不要在不斷的優(yōu)秀里走向平庸

瀧川

作者簡介：
　　William Deresiewicz is a contributing writer for The Nation and a contributing editor at The New Republic. His next book, A Jane Austen Education, will be published next year by Penguin Press.
　　威廉·德萊塞維茨（William Deresiewicz）是《國家》雜志撰稿人和《新共和》雜志編輯。他的新書《簡•奧斯汀教育》明年將由企鵝出版社出版�！�
     本文是威廉•德萊塞維茨（William Deresiewicz）在斯坦福大學(xué)的演講，標(biāo)題也叫：勇氣掙脫身上的網(wǎng)。
　　正文：
　　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?
　�。▽W(xué)習(xí)文學(xué)、藝術(shù)或哲學(xué)能有什么用呢？所以你肯定納悶，我為什么在在以科技堡壘而聞名的斯坦福提出這個問題呢？在大學(xué)學(xué)位給人帶來眾多機(jī)會的問題上還有什么可懷疑的嗎？）
　　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.
　　（但那不是我提出的問題。這里 的“做”并不是指工作，“那”并不是指你的專業(yè)。我們不僅僅是要個工作，教育不僅僅是學(xué)一門專業(yè)。教育也不僅僅是上大學(xué)，甚至也不僅是從幼兒園到研究生院 的正規(guī)學(xué)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(xùn)練，那些把你送到這里來的東西，你 在學(xué)校的剩余時間里將要做的任何事。）
　　We should start by talking about how you did, in fact, get here. You got here by getting very good at a certain set of skills. Your parents pushed you to excel from the time you were very young. They sent you to good schools, where the encouragement of your teachers and the example of your peers helped push you even harder. Your natural aptitudes were nurtured so that, in addition to excelling in all your subjects, you developed a number of specific interests that you cultivated with particular vigor. You did extracurricular activities, went to afterschool programs, took private lessons. You spent summers doing advanced courses at a local college or attending skill-specific camps and workshops. 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 once.
　�。ㄎ覀儾环料葋碛懻撃闶侨绾慰既胨固垢５陌�。你能進(jìn)入這所大學(xué)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(xué)校，老師的鼓勵和同伴的榜樣激勵你更努力地學(xué)習(xí)。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(xué)里預(yù)習(xí)大學(xué)課程，或參加專門技能的夏令營或訓(xùn)練營。你學(xué)習(xí)刻苦、精力集中、全力以赴。所以，你在數(shù)學(xué)、鋼琴、曲棍球等 眾多方面都很出色。）
　　Now there's nothing wrong with mastering skills, with wanting to do your best and to be the best. What's wrong is what the system leaves out: which is to say, everything else. I don't mean that by choosing to excel in math, say, you are failing to develop your verbal abilities to their fullest extent, or that in addition to focusing on geology, you should also focus on political science, or that while you're learning the piano, you should also be working on the flute. It is the nature of specialization, after all, to be specialized. No, the problem with specialization is that it narrows your attention to the point where all you know about and all you want to know about, and, indeed, all you can know about, is your specialty.
　　（掌握這些技能當(dāng)然沒有錯，全力以赴成為最優(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?yàn)檫x擇鉆研數(shù)學(xué)，你在充分發(fā)展話語表達(dá)能力的潛力方面就失敗了；也不是說除了集中精力學(xué)習(xí)地質(zhì)學(xué)之外，你還應(yīng)該研究政治學(xué)；也不是說你在學(xué)習(xí)鋼琴時還應(yīng)該學(xué)吹笛子。 畢竟，專業(yè)化的本質(zhì)就是要專業(yè)性�？墒�，專業(yè)化的問題在于它把你的注意力限制在一個點(diǎn)上，即你已經(jīng)知道和想知道的東西。其實(shí)，你能知道的一切就是你的專業(yè)。）
　　The problem with specialization is that it makes you into a specialist. It cuts you off, not only from everything else in the world, but also from everything else in yourself. And of course, as college freshmen, your specialization is only just beginning. In the journey toward the success that you all hope to achieve, you have completed, by getting into Stanford, only the first of many legs. Three more years of college, three or four or five years of law school or medical school or a Ph.D. program, then residencies or postdocs or years as a junior associate. In short, an ever-narrowing funnel of specialization. You go from being a political-science major to being a lawyer to being a corporate attorney focusing on taxation issues in the consumer-products industry. You go from being a biochemistry major to being a doctor to being a cardiologist to being a cardiac surgeon who performs heart-valve replacements.
