Today educators stress critical thinking, which begins with close observation. Yet, the technique is not new, as we can see from this famous essay by Samuel Scudder, in which he recalls his education at Harvard in the 1850s. In the essay, Scudder relates the lesson in observation he learned under Professor Agassiz. The professor's teaching method was simple. Instead of lecturing, he directed his young student to "look again, look again".
如今教育工作者强调批判性思考，而批判性思考是从仔细观察开始的。但我们可以从塞缪尔·斯卡德的这篇回顾自己在19世纪50年代哈佛求学经历的着名散文中得知，这并非什么新方法。斯卡德在文章中叙述了他如何在阿加西兹教授指导下学会仔细观察。教授的教学方法非常简单。他不是授课，而是指导他年轻的学生“看看，再看看”。
Take This Fish and Look at It
1 It was more than fifteen years ago that I entered the laboratory of Professor Agassiz, and told him I had enrolled my name in the Scientific School as a student of  natural history . He asked me a few questions about my object in coming, my antecedents generally, the mode in which I afterwards proposed to use the knowledge I might acquire, and, finally, whether I wished to study any special branch. To the latter I replied that while I wished to be well grounded in all departments of zoology, I purposed to devote myself especially to insects.
把这条鱼拿去好好看看
塞缪尔·斯卡德
我是在15余年前进入阿加西兹教授的实验室的，告诉他我已在科学学院注册读博物学。他略略询问了我来此的目的、我大致的经历、以后准备如何运用所学知识，最后问我是否希望修习某一特别学科。对最后一个问题我回答说，我希望自己在动物学各个领域都具有一定的基础，但特别想研究昆虫。
2 "When do you wish to begin?" he asked.
“你想什么时候开始呢？”他问。
3 "Now," I replied.
“就现在，”我回答说。
4 This seemed to please him, and with an energetic "Very well!" he reached from a shelf a huge jar of specimens in yellow alcohol. "Take this fish," he said, "and look at it; we call it a haemulon; by and by I will ask what you have seen."
他听了显然挺高兴，劲头十足地说道“很好”，便从架子上取下一个黄酒精里浸有标本的大罐。“把这条鱼拿去看看，”他说，“我们叫它石鲈。过一会儿我会问你都看到些什么。”
5 With that he left me, but in a moment returned with explicit instructions as to the care of the object entrusted to me.
说着他走了，但一会儿又回来跟我详细说明如何保管交给我的标本。
6 "No man is fit to be a naturalist," said he, "who does not know how to take care of specimens."
“一个人如果连怎样保护标本都不知道，”他说，“他就不配当
博物学家。”
7 I was to keep the fish before me in a tin tray, and occasionally moisten the surface with alcohol from the jar, always taking care to replace the stopper tightly. Those were not the days of ground-glass stoppers and elegantly shaped exhibition jars; all the old students will recall the huge neckless glass bottles with their leaky, wax-besmeared corks, half eaten by insects, and begrimed with cellar dust. Entomology was a cleaner science than ichthyology, but the example of the Professor, who had unhesitatingly plunged to the bottom of the jar to produce the fish, was infectious; and though this alco
hol had a "very ancient and fishlike smell," I really dared not show any aversion within these sacred precincts, and treated the alcohol as though it were pure water. Still I was conscious of a passing feeling of disappointment, for gazing at a fish did not commend itself to an ardent entomologist. My friends at home, too, were annoyed when they discovered that no amount of eau-de-Cologne would drown the perfume which haunted me like a shadow.
我得把放在一个锡盘里的鱼摆在面前，过一段时间用罐里的酒精润湿它的表面，每次都要记住把瓶塞塞紧。那个时候还没有毛玻璃瓶塞和外形精美的展示用瓶，过去的大学生都会记得那种硕大的无颈玻璃瓶，软木瓶塞全是洞孔，涂过蜡，被虫啃去一半，被地下室的灰尘弄得很脏。昆虫学这门科学比鱼类学干净，可教授没半点犹豫就伸手探入罐底捞出了鱼，他的榜样颇具感染力。尽管酒精散发着一种“陈腐的鱼腥味”，我却不敢在这神圣的场所流露出丝毫厌恶，只能把酒精当作纯净水对待。但我心头还是感到一丝失望，因为盯着看一条鱼实非一位满怀热情的昆虫学家之所爱。回家后我的那些朋友也不怎么高兴，他们发现，用再多的科隆香水也驱不走幽灵般附在我身上的那股异味。
8 In ten minutes I had seen all that could be seen in that fish, and started in search of the Professor — who had, however, left the Museum; and when I returned, after lingering over some of the odd animals stored in the upper apartment, my specimen was dry all over. I dashed the fluid over the fish as if to resuscitate the beast from a fainting fit, and looked with anxiety for a return of the normal sloppy appea
rance. This little excitement over, nothing was to be done but to return to a steadfast gaze at my mute companion. Half an hour passed — an hour — another hour; the fish began to look loathsome. I turned it over and around; looked it in the face — ghastly; from behind, beneath, above, sideways,  at three-quarters' view — just as ghastly. I was in despair; at an early hour I concluded that lunch was necessary; so, with infinite relief, the fish was carefully replaced in the jar, and for an hour I was free.
