21st Century College Practical English Comprehensive Course Volume 1 Answers 5 8 units .

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Unit 7.

Translation of texts. unit7

text a

A neglected art.

Caroline? Kane.

It is widely believed that the U.S. education system is in deep trouble. Everyone is aware of these terrible facts: the school system is underfunded, teachers can't spell, students can't read, and high school graduates can't even find China on a map.

Most of us know, or think we know, who is to blame: the lax courts, the weak and incompetent school boards, the ridiculous ordinances. It's easy to find a guilty villain.

But perhaps the problem is not our mechanism, but our attitude. Sadly, while most of us claim to believe in the value of education, we don't value intellectual activity.

We Americans are a generous, benevolent people. We have mechanisms for every good cause, from saving homeless cats to preventing the outbreak of World War III. But what do we do to promote the art of thinking?

Of course, in everyday life, we don't set aside time for thinking. Suppose a man says to his friends, "I'm not going to a parent-teacher fraternity tonight (or a baseball game or anything like that) because I need some time for myself and some time to think"? The man's neighbors would shun him; His family would be ashamed of him.

What if a teenage says, "I'm not going to dance tonight, I need some time to think"? His parents would immediately begin searching for psychiatrists in the Yellow Pages.

A few years ago an academy administrator told me that if he wanted to do any serious thinking, he would have to get up at 5:30 a.m., I guess because that was the only time when no one would bother him. Some time ago, I heard a professor say that when his friends bumped into him reading, they would say, "Ah, it must be nice to have so much free time." Even though I'm an English teacher, and I'm supposed to be a more sensible person, I find myself feeling a little guilty every time I sneak into the library to read a book.

Also, we wonder why the children don't take their learning seriously, why they say to the teacher, "Why should I learn this?" These things will be of no use to me in the future; I'll never need to. ”

It's not hard to understand why there is such a bias towards thinking. One of the problems is that, to most of us, thinking seems to be idle. A person who is lost in thought looks boring.

He leaned back in his chair, his feet propped up, and smoked his pipe in one puff, staring blankly ahead. The way he looks is a complete waste of time. Moreover, he left all the tiring work to us! ......