英文或中文(English or Chinese)

scenei,iselectacourseofwesterneconomics.iopenmytextbook.itsaworkofafamousamericaneconomist,writteninenglish.myteacherisspeakinginahighmood,alsoinenglish.

sceneii,iselectalessonofchineseliterature.iopenmytextbookonlytofindallthefamouspeopleofchinalabeledwiththeirnamesinletters.furthermore,thereisnotasinglechinesecharacterinthebookandmyteacherisrecitingapoemoftangdynastyinenglish.

now,giventhequestion"doyouagreethatinchinesehighereducation,textbooksshouldbewritteninenglishandthelanguageusedinclassshouldalsobeenglish?"canyouansweritjustby"yes"or"no"simply?

asisknowntoall,englishisgaininganincreasinglyimportantpositionintodayschina.evenkidsinkindergartenhavebeguntolearnsimplewords.thatsagoodphenomenon,forenglishisessentialnowadays.aswecollegestudentsareconcerned,onebenefitoflearningthislanguageisthatwecanreadtheoriginalworksdirectly.thisisbecauseeventhemostexcellenttranslatorisnomorethanaperson,whocannevertotallyavoidaddinghisownopiniontotheoriginal.therefore,thechineseversionswereadusuallydifferfromtheoriginalones,andinsomecasesthetwoversionsareevenoppositeinmeaning.learningenglishprovidesuswithapossibletooltosolvethisproblemaswemasterthewriterslanguage,wecanexplorehisthoughtsonourown.

then,canwejustsay"yes"tothequestiongivenabove?justimaginethesecondsceneatthebeginning,willyouagreetoreplaceallourbookswiththeirenglishversion?thatsmorethanajoke.

englishdoeshelpusreadenglishoriginalworks,butchinesehelpsuslearnatruechina.chinesecharactersareaninseparablepartofchineseculture.onlybycharacterscanchineseliteraturesendoffitsbrilliance.somemoderntranslatorshavetriedtotranslateclassicalchineseliteratureintoenglish.iwasunluckyenoughtohaveheardasocalled"poem"oflibai.istilldoubtevennowwhetheritisapoemofliorjustaprosecreatedbythetranslatorhimself.iwanttocry,forlibai,forchineseliteratureandalsofortheignorant"translator".maybe,hejustwantedtointroducechineseculturetothewholeworld,butwhathehasdoneisjustkillingit.tolearnacountrysculture,especiallyitsclassicalculture,thefirstthingistolearnitslanguage.opinionsthroughtranslatorssometimescanbehelpful,butsometimes,theycanbefatallymisleading.sincewearechinese,whydowegiveupourmothertongueandlearnourownculturethroughaforeignlanguage?ifso,severalyearslater,notonlytheforeignersbutweourselveswillbeunabletounderstandourculture.bythatday,chineseculturewilldie,chinawilldie,andwewilljustbeagroupof"foreigners"withdarkeyesandyellowskin.

bynow,ithinkihavefoundtheanswertothequestion.wehadbetterusetheenglishoriginalworkswhenwelearncourseslikewesterneconomicsandwesternphilosophy.asforthechinesecultureorthechinesehistory,weshouldsticktoourownlanguage.