骏爸的中英双语养育记录

cfy05

只有望帖兴叹的份了，骏爸爸的英语我们仰视了，宝宝的水平更是羡慕不已。

Mountie

红绿灯是不是有点笨？

(2011年3月15日）

        今天上午送骏骏上幼儿园，经过一个十字路口时，骏骏发现了一个现象：绿灯那边的车已经全通过了，远处也没车过来，而红灯这边排着长龙，但是不能通过。并不是红绿灯坏了，而是还没到转灯的时间。



        骏骏问：“There's no car coming from this way. Why can't it turn red, so that the cars from the other way can go?”
        开始时我倒没注意这个问题，可能是有点习以为常了，而骏骏还是第一次发现这种情况。我答道：“The traffic lights can't see the traffic flow. They don't know that all the cars have gone through. If the traffic lights are controlled by police officers, they can turn the traffic lights according to the traffic flow.”
        这时我们已经过了马路。骏骏又问：“Why don't police officers control the traffic lights by hand?”
        呵呵，问题一环接一环，我也就见招拆招：“There are too many road intersections and crosswalks. That will need too many police officers to control the traffic lights by hand. Police stations can't afford to have so many police officers. So they need automatic traffic lights to control the traffic flow. But traffic lights are not so flexible. They always change according to the time span set by the police stations.”

        这时我们的对话停了一会儿，可能骏骏还在思考我刚才的话。忽然骏骏又问：“Did people long ago have traffic lights？”骏骏最近看了几本 Then and Now 的书，都是讲过去与现在的比较的，可能因此就触发了这个问题。
        我对红绿灯的历史倒没什么了解，略想了一下才答道：“Before traffic lights were invented, police officers used gestures, or body language, to control traffic flow. When there were more and more cars, and cities became bigger and bigger, police stations found that they didn't have enough police officers. So someone invented traffic lights to help police officers.”
        骏骏说：“I hope I can invent traffic lights that are more clever.”
        听了骏骏的雄心壮志，我也展开联想：“Maybe you can add a video camera as the traffic lights' eye, and design a computer as the traffic lights' brain.”
        本来还想继续发挥一下，却见已到幼儿园门口，于是放下骏骏，跟这位未来的工程师说再见了。

Mountie

骏骏的新疑问：冰箱是如何制冷的？

（2011年3月29日）

        晚上给骏骏洗澡时，骏骏问：“Daddy, do you know how to use a string to lift an ice cube without tying a knot?”


        听起来骏骏又想耍宝了，我也就懒得去想，直接说：“That sounds difficult. How can you do that?”
        骏骏果然是知道的，他说：“First, you wet the string. Second, put the string on top of the ice cube. Third, put some salt on and along the string. Count to 30. Then you can lift the string. The ice cube will go up with it.”



        我没给骏骏读过这方面的书，印象中似乎也没有哪个节目是讲这个试验的。我问骏骏：“Who told you that?”
        骏骏也想不起来了：“Er...Maybe I read it in a book.”至于什么书、在哪里读的，骏骏就想不起来了。
        骏骏问：“Daddy, can we try this experiment?”
        我很高兴骏骏对此感兴趣，不过先给他出个难题：“Of course we can. But we don't have an ice cube.”
        骏骏很久以前看过我用冰箱制冰，现在还记得：“We can use the refrigerator to make ice cubes.”
        我想看看骏骏希望制多大的冰块，就问他：“Do you need a container or a cup?”
        骏骏的回答出乎我的意料：“No.”
        我吃惊地说：“You do need a container! Do you think that water will turn into ice as soon as you pour it into the freezer? Water doesn't have its own shape. It flows. You need something to hold it.”
        骏骏问：“How long does it take to turn water into ice?”
        我也没算过制冰要多久：“It depends on how much water you have and how cold the freezer is. It might take an hour or two.”

