一、教育類話題語料庫

　　學(xué)習(xí)一門學(xué)科還是多門學(xué)科?專才VS通才

　　You’ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You’ll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You’ll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy. 你們需要在數(shù)理科學(xué)課程上學(xué)習(xí)的知識(shí)和技能，去治療癌癥、艾滋那樣的疾病，和解決我們面臨的能源問題與環(huán)境問題;你們需要在歷史社科課程上培養(yǎng)出的觀察力與判斷力，來減輕和消除無家可歸與貧困、犯罪問題和各種歧視，讓這個(gè)國家變得更加公平和自由;你們需要在各類課程中逐漸累積和發(fā)展出來的創(chuàng)新意識(shí)和思維，去創(chuàng)業(yè)和建立新的公司與企業(yè)，來制造就業(yè)機(jī)會(huì)和推動(dòng)經(jīng)濟(jì)的增長。

　　2 失敗是成功之母;自信

　　Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures. JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, "I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."因?yàn)樵谶@個(gè)世界上，最最成功的人們往往也經(jīng)歷過最多的失敗。J.K.羅琳的第一本《哈利·波特》被出版商拒絕了十二次才最終出版;邁克爾·喬丹上高中時(shí)被學(xué)校的籃球隊(duì)刷了下來，在他的職業(yè)生涯里，他輸了幾百場比賽、投失過幾千次射籃，知道他是怎么說的嗎?“我一生不停地失敗、失敗再失敗，這就是我現(xiàn)在成功的原因�！�

　　3 博物館了解一個(gè)國家

　　Pei deliberately built a modern structure while capturing the subtle yet expressive Chinese spirit. The building’s exterior, with its white walls and gray tiled roof not only respects the traditional color-scheme used throughout the city of Suzhou, but also provides a backdrop further emphasizing the importance of the gardens. In his museum, Pei hopes to foster and inspire a new generation of thinking about Chinese-specific modern architecture and design. By Andrew J Wierner. (Pics: Kerun Ip)貝聿銘在建造蘇州博物館的同時(shí)，有意識(shí)的通過博物館設(shè)計(jì)將中國民族精神細(xì)微的表現(xiàn)出來。在整個(gè)博物館的外部，白墻灰頂不僅僅被視為蘇州城市建設(shè)使用的傳統(tǒng)色系，而且暗示強(qiáng)調(diào)了園林的重要程度。貝聿銘希望他設(shè)計(jì)的博物館能夠促進(jìn)和激勵(lì)新一代的有關(guān)于中國特有的現(xiàn)代建筑設(shè)計(jì)思潮。

　　4 教育幫我們了解什么?先天重要還是后天重要?應(yīng)該冒險(xiǎn)還是堅(jiān)持已經(jīng)做得很好的東西

　　Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide. Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper – but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor – maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine – but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.

　　你們中的每一個(gè)人都會(huì)有自己擅長的東西，每一個(gè)人都是有用之材，而發(fā)現(xiàn)自己的才能是什么，就是你們要對(duì)自己擔(dān)起的責(zé)任。教育給你們提供了發(fā)現(xiàn)自己才能的機(jī)會(huì)�；蛟S你能寫出優(yōu)美的文字——甚至有一天能讓那些文字出現(xiàn)在書籍和報(bào)刊上——但假如不在英語課上經(jīng)常練習(xí)寫作，你不會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)自己有這樣的天賦;或許你能成為一個(gè)發(fā)明家、創(chuàng)造家——甚至設(shè)計(jì)出像今天的iPhone一樣流行的產(chǎn)品，或研制出新的藥物與疫苗——但假如不在自然科學(xué)課程上做上幾次實(shí)驗(yàn)，你不會(huì)知道自己有這樣的天賦;或許你能成為一名議員或最高法院法官，但假如你不去加入什么學(xué)生會(huì)或參加幾次辯論賽，你也不會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)自己的才能。

　　5.課堂外還是課堂教育重要

　　I left Harvard with no real awareness of the awful inequities in the world--the appalling disparities of health, and wealth, and opportunity that condemn millions of people to lives of despair. I left campus knowing little about the millions of young people cheated out of educational opportunities here in this country. And I knew nothing about the millions of people living in unspeakable poverty and disease in developing countries. It took me decades to find out.

　　我離開哈佛的時(shí)候，根本沒有意識(shí)到這個(gè)世界是多么的不平等。人類在健康、財(cái)富和機(jī)遇上的不平等大得可怕，它們使得無數(shù)的人們被迫生活在絕望之中。我離開校園的時(shí)候，根本不知道在這個(gè)國家里，有幾百萬的年輕人無法獲得接受教育的機(jī)會(huì)。我也不知道，發(fā)展中國家里有無數(shù)的人們生活在無法形容的貧窮和疾病之中。我花了幾十年才明白了這些事情。(本段文字來自比爾蓋茨的演講)