1、斯坦福大學英文演講：別在不斷優(yōu)秀中淪落平庸(上)what are you going to do with that?教育為何？by william deresiewiczthe question mytitle 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 w

2、hy i ' m bothering to raise it here, at stanford, this renowned citadel of scie nee and tech no logy. what doubt can there be that the world will offer you many opportun ities to use your degree?我的題目提出的問題，當然，是一個傳統(tǒng)地面向人文科學的專業(yè)所提出的問題：學習文學、藝術(shù)或哲學能有什么實效價值(practicalvalue)?你肯定納悶，我為什么在以科技堡壘而聞名的斯坦福提出這個問題呢？

3、大學學位給人帶來眾多' m asking. by“do” i don ' t meani don t meanyour major. we are more than our jobs, tha n a major. educati on is more tha n college, more of your formal schooling, from kindergarten through “what are you going to do, ” i mean, what kind of ad? and by “that, ” i mean everything in y

4、our機會，這還有什么需要質(zhì)疑的嗎？but that ' s not the question i a job, and by “that ” and educatio n is moreeve n tha n the totality graduate school. by life are you going to letraining, formal and in formal, that has brought you to be sitt ing here today, and everything you' re going to be doing for the

5、rest of the timethat you ' re in school.但那不是我提出的問題。這里的“做(do) ”并不是指工作，“那(that) ” 并不是指你的專業(yè)。我們不僅僅是我們的工作，教育的全部也不僅僅是一門主修 專業(yè)。教育也不僅僅是上大學，甚至也不僅是從幼兒園到研究生院的正規(guī)學校教 育。我說的“你要做什么”的意思是你要過什么樣的生活。我所說的“那”指的是你得到的正規(guī)或非正規(guī)的任何訓練，那些把你送到這里來的東西，你在學校的剩余時間里將要做的任何事。we should start by talk ing about how you did, in fact, get h

6、ere.我們不妨先來討論你是如何考入斯坦福的吧。your natural aptitudes all your subjects, you you cultivated with went to afterschoolyou got here by gett ing very good at a certa in set of skills. your parents pu shed you to excel from the time you were very young, they sent you to good schools, where the en courageme nt o

7、f your teachers and the example of your peers helped push you even harder. were nurtured so that, in addition to excelling in developed a number of specificinterests thatp articularvigor. you did extracurricular activities, programs, took private lessons. you spent summersdoing advaneed courses at a

8、 local college or atte nding skill-s pecific camps and worksh ops. you worked hard, you paid attention, and you tried your very best. and so you got very good at math, or piano, or lacrosse, or, indeed, several things at on ce.你能進入這所大學說明你在某些技能上非常出色。你的父母在你很小的時 候就鼓勵你追求卓越。他們送你到好學校，老師的鼓勵和同伴的榜樣激勵你更努 力地學習

9、。除了在所有課程上都出類拔萃之外，你還注重修養(yǎng)的提高，充滿熱情地培養(yǎng)了一些特殊興趣。你用幾個暑假在本地大學里預習大學課程，或參加專門技能的夏令營或訓練營。你學習刻苦、精力集中、全力以赴。所以，你在數(shù)學、 鋼琴、曲棍球等眾多方面都很出色。now there ' s nothing wrong with mastering s kills, with wanting to do your best and to be the best. what' s wrong is what the system leavesout: which is to say, everything e

10、lse. i don' t mean that by choosing toexcel in math, say, you are faili ng to devel op your verbal abilities to their fullest exte nt, or that in additi on to focus ing on geology, you should also focus on political scienee, or that while you' re learningthe piano, you should also be worki n

11、g on the flute. it is the n ature of specialization,after all, to be specialized.no, the problem withsp ecializati on is that it n arrows your atte nti on to the point where all you know about and all you want to know about, and, in deed, all you can know about, is your sp ecialty.掌握這些技能當然沒有錯，全力以赴成為

12、最優(yōu)秀的人也沒有錯。錯誤之處 在于這個體系遺漏的地方：即任何別的東西。我并不是說因為選擇鉆研數(shù)學，所 以你的語文能力沒得到充分發(fā)展；也不是說除了集中精力學習地質(zhì)學之外，你還 應該研究政治學；也不是說你在學習鋼琴時還應該學吹笛子。畢竟，專業(yè)化的本質(zhì)就是要專業(yè)性。可是，專業(yè)化的問題在于它把你的注意力限制在一個點上，你所已知的和你想探知的東西都限界于此。真的，你能知道的一切就只是你的專業(yè) 了。the Problem with specializationis that it makesyou into a specialist.it cuts you off, not only from every

13、thing else in the world, but also from everyth ing else in yourself, and of course, as college freshme n, your sp ecializatio nis only just beg inning.in the journey toward the successthat you all hope to achieve, you have p leted, by gett ing into sta nford, only the first of many legs. three more

14、years of college, three or four or five years of law school or medical school or a program, then reside ncies or p ostdocs or years as a junior associate. in short, an ever- narrow ingfunnel ofsp ecializatio n.you go from being ap olitical-scie nee major to being a lawyer to being a corpo rate attor

15、 ney to being a corporateattorneyfocusing on taxationissues in thecon sumer- products in dustry. you go from being a biochemistry major to being a doctor to being a cardiologist to being a cardiac surge on who p erforms heart-valve rep laceme nts.專業(yè)化的問題是它讓你成為專家，切斷你與世界上其他任何東西的，不僅 如此，還切斷你與自身其他潛能的。當然，作

