酷兔英语

我们家,夏天一直都是奖励的季节。我的一个女儿选了一件时髦雨衣好在旅行时穿。另一个女儿买了一条项链,并打算添置些新装饰品,因为她终于拥有了自己的房间。还有一个女儿得到了一架野营时用的新相机。


Summer is always bonus season at our house.


这是女儿们考了A以后我实行的学业激励计划的一部分。


One of my daughters chose a stylish raincoat to take on her travels. One bought a necklace and is contemplating some new décor since she finally has her own room. One got a new camera to take to camp.


我不给钱,但我答应在她们得了A或学业有进步时带她们出游或完成她们的愿望。


It's all part of the academic incentives program I've been running since the girls entered first grade.


我是在为了让孩子们获得好成绩而贿赂她们吗?是的。


I don't pay cash, but I do promise outings or objects of desire for straight A's or relativeimprovement at school.


我承认:如果所有孩子(和成人)都能拥有力争上游的天生的动力和求知渴望,那是最好的。


Am I bribing our kids for good grades? Yes I am.


但我也认为,体验过好成绩后,获得好成绩会更容易。不妨伪造这种体验,直到它真正得以实现。成功带来的兴奋和刺激会让人上瘾,如果你体验过它,不管出于什么动机,你都会想再次追求成功。我认为自己的动机就是帮助我的女儿们走向成功。


I admit: It would be best if all children (and adults) could be motivated by an innate drive for high achievement and a thirst for knowledge.


此外,我欣赏投入勇气和信心到那些令人生畏和陌生的困难事物,直到你成为它的主人,让它满足你的需要。如果不是为了某些物质承诺,很少有人会接受这种挑战。


But I also believe that it's easier to accomplish good grades after experiencing them. Fake it until you make it. The excitement and adrenaline of success are addictive, and if you get to experience it, whatever the motivation, you're inclined to seek it again. I see my incentives as helping orient my daughters toward success.


我丈夫约翰(John)认为,即使往好了说,这样做也很愚蠢。


Furthermore, I admire the courage and confidence it takes to plunge into something difficult, intimidating and unfamiliar until you become its master and make it serve your needs. If not for some material promise, it's a rare person who takes on such challenges.


他说:"如果她们不关心学习,不管你给她们多少奖励,她们都不会学习。她们必须自己想学习。我不认为奖励能让她们产生多大改变。孩子们很聪明。她们知道这些奖励是假的。"


My husband, John, thinks this is all silly, at best.


我们对这个问题谈得越多,约翰就变得越激动。


'If they don't care about learning they're not going to learn, no matter how many rewards you give them,' he says. 'They have to want it for themselves. I don't think it's made much of a difference for them. Kids are smart. They know these rewards are phony.'


他说:"这是笔糟糕的交易。她们必须重视教育。贿赂她们是玷污这种价值。"他感到这是种适得其反的短期思维。"她们还有整个人生要度过,你不能永远贿赂他们。"


The more we talked about it, the more ardent John became.


于是我想,我得问问最清楚这点的人:我们的孩子。奖励对她们意味着什么?


'It's a bad bargain,' he says. 'They must value education. Giving them bribes is corrupting that value.' He feels it's short-term thinking that will backfire. 'They're going to live their whole lives and you're not going to be around to bribe them.'


即将上大四的杰米(Jamie)从中获利最多。她记得的奖励有骑马、带一位朋友去游乐园、名牌网球鞋和一盏放在卧室中的星形灯。


So I thought I'd ask the people who know best: our children. What do the rewards mean to them?


她说:"老实说,没有奖励我也会努力学习,但它们的确鼓舞了我。它们不仅是与你们共度时光、来一趟难得的开心郊游的借口,而且我感到你们为我骄傲,这意义重大。它们让我非常开心。"


Jamie, our rising senior, has profited most. She remembers horseback riding, taking a friend to an amusement park, getting brand-name tennis shoes and buying a star-shaped lamp for her bedroom.


