New Technology is Poised to Disrupt Schools,The Economist,June 27th,2013
新技术将扰乱学校教育，经济学人，2013年6月27日
In a small school on the South Side of Chicago, 40 children between the ages of five and six sit quietly learning in a classroom.
在芝加哥南部的一所小学校里，40名年龄在5岁到6岁之间的孩子安静地坐在教室里学习。
In front of each of them is a computer running software called Reading Eggs.
在他们每个人的面前都有一台计算机，计算机上正在运行着一个名叫“阅读鸡蛋”的软件。
Some are reading a short story, others building sentences with words they are learning.
一些孩子正在阅读一个简短的故事，还有一些孩子正在用他们学习的单词组成句子。
As they complete each task they move through a cartoon map that shows how far they have progressed in reading and writing.
每当他们完成一项任务时，他们都要通过一个可以显示出他们的阅读和写作的进度卡通地图。
Along the way they collect eggs which they can use to buy objects in the game, such as items to furnish their avatar's apartment.
他们一路一边阅读一边收集鸡蛋，这些鸡蛋可以供他们在游戏中购买物品，例如购买物品来布置他们虚拟人物的公寓。
Now and then a child will be taken aside for scheduled reading periods with one of the two monitoring teachers.
孩子也会偶尔被叫到一旁进行预定的由两名监控教师中的其中一名进行指导的阅读课程。
The director says this sort of teaching, blending software with human intervention, helps her pupils learn faster.
校长表示，这种形式的教学把软件与人工干预融合在一起，能帮助学生学得更快。
It also allows teachers at this school to spend more time teaching and less time marking written work
同时，这种教学形式可以允许教师花更多的时间在教学上，而在批改书面作业
and leading pupils through dull drills of words and numbers.
和引导学生对单词和数字进行机械训练上花的时间会更少。
The idea that technology can revolutionize education is not new.
技术可以彻底改变教育的想法并不新鲜。
In the 20th century almost every new invention was supposed to have big implications for schools.
在20世纪，几乎每一项新的发明都被期望能对教学产生很大的影响。
Companies promoting typewriters, moving pictures, film projectors, educational television,
一些公司推出的打字机、移动图片、电影放映机、科教电视、
computers and CD-ROMS have all promised to improve student performance.
电脑和光盘驱动器都承诺能提高学生的成绩。
In many classrooms, computers have been used to improve efficiency and keep pupils engaged.
在许多教室里，电脑已经被用来提高学习效率和让学生参与其中。
But they did not transform learning in the way their boosters predicted.
但它们并没有使学习方式变成支持者所预测的那样。
It is wise, therefore, to be sceptical about the claims made for the current wave of innovation.
因此，对当前要求创新的浪潮持怀疑的态度是明智的。
Yet there are also reasons to believe that a profound shift is occurring.Thank you.
然而，也有理由相信学校正在因此而发生着巨大的改变。谢谢。
