If adults liked to read books that were exceedingly difficult, they'd all be reading Proust.
如果成年人愛讀特別艱澀的書，他們大概都會選【追憶似水年華作者】普魯斯特。

Most don't.
但大部分人不會如此。

So why, reading experts ask, do schools expect children to read -- and love to read -- when they are given material that is frequently too hard for them
那麼，閱讀專家不免要問，學校為什麼要求學生要讀書──還要喜歡讀書──而他們拿到的教材往往太艱深，根本看不懂。

"We try to push adult stuff down on younger and younger kids, and what's the point" asked Lucy Calkins, founding director of the Reading and Writing Project at Columbia University's Teachers College.
哥大教師學院讀寫計畫創辦負責人露西．卡爾金斯問道：「我們想把成年人的讀物硬生生塞給年齡層越來越低的孩子，為什麼？」

Science and social studies textbooks are at least a grade above the reading levels of many students, experts say, and in some suburban and urban school systems, reading lists can include books hard for some adults to tackle.
專家說，科學和社會研究方面的教科書至少比大部分學生閱讀水平高一級。在有些郊區和市區的學校系統，閱讀書單所開的書可能連有些大人都很難消化。

Toni Morrison's award-winning novel "Beloved," about a former slave's decision to kill her child rather than see her enslaved, is on some middle schools' lists for kids to read unassisted. And elementary schools sometimes ask students to read books such as "The Bridge to Terabithia," with themes about death and gender roles that librarians say are better suited for older children.
美國作家童妮．摩里森的得獎小說《寵兒》，寫曾當過奴隸的媽媽決定殺害她的孩子，免得她也淪為奴隸。這本書有些中學的閱讀書單上也榜上有名，但沒有人從旁輔導。另外，很多小學有時要求學生閱讀《尋找夢奇地》這類書本，主題是有關死亡和性別角色，有些圖書館員認為，比較適合年紀較大的孩子閱讀。

To be sure, pushing some students to challenge themselves is important, educators say. But there are points where kids read books before they can truly comprehend them and then lose the beauty of the work.
教育專家說，可以確信的是，催逼一些學生自我挑戰是很重要的，但到某些點，孩子在真正了解前就閱讀某些書，可能無法領會作品之美。

"Teachers studied 'The Great Gatsby' in college and then want to teach that book because they have smart things to say about it, and they teach it in high school," Calkins said. "Then schools want to get their middle school kids ready for high school so they teach them 'The Catcher in the Rye.' It's a whole cultural thing."
卡爾金斯說：「老師在大專院校研讀《大亨小傳》後，就想教這本書，因為他們有些心領神會，也想傳授下去，所以就在高中教。接著校方又希望中學生為上高中做好準備，所以他們也教《麥田捕手》，整個是個文化事件。」

Richard Allington, a leading researcher on reading instruction and a professor of reading education at the University of Tennessee, blames inappropriately chosen books for students' reading woes. That, he said, crushes a child's motivation.
田納西大學閱讀教育教授艾林頓是指導閱讀教育的頭號研究員，他指責選書不當，會造成學生的閱讀困擾，他說，這會擊垮學童的向學動機。

"If you made me education magician and I had one thing that I could pull off, it would be that every kid in this country had a desk full of books that they could actually read accurately, fluently, with comprehension," he said.
他說：「如果你們把我形塑成教育魔法師，而我可以完成一項壯舉，那就是讓這個國家每個孩子有一張書桌，桌上全是書本，他們可以真正正確、流利的閱讀而且可以看懂。」

Sofi Sinozich, a seventh-grader in the Eastern Middle School in Montgomery County, said she would like to be assigned books that speak to her. In sixth-grade English, "graphic novels [were] excluded, which annoyed many of us," said Sofi, who is partial to Japanese comics called manga because she finds the style beautiful and the stories well done.
蒙哥馬利郡東方中學七年級生蘇菲．辛諾之說，她希望指定閱讀的課本能引起她的興趣。對日本漫畫情有獨鍾的蘇菲說：在六年級英文課中，「圖畫小說被排除在外，我們都很難過。」她覺得日本漫畫風格優美，故事也很精采。

Many teachers exclude graphic novels and comics from reading lists, even though a graphic novel was nominated for the National Book Award this year. And Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, has said he learned to read through comics.
很多老師在閱讀清單中排除圖畫小說和漫畫，雖然今年有一本圖畫小說贏得全國書獎。諾貝爾和平獎得主屠圖大主教也說，他是透過漫畫學會閱讀。

So should kids read Shakespeare or the comics Graphic novels or "To Kill a Mockingbird" Reading experts say they should read everything -- when they are ready to understand what they are reading.
那麼孩子應該讀莎士比亞或漫畫？圖畫小說或《梅岡城故事》？閱讀專家說，他們應該什麼書都讀，但要在他們可以理解閱讀的內容時。

（摘自華盛頓郵報）

詞解
 
push stuff down 硬生生塞給
comprehension  看懂
speak to her 對她有吸引力
comics, manga  漫畫
graphic novels  圖畫小說
The Great Gatsby  大亨小傳
To Kill a Mockingbird  梅岡城故事
The Catcher in the Rye 麥田捕手