成年人能从孩子身上学到什么 What Adults can Learn from Kids

邹奇奇，1997年出生在美国。

美国华裔，2008年被美国媒体誉为"世界上最聪明的孩子"，3岁时开始阅读各种书籍，4岁时开始用笔记本电脑写作，8岁时出版12万字的故事集《飞扬的手指》轰动美国，被美国广播公司誉为“美国文坛小巨人”。

尽管邹奇奇的外表和其他同龄孩子没什么两样，但她的知识储备却远非同龄孩子可比。

发表演讲之时，邹奇奇已经读了1600多本书，创作了400多篇故事和诗歌。

她的作品知识覆盖面极广，字里行间透露着许多独到的见解。

下面是邹奇奇13岁时上TED讲台的主题演讲，很精彩，可以从中窥见美国教育的一个缩影和侧面。

Now I want to start with a question: when was the last time you were called childish?
首先我要问大家一个问题：上一回别人说你幼稚是什么时候？
For kids like me being called childish can be a frequent occurrence. Every time we make irratior demands exhibit irresponsible behavior or display any other signs of being normal American citizens we are called childish which really bothers me.
像我这样的小孩，可能经常会被人说成是幼稚。

每一次我们提出不合理的要求，做出不负责任的行为，或者展现出有别于普通美国公民的惯常行为之时我们就被说成是幼稚。

这让我很不服气。

After all take a look at these events. Imperialism and colonization world wars Goerge W. Bush. Ask yourself: who’s responsible? Adults.
首先，让我们来回顾下这些事件：帝国主义和殖民主义，世界大战，小布什。

请你们扪心自问下：这些该归咎于谁？是大人。

Now what have kids done? Well Anne Frank touched millions with her powerful account of the Holocaust Ruby Bridges helped end segregation in the United States and most recently Charlie Simpson helped to raise 120000 pounds for Haiti on his little bike.
而小孩呢，做了些什么？安妮·弗兰克(Anne Frank)对大屠杀强有力的叙述打动了数百万人的心。

鲁比·布里奇斯为美国种族隔离的终结作出了贡献。

另外，最近还有一个例子，查理·辛普森（Charlie Simpson）骑自行车为海地募得 12万英镑。

So as you can see evidenced by such examples age has absolutely nothing to do with
it.The traits the word childish addresses are seen so often in adults that we should abolish this age-
discriminatory word when it comes to criticizing behavior associated with irresponsibility and irrational thinking.
所以，这些例子证明了年龄与行为完全没有关系。

"幼稚"这个词所对应的特点是常常可以从
大人身上看到，由此我们在批评不负责和非理性的相关行为时，应停止使用这个年龄歧视的词。

Then again who's to say that certain types of irrational thinking aren't exactly what the world needs?
话说回来，谁能说我们这个世界不正是需要某些类型的非理性思维吗？
Maybe you've had grand plans before but stopped yourself thinking: That's impossible or that costs too much or that won't benefit me. For better or worse we kids aren't hampered as much when it comes to thinking about reasons why not to do things.
也许你以前有过宏大的计划，但却半途而废，心想：这个不可能，或代价太高或这对我不利。

不管是好是坏，我们小孩子在思考不做某事的理由时，不太受这些考量的影响。

Kids can be full of inspiring aspirations and hopeful thinking like my wish that no one went hungry
or that everything were free kind of utopia. How many of you still dream like that and believe in the possibilities?
小孩可能会有满脑子的奇思妙想和积极的想法，例如我希望没有人挨饿或者所有东西都是免
费的，有点像乌托邦的理念。

你们当中有多少人还会有这样的梦想并相信其可能性？Sometimes a knowledge of history and the past failures of utopian ideals can be a burden because
you know that if everything were free that the food stocks would become depleted and scarce and lead to chaos.
有时候对历史及对乌托邦的了解，可能是一种负担，因为你知道假如所有东西都是免费的，
那么食物储备将会被清空，而缺失将会导致混乱。

On the other hand we kids still dream about perfection. And that's a good thing because in order to make anything a reality you have to dream about it first.
另一方面，我们小孩还对完美抱有希望。

