評論
打印
Letter from Home
家書
William Zinsser
威廉·津瑟
Now is the edgy time for Yale seniors. In three weeks they will graduate and join the rest of us out here in the real world. It is a place that they are intensely afraid of.
眼下正是耶魯四年級學生緊張不安的時期。再有三個星期他們就要畢業，投身于外面的現實世界，加入到我們的行列之中。這是一個他們非常害怕的地方。
Not all of them, of course, will take the icy plunge. Quite a few will stay on the academic assembly-line — in law school or medical school or graduate school — to study for three or four years more.
當然，并非所有的人都將投入到這個冰冷的現實世界中來。相當多的人將留在學業裝配線上——在法學院、醫學院或研究生院——再學習三至四年。
This doesn't mean that they necessarily want to be lawyers or doctors or scholars. Some arecontinuing their education because their parents want them to. Some are doing it just to postpone the day of decision. Some are doing it because lawyers and doctors make a good living. Some are doing it to acquire still another degree to impress a society in which they think credentials are the only currency. Some — the lucky ones — really do want to be lawyers, doctors, scholars or specialists in a field that requires further skill.
這并不意味著他們一定想成為律師、醫生或學者。有些人繼續他們的學業是因為他們的父母要他們這樣做。有些人這樣做只是為了推遲作決定的日期。有些人這樣做是因為律師和醫生可以過上優裕的生活。而有些人這樣做只是為了再獲得一個學位，好讓這個他們認為只認證書的社會刮目相看。還有些人——那些幸運者——的確想成為律師、醫生、學者或需要更深造詣的某一領域的專家。
But they all are driven 一 those who are leaving Academia and those who are staying — byone message: Do Not Fail. It is a message that has been echoing in their heads since theywere admitted to the nursery school of their choice,beating less competitive toddlers. Score high,test well, play it safe. Next month's graduates have been so obsessively bent for four years on measurable achievement (grades) and a secure future (jobs) that they have hardly had time to savor the present and to grow as well-rounded people. They know that the outsideworld is wary of experimenters, of late starters and temporary losers.
但是，他們——無論是將要離開學術界的還是將要留下來的——都受著同一信息的驅使：不能失敗。從他們擊敗競爭力較弱、蹣跚學步的兒童，進入精選的幼兒園起，這則信息就一直回響在他們的腦海中。得高分，考得好，穩扎穩打。下個月即將畢業的學生四年來一直沉迷于追求可計量的成就（分數）和一個穩固的前途（工作），以至于幾乎沒有時間來品味眼前的生活，成長為一個興趣廣泛的人。他們知道外面的世界對喜歡以實驗進行探索的人、起步晚的人和暫時的失敗者是持提防態度的。
