評論
打印
At this point, I asked my colleague if he would give up. He conceded （讓步）,and I gave the student almost full credit.
到這時(shí)候，我問我的同事是否肯讓步。他同意了，我差不多給了這個(gè)學(xué)生滿分。
In leaving my colleague's office, I recalled that the student had said he had other answers to the problem, so I asked him what they were. "Oh, yes," said the student. "There are many ways of getting the height of a tall building with the aid of a barometer. For example, you could take the barometer out on a sunny day and measure the height of the barometer, the length of its shadow, and the length of the shadow of the building, and by the use of a simple proportion, determine the height of the building."
我正要離開辦公室，突然想到這學(xué)生說過他還有別的解答方法，便問他具體有哪些。“哦，有呀，”他說。“借助氣壓表，能有多種方式測得大樓的高度。例如，你可以在一個(gè)晴朗的日子把氣壓表拿到室外，量出氣壓表的高度及其影長，以及大樓陰影的長度，然后用個(gè)簡單比例法就可求得大樓的高度。”
Fine, I said. "And the others?"
“很好，”我說。“還有呢?”
Yes, said the student. "There is a very basic measurement method that you will like. In this method, you take the barometer and begin to walk up the stairs. As you climb the stairs, you mark off the length of the barometer along the wall. You then count the number of marks, and this will give you the height of the building in barometer units. A very direct method."
“還有，”他說，“有種最基本的測量辦法你一定會喜歡。用這種辦法，你拿著氣壓表開始爬樓，一邊爬一邊在墻上標(biāo)出氣壓表的髙度。然后數(shù)一下有多少個(gè)標(biāo)記，這樣就能用氣壓表的單位長度，計(jì)算出大樓的高度。這是種相當(dāng)直接的辦法。
Of course, if you want a more sophisticated method, you can tie the barometer to the end of a string, swing it as a pendulum（鐘擺）,and deter-mine the value of 'g' at the street level and at the top of the building. From the difference between the two values of 'g' the height of the building can, in principle, be calculated.
“當(dāng)然，要是你想復(fù)雜一點(diǎn)的話，可以把氣壓表拴在繩子的一端，讓它像鐘擺那樣擺動(dòng)，然后分別測出它在街道水平面及大樓頂部的g值。根據(jù)這兩個(gè)g值的差數(shù)，按理可計(jì)算出大樓的高度。”
Finally he concluded, there are many other ways of solving the problem. "Probably the best," he said," is to take the barometer to the basement and knock on the superintendent's （主管人）door. When the superintendent answers, you speak to him as follows: 'Mr. Superintendent, here I have a fine barometer. If you will tell me the height of this building, I will give you this barometer.' "
最后他說，這一問題有多種解答方式。“最便捷的一種辦法可能是，”他說，“拿著氣壓表去底樓，敲敲主管人的房門。主管人來開門時(shí)，你這么跟他說：‘主管先生，我有個(gè)挺不錯(cuò)的氣壓表。要是你能告訴我這幢樓的高度，我就把氣壓表送給你。’”
At this point, I asked the student if he really did not know the conventional （常規(guī)的）answer to this question. He admitted that he did , but said that he was fed up with （厭煩）high school and college instructors trying to teach him how to think, to use the "scientific method," and to explore the deep inner logic of the subject in a pedantic （學(xué)究式的）way, as is often done in the new mathematics, rather than teaching him the structure of the subject. With this in mind, he decided to revive （復(fù)興）scholasticism （煩瑣經(jīng)院哲學(xué)）as an academic lark （玩笑）to challenge the Sputnik-panicked classrooms of America.
這時(shí)我就問這個(gè)學(xué)生，他是否真的不知道這道題的常規(guī)解法。他承認(rèn)他知道，但是他說，他厭倦了中學(xué)和大學(xué)教師們的教學(xué)方法，因?yàn)樗麄兛傁虢趟绾嗡伎迹绾芜\(yùn)用“科學(xué)方法”，如何用一種學(xué)究式的方法探索學(xué)科深層的內(nèi)在邏輯，就像在“新數(shù)學(xué)”中常做的那樣，而不是把這一學(xué)科的結(jié)構(gòu)教給他。有了這個(gè)念頭，他便決定重新搬出中世紀(jì)煩瑣經(jīng)院哲學(xué)的那一套來開個(gè)學(xué)術(shù)性玩笑，向患有人造地球衛(wèi)星恐懼癥的美國課堂教育進(jìn)行挑戰(zhàn)。
