《柯南脱口秀》第61期:鼓励广识教育

 you have written a book "In defense¹ of a liberal education",and a little bit is coming from, 你写了一本书《捍卫文科教育》 有一部分原因是因为

there's been in your opinion a bit of an attack on a liberal education.Is that true? 你觉得有人攻击文科教育 是这样的吗

President Obama himself said something recently.What is that he said? 奥巴马总统本人最近说了一些话 他说了什么

He said,well you know,kids nowdays should stop majoring in subjects like art history. 他说 如今的孩子们 应该停止学习艺术史等课程

They could get much better jobs if they were to go into skilled trades. 如果他们学习技术性劳动会找到更好的工作

There are governors in Florida,a lot of Republican governors,who are saying we're not going to fund any of these humanity majors. 佛罗里达州有些官员 很多共和党的官员说我们不会给人文专业资助

Who knows what they lead to.We want to fund stuff that gets you a job. 谁知道它们会导致怎么样 我们想资助能让你找到工作的专业

There's this idea that the broad general education,that really is America's distinctive² contribution. 大家有这么个想法 觉得广识教育 这真的是美国独特的贡献

This is what American colleges do better than anybody else in the world.We have the best colleges in the world. 美国大学在这一点上比世界上其它的大学都更好 我们拥有世界上最棒的大学

The idea is we should abandon all of that and start becoming chinese.And I think that's a mistake. 他们的观点是 我们该放弃那一切 开始模仿中国的做法 我觉得那是个错误

If you want to study science and be an engineer,great. 如果你想学科学 成为工程师 那很棒

But the great thing about the Amercian education system is it really encouraged broad general training, 但是美国教育系统的优秀之处 在于它十分鼓励广识教育

history,english,science and then you can go and specialize and do,you know go out into the workplace. 历史 英语 科学 然后你可以进行专业发展 去工作场所

I think you and I both had a liberal arts education.what did you major in?I majored in history. 我觉得我们都有过文科教育 你的专业是什么 历史

As far as I understand,the legend has it,you majored at the Harvard Lampoon³ and hung out and partied and wrote jokes, 据我所知 据传言 你主修的是哈佛讽刺文社 你经常出去玩 参加派对 写笑话

But it's worked out all right for you,so I'm not going to criticize. 但你现在过得挺好 我就不批评你了

 

1 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

2 distinctive   

adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的

参考例句：

• She has a very distinctive way of walking.她走路的样子与别人很不相同。
• This bird has several distinctive features.这个鸟具有几种突出的特征。

3 lampoon   

n.讽刺文章；v.讽刺

参考例句：

• His cartoon mercilessly lampoon the leading politician of the day.他的讽刺漫画无情地挖苦了当今的政界要人。
• He was lampooned for his short stature and political views.他的矮小身材和政治观点使他成了受奚落的对象。