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幼儿园曾是鼓励孩子们玩耍的地方，但过去的12年，幼儿园变得日益学术化，更加重视孩子的读写能力并增加标准化考试，为他们日后的学习做准备。很多刚接触现代初级教育的家长们震惊地发现自己的孩子正处于严谨的学术、标准化考试、作业以及过高期望的高压之下。这样的变化对孩子来说究竟是好是坏？家长又是否应该早早将孩子送进学校？ As kindergarten ratchets up academics, parents feel the stress 幼儿园抓学习，家长倍感压力 By Moriah Balingit September 25 at 5:29 PM Jo Ann Bjornson spent her early childhood in the care of babysitters until it came time for her to board the bus to school for half-day classes, an event that came with little fanfare. For her daughter Isabella, the days before kindergarten started this month included structured preschool, a bevy of summer camps and months of agonizing over whether the smart, sensitive 5-year-old was academically and socially ready to start school. Jo Ann Bjornson的幼年时期在保姆的照顾下度过。到了上学的年龄，她便坐着校车去学校上半天课，整个过程平淡无奇。但对于她的女儿Isabella来说，本月幼儿园开学前的这段时间里，要参加有组织的学前课程和一系列夏令营，还要为这个聪明又敏感的5岁小孩是否在学业上和社交上都足以上学而担忧数月。 Kindergarten, where children were once encouraged to play and adjust to the rhythms of the school day, has long been evolving. But many parents new to modern-day elementary schooling say they have been shocked to find their children in a pressure cooker of rigorous academics, standardized tests, homework and what seem like outrageous expectations. 幼儿园曾是鼓励孩子们玩耍，帮助孩子们适应学校生活节奏的地方，但它早已发生变化。很多刚接触现代初级教育的家长们震惊地发现自己的孩子正处于严谨的学术、标准化考试、作业以及过高期望的高压之下。 The nation’s earliest grade — if you don’t count pre-K — now comes with packed orientation nights, school tours, Twitter chats, warnings to make sure children brush up on their skills and “dress rehearsals.” Some parents have come to view the first year of school not as a transition but as a make-or-break gauntlet that will shape their child’s academic career. 作为本国最低的年级（如果不把幼儿园预备班算在内），现在正面临着整晚的新生教育繁忙的定向选择、学校旅行、推特聊天以及为确保他们温习所学技能和“带妆彩排”的反复提醒。一些家长已经把在校的第一年看作关乎孩子学业成败的关键阶段，而非过渡。 Many worry that their children are ill prepared for the more strenuous environment, that their kids, not far removed from their toddler days, will burn out. 许多家长担心自己的孩子并没有准备好适应如此艰苦的环境，他们担心这些刚会走路的孩子会彻底崩溃。 “What if I make the wrong decision and I send her too early?” said Bjornson, of Arlington, a vice president of human resources at Leidos. “I don’t want to screw my kid up for forever. Am I going to set her up for failure for the rest of her life?” “如果我的决定是错的，如果我把她过早送进学校该怎么办？”Bjornson说。她来自阿灵顿，是Leidos公司的人力资源副主管。“我不想毁掉我的孩子。我会不会使她在以后的人生中成为失败者？” New research from the University of Virginia published this year confirmed the shift parents have been feeling: Kindergarten has grown far more academic, with an increasing emphasis on literacy and math and additional exposure to standardized tests in preparation for more later in their schooling. 今年弗吉尼亚大学一项新的研究证实了家长们感受到的变化：幼儿园变得日益学术化，更加重视读写能力和数学并增加标准化考试，为孩子们日后的学习做准备。 The study, based on teacher surveys from 1998 and 2010, found that kindergarten shifted dramatically in just those dozen years. More teachers were using worksheets and having children compose and write sentences. Fewer teachers had art, science and dramatic play areas or water tables. In 1998, 31 percent of teachers said they believed that most children should learn to read in kindergarten, but by 2010, 80 percent held that belief. 