名人家书：约翰奥哈拉致 女儿（威利奥哈拉）（1）中英文对照

　　princeton

　　7th january1962，sunday

　　my dear：

　　i have been thinking about our conversation oflast night，and i hope you have too.

　　1962，in some ways，is wylie o'hara's year ofdecision.some of the decisions you make this yearwill have an important bearing on decisions youmay want to make several years hence.

　　for example：suppose that when you are 20 or21 you should discover that you want to participatein one of the many activities that will be open toyoung people in the federal or state government.the first thing they will want to know is whateducation and/or training you have had nowadaysthe minimum，absolute minimum requirement forhundreds of jobs is two years'college，either at afour-year-college or at a junior college.

　　for another example：you have said that youdon't expect to marry before you are 23.well，thatis something you can't be sure of，but suppose you do wait till you're 23.suppose your fiancé-husband is a young man who is taking graduatework at some university——law，medicine，the sciences，government work，etc.—and you and he are living in the vicinity of his graduate school.you may want to do work on the college or the graduate school level yourself，but i assure you youwill not be very enthusiastic about it if you have tostart as a freshman of 23.

　　now i could go on at some length，but the point i am aiming at it this：i want you to thinkvery，very seriously about what you are going to doafter st.tim's.you are not miss richbitch.youare not going to be miss churchmouse，either，butyou must think in terms of being able to earn atleast part of your own living.i don't think you aregoing to fall in love with a dumbhead.i think adumbhead，rich or not，would bore the hell out ofyou.therefore it is extremely likely that the kindof boy you will like and fall in love with is going tobe one who uses his brains to earn his living.thatalmost automatically means that he will be takingeither graduate work or special post-college training of some sort.and even if you have children right away，you will want to keep up with him intellectually.

　　i can tell you from my own experience how important it is to have a wife with whom to discuss one's work.my first wife was a wellesley b.a.and a columbia m.a.and a diplomat，i think they are called，at the sorbonne.your mother did not go to college，but she could have.sister and your mother both graduated from good schools and took courses at columbia and your mother even attended lectures at oxford without having toenroll there.both your mother and sister loved toread and read a great deal，and sister is multilingual.both your mother and sister dislikedwomen's colleges，but they did not dislike higherlearning.they formed their dislike of college-girltypes thirty years ago.the type has almostvanished，because the kind of girl your mother andsister were then would be applying for collegetoday.everybody goes to college.

　　now this is what's on my mind：the tentative program you have outlined for yourself does notseem to me very“realistic”in 1962 and 1963 and soon.i am hopeful that you will redirect yourselftoward a good college so that you will get thosetwo minimum-requirement years on your recordand then be able，three years from now，to qualifyfor jobs or continue working for a degree.you will not regret having those two years on your record，whereas you might easily regret not having them.as your father i have a duty to point these thingsout to you.but once i have done that i have toleave the real decision up to you.

　　love，

　　dad

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　　亲爱的女儿：

　　我一直在思考我们昨晚的谈话，我希望你也如此。

　　1962年，从某种程度上来说，是对威利·奥哈拉具有决定性的一年。你今年所做的决定将会对你几年后所希望做出的决定起到至关重要的作用。

　　比如说：假设当你20岁或21岁时发现你想参加联邦政府或州政府为年轻人组织的某项活动。他们需要了解的第一件事就是你受过何种教育和培训。如今，对各行各业最低的要求是两年的大学教育，要么在四年制大学里学习，要么在两年制大学里学习。

　　再举一个例子：你说过你不想在23岁以前结婚。也许，这是你无法肯定的，但我们就假设你的确等到23岁。假设你的未婚夫是个在某所大学里读研究生的年轻人，他学的可能是法律、医学、理科、行政管理等等。你和他住在他的研究生院附近。你也许会希望你自己也上大学或读研究生，但我肯定，如果你在23岁时成为大学新生，你将没有热情去学习。

　　现在我得多说一些，但我的目的是：我希望你非常非常严肃地对待从圣·蒂姆斯中学毕业后你将做什么这一问题。你现在不是富家小姐。你将来也不会是一贫如洗的姑娘，但你必须考虑你怎样才能挣到至少你自己的部分生活费。我想你不会爱上一个笨蛋。我认为，一个笨蛋，不管是穷是富，他都会使你极其厌烦。因此，你喜欢或爱上的那种男孩儿，极有可能是用智慧来谋生的人。那就理所当然地意味着，他会读研究生或是接受大学毕业后的某种培训。并且，即使你想立即生孩子，你也会希望能与他在才智方面保持一致。