　�。▽�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聯(lián)系，不僅如此，還切斷你與自身其他潛能的聯(lián)系。當(dāng) 然，作為大一新生，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(jìn)入斯坦福是你踏上的眾多階梯中的一個。再讀三年大學(xué)，三五年法學(xué)院或醫(yī)學(xué)院或博士，然后再干若干年住院實(shí)習(xí)生或博士后或助 理教授。總而言之，進(jìn)入越來越狹窄的專業(yè)化軌道。你可能從政治學(xué)專業(yè)的學(xué)生變成了律師或者公司代理人，再變成專門研究消費(fèi)品領(lǐng)域的稅收問題的公司代理人。 你從生物化學(xué)專業(yè)的學(xué)生變成了博士，再變成心臟病學(xué)家，再變成專門做心臟瓣膜移植的心臟病醫(yī)生。）
　　Again, there's nothing wrong with being those things. It's just that, as you get deeper and deeper into the funnel, into the tunnel, it becomes increasingly 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 friends having intense conversations about life and politics and all the things she was learning in her classes. The 19-year-old who could do so many things, and was interested in so many things, has become a 40-year-old who thinks about only one thing. That's why older people are so boring. "Hey, my dad's a smart guy, but all he talks about is money and livers."
　�。ㄔ俅危�做這些事沒有任何錯。只不過，在你越來越深入地進(jìn)入 這個軌道后，再記得你最初的樣子就變得越來越困難了。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�！鞍�，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 another problem. Maybe you never really wanted to be a cardiac surgeon in the first place. It just kind of happened. It's easy, the way the system works, to simply go with the flow. I don't mean the work is easy, but the choices are easy. Or rather, the choices sort of make themselves. You go to a place like Stanford because that's what smart kids do. You go to medical school because it's prestigious. You specialize in cardiology because it's lucrative. You do the things that reap the rewards, that make your parents proud, and your teachers pleased, and your friends impressed. From the time you started high school and maybe even junior high, your whole goal was to get into the best college you could, and so now you naturally think about your life in terms of "getting into" whatever's next. "Getting into" is validation; "getting into" is victory. Stanford, then Johns Hopkins medical school, then a residency at the University of San Francisco, and so forth. Or Michigan Law School, or Goldman Sachs, or Mc Kinsey, or whatever. You take it one step at a time, and the next step always seems to be inevitable.
　�。� 還有另外一個問題�；蛟S你從來沒有想過當(dāng)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�；蛘撸�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(xué)是因?yàn)槁斆鞯暮⒆佣歼@樣。你考入醫(yī)學(xué)院是因?yàn)樗�的地位高，人人都羨慕。你選擇心臟 病學(xué)是因?yàn)楫?dāng)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(biāo)就是進(jìn)入最好的大學(xué)，所以現(xiàn)在你會很自然地從“進(jìn)入下個階段”的角度看待人生�！斑M(jìn)入”就是能力的證明，“進(jìn)入”就是勝利。先進(jìn)入斯坦 福，然后是約翰霍普金斯醫(yī)學(xué)院，再進(jìn)入舊金山大學(xué)做實(shí)習(xí)醫(yī)生等�；蛘哌M(jìn)入密歇根法學(xué)院，或高盛集團(tuán)（Goldman Sachs）或麥肯錫公司（McKinsey）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 surgeon. 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 entire time you were in school. You refused to be enticed from your path by that great experience you had in AP history, or that trip you took to Costa Rica the summer after your junior year in college, or that terrific feeling you got taking care of kids when you did your rotation in pediatrics during your fourth year in medical school.
