在虚拟现实中体验上课

河北 王延凯

一位斯坦福大学教授在他的“虚拟人”课上教授了260多名学生，学生和教师在虚拟现实场景中进行学习之旅。 学生们的虚拟定制化身参与了虚拟现实场景中的讨论小组。 因虚拟现实强大的影响力，一些教育工作者将这项技术视为未来重要的学习工具。

主题语境：人与社会 篇幅：360词 建议用时：7分钟

Jeremy Bailenson has studied virtual reality (VR) for decades. But it wasn't until last year that the Stanford professor felt the technology was good enough that he could actually teach a class in VR.

Over the summer and again in the fall, Bailenson taught more than 260 students in his “Virtual People” class, which explored various aspects of virtual reality.Students and instructors gathered in VR for a virtual journey. Students' customiz able avatars （化身）participated in discussion panels in VR and created a final project for the course—a full-fledged VR scene that others could visit virtually.

There are still open questions about the effect of VR in the classroom as well as questions about the risks it might pose to the developing eyes and brains of younger users. The headsets also remain too pricey for many people.Still,some educators see the technology as an important learning tool going forward.

Last spring, Jane, a self-described“VR junkie” who already enjoyed using the technology outside the classroom, received approval from her school to hold her first class in VR. She used an app called Aristotle that she designed, which was built by a Turkey-based friend. Ten students used Quest 2 and older Quest 1 headsets to gather as angular （有棱角的）avatars around a conference table in a virtual classroom and talk. A virtual whiteboard let Jane show slides and other documents to students.

“What it does is focus the classroom,” Jane said. Students were less likely to be diverted by other activities like texting and checking email, and, she pointed out, if any of them took off their headsets while they were supposed to be in her VR classroom, their avatars would noticeably droop.

VR is not just being used for college classes. Starting in February, Longview School will offer a once-a-week, 2-hour VR session in the school's gym for kids in grades 5 through 10.

Even if VR becomes more capable,some people think the technology is still only useful for certain kinds of lessons.Because VR is just starting to be used for more than the occasional lesson, it's still hard to tell when and how it will be most useful.

Reading Check

1. What's people's attitude towards the class in VR?

A. Supportive. B. Doubtful.

C. Hopeful. D. Controversial.

2. Which word is closest to the meaning of“diverted” in paragraph 5?

A. Disturbed. B. Controlled.

C. Encouraged. D. Entertained.

3. What can we infer about VR from the last paragraph?

A. VR is familiar to few people.

B. VR still has a long way to go.

C. VR only suits occasional lessons.

D. VR is a useful and capable technology.

4. What's the purpose of the text?

A. To comment.

B. To advertise.

C. To offer tips.

D. To inform readers.

Language Study

Difficult sentence in the text

But it wasn't until last year that the Stanford professor felt the technology was good enough that he could actually teach a class in VR. 但直到去年，这位斯坦福大学教授才觉得这项技术已经足够好，他可以真正在虚拟现实场景中教授一门课程。

【点石成金】本句中的it wasn't until last year that...为强调句。