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12. astrophysicist: 天体物理学家。

13. 沃尔特·惠特曼告诉我“我是自己的完美版本！”，古希腊画家爱比克泰德也说“我有宙斯的火花！”Walt Whitman: 沃尔特·惠特曼（1819—1892），美国著名诗人；Epictetus: 爱比克泰德，希腊陶工兼画家，作品严谨雅致。 [原创文章：www.11jj.com]

[本文来自：www.11jj.com]

In our unspoken but not so subtle Darwinian competition with one another—which springs, I think, from our fear of our own insignificance, a subset of our dread of mortality—we have of late, we Americans, to our detriment, come to love accolades more than genuine achievement.14 No longer is it how you play the game, no longer is it even whether you win or lose, or learn or grow, or enjoy yourself doing it… Now it’s “So what does this get me?” As a consequence, we cheapen15 worthy endeavors.

 

It’s an epidemic—and in its way, not even dear old Wellesley High is immune… one of the best of the 37,000 nationwide, Wellesley High School.

 

If you’ve learned anything in your years here I hope it’s that education should be for, rather than material advantage, the exhilaration16 of learning. You’ve learned, too, I hope, as Sophocles assured us, that wisdom is the chief element of happiness (Second is ice cream… just an fyi).17 I also hope you’ve learned enough to recognize how little you know… how little you know now… at the moment… for today is just the beginning. It’s where you go from here that matters.

14. 达尔文的物竞天择理论鲜被谈及，却一直显而易见，我认为这样的理论来源于人类对自身渺小的惧怕，而这又可以追溯到人类对死亡的恐惧，我们美国人最近这一段时间总是偏爱赞美而不是真实的成就，然而这样的心态对我们有害无利。subset: 子集，子范畴；mortality: 死亡；detriment:损害，有害物；accolade: 荣耀，称赞。

15. cheapen: 贬低。