碎语二:落定

(一)
今天去星巴克坐了一会儿,喝着咖啡,看着闲书。转眼之间,三个月已甩在脑后。回忆里是冬夜,眼下是春暮。那在希望中奋斗的日子已经离我远去,取而代之的,是茫茫间落定时的缄默。

(二)
历史人物无不因时代变迁而命运各异,唯有后人一一点说。然而观如今留学大军,却也代表着另一个时代,是成是败谁能知?只是发现连自己的命运竟也被这个时代套上枷锁,身在其中,当局者迷。

(三)
樱花的开放不仅将我带回到从前,还让我嗅到了夏的气息。温哥华的夏天总是如此带着魔力,晴朗无云的天空像浅蓝色的绸缎,阳光照暖了沙滩与海水,永远享之不尽。我喜欢做着夏天的梦,那是一个温暖的梦,是温哥华的梦。幸福地从夏梦中苏醒,接踵的却是孤独的未来。

Share: What Are You Going to Do With That?

What Are You Going to Do With That?

By William Deresiewicz

The essay below is adapted from a talk delivered to a freshman class at Stanford University in May.

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?

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.

继续阅读“Share: What Are You Going to Do With That?”