1、Unit 5 Lifelong EducationPassage A Tongue-tiedSeveral weeks ago I was riding in a cab when the drivers eyes caught mine in the rear view mirror and he said, “Excuse me, Miss? Can you help me?“ As any hard-bitten city dweller knows, the correct answer to a question like “Can you help me?“ should alwa
2、ys be some version of “It depends.“ I chirped, “Sure.“ “Thank you,“ he said. He passed a slip of yellow paper into the back seat. I stared at the paper, wondering. Was this a joke? A threat? Hand-printed on the paper in tiny block letters was this: proverb peculiar idiomatic “Please,“ he said. “What
3、 is the meaning of these words?“ I stared at the words in the distressed way you might stare at party guests whose faces youve seen somewhere before but whose names have escaped your mind. Proverb? Peculiar? Idiomatic? How on earth should I know? Its one thing to use a word, its another to explain i
4、t. I resorted to shifting the topic. “Where did you get these words?“ The driver explained that he was Pakistani. He listened to the radio as he drove and often jotted down unfamiliar, fascinating words whose meanings and spellings he then sought from his passengers. “Peculiar,“ he said. “What does
5、this mean?“ I could manage that one. “Strange,“ I said. “Odd. Often with a hint of something suspicious.“ “Thank you, Miss. And idiomatic?“ I cleared my throat. “Um, its a, well, um. It involves a peculiar use of the language.“ I thought my use of peculiar was kind of clever. He looked confused, a r
6、eminder that clevers not clever if it doesnt communicate. “Uh, lets see. Idiomatic is related to the word idiom. An idioms something thats used in, say, a particular part of the country or by a particular group of people. People who arent part of that group arent likely to use it and might not under
7、stand it.“ Watching his puzzled look, I did what a person often does when at a loss for the right words: I went on talking, as if a thousand vague words would add up to one accurate definition. “Can you give me an example?“ I racked my brains. “Gapers block,“ I said. A peculiarly Chicago phrase. But
8、 did it really qualify as idiomatic? I had no idea because the longer I thought about idioms the less sure I was what they were. “And proverb?“ I should have told the poor man right then that I might be misleading him down the proverbial path, whatever that really means, but instead I said, “I think
9、 a proverb is kind of like an aphorism. But not quite.“ “A what?“ “Never mind. A proverb is a condensed saying that teaches you a lesson.“ “An example?“ The meter clicked off a full 20 cents while I searched madly through my mind. “Haste makes waste?“ I finally whimpered. But was that a proverb? Wai
10、t. Werent proverbs actually stories, not just phrases? While I was convincing myself they were, he said, “Can an idiom be a proverb?“ I could answer that. Just not right now, now when it mattered, now when the fate of a curious, intelligent immigrant hung on the answers he assumed would fall from a
11、native speakers tongue as naturally as leaves from an October tree. So I retreated. “Do most of your passengers give you answers when you ask for definitions?“ “Oh, yes, Miss. Very interesting definitions.“ Until that moment, Id been so inspired by the drivers determination to learn English, so enth
