Catching crabs

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1?In the fall of our final year, our mood changed.The relaxed atmosphere of the?preceding?summer?semester, the?impromptu?ball games, the?boatingon the?Charles River, the late-night parties had disappeared, and we all started to get our heads down, studying late, and?attendance?at classes rose?steeply?again.?We all sensed we were coming to the end of our stay here, that we would never get a chance like this again, and we became determined not to waste it.?Most important of course were the final exams in April and May in the following year.?No one wanted the?humiliationof finishing last in class, so the peer group pressure to work hard was strong.?Libraries which were once empty after five o'clock in the afternoon were standing room only until the early hours of the morning, and guys wore the bags under their eyes and their pale, sleepy faces with pride, like medals proving their?diligence.

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2?But there was something else.?At the back of everyone's mind?was what we would do next, when we left university in a few months' time.?It wasn't always the high-flyers?with the top grades who knew what they were going to do. Quite often it was the quieter, less impressive students who had the next stages of their life?mapped out.?One had landed a job in his brother's advertising firm in?Madison Avenue, another had got a?script?under?provisional?acceptance?in?Hollywood.?The most?ambitious?student among us was going to work as a party?activist?at a local level. We all saw him?ending up?in?congress?one day.?But most people?were either looking to continue their studies, or to make a living with a white-collar job in a bank, local government, or anything which would pay them enough to have a comfortable time in their early twenties, and then?settle down?with a family, a?mortgage?and some hope of?promotion.

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3?I went home at?Thanksgiving, and?inevitably, my brothers and sisters kept asking me what I was planning to do. I didn't know what to say.?Actually, I did know what to say, but I thought they'd probably?criticize?me, so I told them what everyone else was thinking of doing.

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4?My father was watching me but saying nothing.Late in the evening, he invited me to his study.?We sat down and he poured us a drink.

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5?"So?" he said.

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6?"Er ... so what?"

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7?"So what do you really want to do?" he asked.

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8?My father was a lawyer, and I had always assumed he wanted me to go to law school, and follow his path through life. So I hesitated.

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9?Then I replied, "I want to travel, and I want to be a writer."

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10?This was not the answer I thought he would expect. Travel? Where? A writer? About what??I?braced?myself for some?resistance?to the idea.

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11?There was a long silence.

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12?"Interesting idea," he said finally.

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13?There was another long silence.

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14?"I kind of wish I'd done that when I was your age."

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15?I waited.

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16?"You have plenty of time. You don't need to go into a career which pays well just at the moment. You need to find out what you really enjoy now, because if you don't, you won't be successful later."

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17?"So how do I do this?"

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18?He thought for a moment.?Then he said, "Look, it's late. Let's take the boat out tomorrow morning, just you and me. Maybe we can catch some crabs for dinner, and we can talk more."

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19?It was a Small motorboat,?moored?ten minutes away, and my father had owned it for years.?Early next morning we set off along the?estuary. We didn't talk much, but enjoyed the sound of the seagulls and the sight of the estuary?coastline?and the sea beyond.

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20?There was no?surf?on the?coastal?waters at that time of day, so it was a Smooth half-hour ride until my father switched off the motor.?"Let's see if we get lucky," he said, picked up a?rusty?mesh?basket with a rope attached and threw it into the sea.

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21?We waited a while, then my father stood up and said, "Give me a hand with this," and we?hauled upthe crab cage onto the?deck.

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22?Crabs fascinated me. They were so easy to catch.?It wasn't just that they crawled into such an obvious trap, through a Small hole in the lid of the basket, but it seemed as if they couldn't be bothered to crawl out again even when you took the lid off. They just sat there, waving their claws at you.

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23?The cage was?brimming?with dozens of soft shell crabs, piled high on top of each other.?"Why don't they try to escape?"?I wondered aloud to my father.

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24?"Just watch them for a moment. Look at that one, there! He's trying to climb out, but every time the other crabs pull him back in," said my father.

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25?And we watched.?The crab climbed up the mesh towards the lid, and sure enough, just as it reached the top, one of its fellow crabs reached out,?clamped?its claw onto any available leg, and pulled it back.?Several times the crab tried to?defyhis fellow?captives, without luck.

