网帖翻译

I read for my post-grad at Oxford (2005-2006). There were 26 students in my batch. I was the most dumb of them all (though I cleared my 2 written final exams with A+ grades, failed miserably in the Stats exam multiple times; had prepared my MPhil & DPhil application as well; but dumped it all in a trash can on the final day; really didn’t want to carry on…). Most were Rhodes scholars(2) from across the Globe, National scholars and Asian-APAC-African Continent level scholars.

我在牛津大学读研究生（2005-2006年）。我的班上有26名学生。我是其中最笨的一个（尽管我的两门期末考试都取得了A+的成绩，但统计学考试失败了好几次；我还准备了我的哲学硕士和博士申请，但在最后一天都扔进了垃圾桶里；我真的不想继续下去...）。大部分学生都是罗兹学者，来自世界各地，还有国家奖学金和亚太非洲地区的奖学金。

In a pure showdown of intellect, man to man, subject to subject and intellect versus intellect; Oxbridge students will beat the best breed of IIT/IIMs anytime, anyplace, anywhere on Earth.

就纯粹的智力较量、人与人之间、学科与学科之间、智力与智力之间，牛津剑桥的学生随时随地都能击败最优秀的印度理工学院和印度管理学院的毕业生。

Having said that, now many of us will ask - “Are you out of your mind??? IIT/IIMs have the toughest exam on Earth… their grads are launching amazing eCommerce portals every day in India, disrupting the SCM eco-system; IT companies are ruled by IITs/IIMs literally; and what non-sense are you talking about? Are you an idiot?”

说到这里，很多人会问：“你是不是疯了？印度理工学院和印度管理学院的考试是全球最难的… 他们的毕业生每天都在印度推出了很多令人惊叹的电子商务门户网站，颠覆了供应链生态系统；IT公司几乎都是由印度理工学院和印度管理学院的毕业生主导的；你在说什么胡话？你是白痴吗？”
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What makes the University of Oxford an epitome of education? Why is it so revered globally for a 1,000 years? Why is it the greatest temple of knowledge on Earth?
Read on…
I will give you the *PERFECT* reasoning for that.

牛津大学为什么是教育的典范？为什么它在全球范围内备受尊崇已有1000年之久？为什么它是地球上知识的最伟大的殿堂？
继续读下去...
我将为你提供完美的解释。

Oxford & Cambridge are the 2 top most Classical Universities on Earth; Oxford being the oldest English speaking university on Earth. The total number of Nobel Laureates if you count from these 2 universities and the patents they have in total will put us to shame (Oxford = 58, Cambridge = 90; i.e. 148 Nobel Laureates shared between both).

牛津和剑桥是地球上两所最古老的古典大学；牛津是英语国家中最古老的大学。如果你统计这两所大学的诺贝尔奖获得者人数以及它们共同拥有的专利，这将让我们感到羞愧（牛津=58，剑桥=90；即这两所大学共享了148位诺贝尔奖得主）。

The reason is simple - like in my class of 26 students we were 5 Indians. And each Indian was like a “rat” looking for that next Consulting job desperately to buy that Merc and show off to his native - “Mera beta UK mein Consulting kar ta hai” (My son is into Consulting in the U.K.). E.g. I had a friend from Hyderabad in the U.K. who was there with me - his parents started dowry-talks back at home already cause “Mera beta Oxford mein hai! Faren mein settle kare ga!!!!!” (My son is in Oxford! He will settle in a foreign land!) (With due respect to all from Hyd, nothing against you guys!). I had a gold medal in my BTech in Computer Science engineering, had recommendations from 2 Professors who were visiting professors at Stanford University & California Institute of Technology, won “starist” (Batch Representative) elections 7 times in a row at the undergrads; had International papers published and what not!!!! I had lots of “attitude” and “ego” (like all Indians)

