37 Society should identify those children who have special talents and provide training for them at an early age to develop their talents

Society should identify those children who have special talents and provide training for them at an early age to develop their talents.

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the recommendation and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, describe specific circumstances in which adopting the recommendation would or would not be advantageous and explain how these examples shape your position.

文勇五问：

（1）社会的作用是什么？社会是精英的社会还是平民的社会？为什么这个问题对于理解原命题至关重要？

（2）早期展现出非凡天分的孩子就一定能在特定领域取得很高的成就吗？你能举出正面或者反面的例子吗？例如：欧洲最伟大的古典音乐作曲家之一莫扎特，小时候就展现出一定的音乐才华，长大后成为举世闻名的音乐家；而中国古代有个叫方仲永的孩子，幼年天资过人，因后来不努力，长大成人后却变得平庸。

（3）对于年幼的儿童，他们最应该得到的教育是什么？一定是开发他们的天分吗？价值观的养成、对兴趣的培养、批判思维和创新精神的培养是否重要呢？过早地开发他们的智力就一定是有益的吗？

（4）我们在考虑这个问题时，是否考虑过孩子自己的想法呢？他们的想法对于原命题的成立是否重要？有何影响？例如：孩子的体力和脑力也许并不能承受大量的培训，另外，孩子感兴趣的领域并不一定是自己有天分的。

（5）如果社会真的这样做会有什么好处？又有什么坏处？例如：可能使得一些孩子的天分得到更好的发挥，成为某领域的卓越人才；但也可能扼杀孩子快乐的童年，让他们失去童真，产生心理阴影。

翻译练习：

首先，没有任何可行的评估体系用来挑选这些“有天赋的”孩子。事实上，很多伟大的人物在人生的初级阶段并没有崭露出任何特别的能力。爱因斯坦，尽管现在被公认为世界上最伟大的物理学家之一，在年轻时被认为智力不超过平均水平。

参考答案：

In the first place, there is no feasible evaluation system to single those “talented” children out. In fact, many great figures showed nothing special at the early stage of their lives. Einstein,though now accepted as one of the most outstanding physicists throughout the world, was deemed no more than average when he was young.

翻译练习：

除了专业知识，良好的道德品格对一个人的发展同样至关重要。将这些有才能的孩子和同龄人分开并给予他们过度的关注会使他们自我膨胀（boost their egos）到一定程度，以至于他们在将来无法正确地应对失败。

参考答案：

Aside from specific knowledge, a sound moral character is also instrumental to one’s development. Separating these talented children from their peers and giving them too much attention may boost their egos to such an extent that they may not be able to deal with failures properly in the future.

写一写，练一练