新版小学教材删去《爱迪生救妈妈》等争议文章

Controversial parts of a textbook for primary School students will be removed from a new edition for the autumn semester, People's Education Press said last Wednesday, adding that the current textbooks will gradually be replaced.

人民教育出版社上周三表示，秋季学期的新版小学教材将删除有争议内容，现有教材将逐步被替换。

A Chinese-language textbook for Grade 2 students includes a story that Edison's mother needed surgery for appendicitis, but light in the operating room was too dim, so the inventor - only 7 years old at the time - came up with the idea of placing mirrors near an oil lamp to better illuminate the room.

二年级语文教材中有这样一则故事：发明家爱迪生的妈妈需要做阑尾炎手术，但手术室灯光太暗，因此当时年仅7岁的爱迪生想了一个办法：把镜子放在油灯附近，将手术室照得更亮。

Some teachers complained that the text is incorrect, as the world's first appendectomy is widely believed to have been carried out in 1886, while Edison would have been 7 in 1854.

有老师投诉称这篇课文不准确，因为大家普遍认为世界首例阑尾切除手术是在1886年进行的，而爱迪生7岁那年是1854年。

Zhang Min, the principal of Hangzhou Foreign Language Experimental School, said he was "astonished to see the text" and called for a revision.

杭州外语实验小学校长张敏表示，他看到这篇课文之后很吃惊，并呼吁做出修订。

The Edison story is not an isolated case. Another piece in the same book tells the story of a young George Washington, the first president of the US, cutting down a cherry tree, despite archaeological evidence showing there were no cherry trees near the house Washington lived in as a child.

无独有偶，这本教材中还有一则关于美国第一任总统乔治·华盛顿小时候砍倒一棵樱桃树的故事，但考古证据表明华盛顿童年居所附近没有樱桃树。

People's Education Press said earlier in an online statement that the Edison story first appeared in Chinese publications in the 1980s and was chosen as a text for primary school textbooks in 2002.

人民教育出版社在此前的一份声明中表示，爱迪生的故事第一次出现在中国出版物中是在20世纪八十年代，在2002年被选为小学课本的一篇课文。

"People at that time already questioned it. We inquired with some experts, but their views were divided," the statement said. "Due to the recent controversy, we are asking more experts for suggestions."

声明中写道：“那时人们就已经开始质疑了。我们咨询了一些专家，但是他们的观点不一。由于最近引发的争议，我们正在向更多的专家咨询意见。”