12、ralled by the chance to indulge my curiosity about words with another curious soul, that I didnt fully grasp the potential for linguistic fraud committed in this mans cab. Now I could barely allow myself to imagine what kind of deformed English he was being fed by cowards like me who couldnt simply
13、say, “I dont really know my own language.“ I can only trust that someone as curious as he is also owns a dictionary. And that he figures out that, no matter what his passengers may say, haste doesnt always make waste at the gapers block.无言以对几周前我乘坐出租车，司机通过后视镜看着我说：“对不起，小姐，能帮个忙吗？”精明老练的城里人都知道，对诸如“能帮个忙吗？
14、” 这样的问题，回答永远应该是“ 那要看是什么忙了。 ”而我却高声地说：“ 当然可以。 ”“谢谢！”他说，并向后排座递过来一张黄纸条。我盯着纸条，疑心顿起：难道他在开玩笑？抑或是威胁？纸条上是手写的工工整整几个小字：proverb，peculiar，idiomatic。“请问，这几个字是什么意思？”我沮丧地看着纸条上的字，就好像在晚会上你盯着几个以前曾经见过的面孔，却怎么也想不起他们的名字。Proverb？Peculiar？Idiomatic？我怎么会知道？会用一个词是一回事儿，会解释可是另外一回事儿。于是我故意转移话题。“这些字是哪儿来的？”司机解释说他是巴基斯坦人，开车时喜欢听收音机，经常
15、把不熟悉的、精彩的词随手记下来，然后向乘客询问他们的意思和拼法。“Peculiar，这个词什么意思？”他问。这个我知道。 “指奇特、古怪，经常带点儿怀疑的意味， ”我说。“谢谢您，小姐。那么，idiomatic 呢？”我清清嗓子，说：“嗯，它是指，嗯，它是语言的一种独特运用。 ”我自以为“独特”一词用得很妙，他却一脸的迷惑。这是在提示我，如果对方没有明白，这词儿就不能算用得妙。 “啊，这么说吧，idiomatic 和 idiom 有关，而 idiom 是指一个国家的某一特定地区或一个民族的某一特定人群使用的词，该地区以外的人，不属于这个群体的人一般不用或不明白它的用法。 ”看着他迷惑不解的样子
16、，我不知用什么恰当的词才好，只好继续解释下去，似乎一千个模糊的词加起来可以等于一个准确的定义。“你能举个例子吗？”我绞尽脑汁地想：“围观塞车， ”这是个独特的芝加哥惯用语。可这算得上名副其实的惯用语吗？我不得而知。我越想惯用语，就越没有把握说清楚惯用语到底是什么？“那么 proverb 呢？”我本该当时就告诉这个可怜的人，我的解释也许会误导他对谚语真正含义的理解，但我却说：“我觉得谚语就是一种警语，但又不完全是。 ”“一种什么？”“算了，别管它，谚语是给人们以警示的短小精悍的句子。 ”“比如说” 当我在脑海里拼命地搜索时，记价器上的数字又跳了 20 美分。最后我低声说：“欲速则不达？”但它算是
17、谚语吗？且慢，谚语是否应该是些小故事而并非短语呢？我还在掂量谚语可能就是小故事时，他又问：“那惯用语是谚语吗？”这我可以回答，但不是在此时。因为此时这一回答至关重要，一个好奇聪明的外国移民以为他所期待的答案会从一个本国人的口中自然而然地脱口而出，就好像十月的树叶会自然地落下来一样。因此我退却了。“你请乘客给你解释词意的时候，他们大多都会给你答案吗？”“会的，小姐，很有意思的解释。 ”直到那时，我一直在为这位司机学习英语的执著而感动，陶醉于能有机会与一个充满好奇心的人一起来满足自己对语言词语的好奇心，却未能充分意识到在这辆出租车上可能犯下的语言欺诈错误。我几乎不敢想象这位司机听到的是什么样的蹩脚
18、英语，因为像我这样的懦夫不敢坦白地承认：“我对自己的母语并不懂。 ” 我只能希望像他这样好奇的人会有一本字典，希望他能明白，不论乘客如何解释，发生围观塞车时，欲速则未必不达。Passage B Returning to CollegeIf I thought Id live to be a hundred, Id go back to college next fall. I was drafted into the Army at the end of my junior year and, after four years in the service, had no inclinatio
19、n to return to finish. By then, it seemed, I knew everything. Well, as it turns out, I dont know everything, and Im ready to spend some time learning. I wouldnt want to pick up where I left off. Id like to start all over again as a freshman. You see, it isnt just the education that appeals to me. Iv
20、e visited a dozen colleges in the last two years, and college life looks extraordinarily pleasant. The young people on campus are all gung ho to get out and get at life. They dont seem to understand theyre having one of its best parts. Here they are with no responsibility to anyone but themselves, a
21、 hundred or a thousand ready-made friends, teachers trying to help them, families at home waiting for them to return for Christmas to tell all about their triumphs, three meals a day - so it isnt gourmet food - but you cant have everything. Too many students dont really have much patience with the p
22、rocess of being educated. They think half the teachers are idiots, and I wouldnt deny this. They think the system stinks sometimes. I wouldnt deny that. They think there arent any nice girls/boys around. Id deny that. They just wont know what an idyllic time of life college can be until its over. Th
23、e students are anxious to acquire the knowledge they think they need to make a buck, but they arent really interested in education for educations sake. Thats where theyre wrong, and thats why Id like to go back to college. I know now what a joy knowledge can be, independent of anything you do with i