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26?"Now watch!" said my father.?"He's starting to get bored with this game."

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27?Not only did the crab give up its lengthy struggle to escape, but it actually began to help stop other crabs trying to escape.?He'd finally chosen an easy way of life.

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28?Suddenly I understood why my father had suggested catching crabs that morning.?He looked at me. "Don't get pulled back by the others," he said. "Spend some time figuring out who you are and what you want in life. Look back at the classes you're taking, and think about which ones were most?productive?for you personally. Then think about what's really important to you, what really interests you, what skills you have. Try to?figure out?where you want to live, where you want to go, what you want to earn, how you want to work. And if you can't answer these questions now, then take some time to find out. Because if you don't, you'll never be happy."

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29?He paused.

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30?"So you want to travel?" he asked.

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31?"Yes," I replied.

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32?"Better get you a passport. And you want to be a writer?"

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33?"I think so."

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34?"Interesting choice. We've never had a writer in the family," he said.

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35?My father started the motor and we set off back home.

抓螃蟹

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1?大學最后一年的秋天，我們的心情變了。?剛剛過去的夏季學期的輕松氛圍、即興球賽、查爾斯河上的泛舟以及深夜晚會都不見了蹤影，我們開始埋頭學習，苦讀到深夜，課堂出勤率再次急劇上升。?我們都覺得在校時間不多了，以后再也不會有這樣的學習機會了，所以都下定決心不再虛度光陰。?當然，下一年四五月份的期末考試最為重要。?我們誰都不想考全班倒數(shù)第一，那也太丟人了，因此同學們之間的競爭壓力特別大。?以前每天下午五點以后，圖書館就空無一人了，現(xiàn)在卻要等到天快亮時才會有空座，大家熬夜熬出了眼袋，臉色蒼白，睡眼惺忪，卻很自豪，好像這些都是表彰他們勤奮好學的獎章。

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2?還有別的事情讓大家心情焦慮。?每個人都在心里盤算著過幾個月畢業(yè)離校之后該找份什么樣的工作。?并不總是那些心懷抱負、成績拔尖的高材生才清楚自己將來要做什么，常常是那些平日里默默無聞的同學早早為自己人生的下幾個階段做好了規(guī)劃。?有位同學在位于麥迪遜大道他哥哥的廣告公司得到了一份工作，另一位同學寫的電影腳本已經(jīng)與好萊塢草簽了合約。?我們當中野心最大的一位同學準備到地方上當一個政黨活動家，我們都預料他最終會當上國會議員。?但大多數(shù)同學不是準備繼續(xù)深造，就是想在銀行、地方政府或其他單位當個白領，薪水足夠多，讓他們得以在二十出頭的時候過上舒適的生活，然后就娶妻生子，貸款買房，期望升職，過安穩(wěn)日子。

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3?感恩節(jié)的時候我回了一趟家，兄弟姐妹們免不了不停地問我畢業(yè)后有什么打算，我不知道該說什么。?實際上，我知道該說什么，但我怕他們批評我，所以只對他們說了別人都準備干什么。

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4?父親看著我，什么也沒說。?夜深時，他叫我去他的書房。?我們坐了下來，他給我們倆各倒了杯飲料。

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5?“怎么樣？”他問。

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6?“啊，什么怎么樣？”

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7?“你畢業(yè)后到底想做什么？” 他問道。

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8?父親是一名律師，我一直都認為他想讓我去法學院深造，追隨他的人生足跡，所以我有點兒猶豫。

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9?過了會兒我回答說：“我想旅行，我想當個作家。”

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10?我想這不是他所期待的答案。旅行？去哪兒旅行？當作家？寫什么呀？?我做好了遭到他反對的心理準備。

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11?接著是一段長長的沉默。

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12?“這想法有點意思，”他最后說。

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13?接著又是一段長長的沉默。

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14?“我有點希望自己在你這個年紀時能做這些事兒。”

