六月的高考不仅仅是高三学生的一件大事,还是众多家长、老师、学校的头等大事。毫不夸张地说,高考就是中国一年一度的大事件。你是否还记得等待结果的焦虑?你是否还记得知道结果后的欣喜或失望?来自大学的通知让几人欢喜几人愁!
美式发音 适合泛听
Host: Over the past few weeks, many fat and many more thin envelopes arrived in the mail—some confusing, some 1)inadvertently cruel, at least to disappointed teenagers.
So after reading all those college rejections, which was the toughest one that you read?
Sue Shellenbarger (Columnist, The Wall Street Journal): I think Stanford University and Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, were up there, although this was certainly not a scientific survey, I have to emphasize. But some colleges are more direct and honest than others. And some of them say, you know, not all of our applicants met our standards. And I think Bates certainly falls into that category.
Host: You mentioned Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, quote, “The deans were 2)obliged to select from among candidates who could clearly do sound work at Bates,” leaving you strongly, I guess, with the impression that you could not do strong work at Bates.
Sue: But it’s interesting, isn’t it? That I think part of this—much of the story is in the people who receive the letter. Of course all the applicants at any college can’t do the work, but—and the letter is fairly honest and direct. And the dean of admission there is—takes great pains to write a respectful letter, agonizes over it, as do most of these deans, tries very hard to be clear, but, you know, again, respectful. It’s very hard to phrase a letter that someone isn’t going to take wrong because these students are at such a sensitive stage at their lives.
主持人:在过去的几周里,许多厚薄不一,但薄多于厚的信件出现在信箱里。有的信件让人摸不着头脑,有的则因一时之失而显得冷酷无情,至少对那些失望的青少年来说是如此。
那么,在看了这么多的大学拒绝信后,你觉得最不客气的是哪些?
苏·雪伦巴格(《华尔街日报》专栏作家):我觉得斯坦福大学和位于缅因州路易斯顿的贝茨学院应该是榜上有名。当然,我要强调的是,这并不是一次很科学的调查。但有些学校的拒绝信确实比其他的要直截了当。你也知道,有些学校会在信中说,并不是所有的申请人都符合我们的要求。我觉得贝茨学院正是属于这一类的。
主持人:你提到位于缅因州路易斯顿的贝茨学院,他们的拒绝信写道:“我校的系主任必须挑选那些无疑会在贝茨学院有出色表现的申请人。”这样你就不禁会有一种强烈的感觉:自己是不会在贝茨学院有出色表现的。
苏:那很有意思,对不对?我想其中的原因……我想这件事本身最重要的是收到拒绝信的人。当然,并不是所有申请上大学的人都能表现出色,但这种信还是太直接了。而这所学校的招生办主任为了写一封不伤人的拒绝信而绞尽脑汁,他就像其他学校的招生办主任一样,煞费苦心想写一封清晰明了但不伤人的拒绝信。因为这些学生正处于他们一生中一个非常敏感的时期,要写好一封不产生歧义的信非常不容易。
Host: Sure. Here’s an email from Irene in Buffalo, New York. “Two months ago while at work, I received an acceptance e-mail into one of the top graduate programs I applied to. I jumped for joy, put on my 3)two weeks notice, and said a few things to my boss about how sick I was of my job. Fifteen minutes later, I received an email explaining the acceptance had been sent to the wrong person, and that I was in fact rejected.”
Sue: Oh, that’s the worst of all possible outcomes. That happened on a larger scale at University of California, San Diego this year, where they accidentally sent an invitation to an admitted student’s open house to some 29,000 rejected applicants. It’s not a good time to make a mistake.
Host: Mary is with us from Denver.
Mary: Mine was actually a wait-listing letter from Stanford—so I thought it was interesting that you found that the one of the worst ones for direct ones—and it was for medical school. And I remember the opening line, word perfect, 25 years later. It started: This letter can’t make you very happy, but it could have been worse.
Host: What? They could have told you you had cancer?
Mary: Well, what they said is, you know, we’re wait-listing you, not rejecting you. Interestingly, the letter had one grammatical error and one misspelling—from a university…I got accepted to Columbia University and went there for med school. And I thought about sending Stanford a letter back that said: “This letter can’t make you very happy, but it could’ve been worse. You could’ve accepted me and I could be rejecting you.”
