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Confessions of a Miseducated Man
一個錯誤教育受害者的自白
Norman Cousins
諾曼·卡曾斯
These notes are in the nature of a confession. It is the confession of a miseducated man.
下面這篇文字實際上是一篇自白書，是一個錯誤教育受害者的自白。
I have become most aware of my lack of a proper education whenever I have had the chance to put it to the test. The test is a simple one: Am I prepared to live in and comprehend a world in which there are 3 billion people? Not the world as it was in 1850 or 1900, for which my education might have been adequate, but the world today. And the best place to apply that test is outside the country—especially Asia or Africa.
每當我有機會檢驗我所受到的教育時，我都會異常清醒地認識到我缺乏正確的教育。這種檢驗很簡單：要在這個有30多億人口的世界上生存并理解這個世界，我準備好了嗎？我是指當今的這個世界，而不是1850年或1900年的那個世界；我受到的教育在那時可能還是足夠的。進行這項檢驗的最佳地點是在國外——尤其是在亞洲或非洲。
Not that my education was a complete failure. It prepared me very well for a bird's-eye view of the world. It taught me how to recognize easily and instantly the things that make one place or one people different from another. Geography had instructed me in differences of terrain, resources, and productivity. Comparative culture had instructed me in the differences of background and group interests. Anthropology had instructed me in the differences of facial bone structure, skin color and general physical aspect. In short, my education protected me against surprise. I was not surprised at the fact that some people lived in mud huts and others in bamboo cottages; or that some used wood for fuel and others dung; or that some enjoyed music with a five-note scale and others with twelve; or that some people were vegetarian by religion and others by preference.
我并不是說我所受的教育徹底地失敗了。它讓我對這個世界總體上有了不錯的了解，它教會我如何簡捷地找出地區之間和人們之間的差異：地理學教給我地形、資源和生產力方面的差異；比較文化學教給我背景和群體利益方面的差異；人類學教給我面部骨骼結構、膚色和人體方面的差異。總之，我接受的教育讓我（在看到不同事物的時候）不會感到驚奇。有人住茅草棚，有人住竹制房；有人用木頭當燃料，有人燒動物糞便；有人喜歡五音階的音樂，有人喜歡十二音階的；有人因為宗教信仰而食素，有人因為個人偏好而食素——這些都不讓我感到訝異。
