新西蘭高中生不認識“trivial”這個詞

High School students in New Zealand who didn’t know what the word "trivial" meant in an exam question have demanded not to be marked down as a result.

新西蘭的高中學生不知道考試題目中“微不足道(trivial)”這個詞的含義，要求學校不要扣分。

More than 2,600 people signed an online petition over the "unfamiliar" word.

超過2600個學生簽署了一份關于“陌生”詞匯的在線請愿書。

The students were asked to write an essay based on the Julius Caesar quote: "In war, events of importance are the result of trivial causes."

這些學生需要在考試中根據(jù)朱利葉斯·凱撒的一句話寫一篇文章：“在戰(zhàn)爭中，重要的事件是微不足道的原因造成的。”

Examiners said the language used was expected to be within the range of the year 13 students’ vocabulary.

考官表示，這個詞屬于13年級學生的詞匯范圍。

However, in a statement, the New Zealand Qualifications Authority [NZQA] added: "If candidates have addressed the quote and integrated their ideas with it, then they will be given credit for the strength of their argument and analysis and will not be penalised for misinterpreting the word ’trivial’."

然而，新西蘭資格認證局(NZQA)在一份聲明中補充說：“如果考試回答了試卷中的問題，并將他們的想法與之相結合，那么他們的論證和分析的實力將會得到分數(shù)，即使誤解了‘微不足道(trivial)’這個詞也不會被扣分。”

It added: "There have been no changes as a consequence of the petition."

該局還說：“學生請愿不會對此造成任何變化。”

The petition said the word had caused "much confusion" among the students who sat the exam on Wednesday.

請愿書說周三參加考試的學生這個詞對產生了“困惑”。

"The word which many students were not particularly familiar with meant that students had to write the essay based on their own understanding of the word," it said.

“許多學生并不是特別熟悉這個詞，這意味著學生必須根據(jù)自己對這個詞的理解來撰寫論文，”該局表示。

The petition called on examiners to mark the essay based on the students’ own definition of "trivial".

請愿書要求考官根據(jù)學生自己對“微不足道(trivial)”的定義來給他們的論文評分。

In its statement, the NZQA said the question had been produced by experienced staff currently teaching history at that level.

NZQA在聲明中表示，這個考題是由目前在該級別教授歷史的經驗豐富的工作人員撰寫的。

"When there are any unfamiliar words in any material for an exam, a glossary is provided," it said.

“當任何考試材料中有任何不熟悉的單詞時，我們都會提供詞匯表，”該局說。