Lesson One Twelve Things I Wish They Taught at School 第1课 学校要是教给我们这12种本领就好了
Carl Sagan 卡尔·萨根
1. I attended junior and senior high school, public institutions in New York and New Jersey, just after the Second World War. It seems a long time ago. The facilities and skills of the teachers were probably well above average for the United States at that time. Since then, I've learned a great deal. One of the most important things I've learned is how much there is to learn, and how much I don't yet know. Sometimes I think how grateful I would be today if I had learned more back then about what really matter. In some respects that education is terribly narrow; the only thing I ever learned in school about Napoleon was that the United States made the Louisiana Purchase from him. (On a planet where some 95% of the inhabitants are not Americans, the only history that was thought worth teaching was American history.) In spelling, grammar, the fundamentals of math, and other vital subjects, my teachers did a pretty good job. But there's so much else I wish they'd taught us.
1.二战刚结束，我在纽约和新泽西州的公立学校上了初中和高中，这似乎是很久之前的事情了。学校的设施、教师的水平在当时的美国大大高于一般水准，因此我从中学到了很多东西。我所学到的最重要的一点，就是要学的东西实在是太多，而我还没有学到的东西也太多。有时候，我想那时要是能多学点真正重要的东西，今天我会多么地心存感激。在有些方面，当时的教育十分狭窄；关于拿破仑，在学校里我所学到的仅仅是美国从他手里买下了路易斯安那。（在一个约95％的居民不是美国人的星球上，学校当局认为只有美国历史才值得讲授。）在拼写、语法、数学基础知识以及其他重要学科的教授上，我的老师们做得相当不错，但是还有许多其他的东西，我曾希望他们教授给我。 well adv. :相当地，大大地，可观地
He is no longer young. He is well over fifty. It’s well past midnight. I think it’s time you went home. above / below average 高于或低于一般标准或水平 beck then 以往的那个时期(指作者的中学时代)
what really matters: what is really important. 注意matter作为动词的用法：
We don’t expect you to make no mistakes. What matter is whether you learn from them. in some respects 在某些方面
some adv. (与数字连用)大约，约有。Some 80 students have taken the course. During the championship, the Chinese women’s football team flew back forth from the east coast to the west coast, covering some 30,000 kilometres.
2. Perhaps all the deficiencies have since been rectified. It seems to me there are many things (often more a matter of attitude and perception than the simple memorization of facts) that the schools should teach ——things that truly would be useful in later life, useful in making a stronger country and a better world, but useful also in making people
happier. Human beings enjoy learning. That's one of the few things that we do better than the other species on our planet. Every student should regularly experience the \——when something you never understood, or something you never knew was mystery becomes clear. 3. So here's my list:
2.或许该教而没教的缺陷自那以后已经得以纠正。照我看来似乎还有许多东西（主要是态度问题、认识问题，而不是简单的对事实记忆的问题）学校应当教授——那些在以后的生活中真正有用的东西，即那些能使国家更强大、世界更美好，也能使人们更幸福的东西。人类开始乐于学习。这是我们人类比这个星球上其它物种做得好些的为数有限的几件事中的一件。每个学生都应该经常体验一下说出：“啊，原来是这么一回事！”时的感受——也就是你以往不懂的或是不知道自己不懂的事情，一下子变得豁然开朗时的感受。 3.下面就是我列出的方法:
deficiencies n. the absence of things needed or required 缺乏，缺少，不足 This disease is caused by Vitamin D deficiency.
matter n. (讨论、考虑等的)问题 a matter of principle 原则问题 a matter of time 时间问题(迟早会发生) a matter of opinion 看法问题
a matter of life and death 生死攸关的问题
more + 名词短语 + than + 名词短语：与其说??不好说?? For him, music is more a way of life than an interest.
Pick a difficult thing and learn it well.
挑一件难事，从中学习
4. The Greek philosopher Socrates said this was one of the greatest of human joys, and it is. While you learn a little bit about many subjects, make sure you learn a great deal about one or two. It hardly matters what the subject is, as long as it deeply interests you, and you place it in its broader human context. After you teach yourself one subject, you become much more confident about your ability to teach yourself another. You gradually find you've acquired a key skill. The world is changing so rapidly that you must continue to teach yourself throughout your life. But don't get trapped by the first subject that interests you, or the first thing you find yourself good at. The world is full of wonders, and some of them we don't discover until we're all grown up. Most of them, sadly, we never discover.