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15?我在等他把話說完。

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16?“你還有很多時間，不必急于進入一個暫時報酬高的行業(yè)。你現(xiàn)在要搞清楚自己真正喜歡什么，如果你弄不清楚，以后就不可能成功?！?/p>

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17?“那我該怎么辦？”

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18?他想了一會兒。?然后他說道：“瞧，現(xiàn)在太晚了。我們明天早晨乘船出海去，就我們兩個。也許我們能抓點螃蟹當晚餐，我們還可以再談談?！?/p>

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19?那是一艘小小的機動船，停泊在離我們家約十分鐘路程的地方，是好些年前父親買的。?次日清晨，我們沿著港灣出發(fā)，一路上沒說多少話，只是默默地欣賞著海鷗的叫聲，還有港灣沿岸和遠處大海的景色。

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20?在這個時候沿海水域沒什么風浪，船平穩(wěn)地航行了半個小時之后父親把船停了下來。?他說：“咱們在這兒試試運氣吧，”然后抓起一個系上繩子的生了銹的網(wǎng)狀簍子拋到海里。

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21?我們等了一會兒，父親站起來對我說：“來幫我一把?！庇谑俏覀円黄饘⑿泛t子拽上了甲板。

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22?螃蟹吸引了我，它們太容易抓了。?不僅僅是因為它們順著簍蓋上的小孔爬進一個再明顯不過的陷阱，更因為即便蓋子打開了，它們似乎也懶得從里面爬出來，只會趴在那兒沖你揮動著蟹鉗。

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23?簍子里擠滿了幾十只軟殼螃蟹，一只壓著一只，堆得老高。?“它們?yōu)槭裁床惶幼甙?？?我滿腹狐疑地問父親。

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24?“你先觀察一下，看那只螃蟹，那兒！它想爬出去，但每次都被同伴拽了回去，”父親說。

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25?我們接著觀察。?那只螃蟹順著網(wǎng)眼向頂蓋攀援，每當它爬到頂蓋時，果然就會有另一只螃蟹舉起蟹鉗夾住它能夠著的腿把這只螃蟹拽下來。?這只螃蟹嘗試了好幾次想掙脫它的獄中同伴，但都沒能成功。

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26?“快看！”父親說。?“它開始對這種游戲感到不耐煩了?！?/p>

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27?這只螃蟹不僅放棄了漫長的逃亡之戰(zhàn)，而且還幫著把其他想逃跑的螃蟹拽下來。?它最終選擇了一種輕松的活法。

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28?我忽然明白了父親為什么提議早上來抓螃蟹。?他看著我說：“你可別被別人拽下來?；c時間想想你是哪一類人，你這一生希望得到什么，回顧一下你在大學修的課程，想想有哪些課對你個人來說最有益。然后再想想什么對你最重要，什么最使你感興趣，你有什么技能。琢磨一下你想在哪里生活，你想去哪里，想掙多少錢，想做什么樣的工作。如果你現(xiàn)在不能回答這些問題，你就得花點時間去找出答案。你不這樣做的話，永遠都不會幸福的?！?/p>

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29?他停頓了一下。

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30?“你想去旅行？”他接著問我。

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31?“對，”我回答說。

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32?“那就去申請護照吧。你想當作家？”

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33?“對。”

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34?“有趣的選擇，我們家還沒出過作家呢，”他說。

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35?父親發(fā)動了馬達，我們返航回家。

We are all dying

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1?I have some good news and some bad news for you (as the joke goes).?The bad news – and I'm very sorry to be the?bearer?– is that we are all dying.?It's true. I've?checked it out. In fact, I've double- and?triple-checked it.?I've had it?substantiated?and, well, there's no easy way to say it, we are dying.?It's something that I always kind of knew, but never really chose to think about too much.?But the fact is, within the next 70 or 80 years – depending on how old you are and how long you last – we are all going to be either?coffindwellers?or?trampled?ash in the rose garden of some local?cemetery.?We may not even last that long.?After all, we never quite know when the?hooded,?scythe-carrying, bringer-of-the-last-breath might come a-calling. It could be sooner than we'd like.?I have watched death from the?sidelines, quite recently in fact, and nothing underlines the?uncertainty?and absolute?frailty?of humanity like the?untimely?exit of a friend.

