[原创]值得记念，斯坦福大学鲜为人知的历史(页 1) - 【外语】英语加油站 - 广东商学院校园风在线 _广东商学院|广商|社区|论坛|BBS

bbsdiver 发表于 2007-6-8 16:07

[原创]值得记念，斯坦福大学鲜为人知的历史

这篇文章也很有意思，自己翻译的，见笑见笑。 值得记念
一个真实的故事
一位身穿褪色方格裙子的女士和她那位身着家纺布西装的的丈夫，乘火车到达波士顿。由于没有预约，他们小心翼翼地走进哈佛大学校长办公室的外间。秘书一眼就能看出，哈佛大学校长跟这样的乡下土包子没有什么好谈的，那怕是在剑桥他们也不配。她皱起了眉头。
“我们想见校长”，男的轻声说。 “他整天都会很忙”，秘书随口答道。 “我们等他”，女的回答。
在接下来的几个小时里，秘书不理会他们，希望这对夫妻知难而退，赶紧离开。 他们没有走。秘书烦躁起来，最后决定去打扰校长，那怕是她经常遇到的那种小事也没有办法。
“可能他们见到您，几分钟后就会离开。”她告诉校长。他有些激怒地叹了口气，点头同意了。象他这等重要的人物显然不能在这样的人身上花费太多时间，但他也不能让褪色方格衣服和家纺布西装总是呆在他的办公室外间。
那位校长，正经八百地一脸严肃，大摇大摆地走向那对夫妇。那位女士告诉他：“我们有个儿子在哈佛读了一年书。他爱哈佛。他在这儿很开心。但是大约一年前，他出意外死了。我和我丈夫想在校园里给他立一个记念碑。”
校长没有感动，却很愤怒，他瓮声瓮气地说：“夫人，我们不能为每个在哈佛上过学的人，在他死后就在这儿树一个雕像。如果是这样的话，这里会变成一个公墓了。”
“噢，不是这样的”，那位女士赶紧解释说，“我们不想树一座雕像。我们想捐赠一座楼给哈佛。”
校长转动眼珠，打量了一下眼前的裉色方格裙子和家纺布西装，然后大声说：“一座楼！你们到底有没有想过一座楼要花多少钱？哈佛目前拥有的建筑价值超过750万美元。”
那位女士沉默了不语了。校长很得意。他现在可赶他们走了。那位女士转过身对她丈夫小声地说，“建一所大学就花这么一点钱？我们为什么不自己建一座呢？”
她的丈夫点了点头。
校长有点懵了，茫然不知所措。利兰•斯坦福（Leland Standford）夫妇离开了，到了加州Palo Alto。在那里建起了一座大学，用他们自己的名字命名，作为对那个哈佛不再关心的儿子的记念。
 Worth Remembering - by Malcolm Forbes
A True Story
A lady in a faded gingham dress and her husband, dressed in a homespun threadbare suit, stepped off the train in Boston, and walked timidly without an appointment into the Harvard University President's outer office. The secretary could tell in a moment that such backwoods, country hicks had no business at Harvard and probably didn't even deserve to be in Cambridge. She frowned.
"We want to see the President," the man said softly. "He'll be busy all day," the secretary snapped. "We'll wait," the lady replied.
For hours, the secretary ignored them, hoping that the couple would finally become discouraged and go away. They didn't and the secretary grew frustrated and finally decided to disturb the President, even though it was a chore she always regretted. 
"Maybe if they just see you for a few minutes, they'll leave," she told him. He sighed in exasperation and nodded. Someone of his importance obviously didn't have the time to spend with them, but he detested gingham dresses and homespun suits cluttering up his outer office. 
The President, stern-faced with dignity, strutted toward the couple. The lady told him, "We had a son who attended Harvard for one year. He loved Harvard. He was happy here. But about a year ago, he was accidentally killed. And my husband and I would like to erect a memorial to him, somewhere on campus."
The President wasn't touched, he was shocked. "Madam," he said gruffly. "We can't put up a statue for every person who attended Harvard and died. If we did, this place would look like a cemetery."
"Oh, no," the lady explained quickly. "We don't want to erect a statue. We thought we would like to give a building to Harvard."
The president rolled his eyes. He glanced at the gingham dress and homespun suit, then exclaimed, "A building! Do you have any earthly idea how much a building costs? We have over seven and a half million dollars in the physical plant at Harvard"
For a moment the lady was silent. The president was pleased. He could get rid of them now. And the lady turned to her husband and said quietly, "Is that all it costs to start a University? Why don't we just start our own?"
Her husband nodded.
The President's face wilted in confusion and bewilderment. And Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford walked away, traveling to Palo Alto, California where they established the university that bears their name, a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about.
You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat those who can do nothing for them or to them.
Malcolm Forbes

古道残阳 发表于 2007-6-8 16:48

在精美散文选作当中和读者文摘里都出现过跟这篇文章类似的.........

以后也可以自己捐钱建学校，但不用打自己的名声....gdccbbs12

Tim 发表于 2007-6-8 17:27

似曾相识。貌似N年前看过！！！！

baggio 发表于 2007-6-8 18:07

看过了。。。。。:98564110:

sunshinevo 发表于 2007-6-12 22:28

Actually, it is a myth. We can find the truth on the website of Stanford.

好的牙 发表于 2007-6-15 14:30

如何跨入美国名校之门给大家介绍个网站，[url]http://www.diysmart.org/bbs/viewthread.php?tid=644&extra=page%3D1[/url]

Amy. 发表于 2007-6-15 15:14

有点印象.......

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[原创]值得记念，斯坦福大学鲜为人知的历史