受教一時，受益一世

from nytimes.com 譯/ 陳一葦

對于教育，英國政治家喬治·薩維爾曾下過這樣的定義：“教育就是我們被灌輸的知識忘光之后剩下的東西?！?Education is what remains when we have forgotten all that we have been taught.)的確，真正的教育不是死記硬背的書本知識，而是受益一生的智慧啟發(fā)。寒窗苦讀十數載，總有那么幾次特殊的教育經歷令我們感念一生。它或是教會了我們思考的方法，或是教會了我們做人的道理，又或是在我們脆弱之時為我們點起希望的火苗……

Saturday Morning at the Museum

By Michael Bloomberg, Mayor, New York City

When I was growing up, Saturday mornings meant one thing only to me: a trip to the Boston Museum of Science. I loved science—still do—and there was nowhere else Id rather be. The museums instructors would give these fascinating two-hour lectures and demonstrate the laws of physics using hands-on1) experiments. They would also quiz us on the museums exhibits, and all the kids would try to show off by having every answer. Those visits to the museum stretched my mind in ways that my schoolwork didnt. They taught me to listen, question, test and analyze. Figuring out how things work—and how they can work better—is what led me to become an engineer, a technology entrepreneur, a philanthropist and a mayor. I guess I can count my lucky stars that there were no Saturday morning cartoons when I was kid.

The Price of Fur in Byzantium2)

By Lewis Lapham, editor, Lahphams Quarterly

I dont now remember the name of the don3) assigned to conduct my first tutorial at Cambridge University in the autumn of 1956, but I remember the setting—late-afternoon fog, coals burning in an ancient grate4), the don in academic gown seated behind a silver tea service. Five months earlier I graduated from Yale University with the intention of becoming a licensed historian who could be counted upon to attach the name of a dead poet or an unhorsed5) king to the appropriate zeitgeist6).

My tutor was delighted to learn of my ambition. Great news, he said, but maybe you could spare a few moments for the 12th century? I managed to sustain the illusion of scholarship for about the length of time it takes to see five deals of blackjack7). When I exhausted my supply of talking points, the tutor poured us both a second cup of tea, and for the next quarter of an hour, he asked questions about aspects of the 12th century that I had possibly overlooked. In Byzantium, for instance, the prices bid and asked for Russian fur and Christian slaves?

My failure to hazard8) even so much as a plausible guess moved the don to a murmur of mild regret. Yes, well, he said, you Americans have this wonderful talent for broad statement and grand abstraction that hasnt been granted to their poorer cousins here in England. Before reaching the general theory, you see, we like to have in hand a passing9) acquaintance with at least some of the facts.

The Lifelong Incomplete

By Robert Storr, artist and critic

Back in the 1960s Bruno Bettelheim10) gave a talk to my senior class in high school. He explained that in prewar Vienna he studied several subjects in depth as a graduate student—chiefly art and philosophy—but each time stopped short of completing the final requirements because doing so would have decided his professional fate prematurely, given his many intense interests. (Hitler then prevented his receiving a doctorate in psychology, his ultimate field11).) He told us to beware of committing to anything until we knew for sure what we wanted to be, but recommended that we set out to become dedicated ABD (all-but-degree) students of everything that excited our minds. Biographers say that Bettelheim was a compulsive fabulist12), but I am grateful for his insight even if the story he told wasnt true. His example—fictional or real—was more useful to me than all the “practical” advice I was given.

In Mrs. Crowells Library

By Junot Diaz13), author

I remember her as a small woman. But what do I know? I was small myself. Shes in none of the official photographs I have from my elementary-school days, but in my memory, my first librarian is a gentle white woman who wore glasses and was exceedingly kind to this new immigrant. I do not remember her voice, but I do remember that every time I saw her, she called me to her desk and showed me with an almost conspiratorial14) glee a book she had picked out for me, a book I always read and often loved.

