本文转自 英语环球ChinaPlus
一三得三
二七十四
三五十五
……
这份每个中国孩子打小就被要求背诵的神奇口诀“出口”到国外啦！
据报道，从3月起，英国将会对 29 所小学的 8-9 岁的四年级学生进行乘法表测试；到2020年，这项测试将在全英普及。
Test to check whether eight- and nine-year-olds know theirtimes tables will be trialed in some primary schools in England in March before being rolled out nationally.
The test, which ministers hope will improve pupils'numeracy, will become mandatory in 2020 for all year 4 students. numeracy n. 计算能力
更要命的是，这次英国要考的乘法表，是在中国“九九乘法表”基础上的升级版——12x12乘法表。测试方式为在线答题，时长不超过5分钟。
The government says the on-screen test, which assesses knowledge of the times tables up to 12, will last no longer than five minutes and has been designed to avoid causing additional stress for children and teachers.
消息一出，英国的网上评论炸了锅。
有人认为孩子们总算可以学点有用的东西了；
也有人认为重要的是学习方法，而不是背诵口诀，这简直就是浪费时间；
还有人通过亲身经历说明乘法表很重要！
同学们请注意上图中最后一个例子：想买12张邮票，结果店家说我们只能按照4张一套的方式卖给你
也就是说，12÷4＝3，这道题店家不会算。
英国人的数学水平由此可见一斑……
英国前首相不会9×8?
2015年2月，时任英国首相的卡梅伦在一所学校做关于提高数学教学水平的演讲。
有记者借此向卡梅伦提问，请问：
“9乘以8等于多少？”
他。。没。。答。。出。。来。。
David Cameron refused to answer a maths question - in case he got it wrong.
The Prime Minister backed plans for every child to be tested on their times table when they leave primary school. But heducked a question on what is nine times eight. duck v. 回避，躲避
为了化解尴尬，卡梅伦回应道：
I do times tables only in the car with my children on the way to school…I'm going to stick to that just in case I get one wrong on your excellent television programme.
好吧，首相有首相的坚持，那么普通老百姓的数学水平如何呢？
来看看这位珍妮小姐姐是如何回答这道分割问题的。
Q: Imagine you go to a pizza shop, and you order a pizza, and the waiter asks you if you'd like the large pizza that you've ordered cut into eight or twelve slices. What do you choose and why?
A：Eight. Because I wouldn't be able to eat twelve.
这位小姐姐，请收下小编的膝盖
而据 2013 年 BBC 的报道，由于英国民众数学水平太糟糕，导致英国损失 1.3% 的GDP，约合 200 亿英镑！
According to a report by the BBC, the U.K.'s poor numeracy skills cost the national economy an estimated 20 billion pounds per year, with an economic analysis putting that at equivalent to 1.3 percent of the nation's GDP.
中国老师来支招
2014年
中英两国启动了“中英数学教师交流项目”，目的是提高英国教师的数学教育水平，加强两国间教学交流合作。
In the spring of 2014, maths teachers in primary schools in the UK came to Shanghai to learn maths teaching and learning methods for the first time.
自此，每年都有一批教师前往对方国家交流教学经验。
英国《卫报》报道称：中国老师把数学的艺术带进英国课堂。
2015年
英国教育部开始在中小学推行“九九乘法表”，并改成升级版的“12×12乘法表”。
In February 2015, Nicky Morgan, the then British Minister of Education, set goals for students to master the multiplication table by the age of 12.
According to a report by Sheffield Hallam University, the Shanghai teaching and learning project was "the most creative one by UK Education Department".
2017年
英国部分小学陆续开始使用来自中国的数学教材。这是中国教材首次成套进入英国基础教育体系。
British government said it will spend 41 million pounds in the next few years to improve the quality of math education in the country and the introduction of teaching methodology from Shanghai is part of it.
对此，中国网友喜大普奔，笑言曾经“虐我千百遍”的数学教材这次要漂洋过海去虐英国的小学生了……
对于歪果仁来说，这套教材到底有多难？听听这位小哥怎么说。
梅姨访华求“秘籍”
今年初，英国首相特雷莎·梅访华，进一步加强两国间的教育合作是她此访的重点之一。
在她访华期间，英国政府宣布了一系列教育合作项目：
双方数学老师交换交流计划进一步拓展至2020年
在未来两年内继续派遣200名英国数学老师来华交流学习
中国进一步推动英语教学
The education initiative will see the the extension of a "pioneering" maths teacher exchange programme.
The scheme arranges for British maths teachers to visit China and vice versa, allowing them to learn from each others' teaching methods.
中国的数学老师来了，中国的数学教材来了，中国的九九乘法表也来了……
小编只想说：英国的小朋友们，印有乘法口诀表的铅笔盒要不要了解一下？
你小时候数学成绩好吗？是不是也曾经为了背诵乘法口诀而痛不欲生？