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

男：你那篇关于书写能力的作业做得怎么样了？

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

女：还不错。你知道吗，我以前不知道孩子们从学习书写中能获得这么多好处。

WOMAN: 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.

女：这是一项非常重要的技能，但大多数人认为现在书写已经没有以前那么重要了，因为现在几乎没人用手写字了。

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：是的。而且所有证据都表明，孩子应该先学会手写，再学打字。其中一个主要原因就是这对他们的记忆力有帮助。

WOMAN: That’s right. The physical act of writing helps children to remember letters. That seems pretty obvious when you think about it.

女：没错。动手写字这个行为本身就能帮助孩子记住字母的形状。仔细想想其实挺明显的。

MAN: What’s less obvious is how it helps develop their concentration. They have to sit still and focus on one thing.

男：不太明显的是它如何帮助他们发展注意力。他们必须坐好，专注于一件事上。

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

女：对。这方面我以前真的没怎么想过。

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

男：我也是。不过我不太明白它是怎么提升孩子想象力的。

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，有一项研究显示，小学生在手写时比用键盘能产生更多创意点子。我觉得这也很合理。

MAN: Mmm, yeah. I’d never associated spatial awareness with handwriting either. I thought spatial awareness was more to do with knowing where you are in relation to objects or other people.

男：嗯，是的。我也从来没把空间意识和手写联系在一起过。我一直以为空间意识是指你对自己在物体或他人周围位置的判断。

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

女：我以前也这么想。但良好的空间意识对手写来说其实非常重要，因为你得正确地安排单词之间的间距。

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

女：原来我以为只是精细动作技能会通过书写得到提高。

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

男：对于患有动作协调障碍的孩子来说，书写要困难得多，因为他们很难控制身体动作。

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

男：幸好有很多方法可以在教室里帮助他们。

MAN: 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.

男：他们在形成字母方面需要更多的支持——你需要玩很多游戏来帮助他们区分不同字母的形状。这很考验耐心。

WOMAN: Yeah. I liked the idea of using one of those pens that lights up if you press too hard. That seems like a really simple solution.

女：嗯。我喜欢那个如果用力太大会亮灯的笔的设计，看起来是个很简单有效的办法。

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

男：是的，确实如此。不过我也不确定有没有办法让患有动作协调障碍的孩子写得更快一些。

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

男：更重要的是准确性，随着他们越来越自信，速度也会慢慢提上来。

WOMAN: One quite simple thing you can do is to use grid paper. So they write each letter in a box and that trains them to space the letters correctly.

女：有个比较简单的方法是使用格子纸，每个字母写在一个格子里，这样可以训练他们正确安排字母间距。

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

男：没错，比起让他们写出一条直线，清晰的字母间距对辨识度更为重要。

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

男：有些孩子可能更适合教他们在笔记本电脑上打字而不是手写，比如像患有诵读困难症的孩子。

MAN: They often really struggle with handwriting and some just give up.

男：他们经常在书写方面遇到很大困难，有些人甚至直接放弃了。

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

女：是的。对他们来说，写错也没关系，用键盘更容易让他们愿意尝试。但我读到说，这样在提高写作流利度方面并没有更快。

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：没错。你有没有看过那篇关于教印刷体而非连笔草书的好处的文章？

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

女：看了。过去人们普遍认为连笔书法更优雅、更有文化感。

WOMAN: 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.

女：但现在不是了。教师们的看法已经改变，因为事实证明连笔更难学——特别是对那些学习困难的孩子，他们觉得把字母连起来特别难。

MAN: I agree. I was always worried that my poor handwriting affected my exam results. And now research shows that I was right to worry.

男：我同意这点。我一直担心我的糟糕字迹会影响考试成绩，现在研究证明我当时担心是有道理的。

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

男：我相信很多学生会觉得不公平，因为评判他们不仅看知识掌握程度，还要看字写得好不好。

WOMAN: Marks are definitely affected if examiners can’t read the script. That’s why it’s always been so important to teach children to write legibly….

女：如果阅卷老师看不懂字迹，分数肯定会受影响。这就是为什么一直强调教会孩子写清楚的重要性……

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

女：你觉得将来书写的角色会改变吗？

MAN: I can’t see that changing much. Touch typing still isn’t taught in most schools, which is a shame. But maybe that won’t be necessary in the future because people will also be able to write by hand on digital devices.

男：我看不会有多大变化。毕竟大多数学校仍然不教盲打，这挺可惜的。但也许未来这并不重要，因为人们也可以在数字设备上用手写输入了。

MAN: Anyway, teachers understand the value of handwriting. It’s a basic life skill.

男：不管怎么说，老师们还是知道书写的价值的。它是一种基本的生活技能。

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：没错。但现实是，人们越来越少用手写字，而是依赖数码设备。这也带来了一些问题。

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

男：你是说像记笔记这种事吗？这类应用现在已经有很多了。

WOMAN: And for reading historical documents apparently. But my mum is shocked by my awful spelling and the fact that my punctuation is really inconsistent. I think you can put that down to lack of practice.

女：还有阅读历史文献的时候据说也有问题。但我妈妈总抱怨我拼写差得离谱，标点也非常混乱。我觉得这是因为缺乏练习。

MAN: I expect so. Personally, I miss writing by hand. I hardly ever write anything now. I remember my grandparents had such beautiful handwriting and it was so individual.

男：应该是这样的。我自己倒是怀念写字的感觉。我现在几乎什么都不写了。我还记得我祖父母那优美的字迹，每个人都有自己的风格。

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

男：现在我认识的人几乎没有谁能认出我的笔迹了。真有点可惜。

WOMAN: I know. I feel the same way. I used to write a diary by hand and now I do that digitally. It just seems less effort to do it that way. So it’s not just a problem…

女：我也有同感。我以前还坚持用手写日记，现在改用电子方式了。感觉这样轻松多了。所以这不只是个人的问题……