夠膽就來試試牛津大學(xué)入學(xué)題！
問：Why does your heart rate increase when you exercise?
為什么運(yùn)動時你的心跳會加速?
Subject科目：醫(yī)藥Medicine
面試?yán)蠋煟篟obert Wilkins, Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics (生理學(xué)，解剖學(xué)和遺傳學(xué)系)
面試官解釋：
The simple answer, which all students can provide, is because you need to deliver more oxygen and nutrients to muscles and remove metabolic products. But follow-up questions would probe whether the student appreciates that there must be a way for the body to know it needs to raise the heart rate, and possible ways for achieving this. Answers might include sensing lowered oxygen or raised carbon dioxide levels. In fact, gas levels might not change much, so students are further asked to propose other signals and ways in which those possibilities could be tested. This probes selection criteria such as problem-solving and critical thinking, intellectual curiosity, enthusiasm and curiosity, and the ability to listen.
答案很簡單，所有學(xué)生都能回答：那就是因?yàn)槟阈枰蚣∪廨斔透嘌鯕夂蜖I養(yǎng)，同時移除新城代謝中的廢物。但接下來的問題可以考察學(xué)生是否能察覺到，我們的身體是有辦法知曉有必要提高心跳速率，以及找到可能實(shí)現(xiàn)它的辦法的。答案中可能包含“察覺氧氣量偏低、或二氧化碳等級升高”。事實(shí)上，氣體含量從不會改變，所以學(xué)生可能被進(jìn)一步問到“如何能夠通過其他信號來察覺、并且有什么辦法可以檢驗(yàn)”？這就考察到了學(xué)生解決問題的能力、批判性思考的能力、對科學(xué)的好奇心、熱情、以及聆聽的能力。
問：If you could save either the rainforests or the coral reefs, which would you choose?
(如果你只能拯救熱帶雨林或珊瑚礁中的一個，你會選擇哪個)?
Subject科目：生物科學(xué)Biological sciences
面試?yán)蠋煟篗artin Speight, Department of Zoology (動物系)
面試官解釋：
I’d expect students to be able to use their general knowledge plus their common sense to come up with an answer – no detailed knowledge is required. Students might then be asked about the importance of natural features, such as biodiversity and rare species, and human interests, such as the fuel and food, ecotourism and medicines we get from rainforests or reefs. Finally there are impacts to consider from climate change, soil erosion, pollution, logging, biofuel replacement, overfishing, etc. The final answer doesn't matter – both reefs and rainforests must be managed sustainably to balance conservation and human needs.
我希望學(xué)生能依靠他們的常識和感知去組織答案——任何具體的知識點(diǎn)在這里都是不需要的。學(xué)生可能進(jìn)一步被問道自然生物的重要性，比如生物多樣性和稀缺生物；人類利益，比如石油和食物、生態(tài)旅行、從雨林和珊瑚群找到的藥品等等。最后也要討論對氣候變化、土地侵蝕、污染、伐木、石油替代、過度捕魚等等問題的考量。最終的答案其實(shí)并無所謂，因?yàn)椴徽撌怯炅诌€是珊瑚礁都必須要保護(hù)，在與人類的利益之間找到平衡點(diǎn)。
問：What does it mean for someone to ‘take’ another's car?
(一個人“拿走”別人的車是什么意思)?
Subject科目：法律Law
面試?yán)蠋煟築en McFarlane, Faculty of Law (法學(xué)院)
面試官解釋：
There is no right answer to this question. For example, can you take a car without driving it, or even without moving it? Our focus is on the candidate’s reasoning – how he or she formulates an initial definition, and how he or she then applies and refines that initial definition in response to hypothetical examples provided by the interviewers. One example might be: I am walking along the street when it starts to rain. I open the door of an unlocked car and sit there for 15 minutes until the rain passes. Have I ‘taken’ the car? The aim of the interview is to give the candidate a chance to show his or her application, reasoning ability, and communication skills.
這個問題沒有標(biāo)準(zhǔn)答案。比如，你能不駕駛、甚至不移動就“拿走”一輛車嗎？我們關(guān)注的焦點(diǎn)在考生的邏輯性上——他／她是如何組織一個初始的定義，然后怎么把這個初始定義運(yùn)用到這個假設(shè)性例子的回答當(dāng)中。比如，考生可以回答說：“我在街上走、跟著就下雨了。我打開一輛沒有上鎖的車，在里面坐了15分鐘避雨。那我這樣算不算'拿'了這輛車呢？（編者按：這里英文和中文有一些小差別，翻譯上無法實(shí)現(xiàn)。因?yàn)橛⑽牡摹澳谩? take，同時也有“占有”的意味。）” 出這一題的目的是給考生一個機(jī)會來展示他解決和歸納的能力、以及溝通技巧。
滬江小編按：在翻譯的過程中，禁不住不斷感嘆”牛津就是牛津“！所有這些看似不經(jīng)意的問題都是經(jīng)過精心設(shè)計、并且無標(biāo)準(zhǔn)答案而言。國內(nèi)時常探討應(yīng)試教育的種種弊端，其最大之禍害不就在于學(xué)生思維僵化嗎？而教育我們的老師難道不應(yīng)該也承擔(dān)起責(zé)任？什么時候我們的老師可以出出這樣的題目、再責(zé)怪學(xué)生素質(zhì)不過硬吧！
