Robery W. Tracinki译文翻译
1.The essence of education is the teaching of facts and reasoning skills to our children, so that they learn to think.
教育的本质是向我们的孩子们教授事实和推理的技能,让他们学会思考。
2. Yet almost a century, our schools have been under assault by an approach to education that elevates feelings over facts. Under the influence of Progressive Education--It is now more important than getting him in touch with the facts of history, mathematics or geography.然而几乎一个世纪以来,我们的学校都在受到一种将感受凌驾于事实之上的教育方法的攻击。在进步教育的影响下——让学生了解历史事实、数学或地理都不如感觉重要。
Note:
elevate v. to make more important or to improve
e.g. They want to elevate the status of teachers.
3. "Creative spelling"--in which students are encouraged to spell words in whatever way they feel is correct - is more important than the rules of language. Urging children to "feel good" about themselves is more important than ensuring that they acquire the knowledge necessary for livingsuccessfully."创造性的拼写"——鼓励学生以任何他们感觉正确的方式拼写单词—这比语言规则更加重要。鼓励孩子们对自己"感觉良好"比确保他们获得顺利生活所必需的知识更为重要。
4. This emotion-centered, anti-reason assault on education has found a new ally: those who believe the literal words of the Bible. The Kansas Board of Education has just excised the theory of evolution from the state's official science standards. Several other states have enacted similar anti-evolution policies, thereby elevating the feeling
of religious fundamentalists over theaccumulated evidence of the entire science of biology.这种以情绪为中心、反对理性的对教育的攻击已经到了新的同盟军：那些相信圣
Note:
Ally n. a person or organization that cooperates with or helps another in a particular activity.
Excise v. to remove as if by cutting
e.g. The official censors have excised the controversial sections of the report.
5. These policies do not actually ban the teaching of evolution, nor do theymandate the teaching of "Creationism" ----biblical claim that the Earth and all life on it were created in six days. They simply drop evolution from the required curriculum. The goal of thereligious activities is to keep studentsignorant of the theory of evolution, or to encourage the teaching of evolution and Creationism side-by-side, as two "com
peting" theories.这些政策实际上并不禁止教授进化论,他们也不命令教授特创论——圣经上说地球及其上的所有生命是在六天中被创造出来的。他们只是在必修课程中排除了进化论。宗教活动的目的是令学生对进化论的原理保持无知,或者是鼓励同时教授进化论和特创论,把他们作为两个相互竞争的理论。
命令解除公立学校中的种族隔离Note:
Mandate v. To make mandatory, as by law; decree or require:
制订一个训令,如通过法律；发布命令或要求：
e.g. mandated desegregation of public schools.
命令解除公立学校中的种族隔离
.g. Our delegates have been mandated to vote against the proposal at the conference.
n. A command or an authorization given by a political electorate to its representative.
授权：某政治代表机构给它的代表发出的命令或委任
e.g. The President had a clear mandate to end the war.
总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
e.g. After protracted consideration the national government had decided to ask a mandate from the people.
国家政府经过长期考虑后, 决定征求民意。
6. Consider what thislatter would mean in the classroom. On the one side, teachers would present the theory of evolution, supported by countless observations, all integrated into a comprehensive explanation of virtually every fact in its field.考虑一下后一种做法在课堂上意味这什么吧。一方面,教师将呈现进化论的原理,一个被无数观察者所支持,整合了对领域内每一个方面解释的综合理论。
7. On the other side, teachers would present -- what? All that the Creationist view off
ers is the assertion by would-beauthorities that an ancient religious text reveals that 10,000 years ago God created the world in six days. 另一方面,教师将教授——什么？特创论信奉者的观点只是自诩为权威的人的断言,即一部古老的宗教书揭示了一万年以前上帝在六天中创造了世界。
Note：
would-be: wanting or trying to be 想要成为,自称自诩。
e.g. Hollywood was full of would-be starlets.
译文：特创论信奉者的观点只是自诩为权威的人的断言,即一部古老的宗教文本揭示了10,000年以前,上帝在六天内创造了世界。
8. Some of these religious activists claim that they reject the teaching of evolution because it is "unproven," since it lacks "sufficient evidence."一些宗教激进分子宣称他们反对教授进化论,因为它"未经证明",由于它缺乏"充分的证据"
9. Yet their arguments systematically reject the need for proof and evidence. Scientists can point to a billion-year-long fossil record of continuous changes across a11 species as they develop from more-primitive to present-day forms. They can point to the natural variations among members of a species, variations thatchange from one climate to another as species adapt to their environment. But the Creationist categorically dismisses the evidence - because it contradicts biblical dogma.然而,他们的论点恰好系统地反对检验和证据的需要。科学家们能够指出一百万年以来的化石记录,它记载了所有物种从原始形态发展到今天的形态的持续变化。他们能够指出在中物种成员之间的自然变异,这些为适应环境、随气候的变化而发生的变异。但是特创论的信奉者明确的拒绝这样的证据,因为它与圣经教义相悖。
Note:
Categorically adv. 绝对地, 明确地,
e.g. One interesting fact is that even people who state categorically they do not believe in mind over matter have themselves been cured by using a placebo.有趣的是,
即使那些明确宣称根本就不相信意识支配物质的人自己也采用过安慰剂并得到康复。
dogma n. An authoritative principle, belief, or statement of ideas or opinion, especially one considered to be absolutely true.
信条：有权威的原理、信仰或观念意见的陈述,尤指人们认为绝对正确
e.g. "The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present"<Abraham Lincoln>
"平静的过去时代的那些信条,不适用于暴风骤雨式的现代社会了"<亚伯拉罕·林肯>
e.g. This is a action born of dogma rather than good sense.
10. The central issue is not whether there is enough scientific evidence to validatea particular conclusion - but whether science as such, rather than faith, is the basis for arriving at conclusions. There can be no scientific debate between these two positions. There can be no rational argument between a view that rests on observati
on and reason, and one that rests on blind faith - i.e., on its adherents'desire to believe something, irrespective of logic.中心问题不在于是否有足够的科学证据来证实某个特定的结论－而在于科学本身而非信仰,是否是得到结论的基础。在这两种立场之间不可能有科学的辩论。一中观点依靠观察和推理,另一种观点依靠盲目的信仰－即依靠追随者相信某件事的渴望而不考虑逻辑,在这两种观点之间不可能有理性的争论。
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