　�。ㄒ苍S你確實(shí)想當(dāng)心臟病學(xué)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(xué)期間全身心都在朝著這個目標(biāo)前進(jìn)。你拒絕了上大學(xué)預(yù)修歷史課時的美妙體驗(yàn)的誘惑，也無視你在醫(yī)學(xué)院第四 年的兒科學(xué)輪流值班時照看孩子的可怕感受。）
      But 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 wonder what happened: how you got there, what it all means. Not what it means in the "big picture," whatever that is, but what it means to you. Why you're doing it, what it's all for. It sounds like a cliché, this "waking up one day," but it's called having a midlife crisis, and it happens to people all the time.
　�。ǖ�不管是什么，要么因?yàn)槟汶S大流要么因?yàn)槟阍缇瓦x定了道路，20年后某天醒來，你或許會納悶到底發(fā)生了什么：你 怎么變成現(xiàn)在這個樣子，這一切意味著什么。不是它是什么，不在于它是否“大畫面”而是它對你意味著什么。你為什么做它，到底為了什么。這聽起來像老 生常談，但這個被稱為中年危機(jī)的“有一天醒來”一直就發(fā)生在每個人身上。）
　　There is an alternative, however, and it may be one that hasn't occurred to you. Let me try to explain it by telling you a story about one of your peers, and the alternative that hadn't occurred to her. A couple of years ago, I participated in a panel discussion at Harvard that dealt with some of these same matters, and afterward I was contacted by one of the students who had come to the event, a young woman who was writing her senior thesis about Harvard itself, how it instills in its students what she called self-efficacy, the sense that you can do anything you want. Self-efficacy, or, in more familiar terms, self-esteem. There are some kids, she said, who get an A on a test and say, "I got it because it was easy." And there are other kids, the kind with self-efficacy or self-esteem, who get an A on a test and say, "I got it because I'm smart."
　�。ú贿^，還有另外一種情況，或許中年危機(jī)并不會發(fā)生在你身上。讓我通過告訴你們一個 同伴的故事來解釋我的意思吧，即她沒有遭遇的情況。幾年前，我在哈佛參加了一次小組討論會，談到這些問題。后來參加這次討論的一個學(xué)生給我聯(lián)系，這個哈佛 學(xué)生正在寫有關(guān)哈佛的畢業(yè)論文，討論哈佛是如何給學(xué)生灌輸她所說的“自我效能”（self-efficacy），一種相信自己能做一切的意識。自我效能或 更熟悉的說法‘自我尊重’。她說在考試中得了優(yōu)秀的有些學(xué)生會說“我得優(yōu)秀是因?yàn)樵囶}很簡單�！保�
　　Again, there's nothing wrong with thinking that you got an A because you're smart. But what that Harvard student didn't realize—and it was really quite a shock to her when I suggested it—is that there is a third alternative. True self-esteem, I proposed, means not caring whether you get an A in the first place. True self-esteem means recognizing, despite everything that your upbringing has trained you to believe about yourself, that the grades you get—and the awards, and the test scores, and the trophies, and the acceptance letters—are not what defines who you are.
　�。ǖ�另外一些學(xué)生，那種具有自我效能感或自我尊重的學(xué)生在考 試中得了優(yōu)秀后會說“我得優(yōu)秀是因?yàn)槲衣斆�。�?再次，認(rèn)為得了優(yōu)秀是因?yàn)樽约郝斆鞯南敕ú�沒有任何錯，不過，哈佛學(xué)生沒有認(rèn)識到的是他們沒有第三種選擇。當(dāng)我指出這一點(diǎn)時，她十分震驚。我指出，真正的自尊意味著最初根本就不在乎成績是否優(yōu)秀。真正的自尊意味著承認(rèn)你取得的成績，雖然你在成長過程中的一切都在訓(xùn)練你相信自己，但獎勵、成績、獎品、錄取通 知書等所有這一切都不能來定義你是誰。）
　　She also claimed, this young woman, that Harvard students take their sense of self-efficacy out into the world and become, as she put it, "innovative." But when I asked her what she meant by innovative, the only example she could come up with was "being CEO of a Fortune 500." That's not innovative, I told her, that's just successful, and successful according to a very narrow definition of success. True innovation means using your imagination, exercising the capacity to envision new possibilities.