        刚洗完澡，骏骏就跑到沙盆那里找容器去了。我晾毛巾时，发现他找了个比较深的容器，可能不容易把冰块敲出来，就提醒他：“It might be difficult to knock the ice out from this container. You'd better get a container with bigger top and smaller bottom.”骏骏就选了个玩具小碗，去阳台装了满满一碗水。
        骏骏怕水溢出，让我帮他拿到冰箱那边，自己去开冰箱门。
        骏骏伸手去开冷藏室那个门。我笑道：“The refrigerator compartment can't freeze water into ice.”
        骏骏好奇地问：“Why?”
        我答道：“The refrigerator compartment can only keep things a little bit above zero degree centigrade. It can't reach a temperature below zero. You should keep it in the freezer compartment instead.”说完指了指冷冻室。
        骏骏说：“How does the freezer keep things cold?”
        对这个问题，我已经有点答不上了，就简单地说：“There is a compressor inside.”
        骏骏仍要打破砂锅问到底：“How can the compressor keep things cold?”
        我终于黔驴技穷了，只好说：“I don't know. I will check the books to find the answer.”



        骏骏他们去吃晚饭了，我仍在翻书。查了几本百科类的原版书，未见答案。另有几套百科类的原版书因为考虑到骏骏一时看不懂而封存在老房子那边了，现在也没法查。
        吃饭时，我告诉骏骏：“I haven't found the answer in the books. Maybe we can google to find the answer after supper. Google is the most powerful search engine.”
        骏骏问：“What can a search engine do?”
        吃饭时少说话，我简单地答了句：“It can help us search for the information we need from the internet.”
        吃完晚饭，骏骏看他的电视去，我忙我自己的事情。等我忙完，发现骏骏早就关了电视，自己在搭积木玩，而时间已经不早了，该睡觉了。
        我就犹豫要不要开电脑和上网帮他找答案，骏骏睡前还要读书呢。想想还是算了，改天再查吧。
        刷完牙，读完书，道完Good night，骏妈陪骏骏睡觉，我就去客厅上网。第一件事是查答案。查到了答案，觉得比较复杂，篇幅也不短，又没有插图，不是那么适宜照读给骏骏听，不如用自己的话解释。
        再到卧室去看，骏骏还没睡着，不会是还在想那个问题吧？
        我轻声说：“You don't need to sleep on that question. I will tell you now. The compressor first compresses a special kind of gas to a high pressure. Then the gas will go through some pipes inside the freezer. The pipes become bigger as the gas travels through them, causing the gas to expand. As gas expands, it will become colder. That will cool down the air inside the freezer. The gas goes round and round the pipes, cooling the freezer even more. That's how the compressor keeps things cold in the freezer.”
        我凭记忆和理解大致说了这几点，省略了 circulating fan 那部分，而且也不知道自己的理解和转述是否有误。我问骏骏：“Do you understand it now?”骏骏居然很满意地说：“Yes.”


[ 本帖最后由 Mountie 于 2011-4-2 00:23 编辑 ]

cityranger

wow ，真是精彩，不顶不行！！！

Mountie

超载的风险

（2011年4月9日）


        好不容易熬到周末，想睡个懒觉。但骏骏一到周末就醒得比平时更早。今天一大早，骏骏就把我摇醒：“Daddy, do you know why you can't load your truck too high?”

        我半梦半醒，打了个呵欠，懒洋洋地反问道：“Why?”
        骏骏的情绪未受影响，兴致勃勃地说：“When you load your truck too high, it will be too heavy. That can damage the road.”
        这时我也全醒过来了，理了一下思路，给骏骏来个比较全面的分析：“There are several reasons for not loading the trucks too high. Firstly, when trucks are overloaded, they are too heavy for the highway. If many of the trucks running on the road are overloaded, they can damage the highway easily. Then the highway has to be shut down for repairing quite often. Secondly, when trucks are overloaded, they can easily run out of control, and traffic accidents will happen. It takes longer time to stop an overloaded truck. Therefore, it might knock people down, bump into another vehicle, or even slip down a cliff.”

