Gever Tulley: 5 dangerous things you should let your kids do

翻译人员: Suyu Hou 校对人员: Tony Yet

欢迎各位出席我的演讲，我演讲的主题是：应该让孩子做的五件“危险”的事情。

Welcome to "Five Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Children Do."

I don't have children.

我自己并没有孩子。

I borrow my friends' children, so --

因此，我只好借来了我朋友们的小孩。

(Laughter)

（笑）

take all this advice with a grain of salt.

对于我今天所谈及的内容，大家尽可以持保留态度。

我叫吉佛·图利。

I'm Gever Tulley.

I'm a contract computer scientist by trade,

我的职业是一名计算机科学家，

同时我也是“探索训练营”的创始人。

but I'm the founder of something called the Tinkering School.

It's a summer program which aims to help kids

这是一个旨在帮助孩子们

learn how to build the things that they think of.

学会如何随心所欲地去搭建各种玩意儿的暑期项目。

So we build a lot of things,

因此，我们建造了许多东西。

and I do put power tools into the hands of second-graders.

而且，我还让这些二年级的小朋友们去接触一些电动工具。

如果你正考虑把你的孩子送到我们的探索训练营来的话，

So if you're thinking about sending your kid to Tinkering School,

they do come back bruised, scraped and bloody.

他们回家的时候，身上准会青一块紫一块，遍体鳞伤。

(Laughter)

大家都知道，

You know, we live in a world

that's subjected to ever more stringent child safety regulations.

在我们所生活的这个世界里，关于儿童安全方面的准则制定得越来越严格。

There doesn't seem to be any limit on how crazy

对于儿童安全准则的制定，

child safety regulations can get.

其严苛程度，近乎疯狂。

我们在所有美国制造的塑料袋上都印有令人窒息的安全警告，

We put suffocation warnings on every piece of plastic film

manufactured in the United States,

那些随商品出售的塑料袋上，

or for sale with an item in the United States.

也不能幸免。

We put warnings on coffee cups

连咖啡杯上也印有

to tell us that the contents may be hot.

“以防液体烫伤”这样的安全警示。

And we seem to think that any item sharper than a golf ball is too sharp

对那些十岁以下的孩子们而言，

人们似乎想当然的认为，

只要是比高尔夫球尖锐一些的物体，都可被视为是锋利的。

for children under the age of 10.

这样的一种趋势什么时候才能到头呢？

So where does this trend stop?

When we round every corner and eliminate every sharp object,

当我们把所有的角都磨圆，

every pokey bit in the world,

让一切锋利的物体都消失殆尽，

then the first time that kids come in contact with anything sharp,

那么当孩子们第一次接触到

那些由带有棱角的塑料制成的物体时，

or not made out of round plastic,

他们会伤到自己。

they'll hurt themselves with it.

So, as the boundaries of what we determine as the safety zone

因此，随着我们对什么是安全区域的界定变得越来越严苛，

grow ever smaller,

与此同时，我们也切断了让孩子们与周遭的世界

we cut off our children from valuable opportunities

to learn how to interact with the world around them.

相处的宝贵机会。

And despite all of our best efforts and intentions,

尽管我们所做的努力和意图是好的，

kids are always going to figure out

但孩子们终究必须学会如何

去应付各种各样环境下的，那些在他们能力所及范围内的

how to do the most dangerous thing they can,

in whatever environment they can.

所谓最危险的事。

(Laughter)

So despite the provocative title,

因此，尽管这个标题看上去有些触目惊心，

this presentation is really about safety,

and about some simple things that we can do

但这篇讲演的主旨实际上是关于安全的，以及我们能做的一些简单的小事，

to raise our kids to be creative,

通过这些小事，可以提高孩子们的创造力、自信心

confident and in control of the environment around them.

以及对他们周遭环境的控制能力。

And what I now present to you

我现在向大家介绍的是来自于一本未完成书中的节选。

is an excerpt from a book in progress.

The book is called "50 Dangerous Things."

这本书名字叫做“50件危险的事”。

This is "Five Dangerous Things."

我节选了其中的5件。

Thing number one: Play with fire.

第一件事—玩火。

Learning to control one of the most elemental forces in nature

学会如何控制自然界中这一最基本的力量

is a pivotal moment in any child's personal history.

是每一个孩子个人成长历史中的关键时刻。™

Whether we remember it or not,

无论我们对于第一次和火打交道的经历是否记忆犹新，

it's the first time we really get control

这是我们第一次真正能够控制

大自然界万千神秘事物之一。

of one of these mysterious things.

These mysteries are only revealed

这些神秘的面纱只有那些

to those who get the opportunity to play with it.

