Stop Worrying About the 'Death' of the Humanities
別再擔憂人文學科的“消亡”
By Adam Kirsch
Colleges across America are beginning to prepare for graduation season， but in some corners of campus， you're more likely to hear sounds of dread than of celebration. These trends started to spark alarm around five years ago， when observers began to talk about the “death，““decline“ or “crisis“ of the humanities.
美國各地高校正陸續為畢業季做準備，但在校園的某些角落，你更有可能聽到的是擔心的哀嘆，而不是慶祝的歡呼。大約五年前，觀察者們開始談論人文學科的“消亡”“衰落”或“危機”，這些趨勢開始引發警覺。
Scholarship is an important part of that culture but not its engine; if anything， it is a lagging indicator， where cultural developments that have been generated elsewhere turn up for formal examination.
學術研究在人文文化中占有重要地位，但并非其核心驅動力，如果要說關聯的話，它更像是一個有些滯后的指標，那些在別處產生的文化現象，最終被帶入學術領域接受專業的審視。
Humanistic scholarship fertilized European culture in profound ways， yet the best of that culture was not itself produced in universities.
人文領域的學術研究在很多方面深度滋養了歐洲文化，但這種文化中最精華的部分，并非誕生于大學校園之內。
This is the paradox of culture: It requires knowledge but flees academicization.
這便是文化的矛盾之處：它需要知識，卻又逃避學術化。
But the habit of seeing universities as the main or even sole custodians of humanistic culture isn't just inaccurate; it is bad for universities themselves. When we consider the university the only place where society can explicitly formulate its visions of truth， beauty and justice， it's no wonder that campuses become fierce ideological battlegrounds—for students， faculty and outside observers alike.
然而，將大學視為人文文化的主要甚至唯一守護者，這種慣性認知不僅不準確，也對大學本身有害。當我們認定大學是社會中唯一能清晰構建真理、美與正義愿景的場所時，校園變成學生、教師和外界觀察者之間硝煙彌漫的意識形態戰場，也就不足為奇了。
There is no reason to take pleasure in declining humanities enrollments， of course， but they hardly represent the death of the things that humanists cherish: free thought and free expression， the quest for beauty and truth.
當然，文科專業招生人數下降，不是什么值得高興的事。但人文學者們所珍視的自由思想、自由表達，以及對美與真理的追尋，并不會因此消失。
生詞好句
1.(the) humanities
英[hju?m?n?tiz]美[hju?m?n?tiz]
n.人文學科
2.dread
英[dred]美[dred]
（本文）n.擔心，焦慮，恐懼；v.擔心
拓展:
dread doing something擔心做......
dread something擔心......
dread the missed typos擔心有錯別字沒發現
dread to think不敢想
3.spark alarm
引發警覺
4.death
英[deθ]美[deθ]
n.完全消亡
5.decline
英[d??kla?n]美[d??kla?n]
n.衰退；v.下降
6.crisis
英[?kra?s?s]美[?kra?s?s]
n.危機
7.scholarship
英[?sk?l???p]美[?skɑ?l?r??p]
n.（本文）學術研究；獎學金
8.lag
英[l?ɡ]美[l?ɡ]
v.落后，滯后
拓展:
They waited for Tim who was lagging behind.
他們都在等Tim，他落后了。
9.fertilize
英[?f??t?la?z]美[?f?r?t?la?z]
v.（本文）滋養；施肥
10.profound
英[pr??fa?nd]美[pr??fa?nd]
adj.重要的，深刻的
11.flee
英[fli?]美[fli?]
v.逃離，逃避
12.academicization
英[??k??dem?sa??ze???n]美[??k?'dem?sa??ze???n]
n.學術化，學院化
13.see something as something
把……當作……
14.custodian
英[k?s?t??di?n]美[k?s?to?di?n]
n.看護人；（思想、精神等）捍衛者
15.formulate
英[?f??mjule?t]美[?f??rmjule?t]
v.形成，構建
16.vision
英[?v???n]美[?v???n]
n.愿景；長遠的眼光
拓展:
This organization has lost its vision and direction.
這個機構失去了它的長遠眼光和發展方向。
17.alike
英[??la?k]美[??la?k]
adv.同樣地
拓展:
He talks in a friendly manner to people of different classes alike.
他與人交談態度友好，不同階層之間沒有差別。
18.enrollment
英[?n?r??lm?nt]美[?n?ro?lm?nt]
n.注冊，招生
19.quest
英[kwest]美[kwest]
n.追求
拓展:
do something in one's quest for something做某事是因為追求......
He does all such work in his quest for truth.
他做所有這些工作，都是因為他在追求真理。