美語情景對話 第208期:寫作 Writing

Todd: OK, John, you were saying that you taught writing in America.

託德：約翰，你說過你在美國教授寫作課程。

John: Yeah.

約翰：沒錯。

Todd: OK, and you said it was a paperless class.

託德：你還說那是無紙化課程。

John: Paperless class.

約翰：對，是無紙化課程。

Todd: OK, what does that mean, a paperless class?

託德：嗯，無紙化課程是什麼意思？

John: Basically, it means that we didn't use paper. Right, there was no paper. All of the students' assignments were posted on a web page, so for each of their papers that they had to write, each of their essays, they could just go online and read the description of the assignment and all their requirements, and then they had two options for handing in their essays; they could either type them up and e-mail them to me or they could type them up directly in like a text format screen on the web, so that I could, I would do all of the grading for the papers like online.

約翰：基本來說，意思就是我們不需要紙。沒錯，我們沒有紙。所有的學生作業都會發布在網頁上，到目前爲止他們完成所有的作業，所有的論文時，只需要上網查看作業說明和要求，之後他們有兩種交作業的方式；他們可以選擇把作業打出來，用郵件發給我，或是選擇直接做成網頁上顯示的文本格式，這樣我就可以在網上爲所有作業評分。

Todd: OK, did you like it as a teacher?

託德：好的，作爲老師你喜歡這種做法嗎？

John: It was a bit difficult cause it takes a lot to get used to reading everything on the screen, and it's, actually as far as like marking papers and grading them, it's easier for you because you can just highlight something and make it red and be like, you know, red needs spelling or whatever, and it's much quicker than like circling it and writing "spelling" once you get in the habit of doing it with the mouse and have your color skeem worked out, it goes very quick, and if you want to do a comment you can just, you know, change the font or the size, and type directly in the text, and they know, "oh well, here's John's comment."

約翰：這有些難，因爲要習慣在屏幕上閱讀所有東西，實際上，如果像批改試卷評分，那就簡單多了，因爲你只要畫出重點然後用紅字拼寫就可以了，在你習慣了使用鼠標圈出重點並拼寫以及顏色運用的時候，這就比用手批改試卷快多了，如果你想進行評價，你可以改變字體和字號，然後直接在文本上寫出來，他們就會知道，“嗯，這是約翰給的評價。”

Todd: Did the student like it?

託德：學生喜歡這種做法嗎？

John: Most of the students liked it, but there was a small majority that, you know, usually when they were late, or whenever they wanted to just like slip a paper under my door, and they couldn't do that, because you know they would, I would know if their paper was late because you know, it wasn't, the computer doesn't lie. It was logged in at this time and you know sent to me, so "yes it was late!" They couldn't, you know get around that kind of paper trail.

約翰：大多數學生喜歡，但是有小部分學生，你知道，那些經常遲交作業的學生，在他們想把作業塞進我的門縫裏時，他們就不能再這麼做了，因爲你知道他們會這樣做，而我知道他們的作業遲交了，因爲電腦是不會撒謊的。你在登錄以後把作業發給我，所以我就知道“作業遲交了！”他們不能再避開這種記錄了。

Todd: So, you're a writer, do you think it actually helps students to do this stuff on computers or should you go back to the pencil paper method?

託德：那，你是一名作家，你認爲在電腦上交作業實際上對學生們有幫助嗎？或是你想回到用筆寫作的方法？

John: I think it is important to be able to do both. I think that's the most important thing about being a writer is being able to be versatile and go in different directions and write in different forms, but probably as far as tools go these days, it's more important for students to be able to compose on a computer, because most likely that is what they'll be doing most of their writing.

約翰：我認爲能使用兩種方法很重要。我認爲作爲作家最重要的一點是要多才多藝，要有不同的方向，用不同的方式進行寫作，但是像目前的這些工具，對學生來說在電腦上進行寫作非常重要，因爲很可能他們以後將在電腦上完成大部分的寫作工作。

重點講解：
1. hand in
上交（作業、拾到的失物等）；提出，遞交（辭呈）；
eg. I'm supposed to have handed in a first draft of my dissertation.
我本該把論文的初稿交上去了。
eg. I handed my notice in on Saturday.
我週六遞交了辭職信。
2. get in the habit of doing sth.
養成…的習慣；習慣於；
eg. I got in the habit of calling in on Gloria on my way home from work.
我習慣於在下班回家的路上順便探望格洛麗亞。
eg. Get in the habit of saving regularly.
要養成定期儲蓄的習慣。
3. get around
規避，避開（法律或規章）；
eg. Although tobacco ads are prohibited, companies get around the ban by sponsoring music shows.
雖然嚴禁爲菸草做廣告，但一些菸草公司卻通過贊助音樂會來打擦邊球。
eg. It's wrong of you to get around the regulation.
你存心規避規章制度是不對的。