        骏骏问：“Why is it more difficult to stop a heavier truck?”
        想起前几天才给骏骏看过 Bill Nye the Science Guy 里面的 Momentum 那个节目，正好可以给他解释这个问题：“The heavier something is, the more momentun it has.”
        我继续给骏骏分析前面的问题：“When trucks are loaded too high, the load can easily spill over the sides. Then there will be too much rubbish on the highway.”
        骏骏却说：“No. The highway will become a supermarket.”
        我想象的是那些运载煤泥沙石的卡车，所以说是 rubbish。骏骏可能想象的是其它货物，所以觉得可以在马路上开超市了，呵呵。
        这时我又想到另一个超载的不当之处：“When trucks are loaded too high, they can't go under gantries, overpasses or elevated roads. They can't go through tunnels either. They might get stuck there.”
        骏骏也受到启发：“They might scrape the electric wire overhead and break it, too. That will cause a blackout in someone's home.”
        听我讲了那么多理由，骏骏说：“Now I understand why police officers should punish the drivers of overloaded trucks.”

        我有点奇怪骏骏为什么会一大早想起这么个问题，就问他：“Who told you that you should not load the trucks too high?”
        骏骏说：“Grandma.”
        看来骏骏昨天在放学回家路上已经跟奶奶讨论过这个问题了。

碧与蓝

骏爸的水平好高,已经到博客加关注了,学习!

ann_7579

一直看LZ的博客，今天无意发现这里的帖子，谢谢LZ的分享。虽然我们没有骏爸这么强大，但我们可以和孩子一起用心的学，相信大家都会成长。强烈支持LZ

Mountie

原帖由 ann_7579 于 2011-4-23 14:55 发表
一直看LZ的博客，今天无意发现这里的帖子，谢谢LZ的分享。虽然我们没有骏爸这么强大，但我们可以和孩子一起用心的学，相信大家都会成长。强烈支持LZ

谢谢！最近比较忙，没怎么更新了，惭愧！

echo18

LZ 自身英语水平比较好，又有爱心和耐心，培养出来的宝宝一定会很优秀的！

Mountie

研究飞机尾迹

(2011年4月26日）

        上星期六傍晚，陪骏骏到省档案馆前面的广场练轮滑。正玩得高兴，不知哪个小孩大叫一声：“看！飞机后面有条尾巴！”抬头一看，浅蓝的晴空上，一架白色的飞机缓缓飞过，后面拖着两道雪白的尾迹，往后渐渐合拢为一道尾迹，看上去真象长了条长长的尾巴。

        骏骏凝神望了半晌，真到飞机离开视线，然后转头问：“Daddy, why does the airplane have a white tail?”
        我没思考过这个问题，只好说：“I have no idea. Maybe we can find the answer on the internet.”当时我带了 iPod Touch 在身上，但档案馆这边没有免费的无线上网，只好作罢，答应骏骏回家再找答案。
        骏骏玩了一会儿，又抬头看天空，然后提醒我看：“Daddy, the tail becomes wavy now.”我看了看，原来笔直的尾迹变得弯曲了，扩散了，颜色也淡了许多。我说：“Maybe there is wind up there.”
        那天回家后，我忙我的事，骏骏被其它事情吸引住了，忘了上网查找问题答案。

        今天给骏骏读了 Usborne Beginners 系列中的 Planes 这本书，这才想起那天的问题。于是上网查了查，Google 上有许多答案，其中有一个说得简洁而明白：
        The trails are called contrails, short for condensation trails. When the warm moist air coming out of the jet engines cools in the surrounding air, it is cooled to its dew point, essentially creating a cloud. The resulting "clouds" are the trails that you see.
        另外还有分析飞机尾气成分、分析飞机尾迹的气象学意义甚至谈到全球变暖等问题，有兴趣的可以自己搜索来看看。

        看完网上的解释，骏骏拿出前几天我给他折的纸飞机出来玩，一边飞一边说：“Daddy, look at the contrail behind the plane!” 我笑道：“Paper plane doesn't generate any exhaust. How can it leave a contrail?”
        骏骏说：“It generates paper exhaust. That's why it leaves a paper contrail behind it.”
        我被他直接雷倒了。