经济学人精读笔记12：网课有利于拉近师生关系？
标签（空格分隔）： 经济学人
Part 1
Remote learning
Getting to know your teacher
Education has been badly disrupted by covid-19. There are upsides
“Don’t delete your browser history,” Lin Kai warns his 11-year-old son, who is supposed to be live-streaming lectures delivered by his schoolteachers. Mr Lin has reason to be anxious. To curb the spread of covid-19, the authorities have closed schools and universities indefinitely. But “study must not stop”, says the education ministry. Under its orders, the country’s biggest exercise in remote learning is under way, watched over by parents. Mr Lin, who lives in the eastern city of Hangzhou, has caught his son being distracted by online games. He wants his son to know that he will inspect the browser for evidence of such naughtiness.
远程学习
和你的老师增进了解
教育被疫情严重中断 也不是没有好的一面
“不要删除你的浏览器历史记录，”林凯警告他11岁的儿子，他学校的老师将以直播的形式授课。林先生的焦虑不是毫无根据。为了遏制疫情蔓延，当局无限期地关闭了所有学校。但教育部表示，"学习不能止步"。根据教育部下达的指示，中国最大规模的上网课活动正在进行，家长们也在一旁监督。家住杭州东部的林先生发现他的儿子因玩网络游戏分心了。他希望他的儿子知道他会检查浏览器历史记录，找到他顽皮的证据。
- remote learning/education表示“远程教育，在线教育”。
此外还有几种“在线教育”的表达：
online education/learning
internet-based learning/education
distant learning/education
相反，我们在学校上课则称为：
classroom-based education
bricks-and-mortar classrooms
physical classroom。【写作优选】
【联系记忆】可以与“网店”和“实体店”一同记忆
实体店：physical shops 或
bricks-and-mortar shops/ traditional shops
网店：online shops
这里单独讲一下 bricks-and-mortar这个词：它是形容词，指“实体的”(a bricks-and-mortar business is a traditional business that does not operate on the Internet)
其中brick本义指“砖头”（可数名词），mortar指“灰浆”（不可数名词），由bricks和mortar筑成的就是建筑物，有建筑的也就是有实体的，比如： bricks-and-mortar colleges and universities 实体大学
再记忆一个“空壳公司”的说法：shell company,指一种已经开设的公司法人，有公司名字，但是还未有经营业务的公司。
The cash was funnelled through shell companies around the world.这笔资金通过全球各地的空壳公司流出。[经济学人]
- get to know sb.了解某人，认识某人
Getting to know more about each other.增进对彼此的了解。[破产姐妹台词]
be supposed to 应该，认为必须，被期望
the upside(of sth.) 好的一面，积极的一面，反义词downside
从积极的一面看on the upside或on the positive/bright/plus side，我们在进行利弊分析时便可以用到这一短语，比如Environmental pollution gives great cause for concern, but, on the positive side, people are beginning to try and find solutions. 环境污染的确令人担忧，但从积极的一面看，人们开始在努力想办法解决了。
相反地，“从消极的一面看”可以说 on the downside或 on the minus/negative/dark side【写作优选】
- delete browser history 删除浏览记录
browser n.浏览器，来自于动词browse，指“在网上浏览”，我们平常说的“刷微博”“刷抖音”这个“刷”的动作就是browse。
Unlike users of Instagram,who mainly browse feeds of pictures posted by people they follow, Douyin’s fans commonly use the app to watch hot-trending videos posted by users they do not know under categories such as “food” and “scenic spots”.不同于 Instagram 中用户主要浏览自己所关注的人发布的图片，抖音的用户会观看他们未关注的用户发布在“美食”和“景点”等类别下的热门视频。[经济学人]
browse through sth指“随意翻阅”，比如I found the article while I was browsing through some old magazines. 我在翻阅一些旧杂志时找到了这篇文章。
- live-streaming 指“视频直播”，我们说的网络主播就是“live-streaming presenters”
再拓展几个相关地道表达：
web celebrities 网红
interact with followers 与粉丝互动
disseminate inappropriate content 散播不合适内容
curb v.控制;限制,
写作中可替换 control, limit，restrain 使用。比如curb one’s temper 控制脾气，curb crime 控制犯罪，curb traffic 管控交通，curb greenhouse gas emissions 控制温室气体排放。
拓展一个很形象地表达“keep a lid on sth”也表示“限制”，lid指“瓶盖”，keep a lid on sth把…的瓶盖盖紧，也就是“抑制，限制”
By stopping the government from overspending, the fiscal rule also helps keep a lid on inflation.通过阻止政府过度消费，财政规则也有助于抑制通胀。[经济学人]
indefinitely adv. 无限期地
ministry n. （政府的）部门
be under way 已经开始
Plans are well under way for a new shopping centre.建造一座新购物中心的计划已经顺利地在实施了。
The tournament got under way on Friday.锦标赛是星期五开始的。
distracted adj. 心烦意乱的,慌张失措的,错乱的
inspect vt. 检查；视察；检阅
naughtiness adj. 顽皮的; 不听话的
Part 2
There are other ways to enforce discipline. Liu Weihua, who teaches at Wuhan University of Technology, cold-calls his students during live streams. With sit-down exams now impossible, his grading system places more emphasis on how students perform in classroom discussions, Mr Liu explains. These are conducted using video-conferencing platforms such as Dingtalk by Alibaba, a tech giant, and Ke tang by Tencent, a competitor.