很快要上大二的埃米莉(Emily)说,我们的激励计划帮助她更努力地争取好成绩。她回忆起一次娱乐中心之旅,当时她在自动售货机上买了一包奇多(Cheetos),并坐在游乐场上吃掉了它,就我们两人。她说:"当你用这些事情奖励我们时,我们会记得的。如果你给我们钱,我们不会记得买了什么。"


'Honestly, I would have worked hard without the rewards but they were really positive for me,' she says. 'Not only were they an excuse to spend time with you and have fun with an outing that we didn't always get to do, but I felt you were proud of me and that meant a lot. It made me really happy.'


刚上九年级的安娜(Anna)说:"这不是贿赂,这是奖励。"她指出,贿赂会带来不良后果。而另一方面,奖励是有益的,它能帮你实现有自身价值的目标。她说,如果可能获得奖励带来的兴奋感能帮你全力以赴,那就是好的。"在这个年纪,努力学习很重要,因为这是求知的年纪。"


Emily, soon to be a sophomore, says our incentiveprogram has helped her try harder for good grades. She recalls a trip to the recreation center, getting Cheetos at a vending machine, and sitting on the playground and eating them, just the two of us. 'When you paid with experiences, we remembered it,' she says. 'If you paid us with a bit of cash we wouldn't remember what we spent it on.'


现在要上七年级的伊莎贝拉(Isabella)记得带一个好朋友出去游泳和吃披萨的快乐。但她也说,奖励并没有激励她。相反,她说,她努力获得好成绩是因为,对她来说证明自己是个努力学习的人很重要。


Anna, just starting ninth grade, says, 'it's not a bribe, it's a reward.' A bribe, she points out, comes with negative consequences. A reward, on the other hand, is a nice bonus when you've reached a goal that has merits of its own. If excitement about a potentialreward helps you buckle down, she says, that's good. 'It's important to work hard when you're this age because this is when you learn how.'


孩子们还提到了另外一点:她们喜欢我们不给钱的方式。每次得到"A"就给一笔钱,可能会让她们不选高难度课程,因为上这种课不能确保得到好成绩。相反,我们总是试图找到能反映所付出努力的奖励。她们努力学习,并不是为了某项具体的大奖。而且,总体来说,她们培养出了努力学习的习惯。


Isabella, now heading into seventh grade, remembers the pleasure of taking a good friend out for swimming and pizza. Still, she says, the rewards haven't motivated her. Instead, she says, she tries hard to get good grades because it's important to her to prove that she is a hard worker.


约翰愿意承认,女儿们没有被我的计划毁掉。但他认为,这是因为我们在其他方面做得对(例如我们自己重视教育)。他仍然坚信,奖励策略有太多缺点,不值得向大多数人推荐。


One other point the girls mentioned: They like our cash-free approach. A specified amount of money for every 'A' might have kept them from taking on challenging classes without guaranteed good grades. Instead, we always tried to find rewards reflective of the effort that had been demonstrated. They strove without a concreteprospect of defined fabulous prizes. And, overall, they acquired the habit of hard work.


当新学年开始时,我们希望女儿们继续努力争取个人最好成绩。不管她们出于什么动机,我们都希望成绩单能反映出持续的高标准。


John is willing to concede that our girls haven't been ruined by my program. But he thinks that's because we have done other things right (such as valuing education ourselves). He still feels strongly that a rewards strategy has too many flaws to recommend for most people.


由于她们很快就要和成绩更好的孩子在大学入校考试以及之后的就业市场中竞争,因此,我们将从基于成绩单的奖励进展到基于真实世界的奖励。但愿今后的奖励能够丰富多彩。


As a new academic year begins, we hope the girls will continue to work toward personal bests. Whatever their motivation, we hope the report cards will reflectconsistent high standards.


DEMETRIA GALLEGOS