評論
打印
I'm talking about Yale students because I live in their midst and know them well. (I am Master of Branford College, one of Yale's twelve residential colleges. In our house I can lie awake and listen to some of the loudest stereo sets in the East. That, in fact, is why I lie awake.) And I'm talking about seniors because they are the ones who are most on my mind right now: panicky that they won't have enough A's to persuade an employer to hire them, though they are men and women I'd like to have working for me, if I were an employer, for qualities of intelligence and humor and humanity that don't show up on any chart.
我之所以談論耶魯的學生是因為我生活在他們中間，很了解他們。（我是耶魯十二所寄宿制學院之一的布蘭福德學院的院長。我可以醒著躺在家中，聽著從東區傳來的一些音量最大的立體聲收音機中的音樂。事實上，這正是我醒著躺在那兒的原因。）我之所以談論四年級學生，是因為他們正是眼下最讓我牽腸掛肚的人：他們擔心沒有足夠的A來說服雇主雇傭他們，雖然我倒十分愿意讓他們為我工作，如果我是雇主的話，因為他們具有無法在任何表格上顯現出來的品質：聰穎、幽默而善良。
But I could just as well be talking about Yale's juniors, sophomores and freshmen — or, I suspect, about the students at most colleges today. They are studying more and enjoying it less.At Yale, they play in fewer plays and musical groups, join fewer campus organizations, take part in fewer sports,carve out fewer moments just to linger and talk and put a margin around their lives. They are under pressure to do too much work in too little time.
但我所談論的也可以是耶魯的三年級、二年級和一年級學生——或者說，是當今大多數大學中的學生。他們學得比過去多，得到的樂趣卻比過去少。在耶魯，他們排演戲劇和音樂節目的時間少了，參加校園團體和體育運動的機會少了，連抽點時間散散步、聊聊天也很難得，幾乎無法給自己的生活稍留空隙。他們被迫在極少的時間里做極多的事。
