时尚双语:10件学校不会教你的事情
日期:2008-04-21 17:00

(单词翻译:单击)

Curse Words in Shakespeare

The works of William Shakespeare are often held up as the epitome of good English. However what most people aren't aware of is that they are full of sexual innuendo and that they even contain the odd curse word. In fact there are even references to the C-word, with it being alluded to three times in Shakespeare's plays. Once in Hamlet, once in Henry V and most blatantly of all in Twelfth Night, where the character Malvolio actually spells the word out.
CIA/MI6 Overthrowing Democratic Governments

In the west we're taught at school that we are the good guys and that the rest of the world are the bad guys, and that it's our job to spread our “democratic values” around the globe. However what we're not taught is that our governments (namely the British and American) have actually at times masterminded the overthrow of democratic governments in order to pursue their own nefarious ambitions. There are numerous examples of this, particularly in South America and the Middle East, one of the most notable being the ousting of Iran's democratically elected government in the early 1950's.
College Drop Outs

Another thing not often spoken about at school is that many of the worlds most successful and intelligent people didn't actually like education and in some cases left it altogether. In fact, Albert Einstein, the very poster boy of intellectualism, intensely disliked school. He compared being at school to like being in the army and resented the way it tried to put boundaries and constraints on people. Other famous people who were critical of organised education include Victor Hugo, Leonardo da Vinci and the writer Alexandre Dumas.
Historic Pornography

In history class, when we learnt about ancient Greece and Rome, we were taught about the wars, literature, art and invention of those classical civilisations. However what was never mentioned was the obsession the ancient world had with sex. It permeated almost every aspect of society and was graphically represented in much of their artwork. In fact when places such as Pompeii and Herculaneum were excavated they were found to be covered in erotic frescoes and sexual inscriptions. So much so that the discoveries were kept from public view and sometimes even vandalised so as to obscure their explicit nature.
Fascist Coup Planned for America

Another piece of history that you probably weren't taught about at school concerns a little known plot to implement a fascist takeover in the United States. The plot, recently investigated by BBC Radio 4, was led by wealthy industrialists and bankers, including Prescott Bush (grandfather of George W. Bush), who were displeased with Franklin D. Roosevelt's progressive political policies in the early 1930's. The plan may have succeeded were it not for a Marine Corps Major General named Smedley Butler, who blew the whistle on the plot after being approached by the influential power brokers who wanted him to lead the uprising.
Columbus Didn't Discover America

The truth is that Columbus wasn't even close to being the first to discover the New World. The Vikings visited the Americas some 500 years before Columbus did and there are also people who believe that the Chinese beat him to it as well. On top of this there is the simple fact that there were people in the Americas before Columbus arrived. It's only a vestige of Eurocentric imperialism that leads us to think of America as having been “discovered” in the traditional sense and it's left many people who are native to the continent with the feeling that their pre-Columbus history has been ignored and devalued.
Playing Video Games is Good For You

Children are often chastised for wasting their time playing computer games. However research shows that video games can help improve reflexes, eyesight and intelligence. Shoot-em-up games in particular were shown to aid visual skills. There is even a doctor from New York's Beth Israel Medical Center, named James C. Rosser, who co-authored a study suggesting that surgeons that played video games were faster and less prone to making mistakes than their non-game playing counterparts.
TV is Educational

TV, like video games, is another thing that is often seen as being a bad influence on people. The criticism it gets however couldn't be more misguided, as television is in fact one of the most educational things ever invented. It allows people to learn about the entire world from the comfort of their own living room and has been responsible for the collective education of a large chunk of humanity for the last fifty years. The fall of the Berlin Wall, the Moon Landings, the plight of Africa and global warming are just a few of the things we've been informed and updated about by television. May it continue to entertain and illuminate us long into the future.
Fractional Reserve Banking

Fractional Reserve Banking is a system of banking that essentially allows banks to lend out money that they don't actually possess. It's legal and operates to varying degrees across the planet. It's the root cause of inflation and is something that few people know about and even fewer people understand. If people were educated about it, they wouldn't allow it to continue. However as our education systems are more concerned with the superficial than the essential, we'll probably all continue in ignorance of it until the world economy collapses under the weight of our collective debt.
The Drug Use of Poets and Writers

One of the greatest ironies of education is the way children are constantly told of the dangers of drugs and alcohol while at the same time being encouraged, and sometimes forced, to learn about poets and writers, most of which were notorious drug users, alcoholics and womanisers. Famous figures in literature who are associated with drugs include Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Thomas de Quincey and Jack Kerouac. One popular drug of choice amongst writers was laudanum, a solution of opium in alcohol, and was commonly used for both medicinal and recreational purposes, particularly during the Romantic period. Author Aldous Huxley was also open about his drug use, writing about his experiences with LSD. In fact I'm sure that in a hundred years time teachers will be forcing children to learn about Marilyn Manson and Pete Doherty in much the same way that they try to teach them about writers of poetry and fiction today.


