阳光透过窗帘照进来。咖啡厅里萦绕着《诗经》的吟诵声。

 

　　A woman stood in front of an audience of 10 people, sharing her appreciation of the beauty of poetry.

 

　　一位女士站在10名听众前面，分享着自己对诗歌之美的赏析。

 

　　Members of the audience each had a cup of tea. Each agreed with the speaker or aired their different points of view.

 

　　听众们每人一杯茶，或对发言者表示赞许，或是提出自己的不同看法。

 

　　In the shopping mall nearby, people spent their weekend in the hustle and bustle of shops and restaurants.

 

　　在旁边的购物中心里，人们将周末时光花费在商店和餐厅的喧嚣繁忙之中。

 

　　In the café, the discussion group slowed down their pace of life.

 

　　而在咖啡店里，该讨论小组放慢了自己的生活节奏。

 

　　Guo Xin, 26, is one of them. Guo has worked in the advertising industry for four years since graduating from college.

 

　　26岁的郭欣(音译)是他们中的一员。大学毕业后，郭欣在广告业内已工作了4个年头了。

 

　　She is always rushing to meet deadlines and customers keep changing their requirements.

 

　　她总是急急忙忙赶着按时交差，而客户们总是变更他们的要求。

 

　　Guo said: “I’m stressed. I cherish my college days when I was able to read poetry in the morning. It put my mind at ease.”

 

　　郭欣说：“我压力很大。我很怀念大学时光，那时我可以在早晨读诗，这可以放松我的心情。

 

　　Many college students and young white-collar workers relieve stress by singing loud songs at karaoke bars or getting drunk at dinner.

 

　　许多大学生和年轻白领们通过大声唱K或饭局买醉来舒缓压力。

 

　　But an increasing number of young people have turned to public salons. These events are usually held in cafés.

 

　　但越来越多的年轻人正开始将注意力投向公共沙龙。这些活动通常会在咖啡厅举办。

 

　　Besides relieving stress, young people are able to acquire knowledge about new subjects and find kindred spirits at the same time.

 

　　在舒缓压力的同时，年轻人还能从一些新话题中获得知识并结交志趣相投的人。

 

　　Hu Wei is the organizer of the public salon at Story Garden Café in Beijing. Hu has designed a series of courses for people in the culture industry or those who are interested in it.

 

　　胡伟(音译)是北京奇遇花园咖啡馆公共沙龙的组织者。他为文化产业人士或对该行业感兴趣的人设计了一系列课程。

 

　　The courses include workshops on editing books, on photography, drawing, reading, and a variety of interesting topics.

 

　　这些课程包括有关图书编辑、摄影、绘画、读书及多种趣味话题的工作坊。

 

　　Hu explained the inspiration for the public salon: “Like many workplace newbies, during the first three years of my career, I felt I lacked knowledge and skills and wanted further training.

 

　　对于创建公共沙龙的灵感来源，胡伟解释道：“同不少职场新人一样，在我刚参加工作的头三年，我感觉自己缺乏知识和技能，渴望接受更多的培训。

 

　　“But it’s not easy to go back to university. Neither is it attractive to ?blow big bucks on quick training courses.”

 

　　“但要返回大学并非易事。而花重金去参加那些快速培训课程也并非什么诱人的主意。”

 

　　Reducing the cost of learning is an important reason behind the boom in public salons.

 

　　减少学习开支是公共沙龙盛行背后的一个重要原因。

 

　　Huang Mou, 22, a fresh college grad, came up with the idea of inviting grass-roots experts online to be lecturers.

 

　　22岁的应届大学毕业生黄牟(音译)想到一个主意，那就是邀请一些网络草根专家来做讲师。

 

　　“A lecturer doesn’t necessarily need to be a big name. Anyone can be an inspiring lecturer as long as he or she probe into a specific area deep enough,” said Huang.

