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　　課外閱讀1

Parents who spend time and money to teach their children music, take heart -- a new Canadianstudy shows young children who take music lessons have better memories than theirnonmusical peers。

那些花錢花時間讓孩子學音樂的家長們可以放心了，加拿大的一項最新研究表明，上過音樂課的兒童比那些沒上過音樂課的同齡兒童記憶力要好。

The study, published in the online edition of the journal Brain, showed that after one year ofmusical training, children performed better in a memory test than those who did not take musicclasses。

這項研究結果在《大腦》雜誌的網站上發表，研究發現，上過一年音樂課的兒童在一項記憶力測試中的表現比沒有上過音樂課的兒童好。

"(The research) tells us that if you take music lessons your brain is getting wired up differentlythan if you don't take music lessons," Laurel Trainor, professor of psychology, neuroscience andbehavior at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, said。

安大略省漢密爾頓市麥克馬斯特大學研究心理學、神經系統科學和行爲學的勞雷爾·特芮娜教授說："這項研究告訴我們，是否上音樂課會對大腦的發育產生不同影響。"

"This is the first study to show that brain responses in young, musically trained and untrainedchildren change differently over the course of a year," said Trainor 。

特芮娜說："這項研究首次發現，受過音樂訓練的兒童和未受過音樂訓練的兒童的大腦反應在一年內發生了不同的變化。

Over a year they took four measurements in two groups of children aged between four and six -- those taking music lessons and those taking no musical training outside school -- and founddevelopmental changes over periods as short as four months。

在一年的時間裏，研究人員對兩組4至6歲的兒童進行了四項測定，其中一組是在課外時間上音樂課的兒童，另一組是未上音樂課的兒童，研究發現，在短短的四個月內，這兩組兒童的大腦發育都有所不同。

The children completed a music test in which they were asked to discriminate betweenharmonies, rhythms and melodies, and a memory test in which they had to listen to a series ofnumbers, remember them and repeat them back。

參加此項研究的兒童接受了一項音樂測試和一項記憶力測試。在音樂測試中，研究人員要求這些兒童對和聲、節奏和旋律進行鑑別;而在記憶力測試中，他們需要聽一系列的數字，將它們記住，然後再把它們複述出來。

Trainor said while previous studies have shown that older children given music lessons hadgreater improvements in IQ scores than children given drama lessons, this is the first study toidentify these effects in brain-based measurements in young children。

特芮娜教授說，此前已有研究表明，在年齡稍大的兒童中，上過音樂課的兒童智商平均分比上過戲劇課的兒童進步得快。而此項最新研究首次對幼童進行了智商測試。

She said it was not that surprising that children studying music improved in musical listeningskills more than children not studying music。

她說，"學習音樂兒童的音樂視聽能力上比未學音樂的兒童強，這並不奇怪。"

"On the other hand, it is very interesting that the children taking music lessons improved moreon general memory skills that are correlated with nonmusical abilities such as literacy, verbalmemory, visiospatial processing, mathematics and IQ," she said。

"但從另一方面看，十分有趣的是，學習音樂的兒童在一般性記憶力等非音樂技能方面的提高，如讀寫能力、語言記憶、視覺空間分析、數學、智商，比未學習音樂的兒童大。"

　　課外閱讀2

A person who compares the annual earnings of college and high school graduates would nodoubt conclude that higher education is a good investment—the present value of the collegeearnings premium (the better part of $1 million) seemingly far outdistances college costs, yielding a high rate of return. But for many, attending college is unequivocally not the rightdecision on purely economic grounds.

如果比較一下大學畢業生和高中畢業生的收入水平，當然我們會發現高等教育是一項明智的投資，因爲大學所獲取的收入似乎遠遠超過學費。但是對很多人來說，如果單從經濟角度分析，上大學並非一個明智的選擇。

First of all, college graduates on average are smarter and have better work habits than highschool graduates. Those who graduated from college were better students in high school, forexample. Thus, at least a portion of the earnings premium associated with college has nothingto do with college per se, but rather with other traits.