才十分钟，我就把那条鱼能看的全都看了个遍
，接着开始教授，他却已经离开了博物馆。我在楼上存放着奇异动物的房间里转悠了一会儿，等我回去时，我的鱼标本全都干了。我急忙把酒精洒上去，就像是要把它从昏迷中救醒过来似的，急切地等着它回复到平时那湿漉漉的样子。一阵小小的兴奋过后就无事可干了，只好继续凝视着我那一言不发的伙伴。半个小时过去了，一个小时，又是一个小时。看着看着觉得那条鱼讨厌得很。我把鱼翻来翻去，瞧瞧头部—— 怪可怕的；再从后面看，从下面、上面、侧面看，再从展示面部四分之三的角度看—— 也是怪可怕的。我都绝望了。时间还早，可我觉得应该去吃午饭了，于是我如释重负地把鱼小心翼翼地放回到罐里，便去逍遥了一个小时。
9 On my return, I learned that Professor Agassiz had been at the Museum, but had gone, and would not return for several hours. My fellow-students were too busy to be disturbed by continued conversati
on. Slowly I drew forth that hideous fish, and with a feeling of desperation again looked at it. I might not use a magnifying-glass; instruments of all kinds were interdicted. My two hands, my two eyes, and the fish: it seemed a most limited field. I pushed my finger down its throat to feel how sharp the teeth were. I began to count the scales in the different rows, until I was convinced that was nonsense. At last a happy thought struck me — I would draw the fish; and with surprise I began to discover new features in the creature. Just then the Professor returned.
我回来后，得知阿加西兹教授回过博物馆，可又走了，要过几个小时才回来。我的那些同学都在忙着，不能一直跟他们谈话打搅他们。我慢吞吞地取出了那条面目可憎的鱼，怀着绝望心情接着看。我不能用放大镜，任何器材都不许用。一双手，两只眼，还有这条鱼：这个观察场地也未免太狭小了。我把一根手指伸进它的喉部，试试它的牙齿有多锋利。我开始数一排排鱼鳞，一直数到自己也觉得荒唐。最后我想出了一个绝妙的主意—— 把鱼画下来。我惊讶地发现这家伙身上还真有不少新特征。就在这时教授回来了。
10 "That is right," said he; "a pencil is one of the best of eyes. I am glad to notice, too, that you keep your specimen wet, and your bottle corked."
对了，”他说，“笔的目光也是最敏锐的。而且，令人高兴的是，我还注意到你的标本没有干，瓶子也是塞住的。”
11 With these encouraging words, he added: "Well, what is it like?"
说了这番鼓励话之后，他接着问：“好了，看得怎么样了？”
12 He listened attentively to my brief rehearsal of the structure of parts whose names were still unknown to me: the fringed gill-arches and movable operculum; the pores of the head, fleshy lips and lid
less eyes; the lateral line, the spinous fins and forked tail; the  compressed and arched body. When I finished, he waited as if expecting more, and then, with an air of disappointment:
lesson是什么意思中文-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
他专注地听我简要叙述鱼体的结构，许多部位我还不知道叫什么：带边缘的鳃弓、活动鳃盖骨、头部细孔、肉质唇部、无睑眼；侧线、刺状鳍、叉状尾；扁曲身体。我讲完了，他仍等着，似乎还想听下去，接着带着失望的神情说：
13 "You have not looked very carefully; why," he continued more earnestly, "you haven't even seen one of the most conspicuous features of the animal, which is plainly before your eyes as the fish itself; look again, look again!" and he left me to my misery.
“你看得不够仔细。唉，”他满脸认真地接着说道，“你连这条鱼最明显的一项特征都没看出来，跟这条鱼一样，那特征就明摆在你的眼前。再看，再看!”说着他走了，留下我沮丧不已。
14 I was piqued; I was mortified. Still more of that wretched fish! But now I set myself to my task with a will, and discovered one new thing after another, until I saw how just the Professor's criticism had been. The afternoon passed quickly; and when, towards its close, the Professor inquired:
我怒从心生，我深感屈辱。还要看那条该死的鱼!不过，这次我看时憋了一股劲，于是发现了一个又一个新特征，到最后我明白教授的批评的确有道理。一个下午很快过去了。下午将尽时，教授问道：
15 "Do you see it yet?"
“发现了没有？”
16 "No," I replied, "I am certain I do not, but I see how little I saw before."
