家庭作業

Susan著 小哭譯

家庭作業，我真的開始恨這個詞兒了。以前，作業意味着一個炫耀的機會，一個再一次確認自己比同學們更聰明的機會。以前，我從來沒有在作業上不得不努力學習，我總是比任何其它人做得都更好，因此也確信自己比任何別的同學都更特別和更聰明。然而今年，作業已經讓我覺得完全是一個新的概念了。我確實開始憎恨這個新概念了。

首先，作業量加大了。以前，我最多也就是花兩三個小時做作業。現在，如果我能夠在三個小時內完成作業，就算是幸運的了。今年我在所有的快班，所以有着比普通班多得多的作業。我至少有：每晚一到兩個小時的ELA作業；半個小時到一個小時的數學作業；半個小時的科學課作業；半個小時的ACE（這個是美國歷史）作業；還有半到一個小時的西班牙語作業。每晚這些就得做三到四個小時，我是在說至少這些啊！

我在2點45分鐘放學，校車至少要3點才開車，到家差不多是3點20分，然後我要花半個小時左右的時間喝點什麼、安靜下來，開始安排我的下午時間。如果我九點鐘睡覺，那我每天只有五個小時屬於自己。去掉一個小時的晚飯時間，就只剩下四個小時了。除了睡覺、吃飯和上學，每天我只有四個小時的自由時間。那麼這寶貴的四個小時怎麼樣了呢？作業！作業！作業！作業！作業！還是作業！

作業接管了我的生活！學校接管了我的生活！我再也沒有留給自己的時間了！早晨，我要去上學；下午，我回家做作業；晚上，我吃完飯後接着做作業；夜裡，我得睡覺。然後第二天早晨，再開始一個這樣的循環。這不是生活應該有的樣子！生活應該比只是學習、學習、學習、學習再學習豐富得多。我正在學的大把東西根本就沒有用！通常我不是這種反叛的性格，但是現在的作業也太多了！我覺得自己正在被推到一個系統中，而其主要的目的就是想控制青少年的生活，確保他們不再有童年。我這麼說不是因為我不喜歡做作業。數量合理的作業還是不錯的，但是如果多到不得不基於學校的功課來組織安排我全部的生活呢？這……這簡直有病！

當然，實際上我並不能批評什麼，因為我也沒有一個更好的方案。我不是兒童專家，我不知道什麼才是最好的育兒方法。我唯一能想到的辦法就是一天有48個小時而不是24個小時。那樣的話， 我就會有更多屬於自己的時間去做我想做的事兒；那樣的話，我就能體驗生活了。只要我有時間去享受生活，我就確信自己能夠感受到生活是一件多麼美好的事情，

今年作業這麼難的另一個原因是作業不再僅僅是一個手工勞動而已了。實際上我不得不在做作業的時候去思考。這對我很有挑戰性。例如，今年的ELA課上將要學習哲學和宗教。老師已經給出了一本關於這樣的一個人的書去讀——這個人決定離開人類社會去森林裡住二年半，因為他相信自然是他能夠真正找到自己和發現上帝的地方。這是一本讀起來非常難懂的書。一個小時我只讀了17頁的內容，而通常這幾頁紙僅需要我15分鐘的時間。是的，今年的作業絕對是更有挑戰性。但我還是對其有所期待。

我還要去做一個充滿激情的大作業，是關於我所感興趣的什麼事兒或者我想去嘗試的什麼新鮮事兒。任何事兒都可以。有些人已經嘗試去學一門新樂器了；有些人則創建了一個俱樂部或一個慈善募捐小組；還有一些人只想在某一科目上做大量的研究並展示成果；也有一些人從零開始修建一個玩具屋。我則決定去拍一個搞笑片。所以，我不得不想辦法在一個半月的時間裡拍出一個小電影，確保它能夠讓觀眾大笑。這是一個非常難、並且幾乎是不可能完成的任務。但是它至少很好玩兒，不像所有我的那些其它作業。

