特别广播英语第 217 课：Changes to Come in U. S. Education 美国教育将要发生的变化-4

So too at higher levels. Some children learn best by rote, in structured environments with high certainty and strict discipline. 在较高的层次上也是如此。在非常稳定和严格的纪律构成的环境里，有的孩子是靠死记硬背学习的。

Others gain success in the less structured "permissive" atmosphere of a "progressive" school. 有的孩子是在"进步"学校规则不甚严格的"随意"气氛中取得成绩的。

Some adults learn out of books, some learn by doing, some learn best by listening. 有的成年人从书本中学习，有的从实践中学习，有的则靠听就能学得最好。

Some students need prescribed daily doses of information; others need challenge and a high degree of responsibility for the design of their own work. 有的学生需要规定每天要获取的一些信息；有的需要挑战，为他们的工作设计出高标准的要求。

But for too long, teachers have insisted that there is one best way to teach and learn, even though they have disagreed about what that way is. 但是很久以来，教师们一致认为，教与学有一种最佳的方式，尽管他们对那种方式产生了分歧。

A century ago, the greatest majority of Americans lived in communities so small that only one one-room schoolhouse was within walking distance of small children. 一个世纪前，绝大多数美国人所居住的社区是如此之小，以至于小孩步行的范围内只有一间房的校舍。

Then there had to be "one right method" for everybody to learn. 那时只有"一种好方式"供大家学习。

Today the great majority of pupils in the United States (and all developed countries) live in big cities with such density that there can easily be three or four elementary schools - as well as secondary schools within each child's walking or bicycling distance. 今天，美国绝大多数的孩子生活在人口稠密的大城市里，每个孩子步行或骑车所能到达的范围内不难找到三、四所小学和中学。

This enables students and their parents to choose between alternative routes to learning offered by competing schools. 这使学生以及家长们能够在竞争中的各个学校所提供的不同的学习机会中进行选择。