“When in doubt go to the library.” – J.K.Rowling
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Article1: What Are You Going to Do With That?
William Deresiewicz(《国家》杂志撰稿人和《新共和》杂志编辑)在斯坦福大学的演讲
The question my title poses, of course, is the one that is classically aimed at humanities majors. What practical value could there possibly be in studying literature or art or philosophy? So you must be wondering why I’m bothering to raise it here, at Stanford, this renowned citadel of science and technology. What doubt can there be that the world will offer you many opportunities to use your degree?
(学习文学、艺术或哲学能有什么用呢?所以你肯定纳闷,我为什么在在以科技堡垒而闻名的斯坦福提出这个问题呢?在大学学位给人带来众多机会的问题上还有什么可怀疑的吗?)
But that’s not the question I’m asking. By “do” I don’t mean a job, and by “that” I don’t mean your major. We are more than our jobs, and education is more than a major. Education is more than college, more even than the totality of your formal schooling, from kindergarten through graduate school. By “What are you going to do,” I mean, what kind of life are you going to lead? And by “that,” I mean everything in your training, formal and informal, that has brought you to be sitting here today, and everything you’re going to be doing for the rest of the time that you’re in school.
(但那不是我提出的问题。这里的“做”并不是指工作,“那”并不是指你的专业。我们不仅仅是要个工作,教育不仅仅是学一门专业。教育也不仅仅是上大学,甚至也不仅是从幼儿园到研究生院的正规学校教育。我说的“你要做什么”的意思是你要过什么样的生活?我所说的“那”指的是你得到的正规或非正规的任何训练, 那些把你送到这里来的东西,你在学校的剩余时间里将要做的任何事。)