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Letter from Home
家书
William Zinsser
威廉·津瑟
Now is the edgy time for Yale seniors. In three weeks they will graduate and join the rest of us out here in the real world. It is a place that they are intensely afraid of.
眼下正是耶鲁四年级学生紧张不安的时期。再有三个星期他们就要毕业，投身于外面的现实世界，加入到我们的行列之中。这是一个他们非常害怕的地方。
Not all of them, of course, will take the icy plunge. Quite a few will stay on the academic assembly-line — in law school or medical school or graduate school — to study for three or four years more.
当然，并非所有的人都将投入到这个冰冷的现实世界中来。相当多的人将留在学业装配线上——在法学院、医学院或研究生院——再学习三至四年。
This doesn't mean that they necessarily want to be lawyers or doctors or scholars. Some arecontinuing their education because their parents want them to. Some are doing it just to postpone the day of decision. Some are doing it because lawyers and doctors make a good living. Some are doing it to acquire still another degree to impress a society in which they think credentials are the only currency. Some — the lucky ones — really do want to be lawyers, doctors, scholars or specialists in a field that requires further skill.
这并不意味着他们一定想成为律师、医生或学者。有些人继续他们的学业是因为他们的父母要他们这样做。有些人这样做只是为了推迟作决定的日期。有些人这样做是因为律师和医生可以过上优裕的生活。而有些人这样做只是为了再获得一个学位，好让这个他们认为只认证书的社会刮目相看。还有些人——那些幸运者——的确想成为律师、医生、学者或需要更深造诣的某一领域的专家。
But they all are driven 一 those who are leaving Academia and those who are staying — byone message: Do Not Fail. It is a message that has been echoing in their heads since theywere admitted to the nursery school of their choice,beating less competitive toddlers. Score high,test well, play it safe. Next month's graduates have been so obsessively bent for four years on measurable achievement (grades) and a secure future (jobs) that they have hardly had time to savor the present and to grow as well-rounded people. They know that the outsideworld is wary of experimenters, of late starters and temporary losers.
但是，他们——无论是将要离开学术界的还是将要留下来的——都受着同一信息的驱使：不能失败。从他们击败竞争力较弱、蹒跚学步的儿童，进入精选的幼儿园起，这则信息就一直回响在他们的脑海中。得高分，考得好，稳扎稳打。下个月即将毕业的学生四年来一直沉迷于追求可计量的成就（分数）和一个稳固的前途（工作），以至于几乎没有时间来品味眼前的生活，成长为一个兴趣广泛的人。他们知道外面的世界对喜欢以实验进行探索的人、起步晚的人和暂时的失败者是持提防态度的。
