大学英语综合教程 第一册 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.