Who Was Maria Montessori?
玛丽亚·蒙台梭利是谁？

Maria was a sterling student, confident, ambitious, and unwilling to be limited by traditional expectations for women. At age 13 she entered an all-boys technical institute to prepare for a career in engineering.
玛丽亚是一个优秀的学生，自信、雄心勃勃，不愿意被对女性的传统期望所限制。13 岁时，她进入了一所全男子技术学院，为从事工程事业做准备。

In time, however, she changed her mind, deciding to become a doctor instead. She applied to the University of Rome’s medical program, but was rejected. Maria took additional courses to better prepare her for entrance to the medical school and persevered. With great effort she gained admittance, opening the door a bit wider for future women in the field.
然而，随着时间的推移，她改变了主意，决定成为一名医生。她申请了罗马大学的医学项目，但被拒绝了。玛丽亚参加了额外的课程，以更好地为她进入医学院做准备，并坚持不懈。经过巨大的努力，她获得了录取，为该领域的未来女性打开了一扇更大的大门。

When she graduated from medical school in 1896, Maria was among Italy’s first female physicians. Though she was not the first female medical school graduate, as reported by many of her biographers, it does not detract from her accomplishment. Defying conventions, norms, and expectations to successfully make her way in this rigorous, male-dominated field required tremendous strength, dedication, and perseverance.
1896 年从医学院毕业时，玛丽亚是意大利第一批女医生之一。虽然正如她的许多传记作者所报道的那样，她不是第一位女性医学院毕业生，但这并不影响她的成就。打破惯例、规范和期望，在这个严格的、男性主导的领域取得成功，需要巨大的力量、奉献精神和毅力。

Birth of a Movement 一场运动的诞生

Maria’s early medical practice focused on psychiatry. She later developed an interest in education, attending classes on pedagogy and immersing herself in educational theory. Her studies led her to observe, and call into question, the prevailing methods of teaching children with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
玛丽亚早期的医疗实践集中在精神病学上。后来，她对教育产生了兴趣，参加了教育学课程，并沉浸在教育理论中。她的研究使她观察并质疑了教授智力和发育障碍儿童的普遍方法。

The opportunity to improve on these methods came in 1900, when she was appointed co-director of a new training institute for special education teachers. Maria approached the task scientifically, carefully observing and experimenting to learn which teaching methods worked best. Many of the children made unexpected gains, and the program was proclaimed a success.
1900 年，她被任命为一家新的特殊教育教师培训机构的联合主任，从而有机会改进这些方法。Maria 以科学的方式完成这项任务，仔细观察和实验，以了解哪些教学方法效果最好。许多孩子取得了意想不到的收获，该计划宣布成功。

In 1907, Maria accepted a challenge to open a full-day childcare center in San Lorenzo, a poor inner-city district of Rome. The students were under-served youngsters, ages 3 – 7, who were left to their own devices while their parents went out to work. This center, the first of its kind in the nation, and a high-quality learning environment, became the first Casa dei Bambini.
1907 年，玛丽亚接受了在罗马贫穷的内城区圣洛伦索开设全日制托儿所的挑战。这些学生是 3 至 7 岁的年轻人，当他们的父母外出工作时，他们只能靠自己的设备。这个中心是全国第一个此类中心，拥有高质量的学习环境，成为第一个 Casa dei Bambini。

The children were unruly at first, but soon showed great interest in working with puzzles, learning to prepare meals, and manipulating learning materials Maria had designed. She observed how the children absorbed knowledge from their surroundings, essentially teaching themselves.
起初，孩子们不守规矩，但很快就对拼图、学习准备饭菜和操作 Maria 设计的学习材料表现出了极大的兴趣。她观察到孩子们如何从周围环境中吸收知识，基本上是自学的。

Using scientific observation and experience gained from her earlier work with young children, Maria designed learning materials and a classroom environment that fostered the children’s natural desire to learn and provided freedom for them to choose their own materials.
利用科学观察和她早期与幼儿一起工作的经验，Maria 设计了学习材料和课堂环境，培养了孩子们天生的学习欲望，并为他们提供了选择自己材料的自由。

To the surprise of many, the children in Maria’s programs thrived, exhibiting concentration, attention, and spontaneous self-discipline. The “Montessori Method” began to attract the attention of prominent educators, journalists, and public figures. By 1910, Montessori schools could be found throughout Western Europe and were being established around the world, including in the United States where the first Montessori school opened in Tarrytown, NY, in 1911.
令许多人惊讶的是，玛丽亚课程中的孩子们茁壮成长，表现出专注、专注和自发的自律。“蒙台梭利方法”开始引起著名教育家、记者和公众人物的注意。到 1910 年，蒙台梭利学校遍布整个西欧，并在世界各地建立，包括在美国，第一所蒙台梭利学校于 1911 年在纽约州塔里敦开办。

In the years following, and for the rest of her life, Maria dedicated herself to advancing her child-centered approach to education. She lectured widely, wrote articles and books, and developed a program to prepare teachers in the Montessori Method. Through her efforts and the work of her followers, Montessori education was adopted worldwide.
在接下来的几年里，以及她的余生中，Maria 致力于推进她以儿童为中心的教育方法。她广泛演讲，撰写文章和书籍，并开发了一个计划来培养蒙台梭利方法的教师。通过她的努力和她的追随者的工作，蒙台梭利教育在世界范围内被采用。

As a public figure, Maria also campaigned vigorously on behalf of women’s rights. She wrote and spoke frequently on the need for greater opportunities for women, and was recognized in Italy and beyond as a leading feminist voice.
作为公众人物，玛丽亚还为妇女权利积极奔走。她经常就为女性提供更多机会的必要性撰写文章和演讲，并在意大利及其他地区被公认为领先的女权主义声音。

Maria Montessori pursued her ideals in turbulent times. Living through war and political upheaval inspired her to add peace education to the Montessori curriculum. But she could do little to avoid being ensnared in world events. Traveling in India in 1940, when hostilities between Italy and Great Britain broke out, she was forced to live in exile for the remainder of the war. There she took the opportunity to train teachers in her method.
玛丽亚·蒙台梭利 （Maria Montessori） 在动荡的时代追求她的理想。经历战争和政治动荡的经历激发了她将和平教育添加到蒙台梭利课程中。但她几乎无能为力，无法避免被卷入世界事件的陷阱。1940 年，当意大利和英国之间爆发敌对行动时，她在印度旅行，被迫在战争的剩余时间里过着流亡生活。在那里，她借此机会培训教师使用她的方法。

At war’s end she returned to Europe, spending her final years in Amsterdam. She died peacefully, in a friend’s garden, on May 6, 1952.
战争结束后，她回到了欧洲，在阿姆斯特丹度过了最后的岁月。她于 1952 年 5 月 6 日在朋友的花园里安详地去世。