这是件好事，因为要将任何事情变为现实，你首先
得心怀梦想。

In many ways our audacity to imagine helps push the boundaries of possibility. For instance the Museum of Glass in Tacoma Washington my home state -- yoohoo Washington -- (Applause) has a program called Kids Design Glass and kids draw their own ideas for glass art.
在很多方面，我们的大胆想象拓宽了可能性的疆界。

例如，华盛顿州塔可马市的玻璃博物馆，我的家乡华盛顿州——你好！（掌声）这个博物馆里有一个项目叫“儿童玻璃设计”，小孩们自由创作自己的玻璃作品。

Now the resident artist said they got some of their best ideas through the program because kids don't think about the limitations of how hard it can be to blow glass into certain shapes. They just think of good ideas.
后来，驻馆艺术家说他们极佳的灵感就来自这个项目，因为小孩不去理会吹出不同形状玻璃
的难度从而限制他们，只是构思好的点子。

Now when you think of glass you might think of colorful Chihuly designs or maybe Italian vases but kids challenge glass artists to go beyond that into the realm of broken-hearted snakes and bacon boys who you can see has meat vision. (Laughter)
当说到玻璃的时候，你们可能想到的是奇胡利(Chihuly)色彩丰富的玻璃设计或意大利花瓶，
但小孩子敢于挑战玻璃艺术家，并超越他们进入《心碎小蛇》和《培根男孩》的世界里——
看到了吗，火腿男孩有“肉视力”哦（笑声）
Now our inherent wisdom doesn't have to be insiders' knowledge. Kids already do a lot of learning from adults and we have a lot to share.
我们先天的智慧堪比内行人的知识。

小孩已经从大人身上学到许多，而我们也有很多东西可以和大人共享。

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 and I like this analogy.
我认为大人应该开始向小孩学习。

听我演讲的观众大都是教育圈子里的，这其中有老师和学生。

我喜欢这个类比。

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 grown-ups 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.
不应该只是老师站在教室讲台上告诉学生做这个做那个。

学生亦应教育他们的老师。

成人和儿童之间应该互相学习。

不幸的是，于现实里，情况是截然不同的。

这跟信任的关系很大，或者说是缺乏信任的结果。

Now if you don't trust someone you place restrictions on them right. If I doubt my older sister's ability to pay back the 10 percent interest I established on her last loan I'm going to withhold her ability to get more money from me until she pays it back. (Laughter) True story by the way.
如果你不信任某人，你就给他们设限，对吧。

如果我怀疑我妹妹没有能力偿还我给她的上一笔贷款的百分之十的利息时，我将要限制她再向我借钱，直到她还清借款为止。

（笑声）顺便提一下，这是个真实的例子。

Now 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.
大人呢，似乎普遍地对小孩持限制性的态度，从学校手册里的“不能做这个”、“不能做那个”
到学校互联网使用的各种限制性规定。

As history points out regimes become oppressive when they're fearful about keeping control. And although adults may not be quite at the level of totalitarian regimes kids have no or very little say in making the rules when really the attitude should be reciprocal meaning that the adult population should learn and take into account the wishes of the younger population.
历史告诉我们，当政体害怕统治失控时，它就会变得暴虐。

虽然大人可能不会像独裁政权一样心狠手辣，但小孩在制定规则方面是几乎没有话语权的。

而正确的态度应该是两者相互尊重的，也就是说成人群体应该了解并认真对待年幼群体的愿望。

Now what's even worse than restriction is that adults often underestimate kids abilities. We love challenges but when expectations are low trust me we will sink to them. My own parents had anything but low expectations for me and my sister.
然而比限制更糟糕的是，大人常常低估小孩的能力。

我们喜欢挑战，但假如大人对我们期望很低的话，说真的，我们就会不思进取。

我自己的父母对我和姐姐抱很高的期望。

Okay so 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 fighters when lots of other kids were hearing "The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round." Well we heard that one too but "Pioneer Germ Fighters" totally rules. (Laughter)
当然，他们没有让我们立志成为医生或律师诸如此类的，但我爸经常读关于亚里斯多德和先锋细菌斗士的故事给我们听，而其他小孩大多听的是《公车的轮子转呀转》。

