INTRODUCTION
导论

CHILDHOOD:A SOCIAL PROBLEM
童年:一个社会问题

For some years childhood has been an objuct of intense social interest. Like other great movements this interest has not been aroused by any single individual but it has burst forth like a volcano shooting forth fires in all directions. Science provided the incentive for this new movement by drastically reducing the rate of infant mortality. Then it came to be realized that children were frequently worn out from the drudgery of their school work.
近年来,童年已经成为引起社会极大兴趣的一个问题。像其他许多社会问题一样,这种兴趣并不是由任何个人所引起的,但它像火山一样朝四面八方喷出火焰。科学极大地降低了婴儿的死亡率,从而刺激了这场新的运动。其次,人们也认识到,儿童经常被单调乏味的学校作业搞得精疲力竭。

Studies made of children's health showed that their lives were unhappy, their minds fatigued, their shoulders bent, and their chests so constricted that they easily fell prey to tuberculosis.
对儿童健康所做的研究也表明,他们的生活不幸、心理疲劳、腰酸背驼、胸腔畏缩,以致他们很容易成为结核菌的牺牲品。

But now, after decades of research, we have come to see that children are human beings whose lives have been warped by those who have given them their life and sustenance and by the society of adults about them. But what are children? For adults, who are taken up with their own ever more absorbing occupations, they are a constant source of trouble. In the cramped quarters of modern cities, where familied are crowded together, there is no real place for children. Certainly there is no place for them on the streets swarming with cars or on the sidewalks thronged with people hastening on their way. Adults have little time to spend on children since they are busy with their own pressing duties. Frequently both father and mother must work; and, if work is lacking, both they and their children endure great sufferings. Even when children live in more fortunate circumstances, they are confined to their rooms and entrusted to the care of strangers. They may not pass into that part of the house reserved for their parents. There is no place where they feel that they are understood and where they can carry out their own proper activities. They must keep quiet and inviolable, the exclusive property of adults and, consequently, forbidden to children. What do they own? Nothing. Not too long ago small children did not even have their own little chairs to use.
但现在,经过几十年的研究之后,我们终于认识到儿童的生命被扭曲了;这是由于赋予他们生命和提供营养品的父母以及他们周围的成人社会所造成的。但儿童是什么呢?对于那些更关心自己富有吸引力的工作的成人来讲,儿童永远是一种惹麻烦的根源。在现代大城市狭窄的地段,众多的家庭挤作一团,在家庭里儿童是没有真正地位的。在挤满汽车的大街上,或在人群匆匆赶路的人行道上,肯定没有儿童活动的余地。成人都忙于自己的刻不容缓的工作,没有时间照管儿童。通常父母都必须工作;如果没有工作,他们和他们的子女将会遭受到更大的痛苦。即使儿童生活在比较幸运的环境中,他们也被限制在他们自己的空间里,由陌生人照管。他们不可以进入父母的房间。没有一个地方可使他们感到他们被理解了,可使他们进行自己的活动。他们必须保持安静,不碰东西,因为没有一样东西是他们自己的。每样东西都是神圣不可侵犯的,全都是成人的财产,结果对儿童来讲都是禁物。那么儿童拥有什么呢?一无所有。在不久以前,幼儿甚至还没有他们自己使用的小椅子。

The startling blindness of adults, their insensibility with regard to their own offspring, is something that is deeply rooted and of long duration. An adult who loves children but unconsciously condemns them inflicts upon them a secret sorrow which is a mirror of his own mistakes. The social question of childhood makes us appreciate the laws governing man's natural development. It gives us a new awareness of ourselves and a new direction to our social life.
成人的令人吃惊的鲁莽,对他们的儿女的麻木不仁,这已是根深蒂固和由来已久的现象了。一个热爱儿童但又无意识地责备了他们的成人,会给儿童留下一种内在的悲哀,这种悲哀正是成人自己错误的一种反映。童年的社会问题使我们正确地理解支配人的自然发展的规律。它给我们一种新的自我意识,并使我的社会生活有一种新的方向。

【海蓝点评】导论部分主要围绕儿童是一个社会问题。文章节选了导论的开头和结尾。一段是描述儿童在蒙台梭利所处时代孩子们的一些表现;另一段是对儿童这一社会问题的总结。我认为描述的挺准确的。欢迎各抒己见。