大狮 2012年9月12日

一堂“自由”实验课

作者：Pedro Pablo Sacriston 苏相宜译

陈案：

今年第十八期《读者》上刊登了一篇文章《一堂“自由”实验课》，林冬冬摘自《新东方英语·中学版》2012年第5期。文章介绍了一位外国教师（埃利斯小姐）设计的一个关于什么是“自由”的讨论课。她在课前给学生布置了一道课外实验作业，要求学生在课外设计一项实验，以便在课堂上通过自己的实验表演，展现自己对“自由”的见解。无论是课程的内容还是教学的方式都值得我们深思和借鉴。

埃利斯小姐的实验作业很有名，那个周末，她又给学生布置了一个。在她的课上，每个人都必须设计出能够帮助理解的实验，她的学生很喜欢这种教学形式。她的许多实验都与科学、化学有关，而其他实验――那些最出名的实验――则与人及其行为有关。这次实验作业就有个很难的主题：自由。你怎样才能做一场关于“自由”的实验呢？通过实验又能展现出 “自由”的什么内容呢？

回家的路上，学生们讨论着这些问题和其他类似的问题。不过，他们在以前的其他实验课上都表现得很出色，这次也不例外。到了周一，大家带着各自的实验构思返校，并逐一进行了阐述。所有构思都趣味盎然，但为了避免故事太过冗长，埃利斯小姐只让我给大家讲讲她最喜欢的三个实验，即阿曼达、查利以及安德烈娅的实验。

阿曼达拿出五个颜色各异的盒子，让埃利斯小姐从中选一个。埃利斯小姐欣然拿起粉色的那个盒子，笑逐颜开。接着阿曼达又拿出五个黄色的盒子，请查利挑一个。查利有些生气，随便拿了一个。埃利斯小姐被逗乐了，问阿曼达这个实验叫什么名字。

　　“我称它为‘选择’。你必须在不同选项中做出抉择，这样才存在‘自由’。这就是查利为什么会有点生气的原因。当所有的盒子颜色都一样时，其实并没有给你选择的自由。而埃利斯小姐很开心，是因为她能选择自己中意的颜色。”

　　查利准备的实验又是另一番模样，比之前的实验更生动。他挑了两名同学：聪明伶俐但优柔寡断的男孩卢卡斯和班上学习最差的保罗。查利让他俩走到教室前面和埃利斯小姐一起站到黑板前。然后，他将全班同学分成了三组。

　　查利对第一组说：“我要问你们一道难题。你们可以从黑板前的这三个人中选一个来帮你们回答。回答正确者将赢得一大包糖果。”第一组同学集体选了埃利斯小姐。

　　接着，查利对第二组说：“我要问你们同样的问题。不过在开始之前，你们应该知道，我已经给了保罗一张纸条，我的问题和答案就写在上面。”伴随着第一组同学的抱怨声，第二组一致选了保罗。

　　然后，查利对最后一组说：“现在轮到你们了。其实我跟第二组撒了谎，我把纸条给了卢卡斯。”在一片嘘声和零零散散的哄笑声中，保罗张开了空空的手心，而卢卡斯则让大家看到他确实拿着一张写着题目及答案的纸条。而且，卢卡斯是唯一能答对这道难题的人。

　　当获胜组的人给每个同学分发糖果时，查利解释说：“这个实验叫做‘自由建立于真相之上’。它告诉我们，你如果了解整个实情，才能够自由选择。第一组和第二组有权随意挑选他们想选的人，可由于他们不知道内幕，所以选择的时候并非真正的自由。他们要是早知道的话，就会选别的了。”

　　安德烈娅的实验与众不同。她来上课时，带来了她的小仓鼠雷洛以及几片奶酪和面包，准备做几个各不相同的实验。在第一个实验中，她用玻璃杯罩住一块奶酪，并在旁边放了一片没被罩住的面包。等她放出雷洛，小仓鼠便直奔奶酪而去，鼻头“砰”的一声撞上了玻璃杯。雷洛折腾了好半天试图吃到奶酪，但都没有成功，只得将就吃面包。

　　安德烈娅继续做了几个类似的实验，虽然有点残忍，但很有意思。在这些实验里，可怜的雷洛永远够不着奶酪，只得选面包。最后，安德烈娅在桌上放了一大块奶酪和一大片面包，两样都没用玻璃杯罩住。这回，厌烦了的雷洛直接冲过去吃掉了面包。

　　大家都非常喜欢这场实验。埃利斯小姐拿奶酪慰劳雷洛的时候，安德烈娅在一旁解释说：“这场实验名叫‘限制’。它告诉我们，无论我们是否察觉，我们的自由总是有限制的。而且这些限制并不总是都来自外界，也可能存在于我们的内心，比如雷洛，它以为自己永远得不到奶酪了。”

　　那天还进行了许多妙趣横生的实验，可能的话，今后我们再慢慢聊。但显而易见的是，上完这堂课，埃利斯小姐的学生们对自由的理解比许多大人都多了很多。

That weekend Miss Ellis handed out another of her famous experiment assignments. Her pupils loved that form of teaching, in which they themselves had to think up experiments that would aid in understanding. Many had to do with science, chemistry, but others―the most famous experiments―had to do with people and their behavior. And on that occasion the subject was really difficult: freedom. How can one conduct an experiment on freedom? What could you show about freedom through experiments?