其实我们也有听这个，但《先锋细菌斗士》实在是比那个强多了。

（笑）
I loved to write from the age of four and when I was six my mom bought me my own laptop equipped with Microsoft Word. Thank you Bill Gates and thank you Ma.
四岁的时候我就喜欢上写作，六岁的时候，我妈给我买了台装有微软Word软件的个人手提
电脑。

谢谢你比尔·盖茨！也谢谢你，妈咪！
I wrote over 300 short stories on that little laptop and I wanted to get published. Instead of just scoffing at this heresy that a kid wanted to get published or saying wait until you're older my parents were really supportive. Many publishers were not quite so encouraging.
我用那个小手提电脑写了300多篇短篇故事，而且我想发表我的作品。

一个小孩想发表作品这简直是天方夜谭，但我父母没有嘲笑我，也没有说等你长大点儿再说，他们非常支持我。

但是很多出版社的回应让人失望。

One large children's publisher ironically saying that they didn't work with children. Children's publisher not working with children? I don't know you're kind of alienating a large client there. (Laughter) Now one publisher Action Publishing was willing to take that leap and trust me and to listen to what I had to say. They published my first book "Flying Fingers" -- you see it here -- and from there on it's gone to speaking at hundreds of schools keynoting to thousands of educators and finally today speaking to you.
一个很大的儿童出版社说，他们不跟儿童打交道。

儿童出版社不跟儿童打交道？怎么说呢，你这是在怠慢一个大客户嘛。

（笑）有一个出版商，行动出版社愿意给我一个机会，并倾听我想说的话。

他们出版了我的第一本书《飞舞的手指》——就是这个——那以后，我到数百个学校去演讲，给数千个老师作主题演讲，最后，在今天，给你们作演讲。

I appreciate your attention today because to show that you truly care you listen. But there's a problem with this rosy picture of kids being so much better than adults. Kids grow up and become adults just like you. (Laughter) Or just like you really?
我感谢你们今天听我演讲，因为你们会倾听我，这证明你们真的在乎。

但小孩比大人强得多的这幅乐观图景是存在一个问题的。

小孩会长大并变成像你们一样的大人。

（笑）跟你们一样，真的吗？
The goal is not to turn kids into your kind of adult but rather better adults than you have been which may be a little challenging considering your guys credentials but the way progress happens is because new generations and new eras grow and develop and become better than the previous ones.我们的目标不是让小孩变成你们这样的大人，而是比你们强的大人。

考虑到你们都这么了不起，这可能颇具挑战性。

但进步是因新的一代人和新的时期而发生，不断的进步和发展，并超越之前的年代。

It's the reason we're not in the Dark Ages anymore. No matter your position of place in life it is imperative to create opportunities for children so that we can grow up to blow you away. (Laughter)这就是为什么我们不再处于黑暗时代。

不管在生活中你的位置在哪里，你必须给孩子创造机会。

这样他们才能成长并让你扬眉吐气。

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 which means we're going to be taking care of you when you're old and senile. No just kidding. No really we are going to be the next generation the ones who will bring this world forward.
大人和TED观众们，你们需要倾听并向小孩学习，信任我们和对我们怀有更高的期望。

今天你们需要聆听，因为我们是明天的领导，这意味着当你们年老体衰时，我们会照顾你们。

哈，只是开玩笑了。

确实，我们将成为推动世界前进的下一代人。

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. Now the world needs opportunities for new leaders and new ideas. Kids need opportunities to lead and succeed. Are you ready to make the match? Because the world's problems shouldn't be the human family's heirloom.
而且，假如你认为这对你没有意义的话，不要忘了克隆是可能的，而这意味着童年可以重来，这种情况下，像我们这一代人一样，你也会希望大人倾听你们的心声。

世界需要产生新的领
导人和新想法的机会。

小孩需要机会去领导和取得成功。

你准备好去促成这一切了吗？因为
这个世界的问题，不应该是人类家庭的传家宝。

Thank you.。