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I failed to take into account, however, that few such openings exist in the first place. More important, I quickly found out that I was competing with a great many other individualswho not only possessed the same talents as I but also held doctorates. Not finding work atcolleges, these doctors of classics had turned to the private high schools, the traditional haven of bachelor's degree holders like me. But no headmaster is going to hire a youngste with a BA, when he can just as easily have a Ph.D. desperate for a job, and for only a little more money.
然而，我卻沒有考慮到，首先，這類空缺本來就不多。更為重要的是，我很快就發現，跟我競爭的人比比皆是，他們不僅擁有跟我一樣的天資，而且還持有博士學位。這些古典學博士在大學里找不到工作，于是便轉向私立中學——像我一樣持有學士學位者傳統的避難所。但是在只要稍微多花一點錢就能同樣輕易地找到一個極需工作的博士時沒有哪個中學校長會雇用一個只有文科學士學位的年輕人。
Ignoring this detail, I went through the process of sending out some 30 letters of inquiry to private schools. I received perhaps ten replies, with two schools saying that they might have an opening. I had the good fortune of being granted one interview.
我因為忽略了這一細節，所以便陸續給一些私立中學發出了約30封信去詢問情況。我收到了大約十封回信，其中有兩所學校說它們可能會有空缺。我有幸得到了一次面試機會。
The school was in Oakland , and since I had neither the time nor the money to make the journey in a leisurely way, I arranged to fly up and back on the same day. For my efforts I was given a 20-minute interview (during which the headmaster did most of the talking) and was taken on a brief tour of the campus. I realized I should have stayed at home when the interview opened with this question: "You're getting your MA?"A few weeks later, I was informed that the position had been filled. It was December, and I abandoned the hunt.
這所學校位于奧克蘭。因為我既沒有時間也沒有錢以一種悠閑的方式作這次旅行，我便安排好在一天內飛去飛回。為了我的這番努力，我只得到了一次20分鐘的面試（而其間主要還是校長在侃侃而談），并被帶著在校園里簡短地參觀了一下。當面試一開始就問我：“你就要拿到文科碩士學位了”時，我便知道我本該待在家里不來面試的。幾個星期后，我被告知，那個職位已有人擔任。那是12月份，于是我便放棄了尋職。
