penguin英语课文

2021年1月24日发(作者：权威人士)
Majoring in English for Fun and Profit
1The
study of literature is not only civilized
and civilizing
—
encompassing, as
it does,
philosophy,
religion,
the
history
of
events
and
the
history
of
ideas
—

but
popular
and
practical. One-sixth of all those who
receive bachelor’s degrees from the College of Arts
and Sciences are English majors. These graduates qualify for a surprising range of jobs.
Their experience puts the lie to the popular superstition that English majors must choose
between
journalism
and
teaching:
in
fact,
English
majors
also
receive
excellent
preparation for future careers in law, medicine, business, and government service.



2Undergraduates looking forward to law school or medical school are often advised to
follow
a
strict
regimen
of
courses
considered
directly
relevant
to
their
career
choices.
Future
law-school
students
are
advised
to
take
courses
in
political
science,
history,
accounting, business administration
—
even human anatomy, and marriage and family life.
Future medical school students are steered into multiple science courses
—
actually far
more science courses than they need for entrance into medical school. Surprisingly, many
law
schools
and
medical
schools indicate
that
such
specialized
preparation
is
not
only
unnecessary, but undesirable. There are no
law school
—
and for the practice of law
—
is that preparation which makes a student
capable
of
critical
thinking;
of
clear,
logical
self-expression;
of
sensitive
analysis
of
the
motives, the actions, and the thoughts of other human beings. These are skills which the
study of English is designed to teach.

3
Entrance into law school, moreover, generally requires a bachelor’s degree from an
accredited institution, a minimum grade point average, and an acceptable score on the
Law School Admission Test (L.S.A.T.). This test has three parts. The first evaluates skills
in reading comprehension, in figure classification, and in the evaluation of written material.
The second part of the
test
evaluates control of English
grammar and
usage, ability to
organize written materials, and competence to edit. The third part evaluates the student’s
general knowledge of literature, art, music, and the natural and social sciences. Clearly an
undergraduate major in English is strong preparation for the L.S.A.T.

4As for medical schools, the main requirement for admission is only thirty-two hours of
science
courses.
This
requirement
is
certainly
no
impediment
to
a
major
in
English.
Moreover
many
medical
schools
require
a
minimum
score
on
the
Medical
College
Admissions Test, another test which offers an advantage to the well-rounded liberal arts
student.
The
M.C.A.T.
evaluates
four
areas
of
competence:
skill
with
synonyms,
antonyms, and word association; knowledge of basic mathematics from fractions through
solid geometry; general knowledge of literature, philosophy, psychology, music, art, and
the
social
sciences;
and
familiarity
with
those
fundamentals
of
biology,
chemistry,
and
physics taught in high school and in introductory college courses. The English major with
a solid, basic grounding in science is well prepared for this test and for medical school,
where his or her skills in reading, analysis, interpretation, and precise communication will
equip him or her to excel. The study and practice of medicine can only benefit from the
insights into human behavior provided by the study of literature.


5Such insights are obviously also valuable to the student who plans a career in commerce.
Such students should consider the advantages of an English major with an emphasis in
business:
this
program
is
designed
to
provide
a
liberal
education,
as
well
as
to
direct
preparation for a business career. The need for such a program is clear: graduates with
merely technical qualifications are finding jobs in business, but often failing to hold them.
Both
the
Wall Street
Journal
and
the Journal
of College
Placement
have
reported
that
increasing numbers of graduates from reputable business schools find themselves drifting
from one job or firm to another, unable to hold a position for longer than twelve months.
Employers complain that these apparently promising young men and women are simply
not
competent
communicators:
because
they
are
not
sufficiently
literate,
they
cannot
absorb managerial training; they
cannot make effective
oral presentations; they
cannot
report
progress
or
problems
in
their
writing;
they
cannot
direct
other
workers.
Skill
in
analysis and communication is the essence of management.



6Consequently
the
English
major
with
an
emphasis
in
business
is
particularly
well
prepared for a future in business administration. Nearly four hundred companies in fields
ranging
from
banking
and
insurance
to
communications
to
manufacturing
were
asked
whether they hired college graduates with degrees in English, even when those graduates
lacked special training in the industry: Eighty-five percent of the companies said that they
did. College graduates with degrees in English are working successfully in marketing, in
systems
engineering,
in
personnel
management,
in
sales,
in
programming,
in
project
design, and in labor relations.



7English majors are also at work in the thousand occupations provided by government
at
all
levels.
Consider,
for
example,
the
federal
government
—
by
a
very
wide
margin,
America’s
biggest
employer.
In
organizations
ranging
from
the
Marine
Corps
to
the
Bureau
of
Mines,
from
the
Commerce
Department
to
the
National
Park
Service,
the