外刊精讲05 | 卫报：我们学习文科的意义在哪里？

Humanities teach students to think. Where would we be without them?

Related words:

1. axe = cut = eliminate = trim v 改掉，撤销 e.g. TV's longest running show is to be axed.
2. rescind v 废除（法律，命令），取消
3. ambiguity n 模糊两可，歧义
4. frivolous adj 无严肃目的，无意义的，无价值的

Vocabulary:

1. paranoid adj 过度焦虑的，多疑的 paranoia n. 多疑，瞎猜疑
2. ideology n 意识形态
3. at work 起作用
4. discrepancy = gap = difference 不一致，差异
5. reduce someone/ something to 使某人将至E.g. She has been reduced to near poverty 他几乎沦落到一无所有。
6. banner n 横幅，旗帜
7. churn sth out 不顾质量的粗制滥造 e.g. She has been churning out novels for twenty years.
8. eloquent adj 雄辩的，有说服力
9. congenial to sth 适合，适宜的， 投缘的

Nice sentence:

1. （大学可能是很多人唯一一次学习文科的机会）Students need jobs when they graduate. But a singular opportunity has been lost if they are denied the opportunity to study foreign languages, the classics, literature,music and art. When else in their busy lives will they get that chance?
2. (为什么要学习文科）Eloquent defenses of the humanities-which explain why we need these subjects-have appeared. Those of us who teach and study are aware of what these areas of learning provide: the ability to think critically and independently; to tolerate ambiguity; to see both sides of an issue; to look beneath the surface of what we are being told; to appreaciate the ways in which language can help us understand one another more clearly and profoundly. They help us learn how to think, and they equip us to live in-to sustain-a democracy.
3. （学习人文学科的理由2）Studying the classics and philosophy teaches students where we come from, and how our modes of reasoning have evolved over time. Learning foreign languages, and about other cultures, enables students to understand how other societies resemble or differ from own. Is it entirely paranoid to wonder if these subjects are under attack because they enable students to think in ways that are more complex than the reductive simplifications so congenial to our current political and corporate discourse?(人文学科鼓励学生的思考方式是比适用于现在政治和商业的简单化思考方式要复杂的多的）