01
Good morning. How are you? It's been great, hasn't it? I've been blown away by the whole thing. In fact, I'm leaving.
早上好。大家好吗？这次会议很棒，不是吗？说实话，整个会议让我叹为观止。事实上，我要离开了。
Speaking Skill
Self-deprecating humor（自嘲式幽默）— Robinson 用「我要离开了」开场，引发笑声的同时展示了谦逊。在英语演讲文化中，这是高级技巧：敢于自嘲说明你有自信，同时让听众放松。注意他没有直接讲主题——而是先建立情感连接。
02
There have been three themes running through the conference, which are relevant to what I want to talk about.
整个会议有三个贯穿始终的主题，与我今天想讲的内容相关。
...themes running through X, which are relevant to Y
There are several issues running through this report, which are relevant to our discussion.
这份报告中贯穿着几个问题，与我们的讨论相关。
These are trends running through the industry, which are relevant to your career.
这些是贯穿整个行业的趋势，与你的职业相关。
03
One is the extraordinary evidence of human creativity in all of the presentations that we've had and in all of the people here — just the variety of it and the range of it.
第一是人类创造力的非凡证据——体现在我们所有的演讲中，以及在座各位身上——它的多样性和广度令人惊叹。
Writing Technique
破折号追加法（Em Dash Addition）— 句中「— just the variety of it and the range of it」是对前文的补充强调。口语中会有明显停顿，书面上用破折号。当你想给观点增加感情力量时，可以用这个技巧：先陈述，停顿，再追加细节。
04
I have an interest in education. Actually, what I find is, everybody has an interest in education. Don't you?
我对教育很感兴趣。实际上，我发现每个人都对教育感兴趣。你们不也是吗？
05
If you're at a dinner party, and you say you work in education — actually, you're not often at dinner parties, frankly, if you work in education.
如果你在晚宴上说你从事教育行业——说实话，如果你从事教育，你不常被邀请参加晚宴。
Cultural Context
Dinner party 在英美文化中是重要的社交场合，通常邀请有趣或有地位的人参加。Robinson 自嘲「教育工作者不常被邀请」，实际上是在讽刺社会对教育行业的轻视——这也为后文「教育体系有问题」的核心论点埋下伏笔。理解这层文化含义，才能真正理解他的幽默。
Key Quote
"My contention is that creativity now is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status."
我的观点是，创造力在教育中的重要性等同于读写能力，我们应该赋予它同等的地位。
06
My contention is that creativity now is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status.
我的观点是，创造力在教育中的重要性等同于读写能力，我们应该赋予它同等的地位。
My contention is that X is as important as Y, and we should...
My contention is that mental health is as important as physical health, and we should invest equally in both.
我的观点是，心理健康与身体健康同等重要，我们应该同等投入。
My contention is that soft skills are as important as technical skills, and we should teach them systematically.
我的观点是，软技能与技术技能同等重要，我们应该系统性地教授它们。
Vocabulary in Context
contention 比 opinion 或 belief 更正式，暗示「这是我准备用证据捍卫的立场」。学术写作和正式演讲中常用：
· It is my contention that...（我主张...）
· The central contention of this paper is...（本文的核心论点是...）
07
I heard a great story recently — I love telling it — of a little girl who was in a drawing lesson. She was six, and she was at the back, drawing.
我最近听到一个很棒的故事——我很喜欢讲这个故事——关于一个上绘画课的小女孩。她六岁，坐在教室后面画画。
08
The teacher was fascinated. She went over to her, and she said, "What are you drawing?" And the girl said, "I'm drawing a picture of God."
老师很好奇。她走过去问：「你在画什么？」女孩说：「我在画上帝。」
09
And the teacher said, "But nobody knows what God looks like." And the girl said, "They will in a minute."
老师说：「但没有人知道上帝长什么样。」女孩说：「等一下他们就知道了。」
Speaking Skill
这个「画上帝」的故事是整篇演讲的第一个高光时刻。注意 Robinson 的叙事结构：场景设置（绘画课）→ 对话铺垫（老师问，女孩答）→ 爆点（"They will in a minute"）。
这个故事比任何数据都更有说服力地证明了他的观点：孩子不害怕「不知道答案」——而这正是创造力的起点。
学习收获：学会收集能证明你观点的小故事。
1. 用「My contention is that...」句型，表达你对某个话题的观点
建议话题：学习第二外语的重要性 / 远程办公的利弊
2. 想一个能证明「孩子比成人更有创造力」的小故事或亲身经历
尝试用 Robinson 的结构：场景 → 对话 → 爆点
3. 翻译：「这些是贯穿他演讲的核心主题，与我们今天的讨论高度相关。」
使用：themes running through... relevant to...