24、t. Id take several courses in philosophy. I like the thinking process that goes with it. Philosophers are fairer than is absolutely necessary, but I like them, even the ones that I think are wrong. Too much of what I know of the great philosophers comes secondhand or from condensations. Id like to t
25、ake a course in which I actually had to read Plato, Aristotle, Hume, Spinoza, Locke, John Dewey and the other great thinkers. Id like to take some calculus, too. I have absolutely no ability in that direction and not much interest, either, but theres something going on in mathematics that I dont und
26、erstand, and Id like to find out what it is. My report cards wont be mailed to my father and mother, so I wont have to worry about marks. I bet Il1 do better than when they were mailed. There are some literary classics I ought to read and I never will, unless Im forced to by a good professor, so Ill
27、 take a few courses in English literature. I took a course that featured George Gordon Byron, usually referred to now as “Lord Byron,“ and Id like to take that over again. I did very well in it the first time. I actually read all of Don Juan and have never gotten over how great it was. I know I coul
28、d get an A in that if I took it over. Id like to have a few easy courses. My history is very weak, and Id want several history courses. Im not going to break my back over them, but Id like to be refreshed about the broad outline of history. When someone says sixteenth century to me, Id like to be ab
29、le to it with some names and events. This is just a little conversational conceit, but thats life. If I can find a good teacher, Id certainly want to go back over English grammar and usage. Hed have to be good, because you might not think so sometimes, but I know a lot about using the language. Stil
30、l, there are times when Im stumped. I was wondering the other day what part of speech the word “please“ is in the sentence, “Please dont take me seriously.“ Ive been asked to speak at several college graduation ceremonies. Maybe if I graduate, theyll ask me to speak at my own.重返大学如果我认为我能活到百岁，那么明年秋天我
31、就要重返大学。我在大三快结束时应征入伍。四年服役期满后，不想返校完成学业。当时我觉得我好像什么都懂了。可是，事实是，我并不是什么都懂。我现在打算花点儿时间学习，但我不愿从休学的地方接着修读。我想重新从大一开始读。要知道，吸引我的不仅仅是大学教育本身。由于近两年来我参观过十几所大学，我感到大学生活异常愉快。 大学校园里的年轻人都巴不得尽快走出校园去体验生活。他们似乎并不明白他们现在享有的是生活中最美好的时期。在这里，他们除了对自己，无需对他人负责；在这里，他们有现成的朋友；老师会尽力帮助他们；家人会盼他们回家过圣诞节，讲述他们的得意经历；还有一日三餐，虽非美食，可你不能奢望太多。 太多的学生厌烦
32、了受教育的过程，他们认为一半的老师是傻瓜，这我不否认；他们认为体制有时糟糕透顶，这我也不否认；他们认为周围没有可爱的女孩儿和男孩儿，这我可不同意。他们只是身在其中，没有意识到大学时光是多么美好。学生们只是热心于掌握他们认为能使他们赚钱的知识，对教育本身实际不感兴趣。在这一点上他们大错特错了，而这一点正是我为什么要重返大学的原因。我现在知道知识的乐趣，一种与它的实用性无关的单纯的快乐。我要修几门哲学课程，我喜欢哲学的思维过程。哲学家们有时过于较真了，但我依然喜欢他们，甚至包括那些我认为持错误观点的哲学家。我对伟大哲学家的了解大多来自于二手资料或简写本。现在我想修一门必须研读柏拉图、亚里斯多德、休
33、谟、斯宾诺莎、洛克、约翰杜威和其他伟大思想家的课程。我还想学点微积分，在这方面我既无能力又缺乏兴趣，但是在数学领域发生的一些事情我搞不明白，所以我很想探个究竟。我不必担心成绩单，因为不会寄给我的父母。我敢肯定我会比当年把成绩单寄给父母时还要学得好些。还有一些文学名著我应该读，但如果没有来自良师的压力，我也许永远不会读，因此我要修几门英语文学课程。我曾经学过一门专门研究乔治戈登 拜伦（现在通常称为拜伦爵士）的课程，我现在还想再重修一遍。我第一次学得不错。我甚至认认真真地读完了唐璜 ，而且一直惊异它的伟大。如果我重修一定会得到“优“ 。我想选几门轻松的课程。我的历史是弱项，因此我要选几门历史课程。我当然不会为历史而呕心沥血，但至少我想重温一下历史的纲要。当有人向我提到十六世纪时，我会有能力立刻联想到某些人物和事件，这也许是为了在与人交谈时满足一点虚荣心，但这就是生活。如果能找到一位好老师，我一定要重新学习一遍英语语法和用法。他得是位优秀老师，因为我对语言的应用还颇有些研究，有时可能会认为他教得不好。我有时也会疑惑。有一天我就想过“please“一词在“Please dont take me seriously“一句中是什么词性。我曾应邀在几次大学毕业典礼上讲话。也许我毕业的时候，他们会请我在我自己的毕业典礼上讲话。