16、為大一新生，你的專業(yè)才剛剛開始。 在你走向所渴望的成功之路的過程中，進入斯坦福是你踏上的眾多階梯中的一 個。再讀三年大學，三五年法學院或醫(yī)學院或博士，然后再干若干年住院實習生 或博士后或助理教授。總而言之，進入越來越狹窄的專業(yè)化軌道。你可能從政治 學專業(yè)的學生變成了律師或者公司代理人，再變成專門研究消費品領(lǐng)域的稅收問 題的公司代理人。你從生物化學專業(yè)的學生變成了博士，再變成心臟病學家，再變成專門做心臟瓣膜移植的心臟病醫(yī)生。's justagain, there ' s nothing wrong with being those things. it that, as you

17、get dee per and dee per into the funn el, i nto the tunn el, it bees in creas in gly difficult to remember who you once were. you start to wonder what happened to that person who played piano and lacrosse and sat around with her frie nds hav ing intense conv ersati ons about life and politics and al

18、l the things she was learning in her classes.the19-year-old who could do so many thi ngs, and was in terested in so many things, has bee a 40-year- old who thinks about only one thing. that' swhy older people are so boring.“hey, my dad ' s a smart guy, but all hetalks about is money and live

19、rs.再次，做這些事沒有任何錯。只不過，在你越來越深入地進入這個軌道后， 再記得你最初的樣子就益發(fā)困難了。你開始懷念那個曾經(jīng)談鋼琴和打曲棍球的 人，思考那個曾經(jīng)和朋友熱烈討論人生和政治以及在課堂內(nèi)容的人在做什么。那個活潑能干的19歲年輕人已經(jīng)變成了只想一件事的 40歲中年人。難怪年長的人 這么乏味無趣。“哎，我爸爸曾經(jīng)是非常聰明的人，但他現(xiàn)在除了談論錢和肝臟 外再無其他。”and there ' s ano ther p roblem. maybe you n ever really wan ted to be a cardiac surge on in the first p lac

20、e, it just kind of happen ed. it ' s easy, the way the system works, to simply go with the flow. i don' t mean theyou you do the things that p leased, and maybework is easy, but the choices are easy. or rather, the choices sort of makethemselves. you go to a pl ace like sta nford because tha

21、t ' s what smart kids do. you go to medical school because it ' s prestigious. specializein cardiology because it ' s lucrative.“gett ingreap the rewards, that makeyour parents proud, and your teachers and your friends impressed. from the time you started high school eve n junior high, y

22、our whole goal was to get into the best college you could, and so nowyou naturally think about your life in terms ofinto ” whatever' s n ext.“ gett ing in to ” is validati on;“ gett ing intois victory. stanford, then johns hopkins medical school, then a residency at the university of san francis

23、co, and so forth. or michigan law school, or goldma n sachs, or mc-k in sey, or whatever. you take it one ste p at a time, and the n ext ste p always seems to be in evitable.還有另外一個問題。或許你從來沒有想過當心臟病醫(yī)生，只是碰巧發(fā)生了 而已。隨大流最容易，這就是體制的力量。我不是說這個工作容易，而是說做出 這種選擇很容易。或者，這些根本就不是自己做出的選擇。你來到斯坦福這樣的名牌大學是因為聰明的孩子都這樣。你考入醫(yī)學院

24、是因為它的地位高，人人都羨 慕。你選擇心臟病學是因為當心臟病醫(yī)生的待遇很好。你做那些事能給你帶來好處，讓你的父母感到驕傲，令你的老師感到高興，也讓朋友們羨慕。從你上高中 開始，甚至初中開始，你的唯一目標就是進入最好的大學，所以現(xiàn)在你會很自然地從“進入下個階段”的角度看待人生。“進入”就是能力的證明，“進入”就是勝利。先進入斯坦福，然后是約翰霍普金斯醫(yī)學院，再進入舊金山大學做實習 醫(yī)生等。或者進入密歇根法學院，或高盛集團或麥肯錫公司或別的什么地方。你 邁出了這一步，下一步似乎就必然在等著你。or maybe you did always want to be a cardiac surge on

25、. you dreamed about it from the time you were 10 years old, even though you had no idea what it really meant, and you stayed on course for the en tire time you were in school. you refused to be en ticed from your p ath by that great experienee you had in ap history, or that trip you took to costa ri

26、ca the summer after your junior year in college, or that terrific feeli ng you got tak ing care of kids whe n you did your rotati on in p ediatrics duri ng your fourth year in medical school.也許你確實想當心臟病學家。十歲時就夢想成為醫(yī)生，即使你根本不知道 醫(yī)生意味著什么。你在上學期間全身心都在朝著這個目標前進。你拒絕了上大學預修歷史課時的美妙體驗的誘惑，也無視你在醫(yī)學院第四年的兒科學輪流值班時 照看孩子的

27、可怕感受。is, but what it means sounds like a clich e , a midlifecrisis, andbut either way, either because you went with the flow or because you set your course very early, you wake up one day, maybe 20 years later, and you won der what happen ed: how you got there, what it all means. not what it meansin the “ big picture, ” whatever that to you. why you' re