Li Lei is calling Han Meimei.
H： Hello, who’s calling?
H:你好，是谁呀?
L： Hi, Han, this is Li Lei.
L:嗨，韩，是李雷。
H： Hi, Li Lei, haven’t heard from you these days. How is everything going?
H:嗨，李雷，最近几天没有你的消息了，一切还好吧?
L: Oh, tiring but fulfilling.
L:哦，很累但很充实。
H: What were you busy with? Mid-term exams?
H:在忙什么呢?期中考试?
L： Exams are easy to deal with. We’re old hands at exams.
L:考试很好对付，都是考试老手了。
H： Haha! That’s true. Then what makes you sound so exhausted?
H:哈哈!那倒是真的。那是什么事让你听起来筋疲力尽的。
L: I had a lot of reading task, and prepared for my debate with my history teacher.
L：我有很多书要读，要准备和我的历史老师辩论。
H： Come to think of It. John told me that you guys have to challenge and debate with your teachers. No, he referred to graduate students.
H:我想起来了，约翰告诉过我你们要挑战老师，和他们进行辩论。不对，他指的是 研究生啊。
L: Come on, Han, we suffer as much as, if not more miseries than them.
L:得了，韩，我们受的罪就算设他们多，也至少和他们一样多了。
H: So you，re calling to pour out your complaints before me?
H:所以你给我打电话想在我面前诉苦?
L： Not exactly. I said it's painful but meaningful.
L:也不全是，我说过，很痛苦但很有意义。
H: Li, until now you haven’t told me what exactly happened.
H:李，到现在你也设告诉我到底发生了什么。
L: Let me ask you: why did the United States get involved in World War I?
L:我问为什么美国参加一战?
H: Well...It’s complicated. Because American ships were sunk by German U-boats and wantedrevenge?
H:这个……很复杂，因为美国的船被德国的潜水艇 弄沉了，想要报复?
L： That may be the direct cause. In class, I was sitting there and waiting for answers from my teacher.
L:那可能是诱因。在课堂上，我就坐着，等老师绾 我答案。
H： That’s what we did in China. We like to know the exact answers so that we can do well in our exams. I guess it won’t work here.
H:那是我们在国内干的事，我们喜欢知道准确答案，这样我们就可以在考试中取得 好成绩了。我想在这儿是行不通的。
L： I know. But I thought that history should be different because it’s about facts. There should be answers. Yet my teacher told us to find out the causes ourselves and discussed with him in the next class.
L:我知道，但我想历史都是事实，应该不一样，应该有答案。但老师让我们自己找 出原因，然后下一节课和他讨论。
H: Then?
H:然后呢?
L: Well, I found some reasons that I believed were the right answers. I thought my
classmates，answers must be almost the same as mine.
L：我找了一些我认为是正确答案的原因，我以为其他同学的答案和我的应该差不多 —样。
H: Weren’t they?
H:难道不是吗?
L: No, everyone only insisted on one or two causes which they believed to be the
fundamental causes. Some argued from economic perspectives, some political, and others military.
L:不是，每个人都只坚持一两个他们认为是最重要的原因。一些人从经济角度争辩， 一些人从政治角度，还有的从军事角度。
H: That must be a heated debate. What did you argue for?
H:那肯定是一场很激烈的辩论。你的观点是什么?
L: It’s very embarrassing. I only collected the so-called answers and didn’t even ask why. So I didn’t talk much and sit there like a fool.
L:很丢人，我只是收集了一些所谓的答案，也没问为什么，所以我没有谈很多，像 个傻子一样坐着。
H： Oh, poor Li. Never mind, a fall into the pit and a gain in your wit.
H;哦，可怜的李，不要紧，吃一堑长一智。
L: You’re right. At least I began to know Harvard ’teaching spirit’
L:也是，最起码我开始了解哈佛的教学精神了。
H: What’s it?
H:是什么?
L: “To have an independent mind”，namely，“to think independently”，which is different fromspoon-fed education.
L: “要有独立思想"，也就是"独立思考' 这不同于填鸭式敎育。
H： I know that, and China has also noticed that.
H:我知道，国内也开始注意这些了。
L: But few Chinese schools or universities can do what they say. I mean, in class, teachers still play the role of transmitting knowledge to students rather than act as students’ guide. At Harvard, students and teachers rap off freely in seminars. What's more, I think few Chinese teachers can bear challenges from students.
L:但国内很少有学校言行一致。我的意思是，在课堂上，老师仍然扮演着传授知识 的角色，而不是做学生的向导。在哈佛，学生和老师在研讨会上自由交流思想。 此外，我认为国内很少有老师能忍受学生对他们的挑战。
H: And Chinese students often borrow from others' ideas and use them in their own papers as if the ideas were their own. That’s plagiarism. My cousin told me that.
H:中国学生还经常在自己的论文里引用他人的观点当做自己的观点，这是抄袭。是 我表姐告诉我的。
L: I think that’s the biggest difference between Harvard-style education and Chinese education.
L:我想这就是哈佛式教育和中国教育最大的不同吧。
H: Only when people think independently and have their own thoughts can they become fully humans.
H:只有当人独立思考，有自己的思想时，才能成为真正的人吧。
L: And only in this way can a nation has its own soul and grows stronger.
L:只有这样一个民族才能有自己的灵魂，才能变得更强大。
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