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2?Scary.

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3?Now that I have depressed you, here's the good news. Knowing that we are all?budding?crypt-kickers?takes away all the uncertainty of life.?We already know how the story ends. The?prologueand?epilogue?are already?typed in. All that's left is the middle bit and?that's down to us.?We get to choose?the meat of?the story.

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4?So, all those plans that you have?on the back burner, you know, the great things you're going to do with your life "when the time is right"??Well, the time is never quite right, I find.?It needs to be brought forward and done now, this minute,?pronto, in a hurry, as quick as your little legs will carry you.?The novel that you want to write, the trip to the?Grand Canyon?you've always planned to take, your mind's-eye dream job, the?West Endplay you want to direct – you have to do them now.We're dying, see.?It's official.

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5?So putting your dreams on the back burner until the circumstances are right means that they'll probably never be realized.?Our only regrets in life are the things we don't do. We owe it to ourselves to go out and do them now before it's too late.Tomorrow??It's all a lie; there isn't a tomorrow. There's only a?promissory note?that we?are often not in a position to cash.?It doesn't even exist.When you wake up in the morning it'll be today again and all the same rules will apply.?Tomorrow is just another version of now, an empty field that will remain so unless we start planting some seeds.?Your time, which is ticking away as we speak (at about 60 seconds a minute?chronologically; a bit faster if you don't?invest?your time?wisely), will be gone and you'll have nothing to show for it but regret and a?rear-view mirror?full of "could haves", "should haves" and "would haves".

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6?Have you ever noticed when you go to a?buffetrestaurant how they give you a bowl the size of a saucer and then say, "Have as much salad as you like but you can only go up once"??Life is like that Small salad bowl. Like the hungry people waiting for their main course, we can?cram?as much into that tiny bowl as we can carry.?I love watching people?ingeniously?stack the?cucumber?around the side of the bowl – like they're filling a?skip?– and then cramming it so high that they have to hire a?forklift truck?to get it back to the table.?They're not greedy. They just know that they only?have one shot at it.

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7?Fill your bowl. We come this way but once so let's?make the best of the short stay. Like the once-a-year holiday to?Florida?or?Spain.?Fit as much into the short time there as you can.?Make sure that you go back home?knackered?because you got so much done.

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8?If you don't want to be a postman then don't be a postman. Give it up and be a painter, a writer, a?tobogganist, whatever.?Just don't be something that you?patently?do not want to be.

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9?And now is the time, not tomorrow.?There is no time like the present.?If you can't have what you want this very second the least you can do is start the journey now, this minute, while the?inspirationis high.?We all have the same amount of minutes, we all get the same 24 hours as?Branson?and Gates.?It's just what we do with our time, how we invest it, that determines where our lives may lead.

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10?So what I'm thinking is (and this is not?molecularscience) if we are dying and our?allotted?time is?finite, why the hell aren't we doing all the things we want to do NOW??What's all this?back-burnerstuff??And why are we all waiting for the right time when we already know that the right time isn't going to show??The right time is the cheque that's?permanently?in the post, it never arrives.?It's the girl who keeps us standing at the corner of the?Co-op?looking like a?spanner.?No amount of clock watching will change the?inevitable. She's?stood us up.

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11?We wait; the right time never arrives.

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12?So I say stop waiting and meet?providencehalfway.?Start filling your life with the riches on offer so that when?the Reaper?arrives, you'll have achieved so much, crammed your time so full that he'll fall asleep waiting for your life to flash before your eyes.

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13?Act now or your time will?elapse?and you'll end up as a?sepia-coloured relative that no one can put a name to in a dusty photo album.

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14?Better to leave a?biography?as thick as a whale?omelette?than an?epitaph:

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15?"Joe Smith?... hmm. He didn't do much, did he?"