原因很简单——就像在我的班上26名学生中有5名印度人一样。每个印度学生都像一只“老鼠”，拼命寻找下一个咨询工作，以便买一辆奔驰车炫耀给他的家乡人看，“我儿子在英国做咨询工作”。比如，我在英国有一个来自海德拉巴的朋友，他和我一起在那里；他的父母在家里已经开始谈嫁妆的事情，因为“我儿子在牛津！”我在计算机科学工程方面获得了金牌，得到了两位斯坦福大学和加州理工学院的客座教授的推荐，连续7次当选为本科生代表，发表了国际论文等等！我有很多“态度”和“自负”（就像所有的印度人一样），

when on the first day; a snob and spoiled brat. When I met the other fellow students, my ego got shattered; was smashed into bits! Reason being simple - Oxford & Cambridge are not meant for joining for brand-names and then getting that Consulting job or for getting dowry. Corporate Rat Race has no meaning for 99% of the students who get into Oxford. Its not meant for any of this. Then you will ask - why the heck would anyone study at Oxford or Cambridge? In simple terms, “most students (with 1% exception like myself who were failures in the Oxbridge eyes); join Oxbridge to push the human race forward”.

但当我第一天见到其他同学时，我的自负被击碎了，粉碎成渣！原因很简单——牛津和剑桥并不是为了获得品牌名称而去的，也不是为了获得嫁妆或者咨询工作。对于99%的进入牛津的学生来说，企业的竞争毫无意义。对于任何这一切，它并不是用来的。然后你会问——为什么会有人去牛津或剑桥学习呢？简单来说，“大多数学生（除了像我这样1%的失败者，在牛津眼中）加入牛津是为了推动人类向前迈进”。

There’s a lot of depth in my last statement. Read it once again; SLOWLY this time. They become scientists, do amazing Molecular Biology research, do amazing Zoological research, find path-breaking Machine Learning algorithms which push cancer research forward decades; they find new ways of doing Behavioral Science studies which help decode why “men turns into rapists” and so on.

我的最后一句话里包含了很多深意。再读一遍，慢慢读。他们成为科学家，进行了惊人的分子生物学研究，进行了惊人的动物学研究，发现了颠覆性的机器学习算法，使癌症研究向前推进了几十年；他们找到了新的行为科学研究方法，帮助解码为什么“男人会变成强奸犯”等等。

Enough theory - now let’s talk some real examples - I had an African guy (Michael) in my batch, who became my best friend - he had stood first throughout his life, school, high-school, university, post-grad, and sexted as the only Rhodes scholar for full-funded 7-year research at Oxford from South Africa - he was doing research on “Understanding the psychological implications of Slavery on 2nd-generation children of former Slaves in Gold/Silver Mines in SA”; his recommendations would be put in Govt. policies when he finishes his MSc, then MPhil and finally his DPhil. We had job fairs at the Univ;

理论已经足够了——现在让我们谈谈一些真实的例子 - 我班上有一个非洲人（Michael），他成为了我的好朋友 - 他一直以第一的成绩度过他的一生，从小学、中学、大学、研究生到被选为南非唯一一名获得罗德奖学金的学者，可以在牛津进行为期7年的全额资助研究 - 他正在研究“理解奴隶制对南非金银矿二代子女的心理影响”，他的研究成果将在他完成硕士、哲学硕士和最终博士学位后纳入政府政策中。我们在大学举办了就业招聘会；
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where the world’s top 50 companies come and BEG (I articulately put the word here, not interview, cause the interview is more of a “formality” to sext undergrads / postgrads) to join them; Michael had people standing outside of his flat’s door of his hostel (I have seen it with my own eyes cause I used to visit his Hostel for playing pool) but he didn't speak with them. He said - no, he wants to go back cause his ancestors were slaves once.

世界上排名前50的公司前来恳求（我在这里用这个词来刻意描述，不是面试，因为面试更多的是一种“形式”，用于选择本科生/研究生）加入他们；迈克尔有人站在他宿舍的门外（我亲眼看到过，因为我经常去他的宿舍打台球），但他没有和他们交谈。他说——不，他想回去，因为他的祖先曾经是奴隶。

He wishes to return to his country and do something for the country, his society and Govt. His starting salary in any of the Consulting firms would have been minimum GBP 150,000 annual (I was a complete sub-standard nincompoop, mine was only GBP 45,000 in comparison). Second example - I met and dated for a brief time an amazing lady from Romania (she had stood first throughout her life in school, high-school, university) and now doing Behavioral Studies specialization at my Dept. We attended one Stats class together, became friends quick (cause I speak Russian fluently having lived in Moscow for 4 years) and we dated for 2 Sems.

