教育旨在培养社会需要的各类人才，而非只以考场论英雄。然而，现行教育体制下确实存在考试决定一切的现象，它已造成了太多的负面影响。
Examinations Exert a Negative Influence on Education
Though all the pious claim that examinations test what you know, it is common knowledge that they more often do the exact opposite.① They may be a good means of testing memory, or the knack of working rapidly under extreme pressure, but they can tell you nothing about a person’s true ability and aptitude.
As anxiety makers, examinations are second to none. That is because so much depends on them. They are the mark of success or failure in our society. Your whole future may be decided in one fateful day. The moment a child begins school, he enters a world of sharp competition where success and failure are clearly defined and measured. Can we wonder at the increasing number of drop-outs, young people who are written off as utter failures before they have even begun a career? Can we be surprised at the suicide rate among students?
A good education should, among other things, train you to think for yourself. The examination system does anything but that. What has to be learnt is rigidly laid down by a syllabus, so the student is encouraged to memories.② Examinations do not motivate a student to read widely, but to restrict his reading; they do not enable him to seek more and more knowledge, but induce cramming.③ The most successful candidates are not always the best educated; they are the best trained in the technique of working under pressure.
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行文点评
本文采用总分结构进行论证，第一段，开头举出一种反面观点：考试可以测试掌握知识的程度，然后予以反驳，举出与此相悖的共识，并加以阐述从而提出作者观点：考试并不能说明一个人真正的能力和资质。然后下面的两段分别论述了考试的两个弊病。第二段主要论证考试作为焦虑症制造者对于学生身心发展的影响，并结合事实引起读者共鸣。第三段论述考试的第二个弊端，不能训练人独立思维的能力反而与之相悖。
本文的论述十分精彩，第二段详尽的论述将论点表述得淋漓尽致。两个反问句的连续使用加强了语气使得论证更有震撼力。第三段中结合实际论述了考试在训练学生思维方面的欠缺之处，but否定句式更加强了说服力。
好文妙译
考试对教育的负面影响
尽管有很多人虔诚地宣称考试可以测出你掌握的知识，却有这样一个普遍的共识，即考试所做的往往与之相悖。考试或许是一种测验记忆力的好方法，或许是测验在极端压力下快速工作的诀窍。但是它却不能说明一个人真正的能力和资质。
考试作为“焦虑症制造者”是无人能及的。这是因为有那么多事情都有赖于考试。考试在我们的社会中是成功或失败的标志。在具有决定意义的某一天，你的一生可能就被决定了。一个孩子步入学校大门那一刻起，他便步入了一个残酷竞争的世界。在那里，成功和失败都被明白无误地加以定义和衡量。辍学者的数量日渐增加——那些年轻人甚至还没有开始从事一种职业便被作为彻底的失败者而被判出局——对此，我们难道不纳闷吗?我们难道对学生中的自杀率不感到惊诧吗?
除了其他目的之外，良好的教育应该训练人独立思维的能力。考试却根本做不到这一点。学生必须学些什么已由教学大纲生硬地规定了下来的东西，这便鼓励了学生去死记硬背。考试不但未能激发学生去广泛地阅读，反而限制了他们的阅读范围。它不但未使学生能够去追求更多的知识，反而诱导了死记硬背。最成功的应试者往往不是受教育最好的人，他们只不过是在应付工作压力的技巧方面最训练有素罢了。
词汇斟酌
exert vt.尽(力),施加(压力等),努力 v. 发挥,竭尽全力
pious a. 虔诚的, 尽责的
knack n. 诀窍
aptitude n. (尤指学习能力方面的)才能，能力，资质，天资
dropout n. 中途退学，辍学学生
utter a. 全然的，彻底的，绝对的；vt. 发出，作声
syllabus n. 课程提纲，教学大纲
induce vt. 劝诱，促使，导致
cram v.强行灌输，死记硬背
佳句临摹
① 【注释】it is...that…常见的强调句式，加强语气
【临摹】It is huge sums of money that ( which ) Western health care system are spending on the surgical treatment of the disease. 西方国家医疗保健机构在心脏病的手术治疗上，开支确实是巨大的。
②【注释】lay down规定，制定；放下，交出
【临摹】Lay down the law and tell her you will not stand for this kind of behavior.把话讲清楚，告诉她你不会容忍这种行为。
【临摹】We are never afraid to lay down our lives for the right cause.为了正义的事业我们绝不怕牺牲自己的生命。
③【注释】not…but…不是…而是…
【临摹】What we concern is not the result of your exam but your attitude toward your study.我们在乎的并不是考试的结果而是你对学习的态度。
思如泉涌
Education does not mean teaching people to know what they do not know; it means teaching them to behave as they do not behave.教育不在于使人知其所未知，而在于按其所未行而行。
Education has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading.教育造就了一大批人，他们能读书，但是不能区别什么书值得读。