關於作業我還有很多東西可以說，但是我沒有時間把所有的都列出來。結束本文前我想再說一件事兒。作業已經開始有點讓我覺得壓力過大了。只是有點，不是太多。但它正在開始讓我覺得有壓力。我不喜歡感覺到壓力。這就是為什麼我一點也不喜歡作業。我確實希望上帝能夠幫我把壓力從肩上卸掉，幫助我找到時間去擁有學校和作業以外的生活。我相信上帝，我相信他知道什麼對我是最好的。如果他認為所有這些作業會幫助我更好地成長並成熟起來……那好吧！我相信他知道什麼是最好的。但是到目前為止，我還沒有看到一點跡象表明上帝多麼喜歡讓作業開始接管我的生活。

今天我就說這些吧。我希望你能明白我在說啥。寫這種東西我覺得很難，希望你不會覺得理解起來太難。謝謝閱讀。

【小哭介紹背景】本來Susan八年級的寫作我想等到她初中畢業的時候再發表。可是暑假作文系列結束篇後，有兩個文友表示了願意繼續跟讀Susan的文章。我覺得他們一路都在支持暑假作文系列，並非僅僅是出於“情感”，可能還因為Susan的作文本身有着他們所需的某些信息，那就繼續吧。

八年級的生活，從一開始就圍繞着作業轉了，充滿了壓力。直到昨天晚上，Susan才開心地說，下周一、二不上學，她有四天可以放鬆的日子！！！要好好享受一下。我這人真的是烏鴉嘴，馬上來了句，那到時候就趕緊把後面的作業趕一趕，免得假後又趕作業。一看Susan面露不悅，又討好地說，也要安排看看電影。結果Susan爸馬上問我，你不是說不喜歡看電影嗎？怎麼老是你提議去看電影呢？嗨，直問自己，閉嘴會死啊？！

Susan提到的一些大作業，真的很有意思。有一個是有一天凌晨四點，她在後院支了一個帳篷，帶上臥具，感受了凌晨時分一個小時後，就接着睡着了。第二天我起床後發現Susan不見了，嚇得不輕，樓上樓下找不到人，才想起來她提到要去院子觀察黑夜。趕緊去把她喊進來，後悔沒有提醒她多帶被子，搞到有點感冒。但是我讀了她寫的大作業後，真的覺得文章中充滿了激情，我為她的這類大作業而替她高興。如果留在國內，她的生活裡面哪會有這些內容，她文中所報怨的只有上學和作業的生活，會年復一年地陪着她。

還有一個拍小電影的作業，她不得不上網去查找編輯軟件，還得想辦法下載。說實話，學生的付費軟件大概要一百美元左右，她肯定是太希望我們能夠支持她了。可是我們現在沒有這個承受力，生活又不是一個軟件可以搞定的，需要付錢的事情太多了。比如她冬天要參加的一個標準化考試，報名費要88美元。這類事情經常都會有，我們只能撿重要的支持。話說回來，她要慶幸有一個電腦“高手”老爸，最後Susan爸出手相助，總算是幫她下載並安裝好了一個可用的編輯軟件，她很遺憾於功能不能和電視台的相比。我心中暗想，如果她的興趣能夠持續下去一年，這一年內她確實因為內心的驅動還去做這類事情，就幫她買個學生版的支持她。安裝好後她就通過網上教程學習用法，說是這個軟件最大的好處是和以前電視台的界面很像。不過這個是WINDOWS版的，而電視台的是MAC版的，她很高興終於可以再編輯視頻了。有一天她把家用小相機帶到了學校，和朋友們拍了一些場景，視頻已經有了。她說剩下的就是編輯了，希望不要再補拍。本來她曾說過要補拍的，後來又說想通過編輯特效來彌補一些缺陷，不補拍可能也行。自從她開始寫劇本，我就一直希望這件事能夠有始有終，我們為着劇本的內容還在討論的時候爭執過，現在看着她的大作業就這麼向前推進着，我其實真的挺羨慕她有這些大作業的。多好啊！我小時候哪有這些可以讓人充分發揮想像力和創造力的作業啊，我的那些可憐的想象力和創造力不等上大學，就全都被磨沒了：（現在有的時候我不理解她，也會懷疑是我自己本身的問題。

總之，作業多，和她動作慢關係很大。可是我不能否認作業多也是事實。這一周我沒有批評過她呢：）我正在努力地學習做一個把指責變成鼓勵的老媽，希望自己能夠一直支持FOR她，陪她養成做事高效的好習慣。

附上英文原文：

Homework

Homework. I’m really starting to hate that word. Before, homework had meant an opportunity to show off, and opportunity to once again reassure myself that I’m more intelligent than my classmates. Before, I never had to work very hard on homework, and I always did better on them than anyone else, thus making me feel special and smarter than everyoen else. However, this year, homework has taken on a whole new definition. And I’m really starting to hate this new definition.

