文体翻译例文

Washington, the father or an infamous traitor

Generally, there are two distinct philosophies on how to bring up the child so that in maturity he does not make a nuisance of himself.

The first and older of the two relies heavily upon training. Train the child. Train him so that when he grows up he will behave thereafter as he has been trained or indoctrinated to behave.

The second and more modern shifts the emphasis to education. Educate the child so that when he grows up he can think for himself and shape those values, attitudes and habits which serve him best in a rapidly changing environment.

Now this is a schematic distinction which clearly does not apply in the practice. The choice is not an “either-or”. But one example, drawn from the textbook controversy, will suffice to illustrate and dispute over emphasis.

Most Americans have been brought up to esteem patriotism as the hallmark of their citizenship and good fortune. They were brought up or trained in this value because their parents and teachers wanted it that way. They wanted a generation of Americans conditioned to loyalty and duty. They did not want a generation educated to think freely about the conflicting values of patriotism and disloyalty and fall by error into the latter.

The mechanics of this indoctrination are familiar to everyone –the pledge of Allegiance, the national anthem, the salute to the flag. At this command decision, students are not educated to think it through and decide for themselves whether George Washington was, indeed, the Father of his Country or as millions of loyal English men thought of him, the worst traitor to the crown since Oliver Cromwell. They learned the answer before they were old enough to think about it. And at bottom, this is that the textbook wrangle is all about. Not to train the child in the values their parents have found enduring is to neglect him. Not to educate him is to condemn him to repetitious ignorance.

What is need is an agreement upon the right mixture, and when this is reached the controversy will disappear.

Kids hit uni tours

July saw a spike in tourism at places which included Beijing’s top universities, B eijing Times reported.

Many kids were taken to visit prestigious universities during the summer vacatio n, as their parents hoped the tours would become a driving force for their children to s tudy harder.

More than 600 tourists were seen standing in line at the southeast gate of Peking University at 2 pm Thursday.

Some university students have complained about the tourism, saying the noise ha s disturbed their focus while studying on campus.