他希望回到自己的国家，为国家、社会和政府做点事情。他在任何咨询公司的起薪最低为每年15万英镑（与我相比，我只有4.5万英镑）。第二个例子 - 我曾短暂约会一个来自罗马尼亚的了不起的女士（她一生中在学校、高中、大学里都名列前茅），现在正在我的部门攻读行为研究专业。我们一起上过一堂统计课，很快成为朋友（因为我流利地讲俄语，曾在莫斯科生活了4年），我们约会了两个学期。

She was there not to find any Corporate Job in London; but was being funded (4-year studies) by the Ministry of Internal Affairs at Romania; she was one of the top experts in her field doing “psychological analysis of how to stop organized crime” in Slavic States. I passed my exams with 45% in most exams, she aced the tests with 100% in all. Could she have not joined Google? Her IQ would be higher than Sundar Pichai himself. She's back in Romania now helping crack organized crime; has been recently promoted and part of the IRB (Interior of Organized Crime Unit) in her Govt.

她不是为了在伦敦找企业工作而在那里；而是得到罗马尼亚内政部的资助（为期4年的学习），她是她领域的顶尖专家之一，在斯拉夫国家进行“心理分析以阻止有组织犯罪”。她考试得分百分之百，我大多数考试只有45％。她难道不能加入谷歌吗？她的智商可能比桑达尔·皮查伊本人还要高。她现在回到罗马尼亚，帮助打击有组织犯罪；最近被提拔为内政部有组织犯罪单位(IRB)的一员。

Let’s now come to the 3rd example - the most wonderful of all - I met another guy (a British guy) this time - we were both working as ‘Porters’ during one of our breaks. We used to carry stuff from one place to another and help the Corporate Houses put up show during Job Fairs (this is organized by a Department at Oxford University called Oxford University Careers Service (OUCS) and we were both enlisted therein to work during Semester breaks).

现在让我们来看第三个例子 - 最美好的一个 - 这次遇到另一个家伙（一个英国家伙） - 我们都在一个休息时间内作为“搬运工”工作。我们经常搬运物品从一个地方到另一个地方，并在求职展览期间帮助企业搭设场地（这是牛津大学一个称为牛津大学职业服务中心(OUCS)的部门组织的，我们都被列入其中，在学期休息期间工作）。

This guy was doing his final year of DPhil in Environmental Sciences and we had one short course together. We became good friends; and I got to know him better. He had been a Scholar at Cambridge, stood first throughout his life, aced Cambridge (stood first in all years of Engineering), then did a year at Harvard, then switched to Oxford for his MPhil & PhD

这个家伙正在攻读环境科学的哲学博士最后一年，我们一起上过一个短期课程。我们成为好朋友；我更加了解他。他曾经在剑桥是一位学者，一生中一直名列前茅，在所有年份的工程中都表现出色，然后在哈佛待了一年，然后转到牛津攻读他的哲学硕士和博士学位

He travels to Africa every year to help understand and live & work amongst Masai people, lives with them 5-6 months every year for field projects; collects data, analyzes them and helps in conservation of their habitats for their future generations owing to threats that modern civilization has put on them. We were once working together for an event (setting up the stalls for the Large Corporate houses to come next day), I still remember - I had looked at his face and had asked him - “You have no money, not a good watch even, no car, no apartment; tomorrow when the world’s top companies will be here…

