評論
打印
I didn't have the money to repair it.
我沒有錢修車，
So I went to the dean and my advisor in sequence and I said, I have a problem.
所以我先后找到學院院長和我的指導老師，告訴他們說我遇到了麻煩。
The transmission fell out of my car, and you have me in a seven-thirty a.m. and eight-thirty a.m. class.
我汽車的動力裝置出現故障，很難按照他們規定的時間，在早上七點半和八點半上課，
If you could please just transfer me to the afternoon sections of those classes,
如果因為汽車的問題，調整我上課的時間，讓我上下午的課，
I would appreciate it because of this car problem.
我將非常感激他們。
There was a neighbour who was a rancher who was going to take me in at eleven o'clock.
我的鄰居是一個農場的工人，他可以在上午十一點順便帶我到學校。
My advisor was this cowboy-looking guy with a handlebar mustache, dressed in a tweed jacket.
我的指導老師很像一個牛仔，他留著大八字胡，穿著斜紋軟呢外套，
He said, 'well, son, after looking at your transcript at Reed College,
他對我說，好了，孩子，看了你在里德學院的生活版本之后，
I can see you have yet to learn that everyone has to make sacrifices to get an education.
我覺得你還是應該像其他人一樣，要為學習做出一定的犧牲。
Request denied.' So I went to the dean. same treatment."
我的請求被駁回來了。所以我就去找院長，得到的是同樣的答復。”
His voice grew tight.
他說話的節奏變得急促。
He was describing things that had happened over thirty years ago, but the memory still made him angry.
雖然說到的事情已經過去了30多年，但一想到這些往事就讓他生氣：
"At that point, I realized, here I was, knocking myself out to make money to make my way back to school,
“這時候我意識到，在蒙大納的這個深秋，
and it's the middle of Montana winter.
為了返回校園，我必須拼命掙錢。
I am willing to hitchhike into town every day, do whatever I had to do,
我每天都必須搭順風車到鎮上，做過去我曾做過的一切事情，
just to get into school and back, and they are unwilling to do anything for me.
這都是為了回到學校學習，而他們并不想為我提供一些便利。
So bananas. And that was the point I decided I could do without the higher-education system.
這真是瘋了。這時候我終于想通了，心想即使沒有接受高等教育，我同樣可以做很多事情。
Even if I couldn't do without it, it was sufficiently repugnant to me that I wouldn't do it anymore.
即使離開后我真是做不成任何事，我也不相信以后自己再也不能接受高等教育了。
So I dropped out of college, simple as that."
所以我就離開了學院，事情就是這樣簡單。”
Chris Langan's experiences at Reed and Montana State represented a turning point in his life.
克里斯.蘭根在里德學院和蒙大納州立大學的經歷是他人生的拐點。
As a child, he dreamed of becoming an academic.
還在孩童時期，他就夢想自己成為一名大學教師。
He should have gotten a Ph.D; universities are institutions structured, in large part,
他成為一名博士：大學的制度很適合像他這樣
for people with his kind of deep intellectual interests and curiosity.
智力超群，充滿好奇心的人——通常情況下都是如此。
"Once he got into the university environment, I thought he would prosper, I really did," his brother Mark says.
“如果他融入了大學的環境，我相信他能夠成功，我堅信這一點，”
"I though he would somehow find a niche. It made absolutely no sense to me when he left that."
他的弟弟馬克說，“我想他需要設法獲得一個好的機會。當他離開那里的時候，我事先毫不知情。”
Without a degree, Langan floundered. He worked in construction.
沒有任何學位，蘭根就開始了艱苦的歷程。他在建筑工地干過；
One frigid winter he walked on a clam boat in Long Island.
他曾在長島的捕蛤船上度過了寒冷的嚴冬；
