TED演讲:我难忘的一次中国行(7)

 　　You see the education performance, PISA, which is the international ranking¹ of educational performance 你可以看一看教育方面的表现，国际学生评估项目（PISA）是国际教育成果排行榜，

　　looks at all of the countries around the world and where does it find the math and science performance is the best in Shanghai. 考察世界各国的教育成果。它发现在数学和科学方面上海学生得分最高。

　　Amazing. That out of all of the countries in the world, 太神奇了。在世界上的所有国家里，

　　China, which still in nominal² GDP terms, is only 72nd in the world should come top because of the importance³ of education. 中国这个名义GDP只排全球七十二位的国家居然位于榜首，这是由于对教育的重视。

　　I remember going through Suqian, 我记得在宿迁，

　　and we were walking through Suqian and at the end of the day I would stop and talk to people who was there with Xuelin. 我们结束一天的徒步后，我和雪琳会停下来和人们聊天。

　　And we were talking to an old man who was raking⁴ the sides of the road, the sides of the road, 我们跟一位老人聊天，他在清洁道路。

　　the way that they maintained⁵ in China is wonderful and we saw a lot of these people always working, 中国的道路清理得很干净。我们看到很多人都在劳动，

　　looking after and keeping the road very tidy and free from litter. 保持路面干净整洁。

　　And this man was working in the heat of the day and I started talking and said is this your piece of land. He said no. 这个人在炎热的天气里工作，我问他这是你的地吗？他说不是。

　　I said is this your job and you paid to do this. He said no. 我又问他这是你的工作吗，你做这个会有酬劳吗？他说没有。

　　I said so why are you doing it. And he said because work is good for you. 我就说那你为什么这么做？他说，因为劳动对你有好处。

　　Work is good for you. I agree with that. I agree with that. 劳动对你有好处，我同意这一点。我确实同意这一点。

1 ranking   

n.社会地位，社会阶层；顺序，次序；行列；军队adj.头等的；高级的；超群的

参考例句：

• He has improved his ranking this season from 67th to 30th. 本赛季他将自己的排名从第67位提高到了第30位。
• He is making a bid to regain his World No. 1 ranking. 他正为重登世界排名第一位而努力。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 nominal   

adj.名义上的；(金额、租金)微不足道的

参考例句：

• The king was only the nominal head of the state. 国王只是这个国家名义上的元首。
• The charge of the box lunch was nominal.午餐盒饭收费很少。

3 importance   

n.重要性，重大，价值

参考例句：

• Never mind who told me,that's of no importance.不用管是谁告诉我的，这无关紧要。
• Today more and more businessmen understand the importance of sports.今天越来越多的商人认识到运动的重要性。

4 raking   

粗筛

参考例句：

• He is raking around in the library for some reference books. 他正在图书馆里找参考书。
• How would you like to spend your Sundays raking up dead leaves? 你难道会愿意在园里耙枯叶子来消磨你的星期天？

5 maintained   

保持( maintain的过去式和过去分词 )； 保养； 坚持； 保卫

参考例句：

• He maintained a professional demeanour throughout. 他始终保持着专业人才的风度。
• Throughout his trial he maintained a dignified silence. 在整个审讯过程中，他始终沉默以保持尊严。