今天的這段對話,在討論哈佛大學(xué)和耶魯大學(xué),
哈佛大學(xué)和耶魯大學(xué)之間有些什么恩怨?耶魯大學(xué)名字的由來
來聽今天的講解:
A: John, why do you want to prefer Harvard University to Yale University? They’re about the same.
約翰,為什么想選擇哈佛大學(xué)而不是耶魯大學(xué)呢?
B: You tell me your reason first.
你先說說你的理由。
A: To be honest, I’m kind of following the crowd. In China, the most well-known American universities are Harvard and Yale. They are like Oxford and Cambridge, so to speak. Oddly, far less Chinese students apply for Yale than for Harvard.
老實(shí)說,我有點(diǎn)隨大流。在中國數(shù)哈佛和耶魯最出名了,可以說就像牛津和劍橋一樣。奇怪的是,報(bào)考耶魯?shù)闹袊鴮W(xué)生遠(yuǎn)比報(bào)考哈佛的少。
B: I guess I know what you mean. Harvard is more popular in China, right? In the United States, the two universities will compete fiercely with each other in enrolling students each year.
我想我知道你什么意思了。哈佛在中國更流行,對嗎?在美國,每年大學(xué)招生時(shí)這兩所大學(xué)都要進(jìn)行激烈的競爭。
A: I’ve heard a little bit about the competition between them, which has lasted for more than 300 years. And their relationship is very subtle.
我聽說過一點(diǎn),他們之間的競爭有300年了,二者之間的關(guān)系還很微妙。
B: They have mixed feelings about each other, half gratitude and half resentment, as it were.
他們對彼此的感覺很復(fù)雜,可以說恩怨參半。
A: I thought they only see each other as rivals.
我以為他們只是把對方看作對手。
B: If you know Yale’s history, you will understand why sometimes Harvard behaves like a big brother.
如果你知道了耶魯?shù)臍v史,你就會明白為什么哈佛有時(shí)表現(xiàn)得像個(gè)兄長。
A: Can you tell me?
你能紿我說說嗎?
B: You may not know that Yale was founded by a group of Harvard students.
你可能不知道耶魯是由一群哈佛學(xué)生創(chuàng)建的。
A: Really? I didn’t know. How come?
真的嗎?我不知道,怎么回事?
B: We know that Harvard struggled to get rid of religious control after its foundation. In the second half of the 17 century, Harvard deviated more and more from Puritan tenets and moved towards academic freedom.
我們知道哈佛在成立之后就想要努力擺脫宗教束縛。17世紀(jì)下半葉,哈佛越來越偏離清教教義,走向?qū)W術(shù)自由。
A: That’s a big step forward.
那是向前邁出了很大一步。
B: But it incurred great dissatisfaction from some students, most of whom were from Congregational Church. They demanded for the original Puritan doctrine, but they were ignored by Harvard.
但這卻引起了一部分哈佛學(xué)生的不滿,這些學(xué)生大都是公理派教會的,他們要求恢復(fù)原來的清教教義,但院方?jīng)]理會他們。
A: Were they irritated?
他們生氣了?
B: Perhaps. Frustrated, in 1701 they founded a new college in New Haven, Connecticut and named it Collegiate School of Connecticut. The first president of the new college was also a Harvard alumnus. His name was Abraham Person.
也許吧。無奈之下,這些人1701年在康涅狄格州的紐黑文另建立了一所學(xué)院,并取名為康州聯(lián)和學(xué)校。新學(xué)院的第一任院長也是個(gè)哈佛畢業(yè)生,名叫亞伯拉罕皮爾遜。
A: Why was it called Yale later?
為什么后來叫耶魯了呢?
B: In 1718, another Harvard alumnus called Cotton Mather renamed it after an English businessman E. Yale who donated some goods, which were worth 562 pounds, and 417 books to the new college.
1718年另一位叫考頓麻特的哈佛畢業(yè)生以英國商人伊萊休耶魯?shù)拿譃閷W(xué)校重新命名,耶魯給學(xué)校捐了價(jià)值562英鎊的貨物和417本圖書。
A: Same as other private colleges.
和其他私立大學(xué)一樣。
B: Interestingly, Mather wasn’t appreciated at Harvard. He had been starving to become Harvard President, but was twice refused by the school board. So, he got a chip on his shoulder about this.
有趣的是,麻特本人不受哈佛的青睞。他一直渴望成為哈佛大學(xué)的校長,但兩次遭到校董會拒絕。所以,他一直為此憤憤不平。
A: It’s ironical. Harvard’s refusal gave birth to a top university in the States. Harvard people must take this to heart.
真諷刺。由于哈佛的拒絕產(chǎn)生了一所美國頂尖大學(xué)。哈佛人肯定對此耿耿于懷。
B: I believe Yale also took it to heart. After all, not only was it founded by a group of Harvard alumni, but its named was given by a Harvard alumnus. Still and all, Yale finally paid off the debt of gratitude it owned to Harvard.
我相信耶魯也耿耿于懷,畢竟它不僅是由哈佛畢業(yè)生建立的,連名字也是哈佛人給起的。盡管如此,耶魯終于還清了欠哈佛的人情債。
A: What happened?
發(fā)生了什么事?
B: In 1930 a Yale alumnus named Edward Harkness donated 13 million dollars to Harvard for constructing seven special Houses. That was enormous figure at that time and the Houses opened up the House system at Harvard.
1930年一位名叫愛德華?哈克尼斯的耶魯畢業(yè)生給哈佛捐了 1300萬美元,以建立七所特別的住宿學(xué)院。這在當(dāng)時(shí)是一筆天文數(shù)字,這些住宿學(xué)院開了哈佛的住宿學(xué)院體系的先河。
A: Why didn’t he donate money to his mother university?
他為什么不把錢捐給他的母校呢?
B: He did want to, but his idea received a cool response from Yale. In his flay, he donated money to Harvard. Anyway, his action paid off the debt Yale had owned to Harvard.
他想,可耶魯反應(yīng)冷淡。一氣之下,他就把錢捐給了哈佛。不管怎么說,他的行為也算是還清了耶魯欠哈佛的債。
A: I didn’t know there is such interesting stories between their relationship is subtle and complex.
我以前不知道哈佛和耶魯之間發(fā)生了這么有趣的事,難怪二者之間的關(guān)系很微妙呢。