Unlike the other six winners, I didn't let my award status become general knowledge.
我没像那6个男生一样将自己的荣誉大肆炫耀,
I told only my closest friend, Stephen Paul, and knew he would keep my secret.
我只告诉了自己最亲密的朋友斯蒂芬·保罗,我知道他会好好地为我保密。
On the surface, this decision might have worked against me, since grades at Harvard Business School are based 50 percent on class participation.
表面上看,这个决定可能会对我不利,因为哈佛商学院的成绩有50%基于课堂参与度。
Professors teach ninety-minute classes and are not allowed to write anything down, so they have to rely on their memory of class discussion.
教授们上课的时间是90分钟,而且不允许学生做任何书面记录,所以关于课堂讨论的内容,他们只能凭借自己的记忆。
When a student makes a comment that others refer to—"If I can build on what Tom said ..."
当一个学生的评论被其他学生引用时,
that helps the professor remember the critical points and who made them.
这就会帮助教授回忆起讨论的要点。
Just as in real life, performance is highly dependent upon the reaction people have to one another.
和现实生活一样,一个人的表现极大地依赖于人们彼此间的互动。
The other six Ford Scholars quickly became the most-quoted speakers as their academic standing gave them instant credibility.
其他6位福特学者很快就成为论述被引用次数最多的发言者,因为学术荣誉立刻给他们带来了说服力;
They also received early job offers from prestigious employers before the official recruiting period even began.
他们甚至在官方的校园招聘期开始之前,就提前获得了令人羡慕的工作机会。
One day in class, one of the exalted six made a comment that, to my mind, demonstrated that he had not even read the case being discussed.
有一天在课堂上,备受尊崇的6位“学者”之一发表了一番评论,在我看来这证明了他甚至都没读过讨论中的案例。
Everyone fawned all over him.
但是,所有人都对他大加奉承。
I wondered if I was making a huge mistake not letting people know that I was the seventh student.
我很想弄清楚,不让大家知道我是第7个获奖者是不是犯了一个很大的错误,
It would have been nice to float through my second year of business school without even reading the material.
毕竟不预读讨论材料就能一路轻松地完成第二年的学业也挺不错的。
But I never really considered going public.
但我从未真正考虑过把这件事公开,
I instinctively knew that letting my academic performance become known was a bad idea.
我的直觉认为把学术成就公开不是个好主意。