 

　　“讲师没必要一定是名人。只要对某一特定领域的研究够深入，任何人都能成为一位鼓舞人心的讲师。”黄牟说。

 

　　And he has discovered many such grass-roots experts on douban.com.

 

　　而且他在豆瓣网上已经找到了许多这样的草根专家。

 

　　So Huang established Open Douban Courses this January. Having read Huang’s notice, some douban.com users have volunteered to be the lecturers for various topics: Western literature, Chinese history, dance culture, and psychology.

 

　　因此，黄牟今年一月成立了“豆瓣公开课教室”。看了黄牟的公告后，一些豆瓣用户自告奋勇来担任各种主题的讲师，他们的课题多种多样，包括西方文学、中国历史、舞蹈文化和心理学。

 

　　They share book lists online, and give lectures at offline activities at cafés.

 

　　他们在网上分享书单，同时在咖啡厅中举办线下讲座。

 

　　Last Saturday, nearly 100 college students and white-collar workers, Chinese and foreigners, crowded the 3 Club in Beijing.

 

　　上周六，近百名来自国内外的大学生和白领聚集在北京的叁号会所。

 

　　They had an enjoyable time discussing Chinese history at Huang’s public salon.

 

　　他们在黄牟创办的公共沙龙上讨论了中国历史，共度了一段愉快的时光。

 

　　Liang Shuang, 25, was among them. She has studied computer science throughout her seven college years and is now working in the IT industry.

 

　　25岁的梁爽(音译)便是其中一员。她在大学攻读了7年的计算机科学专业，现在IT行业工作。

 

　　“I don’t want to see my life revolving around IT only,” Liang explained why she attended the salon.

 

　　“我不想让自己的生活只是围着IT转。”谈到自己为何要参加沙龙时，梁爽解释道。

 

　　Huang himself was upset by college education when he was at school. “College education is quite specialized, focusing on a specific major. We actually need more liberal arts courses,” said Huang. “It would terrify me to think I knew nothing other than my major and my job. I would be living like a machine.”

 

　　黄牟上学时便对大学教育感到十分不满。“大学教育太过单一，过于集中于一个特定专业。事实上我们需要更多的文学艺术课程。”他说，“一想到自己除了本专业和工作上的事，其他一无所知，我就觉得很可怕。我会像台机器一样活着。”

 

　　Jiang Hui, 22, a student from Beijing Foreign Studies University, has wide interests. She cannot find relevant optional courses or school clubs for some interests.

 

　　22岁的蒋惠(音译)是一名来自北京外国语大学的学生。她兴趣广泛，却找不到与某些个人兴趣有关的选修课程或校园社团。

 

　　Even if there is one, Jiang still finds public salons more attractive.

 

　　即使有，蒋惠还是觉得公共沙龙更具有吸引力。

 

　　“At public salons, I can meet people from all walks of life, not only students. It’s more interesting and inspiring to talk to different people,” said Jiang.

 

　　“在公共沙龙上，我能遇到各行各业的人，不止是学生群体。跟不同的人交流更有趣味，也更让人深受启发。”蒋惠说。

 

　　Jiang is ambitious for a career in the field of intellectual property rights of high-end brands.

 

　　蒋惠十分渴望能够在高端品牌的知识产权领域工作。

 

　　She has met people from arts design and fashion marketing industries at salons. They have offered useful inside information.

 

　　在沙龙上，她遇到了来自艺术设计和时尚营销行业的人们。他们为她提供了有用的业内信息。

 

　　Ji Peng, the organizer of New Knowledge Salon in Beijing, agrees that public salons are a good place for social-networking.

 

　　北京新知沙龙的组织者季鹏(音译)也认为公共沙龙是个很好的社交场合。

 

　　“Only those who share similar interests will attend a specific public salon,” said Ji. “You will enjoy a lasting friendship with people with common interests.”

 

　　“只有兴趣相近的人才会参加同一个公共沙龙。”季鹏说，“你将与志趣相投的人建立起长久的友谊。”