81]and helped build the New York City subway [05:26.47]Kevin Hanley1928 is far better off than either his father or his grandfathel. [05:35.09]He can read and write [05:37.86]His wages are far better than anything his ancestors had in Ireland. [05:44.42]Next Kevin Hanley1990 dreams that he is Kevin Hanley 1945, [05:52.15]his own grandfather [05:54.71]fighting on Iwo Jima against a most determined foe,the Japanese army. [06:01.50]He is always hot,always hungry,always scared [06:08.76]One night in a foxhole,he tells a friend why he is there: [06:14.93]"So my son and his son can live in peace and security [06:20.70]When I get back,I'll work hard and send my boy to college [06:27.02]so he can live by his brains instead of his back." [06:31.49]Then Kevin Hanley1990 is his own father,Kevin Hanley1966, [06:40.24]who studies all the time [06:43.19]so he can get into college and law school.He lives in a fine house [06:51.34]He has niever seen anything but peace and plenty. [06:57.06]He tells his girl friend that when he has a son [07:02.03]he won't make him study all the time,as his father makes him. [07:08.66]At that point,Kevin Hanley1990 wakes up,shaken by his dream [07:16.13]He is relieved to be away from Ireland and the steel mill and Iwo Jima. [07:24.00]He goes back to sleep. [07:26.84]When he dreams again,he is his own son,Kevin Hanley 2020. [07:35.02]There is gunfire all day and all night [07:39.28]His whole generation forgot why there even was law,so there is none [07:47.61]People pay no attention to politics, [07:52.23]and government offers no services to the working class. [07:56.68]Kevin 2020's father,who is of course Kevin 1990 himself, [08:04.59]works as a cleaner in a factory owned by the Japanese [08:08.95]Kevin2020 is a porter in a hotel for wealthy Europeans and Asians. [08:16.82]Public education stops at the sixth grade [08:21.49]Americans have long since stopped demanding good education for their chirlden [08:28.99]The last person Kevin1990 sees in his dream is his own grandson. [08:36.72]Kevia2050 has no useful skills [08:41.79]Machines built in Japan do all the complex work, [08:47.22]and there is little manual work to be done. [08:51.17]Without education,without discipline,he cannot earn an adequate living wage. [09:00.73]He lives in a slum where there is no heat [09:04.70]no plumbing,no privacy and survives by searching through trash piles. [09:12.43]In a word,he lives much as Kevin Hanley1835 did in Ireland. [09:20.37]But one day,Kevin Hanley 2050 is befriended [09:29.12]by a visiting Japanese anthropologist studying the decline of America. [09:36.28]The man explains to Kevin that when a man has no money, [09:42.76]education can supply the human capital necessary to start to acquire financial capital [09:50.70]Hard work,education,saving and discipline can do anything. [09:58.43]This is how we rose from the ashes after you defeated us in a war about a hundred years ago [10:06.24]"America beat Japan in war?"asks Kevin 2050.He is astonished [10:15.49]It seems as impossible as Brazil defeating the United States would sound in1990 [10:25.44]Kevin 2050 swears that if he ever has children, [10:31.37]he will make sure they work and study and learn and discipline themselves. [10:37.90]To be able to make a living by one's mind instead of by stealing,"he says. [10:45.74]"That would be a miracle." [10:48.51]When Kevin 1990 wakes up,next to him is his copy of The Wealth of Nations [10:57.52]He opens it and the first sentence to catch his eye is this: [11:04.00]"A man without the proper use of the intellectual faculties of a man is,if possible [11:11.65]more contemptible than even a coward." [11:15.62]Kevin's father walks in."All right,son,"he says. [11:21.19]"Let's go look at those headphones." [11:24.35]"Sorry,Pop,"Kevin1990 says."I have to study." [11:30.72]fable\ teenager\ run out of\ file [11:38.98]folder\ drugstore\ handful\ counter [11:46.55]tax\ in amazement\ modestly\ upset [11:55.17]igorant\ igorance\ senior\ slice [12:02.75]ability\ nonexistent\ chill\ indifference [12:12.60]sum\ sum up\ sompete\ compete with [12:20.77]asian financial accumulate ancestor [12:29.00]intellectual\ affect\ industrial\ function [12:37.26]idle\ jam\ break down\ drive home [12:44.83]humble\ suggestion\ movie\ dramatize [12:53.48]european\ portable\ CD\ county [13:00.61]hut\ search for\ wage\ poverty [13:07.77]leisure\ luxury\ mill\ subway [13:15.63]better off\ foe\ scare\ foxhole [13:22.40]security\ wakw up\ porter\ wealthy [13:30.73]complex\ manual\ slum [13:38.49]plumbing\ privacy\ trash\ befriend [13:46.22]decline acquire ash astonish [13:53.46]swear \make a living by \ miracle\ faculty [14:01.11]contemptible coward pop

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