该研究基于1998年到2010年的教师调研，结果显示幼儿园在这12年中变化剧烈。越来越多的老师采用活页练习题并要求学生写作和造句。很少有老师要用艺术、科学和戏剧场地或水桌。1998年，31%的老师认为多数孩子应该在幼儿园学习阅读，而到2010年竟有80%的老师持这种观点。 Researchers were floored by how drastically kindergarten has shifted. 幼儿园如此巨大的变化令研究者震惊。 “To think that kids’ experiences in the early grades changed so much over such a short period of time is really surprising to us,” said Daphna Bassok, an associate professor of education at the University of Virginia. “想想在这么短的时间内，孩子们在低年级的经历发生这么大的变化，实在让我们惊讶。”弗吉尼亚大学教育专业的副教授Daphna Bassok如是说。 Bassok said she believes the shift in kindergarten is rooted in a “trickling down of accountability pressures,” with schools under more demands to ready children for standardized tests that are used to evaluate teachers and schools. Bassok also pointed to the rise in the number of children attending preschool, which can create an early-achievement gap before kids even make it to elementary school. Bassok认为幼儿园的转变源于“责任压力的层层下放”，越来越多的人要求学校培养孩子的应试能力，而标准化考试则用来评估教师和学校。Bassok也指出，随着参加学前教育的孩子数量的增加，早期的成绩差距可能会在孩子读小学之前就出现。 While children of past generations often entered kindergarten with a blank academic slate, many schools now hope new students will have mastered the basics of counting to 10 and reciting the alphabet by the time they enter the classroom. And by the end of the kindergarten year, many more teachers expect children to know how to read and master skills once reserved for first-graders. 过去年代的孩子们进入幼儿园时通常是“一块白板”（教育学家洛克的“白板理论”），而现在很多学校希望新生掌握从1数到10的基本能力，并在进教室之前就会背字母表。快念完幼儿园时，更多的老师则希望孩子们学会如何阅读并掌握过去一年级孩子才会的技能。 At a packed information night in an Arlington high school auditorium in February, educators outlined what children should have before they enter kindergarten. Parents learned about the basic requirements: inoculations, birth certificates and proof of residency. But first they learned about how to prepare their youngsters for class: The children should be putting together puzzles, trying their hand at writing, and bolstering motor skills by zipping and tying things. 二月的一个夜晚，在阿灵顿一所高中的礼堂内充斥着繁杂的信息：老师们列出了孩子进幼儿园之前需要具备的能力。家长们了解到基本要求有：接种疫苗、提供出生证明和居住证明。但他们最先知道的是怎样让小孩儿适应课堂：孩子们要能拼拼图，尝试手写，还要通过拉拉链和系东西来加强动手能力。 Many parents now see high-quality preschool as essential to their children’s education and get them started young. Even preschools feel more academic than they used to. 现在很多家长将高质量的学前班看作孩子教育的关键，让孩子早早开始学习。甚至学前班也比之前更加学术了。 Kim Ngeh, a property manager in Arlington, moved her son Kaiden from home-based day care to Head Start, a preschool for low-income families, after a family advocate from Northern Virginia Family Service convinced her that preschool would be better — if not essential. Kim Ngeh是阿灵顿的一名房地产经理，她把儿子从家庭日托转到一家名为Head State的面向低收入家庭的学前班。此前，一个来自北弗吉尼亚家庭服务中心的家庭权益倡导者说服她学前班即便不是必须的，也是更好的选择。 “It’s a very good program. It gets them ready for school,” Ngeh said, adding that Kaiden, now 4, already gets homework that includes coloring and tracing letters. “She said that it would be pretty important.” “这是一个很好的项目。它能帮助孩子们为上学做准备。”Ngeh 说，并补充道现年4岁的Kaiden已经有上色和临摹字母的作业了。