The fragility of truth
??Oct 8th 2009 | BEIJING
??From The Economist print edition
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??History just ain’t what it used to be
??Illustration by Claudio MunozSCHOOL textbooks in China have a habit of bending the truth, to suit Communist Party dogma or to reinforce moral messages. Rarely does anyone challenge them. Exams require rote learning, and children are not encouraged to question received wisdom. A group of 20 or so teachers from across China, however, has recently caused a stir by pointing out some mistakes.
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??Their efforts, widely reported in the official press, have steered clear of politically sensitive issues such as the party’s own record. Indeed the errors they have focused on sound little more than nitpicks. They question, for example, a commonly told tale (not just in China), that Thomas Edison, who was later to invent the light bulb, supposedly helped a doctor illuminate an operation performed on his mother by manipulating candles and mirrors.
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??In Chinese schools, however, the dividing line between historical fiction and history can easily be confused. Children are often not taught to make a distinction. As a result, students lose the ability to look for and identify mistakes, says Leng Yubin, one of the teachers campaigning for a textbook purge. The press has quoted comparisons of these errors to the adulteration of milk with toxic melamine, which poisoned tens of thousands of infants last year.
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??China’s prime minister, Wen Jiabao, perhaps unwittingly stirred the debate last month when he visited a Beijing high school. After sitting at the back of a class, he pointed out a mistake. A textbook described the provinces of Shaanxi and Gansu as in north China, whereas they are officially in north-western China. Why, asked one widely circulated commentary, did it take the prime minister to point out such an error? The publishing house reportedly retorted that geographically speaking, north China is correct.
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??Such brushes with orthodoxy are unlikely to make much headway. Occasional reports have surfaced in the official press in recent years that Mao Zedong did not, contrary to widespread belief, declare on October 1st 1949 in Tiananmen Square that the Chinese people had “stood up”. (He said something like it at a less dramatic ceremony a few days earlier.) But during recent 60th anniversary celebrations of communist China’s founding, several reports in state controlled newspapers revived the old myth.
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??Another dubious assertion i:(eing vi:( perpetuated. The authorities have said that 56 columns erected on Tiananmen Square for the celebrations will stay put. They represent China’s officially recognised 56 “ethnic groups”. It is a number that few Chinese schoolchildren would dare to challenge. Yet when the communists came to power there were found to be more than 400. Officials eventually settled on the much lower figure and suppressed further debate.作者: 爬坡王 时间: 2009-10-14 15:57
SCHOOL textbooks in China have a habit of bending the truth, to suit Communist Party dogma or to reinforce moral messages. Rarely does anyone challenge them. Exams require rote learning, and children are not encouraged to question received wisdom. A group of 20 or so teachers from across China, however, has recently caused a stir by pointing out some mistakes.
Their efforts, widely reported in the official press, have steered clear of politically sensitive issues such as the party’s own record. Indeed the errors they have focused on sound little more than nitpicks. They question, for example, a commonly told tale (not just in China), that Thomas Edison, who was later to invent the light bulb, supposedly helped a doctor illuminate an operation performed on his mother by manipulating candles and mirrors.
In Chinese schools, however, the dividing line between historical fiction and history can easily be confused. Children are often not taught to make a distinction. As a result, students lose the ability to look for and identify mistakes, says Leng Yubin, one of the teachers campaigning for a textbook purge. The press has quoted comparisons of these errors to the adulteration of milk with toxic melamine, which poisoned tens of thousands of infants last year.
China’s prime minister, Wen Jiabao, perhaps unwittingly stirred the debate last month when he visited a Beijing high school. After sitting at the back of a class, he pointed out a mistake. A textbook described the provinces of Shaanxi and Gansu as in north China, whereas they are officially in north-western China. Why, asked one widely circulated commentary, did it take the prime minister to point out such an error? The publishing house reportedly retorted that geographically speaking, north China is correct.
Such brushes with orthodoxy are unlikely to make much headway. Occasional reports have surfaced in the official press in recent years that Mao Zedong did not, contrary to widespread belief, declare on October 1st 1949 in Tiananmen Square that the Chinese people had “stood up”. (He said something like it at a less dramatic ceremony a few days earlier.) But during recent 60th anniversary celebrations of communist China’s founding, several reports in state controlled newspapers revived the old myth.
