精英與名人

07-16

精英與名人許多美國非常有名的人其實並非美國的精英；Donald Champ之流的人物不計其數。相反，美國的精英往往是默默無聞。從出名的角度，計算機教授Randy Pausch算是幸運兒。可是，要不是因為他身患絕症，不久於人世，他可能也只是一個教授而已。美國的精英是支撐美國的棟樑，但是他們確是掩埋在普通人之中；在世界的範疇里，在各自的領域中散發著耀眼的光芒。

我在www.thelastlecture.com上看到如下一段文字：

On September 18, 2007, computer science professor Randy Pausch stepped in front of an audience of 400 people at Carnegie Mellon University to deliver a last lecture called 「Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.」 With slides of his CT scans beaming out to the audience, Randy told his audience about the cancer that is devouring his pancreas and that will claim his life in a matter of months. On the stage that day, Randy was youthful, energetic, handsome, often cheerfully, darkly funny. He seemed invincible. But this was a brief moment, as he himself acknowledged.

Randy』s lecture has become a phenomenon, celebrating the dreams we all strive to make realities. And now, in his book based on the now-famous lecture, Randy goes even deeper to inspire us all.

(Randy Pausch is a professor of Computer Science, Human Computer Interaction, and Design at Carnegie Mellon University. From 1988 to 1997, he taught at the University of Virginia. He is an award-winning teacher and researcher, and has worked with Adobe, Google, Electronic Arts (EA), and Walt Disney Imagineering, and pioneered the non-profit Alice project. (Alice is an innovative 3-D environment that teaches programming to young people via storytelling and interactive game-playing.) He also co-founded The Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon with Don Marinelli. (ETC is the premier professional graduate program for interactive entertainment as it is applies across a variety of fields.) He lives in Virginia with his wife and three children. )

Randy是美國精英中的一員，但是由於他身患絕症，將不久於人世。他到處演講他是如何努力實現他少兒時的夢想。有興趣的話，請看看，不單可以提高你的英語能力，也可以了解一下美國的Randy與俄國的「保爾」和中國的…是不是沒有什麼區別？

精英並非是名人，而是那些非常努力，又有責任感（大多是教育培養出來的）的英才；各類一流學者和一流專業人士。中國的精英正在逐步形成，但是，他們的人數和素質與世界強國還有很大的距離。就是中國過去30年派出去的留學生加起來也難與美國的精英相提並論。因為過去我們的留學生過分集中在技術類領域，社會與人文方面涉及的人太少。看來中國的年青人任重而道遠，需要在更廣泛的領域，更早地與世界精英融合在一起。