我們都在走向死亡

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1?我給你帶來一條好消息，還有一條壞消息（正如笑話所說的）。?壞消息是：我們都在走向死亡——很抱歉是我?guī)砹诉@條壞消息。?這可是真的，我已經(jīng)核實過了，事實上我已經(jīng)三番五次地核實過了。我也找到了證據(jù)，可是要說出這個事實實在是不容易，不過我們的確都在走向死亡。?這件事我過去多少知道一點，但不愿過多地去想它。?但事實是，再過70年或80年——這要取決于你現(xiàn)在年齡有多大，壽命有多長——我們都會躺到棺材里，或者變成某個地方公墓玫瑰園里任人踩踏的骨灰。?我們甚至活不到這么老。?畢竟，我們從來就不清楚那位戴著頭巾、手持長柄鐮刀、命人吐出最后一口氣的死神什么時候會來拜訪我們，有可能會比我們希望的要早。?其實我最近就曾經(jīng)從局外人的角度觀察過死亡，沒有什么比朋友的早逝更能表明人生的無常和生命的脆弱了。

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2?真可怕。

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3?我已經(jīng)讓你夠沮喪的了，現(xiàn)在告訴你那條好消息吧：知道了我們都在走向墳墓，我們就不再有人生無常的感覺了。?我們已經(jīng)知道故事的結(jié)局，開場白和尾聲都確定了，剩下的就是介于兩者之間的那些事兒了，這些事是我們做得了主的。?我們必須挑選故事情節(jié)。

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4?所以，那些被你擱置在一邊的計劃，即那些“當時機成熟時”你會用生命來完成的偉大事業(yè)怎么辦呢？可我發(fā)現(xiàn)時機永遠不會有成熟的時候。?時間必須提前，必須馬上行動，就在這一刻，不能拖延，必須趕緊，而且越快越好，只要你的小腿能夠承受。?不管是你想寫的小說，還是你一直在籌劃的去大峽谷的旅行，你心儀的工作，你想導演的倫敦西區(qū)話劇，你都必須現(xiàn)在就去做。?知道嗎？我們都在走向死亡。?這是已經(jīng)定了的。

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5?因此，把自己的夢想擱置起來，等到時機成熟之后才開始實現(xiàn)它，這就意味著夢想可能永遠都不會實現(xiàn)。?人生的遺憾莫過于還有事情沒有做，我們有必要現(xiàn)在就去做這些事，不然就晚了。?明天行嗎？明天只是個謊言；根本就沒有什么明天，只有一張我們常常無法兌現(xiàn)的期票。?明天甚至壓根兒就不存在。?你早上醒來時又是另一個今天了，同樣的規(guī)則又可以全部套用。?明天只是現(xiàn)在的另一種說法，是一塊空地，除非我們開始在那里播種，否則它永遠都是空地。?你的時間會流逝（時間就在我們說話的當下嘀嗒嘀嗒地走著，每分鐘順時針走60秒，如果你不能很好地利用它，它會走得更快些），而你沒有取得任何成就來證明它的存在，唯獨留下遺憾，留下一面后視鏡，上面寫滿了“本可以做”、“本應該做”、“本來會做”的事情。

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6?你是否注意過，自助餐館里服務員會給你一個茶杯碟大小的碗，并告訴你：“你想盛多少沙拉都可以，但只能盛一次”？?生活就像那只盛沙拉的碗，我們可以和那些饑腸轆轆等著主菜的人一樣在那只小碗里裝上盡可能多的沙拉。?我喜歡看人們巧妙地把黃瓜片插在沙拉碗的四周——就像往廢料桶里堆東西那樣——把沙拉堆得老高老高，最后不得不雇個叉車把沙拉拉回餐桌。?他們不是貪婪，而是明白自己只有一次機會。

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7?把你的碗盛滿吧，我們在這個世上只走一遭，既然來了就好好利用這短暫的一生，就像我們牢牢抓住一年一度去佛羅里達或西班牙度假的機會那樣。在短暫的人生中填入盡可能多的內(nèi)容吧。?確保每天回家后你都會因為干了很多事而感到精疲力盡。

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8?如果你不想當郵遞員就別當郵遞員，放棄這份工作去當個畫家、作家、滑雪運動員，干什么都行。千萬不要干自己明明就不喜歡的事情。

