经济学人：手写在打字时代依然重要
刘立军 供稿
TRANSCRIPT
Two and a half millennia ago, Socrates complained that writing would harm students. With a way to store ideas permanently and externally, they would no longer need to memorise. It is tempting to dismiss him as an old man complaining about change. Socrates did not have a stack of peer-reviewed science to make his case about the usefulness of learning concepts by heart.
Today a different debate is raging about the dangers of another technology — computers — and the typing people do on them. As primary-school pupils and PhD hopefuls return for a new school year in the northern hemisphere, many will do so with a greater-than-ever reliance on computers to take notes and write papers. Some parents of younger students are dismayed that their children are not encouraged but required to tote laptops to class. University professors complain of rampant distraction in classrooms, with students reading and messaging instead of listening to lectures.
A line of research shows the benefits of an “innovation” that predates computers: handwriting. Studies have found that writing on paper can improve everything from recalling a random series of words to imparting a better conceptual grasp of complicated ideas.
For learning material by rote, from the shapes of letters to the quirks of English spelling, the benefits of using a pen or pencil lie in how the motor and sensory memory of putting words on paper reinforces that material. The arrangement of squiggles on a page feeds into visual memory: people might remember a word they wrote down in French class as being at the bottom-left on a page, par exemple.
One of the best-demonstrated advantages of writing by hand seems to be in superior note-taking. In a study from 2014 by Pam Mueller and Danny Oppenheimer, students typing wrote down almost twice as many words and more passages verbatim from lectures, suggesting they were not understanding so much as rapidly copying the material.
Handwriting — which takes longer for nearly all university-level students — forces note-takers to synthesize ideas into their own words. This aids conceptual understanding at the moment of writing. But those taking notes by hand also perform better on tests when students are later able to study from their notes. The effect even persisted when the students who typed were explicitly instructed to rephrase the material in their own words. The instruction was “completely ineffective” at reducing verbatim note-taking, the researchers note: they did not understand the material so much as parrot it.
Many studies have confirmed handwriting’s benefits, and policymakers have taken note. Though America’s “Common Core” curriculum from 2010 does not require handwriting instruction past first grade (roughly age six), about half the states since then have mandated more teaching of it, thanks to campaigning by researchers and handwriting supporters. In Sweden there is a push for more handwriting and printed books and fewer devices. England’s national curriculum already prescribes teaching the rudiments of cursive by age seven.
However, several school systems in America have gone so far as to ban most laptops. This is too extreme. Some students have disabilities that make handwriting especially hard. Nearly all will eventually need typing skills. And typing can improve the quality of writing: being able to get ideas down quickly, before they are forgotten, can obviously be beneficial. So can slowing down the speed of typing, says Dr Oppenheimer.
Virginia Berninger, emeritus professor at the University of Washington, is a longtime advocate of handwriting. But she is not a purist; she says there are research-tested benefits for “manuscript” print-style writing, for cursive (which allows greater speed) but also for typing (which is good practice for composing passages). Since students spend more time on devices as they age, she argues for occasional “tuning up” of handwriting in later school years.
And perhaps even into adulthood. Johnson had not handwritten anything longer than a letter in decades before putting actual pen to paper to write this column’s first draft. Whether it made any difference to the outcome is a question that readers must decide.
Socrates may or may not have had a point about the downsides of writing. But no one would remember, much less care, if his student Plato had not noted it down for the benefit of posterity.
VOCABULARY
1. hopeful n. 希望成功的人；雄心勃勃的人
2. rampant adj. 猖獗的，泛滥的
3. tote v. 携带
4. random adj. 随机的，任意的
5. impart v. 传授，给予
6. by rote 死记硬背
7. squiggle n. (写或画的)弯弯曲曲的线条；潦草的笔迹
8. verbatim adj. 逐字的
9. parrot v. 机械地复制或模仿
10. rudiment n. 基础；基本原理(或技能)
11. cursive n. 草书
12. mandate n. 授权，命令；v. 授权，委托
13. emeritus professor 名誉教授
14. downside n. 缺点；不利方面
15. posterity n. 后代
QUESTIONS
Listen to the passage and choose the best answer to each question you hear.
1. What was Socrates' concern about writing?
A. It makes the students lazy.
B. It would cause harm to students by reducing their need to memorize.
C. Writing would be too difficult for students.
D. It was a technology that could distract students.
2. What are the disadvantages of students using computers in class?
A. Students can easily get distracted in class.
B. Students rely heavily on computers for note-taking.
C. Students may message instead of listening to lectures.
D. All of the above.
3. Why is handwriting found superior to typing for taking notes according to the text?
A. Because handwriting takes longer for nearly all college students.
B. Because handwriting helps students understand the material.
C. Because students can get ideas down quickly.
D. Because handwriting is good practice for composing passages.
4. What was the result when students who typed their notes were explicitly instructed to rephrase the material in their own words?
A. They understood the material better.
B. It improved their ability to write verbatim.
C. The instruction was completely ineffective.
D. They were able to write twice as many words.
5. What is the text's overall viewpoint toward handwriting and typing?
A. Handwriting should be encouraged while typing should be discouraged.
B. Both handwriting and typing have their own benefits and should be used in conjunction.
C. Typing is superior to handwriting.
D. Neither handwriting nor typing are effective ways of note-taking.
KEY
1. What was Socrates' concern about writing?
A. It makes the students lazy.
B. It would cause harm to students by reducing their need to memorize.
C. Writing would be too difficult for students.
D. It was a technology that could distract students.
【答案】B
【解析】细节题。Socrates的观点在文本的开头部分提到，书写会对学生造成损害，因为有了一种永久的存储想法的方式，他们就不再需要记忆，所以选择B。
2. What are the disadvantages of students using computers in class?
A. Students can easily get distracted in class.
B. Students rely heavily on computers for note-taking.
C. Students may message instead of listening to lectures.
D. All of the above.
【解析】细节题。文中第2段提到，一些年轻学严重依赖电脑来记笔记与写论文，还有的容易分心，上课忙于发短信而不是认真听讲，所以选择D。
3. Why is handwriting found superior to typing for taking notes according to the text?
A. Because handwriting takes longer for nearly all college students.
B. Because handwriting helps students understand the material.
C. Because students can get ideas down quickly.
D. Because handwriting is good practice for composing passages.
【答案】B
【解析】细节题。根据文中第6段的描述：Handwriting — which takes longer for nearly all university-level students — forces note-takers to synthesize ideas into their own words. 手写对于记笔记有着更好的效果，因为它迫使记笔记的人以他们自己的话来概括想法，更好地理解文本，所以选择B。
4. What was the result when students who typed their notes were explicitly instructed to rephrase the material in their own words?
A. They understood the material better.
B. It improved their ability to write verbatim.
C. The instruction was completely ineffective.
D. They were able to write twice as many words.
【答案】C
【解析】细节题。根据文中后半部分的描述，指示用他们自己的话重新表述材料对减少逐字笔记完全无效，所以选择C。
5. What is the text's overall viewpoint toward handwriting and typing?
A. Handwriting should be encouraged while typing should be discouraged.
B. Both handwriting and typing have their own benefits and should be used in conjunction.
C. Typing is superior to handwriting.
D. Neither handwriting nor typing are effective ways of note-taking.
【答案】B
【解析】推理题。整篇文章既讨论了手写的好处，也提到了打字的优点。如同文章末尾部分所示，文章并没有偏向任何一种方式，而是认为手写和打字都有其各自的优点，应该结合使用。所以选择B。
（封面图片来源于摄图网，版权归摄图网所有）