10
What these things have in common is that kids will take a chance. If they don't know, they'll have a go. They're not frightened of being wrong.
这些事情的共同点是，孩子们敢于冒险。如果他们不知道答案，他们会试一试。他们不害怕犯错。
Key Insight
这是整篇演讲的核心论点之一：创造力的前提是不怕犯错。Robinson 认为，孩子天生具备这种能力，但教育系统逐渐将其磨灭。注意 "have a go" 是英式英语，美式更常说 "give it a try"。
11
Now, I don't mean to say that being wrong is the same thing as being creative. What we do know is, if you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original.
我不是说犯错等于有创造力。但我们知道的是，如果你不准备好犯错，你永远不会想出任何原创的东西。
Key Quote
"If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original."
如果你不准备好犯错，你永远不会想出任何原创的东西。
12
And by the time they get to be adults, most kids have lost that capacity. They have become frightened of being wrong.
等他们长大成人，大多数孩子已经失去了这种能力。他们变得害怕犯错。
13
And we run our companies like this. We stigmatize mistakes. And we're now running national education systems where mistakes are the worst thing you can make.
我们也是这样经营公司的。我们把犯错污名化。现在我们运行的国家教育系统里，犯错是你能做的最糟糕的事。
We [verb] X. And we're now [verb-ing] Y where X is...
We celebrate competition. And we're now building workplaces where collaboration is discouraged.
我们崇尚竞争。现在我们建造的工作场所里，合作是不被鼓励的。
14
And the result is that we are educating people out of their creative capacities.
结果就是，我们正在把人们的创造力从他们身上教育掉。
Language Point
"educate people out of" 是一个精彩的表达——通常我们说 "educate people into" 某种能力，但 Robinson 故意反转，说教育反而在「教掉」创造力。这种反向搭配制造了语言张力，让论点更有冲击力。
15
Picasso once said this, he said that all children are born artists. The problem is to remain an artist as we grow up.
毕加索曾经说过，所有孩子生来都是艺术家。问题是如何在长大后仍然是艺术家。
16
I believe this passionately, that we don't grow into creativity, we grow out of it. Or rather, we get educated out of it.
我对此深信不疑：我们不是长大后才有创造力，而是长大后失去了它。或者更准确地说，我们被教育得失去了它。
Speaking Skill
Self-correction（自我修正）— "Or rather" 是一个强大的修辞工具。Robinson 先说 "we grow out of it"，然后用 "or rather" 修正为更精确的表述 "we get educated out of it"。这种技巧让听众觉得你在实时思考，增加了真实感和说服力。
17
Every education system on Earth has the same hierarchy of subjects. Every one. Doesn't matter where you go.
地球上每一个教育系统都有相同的学科等级制度。每一个都是。无论你去哪里。
18
At the top are mathematics and languages, then the humanities, and at the bottom are the arts. Everywhere on Earth.
最顶端是数学和语言，然后是人文学科，最底端是艺术。全球都是如此。
Every X has the same Y. Every one. Doesn't matter where/what/who...
Every successful company has the same core principle. Every one. Doesn't matter what industry.
每一家成功的公司都有相同的核心原则。每一家都是。无论什么行业。
19
And in pretty much every system too, there's a hierarchy within the arts. Art and music are normally given a higher status in schools than drama and dance.
而且在几乎每一个系统中，艺术内部也有等级。美术和音乐在学校里通常比戏剧和舞蹈地位更高。
20
There isn't an education system on the planet that teaches dance every day to children the way we teach them mathematics. Why? Why not?
这个星球上没有一个教育系统每天教孩子跳舞，像教数学那样。为什么？为什么不呢？
Rhetoric
连续两个问题 "Why? Why not?" 是典型的反问修辞。Robinson 不需要答案——问题本身就在挑战听众的假设。这比直接陈述 "舞蹈应该和数学一样重要" 更有冲击力，因为它让听众自己得出结论。
1. 用 "Or rather" 修正一个观点，让它更精确
例：Technology makes us lazy. Or rather, the way we use technology makes us lazy.
2. 你认为为什么数学在全球教育系统中地位最高？用英语写 2-3 句话
可以用：hierarchy, prioritize, practical value
21
I think math is very important, but so is dance. Children dance all the time if they're allowed to, we all do. We all have bodies, don't we?