Another dubious assertion i:(eing vi:( perpetuated. The authorities have said that 56 columns erected on Tiananmen Square for the celebrations will stay put. They represent China’s officially recognised 56 “ethnic groups”. It is a number that few Chinese schoolchildren would dare to challenge. Yet when the communists came to power there were found to be more than 400. Officials eventually settled on the much lower figure and suppressed further debate.作者: WIND 时间: 2009-10-14 16:22
第一段:
SCHOOL textbooks in China have a habit of bending the truth, to suit Communist Party dogma or to reinforce moral messages. Rarely does anyone challenge them. Exams require rote learning, and children are not encouraged to question received wisdom. A group of 20 or so teachers from across China, however, has recently caused a stir by pointing out some mistakes.
中国的学校教科书有一种歪曲事实的习惯,以便满足Communist Party教条的要求或者强化道德上的信息。很少有人质疑这一点。测试要求的是死记硬背的学习方法,孩子们不是被鼓励对接受的知识进行提问。一个20人左右的来自全国各地的教师团,近来因指出一些错误引起了轩然大波。作者: 枫林仙 时间: 2009-10-14 16:59
moral messages可否译成道德说教?似乎这样更符合事实.作者: 竹南 时间: 2009-10-14 17:06
Their efforts, widely reported in the official press, have steered clear of politically sensitive issues such as the party’s own record. Indeed the errors they have focused on sound little more than nitpicks. They question, for example, a commonly told tale (not just in China), that Thomas Edison, who was later to invent the light bulb, supposedly helped a doctor illuminate an operation performed on his mother by manipulating candles and mirrors.
他们的努力得到了官方媒体的广泛报道,但小心回避了政治敏感话题,例如党史记录。其实他们集中批评的错误听起来有点儿像是吹毛求疵。例如,他们质问了一个广为传说的故事(不止是在中国)——发明电灯泡的托马斯·艾迪生据说曾经使用腊烛和镜子帮助医生照明以为其母亲做手术。
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??In Chinese schools, however, the dividing line between historical fiction and history can easily be confused. Children are often not taught to make a distinction. As a result, students lose the ability to look for and identify mistakes, says Leng Yubin, one of the teachers campaigning for a textbook purge. The press has quoted comparisons of these errors to the adulteration of milk with toxic melamine, which poisoned tens of thousands of infants last year.
最后一段:
Another dubious assertion i:(eing vi:( perpetuated. The authorities have said that 56 columns erected on Tiananmen Square for the celebrations will stay put. They represent China’s officially recognised 56 “ethnic groups”. It is a number that few Chinese schoolchildren would dare to challenge. Yet when the communists came to power there were found to be more than 400. Officials eventually settled on the much lower figure and suppressed further debate.
另一个可疑的声称被永久性的保存下来了。官方声明为庆典在天安门树立的56根柱子将继续保留。它们象征官方承认的56个“民族”。学校的孩子们是很少有人去质疑这一数字的。然而,在gd掌权的时候,曾经发现过超过400个的民族。官方最终决定采用这个少得多的数字并压制了进一步的辩论。作者: 枫林仙 时间: 2009-10-14 19:17
11# 枫林仙
枫林兄译得很准确。这句:historical fiction and history,我以为可以译为:历史性的虚构小说和历史
WIND 发表于 2009-10-14 18:51
China’s prime minister, Wen Jiabao, perhaps unwittingly stirred the debate last month when he visited a Beijing high school. After sitting at the back of a class, he pointed out a mistake. A textbook described the provinces of Shaanxi and Gansu as in north China, whereas they are officially in north-western China. Why, asked one widely circulated commentary, did it take the prime minister to point out such an error? The publishing house reportedly retorted that geographically speaking, north China is correct.
中国总理WJB上个月在视察北京一所高中时,无心插柳地挑起了争论。当他坐在班级的后排听完课之后,他指出了一个错误。一本教科书说中国的陕西和甘肃两省属于华北,然而官方的说法是它们属于西北地区。一个广为流传的评论问道:为什么要总理来指出这种错误?据报道,出版社反驳说,从地理上讲,属于华北是正确的。
Such brushes with orthodoxy are unlikely to make much headway. Occasional reports have surfaced in the official press in recent years that Mao Zedong did not, contrary to widespread belief, declare on October 1st 1949 in Tiananmen Square that the Chinese people had “stood up”. (He said something like it at a less dramatic ceremony a few days earlier.) But during recent 60th anniversary celebrations of communist China’s founding, several reports in state controlled newspapers revived the old myth.