美国孩子比我们想象的要聪明

American Kids May Be Smarter than We Think

美国孩子比我们想象的要聪明

 

Sometimes we get to thinking that the youth of America is no longer made of what writer Tom Wolfe called “the right stuff.”

 

As if sexual promiscuity¹…drug use…violence induced by sports, video games and music…and sloppy² dress, work habits, and language…our kids just aren't very smart, especially in mathematics and science.

 

Or so we've come to believe.

 

Year after year, our mediocre³ test scores in math and science are said to pale beside those of young people from places like Asia and Scandinavia. If these slackers are the American scientists and engineers of tomorrow, how will we ever build another bridge?

 

Unless there's some secret cadre of clean-cut kids out in the cornfields of Kansas or the mountains of Idaho who are devouring⁴ chemistry and physics assignments, we're sunk.

 

But wait…this just in! According to the latest Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, Americans' scores have held steady and even increased slightly over the 10 years that tests have been uniformly administered around the world. And scores in brainy places like Sweden and Norway and Bulgaria have dropped like a rock.

 

Kids in Singapore and South Korea and Japan still lead the way in science and math, and we can't quite figure out why. After all, Japanese 14-year-olds watch 30 minutes more television a day than American 14-year-olds do. Maybe they're looking at math lectures! 

 

At least American kids aren't quite the slouches some thought they were. Perhaps those brainy kids from Kansas and Idaho have been secretly moving to schools all across the country!

 

I’m Ted⁵ Landphair.

 

注释：

promiscuity [7prCmis5kju:iti] n. 混乱，杂乱

work habit 劳动技巧

mediocre [7mi:di5EukE] adj. 普普通通的

Scandinavia [7skAndi5neivjE] 斯堪的纳维亚半岛（瑞典、挪威、丹麦、冰岛的泛称）

slacker [5slAkE(r)] n. 懒鬼

cadre [5kB:dE(r)] n. 核心；中心

clean-cut 整洁的

Bulgaria [bQl5^ZEriE] n. 保加利亚（欧洲国家）

1 promiscuity   

n.混杂，混乱；（男女的）乱交

参考例句：

• Promiscuity went unpunished, divorce was permitted. 乱交挨不着惩罚，离婚办得成手续。 来自英汉文学
• There is also no doubt that she falls into promiscuity at last. 同时无疑她最后也堕入性乱。 来自互联网

2 sloppy   

adj.邋遢的，不整洁的

参考例句：

• If you do such sloppy work again,I promise I'll fail you.要是下次作业你再马马虎虎，我话说在头里，可要给你打不及格了。
• Mother constantly picked at him for being sloppy.母亲不断地批评他懒散。

3 mediocre   

adj.平常的，普通的

参考例句：

• The student tried hard,but his work is mediocre. 该生学习刻苦，但学业平庸。
• Only lazybones and mediocre persons could hanker after the days of messing together.只有懒汉庸才才会留恋那大锅饭的年代。

4 devouring   

吞没( devour的现在分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光

参考例句：

• The hungry boy was devouring his dinner. 那饥饿的孩子狼吞虎咽地吃饭。
• He is devouring novel after novel. 他一味贪看小说。

5 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。