有机会去接触和体验它们的人们才能揭开。

因此，应该让孩子们去玩火。

So, playing with fire.

火是人类伟大的发现。

This is like one of the great things we ever discovered, fire.

From playing with it, they learn some basic principles about fire,

通过玩火，孩子们可以学到关于火的一些最基本的知识，

about intake, combustion, exhaust.

以及关于进气、燃烧、排气等基本相关知识。

These are the three working elements of fire

这是三个最基本的火的工作原理。

that you have to have for a good, controlled fire.

只有掌握了这些基本知识，我们才能更好的利用火。

And you can think of the open-pit fire as a laboratory.

我们可以把露天矿区燃烧的火想象成一个实验室。

You don't know what they're going to learn from playing with it.

虽然，通过玩火孩子们能够从中学到些什么我们无从而知。

但是，请相信我，让他们随心所欲地玩火，

Let them fool around with it on their own terms and trust me,

they're going to learn things

他们一定能够学到

that you can't get out of playing with Dora the Explorer toys.

比玩玩具“探险家Dora”所学不到的知识。

(Laughter)

Number two: Own a pocketknife.

第二件事—拥有一把小刀。

Pocketknives are kind of drifting out of our cultural consciousness,

小刀是一种游离于我们文化意识之外的东西，

which I think is a terrible thing.

我也挺讨厌它。

(Laughter)

（笑）

Your first pocketknife is like the first universal tool

你所拥有的第一把小刀是你的第一个万能的工具。

that you're given.

You know, it's a spatula, it's a pry bar,

可以当铲子用，可以当撬子用，

it's a screwdriver and it's a blade, yeah.

可以当成螺丝起子，也可以用作小刀。

And it's a powerful and empowering tool.

小刀是一个强大的万能工具。

And in a lot of cultures they give knives --

在很多不同的文化背景中，

like, as soon as they're toddlers, they have knives.

刚会学步的小孩就可以有小刀玩。

These are Inuit children cutting whale blubber.

这些因纽特小孩正在用他们手里的刀切鲸鱼油脂。

I first saw this in a Canadian Film Board film when I was 10,

我第一次看到这个是我十岁的时候，在一个加拿大电影公告牌上，

and it left a lasting impression,

小婴儿玩刀的情景给我留下了非常深刻的印象。

to see babies playing with knives.

And it shows that kids can develop an extended sense of self

这表明，孩子们在他们很小的时候

through a tool at a very young age.

就可以通过工具培养出一种自我引申意识。

你只需要定下几个非常简单的规定，

You lay down a couple of very simple rules --

always cut away from your body, keep the blade sharp, never force it --

诸如不要把刀口对向自己的身体，保持刀的锋利，不要对它施加强力等等。

and these are things kids can understand and practice with.

这些规定都很易于孩子们理解和掌握。

And yeah, they're going to cut themselves.

但是，他们不免会用小刀伤到自己。

我的腿上至今还留着被刀刺伤的疤痕。

I have some terrible scars on my legs from where I stabbed myself.

But you know, they're young. They heal fast.

但他们毕竟是孩子嘛，伤口很快就会愈合了。

(Laughter)

（笑）

Number three: Throw a spear.

第三件事—玩扔长矛的游戏。

It turns out that our brains are actually wired for throwing things,

研究证明，我们的大脑天生就懂得如何进行投掷，

and like muscles, if you don't use parts of your brain,

就如同我们的身体肌肉一样，如果你不经常使用你的大脑，

they tend to atrophy over time.

它也会慢慢萎缩退化的。

But when you exercise them,

但当你经常锻炼它的时候，

any given muscle adds strength to the whole system,

特定部位的肌肉就会给整个身体系统施加力量

and that applies to your brain, too.

这些力量也会同时作用于你的大脑。

So practicing throwing things has been shown to stimulate

因此，研究表明练习投掷

可以刺激额叶和顶叶，

the frontal and parietal lobes,

which have to do with visual acuity, 3D understanding,

额叶和顶叶又与视觉灵敏度、三维感知能力，

and structural problem solving,

以及结构性解决问题能力相关，

so it helps develop their visualization skills and their predictive ability.

因此它在培养孩子们想象技巧和预知能力方面具有重要的意义。

And throwing is a combination of analytical and physical skill,

而且投掷是分析技巧和物理技巧的结合，

so it's very good for that kind of whole-body training.

对于全身性的锻炼非常有好处。

这种具有目标性的活动

These kinds of target-based practices also help kids develop

对孩子们注意力的集中大有裨益。

attention and concentration skills,

so those are great.

因此，这是一项非常好的活动。

Number [four]: Deconstruct appliances.

第四件事—拆解家电。

There is a world of interesting things inside your dishwasher.