4.希腊哲学家苏格拉底曾经说过这是人类最大的乐趣之一，确实也是如此。与其涉足多门学科而略知一二，不如选其中一两个学科学深学透。只要你对所选的课题感兴趣，只要你的研究不脱离课题本身更为广阔的人文环境，你的课题是什么并不重要。教会你自己一个课题以后，你就会对自己另一课题的教授能力更加充满信心，你就会逐渐地发现你已获得了一种主要技能。世界的变化日新月异，你必须在一生中不断地教授你自己，但不要沉溺于你感兴趣的或你擅长的第一门学科而止步不前。这个世界充满了奇妙的事物，有些我们完全长大成人之后才会发现；很遗憾的是，大部分我们一辈子也发现不了。
the + 形容词最高级 + of +名词 的用法：
the greatest of philosophers in ancient Greece 古希腊最伟大的哲学家 the best of my father’s friends 我父亲最要好的朋友 the most intelligent of his students 他最聪明的学生
and it is. : and it is still one of the greatest of human joys today.今天这仍然是人类最大乐趣之一。(即这是个一般真理)
(not) matter what/how, etc. ??(没)有关系
matter 常用于下列句型：it + 否定句 + matter(s) + wh-
I think you got the author’s name wrong. But it doesn’t matter now. It doesn’t matter how you do the job as long as you do it well.
It hardly matters how you do it, as long as you do the job well and complete it on time. get trapped 被困，陷于
all grown up: fully grown up这里all是副词，意思是“完全地”、“充分地”。
Don't be afraid to ask \
不要害怕去问“愚蠢的”问题
5.Many apparently naive inquiries like why grass is green, or why the Sun is round, or why we need 55.000 nuclear weapons in the world ——are really deep questions. The answers can be a gateway to real insights. It's also important to know, as well as you can, what it is that you don't know, and asking questions is the way. To ask \requires courage on the part of the asker and knowledge and patience on the part of the answerer. And don't confine your learning to schoolwork. Discuss ideas in depth with friends. It's much braver to ask questions even when there's a prospect of ridicule than to suppress your questions and become deadened to the world around you.
5.许多似乎幼稚的提问其实是很深刻的问题，如草为何是绿的，太阳为何是圆的，为什么我们的世界需要55000个核武器。这些问题的回答很可能会使你对事物有深刻的理解。尽可能明确你有哪些事情不明白同样也很重要，提问题就是找出不懂之处的办法。提“愚蠢的”问题，对于提问者来说需要勇气，对答问者来说需要知识和耐心。不要把自己的学习局限于课堂，与朋友深入地讨论观点或想法。明知会引起嘲笑而提问要比把问题埋在心里、对周围的一切变得麻木不仁要勇敢得多。 gateway to: 通向??的途径，获得??的手段
as well as you can 尽最大的努力，作状语，修饰to know.
what it is that you don’t know 你不懂的是什么，是一个名词从句，作to know 的宾语。 on the part of sb. / on sb. ’s part 就某人而言，在某人方面。
There is no need for any more explanation on my part. There must be some misunderstanding on their part.
confine … to 把??限制在??之内
They managed to confine the disease to a small area.
He is asked to confine his use of the telephone to business calls alone.
deaden sb. to sth. 使某人对??不敏感
become deadened to sth. 对??变得不敏感或麻木不仁
Listen carefully.
仔细倾听
6. Many conversations are a kind of competition that rarely leads to discovery on either side. When people are talking, don't spend the time thinking about what you're going to say next. Instead, try to understand what they're saying, what experience is behind their remarks, what you can learn from or about them. Older people have grown up in a world very different from yours, one you may not know very well. They， and people from other parts of the country and from other nations, have important perspectives that can enrich your life.
6.很多情况下人们谈活时，总是争相表现自己，这类交谈对双方来说都无多大益处。当别人在谈话时，不要费时去思考自己接下来打算说什么，而是要设法搞懂他们说的是什么，什么样的经历才使他们说这些话，你从这些话中能学到什么，你对说这些话的人又能了解到什么情况等。老年人所经历的世界与你所经历的截然不同，你也许对其知之甚少。老年人、来自其他地方和其他国家的人们对事物的许多重要的观点可以丰富你的生活。 lead to 导致
Everybody makes mistakes
人人都会犯错误
7. Everybody's understanding is incomplete. Be open to correction, and learn to correct your own mistakes. The only embarrassment is in not learning from your mistakes.
7.每个人对事物的理解都是不全面的，要乐于接受改正，学会纠正自己的错误。你应该感到丢人的倒是没有从错误中吸取教训。
Know your planet
了解你所处的星球
8. It’s the only one we have. Learn how it works. We're changing the atmosphere, the surface, the waters of the Earth, often for some short-term advantage when the long-term implications are unknown. The citizens of any country should have at least something to say about the direction in which we're going. If we don't understand the issues, we abandon the future.
