PART 3

MAN: How are you getting on with the assignment on handwriting?

男人：你手写作业做得怎么样了？

WOMAN: Not too bad. You know, I hadn't realised that children benefit in so many ways from learning to write.

女人：还不错。你知道吗，我之前没有意识到，孩子们从学习写字中获益如此之多。

It's such an important skill and yet most people think handwriting is less important than in the past because people hardly ever write by hand these days.

这是一项如此重要的技能，然而大多数人认为手写不如过去重要，因为如今人们几乎不再用手写字了。

MAN: Yes. And all the evidence suggests children should learn to write by hand before they learn to type. Not least because it helps their memory.

男人：是的。所有证据都表明，孩子们应该在学习打字之前先学习手写。尤其是因为这有助于他们的记忆力。

WOMAN: That's right. The physical act of writing helps children to remember letters.

女人：没错。书写这一身体行为有助于孩子们记住字母。

That seems pretty obvious when you think about it.

仔细想想，这似乎是相当明显的。

MAN: What's less obvious is how it helps develop their concentration.

男人：不那么明显的是它如何帮助培养他们的专注力。

They have to sit still and focus on one thing.

他们必须静静地坐着，专注于一件事。

WOMAN: Yeah. That aspect of handwriting had never occurred to me before.

女人：是的，我以前从未想过笔迹的这个方面。

MAN: Same here. I'm not sure I understand how it improves children's imagination though.

男人：这里也一样。不过，我不确定我是否理解它如何提高孩子们的想象力。

WOMAN: Well, there was that study which showed that primary aged children generated more ideas when they were writing by hand than using a keyboard. I would've guessed that would be the case.

女：嗯，有一项研究表明，初级儿童在手写时产生的想法比使用键盘时更多。我早就猜到会是这样。

MAN: Mmm, yeah. I'd never associated spatial awareness with handwriting either.

男人：嗯，是的。我也从未将空间意识与手写联系起来。

I thought spatial awareness was more to do with knowing where you are in relation to objects or other people.

我认为空间意识更多地与知道自己与物体或其他人的相对位置有关。

WOMAN: I thought that too. But good spatial awareness is essential for writing because you have to space words correctly.

女人：我也这么认为。但是，良好的空间意识对写作至关重要，因为你必须正确地给词语留出空间。

It's not just fine motor skills that improve through writing as I'd always assumed.

不仅仅是像我一直以为的那样，通过写作可以提高优秀的运动技能。

MAN: Handwriting is so much harder for children with dyspraxia, who have problems coordinating movement.

男人：对于有运动障碍的儿童来说，手写要困难得多，他们在协调运动方面存在问题。

It's good there are lots of things you can do in the classroom to help them.

好在你可以在课堂上做很多事情来帮助他们。

They need so much more support with letter formation – you need to play lots of games to help them distinguish letter shapes. It takes a lot of patience.

他们在字母形成方面需要更多的支持 —— 你需要玩很多游戏来帮助他们区分字母的形状。这需要很大的耐心。

WOMAN: Yeah. I liked the idea of using one of those pens that lights up if you press too hard.

女人：是的。我喜欢使用那种用力过猛就会发光的笔的想法。

That seems like a really simple solution.

这似乎是一个非常简单的解决方案。

MAN: Yes, absolutely. I'm not sure there's much you can do about children with dyspraxia writing very slowly.

男人：是的，绝对如此。我不确定对于写作障碍儿童写得很慢的问题，你能做些什么。

It's more important to focus on accuracy and as they get more confident I think they eventually speed up.

更重要的是关注准确性，随着他们变得越来越自信，我认为他们最终会加快速度。

WOMAN: One quite simple thing you can do is to use grid paper.

女人：有一件相当简单的事情你可以做，那就是使用方格纸。

So they write each letter in a box and that trains them to space the letters correctly.

所以他们把每个字母都写在一个方框里，这样就能训练他们正确地排列字母。

MAN: Indeed, that's more important for legibility than trying to get them to write in a straight line.

男人：确实，这对于提高可读性比试图让他们写直线更重要。

MAN: For some children it might be better to teach them to write on a laptop rather than by hand.