“她说这些非常重要。” For many children, kindergarten is the first introduction to school. Ana Bonilla-Galdamez, a social worker at Charles Barrett Elementary in Alexandria, said many children who enter as 5-year-olds have spent their childhoods in unstructured day care or in households with relatives who don’t speak English. Many of the students who are classified as English language learners were born in the United States but have little exposure to English. 对于很多儿童来说，幼儿园是他们第一次接触学校。亚力山德里亚市查尔斯·巴雷特小学的社会工作者 Ana Bonilla-Galdamez说，很多孩子在5岁进入幼儿园前，接受的基本都是非系统性的日常照料或者由家中不讲英文的亲人照顾。很多学生被归为英语学习者，因为他们虽然出生在美国，却鲜有机会接触英语。 “The difference is so great in kindergarten,” Bonilla-Galdamez said. “You cannot expect all the kids to move at the same speed.” Bonilla-Galdamez还表示：“在幼儿园中，学生间的差异非常巨大。你不可能期望所有的孩子学习的速度都一样。” Kate Martin started school in the same light-filled classroom at Douglas MacArthur Elementary School where she now teaches. And on its walls, she can trace the evolution of kindergarten. 凯特·马丁现在正在道格拉斯·麦克尔瑟小学教学。当年她也是在同一间充满阳光的教室里开始自己的学生年代。通过那些墙壁，她能看到这些年幼儿园的变化。 As a 5-year-old, Martin remembers the walls plastered with creative artwork, a special nook for snack time and a play area littered with blocks. 马丁记得在她5岁的时候，墙面上涂满了各种富有创意的艺术作品，有一个专门的点心区，还有一个堆满积木的游戏区域。 Martin’s walls are covered with words and posters so that novice readers catch a glimpse of letters nearly everywhere they look. There are orderly tables and independent reading lessons — academics that used to be reserved for first-graders that have been repackaged into interactive lessons for younger, squirmier students. 如今，那片墙上，则布满了各种单词和海报，方便那些初学者站在哪儿都能一眼瞅到这些单词。整齐划一的表格和自主阅读课——这些曾经是一年级学生的学习内容，如今已划分给了更低年级、更好动的学生。。 The U-Va. researchers who studied changes in kindergarten programming pointed out that the new emphasis on math and reading does not necessarily mean the fun has been stripped from kindergarten and replaced with rigorous academic instruction. In many cases, kindergarten teachers have found play-based approaches to teaching academic subjects to keep young students engaged. 弗吉尼亚州研究幼儿园教学改革的人员指出，现在幼儿园加强对于数学和阅读的重视并不意味着原来幼儿园的欢乐气氛被更严肃的教学体系所取代了。相反，幼儿园的老师们已经发现了多种寓教于乐的教学方法来吸引那些年幼的学生的注意力。 “We do try to incorporate as much play and hands-on as we can,” Martin said. She teaches children to be independent, allowing them to select their own books so they will be more motivated to learn to read. 马丁说：“我们尽可能地在教学中加入更多娱乐和动手的成分。”她总是教育孩子学会独立，允许他们自行选择阅读的书籍，这样一来他们更有动力去阅读。 Martin said she has seen kindergarten getting more rigorous during the 15 years she has been teaching. Virginia has raised its expectations for what students learn in their first year of school in all subjects. In math, for example, the state in 2009 decided that kindergartners should be able to count to 100 by the end of the year instead of to just 30. 马丁说，在过去15年中，她亲眼见证了幼儿园对教学质量要求日趋严格的变化。弗吉尼亚州州也对所有学生在第一年的学习中各个科目需要达到的目标提出了要求。例如数学方面，州政府在2009年要求幼儿园学生在第一年结束时需要能够数到100 而不是之前的30。 Martin said her young students appear to be rising to the challenge. It helps, too, that most of her students attended preschool. 马丁说她幼儿园的学生们看似在提升自己以应对这一挑战。但是这也是有益的——她的大部分学生都升入了学前班。 “You’ll find that a lot of them say ‘I want to learn to read. I want to learn to write,’?” Martin said. “They already have that motivation.” 马丁还表示：“你会发现他们中的很多人会主动说‘我想学习阅读，我想学习写作。’