“还没有，”我回答说，“肯定还没有，可我看出了原先自己的确没观察到什么。”
17 "That is next best," said he, earnestly, "but I won't hear you now; put away your fish and go home; perhaps you will be ready with a better answer in the morning. I will examine you before you look at the fish."
“这是仅次于最好的结果了，”他认真地说，“不过现在我不打算听你讲。把鱼放好，然后就回家吧。说不定到了明天早上你会回答得更好。明天在你看鱼之前我再问你。”
18 This was disconcerting. Not only must I think of my fish all night, studying, without the object before me, what this unknown but most visible feature might be; but also, without reviewing my discoveries, I must give an exact account of them the next day. I had a bad memory; so I walked home by Charles River in a distracted state, with my two perplexities.
这真是太为难人了。我不仅得整晚想着这条鱼，要在实物不在眼前的情况下仔细琢磨这一未知却又极其显着的特征是什么；而且，第二天要在无法回顾我所作发现的情况下对我所观察到的东
西作一精确描述。我记性不好，因此我沿着查尔斯河走回家时心烦意乱，想着自己的两个难题。
19 The cordial greeting from the Professor the next morning was reassuring; here was a man who seemed to be quite as anxious as I that I should see for myself what he saw.
第二天早上，教授热情的问候让人感到安慰。眼前这人跟我一样，急切地希望我能独立看出他业已观察到的事物。
20 "Do you perhaps mean," I asked, "that the fish has symmetrical sides with paired organs?"
“您的意思是不是说，”我问，“这条鱼两侧对称，器官成对？”
21 His thoroughly pleased "Of course! Of course!" repaid the wakeful hours of the previous night. After he had discoursed most happily and enthusiastically — as he always did — upon the importance of this point, I ventured to ask what I should do next.
他那听上去极为满意的“当然是，当然是!”的回答补偿了前一晚多少个不眠的小时。等他高兴而又热情地—— 他一向如此—— 讲述完这一发现的重要性，我斗胆问接下来我该做什么。
22 "Oh, look at your fish!" he said, and left me again to my own devices. In a little more than an hour he returned, and heard my new catalogue.
“哦，看你那条鱼!”他说着走了，又不管我了。过了一小时多一点，他回来了，听我汇报新的发现。
23 "That is good, that is good!" he repeated; "but that is not all; go on"; and so for three long days he placed that fish before my eyes, forbidding me to look at anything else, or to use any artificial aid. "Look, look, look," was his repeated injunction.
“很好，很好!”他重复说道。 “可这还不够，接着看。”于是，整整三天，他把那条鱼置于我眼前，不让我看别的东西，也不让我借助任何工具。“看看，看看，再看看，”就是他不断重复的指令。
24 This was the best entomological lesson I ever had — a lesson whose influence has extended to the details of every subsequent study; a legacy the Professor had left to me, as he has left it to so many others, of inestimable value which we could not buy, with which we cannot part.
这是我上过的最好的昆虫学课—— 其影响延伸到以后每一项研究的各个细节。这是阿加西兹教授留给我以及其他许多人的遗产，其价值无法估量，千金难买，我们决不会割舍。
25 The fourth day, a second fish of the same group was placed beside the first, and I was bidden to point out the resemblances and differences between the two; another and another followed, until the entire family lay before me, and a whole legion of jars covered the table and surrounding shelves; the odor had become a pleasant perfume; and even now, the sight of an old, six-inch worm-eaten cork brings fragrant memories.
第四天，另一条同类的鱼摆在了前一条鱼
的旁边，我被要求指出两者之间的异同。接着一条，又一条，直到这一科的全部成员都摆放在我的眼前，许许多多罐子占满了桌子和周围的架子。那气味也变得如香水般迷人。直到今天，只要看见一个被蛀虫咬过的6英寸长的旧软木塞，都会引起我美好的回忆。
26 The whole group of haemulons was thus brought in review; and, whether engaged upon the dissection of the internal organs, the preparation and examination of the bony framework, or the description of the various parts, Agassiz's training in the method of observing facts and their orderly arrangement was ever accompanied by the urgent exhortation not to be content with them.
就这样，整个石鲈一全都拿来观察过了。无论是在解剖内脏，在制作和检查骨架，还是在描述各种不同的部位，阿加西兹在训练学生观察事实及其有序排列的能力时，始终谆谆告诫大家不能满足于已有的发现。
27 "Facts are stupid things," he would say, "until brought into connection with some general law."
“事实是枯燥无聊的，”他常说，“除非与某种普遍规律联系在一起。”
28 At the end of eight months, it was almost with reluctance that I left these friends and turned to insects; but what I had gained by this outside experience has been of greater value than years of later investigation in my favorite groups.
快满8个月时，我依依不舍地离开了这些鱼类朋友，转向昆虫类。可是，我从这次自己选修学科以外的经历中得到的收获，其价值超过以后我对自己喜欢的动物所作的多年研究。

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