Unscientific Poll: Calculators Subtract From Thinking Skills (2/2)

Abbas from Iran, now living in Sweden, says it is good to use your brain because calculators are not always available. "Last week I met a university student who could not subtract six from forty and used a calculator," says Abbas.

But He Wenbo from China says calculators reduce careless mistakes. And Yang Linwei, an eleventh grader from China, says: "When I was young we couldn't use calculators. But when I entered high school we have to solve a lot of math problems. We have to use a calculator. It makes my homework easier."

From Burkina Faso, Compaore Tewende Michel writes: "I can say that the handheld calculator has been important in my studies and even in my life."And Barnabas Nyaaba in Ghana advises that "as we enjoy the use of calculators, let's be careful so that it does not have any bad effects on us."

Finally, Thomas, a student in China, says he likes using electronic calculators in school. But he wanted to tell us about what he called a special calculator which he does not know how to use. He even sent us a picture of this special -- and, in fact, ancient -- calculator. In English we call it an abacus.

参考译文：

阿巴斯，来自伊朗，现居瑞典，他说开动脑筋可使你受益匪浅，毕竟计算器不是随手可得的。"上礼拜我遇到一个大学生，他竟然不会算40减6的算术，而要用计算器。"阿巴斯说。

但是来自中国的何文波却认为计算器可减少粗心导致的错误。杨立为，是中国一名高二生，他说："我年纪尚小时是不允许用计算器的。但上了高中后我们要解答许多数学题，也就不得不借助计算器了，做家庭作业也变得轻松了。"

来自布基纳法索的孔波雷•泰温德•米歇尔写道："便携计算器在我的学习甚至是生活中都占有举足轻重的作用。"来自加纳的巴拿巴建议说："在我们享受计算器带来便捷的同时，也要提防它给我们带来的负面影响。"

最后，托马斯，一个中国的学生，说他喜欢在学校用电子计算器，但是他告诉我们有一种"特殊计算器"他不会使用，他还给我们寄来了一张这种"特殊计算器"的图片――实际上就是古时候的计算器。我们称之为"算盘"。