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9?現(xiàn)在就開始行動吧，不要等到明天。?沒有比現(xiàn)在更好的時間了。?如果在這一刻你不能得到你想得到的東西，你至少可以趁靈感還在的時候馬上開始你的旅程，即刻起程。?我們有同樣多的時間，我們和布蘭森以及蓋茨一樣，每天都有24個小時。?決定我們這一生成敗的是我們把時間花在什么事情上，是我們?nèi)绾蝸矸峙鋾r間。

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10?因此，我正在琢磨的是（這可不是分子科學）：如果我們正在走向死亡，而且分配給我們的時間是有限的，那么我們到底有什么理由不現(xiàn)在就去做所有想做的事情呢？?這些被暫時擱置的事情到底又是什么呢？?為什么明明知道成熟的時機永遠不會到來，而我們卻都還在等待呢？?成熟的時機是一張支票，它永遠都在郵寄的路上，永遠都不會到來。?它就是那位讓我們在Co-op超市旁邊像橋墩那樣站著傻等的女孩，?我們再怎么看表也無濟于事，她失約了。

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11?我們傻等著，而成熟的時機卻永遠不會到來。

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12?所以我要說，別再等待了，走到路上去迎接天意。?開始給你的生活增添所有你能得到的財富，這樣當死神到來時，你已經(jīng)完成了那么多事，你的一生是那么的充實。當生命在你眼前回放時，死神等著等著就睡著了。

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13?現(xiàn)在就行動吧，不然你的時間會流逝的，而你最終將成為塵封的相冊里一位誰都叫不上名字的親戚，你的相片也因為古舊而呈紅褐色。

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14?還是給人間留下一本厚厚的傳記吧，那可比僅僅留下這樣一塊碑銘強：

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15?“喬?史密斯…… 嘿嘿，他沒干過什么，對吧？”

Rites of passage

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Is life just “one damned thing after another”, as the American author?Elbert Hubbard?wrote a hundred years ago, taking a rather?fatalisticviewpoint? Or is it an?obstacle race?, in which the?contestants?– human beings everywhere – have to show their worth at certain?crucial?stages of their lives?

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The sad?clown?Jacques?in Shakespeare’s play?As You Like It?suggests that there are “seven ages” to a person’s existence, and the phenomenon of rites of passage in almost every society confirms that we prefer to think of life in terms of these stages, such as childhood, middle age and old age.

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A rite of passage is a?formal?recognition of change,?imposed?by society, of a move from one stage to another, the most?universally?recognized one being the?transition?between childhood and?adulthood. This can take very different forms. For example, in Jewish tradition one of the most important moments in a boy’s life, marked by a religious ceremony and a family?feast, is the?bar mitzvah, when boys become responsible for their actions – at the age of 13. This is roughly the same age that children can be held?legally?responsible in many countries.

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A very different rite of passage is the tradition of the?prom?at the end of American high school. This is a dance with a difference. Students have to wear formal clothes – many for the first time in their lives – and it is usual to hire an expensive?limousine?to arrive at the prom. It is as if, for one night, they behave like adults twice their age – or at least look older than they really are.

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Perhaps one of the most interesting rites of passage is the?walkabout?of Australian aborigines, when?adolescents?would be required to spend about six months walking alone through the wilderness, following the paths of their ancestors along the age-old “songlines” which mapped out the country. In so doing they?penetrated?the heart of?aboriginal?culture – the oldest?continuous?culture in the world – and, in the process, discovered themselves too.

通過儀式

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生活是否如同對生活持宿命論看法的美國作家艾伯特·哈伯德在一百年前所描述的那樣，是“該死的事情一樁接著一樁”？抑或是一場障礙賽跑，其間每個參賽者，即世界各地的人們，不得不在生命的各個重要階段展現(xiàn)自己的價值？

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莎士比亞的戲劇《皆大歡喜》中那個悲傷的小丑雅克認為，人的一生要經(jīng)歷“七個年齡段”，幾乎每個社會都有的通過儀式也證明，我們往往是把生命分為這幾個階段來看待的，比如童年、中年和老年。

