評論
打印
Lesson37 English Education
英語教育
Polak and I had often very heated discussions about the desirability of giving the children an English education. It has always been my conviction that Indian parents who train their children to think and talk in English from their infancy betray their children and their county. They deprive them of the spiritual and social heritage of the nation, and render them to that extent unfit for the service of the country.
我和波拉克在是否應該給孩子們英語教育這個問題上經常展開激烈的爭論。我一直深信，印度父母如果從小就教育他們的子女用英語思考和講話是對他們子女和祖國的背叛。他們剝奪了子女得到祖國的精神和社會遺產熏陶的權利，使他們在這個意義上不適合報效祖國。
Having these convictions, I made a point of always talking to my children in Gujarat. Polak never liked this. He thought I was spoiling their future. He contended that, if children were to learn a universal language like English from their infancy, they would easily gain considerable advantage over others in the race of life.
因為有這些信念，我強調要經常用古吉拉特語和孩子們交談。波拉克不喜歡這樣，他認為我這樣是在毀掉孩子們的未來。他反駁說，如果孩子們能從小就學習像英語這樣一門通用語言，他們很容易就能在生活的競爭中取得相當大的優勢。
He failed to convince me. I do not now remember whether I convinced him of the correctness of my attitude, or whether he gave me up as too obstinate. This happened about twenty years ago, and my convictions have only deepened with experience.
他沒有能夠說服我。到底是我說服他相信了我的態度的正確性，還是他認為我頑固而放棄了要說服我的努力，我現在不記得了。那是大約二十年前的事情了。我的信念隨著經歷更加堅定了。
Though my sons have suffered for want of full literary education, the knowledge of the mother tongue that they naturally acquired has been all to their and the country's good, inasmuch as they do not appear like the foreigners they would otherwise have appeared. They naturally became bilingual, speaking and writing English with fair ease, because of daily contact with a large circle of English friends, and because of their stay in a country where English was the chief language spoken.
雖然我的兒子們缺少全面的文學教育，他們自然獲得的對自己母語的了解對他們自己和他們的祖國都有好處，因為不這樣做的話他們會看起來像外國人，但是他們沒有變成那樣。他們很自然地就掌握了兩門語言，能很輕松地用英語說和寫，這是因為他們與一大群英國朋友的日常交往，并且在他們居住的國家里英語是一門主要的口頭交流語言。
obstinate
倔強的, 頑固的；
inasmuch
因...之故, 因為
