TED演讲:书呆子教你如何在线学习(4)
And then, when I was in tenth grade, I went to this school, Indian Springs School, a small boarding school,
后来，在我十年级的时候，我转学了，我转到了一家名叫“印第安泉”的小型寄宿学校，
outside of Birmingham, Alabama. And all at once I became a learner.
位于阿拉巴马州伯明翰市郊区。一夜之间我就成了个好学的人。
And I became a learner, because I found myself in a community of learners.
之所以有这种变化，是因为我加入了一个学习社团。
I found myself surrounded by people who celebrated intellectualism and engagement,
我周围的人全都信奉理智主义，喜欢与人交流，
and who thought that my ironic oh-so-cool disengagement wasn’t clever, or funny,
他们觉得我那种自以为很酷的逃避学习的行为既不聪明，也很无聊，
but, like, it was a simple and unspectacular response to very complicated and compelling problems.
仅仅只是一种在面对复杂而又无法逃避的问题时所采取的简单而不成熟的应对方式。
And so I started to learn, because learning was cool.
于是我也开始学习，因为学习这事儿变酷了。
I learned that some infinite sets are bigger than other infinite sets,
我明白了无限集合也有大小之分，
and I learned that iambic pentameter is and why it sounds so good to human ears.
我明白了什么是抑扬格五音步诗，还有它为什么听起来那么悦耳。
I learned that the Civil War was a nationalizing conflict,
我明白了南北战争实际上是民族冲突，
I learned some physics, I learned that correlation shouldn’t be confused with causation
我还学了点物理，明白了相关不蕴含因果，
all of these things, by the way, enriched my life on a literally daily basis.
所有这些知识，让我的生活日渐丰富多彩。
And it’s true that I don’t use most of them for my “job,” but that’s not what it’s about for me.
而这些知识中的大部分跟我的工作没有任何关系，其实我想说的并不是我自己。
It’s about cartography. What is the process of cartography?
而是如何绘制地图。地图是怎么绘制出来的呢？
It’s, you know, sailing upon some land, and thinking, “I think I’ll draw that bit of land,”
大体上，你航行到某一块陆地上，想着“我要把这块陆地画下来，”
and then wondering, “Maybe there’s some more land to draw.”
然后你就会想，“也许还有其他陆地可以画。”
And that’s when learning really began for me.
我的学习就是从那时才真正开始的。
It’s true that I had teachers that didn’t give up on me, and I was very fortunate to have those teachers,
我的确遇到了没有放弃我的老师，能遇到他们是我的幸运，
because I often gave them cause to think there was no reason to invest in me.
因为我常常会让老师们觉得在我身上浪费时间很不值。
But a lot of the learning that I did in high school wasn’t about what happened inside the classroom,
然而我高中时期学习的大部分过程，并没有发生在课堂上，
it was about what happened outside of the classroom.
而是在放学后。
For instance, I can tell you that “There’s a certain Slant of light, Winter Afternoons
举个例子，我能背诵“冬日午后的阳光，以特定角度穿堂，
That oppresses, like the Heft Of Cathedral Tunes…”
那沉重的压迫啊，似教堂圣歌在胸膛…”
not because I memorized Emily Dickinson in school when I was in high school,
并不是因为我在高中课堂上背熟了埃米莉·迪更生的诗，
but because there was a girl when I was in high school, and her name was Amanda,
而是因为我高中班上有个女孩，名叫阿曼达，
and I had a crush on her, and she liked Emily Dickinson poetry.
我很喜欢她，而她喜欢埃米莉·迪更生的诗。
The reason I can tell you what opportunity cost is,
而我知道什么是“机会成本”，
is because one day when I was playing Super Mario Kart on my couch, my friend Emmet walked in,
是因为有一天我躺在沙发上玩“超级玛丽赛车”，我的朋友艾米特走进来说，
and he said, “How long have you been playing Super Mario Kart?”
“你在这玩‘超级玛丽赛车’多久了？”
And I said, “I don’t know, like, six hours?”
我说，“记不得了，也许6个小时？”
and he said, “Do you realize that if you’d worked at Baskin-Robbins those six hours,
他说，“你知道吗，你要是在Baskin-Robbins冰激凌店打工6小时的话，
you could have made 30 dollars, so in some ways, you just paid thirty dollars to play Super Mario Kart.”
你已经挣了30美元了，也就是说，你花了30美元来玩‘超级玛丽赛车’。”
And I was, like, “I’ll take that deal.”
而我说，“很便宜啊。”
在线学习就是一场教室革命，但在种类庞杂的信息中，如何利用好这个资源，还需要书呆子来给你讲讲。别瞧不起书呆子，学渣将来都要给人打工。