美國教授爲你破解出國留學陷阱

作者：朱利安·泰普林教授 俄勒岡大學心理學博士，哈佛大學醫學院及馬薩諸塞州總醫院社區腦力保健項目博士後研究員。

In the course of 26 trips to China, most of them in the last 10 years, I have been involved with a substantial number of Chinese students pursuing education overseas. I’ve seen some stellar triumphs, some weak outcomes and some really painful and costly failures. Through all of this, I have developed strong feelings about the need to look at big questions first and avoid the pitfalls. Rather compressed, here in this little series of installments, are those questions.

我曾26次來到中國，其中大多數是在過去的10年裏。在此期間，我遇見過不少追求出國留學的中國學生，也目睹了他們中有些取得了巨大的成功，有些結果並不怎麼好，還有一些可以說是經歷了慘痛的失敗。有感於此，我強烈感到我們需要審視其中的問題，並防止掉入陷阱裏。以下我將十分簡要地分節說明這些問題。

There is a great deal to be said for quality overseas education. It may have wonderful advantages. At its best, it has demonstrated:

有關高質量的國外教育可以說的有很多，也有很好的優勢。最理想的狀態下，我們已經看到的有：

World-leading creativity and scientific excellence,

展示世界一流的創造力和卓越的科技

Great opportunities for finding major fields that truly fit the individual,

幫助學生找到真正適合自己的專業領域

Wide open opportunity for the late-blooming student,

爲大器晚成的學生提供廣闊的機遇

Clearly effective learn-by-discovering, learn-by-doing methods,

展示高效的“發現促學”和“實幹促學”的教學方法

Promotion of creativity, communication, teamwork and leadership that responds to the hunger of business, education and government entities.

促進學生的創新能力、溝通能力、團隊合作和領導能力，服務於商業、教育以及政府機構。

And so many Chinese students, witness the authorship lines in the world’s leading scientific publications, Science and Nature, have established themselves as distinguished, world-class scholars in their own right through US and European universities.

有許多中國學生在接受了美國和歐洲大學教育後成爲世界著名的學者，並在全球頂尖的科學書刊《科學與自然》中發表過文章。

Most nations pay a great deal of attention to the education offered to students. They spend a great deal of money and carefully regulate the quality of the offerings. China does no less—except for an important minority. That minority is the huge number of students shipped overseas for high school or university education. Judging from the range of outcomes, overseas education is something of a high-stakes gamble.

大多數國家對教育都給予許多關注。他們投入大量的金錢，仔細監管入學申請資格。中國對教育的投入不比其他國家少，但是針對一小部分重要人羣的投入還不及其他一些國家。這部分人就是跑到海外接受高中和大學教育的衆多留學生們。而從他們留學的種種結果判斷，出國留學就像是一場高風險賭博。

May I give the stories of 2 actual young people who stay in my home at vacations.

我分享一下在我家度假的兩個年輕人的真實故事。

J. At University in the US, J was an honors student and politically active in a number of causes. Toward the end she won a major fellowship to study politics in Washington, DC. Then, after an internship with a national TV network, she won a position as Asia Assistant in the Washington DC head office of a key international news organization.

學生J。J留學美國，在大學期間就是校內的優等生，在許多政治活動中也相當活躍。臨近畢業，她贏得了專業研究生獎學金，在華盛頓攻讀政治學。之後，她在國家電視臺實習了一段時間，然後又在一家主要國際新聞機構的華盛頓總部謀得亞洲版塊新聞助理一職。

E. E studied at a US university, finishing with three honors majors and a record as a teaching assistant in several courses, among other achievements. Three US medical schools accepted her; she chose a world-renowned one.