他每年前往非洲，帮助了解并与马赛人生活和工作，每年与他们生活在一起5-6个月用于野外项目；收集数据，分析数据，帮助保护他们的栖息地，以便为他们的未来世代对抗现代文明对他们造成的威胁。我们曾经在一次活动中一起工作（为明天到来的大公司搭建摊位），我仍然记得 - 我看着他的脸，问他 - “你没有钱，甚至没有一块好手表，没有车，没有公寓；明天当世界顶尖公司在这里的时候……

why don’t you get a job in Accenture OR Microsoft OR some company man… anyone on Earth will take you… they will be so happy to have you!”. He had smiled and said - “Have you been to Africa man? You need to go once. You wouldn't understand!” I had borrowed him one of my favorite novels during Oxford days, “Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life” by Jon Lee Anderson a few weeks back (since we both loved reading); which he came to return in a heavy downpour one evening. I was moving to London for beginning my “rat race” with an internship in a Consulting firm within a few days; and he was soon traveling to Africa. I still remember - I couldn’t look up to his eyes; cause was so ashamed within. I have never forgotten that feeling.

为什么你不去Accenture 或者 Microsoft 或其他公司呢...地球上的任何人都会接纳你…他们将非常高兴拥有你！”。他微笑着说 - “你去过非洲吗？你需要去一次。你无法理解！”几周前在牛津时，我借给他一本我最喜欢的小说，“切·格瓦拉：革命的一生”（作者乔恩·李·安德森），因为我们俩都喜欢阅读；他在一个傍晚的暴雨中归还了这本书。我几天后就要搬到伦敦开始在一家咨询公司实习的“搏斗”了；而他也很快要去非洲了。我仍然记得 - 我无法直视他的眼睛；因为我感到如此羞愧。我永远不会忘记那种感觉。

Now let’s do a quick summary:
Life’s obxtive for most students at Oxbridge or any of the Top Universities on Earth is to “push the human race forward”(3). E.g. in case of Oxford, most students I met and interacted with; their life’s desire was to get on to this page (lix given below) if possible in OR after their lifetimes; to leave a small dent in the Universe after they are no more. http://www.ox.ac.uk/about/oxford-people/famous-oxonians

现在让我们做一个简单总结：
牛津剑桥或地球上任何顶尖大学的大多数学生的生活目标是“推动人类进步”(3)。例如，在牛津，我遇到并交往过的大多数学生，他们的生活愿望是尽可能地登上这个页面（下面链接给出）；在他们生命中或之后，留下一个小小的印记在宇宙中。http://www.ox.ac.uk/about/oxford-people/famous-oxonians
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Joining a software company, or a Consulting firm or launching an eCommerce company selling baby soaps & oil & detergents & lingerie online has never been the Agenda for truly gifted individuals at the top universities. Hence, they indulge in activities & professions that can push the human race forward. Core attitude of students & professors is different. They are guided by the eternal yearning for life-long learning that will benefit Humanity. Folks like Malvika have no place in an IIT/IIM; Oxbridge & MIT definitely needs them cause they value the inherent excellence in them.

加入软件公司、咨询公司或开办在线销售婴儿肥皂、油和清洁剂以及内衣等产品的电子商务公司从来不是顶尖大学里真正有天赋的人的议程。因此，他们从事可以推动人类进步的活动和职业。学生和教授的核心态度是不同的。他们受到对终身学习的永恒渴望的指导，这将使人类受益。像Malvika这样的人在IIT/IIM中没有立足之地；但是牛津剑桥和麻省理工绝对需要他们，因为他们重视他们固有的卓越之处。

Professors at the Top Classical and Tech universities are chosen exclusively based on their merits. World-renowned fame and life-long dedication and ultimate sacrifice for many of them for their cause. Likes of Stephen Hawking at Cambridge, Amartya Sen at Harvard and Visiting Professor at Oxford University and countless of them. At my undergrads, 2 of the colleagues of 2 of my Professors won Nobel Prize in Solid State Physics; their dedication was immense. One of my Professors who's a world renowned Professor in Nuclear Energy was scheduled for a lecture on “Data Acquisition (DAQ) systems” didn't come on the day. We were very upset when the Junior TA turned up! We came to know - the cooling rods of one of the nuclear reactors in a nuclear power plant in China has shown some anomalous reading in the night; our Professor has been sent urgently by the Govt. after the Chinese Govt. has reached out in the middle of the night. So aptly exemplified in the Vedas in Sanskrit (that I had perused in my school days):