还有其他方法来加强纪律。在武汉理工大学任教的刘伟华在直播中冷不防地给学生打电话。刘先生解释道，由于现在不可能让学生坐在教室里进行考试，所以他的评分标准更看重学生在课堂上讨论的表现。网课在视频会议平台上进行，如科技巨头阿里巴巴的钉钉和其竞品腾讯旗下的“课堂”。
enforce vt. 实施, 执行
discipline n. 训练, 锻炼, 训导,纪律
cold-call 指的是“冷不防的陌生来电”，我们平常接到的宽带、保险的推销电话都可以叫cold call
sit-down exams 坐在课桌前考试，也可以说是正式考试
sit-down 在这里是形容词，表示“坐在桌子前的，正式的”，比如电影《怦然心动》有一幕是男主妈妈打算邀请女主一家来家里吃晚餐，她说It’s going to be a sit-down dinner. I want everyone to dress accordingly. 这将是一个正式的晚宴，我希望所有人都能穿得正式一些。
这里的sit-down指大家都要穿戴得体板板正正的坐在餐桌前享用晚餐，相对的是吃烧烤或者开party大家可以拿着香槟或者盘子走来走去，不是正式的场合。
- conducted vt. 管理；表现；引导，进行
Part 3
The disruption is felt most keenly by pupils in the final year of secondary school. That is the year leading up to the gaokao, the notoriously hard university-entrance exam. Many parents fret that online learning is a poor substitute for classroom instruction. Hou Kaixuan, who will sit the gaokao in the northern city of Zhangjiakou this summer, eagerly awaits the re-opening of his school. “I’m simply more productive in a physical classroom,” he says.
高中生收到的冲击最为严重，因为他们今年高考，高三正是艰苦备考的时候。许多家长担心网课和课堂教学的质量相差甚远。今年夏天将参加北方城市张家口高考的侯凯旋，急切地等待着学校重新开学。“我在教室上课的时候学习效率更高”他说。
disruption n. 中断,分裂,瓦解,破坏
keenly adv. 敏锐地；敏感地；锐利地;强烈地
sth. feel most keenly by sb. 某人最清楚的感觉到某事，对某事的感觉最为强烈
Startups looking for early-stage investment have felt the capital winter most keenly.寻求早期投资的创业公司对资本寒冬的感受最为强烈。[经济学人]
keenly相当于strongly，指“猛烈地，强烈地”。来自于形容词keen, 短语be keen on sth，表示“喜爱，满怀热情”，相当于like sth a lot, be enthusiastic about sth。
记一个外刊爱用词组：bear/take the brunt of 承受住某事的主要压力；首当其冲，也可以用来形容本次疫情给教育带来的影响，比如：Schools bore the brunt of the covid-19 outbreak. 疫情爆发，学校首当其冲受到影响。
pupils n. 瞳孔；学生
lead up to sth The period of time leading up to an event is the period of time immediately before it happens. 时间临近，紧挨在…之前【写作优选】可以用来替换“before”
比如：圣诞节前的几个星期the weeks before Christmas可以改写成 the weeks leading up to Christmas
所以写作中提到“高三”就可以用the year leading up to the gaokao来替代【写作优选】
in the lead-up/run-up to sth 在…的前夕，在…准备阶段 the lead-up to the election大选的准备工作 The company believes the products will sell well in the run-up to Christmas.公司相信在圣诞节前这些产品的销路会不错。
- notorious [nə ʊˈtɔːriəs] adj. famous or well-known for something bad臭名昭著的，声名狼藉的=infamous
notorious cases of human rights abuses臭名昭著的践踏人权案
notoriously adv.