Every now and then you get lucky in your education and you make a teacher-friend; Mrs. Crowell was my first. By second grade she was allowing me to take out more books than the prescribed limit. By third grade I was granted admission to her librarians office. My love of books was born of hers. As a newcomer with almost no knowledge of the country which Id found myself in, I was desperate to understand where the hell I was, who I was. I sought those answers in books. It was in Mrs. Crowells library that I found my first harbor, my first truly safe place in the United States. I still feel a happy pulse15) every time I see a library. Im with Borges16) in imagining Paradise as “a kind of library” where instead of angels there will be a corps of excellent librarians.

Boarding-School Blues

By Pico Iyer, author

Older boys were allowed to beat younger ones at my 15th-century English boarding school, and every boy had to run a five-mile annual steeplechase17) through the sludge and rain of an October day, as horses do. We wrote poems in dead languages18) and recited the Lords Prayer in Latin every Sunday night. At my previous school, we had to race through cold showers every morning at dawn before a breakfast of lukewarm19) kippers20) or porridge. Fourteen of us, aged 9, shared a single damp chamber and, clutching teddy bears, thought of parents in faraway Hong Kong or Nairobi or (in my case) California. Well-meaning friends shudder when I recall my school days for them now; I glow nostalgically21). Forty years on, I see my relentless training in these ancient institutions (partly monastic22) and largely military) as the most benign influence in my life, and one of its happiest memories. The world is tough, the system was saying, and to find happiness in it you have to summon resilience, resolve and self-sufficiency. This is a process developed over centuries to teach you how to govern yourself and how, as the Buddhists say, to live joyfully in a world of sorrows.

Just Ask. Then Keep Asking.

By Lisa Randall, professor of physics, Harvard University

I was shy the way many geeky girls can be. Professors hardly noticed that they rarely answered girls questions before some boy who didnt actually know the answer interrupted. But a professor who later became my adviser gave me the best advice I ever received, which was to not be afraid to speak up and ask questions. Suddenly teachers were speaking directly to me, and my questions were usually good enough that I could detect the relief of other students who actually had the same ones, reassuring me I was doing the right thing. Now, as a professor, I know not to see classes as passive experiences. The occasional interruption keeps people engaged and illuminates subtle points, and in research even leads to new research directions. Just participating and questioning makes your mind work better. Dont you agree?

周六上午的博物館之行

——紐約市市長邁克爾·彭博

小時候，每周六上午對于我而言僅僅意味著一件事：去波士頓科學博物館。我喜歡科學——現在也是——我不愿待在別的地方。博物館講解員會講兩個小時精彩的課，并通過動手實驗來演示物理定律。他們還會問我們與博物館展品有關的問題，孩子們競相回答每一個問題，以此向人炫耀。參觀博物館的那些經歷以獨特的方式拓展了我的思維，而這是學校布置給我的作業(yè)所做不到的。它們讓我學會了聆聽、提問、驗證和分析。弄清事物如何運作的，以及如何更好地運作，這種行為方式引領我一路成長，先后成為工程師、科技企業(yè)家、慈善家，最后成為一個市長。我猜我之所以如此幸運，就是因為我的孩提時代每個星期六的上午都沒有動畫片可看。

拜占庭的毛皮價格

——《拉帕姆季刊》主編劉易斯·拉帕姆

1956年秋天，我就讀劍橋大學，當時學校指派一名學監(jiān)對我進行第一次課程輔導，學監(jiān)姓甚名誰，我現在已經不記得了，但對那時的情景卻記憶猶新：傍晚時分的霧，老式壁爐里燃燒的煤塊，身穿學院袍端坐在一套銀制茶具后的學監(jiān)。五個月前，我剛從耶魯大學畢業(yè)，一心想要成為一名專業(yè)的歷史學家，做一個世人仰仗的權威，去給某個已故詩人或某位下臺國王的名字前貼上恰如其分的時代精神標簽。

得知我的雄心壯志后，學監(jiān)很高興。他說：“很好，不過你能不能略微談談12世紀的歷史呢？”我只用大約看完五局21點牌戲所需的時間談了談，勉勵支撐自己學術淵博的幻想。在我終于無話題可談的時候，學監(jiān)給我和他自己各倒了第二杯茶。在接下來的15分鐘時間里，他就12世紀的各個方面問了一些我可能會忽視了的問題。比如說，在拜占庭，買賣俄羅斯毛皮和信仰基督教的奴隸時，買賣雙方的出價和要價分別是多少？