事实上他们已经有了学习的积极性。” During a science lesson last school year, children in Martin’s class built tiny boats out of aluminum foil and then set them in bins full of water. Then, they guessed how many pennies the boats could hold and dropped the coins in one by one until the boats sank, squealing and giggling as they watched their constructions slip beneath the water. It felt like play, but the children also practiced counting and learned about making hypotheses. 在去年的自然科学课上，马丁班上的学生用铝箔制作了一艘艘小船并且把它们放在装满水的箱子里。接着他们还猜测他们的小船能够承载多少枚硬币，他们开始一枚接一枚地往小船上放硬币，直到小船颠覆，当他们看到自己的小船倾覆时，会大叫或者咯咯直笑。 这看上去像是一场游戏，但孩子们在其中也锻炼了数数和猜想的能力。 Mike Favila, an Arlington parent who was educated at a strict private school in the Philippines, said he was worried his son would be missing out on play when he headed to kindergarten. 一位在菲律宾受过严格私立教育的父亲——Mike Favila 说，他在去往幼儿园的路上，还在担心孩子可能会错失孩童的游戏时光。 “I was a little concerned it was going to immediately throw him into this rat race of academics that was going to scare him all the way into adulthood,” Favila said. But he was reassured when he visited schools and found the children to be relaxed — not stressed — and teachers mixing play with learning. His son Derek, 5, started at Claremont Elementary, a Spanish immersion school, this month, and he loves the experience, sometimes arriving home counting in Spanish. Favila 说：“起初我有点担突然将孩子丢入这种竞争激烈的学习环境中会吓坏他，从而对他的成长之路造成影响。”但是当他亲自前往学校，并且发现孩子们都是很放松的状态之后，终于放下心来。老师们将学习和娱乐结合起来，而不是给孩子们施压。这个月他五岁的儿子Derek 开始在一所叫做克莱蒙特小学的西班牙语浸入式语言学校学习，Derek很喜欢这种学习经历，有时到家的时候也会用西班牙语数数。 Jessica Lieberson took her child Izzy to visit their neighborhood school, Garrett Park Elementary in Montgomery County, in April for an orientation. She said she wants her son to learn “to play and be part of a community” in kindergarten. 为了带孩子提前熟悉环境，Jessica Lieberson4月份带着孩子Izzy 参观了附近的蒙哥马利县加勒特公园小学。她说她希望儿子能够在幼儿园中开始学习“成为社会的一分子”。 “Social skills are more important than the rigorous academics,” Lieberson said. “Developing the skills to work with others is definitely the most important thing.” “社会技能远比严谨的学术知识重要，” Lieberson 认为，“培养与他人合作工作的能力显然是最重要的事情。” Bjornson said she was confident her daughter could handle the academics but was worried about whether Isabella, who once upset easily, was emotionally prepared for the transition. On Isabella’s first day of school she had her answer: She tore down the hall of their Arlington home screaming, “First day of kindergarten!” Bjornson说她对女儿Isabella处理学业的能力很有信心。但是却有点担心很容易紧张的Isabella在精神上是否准备好接受这种改变。然而在Isabella去幼儿园的第一天，她就有了答案：“Isabella 尖叫着穿过他们阿灵顿家中的大厅，大喊道：‘幼儿园的第一天！’” By the second week, Bjornson said Isabella had made friends, brought home art projects and excitedly recounted what she was learning in class. She raves about the songs in Spanish and the penguin dance in gym. 第二周的时候，Bjornson说Isabella已经结交了朋友，将自己的美术作品带回家并且会兴奋地对父母描述自己在课堂上学了些什么。她爱上了西班牙语歌曲和体育馆里教的企鹅舞。 “She’s coming home happy and excited,” Bjornson said. “I think the decision was right.” Bjornson 说“她每天都带着快乐和兴奋回家，我认为送她去幼儿园的决定是正确的。” 外媒简介 《华盛顿邮报》是美国华盛顿最大、最老的报纸。该报被许多人评为是继《纽约时报》后美国最有声望的报纸。而其尤为擅长报道美国国内政治动态。 在该社前总编辑·本莱德利的带领下，《华盛顿邮报》被打造成了世界上最有影响力、最受关注的媒体之一。提供了当代新闻调查的新思路，并且创立了新闻报道、发表和阅读的新模式。 学习笔记 1. Orientation: 简单来讲，Orientation是美国大学专门为国际学生入学时准备的一项活动，旨在帮助国际学生尽快熟悉并适应新的环境。Orientation和国内的开学典礼有些类似，但实用性要强很多，活动内容也更加丰富多样，时长一般为一到两周。