Should Students Only Learn from Books?
Text Try to Find out about Real Life
During my recent tour to Kunming in Yunnan Province, I encountered a young Australian at Liuzhou railway station. I helped him get on board the train with his luggage, and we got to chatting in English. I learned that he was 21 years old, studying Asian literature and history at Sydney University.(1)
What surprised me was that, young as he was,(2) he had traveled a lot, not only in China but also in many other parts of Asia, and he seemed to know so much about the Asian culture and history, and was even familiar with ancient and modern Chinese literature and philosophy masters such as Confucius, Lu Xun, Mao Dun and Guo Moruo. He could speak four languages.
He is a college student, but he did not confine himself to classroom reading only.(3). He said if one really wants to know the society and the world, he or she should go to the grassroots to see, hear and find out about real life(4). Besides, many students like him in Australia work at part-time jobs after class so as to earn a living and save enough for traveling.
I am a bit older than he is. Yet I found myself less knowledgeable than he is about many things in the world. Like some of my classmates at college, I often feel conceited for merely being a college student and sometimes I even looked down upon those who failed to enter college(5). We did not have to work to earn a living, and took many things for granted(6).
We should not just admire other people’s living standard and opportunities. What we should do is to learn their spirit of self-reliance as well as a sense of responsibility for the society they live in(7).
I. Listen Listen to the text with the help of the following notes.
1. Sydney University:（澳大利亚）悉尼大学。
2. young as he was: 尽管他年轻（倒装句）
3. he did not confine himself to classroom reading only: 他不把自己局限于教室的学习之中。
4. go to the grassroots to see, hear and find out about real life: 走到百姓之中，去听，去看， 去了解真正的百姓生活。
5. looked down upon those who failed to enter college: 看不起那些没能够上大学的人。
6. and took many things for granted: 并常常对许多事情想当然。
7. their spirit of self-reliance as well as a sense of responsibility for the society they live in: 他们自主的精神，以及对他们所处社会的责任感。
