哈佛大學校園英語情景對話36：法學院之爭

Han Meimei and Li Lei are talking about law schools.

H： Li Lei, did I tell you that I have full intent to go straight to law school after undergrad uate, although I’m still in high school?

H:李雷，我告訴過你我打算在畢業(yè)之后直接讀法律嗎?雖然我現(xiàn)在仍然還在讀高中。

L： No, but it’s good for you to set high goals for yourself so that you can push yourself to meet and exceed① them.

沒有。但你為你自己設定高的目標對你來說是件好事。這樣你就可以推動自己, 并滿足和超越目標。

H: But I can’t decide on a law school.

但我現(xiàn)在不能夠決定進哪一個法學院。

L： Don’t you plan to come to Harvard Law School?

你不打算去哈佛法學院嗎?

H: I have my heart set on attending Harvard, but I know that Yale Law School always ranks first in the rankings of top law schools. This year, Yale stays No. 1 while Harvard Law School only ranks the second. Should I be aiming more for Yale than Harvard?

我一心想讀哈佛,但我知道耶魯法學院經(jīng)常在頂尖的法學院的排行榜中排名第一。 今年，耶魯仍然保持第一，而哈佛才排名第二。這樣我是否應該瞄準耶魯而多過 哈佛呢?

L: Definitely, many people are pitting Harvard against Yale. From my personal point of view, however, if you get into both, flip a coin, you'll be fine either way.

確實，很多人經(jīng)常把哈佛和耶魯比較。但對于我來說，如果你不知道選擇哪個好 的話，你可以拋硬幣，這樣無論是哪種結(jié)果都不賴。

H: I thought so, but..,

我也覺得是。但……

L: I believe at either place you’re going to get a great education and get a great job.If I could give you one piece of advise it would be this: forget reputation. It can be very tempting to choose Yale because it’s the number one school in nation or Harvard because it’s Harvard.

我相信，這兩個地方的任何一個，都可以讓你得到很好的教育，也都可以找到一 份很好的工作。如果我能結(jié)你一點建議的話，那應該是:忘記聲譽。選擇耶魯會是 件很誘人的事情，因為它在美國是排名第一的法學院，或者選擇哈佛,因為它是哈佛。

H： Yes, Fve been tom between the two choices.

我在這兩個選擇中都快崩漬了。

L: When you，re deciding between these two schools I can’t emphasize too much how little this matters. Everyone has heard of both schools, and everyone will say, “Oh，wow!” when you tell them which school you attend.

當你正在這兩個學院中選擇決定的時候，這根本就不是什么大問題。每個人都聽 說過這兩所學校，當你告訴他們你上哪個學校時，每個人都會說，"哦，哇! ”。

H: Despite this，I do hear that Yale’s pressure-alleviating and very “lenient". To an extent of course, grading system of “Honors，Pass, Fail” is given any less respect from top firms than the standard GPA/Rank system at HLS?

盡管這樣，我確實聽說耶魯大學壓力是比較小的，也很寬松。在某個程度來說， 與哈佛商學院的平均分評分系統(tǒng)相比，耶魯?shù)?quot;優(yōu)異、及格、不及格”的評分方 式不太被一流公司重視認可。

L： I don’t think there is any evidence that firms on the whole give less respect to Yale Law grads than Harvard Law grads. Do you have any evidence to suggest that ?

我不認為有任何的證據(jù)可以證明所有的企 業(yè)都對哈佛畢業(yè)生的重視多于對耶魯?shù)?。你有什么證據(jù)來證明嗎?

H： No, but it’s said so.

沒有，但據(jù)說是這樣的。

L: Yes, there may be some firms that prefer the harder approach of Harvard, but there are other firms that prefer the softer approach of Yale.

是的。也許有些企業(yè)選擇哈佛這個較為 強硬的方式，但有些其他的企業(yè)會選擇耶 魯較為柔和的方式。

H: Thank you, because that clears up nothing.

謝謝你!因為這等于沒說。

L: Don’t get hot and bothered. One thing that may cause a few firms to shy away from Yale Law is the predilection of Yale Law grads to not want to work in firms. They are in favor of other career paths, like academia, clerkships, or politics.

別火呀。造成某些企業(yè)回避耶魯法學院的其中一個原因是耶魯畢業(yè)生不太偏向于 進公司，他們更喜歡其他職業(yè)道路，比如學術(shù)、法律辦事員或政治。

H： Do they?

是這樣嗎?

L： Yes, maybe firms shying away from Yale Law graduates because they’re scared that they’ll quit to go run for President. That’s an exaggeration, but you know what I mean.

是的，可能企業(yè)回避耶魯法學院的畢業(yè)生，是因為他們害怕這些畢業(yè)生將會離職 而去競選總統(tǒng)。這是夸張的說法，但我想你懂我的意思。

H: Then how on earth can I pick one? "

那么我到底應該選擇哪個呢?

L: There’re some differences between the teaching methods of the two schools. YLS is more interested in the philosophy of the laws, while Harvard's approach is to examine the application of the law.

兩個學院的教學方式有些不一樣。耶魯更多的是專注于法律哲學，而哈佛方法是考查法律的應用。

H: Oh, I see. I’m more interested in practice.

H:哦，我明白了。我對應用實踐更感興趣。

L： So pick the one that will make you happy. For most of us these are the very last years we will ever spend in school. Why not enjoy them?

L:所以選擇一個可以讓你開心的學校吧。對于我們大部分的人來說，這將是我們在 學校度過的最后一些年頭了。為什么不好好享受它呢?