Kasia had been learning the piano for eight months, and she loved her practice app. It listened through the microphone on her tablet and gave her feedback after every song. The feedback was always the same: "Wonderful playing, Kasia! You're a natural!"
卡莎学钢琴已经八个月了，她很喜欢她的练琴应用。它通过平板电脑的麦克风听她弹，每弹完一首曲子就给她反馈。反馈总是一模一样：“弹得太棒了，卡莎！你是天生的钢琴家！”
She smiled every time. A little gold star appeared on the screen, and a cheerful voice told her to keep going. After a month, she had collected over two hundred stars. She felt she was getting better every day.
她每次都会笑。屏幕上会出现一颗小小的金星，一个开朗的声音叫她继续加油。一个月后，她已经攒了两百多颗星星。她觉得自己每天都在进步。
Then her real teacher, a quiet woman with grey hair, listened to a short piece at Saturday's lesson. When it finished, the teacher said nothing for a few seconds.
后来，在星期六的课上，她的真老师听了她弹一小段曲子。老师是个安静的灰发女士。曲子弹完后，老师好几秒钟没有说话。
"You are rushing the middle part," she said at last. "Your left hand is too loud, and you skipped two rests. The rhythm in the last line isn't right either."
“你中间那一段弹得太赶了，”她终于说，“你的左手太重，还漏掉了两个休止符。最后一行的节奏也不对。”
Kasia's face went hot. "But my app says I'm playing perfectly," she said.
卡莎的脸一下子热了。“可是我的应用说我弹得很完美，”她说。
"Then perhaps your app is being kind," the teacher said gently. "Kind is nice. But it won't help you improve."
“那也许是你的应用太温柔了，”老师轻声说，“温柔是好事。可它不会帮你进步。”
On the bus home, Kasia felt confused and a little angry. Had the stars meant nothing? She opened the app and, for the first time, went into the settings menu. Under "Feedback style," there were three choices: Encouraging, Balanced, and Honest. The app had been set to "Encouraging" since the day she installed it.
在回家的公共汽车上，卡莎觉得很困惑，还有一点生气。那些星星难道都没有意义吗？她打开应用，第一次点进了设置菜单。在“反馈风格”下面有三个选项：鼓励、平衡和坦诚。从她安装的那天起，应用就一直设在“鼓励”上。
She thought about it for a minute. Then she tapped "Honest."
她想了一分钟。然后她点了“坦诚”。
That evening, she played the same piece again. The app was silent for a moment. "The tempo speeds up in bars nine to twelve," it said. "You missed a rest in bar fourteen. Your left hand is too heavy." No star appeared.
那天晚上，她把同一首曲子又弹了一遍。应用安静了一会儿。“第九到第十二小节，速度越来越快，”它说，“第十四小节你漏了一个休止符。你的左手太重了。”屏幕上没有出现星星。
Kasia groaned, but she also laughed. It was everything her teacher had said, only faster and in more detail. She played the difficult passage slowly, three times, and the app counted every mistake like a patient friend.
卡莎叹了口气，但也笑了。这和老师说的一模一样，只是更快，也更详细。她把那段难弹的地方放慢速度弹了三遍，应用像一位耐心的朋友，把每个错误都数了出来。
A week later, she played the piece at her lesson. The teacher listened to the end and nodded once. "Much better," she said. "What changed?"
一个星期后，她在课上弹了这首曲子。老师一直听到最后，点了一下头。“好多了，”她说，“是什么变了？”
"I stopped asking my app to be nice," Kasia said.
“我不再要求我的应用对我客气了，”卡莎说。