　�。ㄋ�還說，這個年輕的女孩子說哈佛學(xué)生把他們的自我效能帶到了世界上，如她所說的“創(chuàng)新”（innovative）。 但當(dāng)我問她“創(chuàng)新”意味著什么時，她能夠想到的唯一例子不過是“世界大公司五百強(qiáng)的首席執(zhí)行官�！蔽腋嬖V她這不是創(chuàng)新，這只是成功，而且是根據(jù)非常狹隘的 成功定義而認(rèn)定的成功而已。真正的創(chuàng)新意味著使用你的想象力，發(fā)揮你的潛力，創(chuàng)造新的可能性。）
　　But I'm not here to talk about technological innovation, I'm here to talk about a different kind. It's not about inventing a new machine or a new drug. It's about inventing your own life. Not following a path, but making your own path. The kind of imagination I'm talking about is moral imagination. "Moral" meaning not right or wrong, but having to do with making choices. Moral imagination means the capacity to envision new ways to live your life.
　�。ǖ�這里我并不是在談?wù)摷夹g(shù)創(chuàng)新，不是發(fā)明新機(jī)器或者制造一種 新藥，我談?wù)摰氖橇硗庖环N創(chuàng)新，是創(chuàng)造你自己的生活。不是走現(xiàn)成的道路而是創(chuàng)造一條屬于自己的道路。我談?wù)摰南胂罅κ堑赖孪胂罅��！暗赖隆痹谶@里不是對與 錯，而是與選擇有關(guān)。道德想象力意味著創(chuàng)造自己新生的能力。）
　　It means not just going with the flow. It means not just "getting into" whatever school or program comes next. It means figuring out what you want for yourself, not what your parents want, or your peers want, or your school wants, or your society wants. Originating your own values. Thinking your way toward your own definition of success. Not simply accepting the life that you've been handed. Not simply accepting the choices you've been handed. When you walk into Starbucks, you're offered a choice among a latte and a macchiato and an espresso and a few other things, but you can also make another choice. You can turn around and walk out. When you walk into college, you are offered a choice among law and medicine and investment banking and consulting and a few other things, but again, you can also do something else, something that no one has thought of before.
　　（它意味著不隨波逐流，不是下一步要“進(jìn)入”什么名牌大學(xué)或研究生院。而是要弄清楚自己到底想要 什么，而不是父母、同伴、學(xué)校、或社會想要什么。即確認(rèn)你自己的價值觀，思考邁向自己所定義的成功的道路，而不僅僅是接受別人給你的生活，不僅僅是接受別 人給你的選擇。當(dāng)今走進(jìn)星巴克咖啡館，服務(wù)員可能讓你在牛奶咖啡（latte）、加糖咖啡（macchiato）、特制咖啡（espresso）等幾樣?xùn)| 西之間做出選擇。但你可以做出另外的選擇，你可以轉(zhuǎn)身走出去。當(dāng)你進(jìn)入大學(xué)，人家給你眾多選擇，或法律或醫(yī)學(xué)或投資銀行和咨詢以及其他，但你同樣也可以做 其他事，做從前根本沒有人想過的事。）
　　Let me give you another counterexample. I wrote an essay a couple of years ago that touched on some of these same points. I said, among other things, that kids at places like Yale or Stanford tend to play it safe and go for the conventional rewards. And one of the most common criticisms I got went like this: What about Teach for America? Lots of kids from elite colleges go and do TFA after they graduate, so therefore I was wrong. TFA, TFA—I heard that over and over again. And Teach for America is undoubtedly a very good thing. But to cite TFA in response to my argument is precisely to miss the point, and to miss it in a way that actually confirms what I'm saying. The problem with TFA—or rather, the problem with the way that TFA has become incorporated into the system—is that it's just become another thing to get into.
