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w关键词：bird/鸟，king/皇帝，book/书 |
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w话题：教育，
减负，天性 |
w体裁：
寓言 |
w类型：记叙文 |
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w难度级别：
初级 |
w词汇要求：1000- |
w文章词数：730 |
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[ 生 词 可 拖 选 或 双 击 ] |
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Everyone said, "Bravo! This is what we call
education!"
大家都说：“好呀！这就是我们所说的教育啊！” |
The
Story of the Bird
鸟的故事
作者：Rabindranth
Tagore
[印度，诗人泰戈尔]
翻译：Gurupad Das [美·俄亥俄州]
来源：www.skippingstones.org
日期：2008-08-20
责编：美味英语
There once was a
little bird. He sang and flew around but had no manners and read
no books. The king said, "This bird is no good. He doesn't do
anything except eat fruit in the orchard." He called his
minister and told him, "Give him some education!"
The responsibility
of educating the bird went to the king's nephew who summoned
pundits (wise men) to figure out why the bird was so uneducated.
They concluded that the problem was that the bird's nest was
made of cheap straw, so the first thing to do was to make a new
cage out of choice materials. The pundits went home richly
rewarded.
A goldsmith was
brought to build a cage of gold. It was such a masterpiece that
people from far and wide came to see it. Some exclaimed,
"Education at its best!" Others said, "Even if there's no
education, at least the bird now lives in a fancy cage. How
lucky he is!" The goldsmith was sent home with rich rewards.
The king's nephew
brought in textbook writers. They made copies of books and
copies of the copies, and soon there was a mountain of books.
Everyone said, "Bravo! This is what we call education!" The
textbook writers went home, laden with rich rewards.
The king's nephew
showered constant attention on the upkeep and maintenance of the
cage. A large staff was hired, and to watch over them, even more
people were hired. Some people commented, "True, the cage is
well taken care of, but nobody pays any attention to the bird."
The king heard the comments, and he summoned his nephew.
"Your Majesty,"
the nephew reassured him, "you can get the truth only by talking
to the people who know -- the goldsmiths, teachers, textbook
writers and administrators. The critics will make noise since
they have nothing else to do." The reply was enough to put the
king's mind at rest; he saw the picture clearly now. The nephew
got a gold necklace as a reward.
One day, the king
wanted to see for himself the progress that was taking place in
the bird's education. Along with the courtiers he came to visit
the bird's educational center. His arrival was celebrated with a
chorus of drums, tambourines, trumpets and horns. The
technicians, laborers, textbook writers and supervisors were all
at their respective tasks.
Thoroughly
satisfied, the king was about to mount his elephant, when a
critic who had been hiding in the bush shouted, "Your Majesty,
have you seen the bird?"
The king was
startled. "No, I forgot about that," he said. "Let's go have a
look at the bird."
He was given a
demonstration. The education process was so big that the bird
was hardly visible. The king was fully satisfied that there was
no lack of effort to teach the bird.
However, in the
cage there was no food or water. Instead, pages were being torn
from books and pushed down the bird's throat by one end of a
pen. Not only was the bird not singing, but there was hardly any
room left for him to breathe. His guardians felt that things
were on the right track.
Day by day, the
bird became so weak that he couldn't jump and dance anymore.
Still, sometimes out of an old habit, the bird, upon seeing the
morning sunlight, tried to flutter its wings. At times he tried
to cut through the metal cage with his weak beak.
"What foul
manners!" the guards cried. A blacksmith was summoned to make a
strong chain to hold the bird, whose wings were soon clipped.
"In this land birds are not only stupid," they said, "but have
no gratitude either."
Then one day, the
bird died. Nobody knew exactly when. The news spread. The king
called for the nephew to confirm the rumors.
The nephew
replied, "Your Majesty, the bird's education is now complete."
The King asked,
"Does it jump anymore?"
"Thank God, no,
Your Majesty."
"Does it fly?"
"No, Your
Majesty."
"Does it sing?"
"No, Your
Majesty."
"Does it cry when
hungry?"
"No, Your
Majesty."
The king said,
"Bring the bird. I wish to see it."
The King prodded
the bird with his finger. The bird made no noise, except for
that of the dry pages packed into his stomach.
Discussion/讨论：
1. Why was the bird put
into the cage?
2. How did the King's
nephew educate the bird?
3. What does the bird
stand for?
4. Can you guess
Tagore's opinion on education?
5. What is your opinion
about children's education nowadays?
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