The alternate life is the
consequence of the communications revolution of the last 30 years
or so.
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这种别样生活因大约30年来的通信革命而生。
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There is another, highly
competitive educational system, opposed in almost every essential
way to traditional schooling, that operates on the child and youth
from the age of 2.
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其中另有一种竞争力很强的教育体系，其基本方面几乎都与传统学校教育势不两立，对儿童青少年的影响从2岁就已开始。
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It takes up as much of his time
as the school does, and it works on him with far greater
effectiveness.
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这种体系与学校占用儿童青少年的时间一样多，但对儿童青少年的影响却有效得多。
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That system is the linked
structure of which television is the heart and which numbers among
its constituents film, radio, comic books, pop music, sports—and
the life styles (including the drug culture, permissive sex, and
systematized antisocial conduct) which this structure either
automatically or deliberately produces.
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这种体系是这种别样生活的互联结构，电视是这种结构的核心，构成这种别样生活的电影、无线电广播节目、漫画书、流行音乐、体育运动也包括在内，还包括由这种结构有意无意产生出来的生活方式（包括沉迷毒品文化，纵欲和从事有组织的反社会行为）。
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“the linked
structure”有所指，我觉得是指“别样生活”的结构。后面的“its”也应该是指“别样生活”的内容。括号中的内容，翻译起来容易出错。括号前面是“生活方式”，所以翻译括号里面的内容时，要加动词，变成三种行为，这样才能是“生活方式”，否则你说文化是生活方式，既不合文法，也不合逻辑。英文太罗嗦，老外不堪其苦，说话时句子成分经常是残缺不全的，也经常不合逻辑。
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This alternative life is
a life; it is not a diversion, a hobby, an
amusement.
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这种别样生活是一种生活，而不是闲情逸致、业余爱好、娱乐活动。
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It offers its own disciplines,
its own curriculum, its own ethical and cultural values, its own
style and language.
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其中有独特的学科，有独特的课程，有独特的道德和文化价值观，有独特的作风和语言。
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It works on children and youths
every day, year after year, teaching them, forming them,
conditioning them.
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这种生活每天都在影响儿童青少年，年复一年地教导他们，塑造他们，影响他们。
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And it is profoundly opposed to
traditional education.
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但这种生活与传统教育势同水火。
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There is no way of reconciling
the values of literature or science with the values of the TV
commercial.
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文学或科学的价值观与电视广告的价值观无法相容。
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There is no way of reconciling
the vision offered by Shakespeare or Newton with the vision of life
offered by the “Gong Show”.
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莎士比亚或牛顿描绘出来的远景，无法与《铜锣秀》（Gong
Show）中展现出来的生活远景相容。
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Two systems of thought and
feeling stand opposed to each other.
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一种是思想体系，另一种是感觉体系，两者格格不入。
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This has never before been the
case.
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这种情况前所未有。
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The idea of education was never
before opposed by a competitor.
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人们以前从未提出过与传统教育理念相左的教育理念。
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It was taken for granted because
no alternative appeared on the horizon.
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人们认为传统教育理念理当如此，是因为无人提出另一种教育理念。
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But today there is a complete
alternative life to which children submit
themselves.
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但现在有了儿童无力抗拒的，一应俱全的别样生活。
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“submit”的含义不太好表达，但查了词典之后就知道怎么说了（请参见http://www.iciba.com/submit）。
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This alternative life offers
them heroes, slogans, images, forms of conduct, and content of a
sort—and all run counter to the message given in the
classroom.
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这种别样生活中有英雄、口号、形象、各种行为，还有不伦不类的内容，但都与课堂上所传授的观念背道而驰。
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“of a
sort”的含义是“having some but not all of the
characteristics of something”（请参见http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/of+a+sort）——有某种事物的特点，但不是全都有，那当然“不伦不类”了。
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For the first time in history,
the child is required to be a citizen of two cultures: the
tradition and the alternate life.
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自此儿童必须是两种文化（传统生活和这种别样生活）的公民。
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Is it any wonder that such a
division of loyalties should result in the chaos we
observe?
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难怪如此骑墙会生出我们所看到的乱象。
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In a deep sense, all our
children (and, to a degree, our teachers, our parents, and
ourselves) are schizophrenics.
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我们的孩子（某种程度上也包括我们的教师、我们的父母和我们自己）都已深深陷入精神分裂的状态中。
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On the one hand is the
reality-system expounded in a book, the idea, the cultural past; on
the other hand is the far more vivid and comprehensible
reality-system expounded by television, the rock star, the religion
of instantaneous sensation, gratification and
consumption.
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一方面是书、传统教育理念、旧文化中阐述的现实体系；另一方面是电视中、摇滚歌星和即时寻求刺激，谋求满足，贪求享受的原则中阐述的，生动易懂得多的现实体系。
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Good teachers, when you question
them inexorably, almost always finally admit that their
difficulties stem from the competition of the alternate
life.
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如果对优秀教师刨根问底，他们几乎总是会最终承认，所遇到的困难是这种别样生活的竞争造成的。
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And this competition they are
not trained to meet.
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他们未针对这种竞争得到培养，不能应对。
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The alternate life has one
special psychological effect that handicaps the teacher—any
teacher, whether of writing or any other basic
subject.
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这种别样生活有一种有碍于教师的特殊心理作用，无论写作教师还是其他基础学科的教师，无一不受影响。
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That effect is a decline in the
faculty of attention, and therefore a decline in the capacity to
learn—not the innate capacity, but the capacity as it is
conditioned by the media.
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受影响后注意力会下降，学习能力（不是天生的能力，而是已然受到媒体影响的能力）也会随之下降。
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This conception of the alternate
life is probably debatable, and it certainly will not be accepted
by everyone.
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这种别样生活的概念很可能有待商榷，当然不是谁都会接受。
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Its claim to the interest of
others, if not their agreement, lies in the fact that it goes
beyond the present educational system and tries to locate the
ultimate source of our troubles in the changes now agitating our
entire Western culture.
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这种概念可以引起旁人的兴趣（如果未得到旁人的认同），在于这种概念确实不局限于当前教育体系，而是在现已动摇我们整个西方文化的变化中，努力找寻我们遇到的困难的根源。
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