大学体验英语第二册Unit5-Passage A

My Advice to Students: Education Counts
Hundreds of students send me e-mail each year asking for advice about education. They want to know what to study, or whether it's okay to drop out of college since that's what I did. 　

　A smaller number of parents send messages, seeking guidance for their son or daughter. "How can we steer¹ our child toward success?" they ask. 　

　My basic advice is simple and heartfelt: Get the best education you can. Take advantage of high school and college. Learn how to learn.　

　It's true that I dropped out of college to start Microsoft, but I was at Harvard for three years before dropping out--and I'd love to have the time to go back. As I've said before, nobody should drop out of college unless they believe they face the opportunity of a lifetime. And even then they should reconsider.　

　Kathy Cridland, a sixth-grade teacher in Ohio, wrote to say, "Several of my students claim that you never finished high school. Since you are a success, my students perceive that as a reason not to care much about getting a good education."　

　I finished high school! 　

　The computer industry has lots of people who didn't finish college, but I'm not aware of any success stories that began with somebody dropping out of high school. I actually don't know any high school dropouts, let alone any successful ones. 　

　In my company's early years we had a bright part-time programmer who threatened to drop out of high school to work full-time². We told him no. 　

　Quite a few of our people didn't finish college, but we discourage dropping out. Having a diploma certainly helps somebody who is looking to us for a job. 　

?College isn't the only place where information exists. You can learn in a library. But somebody handing you a book doesn't automatically foster learning. You want to learn with other people, ask questions, try out ideas and have a way to test your ability. It usually takes more than just a book.　

?Education should be broad, although it's fine to have deep interests, too. 　

　In high school there were periods when I was highly focused on writing software, but for most of my high school years I had wide-ranging academic interests. My parents encouraged this, and I'm grateful that they did. 　

　Although I attended a lot of different kinds of classes in college, I signed up for only one computer class the whole time. I read about all kinds of things. 　
　One parent wrote me that her 15-year-old son "lost himself in the hole of the computer." He got an A in website design, but other grades were sinking, she said. 　
　This boy is making a mistake. High school and college offer you the best chance to learn broadly - math, history, various sciences - and to do projects with other kids that teach you first-hand about group dynamics³. It's fine to take a deep interest in computers, dance, language or any other discipline, but not if it jeopardizes⁴ breadth. 　
　If you fall into an obsessive⁵ pattern in high school, you've got two problems. One is that you're unlikely to change when you go to college. The other is that if you don't get reasonably good grades, it's hard to go to a college that has the highly motivated, capable students who can really help you learn about the world. 　
　In college it's appropriate to think about specialization. Getting real expertise⁶ in an area of interest can lead to success--unless the specialty⁷ ends up being a dead end or you're not good at. Graduate school is one way to get specialized⁸ knowledge, although extended college education isn't always a good investment from a purely⁹ economic standpoint. 　

1 steer   

vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶

参考例句：

• If you push the car, I'll steer it.如果你来推车，我就来驾车。
• It's no use trying to steer the boy into a course of action that suits you.想说服这孩子按你的方式行事是徒劳的。

2 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

3 dynamics   

n.力学，动力学，动力，原动力；动态

参考例句：

• In order to succeed,you must master complicated knowledge of dynamics.要取得胜利，你必须掌握很复杂的动力学知识。
• Dynamics is a discipline that cannot be mastered without extensive practice.动力学是一门不做大量习题就不能掌握的学科。

4 jeopardizes   

危及，损害( jeopardize的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• If your reckless behavior jeopardizes this mission, you're out! 如果你不注意你的言行，会危及到这次任务你也会被开除！
• Factionalism now seriously jeopardizes our overall interest. 现在闹派性已经严重地妨害我们的大局。

5 obsessive   

adj. 着迷的, 强迫性的, 分神的

参考例句：

• Some people are obsessive about cleanliness.有些人有洁癖。
• He's becoming more and more obsessive about punctuality.他对守时要求越来越过分了。

6 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

7 specialty   

n.(speciality)特性，特质；专业，专长

参考例句：

• Shell carvings are a specialty of the town.贝雕是该城的特产。
• His specialty is English literature.他的专业是英国文学。

8 specialized   

adj.专门的，专业化的

参考例句：

• There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
• These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。

9 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。