我斗著膽子連蒙帶猜，但猜得太離譜，連邊都不沾。學監(jiān)聽后輕聲地表達了些許遺憾。他說，好吧，在高談闊論與高度的抽象思維方面，你們美國人確實天賦極佳，你們在英國的這群可憐的兄弟姐妹們并沒有這種天賦。你瞧，在達成概括性的理論之前，我們通常希望對至少某些事實有個粗略的了解。

“淺嘗輒止”的人生

——藝術家和文藝評論家羅伯特·斯托爾

20世紀60年代，布魯諾·貝特爾海姆曾來我所在的高中畢業(yè)班發(fā)表過一次演講。他說，在二戰(zhàn)前的維也納，他曾以研究生的身份深入地學過幾門課——主要是藝術和哲學——但是他每次都在完成課程的最終要求之前選擇終止，因為一旦學業(yè)完成，他的職業(yè)命運就會被確定，而考慮到他對很多方面都有著濃厚興趣，那時確定還為時過早。(后來，因為希特勒的緣故，他沒能拿到心理學博士學位——他最終選擇的領域。)他告訴我們，在我們尚未確定自己想成為什么樣的人之前，要謹防輕易地承諾做任何事情。不過，他建議我們，對于一切可以激發(fā)我們心智的事情，都要著手去做，成為專注于其中的“準學位”學生。有傳記作家稱貝特爾海姆是一個說謊成性的人，但就算他所講述的故事并不真實，我還是對他所提的深刻見解心懷感激。對我而言，他的現身說法——無論是虛構的還是真實的——比我聽到的所有“實用”建議都管用得多。

克羅威爾夫人的圖書館里

——作家朱諾特·迪亞茲

我記得她是一個瘦小的女人。不過我又懂什么呢？那時我自己還是個小孩子。在我保留的小學時候的正式照片中沒有她的身影，但在我的記憶中，我遇到的第一位圖書管理員是一個溫文爾雅的白人女士。她戴著眼鏡，對我這個新來的移民極為和藹。我已經不記得她的聲音，但我真切地記得，每次我見到她時，她都會把我叫到她的桌旁，臉上帶著近乎詭秘的欣喜神情，遞給我一本她為我挑選的書。這些書我都會讀完，常常愛不釋手。

在求學的過程中，你時常會幸運地與一位老師成為朋友；克羅威爾夫人就是我第一個這樣的朋友。到二年級時，她開始允許我?guī)ё叱鲆?guī)定數量的書。到三年級時，我獲準可以進出她的管理員辦公室。我喜歡看書，就是受她的熏陶。作為一個新移民，發(fā)現自己置身于一個全然陌生的國度，我極度渴望了解自己到底身處何地、身為何人。我在書本中尋找到了這些問題的答案。正是在克羅威爾夫人的圖書館，我找到了自己在美國的第一個避風港，第一個真正讓我有安全感的地方。如今每當我看見圖書館，內心依然會油然升起一種幸福的感覺。與博爾赫斯一樣，我也愿意把天堂想象成“一種圖書館”，在那兒，沒有天使，只有一群非凡的圖書管理員。

寄宿學校的辛酸往事

——作家皮科·艾爾

在我曾就讀的那所建于15世紀的英國寄宿學校里，是容許年長的男孩欺負年幼的男孩的。而且，每年10月，男生個個都要在下雨天的爛泥地里完成一次五英里越野賽跑，就像馬一樣。我們用人們已不再使用的語言寫詩，每周日晚用拉丁語朗誦《主禱文》。而在我此前就讀的那所學校，每天清晨天一亮，我們就要在冰冷的雨中賽跑，之后才能用早餐，吃的是微微有點熱氣兒的腌魚或粥。那時我們九歲，14個人共用一間潮濕的宿舍。我們懷抱泰迪熊，想念著遠在香港、內羅畢或(就我而言)加利福尼亞的父母。現在，當我跟朋友們講起我的學校時光時，這些善意的人總覺得那些回憶讓人不寒而栗；但我卻因懷念而激動不已。40年來，我一直認為，在這些舊式學校(部分是修道院式管理，但主要是軍事化管理)經受嚴苛訓練的經歷對我的人生產生了最為有益的影響，也是我一生中最幸福的記憶之一。那套體制告訴我們，世道艱難，要想在世間尋求幸福，就要能應變，有決心，自給自足。這是一個歷經數百年發(fā)展而來的道理，它教你如何主宰自己的生活，如何像佛教徒說的那樣苦中作樂。

