Education

原文

Education is one of the key words of our time. A man without an education, many of us believe, is an unfortunate victim of adverse circumstances, deprived of one of the greatest twentieth-century opportunities. Convinced of the importance of education, modern states 'invest' in institutions of learning to get back 'interest' in the form of a large group of enlightened young men and women who are potential leaders. Education, with its cycles of instruction so carefully worked out, punctuated by textbooks -- those purchasable wells of wisdom-what would civilization be like without its benefits?

So much is certain: that we would have doctors and preachers, lawyers and defendants, marriages and births -- but our spiritual outlook would be different. We would lay less stress on 'facts and figures' and more on a good memory, on applied psychology, and on the capacity of a man to get along with his fellow-citizens. If our educational system were fashioned after its bookless past we would have the most democratic form of 'college' imaginable. Among tribal people all knowledge inherited by tradition is shared by all; it is taught to every member of the tribe so that in this respect everybody is equally equipped for life.

It is the ideal condition of the 'equal start' which only our most progressive forms of modern education try to regain. In primitive cultures the obligation to seek and to receive the traditional instruction is binding to all. There are no 'illiterates' -- if the term can be applied to peoples without a script -- while our own compulsory school attendance became law in Germany in 1642, in France in 1806, and in England in 1876, and is still non-existent in a number of 'civilized' nations. This shows how long it was before we deemed it necessary to make sure that all our children could share in the knowledge accumulated by the 'happy few' during the past centuries.

Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means. All are entitled to an equal start. There is none of the hurry which, in our society, often hampers the full development of a growing personality. There, a child grows up under the ever-present attention of his parent; therefore the jungles and the savannahs know of no 'juvenile delinquency'. No necessity of making a living away from home results in neglect of children, and no father is confronted with his inability to 'buy' an education for his child.

--JULIUS E. LIPS The Origin of Things--

译文

教育是我们这个时代的关键用语之一。没有受过教育的人，在我们许多人看来，是不幸的逆境受害者，被剥夺了二十世纪最伟大的机会之一。深信教育的重要性，现代国家“投资”于学习机构，以期获得“回报”，即一大群开明而有潜力的年轻男女，他们将成为未来的领袖。教育，以其精心安排的教学周期，并以课本——那些可以购买的智慧之泉——作为标点，试问文明若无其裨益，将会怎样呢？

有一点是确定的：我们仍会有医生和牧师、律师和被告、婚姻和出生——但我们的精神视野将大不相同。我们将较少强调“事实和数据”，而更多注重良好的记忆力、应用心理学，以及一个人与同胞和睦相处的能力。如果我们的教育体系仿效其无书本的过去，我们将拥有可以想象的最民主形式的“学院”。在部落民族中，所有通过传统继承的知识都由大家共享；它被传授给部落的每个成员，因此在这方面，每个人都同样为生活做好了准备。

这正是“平等起步”的理想状态，而只有我们最先进的现代教育形式才试图重新获得。在原始文化中，寻求和接受传统教育的义务对所有人都是强制性的。没有“文盲”——如果这个术语能适用于没有文字的民族——而我们自己的义务教育法则是在德国于1642年、法国于1806年、英国于1876年才成为法律的，在一些“文明”国家中至今仍不存在。这表明，我们花了多么长的时间，才认为有必要确保所有孩子都能分享“幸运少数”在过去几个世纪积累的知识。

荒野中的教育并非金钱所能左右的事务。所有人都享有平等起步的权利。没有我们社会中常常阻碍个性全面发展的那种匆忙。在那里，孩子在父母的持续关注下成长；因此，丛林和热带草原上没有“少年犯罪”。没有为生计而远离家的必要性导致儿童被忽视的情况，也没有父亲面对无力“购买”孩子教育的能力不足。

--JULIUS E. LIPS The Origin of Things--

词汇表

education

名词

英:/ˌɛdʒʊˈkeɪʃən/

美:/ˌɛdʒəˈkeɪʃən/

定义

1. 教育 - The process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university.