我认为数学很重要，但舞蹈也很重要。如果允许的话，孩子们一直在跳舞，我们都是。我们都有身体，不是吗？
22
Truthfully, what happens is, as children grow up, we start to educate them progressively from the waist up. And then we focus on their heads. And slightly to one side.
说实话，实际发生的是，随着孩子长大，我们开始从腰部以上教育他们。然后我们专注于他们的头。而且稍微偏向一边。
Humor Analysis
"And slightly to one side" 指的是左脑（逻辑、语言、数学）。Robinson 用身体隐喻把抽象的教育理念变得具象：我们字面意义上忽视了身体。这种从具象到抽象的转换是高级幽默——表面在说身体，实际在批评教育对理性思维的过度强调。
23
If you were to visit education, as an alien, and say "What's it for, public education?" I think you'd have to conclude, if you look at the output — who really succeeds by this, who does everything that they should — that the whole purpose of public education throughout the world is to produce university professors.
如果你作为外星人来考察教育，问"公共教育是为了什么？"我认为你必须得出结论——如果你看看产出，看看谁真正成功了，谁做了所有应该做的事——全世界公共教育的全部目的就是培养大学教授。
If you were to [verb] X as an outsider, you'd have to conclude that...
If you were to observe social media as an alien, you'd have to conclude that humans are obsessed with food photography.
如果你作为外星人观察社交媒体，你必须得出结论：人类痴迷于食物摄影。
24
And I like university professors, but you know, we shouldn't hold them up as the high-water mark of all human achievement.
我喜欢大学教授，但你知道，我们不应该把他们当作人类成就的最高标准。
25
They're just a form of life, another form of life. But they're rather curious. And I say this out of affection for them. There's something curious about professors — in my experience, not all of them, but typically — they live in their heads. They live up there, and slightly to one side.
他们只是一种生命形式，另一种生命形式。但他们相当古怪。我这样说是出于对他们的喜爱。教授们有些古怪——以我的经验，不是所有人，但通常——他们活在脑子里。他们住在上面，而且稍微偏向一边。
Speaking Skill
注意 Robinson 如何在批评前加入缓冲："I like university professors" / "I say this out of affection" / "not all of them, but typically"。这不是虚伪，而是建立善意——让批评更容易被接受。在英语演讲和写作中，这种 hedge（对冲） 技巧非常重要。
Context
这是整篇演讲最著名的故事，也是 Robinson 论点的完美例证。Gillian Lynne 是《猫》和《歌剧魅影》的编舞，但她小时候差点被诊断为"学习障碍"。
26
Anyway, Gillian and I had lunch one day. I said, "How did you get to be a dancer?" It was interesting. When she was at school, she was really hopeless. And the school, in the '30s, wrote to her parents and said, "We think Gillian has a learning disorder."
总之，有一天我和吉莉安一起吃午饭。我问："你是怎么成为舞蹈家的？"这很有趣。她上学的时候，她真的很糟糕。学校在30年代写信给她父母说："我们认为吉莉安有学习障碍。"
27
She couldn't concentrate; she was fidgeting. I think now they'd say she had ADHD. Wouldn't you? But this was the 1930s, and ADHD hadn't been invented at this point.
她无法集中注意力；她坐立不安。我想现在他们会说她有多动症。你说是不是？但那是1930年代，那时候多动症还没被发明出来。
Language Point
"ADHD hadn't been invented" 是故意的讽刺——疾病不是"发明"的，而是"发现"或"定义"的。Robinson 用这个措辞暗示：很多所谓的"障碍"可能只是我们给不符合标准的孩子贴的标签。
28
Anyway, she went to see this specialist. And she sat on her hands for 20 minutes while this man talked to her mother about all the problems Gillian was having at school.
总之，她去看了这个专家。她坐在那里把手压在身下20分钟，而这个人和她妈妈谈论吉莉安在学校的所有问题。
29
And at the end of it — because she was disturbing people, her homework was always late, and so on — in the end, the doctor went and sat next to Gillian and said, "Gillian, I've listened to all these things that your mother's told me. I need to speak to her privately. Wait here, we'll be back. We won't be very long." And they went and left her.
最后——因为她打扰别人，她的作业总是迟交，等等——最后，医生走过去坐在吉莉安旁边说："吉莉安，我听了你妈妈告诉我的所有事情。我需要私下和她谈谈。在这里等着，我们很快回来。不会太久的。"然后他们就离开了她。
30
But as they went out the room, he turned on the radio that was sitting on his desk. And when they got out the room, he said to her mother, "Just stand and watch her."
