(单词翻译:单击)
英文原文
Americans who remember "the good old days" are not alone in complaining about the educational system in this country. Immigrants, too, complain, and with more up-to-date comparisons. Lately I have heard a Polish immigrant express dismay that his daughter's high school has not taught her the difference between Belgrade and Prague. A German friend was furious when he learned that the mathematics test given to his son on his first day as a freshman included multiplication and division. A Lebanese boasts that the average high-school graduate in his homeland can speak fluently in Arabic, French and English. Japanese businessmen in Los Angeles send their children to private schools staffed by teachers imported from Japan to learn mathematics at Japanese levels, generally considered at least a year more advanced than the level here.
But I wonder: If American education is so tragically inferior, why is it that this is still the country of innovation?
参考译文
不只是那些怀念“美好往日”的美国人在抱怨美国的教育制度，移民们也在抱怨，使这种抱怨有了更多的当代式的对比。最近我听到一个波兰移民的沮丧地说，女儿的高中不再教贝尔格莱德和布拉格的区别。一位德国朋友很生气，因为他听说儿子大一第一天的数学考试里有乘法和除法。一个黎巴嫩人夸耀说自己祖国一般的高中毕业生都能流利讲阿拉伯语、法语和英语。在洛杉矶的日本商人把孩子送到私立学校，那里有来自日本的教师以日本的水平教数学，那通常被认为本洛杉矶当地学校教的数学高出一学年的水平。
但是我惊讶的是：如果美国的教育如此悲惨地低劣，为什么美国还是一个创新的国度呢？
