思如泉涌

　　As a man’s heart is, so does he speak. 言為心聲。

　　A great talker is a great liar. 最會饒舌的人也是最會說謊的人。

　　很多人都認為那些身處象牙塔的大學生們過得很安逸，其實不然。他們每天也要面臨著很多壓力：高額學費帶來的經濟壓力，父母要求過高所帶來的精神壓力…

　　College Pressure

　　I see two kinds of pressure working on college students today: economic pressure, parental pressure. It is easy to look around for rebels — to blame the colleges for charging too much money, the parents for pushing them too far. But there are no rebels, only victims.

　　The pressure is heavy on students who just want to graduate and get a job. If I were an employer I would rather employ graduates who have this range and curiosity than those who narrowly pursued safe subjects and high grades. I know incalculable students whose inquiring minds cheer me. I like to hear the play of their ideas. I don’t know if they are getting A or C, and I don’t care. I also like them as people. The country needs them, and they will find satisfying jobs. I tell them to relax, but they can’t.

　　Nor can I blame them. They live in a brutal economy. Today it is not unusual for a student, even if he works part time at college and full time during the summer, to increase to 5, 000 in loans after graduation.Encouraged at commencement to go forth into the world, he is already behind as he goes forth. How could he not feel under pressure throughout college to prepare for this day of reckoning①?

　　Along with economic pressure goes parental pressure. Inevitably, the two are deeply integrated.

　　Poor students! They are caught in one of the oldest webs of love and duty and guilt. The parents mean well: they are trying to steer their sons and daughters toward a secure future. But the sons and daughters want to major in history or classics or philosophy—subjects with no “practical” value. Where’s the payoff on the humanities? It’s not easy to persuade such loving parents that the humanities do indeed pay off. The intellectual faculties developed by studying subjects like history and classics are just the faculties that make creative leaders in business or almost any general field.

　　Luckily for me, most of them got into their field by an indirect route, to their surprise, after many roundabout ways. They can hardly conceive of a career that was not preplanned. They can hardly imagine allowing the hand of God or chance to nudge them down some unforeseen trail.

　　[391 words]

　　行文點評

　　本文脈絡清晰。第一段第一句直接點題，提出大學生面臨的兩種壓力：economic pressure和 parental pressure。段末“victims”一詞的運用，奠定了本文的感情基調：作者對大學生擔負的壓力感到同情。

　　第二段和第三段中分析了大學生在經濟上面臨壓力的原因。第四段是過渡段。第五段闡述了父母的壓力對大學生的影響，用一個感嘆句開頭，具有烘托感情的效果,充分表達了作者對大學生的同情。最后一段排比句的應用從相反的方面描述，更把大學生所遭受的壓力凸顯出來。

　　好文妙譯

　　大學生的壓力

　　我發覺今天的大學生有兩種壓力：經濟壓力和來自父母的壓力。環顧四周，你很容易發現一些叛逆者，他們指責學校收費太高，報怨父母對他們的要求過高。但他們不是叛逆者，而是受害者。

　　對于那些只想從大學畢業并且找到一個工作的人來說，壓力是很大的。如果我是雇主，我寧愿雇傭那些有好奇心的博學之才而不是那些只選一些容易過的且能達高分的課程的學生。我認識無數學生，他們的好奇之心使我興奮不已。我喜歡聽他們闡述自己的觀點。我不知道他們得的是A還是C，我不在乎這些。我也同樣喜歡他們所散發出來的人性魅力。國家需要他們，他們也會找到自己滿意的工作。我告訴他們要放松，但他們做不到。

　　但我也不能責怪他們，因為他們生活在殘酷的經濟時代。今天對一個學生來說，即使他在念書時兼職打工，在暑假全職工作，在畢業后欠下5000美元的債務也是很平常的。在畢業典禮上他們被告知即將踏入社會，而事實上，在踏入社會之際他已落后于他人了。為了面對這個清算日，他們在大學生活中怎會感受不到壓力呢?

　　與經濟壓力同時存在的還有來自父母的壓力，這兩者不可避免地融合在一起。

　　可憐的學生們!他們被古老的愛、責任、負疚感所包圍。父母們本意是好的,他們正把自己的兒女引向一個安全的未來。但這些孩子卻想主修歷史、古典文學、哲學這些沒有“現實”價值的專業。學人文科學的報償在何處呢?要說服父母相信人文科學有所報償并不容易。由學習歷史和古典文學所培養出來的能力正是商業及其他一般領域有創造力的領導人所必備的能力。

　　幸運的是，許多學生幾經曲折終于到達他們自己的領域，對此他們感到吃驚。因為他們很難想象可以從事一項未經事先計劃的事業，很難想象上帝之手或者機緣能把他們推到未曾預見到的人生軌道上來。

　　詞匯斟酌

　　��rebel n.反叛分子，反對者

　　��victim n.犧牲品，受害者

　　��curiosity n.好奇(心)

　　��brutala.殘忍的,無情的，冷酷的

　　��commencement n.①開始②畢業典禮，學位授予典禮

　　��reckoning n.結算，清算

　　��inevitably ad.不可避免地

　　��steer vt.引導

　　��faculty n.能力，技能，天賦

　　��roundabout a.繞道的，繞圈子的

　　��conceive vi.(of)構想出，設想

　　��nudge vt.用肘輕推，推進

　　佳句臨摹

　　①【注釋】a day of reckoning 得到懲罰的日子

　　【臨摹】You’re enjoying yourself now, but a day of reckoning will come.別看你現在逍遙，將來會遭報應的。

　　思如泉涌

　　No sweet without sweat. 先苦后甜。

　　Pain past is pleasure. 過去的痛苦就是快樂。

　　我們或許不能像偉人那樣超凡脫俗，但可以時時借助幽默來使自己開心，使自己超脫塵世的種種煩惱。漫畫就是這樣的一種幽默形式。