　　（讓我再舉一個反面的例子。幾年前我寫過一篇涉及同類問題的文章。我說，那些在耶魯和斯坦福這類名校的孩子往往比較謹(jǐn) 慎，去追求一些穩(wěn)妥的獎勵。我得到的最常見的批評是：教育項(xiàng)目“為美國而教”（Teach for America）如何？從名校出來的很多學(xué)生畢業(yè)后很多參與這個教育項(xiàng)目，因此我的觀點(diǎn)是錯誤的。我一再聽到TFA這個術(shù)語。“為美國而教”當(dāng)然是好東 西，但引用這個項(xiàng)目來反駁我的觀點(diǎn)恰恰是不得要領(lǐng)，實(shí)際上正好證明了我想說的東西�！盀槊绹�而教”的問題或者“為美國而教”已 經(jīng)成為體系一部分的問題是它已經(jīng)成為另外一個需要“進(jìn)入”的門檻。）
　　In terms of its content, Teach for America is completely different from Goldman Sachs or McKinsey or Harvard Medical School or Berkeley Law, but in terms of its place within the structure of elite expectations, of elite choices, it is exactly the same. It's prestigious, it's hard to get into, it's something that you and your parents can brag about, it looks good on your résumé, and most important, it represents a clearly marked path. You don't have to make it up yourself, you don't have to do anything but apply and do the work —just like college or law school or McKinsey or whatever. It's the Stanford or Harvard of social engagement. It's another hurdle, another badge. It requires aptitude and diligence, but it does not require a single ounce of moral imagination.
　�。◤钠鋬�(nèi)容來看，“為美國而教”完全不同于高盛或者麥肯錫公司或哈佛醫(yī)學(xué)院或者伯克利法學(xué) 院，但從它在精英期待的體系中的地位來說，完全是一樣的。它享有盛名，很難進(jìn)入，是值得你和父母夸耀的東西，如果寫在簡歷上會很光彩，最重要的是，它代表 了清晰標(biāo)記的道路。你根本不用自己創(chuàng)造，什么都不用做，只需申請然后按要求做就行了，就像上大學(xué)或法學(xué)院或麥肯錫公司或別的什么。它是社會參與方面的斯坦 福或哈佛，是另一個柵欄，另一枚獎?wù)�。該�?xiàng)目需要能力和勤奮，但不需要一丁點(diǎn)兒的道德想象力。）
　　Moral imagination is hard, and it's hard in a completely different way than the hard things you're used to doing. And not only that, it's not enough. If you're going to invent your own life, if you're going to be truly autonomous, you also need courage: moral courage. The courage to act on your values in the face of what everyone's going to say and do to try to make you change your mind. Because they're not going to like it. Morally courageous individuals tend to make the people around them very uncomfortable. They don't fit in with everybody else's ideas about the way the world is supposed to work, and still worse, they make them feel insecure about the choices that they themselves have made—or failed to make. People don't mind being in prison as long as no one else is free. But stage a jailbreak, and everybody else freaks out.
　�。ǖ赖孪胂罅κ抢щy的，這種困難與你已經(jīng)習(xí)慣的困難完全不同。 不僅如此，光有道德想象力還不夠。如果你要創(chuàng)造自己的生活，如果你想成為真正的獨(dú)立思想者，你還需要勇氣：道德勇氣。不管別人說什么，有按自己的價值觀行 動的勇氣，不會因?yàn)閯e人不喜歡而試圖改變自己的想法。具有道德勇氣的個人往往讓周圍的人感到不舒服。他們和其他人對世界的看法格格不入，更糟糕的是，讓別 人對自己已經(jīng)做出的選擇感到不安全或無法做出選擇。只要別人也不享受自由，人們就不在乎自己被關(guān)進(jìn)監(jiān)獄。可一旦有人越獄，其他人都會跟著跑出去。）
　　In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce has Stephen Dedalus famously say, about growing up in Ireland in the late 19th century, "When the soul of a man is born in this country there are nets flung at it to hold it back from flight. You talk to me of nationality, language, religion. I shall try to fly by those nets."
