評論
打印
I ask you, what happened to translation?
那我問你，翻譯還需要嗎？
If you think about the Islamic Golden Age, there was lots of translation then.
如果你想想伊斯蘭的黃金時代，當時有很多翻譯。
They translated from Latin and Greek into Arabic, into Persian,
他們把拉丁文和希臘語翻譯成阿拉伯語和波斯語，
and then it was translated on into the Germanic languages of Europe and the Romance languages.
然后又翻譯成歐洲的日耳曼語和羅曼語。
And so light shone upon the Dark Ages of Europe.
于是歐洲黑暗的時代被點亮了。
Now don't get me wrong; I am not against teaching English, all you English teachers out there.
不要誤會；我不是反對教英語，或是你們在座的所有英語老師。
I love it that we have a global language. We need one today more than ever.
我熱愛我們有一種全球性語言。我們今天比過去任何時候都需要它。
But I am against using it as a barrier.
但是我反對用它設立障礙。
Do we really want to end up with 600 languages and the main one being English, or Chinese?
我們真的只想留下600種語言，而主要語言只是英語和中文嗎？
We need more than that. Where do we draw the line?
我們需要更多，我們在哪里劃這條界線呢？
This system equates intelligence with a knowledge of English, which is quite arbitrary.
這個體制把智能和英語能力劃等號，這是非常武斷的。
And I want to remind you that the giants upon whose shoulders today's intelligentsia stand
我想提醒你，而當代知識分子所站立在那些“巨人肩膀”上的偉人，
did not have to have English, they didn't have to pass an English test.
他們也并不都具有英語能力，他們不需要通過英語考試。
Case in point, Einstein.
愛因斯坦就是個典型。
He, by the way, was considered remedial at school because he was, in fact, dyslexic.
其實，他在學校的時候是個需要補課的學生，因為他誦讀有困難。
But fortunately for the world, he did not have to pass an English test.
但是也是這世界的幸運，他不必通過英語考試。
Because they didn't start until 1964 with TOEFL, the American test of English.
因為1964年托福考試還沒設立，這是一種美式英語測試。
Now it's exploded.
現在已經泛濫了
