雙語美文上學與教育

摘錄：美國人通常認爲上學是爲了受教育。然而現在卻有人認爲孩子們上學打斷了他們受教育的過程。這種言論中所暗示的上學和受教育之間的區別非常重要。

It is commonly believed in United States that school is where people go to get an education. Nevertheless, it has been said that today children interrupt their education to go to school. The distinction between schooling and education implied by this remark is important.

Education is much more open-ended and all-inclusive than schooling. Education knows no bounds. It can take place anywhere, whether in the shower or in the job, whether in a kitchen or on a tractor. It includes both the formal learning that takes place in schools and the whole universe of informal learning.

美國人通常認爲上學是爲了受教育。然而現在卻有人認爲孩子們上學打斷了他們受教育的過程。這種言論中所暗示的上學和受教育之間的區別非常重要。

與上學相比，教育更開放，更廣泛。教育沒有任何限制。它可以在任何場合下進行，不論是在淋浴時還是在工作時，不論是在廚房裏還是在拖拉機上。它既包括在學校所受的正規教育，也包括一切非正規教育。

The agents of education can range from a revered grandparent to the people debating politics on the radio, from a child to a distinguished scientist. Whereas schooling has a certain predictability, education quite often produces surprises. A chance conversation with a stranger may lead a person to discover how little is known of other religions.

傳授知識的人可以是德高望重的老者，也可以是收音機裏進行政治辯論的人們，可以是小孩子，也可以是著名的科學家。鑑於上學有一定的預見性，教育卻往往能帶來意外的發現。與陌生人的一次偶然談話可能會使人認識到自己對其它宗教其實所知甚少。

People are engaged in education from infancy on. Education, then, is a very broad, inclusive term. It is a lifelong process, a process that starts long before the start of school, and one that should be an integral part of one’s entire life.

人們從幼時起就開始受教育。因此，教育是一個非常寬泛而內涵豐富的詞。它是一個終生的過程，在上學之前就開始了，並且應成爲人一生中不可或缺的一部分。

Schooling, on the other hand, is a specific, formalized process, whose general pattern varies little from one setting to the next. Throughout a country, children arrive at school at approximately the same time, take assigned seats, are taught by an adult, use similar textbooks, do homework, take exams, and so on.

相反，上學卻是一個特定的確定的過程，在不同環境下它的基本形式大同小異。在全國各地，孩子們幾乎在同一時間到校，坐在指定座位上，由一位成年人講授課程，用相似的教材，做作業，考試等等。

The slices of reality that are to be learned, whether they are the alphabet or an understanding of the working of government, have usually been limited by the boundaries of the subject being taught. For example, high school students know that there not likely to find out in their classes the truth about political problems in their communities or what the newest filmmakers are experimenting with. There are definite conditions surrounding the formalized process of schooling.

他們所學的現實生活中的一些片斷，無論是字母表還是對政府運作的理解，往往受到科目範圍的限制。 例如，高中生們知道，在課堂上他們沒法弄清楚他們社區裏政治問題的真相，也不會了解到最新潮的電影製片人在做哪些嘗試。上學這一確定的過程是有特定的限制的。