　�。ㄔ凇肚嗄� 藝術(shù)家的肖像》中，詹姆斯•喬伊斯（James Joyce）讓主人公斯蒂芬•迪達(dá)勒斯（Stephen Dedalus）就19世紀(jì)末期的愛爾蘭的成長環(huán)境說出了如下名言“當(dāng)一個人的靈魂誕生在這個國家時，有一張大網(wǎng)把它罩住，防止它飛翔。你會給我談?wù)撁褡?性、語言和宗教。我想沖出這些牢籠�！保�
　　Today there are other nets. One of those nets is a term that I've heard again and again as I've talked with students about these things. That term is "self-indulgent." "Isn't it self-indulgent to try to live the life of the mind when there are so many other things I could be doing with my degree?" "Wouldn't it be self-indulgent to pursue painting after I graduate instead of getting a real job?"
　�。ń裉�，我們面臨的是其他的網(wǎng)。其中之一是我在就這些問題與學(xué)生交流時經(jīng)常聽到的一個術(shù)語“自我放任”�！霸诠プx學(xué)位過程中有這么多事要做的時候，試圖按照 自己的感覺生活難道不是自我放任嗎？”“畢業(yè)后不去找個真正的工作而去畫畫難道不是自我放任嗎？”）
　　These are the kinds of questions that young people find themselves being asked today if they even think about doing something a little bit different. Even worse, the kinds of questions they are made to feel compelled to ask themselves. Many students have spoken to me, as they navigated their senior years, about the pressure they felt from their peers—from their peers—to justify a creative or intellectual life. You're made to feel like you're crazy: crazy to forsake the sure thing, crazy to think it could work, crazy to imagine that you even have a right to try.
　�。ㄟ@些是年輕人只要思考一下稍稍出格的事就不由自主地質(zhì)問自己的問題。更糟糕的是，他們覺得提出這些問題是理所應(yīng)當(dāng)?shù)摹ＴS多學(xué)生在畢業(yè)前夕的未來探索中跟我 說，他們感受到來自同伴那里的壓力，需要為創(chuàng)造性的生活或思想生活辯護(hù)。好像自己已經(jīng)走火入魔了似的：拋棄確定無疑的東西是瘋了，認(rèn)為思想生活可行是瘋 了，想象你有權(quán)嘗試是瘋了。）
　　Think of what we've come to. It is one of the great testaments to the intellectual—and moral, and spiritual—poverty of American society that it makes its most intelligent young people feel like they're being self-indulgent if they pursue their curiosity. You are all told that you're supposed to go to college, but you're also told that you're being "self-indulgent" if you actually want to get an education. Or even worse, give yourself one. As opposed to what? Going into consulting isn't self-indulgent? Going into finance isn't self-indulgent? Going into law, like most of the people who do, in order to make yourself rich, isn't self-indulgent? It's not OK to play music, or write essays, because what good does that really do anyone, but it is OK to work for a hedge fund. It's selfish to pursue your passion, unless it's also going to make you a lot of money, in which case it's not selfish at all.
　�。ㄏ胂笪覀儸F(xiàn)在面臨的局面。這是美國社會的貧困---思想、道德和精神貧困的最明顯癥狀，美 國最聰明的年輕人竟然認(rèn)為聽從自己的 好奇心行動就是自我放任。你們得到的教導(dǎo)是應(yīng)該上大學(xué)，但你們同時也被告知如果真的想得到教育，那就是“自我放任”。如果你自我教育的話，更糟糕。這是什 么道理？進(jìn)入證券咨詢業(yè)是不是自我放任？進(jìn)入金融業(yè)是不是自我放任？像許多人那樣進(jìn)入律師界發(fā)財是不是自我放任？搞音樂，寫文章就不行，因?yàn)樗�不能給人帶 來利益。但為風(fēng)險投資公司工作就可以。追求自己的理想和激情是自私的，除非它能讓你賺很多錢。那樣的話，就一點(diǎn)兒也不自私了。）
　　Do you see how absurd this is? But these are the nets that are flung at you, and this is what I mean by the need for courage. And it's a never-ending proc ess. At that Harvard event two years ago, one person said, about my assertion that college students needed to keep rethinking the decisions they've made about their lives, "We already made our decisions, back in middle school, when we decided to be the kind of high achievers who get into Harvard." And I thought, who wants to live with the decisions that they made when they were 12? Let me put that another way. Who wants to let a 12-year-old decide what they're going to do for the rest of their lives? Or a 19-year-old, for that matter?
