在美国申请大学以及申请各类奖学金时，常常要求写一些小的论说文，让申请者表达自己对某些事物的看法。我们家的高中生今年也写了好多篇这样的小文章。下面这篇是他为申请一个奖学金写的关于学习动机的文章。由于文章有严格的字数限制，申请人只能在字数范围内尽量表达自己的观点, 读来可能会觉得有点伧促。我翻译了一下，和大家分享。第一次翻译这类文章，感觉以我的中文和英文水平，想准确表达英文原意还挺不容易。希望能够尽量传递他的观点。下面是我的译文，最后附上儿子的英文原文。
译文：
有一个观点在我的同学中非常流行，大家普遍认为学校教授的东西枯燥又繁琐，还没什么实际用处。我经常听到同学们在课堂上问老师：“这些知识我们什么时候才能在现实生活中用到啊？”大家似乎认为学习没什么用，学习的目的只不过是为了考个好分数。
我并不赞同这种观念。我修过的课程我基本上都非常喜欢，特别是那些需要动脑筋解决问题，或者要求发挥创造性的课程。（一般学校的教学大纲要求是一些比较基础的知识），如果你自己在课外对这些课程稍作深入一点的探究，你会觉得它们非常有意思。至于实用性，我们确实需要学习一些实际的生活技能，比如管理财务或者找工作，但是我认为在我们不断地探索宇宙的奥秘、把人类对这个神奇世界的理解、也把我们的创造力一次次推向新的高度时，我们所能体会到的那种无比奇妙和欣喜的感觉，才是我们生活的真正价值所在。
我相信培养对学习的热爱非常重要，一个终身不断学习的人他的生活质量一定非常高。我总是试图和我身边的人分享这个观点。
我在我们这个城市的一个数学俱乐部作志愿者，我的任务是为六年级的学生辅导数学。我们的课程大纲非常灵活，内容和美国的很多数学竞赛比如Mathcounts 或者 AMC比较相似。事实上，这类数学竞赛的题目主要是考察解决问题的技巧，而不是考察中学课程中的基础知识。在课堂上，我总是想方设法向学生展现数学的美妙之处：或是一个非常奇妙的解决方案，或是数学呈现出来的美妙的视觉效果，这些题目常常让我的学生惊叹于数学的奇妙，也不时地带给他们一些那种瞬间的震憾。
学习过程中可以体会到的那种喜悦是难以量化的，因此我上课的效果也很难衡量。但至少我的学生好像不厌烦上我的课（他们喜欢我那些机智的小幽默）。我真正希望的是向他们灌输对学习的热爱和对数学之美的欣赏，也希望这份热爱和欣赏将会持续他们的一生，无论数学对他们未来的职业是否那么重要。
英文原文：
There seems to be a prevailing belief that things taught in school is generally boring, tedious, and rarely useful. Often heard is “when will we ever use this in real life?” And the motivation for learning is getting good grades.
I don’t really subscribe to this mindset. I’ve generally enjoyed all my classes, especially those that a great problem-solving or creative aspect. The content can get very interesting, especially if you delve a little deeper on your own. And as for usefulness, there are important things that one needs to learn to live life, such as managing finances or getting a job, but the wonder and joy that comes from learning the deepest secrets of the universe and the pushing the limits of the human understanding and creativity, that is what we live for.
I believe developing a love for learning will improve the quality of your life. That is why I try to contribute this viewpoint to other learners in my community when I get the opportunity.
In association with a local math club, I volunteer tutor 6th graders in math. Our curriculum is pretty flexible, and somewhat geared to competition math, that you might find in Mathcounts or the AMC. And truly, this style of competition math seems to lend itself to problem solving skills more so than the basic middle school curriculum. I take advantage of this to try to show the beauty of the problem-solving side of mathematics: I always try to include in lessons a problem with a very elegant solution or visual intuition, that incite wonder or amazement or “mind-blow” moments.
It is hard to measure enjoyment of learning and thus the effects of my demonstrations. My students seem to at least not dread coming to class (they enjoy my witty humor I think). But I hope to instill in them a love of learning and an appreciation of mathematics that will last a lifetime, regardless if they will use math in their future careers.