在顶尖的古典和科技大学，教授们的选拔完全基于他们的才能。他们中许多人享有举世闻名的声誉，毕生致力于自己的事业，甚至做出了最终的牺牲。像剑桥大学的斯蒂芬·霍金、哈佛大学的阿马蒂亚·森，以及牛津大学的客座教授和无数其他教授。在我的本科期间，我两位教授的两位同事获得了固体物理学诺贝尔奖；他们的奉献精神是巨大的。我们一位世界知名的核能教授原定要讲解“数据采集系统”却在当天没有出现。当助教代课时，我们感到非常沮丧！后来我们得知 - 中国某核电站的一个核反应堆的冷却棒在夜间显示出异常读数；中国政府在半夜联系了我校，紧急派遣了我们的教授前去。这正如梵文《吠陀经》中所生动描述的那样（我在学校时曾研读）：
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

स्वगृहे पूज्यते मूर्खः स्वग्रामे पूज्यते प्रभुः
स्वदेशे पूज्यते राजा विद्वान् सर्वत्र पूज्यते
Swa gruhe Poojyathe Murkha, Swa graame Poojyathe Prabhu, Swa deshe Poojyathe Raja, Vidhwan Sarvathra Poojyathe(4). Meaning, even an idiot (or imbecile) is respected in his/her own home(s), landlords are respected in their own villages, a King is respected in his own kingdom, a Scholar is above Political Barriers because he is globally respected wherever he goes. The Latin word 'science' simply means 'knowledge'. Intellect has no boundaries; its only purpose is to serve Humanity.

Swa gruhe Poojyathe Murkha, Swa graame Poojyathe Prabhu, Swa deshe Poojyathe Raja, Vidhwan Sarvathra Poojyathe(4)。意思是， 在自己家里，甚至一个白痴也会受到尊重，在自己的村庄，地主受人尊敬，在自己的国家，国王备受尊崇，智者因为在全球范围内无论走到哪里都备受尊敬而超越政治障碍。拉丁词“科学”简单地意味着“知识”。智慧无边界；它唯一的目的是为人类服务。

On the contrary, IIT/IIMs are rampant with SC/ST quota politics & Political Party Interference practically in every step of the educational process; from official sources, here’s the reservations in IITs in teaching staff: 15% for SC + 7.5% for ST + 27% for other backward classes (OBCs) = 49.5% (Source: IIT Bombay falls in line, starts faculty quota) & from what I have heard from my friends; as much as 60-70% Teachers are from Reserved Category in the newly formed IITs. Intellect cannot have Reservations; It is God's ultimate gift to humanity (close your eyes for 10 seconds and imagine this situation - Stephen Hawking attending a Trinamool Congress meeting chaired by Mamata Banerjee and she’s blasting him cause Youth TMC votes have considerably dropped in Cambridge over past couple of years especially in his Department of Mathematics; and in case he doesn’t pull his socks up; she could personally fire him and the next Newton Chair (aka Lucasian Chair of Mathematics) should come from a SC/ST in Wales in England!). Not in this lifetime!

相反，印度理工学院（IIT）和印度管理学院（IIM）充斥着针对SC/ST的配额政治和政党干预几乎贯穿教育过程的每一个环节；从官方消息来源，以下是IIT教师配额：15%为SC + 7.5%为ST + 27%为其他后备种姓（OBCs）= 49.5%（来源：印度理工学院孟买分校开始实施教师配额），根据我从朋友那里听到的内容，新成立的IIT中多达60-70%的教师来自保留类别。智慧不能有配额；这是上帝赐予人类的终极礼物（闭上眼睛想象这种情况 - 斯蒂芬·霍金参加由玛玛塔·班纳吉主持的泰里莫尔国会党会议，她在抨击他，因为过去几年来剑桥特别是在他所在的数学系，青年泰里莫尔国会党的选票大幅下降；如果他不振作起来，她可能亲自开除他，下一个牛顿主席（又称卢卡西安数学主席）应该来自威尔士的SC/ST！在这一生中不可能发生！）

