-
3. Genius Sacrificed for Failure Dr.
William N. Brown
3.
为逐瓦釜舍黄钟
威廉
·
布朗博士
During my youth in
America’s
Appalachian
mountains, I learned that farmers
pre
ferred sons over daughters, largely
because boys were better at heavy farm labor
(thou
gh what boys anywhere could
best/outwit the tireless
Hui’an
girls in the field of
Fujia
n!)
绮纨之岁，我知悉在美国阿巴拉契亚山脉的
农场重男轻女蔚然成风
,
多半因
男子更
胜任繁重的农活
(
而不知疲倦的惠安女子令任何地方的男孩子自
叹弗如！
)
With only 3% of
American in agriculture today, brain has
supplanted brawn, yet
cultural
preferences, like bad habits, are easier to make
than break. But history warns
repeatedly of the tragic cost of
dismissing too casually the gifts of the so-called
weake
r sex.
现如今在美国，大脑已经取代膂力，
仅
3%
的美国人从事农业劳作，然而教
养偏好恰似秽瑕，沾染易，涤荡难。但历史不止一次警示我们，随便忽视性别弱
势群体的
天赋将付出惨重代价。
About 150 years
ago, a village church vicar in Yorkshire, England,
had three love
ly, intelligent daughters
but his hopes hinged entirely on the sole male
heir, Branwell,
a youth with remarkable
talent in both art and literature.
大约
150
年前
,
在英
格兰约克郡
,
一个乡村教堂的牧师有三个可爱聪明的女儿
,
但他却把希望完全寄托在唯一的男性继承人
---
布郎身上
,
这个在艺术和文学上
天
赋异才的年轻人。
Branwell’s
father and
sisters hoarded their pennies to pack him off to
London’s
R
oyal
Academy of Arts, but if art was his calling, he
dialed a wrong number. Within we
eks he
hightailed it home, a penniless failure.
父亲和姐妹布衣疏食，把他送到伦敦皇家艺术学院
,
但若以
艺术为生
,
他选错
职业。几周时间
,
他就身无分文，败北归家。
Hopes still high, the family landed
Branwell a job as a private tutor, hoping this
would free him to develop his literary
skills and achieve the success and fame that he
deserved. Failure again.