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表了全人类的心声。
1944年8月，他们的藏身处被突袭了，纳粹官员逮捕了每一个人。他们被带往一个过渡性集中营，被迫做苦工。从那里，他们又被火车送往奥斯威辛。一个月后，安妮和玛戈被转移到德国的贝尔根一贝尔森集中营。她俩均于1945年3月死于斑疹伤寒和饥饿。安妮·弗兰克时年15岁；她的姐姐19岁。在躲藏的八个人中，唯一幸存者是奥托·弗兰克。他在战后发现了女儿的日记，设法出版了它，以表彰她的勇气。
当安妮在日记中写下“我希望你对我会是极大的支持和安慰”这句话时，她不可能知道，在她死后，她的文字也会是对全世界的支持和安慰。
Unit 6 My Dream Comes True
The rain had started to fall gently through the evening air as darkness descended over Sydney. Hundreds of lights illuminated Stadium Australia, and the noise was deafening. As I walked towards the track I glanced around me at the sea of faces in the stands, but my mind was focused. The Olympic gold medal was just minutes away, hanging tantalizingly in the distance.
My heart was beating loudly, my mouth was dry and the adrenaline was pumping. I was so close to the
realization of my childhood dream and the feeling was fantastic; it was completely exhilarating, but also terrifying. I knew I would have to push myself beyond my known limits to ensure that my dream came true.
I tried to keep composed, telling myself not to panic, to stick to the plan and run my own race. I knew the Russian girls would set off quickly — and I had to finish this race fewer than ten seconds behind the Russian athlete Yelena Prokhorova. If I could do that, the title would be mine.
I looked out along the first stretch of the 400m track and caught my breath. The 800m race had punished me so much over the years— in the World, Commonwealth and European Championships —and now it stood between me and the Olympic title.
The British supporters were cheering so loudly it seemed as if they were the only fans there. I could hear my name being called. I could hear the shouts of encouragement and the cries of hope. Union Jacks fluttered all around the vast, beautiful stadium. I felt unified with the crowd — we all had the same vision and the same dream.
My ankle was bandaged against an injury I had incurred in the long jump just a couple of hours earlier, but I shut out all thoughts of pain. I tried to concentrate on the crowd. They were so vocal. My spirits lifted and I felt composed.
I knew I would do my best, that I would run my heart out and finish the race. I felt the performer in me move in and take over. I had just two laps to run, that was all. Just two laps until the emotional and physical strain of the past two days and the last 28 years would be eclipsed by victory or failure. This race was all about survival. It's only two minutes, I kept telling myself, anyone can run for two minutes.
The starting gun was fired, and the race began. The first lap was good, I managed to keep up with the group, but I was feeling much more tired than I usually did, and much more than I'd anticipated. Both the long, hard weeks of training that had led up to this championship, and the exhaustion from two days of grueling competition were showing in my performance. Mental and physical fatigue were starting to crush me, and I had to fight back.
Prokhorova had set the pace from the start. It was important that I didn’t let her get too far in front. I had to stay with her. At the bell I was 2.3 seconds behind her. Just one lap to go. One lap. I could do it. I had to keep
going. In the final 150 meters I could hear the roar of the crowd, giving me a boost at exactly the moment I needed it the most — just when my legs were burning and I could see the gap opening between me and the Russian. Thankfully, my foot was holding out, so now it was all down to mental stamina.
Prokhorova was pulling away. I couldn't let her get too far; I had to stay with her. I began counting down the meters I had left to run; 60m, 50m, 40m, 2om. I could see the clock. I could do it, but it would be close. Then finally the line appeared. I crossed it, exhausted. I had finished.
As I crossed the line my initial thought was how much harder the race had been than expected, bearing in mind how, only eight weeks before, I had set a new personal best of two minutes 12.2 seconds. Then my mind turned to the result. Had I done it? I thought I had. I was aware of where the other athletes were, and was sure that I'd just made it. But, until I saw it on the scoreboard, I wouldn't let myself believe it. As I stood there, staring up and waiting for confirmation, I tried hard to keep negative thoughts from my mind - but I couldn’t help thinking, what if I have just missed out? What if I’ve been through all this, and missed out?
In the distance I could hear the commentary team talking about two days of tough competition, then I could almost hear someone say, \over and told me I'd won. They had heard before me, and she asked what it felt like to be the Olympic champion. I smiled, still not sure.
Then, the moment that will stay with me for the rest of my life —my name in lights. That was when it all hit me. Relief, a moment of calm, and a thank you to my inner self for taking me through these two days. I felt a tingle through the whole of my body. This was how it is meant to be —arms aloft and fists clenched.
I looked out at the fans, who were waving flags, clapping and shouting with delight. I was the Olympic champion. The Olympic champion.