但“問”無妨

——哈佛大學物理學教授麗莎·蘭道爾

許多悶頭讀書的女孩都有點害羞，我也一樣。有個現象教授們幾乎不會注意到，那就是對女生提出的問題，要是沒有哪個男生插上幾句，教授們往往都置之不理，而這個男生其實并不知道答案。不過，一位后來成為我導師的教授給我提了一個我有生以來最受用的建議，那就是想說就說，想問就問，不必害怕。于是忽然之間，我發(fā)現老師們開始直接與我對話了。事實上我所提的問題通常都恰到好處，我能覺察出抱有同樣疑問的其他學生都如釋重負，這也讓我確信自己這樣做是正確的。如今，身為一名教授，我很清楚，不能將課堂看成是一個被動的灌輸過程。間或的中斷可以集中大家的注意力，啟發(fā)大家闡述微妙的論點，在科研中甚至還可以引出新的研究方向。積極參與、大膽提問會讓你的思維更加敏捷。你不這樣認為嗎？

1. hands-on：親身實踐的；實習的

2. Byzantium [b??z?nta?m] n. 拜占庭，古羅馬城市，后曾稱君士坦丁堡，今稱為伊斯坦布爾。

3. don [d?n] n. (牛津、劍橋大學)的學監(jiān)

4. grate [ɡre?t] n. 壁爐，爐

5. unhorse [?n?h??s] vt. 推翻

6. zeitgeist [?za?tɡa?st] n. 時代精神，時代思潮

7. blackjack [?bl?kd??k] n. [牌] 21點(一種坐莊牌戲)

8. hazard [?h?z?d] vt. 斗膽提出；大膽猜測

9. passing [?pɑ?s??] adj. 倉促的，粗略的，隨便的

10.Bruno Bettelheim：布魯諾·貝特爾海姆(1903～1990)，美國心理學家，兒童自閉癥研究的發(fā)起人。貝特爾海姆出生于奧地利維也納，晚年因妻子死亡和被指對兒童誤診而自殺。

11. 指1938年布魯諾·貝特爾海姆即將拿到心理學博士學位時被關進了納粹集中營。

12. fabulist [?f?bj?l?st] n. 說謊者

13. Junot Diaz：朱諾特·迪亞茲(1968～)，出生于多米尼加共和國，1974年隨父母移民美國，現為麻省理工學院教寫作的教授，兼任《波士頓評論》的編輯，其首部長篇小說《奧斯卡·瓦奧短暫而奇妙的一生》(The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao)曾獲普利策獎。

14. conspiratorial [k?n?sp?r??t??ri?l] adj. 詭秘的，鬼鬼祟祟的

15. pulse [p?ls] n. 意向，心態(tài)，情感

16. Borges：即豪爾赫·路易斯·博爾赫斯(Jorge Luis Borges，1899～1986)，阿根廷作家與翻譯家，作品頗豐。他寫作的短篇小說《巴別塔圖書館》(The Library of Babel)將宇宙描述成一個擁有無數圖書的圖書館。

17. steeplechase [?sti?plt?e?s] n. 障礙跑

18. dead language：在口語中不再使用的語言(如拉丁語)

19. lukewarm [?lu?k?w??m] adj. 微溫的，溫度適中的

20. kipper [?k?p?(r)] n. 腌曬(或熏制的)鯡魚(或鮭魚等)

21. nostalgically [n??st?ld??kli] adv. 懷舊地

22. monastic [m??n?st?k] adj. 修道院似的，紀律嚴格的