美語情景對話 第509期:Is Education Useful? 教育有用嗎

Todd: Hey, so Jeff, you have an MBA, or you're studying to get an MBA?

託德：嘿，傑夫，你有工商管理學碩士學位，還是你正在攻讀工商管理學碩士學位？

Jeff: I'm studying to get an MBA.

傑夫：我正在攻讀工商管理學碩士學位。

Todd: OK, why did you choose to get an MBA. You don't seem like the business type of guy. You're always talking about nature and travel and art.

託德：好，你爲什麼選擇攻讀工商管理學碩士？你看起來並不是那種商業型的人。你總是談論自然、旅行和藝術的話題。

Jeff: Ah, this Master's of Business Administration in International Tourism, that's my focus, international tourism, is purely out of necessity, not really that I love to be a student or love studying but I think it's, in today's world, you need an edge to get a job, and I think this MBA will give me an edge to get a job in the future.

傑夫：哦，我的專業是工商管理國際旅遊方向，我的專業是國際旅遊，我選擇這個專業是出於需要，不僅僅是因爲我喜歡學習，而是我認爲在當今這個世界，找工作時要有優勢，我認爲工商管理學碩士學位讓我以後找工作時有一定的優勢。

Todd: So are you learning a lot in your program? Is this a good MBA program that you're in?

託德：你的專業要學習的內容多嗎？你學習的專業是優秀的工商管理項目嗎？

Jeff: They say education is not burden, Max Lerner, I think said, "Education is not burden" but, and I do, the subject that I chose, international tourism is an interesting topic, and I enjoy it so, I am learning. I'm reading a lot, and I am learning a lot on the subject which is good.

傑夫：聽說教育不是負擔，我想馬克斯·雷勒說過，“教育不是負擔”，我選擇的國際旅遊專業是一個有意思的主題，我很喜歡，所以我努力學習。我會閱讀大量材料，也會對這個優秀的項目展開大量研究。

Todd: I don't know, man, I'm actually getting a Master's and, I'm getting a Master's in Education, and I think it's a waste of time.

託德：我不清楚，我也有碩士學位，我是教育學的碩士，可是我覺得那是浪費時間。

Jeff: Well, I never think education is a waste of time, but I think it's the opportunity cost: What you could be doing instead of studying, and I think that's, you really weight out the options of the opportunity that you're giving up when you're spending all those hours reading and writing, and if you have nothing else better to do then I think, well, then yeah, studying something you're interested in is a good idea. It's better than watching TV or playing video games.

傑夫：我從來不認爲教育是浪費時間，不過我認爲是在浪費機會：想想除了學習你可能做的事情，你花數個小時的時間讀寫時就放棄了做其他事情的機會，不過如果你沒有什麼更好的事情要做，那學習一些感興趣的東西是個不錯的主意。這比看電視或玩視頻遊戲強多了。

Todd: True. True, but sadly I think most Master's programs, or most education systems are geared actually just to make money, and they have a system where they give the books, you read the books, you write the papers, but there's no real learning going on, and it's, in effect, I think it's a waste of time, but that's not the real way that people learn. They learn by actually doing things or having a challenge and trying to accomplish the challenge using any resource possible, and it seems to me that most Master's programs, MBA, Education, whatever, they don't really teach that.

託德：沒錯，沒錯，不過遺憾的是，我認爲大部分碩士項目或者大部分教育體系的目的都是爲了掙錢，他們會提供書籍，然後你閱讀這些書並寫論文，但其實這樣並沒有在真正的學習，其實我認爲這就是浪費時間，這並不是人們學習的方式。要通過做事情或者接受挑戰或者嘗試用可用資源去完成挑戰來學習，我認爲包括工商管理和教育學等在內的大部分碩士學位實際上並沒有傳授這種方法。

Jeff: I agree with you. I think universities are now a business to make money and the bottom line, revenue is, this is what drives univerisity but I do think that there is active and passive learning like you said and I think there is room for both. (Sure) I think passive learning is good. I think active learning is better but I think it's harder to, it's harder to do. It's harder to get the, get the chance to do active learning, but I think passive learning's OK, as long as it's not all you do. (Sure) I think if you can couple them together, there's some passive learning, some active learning, I think there're good together.

傑夫：我同意你的觀點。我認爲大學現在就是掙錢的商業機構，推動大學的底線就是收入，我認爲確實有你剛提到的主動學習和被動學習這兩種學習方式，這兩種方式有各自的優點。（沒錯）我認爲被動學習很好，當然主動學習更好，不過很難做到主動學習。很難有機會去主動學習，所以被動學習也可以，只要你不是一直都採取這種方法。（沒錯）我想可以把兩者結合在一起，既進行被動學習又進行主動學習，結合在一起效果更好。

Todd: Well, I think sadly passive learning, book learning, the reading and writing, it's cheaper to do so that's why univerisities tend to stress that.

託德：遺憾的是，像書本知識、讀寫這種被動學習的成本更低，所以大學纔會強調這種方式。

Jeff: Yeah, but I'm, I think I agree with you. I think it is a little bit of a waste of time, but if you have nothing else to do that's any better, then I think yeah, education and studying and learning are a very good thing.

傑夫：沒錯，我同意你的觀點。我認爲這種學習方式是有些浪費時間，不過如果你沒有更好的事情要做的話，教育、學習和研究是非常好的選擇。

譯文屬僅供學習交流使用，未經許可請勿轉載

重點講解：
1. be geared to do sth.
使爲…而準備；使爲了達到…而作好準備；
eg. Production should be geared to demand.
生產應與需求相適應。
eg. Education should be geared to the children's needs and abilities.
教育應適應兒童的需要和能力。
2. in effect
其實；實際上；
eg. The two methods in effect amount to the same.
實際上兩種方法是一樣的。
eg. He said he graduated from Oxford, while in effect, he never went to college.
他說他是牛津畢業的，但實際上他從沒上過大學。
3. agree with
同意；贊成；意見一致；
eg. He will not agree with you. He still sticks his heels in.
他不會同意你的觀點，他仍然不改變主意。
eg. His account of the affair does not agree with yours.
對這件事他的說法和你的說法不一致。