在这项活动中，学校通常会向留学生介绍学校的历史、设施（院系，图书馆，餐厅）、疫苗、住宿、选课、入学测试以及其他一些注意事项。 【词意解释：】 1)[u][c]方向；目标；定向the type of aims or interests that a person or an organization has; the act of directing your aims towards a particular thing E.g. The course is essentially theoretical in orientation. 该课程的定位是以理论为主。 2)[u][c]（个人的）基本信仰，态度，观点a person's basic beliefs or feelings about a particular subject E.g. A person's sexual orientation(= whether they are attracted to men, women or both) 某人的性取向 3)[u]（任职等前的）培训，训练；迎新会training or information that you are given before starting a new job, course, etc. E.g. An orientation course 上岗培训课 4)[c]方向the direction in which an object faces E.g. The orientation of the planet's orbit is changing continuously. 该行星轨道的方向不断变化。 2.Strenuous：adj.费力的；繁重的；艰苦的；劲头十足的网络奋发的；紧张的；奋发的，努力的 1)费力的；繁重的；艰苦的needing great effort and energy E.g. Avoid strenuous exercise immediately after a meal. 刚吃完饭避免剧烈运动。。 2)劲头十足的；奋力的；顽强的showing great energy and determination E.g. The ship went down although strenuous efforts were made to save it. 尽管人们为营救这条船作了很大的努力，它还是沉了。 3.Screw：n. 螺丝；螺丝钉；（对螺丝的）旋拧；性交 v.用螺丝固定（或拧牢）；旋紧；拧紧；拧上去 1)have a screw loose举止略有异常；行为稍嫌古怪to be slightly strange in your behaviour 2)put the screws on (sb)胁迫；威逼to force sb to do sth by frightening and threatening them 3)~sth + adv./prep.用螺丝固定（或拧牢）to fasten one thing to another or make sth tight with a screw or screws E.g. You need to screw all the parts together. 你得用螺丝把所有的零件固定在一起。 4)[t]旋紧；拧紧to twist sth around in order to fasten it in place E.g. She screwed the cap back on the jar. 她又把广口瓶的盖子拧上。 5)(+ adv./prep.)拧上去 E.g. To be attached by screwing 6) screw up your courage 鼓起勇气 E.g. To force yourself to be brave enough to do sth 4.Dramatic: 1)突然的；巨大的；令人吃惊的sudden, very great and often surprising E.g. A dramatic increase/fall/change/improvement 暴涨；暴跌；巨变；巨大的改进 2)激动人心的；引人注目的；给人印象深刻的exciting and impressive E.g. A dramatic victory 激动人心的胜利 3)戏剧性的；戏剧般的；夸张做作的exaggerated in order to create a special effect and attract people's attention E.g.Don't be so dramatic! 别那么夸张做作！ 5. Slate： n.石板；板岩；（盖房顶的）石板瓦；（选举中的）候选人名单 v.安排；（尤指在报纸上）批评；预定；计划 【文内扩展】： A blank slate 一块白板，白板理论，出自《人类理解论》，主要意思为：人心中没有天赋的原则，人心如同一块白板，理性与知识都从经验而来 6. Inoculations：预防接种 7. Bolstering：n.【机】软垫；(车辆的)枕梁；【印,纺】(纺机的)锭管；【建】承枕 v.(用支持物)支撑；援助；费力支持；增强 8. Rigorous 1）谨慎的；细致的；彻底的done carefully and with a lot of attention to detail E.g. A rigorous analysis 细致的分析 2）严格的；严厉的demanding that particular rules, processes, etc. are strictly followed E.g. The work failed to meet their rigorous standards. 工作没有达到他们的严格标准。 9. be stripped from:从……剥离出来 Risk can be stripped from the asset value and sold separately for a price. 风险能够从资产价值中剥离出来，来后订价，再单独的售出。 英语需要主动学习 亲爱的读者请尝试不看翻译 用爱理解以下长难句 最后对照译文查错 1. Many ofthe students who are classified as English language learners were born in theUnited States but have little exposure to English. 2. There are orderly tables and independentreading lessons — academics that used to be reserved for first-graders thathave been repackaged into interactive lessons for younger, squirmier students. 3. He was worried his son would be missing out on play when he headed to kindergarten. 翻译：徐嘉悦 & 曾擎禹 校对：鲁城华 & 颜琪琳 策划：杨霭琳 取经号 取经号：JTWest |
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