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通過儀式是社會對個人從一個階段走向另一階段的正式的認可，其中被廣泛認同的是由少年步入成年時舉行的成年禮。成年禮有多種形式。例如，在猶太傳統(tǒng)中，人生最重要的時刻之一就是“猶太男孩成人儀式”，人們?yōu)槟隄M13歲的男孩舉辦宗教儀式和家宴，這標志著從此以后這個孩子要對自己的行為負責了。13歲也差不多是許多國家規(guī)定開始承擔法律責任的年齡。

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美國中學生活結(jié)束前的畢業(yè)舞會是另一種截然不同的通過儀式。這次舞會非同尋常，學生們不僅穿著正式（許多學生平生第一次這么穿），他們通常還乘坐著一輛租來的豪華轎車到達舞會現(xiàn)場。就在那一天晚上，他們似乎要表現(xiàn)得和年齡是他們兩倍的成年人一樣，至少是看上去要比自己的實際年齡成熟。

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世界上最有趣的通過儀式之一或許就是澳大利亞原住民的“徒步旅行”了。還處于青春期的少年必須在野外獨自行走六個月，沿著劃定國土疆域的“歌之版圖”追尋祖先的足跡。通過這樣的儀式，他們深入到土著文化這一世界上最古老而持久的文化的精髓之中，并在這一過程中發(fā)現(xiàn)自我。

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翻譯

According to the National Center ? for Education Statistics, about 80 percent of students in the United States ? end up changing their major at least once. Some students start college with a ? major their parents or relatives picked for them. In most cases, these ? students struggle to make a decision, because they don't know how to confront ? their loved ones about a change in their intended career. Some students ? decide to change majors because they are struggling in basic courses for ? their intended major, while some others have come to so detest their major ? that they find it necessary to switch to another that they really love. ? Experts believe that there is nothing wrong with realizing that your major ? doesn't suit your skills and talents. In fact, the ability to make such a ? realization is a sign of maturity. The trick is to find a major that does ? suit you Better. Before making the switch, you need to meet with an academic ? advisor, research your choice by talking to professors or professionals, and ? ask yourself serious questions about whether it is the right choice for you.

美國國家教育統(tǒng)計中心的數(shù)據(jù)表明，大約80%的美國大學生至少要換一次專業(yè)。有些學生上大學時就讀父母或親戚為他們選擇的專業(yè)。在大多數(shù)情況下，這些學生難以做出決定，因為他們不知道在決定變換被規(guī)劃好的職業(yè)的時候該如何面對自己的親人。有些學生決定轉(zhuǎn)專業(yè)是因為他們無法應付所學專業(yè)的基礎課，而另一些學生則是因為他們實在厭惡所學的專業(yè)，必須換一個自己真正喜歡的專業(yè)。專家認為，意識到所學專業(yè)不適合自己的技能和天賦沒什么錯。實際上，能意識到這一點是成熟的標志。重要的是找到一個真正適合你的專業(yè)。在轉(zhuǎn)專業(yè)之前，你需要見學業(yè)導師，跟教授或?qū)I(yè)人員談談，做一些調(diào)查，問自己幾個嚴肅的問題，看看你的選擇是否正確。

中國有一句話，叫“人貴有自知之明”。這個觀念的最早提出者是老子。老子在《道德經(jīng)》里說“知人者智，自知者明”。有“自知之明”是指人應該對自己有正確的認識，了解自身的優(yōu)點和缺點，清醒地知道自己能做什么。我們把人的自知視為“貴”，可見做到“自知”是多么的不易?！白灾鳌笔且环N人生哲學，也是一種品德。它可以幫助我們不斷地修正自己，朝著更高的人生目標邁進。

As the Chinese saying goes, it is important to know oneself. The first person to put forward this notion was Laozi, who wrote in his book?Dao De Jing: "A person who knows others is intelligent, but a person who knows himself is insightful." To know oneself is to have a correct understanding of oneself, including one's strengths and limitations, and to be clear-minded about what one can do. We cherish this virtue so much precisely because it is really hard for people to know themselves. Knowing oneself is both part of a philosophy of life and a virtue that can facilitate self-improvement and attainment of a higher life goal.

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