男人：对于一些孩子来说，教他们用笔记本电脑写字可能比用手写更好。

Like children with dyslexia. They often really struggle with handwriting and some just give up.

就像患有阅读障碍的孩子一样。他们经常在书写方面遇到困难，有些人干脆就放弃了。

WOMAN: Yeah. It's not as frustrating for them if they get things wrong – on a keyboard they can be more willing to have a go.

女人：是的。对他们来说，即使写错了东西也不会那么沮丧 —— 在键盘上，他们可能会更愿意尝试。

But I read that developing fluency isn't any faster.

但我读到，培养流畅性的速度并没有更快。

MAN: That's right. Did you read that article on the benefits of teaching print rather than cursive handwriting, where the letters are joined up?

男人：没错。你有没有读过那篇关于教授印刷体而不是连字的草体书法的文章？

WOMAN: Yes. Well in the past cursive writing was certainly considered more stylish and educated.

女人：是的。在过去，草体字确实被认为更有风格，也更有教育意义。

But not anymore. Teachers' attitudes have changed because it's been proved that cursive is more difficult to learn – especially for children with learning difficulties who find joining up letters really challenging.

但现在不同了。教师的态度已经改变，因为事实证明，草书更难学习 —— 特别是对于有学习障碍的孩子来说，他们发现连接字母真的很有挑战性。

MAN: I agree. I was always worried that my poor handwriting affected my exam results.

男人：我同意。我一直担心我糟糕的书法会影响我的考试成绩。

And now research shows that I was right to worry.

现在研究表明，我的担忧是正确的。

I'm sure a lot of students think it's unfair that they're being judged on their handwriting not just their knowledge.

我相信许多学生都认为，不仅仅根据他们的知识来评判他们，还要根据他们的笔迹来评判他们，这是不公平的。

WOMAN: Marks are definitely affected if examiners can't read the script.

女人：如果考官不能阅读笔迹，成绩肯定会受到影响。

That's why it's always been so important to teach children to write legibly…

这就是为什么教孩子们写出清晰易读的字一直如此重要......

Do you think the role of handwriting will change in the future?

你认为书法在未来的作用会改变吗？

MAN: I can't see that changing much.

男人：我看不出有什么变化。

Touch typing still isn't taught in most schools, which is a shame.

大多数学校仍然没有教授触摸式打字，这是一个遗憾。

But maybe that won't be necessary in the future because people will also be able to write by hand on digital devices. Anyway, teachers understand the value of handwriting. It's a basic life skill.

但也许在未来这将不再是必要的，因为人们也将能够在数字设备上手写。无论如何，老师们理解手写的价值。这是一项基本的生活技能。

WOMAN: True. However, the fact is that people are writing by hand less and less and relying on digital devices. That does cause some problems.

女人：没错。然而，事实是人们越来越少用手写，越来越依赖数字设备。这确实造成了一些问题。

MAN: You mean like note taking? There are lots of apps for that.

男人：你是说像做笔记那样的吗？有很多这样的应用程序。

WOMAN: And for reading historical documents apparently.

女人：显然还有阅读历史文献的应用。

But my mum is shocked by my awful spelling and the fact that my punctuation is really inconsistent.

但我妈妈对我糟糕的拼写和标点符号的不一致感到震惊。

I think you can put that down to lack of practice.

我想你可以把这归因于缺乏练习。

MAN: I expect so. Personally, I miss writing by hand. I hardly ever write anything now.

男人：我想是的。就我个人而言，我怀念手写。现在我几乎不写任何东西了。

I remember my grandparents had such beautiful handwriting and it was so individual.

我记得我的祖父母有着非常优美的字迹，而且非常独特。

Nobody I know would be able to identify my handwriting now. It's a shame.

现在我认识的人没有一个能认出我的笔迹了。真遗憾。

WOMAN: I know. I feel the same way.

女人：我知道，我也有同感。

I used to write a diary by hand and now I do that digitally.

我以前用手写日记，现在我用数字化的方式写。

It just seems less effort to do it that way. So it's not just a problem…

只是用那种方式似乎更省力。所以这不仅仅是个问题......