读博,读什么.docx

转载读博，读什么？（柳东阳）Working on a Doctoral Degree what are you working on? （苗德岁）母亲有位远亲，据说在英国，八十年代终于回国探亲。母亲第一次和我说起人家是博士，当回国看到国内的烟囱冒着黑烟时，很有感叹称黑烟中可以提炼出好多东西，这样冒出去白白浪费了；还有不可考证的是英国人在他体内注射了药物，如果不按时回去，就会发作而死。童年的印象很深刻，现在还有记忆，一是知道了有个“博士”这个名称，二是听到到“西方外国”就联想到从烟囱里提炼东西，感觉人家好聪明。My mother has a distant relative, who was said to live in England and came back to visit his relatives in China in the 1980s. My mother first mentioned to me that he is a PhD, and that during his visit, he saw the black smoke coming out of chimneys and commented, “What a waste? You could extract a lot of things from the smoke!”There was also an uncheckable anecdote, saying he was given some kind of shots in England, and if he did not return on time, he would die. The impression left in my childhood was so strong that I still remember it now. For one, I learned a title called “PhD”; moreover, once “western countries” were mentioned, I immediately fancied about extracting stuff from smoke and felt that the westerners were so smart.农家孩子上学没有太多的想法，五岁多，在生产队解散后的牛棚里上了育红班（我们是钦定的红色接班人了），在出粪口爬来爬去，好玩。上小学，目的很简单：省的到城里认不出男女厕所，让人家打出来。小学读完，身子骨没长成，到初中再读几年，长长个子，为以后说媳妇学泥瓦匠做准备。表兄四位，均是泥瓦匠，大表兄称瓦刀已经给我准备好了，后来没有用上，可惜了。祖母在1949以后扫盲时认了几个字，又忘掉了，她对读书没有感受，只给我念叨“三代不读书，赛过一窝猪，”读书有啥用？她也说不清。念了初中，下一步怎么办？父亲是高小毕业，母亲初中毕业，儿女要比他们高一点。那就向上走吧，高中，本科，硕士，博士。Farm boys go to school without diddling around what its for. A little over five-year old, I was enrolled into a “little red guard kindergarten”that was previously an abandoned cattle shed of the village production unit (we automatically became revolutionary successors bestowed by the red emperor). Crawling around the cattle shit piles, we were having a lot of fun. Then, the purpose of my going to the elementary school was very straightforward: to avoid being beaten up for stepping into the wrong side of the restrooms in cities simply because I could not read the signs. Having finished the elementary school, I continued to attend the junior high, for I was still an immature lad; I needed to grow up and get ready for marriage and becoming a bricklayer. I have four cousins and all of them are bricklayers. The oldest cousin told me that he had already got me a brick laying knife; Ive never had to use itwhat a pity! My grandmother was an illiterate: she learned a few characters after 1949 when there was a nationwide drive to rid of illiteracy, and then she forgot them all. Hence, she had no particular feelings about school, except for often telling me: “A family without anybody going to school in three generations is just like a pig pen.”Whats the use of going to school? She, however, had no faintest idea! Soon the junior high was over, and then whats the next? Well, since my father only finished the elementary and my mother the junior high, the kids got to do a tad better. Ive had to keep goingthe senior high, college, masters, and now PhD. 求学，由被动到主动，由农村到城市，由儿童到而立。我也跌跌撞撞迈入这个行当，那么，读博士，读的是什么？So, going to school, from passive acceptance to active pursuits, from countryside to cities, and from a child to thirtysomething, I have bumped along and now entered into the trade. Then, working on a PhDwhat am I working on?一读寂寞。没有读博的本科同学，已经有房有车，事业根基也已扎稳。没有上大学的儿时玩伴，房子是二层小楼，孩子是两个绕膝，虽然每年还要为钱发愁。人家是过日子，博士是盼日子。街头灯红酒绿，不是你的；林下爱人密语，不是你的；试验室的瓶子，没有生机的罐子，是你的。人的七情六欲，都隐藏在乱发遮掩的脑袋里。外在的就是一个看文献，做试验，写文章，偶尔叹气的老学生。仿一句网络语：哥做的不是学问，是寂寞！都在批世道浮躁，博士要在这浮躁中寻求寂寞，博士很可爱。First, working on a PhD amid lonesomeness. Those college buddies who kissed goodbye to a doctorial degree are now pretty well established with their own flats and cars. Those childhood playmates who did not go to college at all are now having two kids running around and a two-storey house, though still worrying about money every now and then. However, they are living a life while we PhD candidates are looking forward to a life. The bustling life of the city is not ours; the whispering serenade under the canopy is not ours. Ours are those lifeless bottles and jars in the lab! We conceal our feelings and desires in the head with untidy hair. Our evergreen appearance is the stereo-typed old students who only dig into references, work on projects, and write up manuscripts, perhaps with an occasional sigh. To emulate a net phrase: your brother is not doing researchhe is doing his time: the time of abyssal loneliness. Everybody is bitching about the shallowness and impulsiveness prevailing in todays society, amidst which WE, and we alone, are searching for lonesomenesswe are a lovable lot!二读专业。博士非博学之士，乃是专了又专之士。读完博士，在自己研究的这个小课题内，应该是是个“专家，”此专家不是国家级，省部级，地市级这样不伦不类的中国式称呼的专家，乃是基于对本课题的国内现状、国际前沿、历史渊源有详细、系统的掌握的才俊。把专业泛化，在这过程中掌握的对学科把握的能力也可以迁移到相近学科或方向，在博士毕业之后可以自己不受原来课题方向之限向其他方向转移。最终，在这个学科内成为专业人士，某圈子内必须提到的某些人，你很可能名列其中。