1,莎士比亚作品中的不雅词语

莎士比亚的伟大作品常常被人们推崇,并且被视为是英语文字中的楷模。但是,大家却都没有发现作品中有很多性暗示语言及粗话,脏话。事实上,书中还有很多关于女性生殖器官的注解,这些词汇在莎士比亚的3部作品中都有所提及。一处是在《哈姆雷特》,一处是在《亨利八世》,还有一处,也是笔墨最多的就是在《第十二夜》中了,马伏里奥几乎都要把那个单词,一个字一个字拼出来了。

2,中央情报局推翻民主政府

在西方世界,我们在学校的教育灌输下,认为我们是代表正义的一群人,而剩下的在这个世界上的都是非正义的人群,所以,我们的责任就是要在全世界范围里传播我们的“民主价值观”。然而,学校没有教给我们的是,我们“伟大的政府”(即英国和美国)为了谋求自己的政治报复,会时不时地去策划,指挥推翻别国的民主政府。这样的例子数不胜数,尤其发生在南美和中东地区。其中最臭名昭著的例子恐怕就是发生在20世纪60年代的驱逐伊朗选举产生的民主政府。

3,大学里发生的辍学事件

还有一件事情,在学校也很少提及:很多世界闻名的成功人士很讨厌学校教育,有些甚至从来就没有接受过学校教育。比如爱因斯坦,这个绝顶聪明的小孩就极度讨厌上学。他把上学比作是在服兵役,讨厌各种各样的规矩把人都束缚了起来。除了爱因斯坦之外,还有很多批判传统教育法的名人,如维克多·雨果﹑达芬奇和著名作家大仲马等等。

4,历史上著名的淫秽书物

上历史课的时候,讲到古希腊和罗马时,我们谈到的是战争﹑文学﹑艺术﹑还有那些经典文明所创造出来的发明。但是我们却从来没有谈及过古老世界对于性的困惑。其实,对于性的困惑几乎渗透于这个社会的每个角落,并且在很多艺术作品中都以图画的方式表达了出来。事实上,历史上的很多古城,如庞贝和赫库兰尼姆古城就是从一堆雕刻着春宫图的壁画雕刻中挖掘出来的。

5,关于美国的法西斯计划

另一项学校不可能告诉你的历史上的惊天大秘密就是关于在美国实施法西斯的机密。BBC广播4台是在最近才开始针对这个秘密计划进行调查的,而且得到了很多大企业家和银行家的支持,其中包括了美国现任总统小布什的祖父普利史考特·布什。他曾经对于20世纪40年代罗斯福总统提出的新政感到很不满。而且调查发现要不是因为一个叫巴特勒的海军司令,这个实施计划差一点就要成功了。他因为受到一些势力强大的掮客的支持,希望他能够领导这次推翻起义,使他在最后时刻阻止了这个计划。

6,哥伦布并没有发现美洲大陆

事实的真相就是哥伦布并不是第一个发现美国这个新大陆的人。北欧海盗们早比哥伦布500年踏上这片土地。也有人认为是中国人把哥伦布赶到美洲大陆上的。不管怎样,一个不争的事实就是早在哥伦布之前就有人生活在那里了。这只不过是因为人们长久以来以欧洲文化为中心的思想使得我们认为美洲大陆是被“发现”的。这也使得那些天真的人忽略了在哥伦布之前的美洲大陆的历史。

7,玩电子游戏可是有益身体健康的哦~

孩子们总是因为浪费时间在玩电子游戏上而挨骂。但是,研究发现玩电子游戏可以提高身体的反射能力,视力和智力哦~射击类游戏尤其可以帮助提高视觉能力。更有一个来自纽约Beth Israel医疗中心的James C. Rosser医生在一篇联合发表的报告中曾经表明玩电子游戏的外科医生要比不玩游戏的外科医生反应更快,更少犯错。

8,电视的教育意义

电视如同电子游戏一样,常常被人们认为是个对人们发展有着负面影响的发明。但是这样的批评再也不能误导我们了,因为电视所具有的教育意义使之成为了史上最棒的一项发明。电视的出现使我们可以舒舒服服地呆在家里,足不出户就可以了解全世界。而且,近50年来,电视承担了向全人类普及知识的重任。柏林墙倒塌﹑月球登陆﹑非洲的窘困还有全球温室效应等一系列事件,只是我们从电视中得到的一小部分信息。电视还将在未来的日子里带给我们欢笑,点亮我们的生活。

9,部分准备金银行体系

部分准备金银行体系是指允许银行向外进行借贷业务,而这些钱并非银行所有。这样的行为合法且在全球范围内以不同的形式实施着。正是这个原因导致了通货膨胀,但是这个原因只有很少人会知道,有更少的人会懂得这个道理。如果人们都了解到这些的话,一定不会让这样的事情继续进行下去的。然而我们的教育总是重表不重本,所以我们只能继续装傻直到世界经济被日益积累的债务所拖垮的一天。

10,诗人和作家们食用毒品

教育的一个可笑之处就在于一方面坚持劝导孩子们远离毒品和酒精,另一方面却被积极鼓励甚至逼迫孩子们学习那些诗人和作家的作品。要知道,他们之中有很多人可是瘾君子,酒鬼和花花公子。那些吸毒的文学大师有Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Thomas de Quincey 和 Jack Kerouac。鸦片酊是他们最喜欢的一种毒品,尤其是在浪漫主义时期。这种毒品就是把鸦片溶解在酒精里,常常被用来治病或者产生的幻觉使人得到放松。Aldous Huxley编辑对于他食用毒品的事实十分坦白,写了很多关于其食用LSD后的经历和感受。我很确信,在之后的一个世纪,老师们还会像现在一样逼着孩子们学习他们的诗歌和小说而不会提及他们的吸毒经历。

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重点单词
  • pursuev. 追捕,追求,继续从事
  • romanticadj. 浪漫的 n. 浪漫的人
  • reserven. 预备品,贮存,候补 n. 克制,含蓄 vt. 保留
  • postern. 海报,装饰画
  • innuendon. 讽刺,讥讽 vi. 说讽刺话
  • inflationn. 膨胀,通货膨胀
  • coupn. 政变,砰然的一击,妙计,出乎意料的行动
  • intelligencen. 理解力,智力 n. 情报,情报工作,情报机关
  • implementn. 工具,器具; 当工具的物品 vt. 实施,执行;
  • victorn. 胜利者 Victor: 维克托(男子名)