Podcast Transcript
大家好！欢迎回来MaoMi Chinese，我是莫莫老师。今天是MaoMi Chinese 的第十六集——不鸡娃，可以吗？
最近在中国，有一部电视剧很火，名字叫《小舍得》。这部电视剧讲的是什么故事呢？这是关于中国大陆小学升初中的故事。这几年我经常听到很多中国家长说他们很焦虑——他们怕自己的孩子没有别人的孩子好。有一些家长会让孩子参加很多课后学习班，比如奥数班，学特别难的数学，或者学钢琴，或者去补习班，提高他们的考试成绩。他们的孩子喜欢吗？我不知道，但我相信很多孩子都不太快乐。
有一个很流行的词，叫“鸡娃”。鸡，意思是chicken，娃，意思是children，但是鸡娃，绝对不是chicken baby！鸡，来自“打鸡血”。“打鸡血”的意思是to motivate，to stir up”, 鸡娃，意思是让孩子非常努力，to make them work super hard， sometimes too hard. 为什么现在很多家长都在“鸡娃”呢？因为在中国的教育里，考试和分数太重要了——从小学到初中，从初中到高中，从高中到大学，如果你想要去好的学校，都需要考试，都要有很好的分数。对于很多普通家庭，贫困的家庭来说，只有好好学习，只有好成绩，好分数，才能让他们的孩子以后过上好的生活。
很多的家长鸡娃，因为他们很焦虑，他们希望自己的孩子比别人的孩子优秀。优秀，意思是excellent。但是，什么样的孩子才是优秀的孩子呢？如果他们有很好的成绩，有很好的分数，却总是背着很多压力，总是不快乐，这样的优秀还是优秀吗？
家长希望孩子以后过上更好的生活。但是，什么才是好的生活呢？他们有很好的工作，有很高的收入，但是他们感受不到爱，这样的生活也是好的生活吗？
有太多太多的问题，需要我们去思考。很难说，这些鸡娃的家长是对的，或者是错的。但是我们需要思考，什么样的教育，才是合适的，健康的。
Hello everyone! Welcome back to MaoMi Chinese and this is Teacher Momo. Today it’s episode 16-Can we not overload our children?
Recently in China, there is a TV show going viral and it’s called xiǎoshědé. What is this TV show about? It’s about mainland Chinese students moving on to secondary school from primary school. These years I often hear lots of Chinese parents saying that they are very anxious-they are afraid that their children are not as good as others. Some parents will make their children take part in many after school class, for example, Mathematical Olympiad class to learn really advanced Maths, or piano class, or tutoring class to level up their exam performance. Do their children like it? I don’t know, but I believe many children are not very happy.
Here is the saying going viral-jī wá. jī，means chicken. wá, means children. But jī wá is definitely not chicken baby! jīcomes from dǎ jī xiě, which means to motivate, to stir up. jī wá means to make children work really hard. Why nowadays there so many parents doing that? Because in Chinese education, exam and grades are too important. From primary school to secondary school, from secondary school to universities, if you want to go to a good school, you will need to sit the exam and get very good grades. To many ordinary family and poor family, only studying hard and having good performance and grades can their children live a better life in the future.
Lots of parents jī wá, because they are anxious and they hope their children to be better than others. Yōu xiù, means excellent. However, what kind of children are excellent children? If they have good performance, good grades, but always have loads of pressure, and always not happy, can we still say this is excellent?
Parents hope that their children can live a better life in the future. However, what is a better life? They have a good job, have good income, but they can’t feel love. Can this life be called a good life?
There are too many questions which we need to think about. It’s difficult to say that these parents are right or wrong. But we need to think that what kind of education is suitable and healthy.
Vocabulary
最后我们来说一说今天的词语：
第一个，鸡娃——to make our children work super hard，to overload them。这几年，很多家长都不得不鸡娃，因为他们怕自己的孩子没有别人的优秀。 These years there are many parents who have to overload their children because they are afraid that their children are not as excellent as others.
第二个，优秀——excellent。优秀的孩子，成绩好的孩子，不一定是快乐的孩子。Excellent children with good performance might not be happy children.
第三个，焦虑——to feel very anxious, anxiety. 合适的焦虑是一个好事，但是我们不能太焦虑，也不能让我们的孩子太焦虑。Being a little anxious can be a good thing, but we can’t be too anxious and make our children too anxious.
第四个，教育——education。
第五个，考试——exam。
第六个，分数——grades。我们需要知道，教育不是只和考试和分数有关。好的教育，不只让学生获得分数和知识，更重要的是，让学生获得向前走的能量和能力。We need to know that education is not only about exams and grades. Good education not only helps students get grades and knowledge but more importantly, it empowers and enables them to keep going.