“BEWARE OF A man whose writing sway(摇摆，晃动)s like a reed in the wind,” Confucius warned. The ancient philosopher would have been rather suspicious of many literary giants.(这位古代哲人若见到许多文学巨匠，恐怕会颇为怀疑。) Leo Tolstoy’s handwriting was messy with a severe slant(倾斜，歪斜), leaving his manuscripts as dense and intricate(错综复杂的) as his epics. Ernest Hemingway’s script sloped drunkenly down the page, no matter how little booze(酒，喝酒) he had consumed.
“要提防那种字迹像风中芦苇一样摇摆的人，”孔子曾如此告诫。这位古代哲人若见到许多文学巨匠的手迹，恐怕会颇为怀疑。列夫·托尔斯泰的字迹潦草，倾斜得厉害，手稿因此像他的史诗一样密集而繁复。欧内斯特·海明威的字则歪歪斜斜地一路向下滑，不管他喝了多少酒。
This September, as pupils return to classrooms, the question of whether (and in which style) they should learn to write by hand is being debated by administrators, parents and teachers. You might assume such questions are obsolete(过时的，淘汰的) in an age of iPads rather than parchment, but handwriting is not being written off. Cursive, a style with flowing, connected characters, is making a comeback.
今年九月，随着学生重返课堂，教育管理者、家长和教师正在争论：学生是否应该学习手写，又该学哪种字体。你或许以为，在iPad取代羊皮纸的时代，这类问题早已过时，但手写并没有被淘汰。连笔字——一种笔画流畅、字母相连的字体——正在卷土重来。
America has looped back on loopy writing. In 2010 the country’s “Common Core” curriculum shun(回避，摒弃)ned cursive in favour of(支持，倾向于) keyboard skills, but, since then, more than half of states have brought it back to the classroom. This school year Pennsylvania and New Jersey joined Texas, California, Florida and others in mandating the teaching of cursive in schools.
美国在“圈圈绕绕”的书写上又绕了回来。2010年，美国的“共同核心”课程标准摒弃连笔字，转而重视键盘技能；但自那以后，超过半数的州已将其重新引入课堂。本学年，宾夕法尼亚州和新泽西州加入得克萨斯、加利福尼亚、佛罗里达等州的行列，强制要求学校教授连笔字。