新版小學教材刪去《愛迪生救媽媽》等爭議文章

Controversial parts of a textbook for primary school students will be removed from a new edition for the autumn semester, People's Education Press said last Wednesday, adding that the current textbooks will gradually be replaced.

人民教育出版社上週三表示，秋季學期的新版小學教材將刪除有爭議內容，現有教材將逐步被替換。

A Chinese-Language textbook for Grade 2 students includes a story that Edison's mother needed surgery for appendicitis, but light in the operating room was too dim, so the inventor - only 7 years old at the time - came up with the idea of placing mirrors near an oil lamp to better illuminate the room.

二年級語文教材中有這樣一則故事：發明家愛迪生的媽媽需要做闌尾炎手術，但手術室燈光太暗，因此當時年僅7歲的愛迪生想了一個辦法：把鏡子放在油燈附近，將手術室照得更亮。

Some teachers complained that the text is incorrect, as the world's first appendectomy is widely believed to have been carried out in 1886, while Edison would have been 7 in 1854.

有老師投訴稱這篇課文不準確，因爲大家普遍認爲世界首例闌尾切除手術是在1886年進行的，而愛迪生7歲那年是1854年。

Zhang Min, the principal of Hangzhou Foreign Language Experimental School, said he was "astonished to see the text" and called for a revision.

杭州外語實驗小學校長張敏表示，他看到這篇課文之後很吃驚，並呼籲做出修訂。

The Edison story is not an isolated case. Another piece in the same book tells the story of a young George Washington, the first president of the US, cutting down a cherry tree, despite archaeological evidence showing there were no cherry trees near the house Washington lived in as a child.

無獨有偶，這本教材中還有一則關於美國第一任總統喬治·華盛頓小時候砍倒一棵櫻桃樹的故事，但考古證據表明華盛頓童年居所附近沒有櫻桃樹。

People's Education Press said earlier in an online statement that the Edison story first appeared in Chinese publications in the 1980s and was chosen as a text for primary school textbooks in 2002.

人民教育出版社在此前的一份聲明中表示，愛迪生的故事第一次出現在中國出版物中是在20世紀八十年代，在2002年被選爲小學課本的一篇課文。

"People at that time already questioned it. We inquired with some experts, but their views were divided," the statement said. "Due to the recent controversy, we are asking more experts for suggestions."

聲明中寫道：“那時人們就已經開始質疑了。我們諮詢了一些專家，但是他們的觀點不一。由於最近引發的爭議，我們正在向更多的專家諮詢意見。”