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Majoring in English for Fun and ProfitThe study of literature is not only civilized and civilizing — encompassing, as it does, philosophy, religion, the history of events and the history of ideas — but popular and practical. One-sixth of all those who receive bachelor’s degrees from the College of Arts and Sciences are English majors. These graduates qualify for a surprising range of jobs. Their experience puts the lie to the popular superstition that English majors must choose between journalism and teaching: in fact, English majors also receive excellent preparation for future careers in law, medicine, business, and government service. Undergraduates looking forward to law school or medical school are often advised to follow a strict regimen of courses considered directly relevant to their career choices. Future law-school students are advised to take courses in political science, history, accounting, business administration — even human anatomy, and marriage and family life. Future medical school students are steered into multiple science courses — actually far more science courses than they need for entrance into medical school. Surprisingly, many law schools and medical schools indicate that such specialized preparation is not only unnecessary, but undesirable. There are no "pre-law" courses: the best preparation for law school — and for the practice of law — is that preparation which makes a student capable of critical thinking; of clear, logical self-expression; of sensitive analysis of the motives, the actions, and the thoughts of other human beings. These are skills which the study of English is designed to teach. Entrance into law school, moreover, generally requires a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution, a minimum grade point average, and an acceptable score on the Law School Admission Test (L.S.A.T.). This test has three parts. The first evaluates skills in reading comprehension, in figure classification, and in the evaluation of written material. The second part of the test evaluates control of English grammar and usage, ability to organize written materials, and competence to edit. The third part evaluates the student’s general knowledge of literature, art, music, and the natural and social sciences. Clearly an undergraduate major in English is strong preparation for the L.S.A.T. As for medical schools, the main requirement for admission is only thirty-two hours of science courses. This requirement is certainly no impediment to a major in English. Moreover many medical schools require a minimum score on the Medical College Admissions Test, another test which offers an advantage to the well-rounded liberal arts student. The M.C.A.T. evaluates four areas of competence: skill with synonyms, antonyms, and word association; knowledge of basic mathematics from fractions through solid geometry; general knowledge of literature, philosophy, psychology, music, art, and the social sciences; and familiarity with those fundamentals of biology, chemistry, and physics taught in high school and in introductory college courses. The English major with a solid, basic grounding in science is well prepared for this test and for medical school, where his or her skills in reading, analysis, interpretation, and precise communication will equip him or her to excel. The study and practice of medicine can only benefit from the insights into human behavior provided by the study of literature. Such insights are obviously also valuable to the student who plans a career in commerce. Such students should consider the advantages of an English major with an emphasis in business: this program is designed to provide a liberal education, as well as to direct preparation for a business career. The need for such a program is clear: graduates with merely technical qualifications are finding jobs in business, but often failing to hold them. Both the Wall Street Journal and the Journal of College Placement have reported that increasing numbers of graduates from reputable business schools find themselves drifting from one job or firm to another, unable to hold a position for longer than twelve months. Employers complain that these apparently promising young men and women are simply not competent communicators: because they are not sufficiently literate, they cannot absorb managerial training; they cannot make effective oral presentations; they cannot report progress or problems in their writing; they cannot direct other workers. Skill in analysis and communication is the essence of management. Consequently the English major with an emphasis in business is particularly well prepared for a future in business administration. Nearly four hundred companies in fields ranging from banking and insurance to communications to manufacturing were asked whether they hired college graduates with degrees in English, even when those graduates lacked special training in the industry: Eighty-five percent of the companies said that they did. College graduates with degrees in English are working successfully in marketing, in systems engineering, in personnel management, in sales, in programming, in project design, and in labor relations. English majors are also at work in the thousand occupations provided by government at all levels. Consider, for example, the federal government—by a very wide margin, America’s biggest employer. In organizations ranging from the Marine Corps to the Bureau of Mines, from the Commerce Department to the National Park Service, the federal government employs a work force of nearly three million men and women. English majors may qualify for many of these jobs. Recently, 51 federal agencies were asked the same question: whether they hired college graduates with English degrees but without special job training, 88 percent of these federal employers said yes. The list of federal positions for which English majors may qualify ranges from Claims Examiner to Foreign Service Officer to Highway Safety Management Specialist. Again, those who seek positions of high reward and responsibility may be asked to take a test — the federal government uses the Professional and Administrative Career Examination, or P.A.C.E., to evaluate applicants for about 10,000 jobs each year — and again, the test focuses on language skills: comprehension, analysis, interpretation, the ability to see logical relationships between ideas, and the ability to solve problems expressed in words. Not surprisingly, competent English majors often receive very high scores on the P.A.C.E. In short, a major in English is neither restricting nor impractical: the study of English is excellent preparation for professional life.