第一，從平均水平來看，大學畢業生要比高中畢業生更聰慧，有更好的工作習慣，那些考入大學的人都是高中裏的尖子學生。所以，大學教育所帶來的額外收入當中，至少有一部分與大學本身無關，而是學生素質的問題。

Second, a goodly proportion (more than 40 percent) of those attending four-year colleges full-time fail to graduate, even within six years. At some colleges, the dropout rate is strikinglyhigher. While college students sometimes still gain marketable skills from partial attendance, others end up taking jobs that are often given to high school graduates, making little moremoney but having college debts and some lost earnings accrued while unsuccessfully pursing adegree.

第二，一大部分學生(超過40%)在四年全日制大學中沒能畢業，甚至延長到了年也無法畢業。有些高校中的退學率令人不敢相信。雖然有一些學生通過半日制學習也獲取了一些市場上需要的技能，但其他人只能獲得給高中畢業生預備的工作崗位。他們在沒有獲得學位，沒有掙到錢，又揹負了沉重的學費貸款。

Third, not everyone is average. A non-swimmer trying to cross a stream that on average isthree feet deep might drown because part of the stream is seven feet in depth. The same kindof thing sometimes happens to college graduates too entranced by statistics on averages. Earnings vary considerably between the graduates of different schools, and within schools, earnings differ a great deal between majors. Accounting, computer science, and engineeringmajors, for example, almost always make more than those majoring in education, social work, or ethnic studies.

第三，平均數不說明問題。一個不會游泳的人在橫越一條平均水深3英尺的河流時有可能被淹死，因爲這條河流中有的地方水深達7英尺。用平均統計數據描述的大學畢業生也存在同樣的問題。不同高校畢業的學生收入水平也有很大的差別，即使在同一所學校中，不同專業畢業生的收入也有很大差距。例如，財務、計算機和工程專業的畢業生通常比教育、社會工作和倫理學專業的畢業生收入高。

Fourth, the number of new college graduates far exceeds the growth in the number oftechnical, managerial, and professional jobs where graduates traditionally have gravitated. As a consequence, we have a new phenomenon: underemployed college graduates doingjobs historically performed by those with much less education. We have, for example, more than 100, 000 janitors with college degrees, and 16, 000 degree-holding parking lot attendants.

第四，大學畢業生的數量遠遠超過技術、管理和專業等吸引高等教育人才的就業崗位的增長數量。所以我們發現：那些沒能找到好工作的大學畢業生，正在從事不需要高等教育人員的工作。在我們國家，現在有10萬持有大學學位的看門人，有16000名大學畢業生在作停車場管理員。

Does this mean no one should go to college? Of course not. First of all, college is more thantraining for a career, and many might benefit from the social and non-purely academicaspects of advanced schooling, even if the rate of return on college as a financial investment islow. Second, high school students with certain attributes are far less likely to drop out ofschool, and are likely to equal or excel the average statistics.

這是不是說所有人都不應當上大學呢?當然不是。首先，大學不僅僅是提供就業培訓的場所，人們還可以在大學中提升社交和其它非學術性的能力，即使從經濟角度來看，這些能力的回報率並不高。其次，優秀的大學生並不會輟學，他們的收入水平一般都會與平均數持平或者高。

Students who do well in high school and on college entrance exams are much more likely tograduate. Those going to private schools may pay more in tuition, but they also have lowerdropout rates. Those majoring in some subjects, such as education or one of the humanities, can sometimes improve their job situation by double majoring or earning a minor in, say, economics.

在高中和大學入學考試中成績優秀的學生很多。進入私立學校的學生雖然支付了昂貴的學費，但退學的並不多。那些主修教育、人文學科的學生，還可以通過輔修其它專業，比如經濟學，來提升他們的就業前景。

As a general rule, I would say graduates in the top quarter of their class at a high-quality highschool should go on to a four-year degree program, while those in the bottom quarter of theirclass at a high school with a mediocre educational reputation should not (opting instead foralternative methods of credentialing and training).

所以，在我看來，在高中排名前四分之一的學生應當就讀四年全日制大學，在普通高中排名位於後四分之一的學生應當選擇考慮其他。

Those in between should consider perhaps doing a two-year program and then transferring to afour-year school. There are, of course, exceptions to this rule, but it is important for us to keepin mind that college is not for everyone.

那些位於中間的學生或許可以考慮先讀一個兩年制的專業，然後轉到四年制大學。當然，總有例外，重要的是，我們要記住，不是所有人都適合上大學。