以下内容选自“杨凡英语学习丛书-拓展写作思路”

Nor can I blame them. They live in a brutal economy.
但我也不能责怪他们，因为他们生活在残酷的经济时代。

Today it is not unusual for a student, even if he works part time at college and full time during the summer, to accrue $ 5.000 in loans after graduation.
今天对一个学生来说，即使他在念书时兼职打工，在暑假全职工作，以攒钱在毕业后偿还5000美元的债务，也是很平常的。

Exhorted at commencement to go forth into the world, he is already behind as he goes forth. How could he not feel under pressure throughout college to prepare for this day of reckoning?
在毕业时，他们受到鼓舞踏入社会，而事实上，在他踏入社会之际已落后于他人了。为了跟上时代步伐，他们在大学生活中怎会受不到压力呢？

Along with economic pressure goes parental pressure. Inevitably, the two are deeply intertwined.
与经济压力同时存在的是来自父母的压力，这两者不可避免地融合在一起。

Poor students. They are caught in one of the oldest webs of love and duty and guilt. The parents mean well; they are trying to steer their sons and daughters toward a secure future. But the sons and daughters toward a secure future. But the sons and daughters want to major in history or classics or philosophy—subjects with no “practical” value. Where’s the payoff on the humanities? It’s not easy to persuade such loving parents that the humanities do indeed pay off. The intellectual faculties developed by studying subjects like history and classics are just the faculties that make creative leaders in business or almost any general field.
可怜的学生们！他们被古老的爱、职责、负疚感所包围。父母们是对的他们正把自己的儿女引向一个安全的未来。但这些孩子却想主修历史、古典文学、哲学这些没有“现实”价值的专业。但学人文科学的报偿又在何处呢？要说服父母人文科学有所报偿并不容易。由学习历史和古典文学所培养出来的能力正是事业及其他一般领域有创造力的领导人所必备 的能力。

Luckily for me, most of them got into their field by a circuitous route, to their surprise, after many detours. The students are startled. They can hardly conceive of a career that was not preplanned. They can hardly imagine allowing the hand of God or chance to nudge them down some unforeseen trail.
幸运的是，许多学生几经曲折终于到达他们自己的领域，对此他们感到吃惊。因为他们很难想象在未经批准的情况下也可获得一份工作，他们无法相信上帝之手或者机缘把他们推向不可预知的未来。
 
One of the hot issues many people complain about today is smoking in public places such as buses, cinemas and department stores. In spite of that, there are still some people smoking cigarettes in sight of “NO SMOKING”. For them, nothing seems more difficult and painful than giving up the harmful habit.
现在人们牢骚最多的问题之一是在公共场所吸烟，比如说在公共汽车上、电影院里和商场中。尽管如此，仍有一些人看着“禁止吸烟”的牌子在抽烟。对于这些人，最痛苦的事莫过于戒烟了。

Several factors may account for this. One factor is that smokers depend psychologically on cigarettes. Whenever they feel nervous, excited, sad or happy, they turn to smoking by instinct.  Another one is that those who smoke in public places are of loose morals. These people seldom think of the damage that their smoking does to the health of nearby non-smokers.
有几个原因可以解释这一现象。一是烟民在心理上依赖于香烟。当他们感到紧张、激动、高兴或不高兴时，就会下意识地想要吸烟。二是在公共场所吸烟的烟民道德素质不高。这些人几乎不考虑抽烟给周围非吸烟者造成的健康危害。