主持人:确实是。我这里有一封来自纽约州水牛城的电子邮件,发件人叫艾琳。她的邮件说:“两个月前我正在上班,收到一封录取电子邮件,发件方是我申请的其中一所顶级研究生院。我高兴得跳了起来,递交了辞职信,还对我的老板说了一些我对这份工作何其厌恶的话。十五分钟后,我又收到一封邮件,解释说录取通知发错了,我其实并没有被录取。”
苏:噢,那可是最坏的情形。今年加州大学圣地亚哥分校大规模地出现了许多这种事,他们不小心给大约两万九千名没被录取的学生发了录取学生参观学校的邀请函。这可不是犯错的好时候。
主持人:玛丽从丹佛加入我们的节目。
玛丽:准确地说,我收到的是斯坦福大学的候补通知书,所以我觉得你前面提到斯坦福大学的拒绝信属于最直接的信中最糟糕的拒绝信之一这一点很有意思。我的信来自斯坦福的医学院,尽管已经过了25年,但我还是记得这封信开篇的每一个字。信的一开始这样写道:这封信不会让你高兴,但结果可能会更糟糕。
主持人:什么意思?难不成他们会告诉你说你患了癌症?
玛丽:呃,他们的意思是,你也明白,我们只是把你放在候补名单上,还没有拒绝你。有意思的是,这封信里有一个语法错误,还有一个拼写错误——这可是一所大学发出的信……后来我被哥伦比亚大学录取了,上了医学院。我当时曾想过给斯坦福回一封信,信会这么写:这封信不会让你们高兴,但情况可能会更糟糕。有可能是你们录取了我,而我却放弃了到贵校就读。
Host: Mary, you’ve gone on to triumph after triumph, I’m sure—from strength to strength.
Mary: Thank you so much.
Host: Let’s go to the other end of the4)spectrum. Are there any colleges that you found that did it well?
Sue: Certainly, yes. Harvard, Duke—both had outstanding letters that—actually…
Host: Oh, well, they’ve had a lot of experience.
Sue: They—that’s right. They certainly have. Both of them, I think, provided something that the reader is looking for. And first, it’s an assurance that you’re going to do fine anyway. This is not a rejection of you as a human being. And second, kinda some help putting the rejection in perspective, taking the long view if you will.
Harvard, in particular, said past experience suggests a particular college a student attends is less important than what the student does to develop strengths over the next four years. Right away, it tells the reader, you’re OK, you’re going to be all right. And one of the, one young woman from Texas who got that letter said, you know, it made me feel proud for having even applied, and that’s a real accomplishment.
Host: That is an accomplishment. But, yeah, you do get those that, you know, suggest that maybe you’re better off checking out your local junior college or something like that.
Sue: Yes. Some of them make you feel pretty low. It’s true.
主持人:玛丽,你经历了从胜利走向胜利,而且我相信是越来越坚强。
玛丽:谢谢。
主持人:那我们来看看事情的另一头吧。你有没有发现一些学校的拒绝信写得不错的?
苏:当然有。哈佛大学和杜克大学,这两家的拒绝信确实有水平……
主持人:这个嘛,他们有许多经验啊。
苏:他们——对,确实也是。我认为这两家学校让收信人看到他们冀盼的东西。首先,信表达了对没有被录取的学生以后也会学有所成的信心,这封拒绝信并不是对学生的全盘否定。其次,这封信在某种程度上也帮助学生理智地从长远的角度看待这件事。
尤其是哈佛大学,他们的信提到,过去的经验表明,与学生在以后四年里的自身发展相比,上哪所大学是次要的。他们的信让收信人明白:你没事,你会很好的。其中一位得克萨斯州的年轻女子在收到他们的信后说,你知道吗,这封信让我觉得仅仅是向这所学校提出入学申请这事已经让我很自豪了。这可是一个了不起的成就了。
主持人:确实如此。但是,你也会收到一些学校的拒绝信,你也知道,暗示你最好去了解一下当地的社区学院,诸如此类的话。
苏:对,有些拒绝信让人情绪低落,这是真的。
翻译:旭文