8.这是我们仅有的一个星球，要了解它是如何运作的。我们往往为了短期的利益，在尚不了解（这些做法对）长远影响的情况下，正在改变大气层、改变地球的表面以及地球的水系。任何一个国家的公民至少对我们人类要走向何处都有发言权。如果我们不理解这些问题，我们就是放弃未来。 waters: 湖泊、河流、海洋等的大片的水
Science and technology
科学与技术
9. You can't know your planet unless you know something about science and technology. School science courses, I remember, concentrated on the unimportant parts of science, leaving the major insights almost untouched. The great discoveries in modern science are also great discoveries of the human spirit. For example, Copernicus showed that —far from being the center of the universe, about which the Sun, the Moon, the planets, and the stars revolved in clockwise homage——the Earth is just one of many small worlds. This is a deflation of our pretensions, to be sure, but it is also the opening up to our view of a vast and awesome universe. Every high school graduate should have some idea of the insights of Copernicus, Newton, Darwin, Freud, and Einstein. (Einstein's special theory of relativity, far from being obscure and exceptionally difficult, can be understood in its basics with no more than first-year algebra, and the notion of a rowboat in a river going upstream and downstream.)
9.除非你了解科学与技术，否则你不会了解你所在的星球。我记得学校的理科课程专讲科学的次要方面，而对科学的深层含义几乎只字不提。现代科学的每项重大发现同时也是对人类精神的重大发现。例如，哥白尼证明地球根本不是什么太阳、月亮及其他行星和星球按顺时针方向绕其转动的宇宙中心，它只不过是许多小小世界当中的一个而已。这当然煞了我们人类的自命不凡的傲气，但是同时（哥白尼的学说）也开阔了我们的眼界，使我们看到一个漫无边际的、令人敬畏的宇宙。每个高中毕业生都应对哥白尼、牛顿、达尔文、弗洛伊德以及爱因斯坦的深刻的思想有所了解。（爱因斯坦的狭义相对论并不晦涩，也不是特别难懂，只要有一年级的几何知识和在河中划艇逆流而上和顺流而下的概念，其基本原理完全可以弄懂。） leave … untouched 没有提及过，没有动过
leave + 宾语 + 宾补(形容词、分词等)：使??处于某种状况
He left all the windows open for half an hour. The news left everybody depressed.
在正式的文体中，特别是科技和法律文献中，引出定语从句的关系代词前可以带一个人介词。
Freezing point is the temperature at which water begins to turn into ice.冰点是(在标准大气压下)水开始凝结成冰时的温度。
Insurance and tourism are services, in which many nations specialize. 保险业和旅游业是服务性行业，不少国家专门从事这两种行业。 far from 并非，并不是，远非，根本不
The result of the match is far from (being) satisfactory. It was obvious that what he said was far from the truth.
open up to 向??开放
the policy of reform and opening up to the outside world改革开放的政策 its basics (相对论)基本原理
no more than (正式的说法，表示数、量之少，或程度之低)仅仅
She had no more than a banana for lunch. He went to New York no more than 2 dollars in his pocket.
Don't spend your life watching TV.
不要把生命浪费在看电视上
10. You know what I'm talking about.
10.你当然知道我在说什么。
Culture
文化
11. Gain some exposure to the great works of literature, art and music. If such a work is hundreds or thousands of years old and is still admired, there is probably something to it. Like all deep experiences, it may take a little work on your part to discover what all the fuss is about. But once you make the effort, your life has changed; you've acquired a source of enjoyment and excitement for the rest of your days. In a world as tightly connected as ours is, don't restrict your attention to American or western culture. Learn how and what people elsewhere think. Learn something of their history, their religion, their viewpoints.
11.感受一下文学、艺术和音乐名作的熏陶。既然一部作品已存在了几百年或是几千年，今天仍然受到赞赏，那么大概它确实是有些名堂。要搞清楚人们到底为什么对这些作品还如此热衷，你就得下点功夫，一切感人至深的经历莫不如此。但是一旦你付出努力，你的生活就会得到改变，你就会获得你余生可享受到的快乐和兴奋的源泉。在我们所处的联系如此紧密的一个世界里，不要仅仅沉迷于美国或西方文化之中，要了解其他地方的人们是如何想的，想些什么，了解他们的历史、他们的宗教以及他们的观点。 Exposure to 接触??，感受??的熏陶，受到??的影响。 Too much exposure to the sun might cause skin diseases.
Living in Europe for a year, he gained some exposure to western culture. 此外if引出的从句表示说话者承认的一个事实，但主句所表示的内容更重要。
If she said that, she did not mean to hurt anybody. If it is a mistake, it is not a mistake on his part. there is something to / in ??确有道理、见地、不同凡响之处
Many folk remedies have stood the test of time, so there must be something in them.不少偏方经过时间的考验很有效，其中肯定是有根据的。 There’s something to what he’s just said.他刚才说的话很有见地。 be restricted to 仅限于