fret [fret] v. ~ about / over sth
烦恼；发愁，写作中可用来替换掉worry about sth【写作优选】
Newspapers fretted that people would splurge their pensions on Lamborghinis.媒体担心人们会挥霍养老金来买兰博基尼跑车。 [经济学人.Banking and the elderly]
substitute vt. & vi. 代替, 替换, 代用
A is a poor substitute for B
表示“A不如B”，【写作优选】
《纽约时报》一篇关于电子商务与实体店的文章提到：The fallacy that e-commerce is a poor substitute for real shops has long been forgotten.电子商务不如实体店的谬论早已被遗忘。
When it comes to mass destruction, a disease is a poor substitute for a nuke.疾病在大规模杀伤方面很难匹敌核武器。[经济学人]
A is a far cry from B，同样表示“ A 不如 B ”
比如《经济学人》一篇关于英国脱欧的文章提到:This contemporary Britain is fractured and intolerant, a far cry from the “cohesive, united, consensual place” that Benjamin remembers from his childhood. 当代的英国支离破碎，缺乏宽容，与本杰明儿时记忆中的“充满凝聚力、团结和共识之地”相去甚远。
instruction 讲授, 指导, 教学
productive adj.有效益的；富有成效的
Although innovation kills some jobs, it creates new and better ones, as a more productive society becomes richer and its wealthier inhabitants demand more goods and services. 创新的确会让一些工作消失，但是随着生产力的提高、社会财富的增加以及富裕起来的人们对获得更多商品和服务的要求的增加，创新也能带来新的而且是更好的工作。[经济学人]
同样含义的形容词还有：fruitful，比如：a fruitful collaboration/discussion 富有成效的合作 / 讨论
sth is counterproductive 适得其反
【记忆方法】前缀 counter-表示“反”，productive 表示“有效果的”，连起来 counterproductive 表示产生相反效果，适得其反。
Mr. Lavrov called the step counterproductive and said it would cause tensions.拉夫罗夫称此举只会事与愿违，称还会导致紧张局面。[BBC]
Part 4
Not all his classmates agree. Kaixuan observes that some of them study just as hard at home as in school, and take perverse pleasure in the fact that others must be slacking off.
When schools and universities eventually re-open, classrooms may be different, says Mr Yue, the teacher in Beijing. The teacher-student relationship will become “less hierarchical”, he predicts. That is because China’s prolonged experiment with online learning is reducing the typical reserve between instructor and pupil. Teachers who were previously reluctant to give out their contact details on WeChat, a messaging app, now rely on it to respond to students’ queries. At Mr Yue’s school, students may even call their teachers to ask for feedback. If he is right, such a breaking-down of barriers could be one of the few happy byproducts of the epidemic.
不是所有同学看法都和他一样。侯凯旋观察到，他们中的一些人在家里学习和在学校一样刻苦学习，并且反而因为其他人懒散而窃喜。
北京的老师岳先生说，当学校最终重新开学时，可能会有很大变化。他预测，师生关系将变得”不那么等级化"。这是因为中国长期进行的在线学习正在淡化教师和学生之间一直以来的疏远关系。以前不愿意在微信（一个通讯应用程序）上透露他们的联系方式的教师现在依靠它来回应学生的询问。在岳先生的学校里，学生甚至可以给老师打电话来询问反馈。如果他是对的，这种师生交流障碍的突破可能是此次疫情为数不多的令人开心的副产品之一。
- perverse adj.有悖常理的，违反常情的 pervert n.变态
take perverse pleasure in 反而为…而高兴，反倒以…为乐
He seems to take a perverse pleasure in upsetting people.他有一种反常的心态，惹人烦却以此为乐。
She finds a perverse pleasure in upsetting her parents.她以让父母担惊受怕为乐。
- slack off 懈怠，懒散
Don't slack off in your studies.不要荒费学业。
You slacked off and took the easy way out.你绝对是偷懒了。[马男波杰克台词]
- hierarchical adj./haɪə’rɑːkɪk(ə)l/分等级的
Instead of a little man, what if the brain was a hierarchical system?在他看来，如果大脑不是一个侏儒，而是一个分级系统，情况会如何呢？[经济学人]
prolonged adj. 持续很久的,长时间的
reserve n.寡言;矜持;内敛(If someone shows reserve, they keep their feelings hidden.)
His natural reserve made him appear self-conscious.他天生的内敛性格让他显得有些拘谨。
- be reluctant to do sth 表示“不情愿做某事”，相当于 be unwilling to do sth, be hesitant to do sth
Similarly, executives in some countries can be reluctant to accept women as business leaders. 同样，一些国家的高管可能不愿意接受女性成为企业领导者。[金融时报]
give out 公布; 宣布
byproducts n. 副产品
epidemic n. 流行病；传染病；风尚等的流行