新西兰高中生不认识“trivial”这个词

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.

新西兰的高中学生不知道考试题目中“微不足道(trivial)”这个词的含义，要求学校不要扣分。

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

超过2600个学生签署了一份关于“陌生”词汇的在线请愿书。

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."

这些学生需要在考试中根据朱利叶斯·凯撒的一句话写一篇文章：“在战争中，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，这个词属于13年级学生的词汇范围。

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，新西兰资格认证局(NZQA)在一份声明中补充说：“如果考试回答了试卷中的问题，并将他们的想法与之相结合，那么他们的论证和分析的实力将会得到分数，即使误解了‘微不足道(trivial)’这个词也不会被扣分。”

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

该局还说：“学生请愿不会对此造成任何变化。”

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

请愿书说周三参加考试的学生这个词对产生了“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.

“许多学生并不是特别熟悉这个词，这意味着学生必须根据自己对这个词的理解来撰写论文，”该局表示。

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

请愿书要求考官根据学生自己对“微不足道(trivial)”的定义来给他们的论文评分。

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

NZQA在声明中表示，这个考题是由目前在该级别教授历史的经验丰富的工作人员撰写的。

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

“当任何考试材料中有任何不熟悉的单词时，我们都会提供词汇表，”该局说。