　�。�你看到這些觀點(diǎn)是多么荒謬了 嗎？這就是罩在你們身上的網(wǎng)，就是我說的需要勇氣的意思。這是永不停息的過程。在兩年前的哈佛事件中，有個學(xué)生談到我說的大學(xué)生需要重新思考人生決定的觀 點(diǎn)，他說“我們已經(jīng)做出了決定，我們早在中學(xué)時就已經(jīng)決定成為能夠進(jìn)入哈佛的高材生�！蔽以谙�，誰會打算按照他在12歲時做出的決定生活呢？
讓我換一種說法，誰愿意讓一個12歲的孩子 決定他們未來一輩子要做什么呢？在此問題上，誰又愿意讓19歲的孩子做決定呢？）
　　All you can decide is what you think now, and you need to be prepared to keep making revisions. Because let me be clear. I'm not trying to persuade you all to become writers or musicians. Being a doctor or a lawyer, a scientist or an engineer or an economist—these are all valid and admirable choices. All I'm saying is that you need to think about it, and think about it hard. All I'm asking is that you make your choices for the right reasons. All I'm urging is that you recognize and embrace your moral freedom.
　�。�你能做出的決定是你現(xiàn)在想什么，你需要準(zhǔn)備好不斷修改自己的決定。讓我說得 更明白一些。我不是在試圖說服你們都成為音樂家或者作家。成為醫(yī)生、律師、科學(xué)家、工程師或者經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家沒有什么不好，這些都是可靠的、可敬的選擇。我想說 的是你需要思考它，認(rèn)真地思考。我請求你們做的是根據(jù)正確的原因做出你的選擇。我在敦促你們的是認(rèn)識到你的道德自由并熱情擁抱它。）
　　And most of all, don't play it safe. Resist the seductions of the cowardly values our society has come to prize so highly: comfort, convenience, security, predictability, control. These, too, are nets. Above all, resist the fear of failure. Yes, you will make mistakes. But they will be your mistakes, not someone else's. And you will survive them, and you will know yourself better for having made them, and you will be a fuller and a stronger person.
　�。ㄗ钪匾�的是，不要過分謹(jǐn) 慎。抗拒我們社會給予最高獎勵的那些懦弱的價值觀的誘惑：舒服、方便、安全、可預(yù)測性、可控制性。這些也都是網(wǎng)。最重要的是，抗拒失敗的恐懼。是的，你可 能犯錯誤，但它們是你的錯誤，不是別人的。你將從錯誤中幸存下來，將會因?yàn)檫@些錯誤對自己有更好的認(rèn)識。你將因此成為更完整和更強(qiáng)大的人。）
　　It's been said—and I'm not sure I agree with this, but it's an idea that's worth taking seriously—that you guys belong to a "postemotional" generation. That you prefer to avoid messy and turbulent and powerful feelings. But I say, don't shy away from the challenging parts of yourself. Don't deny the desires and curiosities, the doubts and dissatisfactions, the joy and the darkness, that might knock you off the path that you have set for yourself. College is just beginning for you, adulthood is just beginning. Open yourself to the possibilities they represent. The world is much larger than you can imagine right now. Which means, you are much larger than you can imagine.
　�。ㄈ藗兂Ｕf你們年 輕人屬于“后情感”一代，我不敢肯定我贊同這個說法，但這是值得認(rèn)真考慮的一個觀點(diǎn)。你們更愿意避免混亂、動蕩和強(qiáng)烈的感情，但我想說，不要回避挑戰(zhàn)自 我，不要否認(rèn)欲望和好奇心、懷疑和不滿、快樂和郁悶，它們可能把你從事先設(shè)定的人生道路上打倒。大學(xué)不過是人生的開始，成年時代才剛剛開始。張開雙臂去迎 接成年生活的各種可能性吧。這個世界比你現(xiàn)在能夠想象的情況廣大得多。這意味著你比你能想象的情況大得多。）

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