但当他们走出房间时，他打开了放在桌上的收音机。当他们出了房间，他对她妈妈说："站着看她。"
31
And the minute they left the room, she was on her feet, moving to the music. And they watched her for a few minutes and he turned to her mother and said, "Mrs. Lynne, Gillian isn't sick. She's a dancer. Take her to a dance school."
他们一离开房间，她就站了起来，随着音乐舞动。他们看了她几分钟，然后他转向她妈妈说："林恩太太，吉莉安没有病。她是个舞者。带她去舞蹈学校。"
Key Quote
"Gillian isn't sick. She's a dancer."
吉莉安没有病。她是个舞者。
32
I said, "What happened?" She said, "She did. I can't tell you how wonderful it was. We walked in this room and it was full of people like me — people who couldn't sit still, people who had to move to think."
我说："后来怎么样了？"她说："她照做了。我无法告诉你那有多美好。我们走进那个房间，里面全是像我一样的人——坐不住的人，必须动起来才能思考的人。"
Key Insight
"People who had to move to think" — 这句话揭示了一个关键概念：思考方式的多样性。有些人通过静坐思考，有些人通过运动思考。教育系统只奖励前者，却惩罚后者。这不是能力问题，是匹配问题。
33
She did ballet, she did tap, she did jazz, she did modern, she did contemporary. She eventually auditioned for the Royal Ballet School. She became a soloist. She had a wonderful career at the Royal Ballet.
她学了芭蕾，学了踢踏舞，学了爵士舞，学了现代舞，学了当代舞。她最终通过了皇家芭蕾舞学院的试镜。她成为了独舞演员。她在皇家芭蕾舞团有着精彩的职业生涯。
34
She eventually graduated from the Royal Ballet School and founded her own company, the Gillian Lynne Dance Company, met Andrew Lloyd Webber. And she's been responsible for some of the most successful musical theater productions in history, she's given pleasure to millions, and she's a multi-millionaire.
她最终从皇家芭蕾舞学校毕业，创立了自己的公司——吉莉安·林恩舞蹈团，遇到了安德鲁·劳埃德·韦伯。她负责了历史上一些最成功的音乐剧制作，她给数百万人带来了快乐，她是一个千万富翁。
35
Somebody else might have put her on medication and told her to calm down.
换成别人可能会给她吃药，让她冷静下来。
Key Quote
"Somebody else might have put her on medication and told her to calm down."
换成别人可能会给她吃药，让她冷静下来。
Rhetoric
这句话是整个故事的点睛之笔。Robinson 没有说"如果那个医生做了错误的诊断"——他用更具象、更残酷的画面："put her on medication and told her to calm down"。这种具体化让听众立刻感受到那个平行宇宙的悲剧性。
1. 用自己的话复述 Gillian Lynne 的故事（3-5句英语）
关键词：learning disorder, specialist, dance school, Royal Ballet
2. 你身边有没有类似的例子——某人的"缺点"其实是未被发现的天赋？
用英语写 2-3 句描述
36
What TED celebrates is the gift of the human imagination. We have to be careful now that we use this gift wisely and that we avert some of the scenarios that we've talked about.
TED 庆祝的是人类想象力的天赋。我们现在必须小心，明智地使用这份天赋，避免我们谈到的一些情景发生。
37
And the only way we'll do it is by seeing our creative capacities for the richness they are and seeing our children for the hope that they are.
而我们唯一能做到的方式，是看到我们创造力的丰富性，看到我们的孩子是我们的希望。
38
And our task is to educate their whole being, so they can face this future. By the way, we may not see this future, but they will. And our job is to help them make something of it.
我们的任务是教育他们的整个身心，让他们能够面对这个未来。顺便说一下，我们可能看不到这个未来，但他们会。我们的工作是帮助他们创造出一些东西。
Closing Quote
"Our task is to educate their whole being, so they can face this future."
我们的任务是教育他们的整个身心，让他们能够面对这个未来。
39
Thank you very much.
非常感谢。
1. Robinson 的核心论点是什么？用一句话概括
My contention is that...
2. 列出本演讲中 3 个你印象最深的句型或表达
写出句型公式 + 你自己的例句
3. 如果你要向朋友推荐这个演讲，你会怎么说？（用英语）
30-50 词即可
Congratulations
你已完成 Do Schools Kill Creativity? 全部精读内容。
本课包含 39 个段落、15+ 核心词汇、6 个可复用句型。
建议 3 天后回顾一次，巩固记忆。