學生E。E也在美國一所大學學習，成績斐然，畢業後獲得了三個專業學位，還創造了一項紀錄，那就是同時擔任多門課程的助教。有三所美國醫學院同時錄取了她，她最後選擇了世界知名的那一所。

These stories warm our hearts and make us enthusiastic for overseas education. But such benefits are not lying about on the ground for easy collection. Overseas education is a little like a jungle. Misinformation abounds. There are real dangers in the unfamiliar complexities. Just how many students fall into them is not known. Here are two stories that I think are more common than we know.

這兩個故事溫暖人心，也讓我們對出國留學滿懷熱情。但是這樣的好處不是灑在地上可以輕易拾得的。出國留學就像是走進了叢林，充斥着誤導人的信息。處於陌生而又複雜的環境確實很危險，而又沒人知道有多少學生掉入了陷進。以下兩個故事我想大家一看就會認爲很是普遍。

Z. Without sound planning, Z determined to go overseas. Despite a seriously unpolished personal statement, he was accepted. His written English was so error-laden that passing the introductory courses turned into a huge hurdle. He was referred backward to easier, non-credit courses. At length, with the prospect of ever graduating becoming smaller and smaller, he withdrew.

學生Z。Z在沒有計劃周密的情況下就決定出國。儘管提交了一份相當粗糙的個人說明，但他還是被錄取了。他的英文書面能力很差，錯誤百出，結果通過基礎課程的考覈也成了一隻攔路虎。他被退到學習一些更簡單又沒有學分的課程。看着自己畢業的希望變得越來越渺茫，最後他只好選擇了退學。

C. An unexpectedly low gaokao score forced C to attend a low ranked Chinese college. A methodical worker, however, she prepared carefully and won a place in an overseas Master’s program in Human Resources. On completion, though, the job situation was awful. At last, just to pay bills, she took a position cleaning ladies’ fingernails. (J, E, Z, and C are good friends, but I have disguised their identities.)

學生C。沒料到高考成績會如此低的C不得不就讀一所排名靠後的國內大學。然而，她利用自己系統的學習方法，認真準備，考入了國外的人力資源碩士專業。但是畢業後工作形勢嚴峻。最後爲了餬口，她做了美甲師。（注：J,E,Z和C都是好友，我用代號來隱藏他們的真實身份。）

In this little set of articles, I will suggest that there are seven basic issues that must be addressed to give overseas education a decent foundation. My message is that we should worry much more about the big issues and only take up the fun of wrestling with the relative merits of one school vs. another once those big questions are settled –or there may be trouble and disappointment.

在這本書中，我將會指明爲了給出國留學奠定良好的基礎而必須解決的七個問題。我的觀點是我們應該更多擔憂這些大問題。一旦這些問題解決了，纔可以開始享受糾結於比較學校間的相對優點帶來的樂趣，不然的話，最後帶來的也許只是煩惱和失望。

In the next installments, we will take up one big issue at a time, looking first at how risk may be reduced.

在下一節當中，我們要開始將問題逐個解決。首先要看的是如何來降低風險。

詞彙點津：

stellar adj. 星的；主要的；星球的

pitfall n. 陷阱，圈套；缺陷；誘惑

例句：The road to the conquest of cancer is long and full of pitfall.

戰勝癌症的征途是漫長的，而且佈滿意想不到的困難。

installment n. 安裝；分期付款；部分；就職

例句：Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the highly anticipated installment in the series .

《哈利·波特與混血王子》是人們充滿期待的哈利·波特系列的第六部。

internship n. 實習生；（美）實習期；實習醫師職位

例句：When I accepted the internship at Morgan Stanley , I had no idea it was the only paying position.

當我接受摩根斯坦利的實習機會時，根本不知道這是唯一一個有實習工資的職位。

abound vi. 富於；充滿

例句：The English language abounds in phrasal verbs.

英語裏有大量的短語動詞。

unpolished a. 未磨光的,無光澤的,未磨練的

例句：The unpolished edges of the glass squares maintain an element of tension and act as an indicator of construction.

這些味精琢磨的玻璃方塊四邊保持著某種緊張元素，同時也成爲一種構成的指標。