In the past few years， I’ve taught nonfiction writing to undergraduates and graduate students at Harvard， Yale， and Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism. Each semester I hope， and fear， that I will have nothing to teach my students because they already know how to write. And each semester I discover， again， that they don’t. The teaching of the humanities has fallen on hard times. So says a new report on the state of the humanities by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences， and so says the experience of nearly everyone who teaches at a college or university. Undergraduates will tell you that they’re under pressure — from their parents， from the burden of debt they incur， from society at large — to choose majors they believe will lead as directly as possible to good jobs. Too often， that means skipping the humanities. In other words， there is a new and narrowing vocational emphasis in the way students and their parents think about what to study in college.There is a certain literal-mindedness in the recent shift away from the humanities. It suggests a number of things. One， the rush to make education pay off presupposes that only the most immediately applicable skills are worth acquiring. Two， the humanities often do a bad job of explaining why the humanities matter. And three， the humanities often do a bad job of teaching the humanities. What many undergraduates do not know — and what so many of their professors have been unable to tell them — is how valuable the most fundamental gift of the humanities will turn out to be. That gift is clear thinking， clear writing and a lifelong engagement with literature. Writing well used to be a fundamental principle of the humanities， as essential as the knowledge of mathematics and statistics in the sciences. But writing well isn’t merely a utilitarian skill. It is about developing a rational grace and energy in your conversation with the world around you.
参考答案： 在过去几年里，我曾在哈佛大学、耶鲁大学、和哥伦比亚大学新闻学研究生院为本科生和研究生教授学术写作。每个学期我都充满希望，同时又有所担心，我担心如果我的学生已经掌握了写作，我将没有什么东西教授给他们。而每个学期我都一再发现，他们还是不会写作。 人文学科的教学已经陷入困境。美国文理科学研究院的一篇新报告对人文学科的现状做出了这样的评述，而且几乎每位高等院校的教师也有相同的体会。本科生会告诉你，他们承受着巨大的压力，这种压力来自其父母、来自债务的负担，来自全社会，而这种压力使得他们必须选择那些他们认为会更快、更有可能带来高薪工作的专业。这也经常意味着，逃掉人文学科的课程。 换句话说，当考虑在大学里该选择什么专业时，在学生和父母中产生了一种对职业选择的狭隘倾向。 近来当人们将注意力逐渐从人文学科转移开来的时候，人们是在考虑专业选择的某种实用性。这预示着一系列的问题。 一．急于让教育产生回报的冲动预示着，只有那些最直接应用的技能才值得学习。二.人文学科自身往往没能很好地阐释其重要性。三.人文学科往往并未向学习者很好地传授人文知识。 许多本科生所不知道的，同时也是他们许多教授未能告诉他们的是，人文学科那最基本的精髓将最终证明会有多么的珍贵。这种精髓就是思路清晰、行文简明，以及一生对文学的痴迷。 善于写作原本是人文学科的一个根本原则，这就如同数学和统计学在科学领域中一样的重要。然而，善于写作不仅仅是一个实用技能，它是一个人在与周围世界人们的交流中所培养起来的那种理性的优雅和能量。