First of all, the homework increased. Before, I only had about two or three hours worth of homework at most. Now, I’d be lucky if I only get three hours worth of homework. I’m in all advanced classes this year, so I have more homework than normal classes. I have at least: one to two hours of ELA homework every night, half an hour to an hour of math homework, half an hour of science, half an hour of ACE (that’s U.S. History), and half an hour of Spanish. That’s about three to four hours worth of homework each night, at the very least.

I get out of school at 2:45, the bus leaves at 3:00, I reach my house at about 3:20, and it usually takes me about half an hour to get a drink, calm down, and start organizing my afternoon. If I go to sleep at nine, I have about five hours to myself every day. Take an hour off for dinner, and that leaves me four hours. Four hours to myself every day apart from sleep, meals, and school. And what happens to those four precious hours? Homework. Homework, homework, homework, homework, homework!

Homework is taking over my life! School is taking over my life! I have no time left to myself anymore! In the mornings I go to school. In the afternoons, I come home and do homework, In the evenings, I eat dinner and do more homework. During the nights, I go to sleep, and the next morning, the cycle starts again. This isn’t what life is about! There should be more to life than just learning, learning, learning, learning, and learning. A bunch of the things I’m learning about is completely useless! I’m not usually the rebellious type, but this is just too much! I feel like I’m being forced to take part in a system whose’s main purpose to to control a teenager’s life and to make sure they don't get to have a childhood. I’m not saying this because I don’t like doing homework. A reasonable amount of homework is fine. But having to build and organize my whole life based on schoolwork? This…this is insane!

Of course, I’m not really in a position to criticize, since I don’t have any better alternatives. I’m no child expert, I don’t know that the best ways to educate children are. The only alternative I can think about is to extend the time we have every day to forty-eight hours instead of twenty-four. That way, I would have to more time to myself to do what I want. That way, I can experience life. And I’m sure I’ll find life to be a wonderful thing, if only I have the time to enjoy it.

Another reason that homework is harder this year is because it’s not just manual labor anymore. I actually have to think while I’m doing my homework. It’s actually challenging me. For example, we’re going to be studying philosophy and religion in ELA this year. My teacher already gave us all a book to read about this man who decided he wanted to go live in a forest away from civilization for two and a half years because he believes nature is where he can truly find himself and find God. It’s a very hard book to read. I spent more than an hour just to read seventeen pages a task I can usually do in fifteen minutes. Yes, homework is definitely going to be more challenging this year. But I’m looking forward to it.

I also have to do a passion project about something I’m interested in or something new I want to try. It can be anything. Some students have tried to learn a new instrument, some started a club or a fundraising charity group. Some just researched a lot on a subject and presented it, while some built a dollhouse from scratch. I decided to film a short movie that’s funny. And so, I have to somehow film a short movie in a month an a half, and make sure that it would make people laugh. A very hard and near-impossible task. But at least it’s fun, unlike all my other homeowork.

There are many more things I can say about homework, but I don’t have time to list them all. I would like to say one more thing before I go. Homework is starting to stress me out a little. Just a little, not too much. But it is starting to make me feel pressured. And I don’t like feeling pressured. Which is why I don’t like homework anymore. I really do hope that somehow, God will take the stress off my shoulders and help me find time to have a life outside of school and schoolwork. I trust in the Lord, and I trust that He knows what is best for me. If He thinks all this homework will help me better mature and grow up… great! I trust Him to know what’s best. But as of yet, I haven’t gotten any sign that God likes how homework is taking over my life.

That’s all I have to say for today. I hope you understand what I’m saying. This was a hard piece for me to write, and I hope it wasn’t too confusing. Thank you for reading.