你知道吗，家里摆放着的其貌不扬的洗碗机的内部其实是一个有趣的世界。

Next time you're about to throw out an appliance,

下次一定记得，当你准备扔掉一件旧家电的时候，千万要手下留情。

don't throw it out.

Take it apart with your kid,

你应该做的是和你的孩子一起把它拆开，或者直接把它送到我的学校来，

or send him to my school, and we'll take it apart with them.

我们会和孩子们一起拆解这些旧家电。

Even if you don't know what the parts are,

即便你对这些零件一无所知，

puzzling out what they might be for

但是动动脑筋，想想每个零件是干什么用的，

is a really good practice for the kids

这本身已是对孩子们很好的锻炼。

to get sort of the sense that they can take things apart,

孩子们可以形成这样一种意识，

and no matter how complex they are,

就是不论机器的内部构造多么复杂，他们都可以把它拆解开，

they can understand parts of them.

他们能够从知晓每个零件的功能开始，

And that means that eventually, they can understand all of them.

慢慢弄清楚整个机器的原理。

It's a sense of knowability, that something is knowable.

这是一种对于可知性的领悟力，即某些事物是可知的。

So these black boxes that we live with and take for granted

我们要让孩子们明白那些我们习以为常的和我们共同生活在一起的黑盒子

are actually complex things made by other people,

实际上是由他人制造出来的复杂的的事物，

and you can understand them.

通过不断领悟我们也可以明白它们的原理。

Number five: Two-parter.

第五件事—由两部分组成。

Break the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

首先要打破千年数字版权法。

(Laughter)

（笑）

There are laws beyond safety regulations

除了安全准则之外还有很多法律

that attempt to limit how we can interact with the things

这些法律试图限制我们和我们所拥有的东西之间的互动。

that we own -- in this case, digital media.

那些数码媒体播放器就是一个很好的例子。

It's a very simple exercise:

举一个非常简单的例子—在ITunes上买一首歌，把歌写成CD,

Buy a song on iTunes, write it to a CD,

then rip the CD to an MP3, and play it on your very same computer.

然后把CD在电脑上转成MP3，再在这台电脑上播放MP3.

You've just broken a law.

这样做的后果就是你已经触犯了法律。

Technically, the RIAA could come and prosecute you.

从法律角度来说，美国唱片工业联合会可以对你进行指控。

It's an important lesson for kids to understand,

对孩子们来说这是一个重要的教训—

that some of these laws get broken by accident,

有些法律是人们无意之中触犯的

and that laws have to be interpreted.

这些法律应该得到解释，以被人们所知晓。

有些时候，当我们摆弄一些玩意的时候，

That's something we often talk about with the kids

when we're fooling around with things and breaking them open,

当我们把它们打开或者拆开的时候，

and taking them apart and using them for other things.

当我们把它们用作他用的时候，我们应该把孩子们叫过来，和他们一起交流讨论—

And also when we go out and drive a car.

当我们开车出行的时候，也应该这么做。

Driving a car is a really empowering act for a young child,

驾车对一个小孩来说是一项超乎他能力的行为，

so this is the alternate --

因此这也是极限。

(Laughter)

（笑）

For those of you who aren't comfortable actually breaking the law,

对于那些不愿意触犯法律的人而言，

you can drive a car with your child.

你们可以带着孩子一起驾车。

This is a great stage for a kid.

对孩子来说，这是一个十分重要的成长阶段。

这个阶段发生的时间

This happens about the same time

与孩子们对外部世界

that they get latched onto things like dinosaurs,

these big things in the outside world,

类似恐龙这样的大家伙着迷的时间大体上一致，

that they're trying to get a grip on.

他们兴致勃勃的想试一把。

A car is a similar object, and they can get in a car and drive it.

对于车也一样，孩子们想进入到车的内部，享受驾驶的乐趣。

And that really gives them a handle on a world

这就好比—在这样一个充斥着条条框框的世界里，

in a way that they don't often have access to.

让孩子们得到了一定程度的自由—这种自由是不容易得到的。

And it's perfectly legal.

因此，我们可以营造一种完全合法的状态。

Find a big empty lot, make sure there's nothing in it,

找一块空地，确保没有别的障碍物，

and that it's on private property, and let them drive your car.

并且空地位于私家场所，在这样的一块地方让孩子们享受驾驶的乐趣。

It's very safe actually.

事实上，这是非常安全的。

And it's fun for the whole family.

并且对于整个家庭来说都是一种莫大的乐趣。

(Laughter)

（笑）

就让我们来瞧瞧吧。

Let's see, I think that's it. That's number five and a half. OK.

我想我该说的都已经说完了。这应当算作第五件半“危险”的事情吧。谢谢大家。