　　On their way home, the students discussed these and other similar questions. However, they had already done a good job on other experiments, and this time was no exception. On Monday, the students returned with their ideas for an experiment, and they explained them one by one. All the ideas were very interesting but, to cut a long story short, Miss Ellis has asked me to tell you only about Amanda, Charlie, and Andrea's experiments―which she liked the most.

　　Amanda took out five different colored boxes and gave them to the teacher to choose one. Miss Ellis gratefully took the pink box, and smiled. Then Amanda took out five yellow boxes, and asked Charlie to choose one. Charlie, annoyed, carelessly chose one. Miss Ellis, amused1), asked Amanda what the experiment was called.

　　"I've called it 'Choices'. For freedom to exist you have to choose between different options. That's why Charlie was a bit annoyed, because when the boxes are all the same color, you are not really allowed to choose. But Miss Ellis has been pleased because she got to choose the box she liked the most."

　　Charlie had prepared another kind of experiment, a more lively one. He chose two class members. Lucas was a bright but indecisive2) boy, and Paul was one of the worst students. Charlie made them go up to join Miss Ellis at the blackboard. Then he divided the class into three groups.

　　To the first group he said: "I'm going to ask you a difficult question. You can choose one of the three people at the blackboard to help you answer it. Whoever gets the answer right will win a big bag of sweets." Everyone in the first group chose the teacher.

　　 Then Charlie said to the second group: "You will be asked the same question, but before we start you should know that I have given Paul a piece of paper with the question and its answer written on it." Amid the sound of complaints3) from the first group, the second group all chose Paul.

　　Then Charlie spoke to the last group: "It's your turn. What I told the second group was a lie. I gave the paper to Lucas." Amid booing and a few laughs, Paul showed that his hands were empty, and Lucas showed everyone that he did indeed have a piece of paper with the question and answer on it. And Lucas was the only one who managed to answer the difficult question correctly.

　　While the winners were sharing the sweets out to everyone, Charlie explained: "This experiment is called 'No Freedom Without Truth'. It shows that you can only choose freely if you know the whole truth of the situation. Groups one and two were free to choose who they wanted, but as they didn't know the full truth of the set-up, they were not really choosing freely. If they had known, then they would have chosen differently."

<$1$3　　Andrea's experiment was very different. She had come to class with Laylow, her hamster, and some pieces of cheese and bread, to prepare a few different tests. In the first she covered a piece of cheese with a glass. And at its side she placed a piece of bread, without covering it. When she set Laylow free, the hamster went straight for the cheese, banging his nose against the glass. Laylow tried to get to the cheese for a good while, but having no success he settled for4) the bread.

　　Andrea carried on with some similar experiments, a little cruel, but amusing, in which poor Laylow could never get to the cheese and had to choose the bread. Finally, Andrea put a lump5) of cheese and a lump of bread on the table, both uncovered. This time, Laylow, bored, went straight over and ate the bread.

　　Everyone enjoyed the experiment, and while Miss Ellis rewarded Laylow with the cheese, Andrea explained: "The experiment is called 'Limits'. It shows that, whether we know it or not, our freedom always has limits, and that these limits are not always outside ourselves. They can be inside us too, as with Laylow, who thought he would never be able to get the cheese."

　　Many more interesting experiments were performed that day, and maybe sometime we'll get to talk about them, but what is clear is that Miss Ellis's students ended up knowing a lot more about freedom than do many much older people.

风飞扬

现在象白鼠一样活着的真的是太多太多太多了。。。。多到自已都不知道是白鼠。

2012年9月15日

西山问明

高啊，不愧是大师~~~出走社的官员们都该好好看看~~~~~~~~~~~

2012年9月15日

大狮

不妨都让我们心里也做个实验？

2012年9月13日

大狮

安德烈娅的实验（小仓鼠那个）让我想起了上学时学的那篇课文，Robert Bruce和蜘蛛结网的故事。

Andrea翻的不太好，八十年代以前大多翻成安卓娅或安卓拉，我查了一下baidu，它翻成安德莉亚或安德里亚，怎么也比安德烈娅好一些。

2012年9月13日

钟山

不知让中国的学生实验会怎样？

2012年9月13日

武林阿混

有趣的实验，要是让我设计，我估计很难做到。

2012年9月12日

穿山癸

生动的“自由”实验课，让人从多个角度体会实验的内容。这样才能出人才啊。

翻译有点问题，Andrea是个男人名。

2012年9月12日

chenyi

为了奶酪，在许多次碰壁之后，也要努力保持继续尝试的勇气。当然，大多数人不愿意继续尝试，也不过是人之常情。

2012年9月12日

一堂“自由”实验课

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