教育 英文 CANADIAN CITY POST 文︰子慧 “陽春水”是陽春三月的水，仍然很冷，伸手進 去洗衣服是苦差。以前說“十指不沾陽春水”，會想 起千金小姐，有傭人服侍，家務不用沾手。但今時今 日，不論男孩、女孩，十指不只不沾陽春水，就算洗碗 盆有暖水也不會沾手，皆因家務有工人姐姐或父母 包辦，只要專心讀書做功課就可以。 學業為重，競爭大，做功課的時間都不夠，怎捨 得孩子花時間幫手煮飯、洗碗、掃地做家務？有時間 都希望讓他們輕鬆一下。當代的家長，十之八九，或 甚至十之有十都是這樣想，出發點當然是愛錫孩子。 不過這樣做真的對孩子好？ 做家務學生活技能 有家長就覺得，讓孩子做家務，教他們其他生 活需要用得到的技能，對孩子絕對有好處。有家長 問："Car repair, finances, cooking and mental health: There are so many skills we need to teach that it can often seem overwhelming(難 以忍受的、多得處理不來的). Which ones can they learn on their own? How much do we teach versus(對) standing back and letting them learn from experience?"香港不似外國，我們無必要教孩 子換胎和修理汽車，但煮飯做家務是照顧自己所需 的基本技能。重要的不是具體教孩子這樣或那樣， 而是根據實際情況和環境，訓練他們照顧自己的基 本技能。曾有調查發現，八成香港小孩不懂自己穿衣 服，六成不懂自己洗澡，六成不幫手做家務，六成七 連自己的玩具也不收拾，更別談飯後落手“沾陽春 水”去洗碗碟。 "Life skills start in the home"(生活所需的技 能從家中開始學習)。有家長分享經驗："We started small such as teaching them how to crack an egg(打蛋) or load the washing machine. We made a game of it and let it get messy. With these small exposures(暴露於、受到、接觸到), the kids were able to eventually get comfortable with the chore, gain competence(能力、技能) and then finally achieve confidence(自信)." 孩子做家務，開始時自然有機會ma k e a mess，或get messy。Mess是名詞，解把某事物搞 糟；make a mess是弄糟、製造混亂。Messy是形容 詞，解凌亂的、雜亂的、邋遢的、混亂的；get messy 亦解弄糟。孩子洗碗碟，好可能會打破三幾隻或更 多，才變得熟手。香港人有句俗語︰“食嘢唔做嘢，做 嘢打爛嘢”，用這句話來責罵孩子，只會令他們害怕 再犯錯，事實上，世上只有一種人永遠未試過打爛碗 碟，就是從來都沒動手洗碗抹碟的人。家長可能會覺 得“自己做好過”，但這樣就剝奪了孩子爭取經驗、 從錯誤中學習的機會。 不怕從錯誤中學習 I started my kids on household chores(家 務活、家庭雜務) young because I refuse to send any of them into the world without being able to provide the most basic care(最基本的照顧) for themselves.換句話說，不讓孩子做家務或其 他事情，實際上就是"send them into the wor ld without being able to provide the most basic care for themselves"。開始時未必每個孩子都樂意 動手，但不用氣餒："If there is pushback(抗拒) or lack of enthusiasm(熱忱), don't worry about it. Consistency and patience is the key. Keep at it." 持自以恆，給點耐性，他們就會學懂。 The Gift of Failure的作者Jessica Lahey認為 應該︰"teach our kids autonomy(自主) so they will be more motivated to engage in the business of their lives and learn how to be competent. We do this by giving them clear expectations(要求、希 望) and then stepping away after we have taught them. This allow our kids to take ownership of the task, and they learn to solve problems and deal with failure." 讓孩子make a mess的好處 教育 英文 CANADIAN CITY POST 文︰子慧 Murderer是殺人犯，murderer有很多種， serial killer是連環殺手，cold-blooded killer是冷 血殺手，有種比冷血殺手更冷血的murderer，就是 casual murderer。 Casual解made or done wi thout much thought or premeditation。Premeditation解預先 設想，在法律上解預謀；malice aforethought亦解預 謀，是法律上謀殺罪的其中一個重要的元素。有預謀 地殺人，比一時衝動殺人更可惡。 但嗜血性成性、不假思索、喜歡殺就殺，就可 以用casual murder來形容，這種視性命如草芥的 態度，自然更令人心寒和髮指。人類可以愛護動物， 但對某些物種，卻就是casual murderer，說的是 spiders(蜘蛛)。 人如蜘蛛 蜘蛛屬arachnida（蛛形綱動物），即any of a class of ar thropods(節肢動物) compr ising chiefly terrestrial inver tebrates, including the spiders, scorpions, mites, and ticks, and having a segmented body divided into two regions of which the anterior bears four pairs of legs but no antennae。這些主要是一些陸上的無脊椎動物， 除蜘蛛外，還包括蠍子、蟎和虱，有四對腳但沒有觸 鬚。殺這些生物，包括蜘蛛，就叫arachnicide。 不是每種昆蟲都被人類憎厭，大家在很多事情 上亦很難達到共識，但對蜘蛛的害怕、憎恨和厭惡 感，似乎就大致上有consensus(共識)，在屋內見到 牠們，都會先殺而後快。我們對蜘蛛像是有深仇大 恨，當然若蜘蛛有思想，我們把牠們趕盡殺絕，牠們 對人類的仇恨自然更深。不過動物學家說，人類跟蜘 蛛其實有很多相似的地方。 Though our evolut ionar y(進化的) paths diverged at least 530 million years ago, we share many of the same organs and body parts - such as kneecaps(膝蓋) - and similar brain chemicals, from dopamine(多巴胺) to adrenal ine(腎上腺 素). No one has ever studied spider emotions directly, but it's easy to imagine that they might be more relatable(有關係的) than you would think. 那我們“義無反顧”地殺蜘蛛又是什么原因？ 科學家發現，只有五個月大的嬰孩見到蜘蛛的照片 也會感到害怕，顯示"our aversion(厭惡) to them is partly innate(天生的), perhaps having evolved to prevent us from casually picking up ones that are venomous(有毒的)"。 This natural wariness(謹慎、警惕) is then thought to be compounded(使加劇) by cultural factors, such as having parents who describe them as frightening as we grow up. Alarmist(危 言聳聽的) news ar ticles and other depictions are likely to add an extra frisson(戰慄) of panic - some exper ts have linked the irrational fear many people have for sharks to the 1975 film Jaws, and it's possible that the villainous spider trope(修辭、轉義、比喻) is also having an impact. 外星形象 但一定還有其他因素作祟，因為人類對其他一 樣危險的arthropods的憎惡，並沒有像對蜘蛛的那 麼大。 One possible explanation is just how extraterrestrial(外星的) they seem, with unreasonable numbers of eyes - up to 12 - too many legs and toothless fangs. Their behaviour is also strikingly different(明顯地、突出地) to that of most mammals - building webs to trap unwary passersby, then mummifying them and sucking out their insides, or eating their mates and casually producing whole swarms of offspring. Norman I. Platnick和Rudy Jocqué的Spiders of the World: A Guide to Every Family是一本蜘蛛 圖鑑，給對蜘蛛又怕又好奇的讀者安全研究這種人 類公敵。 為何人類是蜘蛛的casual murderers？
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