例子: Education plays a crucial role in personal development.

例子: Access to quality education can change lives for the better.

2. 学问或技能 - The knowledge or skills gained through schooling or experience.

例子: His education in history helped him understand cultural differences.

例子: Practical education is as important as theoretical knowledge.

近义词

learning: 强调获取知识的过程，更侧重于个人成长，而 'education' 常涉及正式系统。

instruction: 更正式，指教学活动本身，与 'education' 的整体影响相比更具体。

schooling: 通常指学校教育，范围较 'education' 窄，不包括非正式学习。

反义词:

ignorance, illiteracy, unawareness

用法

常用于讨论正式或非正式的学习环境，语境包括社会、教育政策，常搭配如 'higher education'（高等教育），文化背景中强调其对社会进步的作用。

形式:

复数: educations

关键句型 "If [clause], [subject] would [verb]."

定义

此句型是一种条件句结构，用于表达与现实相反的假设或虚拟情况，常用于第二类条件句（unreal present）。结构为：If + [clause]（条件从句，通常用过去时）+ , + [subject] + would + [verb]（主句，表示结果）。根据《剑桥英语语法》教材，这种句型表达假设性的现在或将来情况，强调结果的不确定性或虚构性。例如，文章中的 "If our educational system were fashioned after its bookless past we would have the most democratic form of 'college' imaginable." 展示了这种用法。

它帮助学习者讨论假设场景，增强语言的表达力。

用法

此句型主要用于描述当前或将来的虚拟假设场景，如在讨论、教育或决策中。规则：条件从句用过去时（were, had 等），主句用 would + 动词原形。语法体系中，它属于条件句类型，与第一类条件句（真实条件，如 "If it rains, I will stay home"）形成对比。

横向比较：与第一类条件句相比，此句型更强调不现实性，不用于真实可能事件；与第三类条件句（过去虚拟，如 "If I had studied, I would have passed"）相比，它聚焦于现在或将来，而非过去。同时，它与 should 或 could 结合时（如 "If I were you, I could help"）扩展功能，建立联系，帮助学生理解情态动词在假设中的作用。

跨语法联系：此句型常与虚拟语气结合，学生可链接到其他假设表达，如 "I wish I were..."，以加深对条件句的整体把握。

注意事项

学生易犯的错误包括：混淆时态，如在条件从句中使用现在时（错误："If I am rich, I would buy a house"，正确："If I were rich, I would buy a house"）；或遗漏 would 在主句（错误："If it were true, I go"）。纠正建议：练习时强调条件从句的虚拟形式，并使用真实例句进行对比。

另一个常见偏误是过度泛化，将其用于真实条件，导致语义混乱。提供具体例句：

错误示例：If I have time, I would visit you.（这应为第一类条件句，应改为：If I have time, I will visit you。）
正确示例：If I had more time, I would travel the world.（如文章中，假设教育系统不同，我们会有更民主的形式。）

练习

原创例子：假设你在讨论教育改革，可以说："If schools were free for everyone, more children would attend classes." 学生可替换关键词，如将 [clause] 改为 "If I lived in a different country"，并将主句改为 "I would learn a new language"，以适应个人场景。这能帮助学生在日常对话中应用句型，例如在辩论中表达观点。

通过替换练习，学生能逐步掌握如何构建假设，提升自信。

额外内容

背景知识：这种句型源于英语的虚拟语气传统，起源于古英语的亚句法演变，在现代英语中用于礼貌或假设讨论。对比分析：与中文的 "如果……就……" 类似，但英语更依赖特定语法结构（如过去时表示虚拟），而中文多通过语境体现。与法语的条件句（如 "Si j'étais..."）相比，英语版本更直观，无需复杂的动词变位。这能丰富学生的跨文化理解，鼓励他们在学习中探索语言差异。