Classical universities have the best Infrastructure, Funding & Truly Gifted Individuals who give back to their society. In comparison, our unis & IITs/IIMs have been transformed into factories which are mostly intended for churning out mediocre “slaves” for large Corps; a “rat race” for admissions, and then eventually “placement” and then finally filling up cheap IT Labor (I have lost count of how many IIT/IIM/ISB grads I have met across AWS, Microsoft, IBM and Oracle being what? Account Managers & Enterprise Sales Reps selling software licenses to customers!).
A vanguard of the Indian society - whom everyone looks up to and aspires to be - cannot fall so low.

古典大学拥有最好的基础设施、资金以及真正回馈社会的天赋个体。相比之下，我们的大学和IIT/IIM已经变成了大多数用于为大公司生产平庸“奴隶”的工厂；一个用于录取的“搏斗”，最终是“就业”最后最终填补廉价IT劳动力（我已经不清楚我遇到了多少IIT/IIM/ISB毕业生在AWS、Microsoft、IBM和Oracle中，做什么？ 主管和企业销售代表向客户销售软件许可证！）。印度社会的先锋 - 每个人都尊敬和渴望成为的人- 不能堕落如此之低。

In all, when I look back at this and compare our IITs/IIMs with my friends back in Oxford & Cambridge; and see how much they are striving to make a difference in their respective fields; I feel ashamed of my own existence, and how little I am; how insignificant and selfish I am; with a job at the 2nd largest Software company on Earth traveling around globally today; but without any real contribution to Society.

总的来说，当我回顾这一切并将我们的IIT/IIM与我在牛津和剑桥的朋友相比较；看到他们为在各自领域做出改变而努力多么艰苦，我对自己的存在感到羞愧，我是多么微小；我是多么微不足道和自私；如今在全球范围内旅行的地球第二大软件公司的工作，但没有对社会做出任何真正的贡献。
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We as a country to become the greatest; and for IIT/IIMs to rank amongst the best; our Society has to change. Has to mature; and push ourselves and our students for higher things. Higher aims. Noble aims. In Swami Vivekananda’s own words; he believed so strongly that Indian educational system yet doesn’t let our students excel in the perfect spiritual manner; so well quoted in “Education is the manifestation of the perfection already present in Man”. All this perfection requires is a breeding ground.

作为一个国家要变得伟大；并且为了使IIT/IIM跻身最佳之列；我们的社会必须改变。必须成熟；并推动我们自己和我们的学生追求更高的事物。更高的目标。高尚的目标。在斯瓦米·维韦卡南达的话中；他坚信印度的教育体系还没有让我们的学生以完美的精神方式取得卓越，如“教育是对人类已经存在的完美的展示”中所引用。所有这些完美都需要一个滋生的土壤。

What bewildered me during my tenure at Oxford was the beautiful dichotomy between financial abundance versus the God-like self control that many of the Scholars had. They had a paradigm of the ideal, which traversed across all religious, political, national and linguistic barriers.

在我在牛津的任期内，让我困惑的是学者们之间财务丰富与似神般的自我控制之间的美丽对立。他们有一个理想的范例，跨越宗教、政治、国家和语言的所有障碍。

Quintessentially, in Latin, Dignitas maior est quam tanti viri ejus vitae concipiunt, discendi desiderio aeternae is the difference. In English it is Marcus Aurelius’ one of the most renowned quotes, ‘A man’s worth can never be greater than the worth of his life’s ambitions; the eternal desire for learning!’ is the difference.

从拉丁语的角度来看，Dignitas maior est quam tanti viri ejus vitae concipiunt, discendi desiderio aeternae 是区别。用英语来说是马可·奥勒留最著名的一句话，“一个人的价值永远不可能超过他生命理想的价值；对永恒学习的渴望！” 就是区别。