When people are picturing what education will look like in the future, it is often believed that e-learning platforms will replace physical campuses. And recently, coronavirus has launched a great online-education “experiment” in China.
在畅想未来教育时，人们大多认为在线学习平台会取代实体学校。而近来由于新冠疫情，中国正进行着一场规模庞大的在线教育大“实验”。
As a response to the coronavirus outbreak, schools across China have suspended their new semester and online classes have been provided to ensure that learning continues. The Ministry of Education has required educational TV channels to broadcast teaching and learning programs, so that students in the impoverished areas can also study at home. Many online education platforms have opened access to their courses and resources for free.
为应对疫情的爆发，中国各地的学校均已推迟新学期开学时间，同时提供网课以确保“停课不停学”。教育部要求电视教育频道也播出教学节目，以便贫困地区的学生在家也能学习。许多在线教育平台也都免费开放了课程和资源。
DingTalk, an Alibaba-owned corporate app, has been widely used in this online-education “experiment”. Every day it is holding online classes for millions of students nationwide, from primary to high school level.
在此次的在线教育大“实验”中，阿里巴巴旗下的办公软件“钉钉”受到广泛应用。每天，全国有数百万中小学生通过钉钉的在线课堂进行学习。
Despite its convenience, online learning seems to have lower efficiency than classroom learning, especially for students in primary and secondary schools. Due to lack of self-discipline, many of them multitask with non-academic matters—such as chatting and gaming—instead of paying full attention to the online class. Parents are thus confronting a demandingtask. They are under pressure to cooperate with teachers by monitoring and tutoring their children at home.
与课堂学习相比，在线学习尽管有其便利性，但在学习效率上似乎略逊一筹，对于小学生与初中生而言尤其如此。许多中小学生缺乏自律，在上网课的同时做着与学习无关的事情，例如聊天和游戏。于是家长多了一份吃力的工作，即配合教师，在家中监管和辅导孩子学习。家长们因此倍感压力。
Complaints from teachers have also exposed the weakness of online learning. In live classes, teachers have to spend a lot of time interacting with each student to see if they are following. While online classes may seem like less work, they in fact exhaust teachers with the increasing difficulty of imparting knowledge effectively.
来自教师的抱怨也暴露出在线学习的缺陷。在直播课上，教师们不得不耗费大量时间与每一个学生互动，以便知道他们是否跟上了教学节奏。网课看似减少了工作量，实则增加了有效传授知识的难度，让教师们疲惫不堪。
As CNN reported, “converting a class that relies on face time with students to relayinformation, doesn’t translate easily into an online environment”. Based on the “results” of this online-education “experiment” , it is still too early to say this is the onset of "spring" for online education.
正如CNN报道中所称，“依靠面授来传授信息的课堂要转移至线上并不容易”。就此次在线教育“实验”的“结果”而言，要说在线教育的“春天”已经到来还为时过早。
VOCABULARY
suspend v. 推迟
self-discipline n. 自律能力
demanding adj. 费力的
impart v. 传授（知识、信息等）
relay v. 传达，转送
onset n. 开端