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The humanities: Out of date? 人文学科：过时了吗？
When the going gets tough, the tough takeaccounting. When the job market worsens, manystudents calculate they can't major in English orhistory. They have to study something that booststheir prospects of landing a job.
当形势变得困难时，强者会去选学会计。当就业市场恶化时，许多学生估算着他们不能再主修英语或历史。他们得学一些能改善他们就业前景的东西。
The data show that as students have increasingly shouldered the ever-rising cost of tuition,they have defected from the study of the humanities and toward applied science and \ bet will lead to employment. In other words, a college education is more andmore seen as a means for economic betterment rather than a means for human betterment.This is a trend that is likely to persist and even accelerate.
数据显示，随着学生肩负的学费不断增加，他们已从学习人文学科转向他们相信有益于将来就业的应用科学和“硬”技能。换言之，大学教育越来越被看成是改善经济而不是提升人类自身的手段。这种趋势可能会持续，甚至有加快之势。
Over the next few years, as labor markets struggle, the humanities will probably continue theirlong slide in succession. There already has been a nearly 50 percent decline in the portion ofliberal arts majors over the past generation, and it is logical to think that the trend is boundto continue or even accelerate. Once the dominant pillars of university life, the humanities nowplay little roles when students take their college tours. These days, labs are more vivid andcompelling than libraries.
在未来几年内，由于劳动力市场的不景气，人文学科可能会继续其长期低迷的态势。在上一代大学生中，主修文科的学生数跌幅已近
50%。这种趋势会持续、甚至加速的想法是合情合理的。人文学科曾是大学生活的重要支柱，而今在学生们参观校园的时候，却只是一个小点缀。现在，实验室要比图书馆更栩栩如生、受人青睐。
Here, please allow me to stand up for and promote the true value that the humanities add topeople's lives.
在这儿，请允许我为人文学科给人们的生活所增添的真实价值进行支持和宣传。
Since ancient times, people have speculated aboutthe mystery of those inner forces that drive somepeople to greatness and others to self-destruction.This inner drive has been called many things over thecenturies. The famous psychologist, SigmundFreud, called it the %unconscious mind\morefamiliarly, \instinct\
自古以来，人们一直在思索人类自身具有什么神奇的内力使一些人变得崇高伟大，而使另一些人走向自我毁灭。几个世纪以来，这股内力被称作很多东西。著名的心理学家西格蒙德·弗洛伊德称之为“潜意识”，或更为人熟知的“本能”。
From the beginning of time, this inner aspect of our being, this drive that can be constructiveor destructive, has captured our imagination. The stories of this amazing struggle have formedthe basis of cultures the world over. Historians, architects, authors, philosophers and artistshave captured the words, images and meanings of this inner struggle in the form of story,music, myth, painting, architecture, sculpture, landscape and traditions. These men andwomen developed artistic \ges%understand these aspirations and alsoeducate generations. This fertile body of work from ancient times, the very foundation ofcivilization, forms the basis of study of the humanities.
从一开始，人类这股可以是建设性也可以是毁灭性的内在驱动力，就令我们心驰神往。这些惊人的、充满内心挣扎的故事形成了世界文化的基础。历史学家、建筑师、作家、哲学家和艺术家们以故事、音乐、神话、绘画、建筑、雕刻、风景画和传统的形式，捕捉到了这些撞击心灵的文字、形象及内涵。这些男男女女创造出了具有艺术性的“语言”，帮助我们了解人类的这些强烈愿望，并用以教育一代又一代人。从古时起开始的这些充满想象的大量作品，正是文明的底蕴，它奠定了人文研究的基础。
Studying the humanities improves our ability to read and write. No matter what we do in life, wewill have a huge advantage if we can read complex ideas and understand their meaning. Wewill have a bright career if we are the person in the office who can write a clear and elegantanalysis of those ideas!
学习人文学科会提高我们的阅读和写作能力。无论我们这一生中从事什么职业，如果我们能读懂复杂的思想并理解它们的内涵，我们都会受益匪浅。如果我们是在办公室里能对这些思想写出既明确又简洁的分析的人，我们会有光明的职业前景。
Studying the humanities makes us familiar with thelanguage of emotion and the creative process. In aninformation economy, many people have the ability toproduce a useful product such as a new MP3 player.Yet, very few people have the ability to create aspectacular brand: the iPod. Most importantly,studying the humanities invests us with greatinsight and self-awareness, thereby releasing ourcreative energy and talent in a positive andconstructive manner.
学习人文学科会让我们熟悉表达情感的语言及进行创造的过程。在信息经济中，很多人都有能力创造出一个如新的 MP3
播放器那样的有用产品。然而，仅有很少的人具有能力创造出一个如 iPod 那样的精彩品牌。最重要的是，学习人文学科使我们具有伟大的洞察力和自我意识，从而以积极和建设性的方式来发挥我们的创造力和才艺。
Perhaps the best argument in favor of the humanities is the scope of possibilities that arewidely open to us. Did you know that James Cameron, world-famous director of the movie,Titanic, graduated with a degree in the humanities? So did Sally Ride, the first woman in space.So did actors Bruce Lee, Gwyneth Paltrow, Renee Zellweger and Matt Damon. Dr. HaroldVarmus, who won a Nobel Prize for Medicine, studied the humanities. Even Michael Eisner,Chairman of the Disney Company, majored in the humanities. Famous people who studied thehumanities make a long list indeed. It's easy to see that the humanities can prepare us formany different careers and jobs we can undertake, whether medicine, business, science orentertainment.
也许，支持人文学科的最好论点是，人文学科为我们提供了广阔的机会。你知道世界闻名的电影《泰坦尼克号》的导演詹姆斯·卡梅隆拿的是人文学科的学位吗？第一个登上太空的女宇航员萨利·赖德拿的也是人文学科的学位。还有电影演员李小龙、格温妮丝·帕特洛·蕾妮·齐薇格及马特·达蒙，也都如此。获诺贝尔医学奖的哈罗德·瓦慕斯博士也学过人文学科。甚至迪士尼公司的总裁迈克尔·艾斯纳也主修人文学科。学习人文学科的有名人士确实可以列出一长串。显而易见，人文学能为我们从事许多不同的职业做准备，不管是医学、商务、科学或娱乐。
If we study only mathematics, it's likely we will be acandidate only for jobs as a mathematician. If weinclude studying the humanities, we can makebreakthroughs on many barriers and are limited onlyby our effort and imagination.
如果我们仅学习数学，我们很可能只能申请数学家之类的工作。如果我们还学了人文学科，那我们就能突破许多障碍，只要我们愿意付出努力，敢于想象。
Of course, nowadays, if we study the humanitiesalone, we are liable to miss many opportunities.Each one of us needs to become as technically and professionally skilled as possible to helpmeet the needs of modern life. In fact, increasingly a pairing of technical knowledge and innerinsight is seen as the ideal in the establishment of a career. If I were the Dean of Admissionsat a medical school and two people applied to our school, both having the required basicscientific courses, one a philosophy major and the other solely a pre-med student, thephilosophy applicant would be chosen. 当然，在当下，如果我们单学人文学科，可能会失去很多机会。我们每个人都需要尽可能变得技能化、职业化，以满足现代生活的需要。事实上，技术知识和内在洞察力的结合越来越被看成是建立职业生涯的理想搭配。如果我是某个医学院的招生部主任，有两个人同