第三冊第17篇：多才多藝的人
It is, perhaps, no accident that many of the outstanding figures of the past were exceptionally versatile men. Right up until comparatively recent times, it was possible for an intelligent person to acquaint himself with almost every branch of knowledge. Thus, men of genius likeLeonardo da Vinci or Sir Philip Sidney, engaged in many careers at once as a matter of course. Da Vinci was so busy with his numerous inventions, that he barely found the time to complete his paintings; Sidney, who died in battle when he was only thirty-two years old, was not only a great soldier, but a brilliant scholar and poet as well. Both these men came very near to fulfilling the Renaissance ideal of the ' universal man', the man who was proficient at everything.
在過去的時代中，許多杰出人物都異乎尋常地多才多藝，這也許并不是偶然的。就在距今不遠(yuǎn)的時代，一個聰明人還有可能熟悉知識的幾乎每個部門。因此，達芬奇和西德尼這樣的天才人物被認(rèn)為理所當(dāng)然地要同時從事許多方面的工作。達?芬奇搞著他的數(shù)目眾多的發(fā)明，忙得幾乎沒有時間來完成他的畫;三十二歲就戰(zhàn)死在沙場的西德尼，不僅是一個勇敢的戰(zhàn)士，也是一個才氣橫溢的學(xué)者和詩人。他們幾乎成為文藝復(fù)興時期的理想人物--“萬能的人”，即精通每一件事情的人。
Today, we rarely, if ever, hear that a musician has just invented a new type of submarine. Knowledge has become divided and sub-divided into countless, narrowly-defined compartments. The specialist is venerated; the versatile person, far from being admired, is more often regarded with suspicion. The modern world is a world of highly-skilled 'experts' who have had to devote the greater part of their lives to a very limited field of study in order to compete with their fellows.
今天，我們不會聽說一個音樂家剛剛發(fā)明了一種新型的潛水艇，即使聽到的話也是極難得的。知識領(lǐng)域被分了又分，分成范圍狹窄而互相不通氣的無數(shù)部門。受人尊敬的是專家;而多面手非但不會被人欽佩，反而常常不為人所信任。當(dāng)今的世界是一個高度精通業(yè)務(wù)的“專家”的世界，這些專家都曾經(jīng)不得不用一生大部分時間研 究一個十分狹隘的領(lǐng)域，這樣才能和他的同行競爭。
With this high degree of specialization, the frontiers of knowledge are steadily being pushed back more rapidly than ever before. But this has not achieved without considerable cost. The scientist, who outside his own particular subject is little more than a moron, is a modern phenomenon; as is the man of letters who is barely aware of the tremendous strides that have been made in technology. Similarly, specialization has inderectly affected quite ordinary people in every walk of life. Many activities which were once pursued for their own sakes, are often given up in despair: they require techniques, the experts tell us, which take a life-time to master. Why learn to play the piano, when you can listen to the world's greatest pianists in your own drawing-room?
隨著專業(yè)化程度的提高，各門知識的邊界正在以前所未有的速度往里收縮。但這種收縮并不是沒有付出相當(dāng)大的代價就做到的。一個科學(xué)家離開了他的特殊專題，就不會比一個傻瓜強多少，正象一個文人對科技方面的重大進展幾乎一無所知一樣，都是現(xiàn)代才有的怪現(xiàn)象。同樣，專業(yè)化也間接地影響了各行各業(yè)中很普通的人。以前僅僅是由于對它們本身感到興趣而去從事的許多活動，現(xiàn)在常常被絕望地放棄了。專家們告訴我們，從事這些活動所需要的技術(shù)，得付出畢生的精力才能掌握。當(dāng)你能在客廳里欣賞世界上最偉大的鋼琴家演奏時，你干嗎還要學(xué)鋼琴呢?