梦想成真
当夜幕降临悉尼时，雨也开始悄悄地从夜空中飘落。几百盏灯把澳大利亚体育场照得灯火通明，场内的声音震耳欲聋。走向跑道时我看了一眼四周看台上无数的脸，但我的注意力还是很集中。再过几分钟奥运金牌的归属就要见分晓了，它悬挂在远处，很诱人。
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我的心在剧烈地跳动，口干舌燥，肾上腺素猛增。童年的梦想就要实现了，这种感觉真是太奇妙了：令人非常兴奋，又胆战心惊。我知道，为了确保能梦想成真我必须强迫自己超越已知的极限。
我极力保持镇静，告诫自己不要紧张，要坚持按原计划做，按自己的节奏跑。我知道那些俄罗斯姑娘起跑很快—这场比赛我落后俄罗斯运动员叶莲娜·普罗科霍洛娃不能超过十秒。如果我做到这一点，冠军就是我的了。
我望着四百米跑道的起跑点，屏住了呼吸。这些年来，在世锦赛、英联邦锦标赛以及欧洲锦标赛的八百米赛跑中我屡战屡败，饱受挫折。现在，它再次横在我与奥运冠军头衔之间。
我的英国支持者在为我欢呼，声音特别大，就好像看台上只有他们是我的狂热支持者。我听到他们喊我的名字，为我鼓劲加油，听到他们充满希望的呐喊。宽阔美丽的体育场上到处飘扬着大不列颠联合王国的国旗，我感觉自己和观众融为了一体：我们有着同样的期盼，同样的梦想。！
几个小时前，我的脚踩在跳远时受了伤，缠上了绷带，但是我忘掉伤痛，尽量把注意力集中在观、众身上。他们的叫喊声势浩大，使我精神振奋，我感到镇定自若。
我知道自己会全力以赴，拼尽全力跑完全程。我感觉自己已经进入最佳状态。我只要跑两圈就行了，就两圈。跑完这两圈，过去两天以及28年来所有情感和身体上的辛苦付出就将被胜利或者失败所淹没。这一跑真是生死攸关。我不断地告诉自己：也就是跑两分钟，谁都能跑两分钟。
发令枪响了，比赛正式开始。第一圈还好，我跟其他人跑得一样快，但我觉得比平时要累得多，比我预想的要累得多。这次锦标赛赛前长达数周的艰苦训练以及这两天激烈的比赛所带来的疲劳在我的赛跑过程中显现出来。精神和肉体的疲倦开始向我袭来，我不得不反击。
普罗科霍洛娃一开始就领先。最重要的是我不能被她甩得太远，我得紧紧地跟着她。最后一圈的铃声响起时，我比她落后2.3秒。只剩最后一圈了，就一圈，我能赢，我必须坚持跑下去。到最后150米的时候我听见观众高声叫喊，在我最需要的时候为我加油助威一这时我的腿疼得要命，我看见我和那个俄罗斯运动员之间的距离正在加大。令人欣喜的是我的脚还在继续往前迈，这时候就全靠精神毅力来支撑了。
我听见远处转播比赛的解说员在谈论两天来的艰难赛事，我好像听见有人说：“我觉得她做得够好了。”接下来，来自德国的萨拜因·布劳恩走过来告诉我我赢了，他们在我之前打听到了消息，她问我当奥运冠军是什么滋味。我笑了，但还是不敢肯定。
接下来的那一刻将让我铭记一生：计分牌上我的名字亮了。那一刻我惊呆了。如释重负，平静了一会儿，感谢我内在的自我帮我度过了这两天。我感到全身一阵振颤，这时候该做的事是：高举双手，紧握双拳。
我向我的支持者望去，他们正兴高采烈地挥舞旗帜，鼓掌呐喊。我是奥运冠军，奥运会的冠军。
Unit 7 Are Animals Smarter Than We Think?
What does an elephant see when it looks in the mirror? Itself, apparently. Previously, such self-awareness was thought to be limited to humans, primates and the great celebrities of the world of animal intelligence, dolphins. At first, elephants in studies with mirrors will explore the mirror as an object. Eventually, they may realize they are looking at themselves. They will repeatedly touch a mark painted on their heads that they wouldn't see without the mirror. Diana Reiss of Hunter College believes these are compelling signs of self-awareness.
Scientists used to believe that animals were like machines programmed to react to stimuli. They were not considered capable of feeling or thinking, and certainly not of understanding abstract concepts. However, any dog owner will disagree. They know, when they see the love in their pet's eyes, that it has feelings. A dog can be trained to respond to commands and perform useful tasks. It can recognize different people and make choices about what to eat or which path to take. But does this mean that an animal is capable of thinking and, if so, can it be proved? Our perceptions of animals are filtered through our own human understanding of the world and we often project human feelings and thoughts onto other creatures.
One of the first scientists to try to investigate the animal mind was the British naturalist Charles Darwin. In his book The Descent of Man, published in 1871, he questioned whether higher mental abilities such as
self-consciousness and memory, were limited to human beings. Darwin speculated that human and non-human minds aren't all that different. Animals, he argued, face the same general challenges and have the same basic needs as humans: to find food and a mate, to navigate through the sky, the woods or the sea. All these tasks require the ability to problem-solve and to categorize. Birds, for example, need to be able to distinguish colors so they know when a fruit is ripe, what is safe to eat and what is not. Knowing the shapes of predators helps them to escape
danger. Having a concept of numbers helps them to keep track of their flock, and to know which individuals have a mate.
