【正文】
books. Gradually she realizes the professor is as bored as his audience. At the end of each lecture he asks, “Are there any questions?” in a tone of voice that makes it plain he would much rather there weren’t. He needn’t worry—the students are as relieved as he is that the class is over.有幾天瑪麗坐在前排,她可以看到教授在讀一疊幾乎和他年紀一樣老的發(fā)黃的講義。她聽課聽煩了,其他大部分同學(xué)也聽煩了,這從他們的行為中可以做出判斷:他們要么在打盹,要么在筆記本上涂鴉。漸漸地她意識到教授和他的聽眾一樣感到無聊。每次課結(jié)束時他都問道:“有問題嗎?”他的語氣明顯表明他更希望沒有問題。他不必擔(dān)心,學(xué)生和他一樣感到下課是一種解脫。Mary knows very well she should read an assignment before every lecture. However, as the professor gives no quizzes and asks no questions, she soon realizes she needn’t prepare. At the end of term she catches up by skimming her notes and memorizing a list of facts and dates. After the final exam, she promptly forgets much of what she has memorized. Some of her follow students, disappointed at the impersonality of it all, drop out of college altogether. Others, like Mary , stick it out, grow resigned to the system and await better days when, as juniors and seniors, they will attend smaller classes and at last get the kind of personal attention real learning requires. 瑪麗清楚的知道她應(yīng)該在每次上課前閱讀布置的作業(yè)。但是,因為教授不做小測驗也不提問,她很快就認識到她不必準備。學(xué)期末她只要看看筆記,再記記一些事件、年代就可以跟上進度。期末考試后她會立刻忘掉她背下來的大部分內(nèi)容。她的有些同學(xué)對這種無人情味的學(xué)習(xí)很失望,干脆輟學(xué)。其他人像瑪麗一樣堅持下來,無奈地接受了這種制度,等待著到大三大四時的好日子,那時他們就會有較小的班級,最終也會得到真正的學(xué)習(xí)所需要的那種針對個人的關(guān)注。I admit this picture is overdrawn—most universities supplement lecture courses with discussion groups, usually led by graduate students。 and some classes such as firstyear English and always relatively small. Nevertheless, far too many courses rely principally or entirely on lectures, an arrangement much loved by faculty and administrators but scarcely designed to benefit the students. 我承認上面的描述言過其實。大多數(shù)大學(xué)有討論課來補充聽力課,通常討論課是由研究生主持的。而且有些班級,如一年級的英語課,也總是相對較小的。但是,還有太多的課主要或者完全依賴于講課,這種安排受到教師和管理人員的青睞,但絕不是為學(xué)生的利益而設(shè)計的。One problem with lectures is that listening intelligently is hard work. Reading the same material in a textbook is a more efficient way to learn because students can proceed as slowly as they need to until the subj