Second, working on a PhD to become a specialist. A PhD is not as its Chinese translation indicates: a know-it-all person. A PhD is a specialist. Upon finishing PhD, we are expected to become a “specialist” in our narrow field of study. However, we are not an “expert” with a far-fetched and laughable Chinese title such as “national level”, “provincial or ministerial level”, or “municipal level” expert. We strive to have a detailed and systematic grasp of what was and is going on in our field both at home and abroad. Then, we can jump out of the box to apply what we have learned to related areas of study, not to be caged in the tiny box we used to be spoon-fed as a student. Ultimately, we may become one of those names that must be mentioned within the small circle of the scientific subdiscipline. 三读关系。这个关系，是指博士生个人对于师生关系的体悟，对于同窗关系的建立。从导师身上，学习他如何处理实验室事务，如何管理这个团队，如何应对风险与危机。也许不远的一天，学生也会成为导师，未雨绸缪，先把导师的招法学过来。师生关系，近乎上下级，又带些亲情在里面，可以认为是走上工作岗位前的预演，处理好这层关系，到了工作岗位不如鱼得水，也不至于太磕磕碰碰。同窗关系，一是学术上的互相帮助，大家都要活下去，实验室的老人带新人，论文的署名，教材的编译，更别提基金、项目了。二是人脉（很“俗”的提法，但实情又是如此），是个人以后行走于学术、业界江湖的有力资源。三进一步锻炼情商，要和来自五湖四海背景不同人打成一片，真要点能力。君不见，某些同志在实验室是香饽饽，谁都喜欢；而一些同志离群索居，孤独求败。孤独并不是一种美，除非你是大哲学家思考宇宙人生，我辈俗人团队作战还是要混在一起，怎样粘，也是学问。Third, working on a PhD while working with other people. First of all, one must learn how to work well with ones major professor and fellow graduate students. From the major professor, we learn how to run the lab, manage the research group, and handle risks and crises. Maybe in a not too distant future, well become major professors ourselves, and we have to prepare for it by learning the necessary skills from our bosses now. The relationship between a PhD advisor and a PhD student is in some way like that between a boss and an underling, with a remote sense of “family tie” in it. This may be considered as a preadaptation for a real job in the wild real world. The ability of maintaining a decent relationship with your major professor now may prove to be vital for the real world situationyou will be able to squeeze by if not cruise along. The relationship with your fellow graduate student is just as important: you have to help each other, and after all everybody is trying to keep his/her head above the water. The senior students lead the junior ones; we are bound by the common endeavors: authorship of the co-authored papers, compilation/translation of textbooks, let alone grants and projects. Secondly, networking, though seemingly a “poor taste” but realistically a necessary evil. This will prove to be resourceful for your career. Thirdly, further raise your EQ score: being able to work with all kinds of people requires real talent. Why are some people so popular in the lab and loved by all while others are lonely souls, destined to fail? Incapacity to fit in is not a beauty unless you were a great philosopher only thinking about the universe and human conditions. We ordinary folks have to be able to stick together in the team work: how to stick is an art.四读语言。在SCI满天飞的时下，英文很关紧，中文更关紧。写汇报，整总结，要基金，都是用中文在说话。写的漂亮，从立题，展开，收尾，让别人跟着你的思路走，而不是让别人挑你的刺。笔头子厉害，嘴巴还要好，怎样说比说什么重要。站在几位大腕面前，可以侃侃而谈，把自己的工作完美地展现给他们，请他们由挑剔的目光转为赞许的微笑，这是一种功夫。要练，勤写，多说，每一次公开讲话都是历练。胸有千岩万壑，口吐绕梁之音，应该朝这个方向努力。若别人评论：还是博士，讲话怎么是这样？就是读博的失败之一。Fourth,working on a PhD while brushing up your language skills. In the age of “publish or perish”, English is important and Chinese is even more important. Writing progress reports, final reports, and grant proposals all require an excellent command of language. Good writers can lead you from thought to thought on his page, such as topic sentence, elaboration, and smooth ending, instead of being nitpicked by you. Speaking is equally important: its often more about how you say it than what you say. Standing in front of several big shots in your field, being able to eloquently and fluently present your work to them, and as a result, you managed to turn their hypercritical looks into the nodding smileman, thats real talent! “Practice makes perfect”: practice, write often and speak more, and every presentation is an on-the-job training. With a sharp mind and silver tonguethats your goal! If somebody were to make a comment like this, “Look, with a PhD under his belt, how could he be so poorly-versed?” Thatd mean a total failure.五读坚强。坚强在今天是否稀缺？我不知道。只是从读博开始，就踏上了漫漫征途，顺利反而是稀缺。要面对未知的试验结果，要应付必发论文的死限，要调整自己的心态，要处理大小事务。这个时候真的要坚强。社会的进程在走向逆淘汰，博士不是过上体面生活的保证，没有根基，只有自己奋斗。冷静的认识这个现实，自己激励自己。在经历中慢慢的坚强。Fifth, working on a PhD to become tough. Is toughness a rare item today? I dont know. But please remember, as soon as you start to work on your PhD, its a long road of no return and the favorable condition may become a rarity. Faced with unpredictable experimental results, deadlines of the must-be-published papers, you must adjust your attitude and deal with various problems with toughness and aplomb. The society is marching toward a reversed natural selection, and having a doctorial degree is no longer a pass to a dignified life. Without connections and a lucrative trust fund, we must struggle for survival by ourselves. Calmly facing this reality, we must encourage ourselves to fight, gradually becoming