笑傲江湖之悟空
颐养天年人人都知道孤儿院和养老院绝不能替代家庭。人们的感觉是只有家庭才能给老人与幼童提供使他们会产生满足感的一切。对子女来说，享有父母的呵护毋庸多说，因为这是一种本能的父辈的情感。不过晚辈对于长辈的孝敬，正如中国的一句俗话 “水往低处流” 所说，则需要由文化去培养。一个自然人必会爱其子女，但只有受过文化教育的人才会珍爱和孝敬父母。这个爱老、敬老的原则最终成为了大众所信守的准则，并且根据某些著书立说者所言，在父母年老时能有幸在其身边服侍，实际上已成为一种强烈的愿望。父母生病了却没有机会在病榻前亲侍药汤，亡故时未能亲临送终，已被有文化的中国人视为终身最大的遗憾。官员到了五六十岁尚不能迎养父母，于官署中晨昏定省，会被视为道德缺失而倍感羞愧，不得不常向亲友和同僚解释他不能迎养孝敬的理由。从前有个人，因赶回家时父母已亡故，悲痛之下说了这样两句话：“树欲静而风不止，子欲养而亲不在。”在美国，身体健康且精神矍铄的老年人常对人说他尚“年轻”，或者是旁人说他们“年轻”，而实际上则是说他们身体康健。这似乎是一种语言上的不幸。老来健康或者说“长寿康健”是人生莫大的幸运，而改称之为“健康且年轻”，则会贬损其魅力，使原本很完美的东西变得不那么完美了。终究，世上再也没有什么能比一个健康而智慧的老者更完美的了。他有着“红润的面庞，雪白的头发”，用和蔼的声音，谈论着人生世故。中国人很明白这一点，所以画出来的老翁总是“红颊白须”，视之为尘世终极快乐的象征。美国人大概也看到过中国人所画的老寿星，他那高突的前额、红润的面庞、雪白的长须，还有他笑容可掬的神态！这是何等生动的画像。他手抚飘逸垂胸的长须，悠然自得。他何等的庄严，令人起敬；他何等的自信，没有人会质疑他的智慧；他何等的仁慈，因为他见闻了太多的人间疾苦。对于富有生气的老者，我们也会给予赞誉，说他们是“老当益壮”。我丝毫不怀疑，美国的老人依旧要坚持说他们又忙碌又活跃这一事实，可以归为个人主义被推崇到了愚蠢的地步。他们以自主为荣，崇尚自立，耻于依赖子女。美国人在其宪法中规定了许多人权，但他们却很奇怪地忘掉了老年人应享受子女赡养这一权利，因为这也是因提供养育服务而产生的权利和义务。有谁能够否认，父母年轻时为子女何等地辛劳，子女小有病痛必彻夜不眠地照顾，在子女还没有学会说话时给他们换洗尿布，耗费二十余载将他们养育成人，教会他们自立生活。当他们年老时，就有权得到子女的赡养和孝敬。在普通的家庭生活模式中能否忘掉个人的自立及其自尊？凡是人都是先由父母养育，后来再养育自己的子女，最后则理所当然地得到子女的赡养。中国人对生活的完整理念是以家庭中的互帮互助为基础的，所以没有个人独立的意识，因此，到了夕阳红的老年时期得到子女赡养时就不会有耻辱感，反而会因有子女赡养而倍感欣幸。