All these skills require, not just instinct, but cognitive ability, argues Irene Pepperberg, who has worked on animal intelligence since 1977.
She studied an African grey parrot called Alex from the age of one for 30 years. Parrots are well-known for their ability to imitate speech and in her experiments; Pepperberg used this talent to find out about Alex's
understanding of the world. Her aim was to teach him to reproduce the sounds of the English language so that she could then have a dialogue with him. \he sees the world.\
Memory, language, self-awareness, emotions and creativity are key indications of higher mental abilities. Scientists have, bit by bit, uncovered and documented these talents in other species. Pepperberg discovered that Alex could count, distinguish shapes, sizes, colors and materials such as wood, wool and metal. Until recently, only higher mammals, such as primates, have been thought capable of understanding concepts of \
\
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seem to be a valuable survival skill for them, too.
Darwin argued that animals' minds, like their bodies, have evolved to suit their environment. He went so far as to suggest that even worms have some hint of intelligence since he observed them making judgments about the kinds of leaves they used to block their tunnels. Many scientists in the 20th century dismissed such findings as unreliable, usually influenced by anthropomorphism, in other words, judging animals by human attributes.
However, the pendulum is now swinging away from thinking of animals as machines without intelligence, and back towards Darwin's ideas. A wide range of studies on animals suggests that the roots of intelligence are deep, widespread across the animal kingdom and highly changeable.
People were surprised to find that chimpanzees and other primates were smart. They make tools. Orangutans use leaves as rain hats and protect their hands when climbing spiky trees. Scientists put this down to the fact that primates and humans share a common ancestor. What is surprising them now however, is' that intelligence doesn't seem to be limited to those species with whom; we have a common ancestor. It appears that evolution can reinvent similar forms of consciousness indifferent species; and that to an astonishing degree, this intelligence is not reserved only for higher mammals. One vital question is thrown up by the current research: If all this is true and animals have feelings and intelligence, should it affect the way we humans treat them?
动物比我们想象的更聪明吗？
大象照镜子时到底看到了什么？显然是它自己。以前，人们认为这样的自我意识仅存于人类、灵长类动物以及动物智慧世界的明星—海豚。在这项大象和镜子的研究里，大象起初只把镜子当作物品来把玩。最后，它们可能意识到它们在镜子里看到了自己。它们会反复触碰画在它们头上的印记，这是一些没有镜子就不可能看见的印记。亨特大学的戴安娜·雷斯认为，这是自我意识的很有力的说明。
过去，科学家认为动物和机器一样，能根据事先编排好的程序对外界的刺激作出反应。还认为它们不具备感受和思考能力，绝对没有理解抽象概念的能力。但是，养狗的人是不会同意这种看法的。他们在宠物狗的眼睛里看到了爱，知道它有情感。狗能通过训练接受指令做有益的事情。它会认人、选择食物、识别道路。但这是否意味着它有思维能力呢？如果有的话，又如何证实呢？我们对动物的认知是经过过滤的，是建立在人类对世界的理解的基础上的，我们经常把人类的情感和思想投射到其它动物身上。
最早研究动物心智的科学家之一是英国博物学家查尔斯·达尔文。在1871年出版的《人类的起源》一书中，他质疑是否只有人类才具有高级思维能力—如自我意识和记忆。达尔文猜测人脑和动物脑没有那么大的差别。他认为，动物和人一样面对相同的常规挑战和相同的基本需求：寻找食物和伴侣，在天空、森林和海洋中旅行时不迷失方向。要完成这些任务，就需要有解决问题和甄别分类的能力。例如鸟类必须有分辨颜色的能力，以确定果实什么时候成熟，什么东西能吃，什么东西不能吃。了解捕食动物的形状能帮助它们避开危险，有数字概念可帮助他们了解本鸟群的情况，了解哪些鸟已有伴侣。
从1977年起就从事动物智慧研究的艾琳·佩拍伯格认为，所有这些技巧不仅需要本能，还需要认知能力。 她研究一只叫“亚历克斯”的非洲灰鹦鹉，从它一岁开始整整研究了30年。鹦鹉以模仿语言的能力著称；在她的实验里，佩拍伯格利用鹦鹉这方面的才能来了解亚历克斯对世界的理解。她的目标是教会它英语，以便能够和它对话。“我想如果它学会如何交流，我就可以问它是如何看待这个世界的了。”
记忆、语言、自我意识、情感和创造性是高智力的关键标志。科学家已经一点一滴地揭示并记录了其他物种在这些方面的才能。佩拍伯格发现亚历克斯不仅能够数数，还能分辨形状、大小、颜色及材料（如木头、羊毛和金属）。直到最近，只有高等哺乳动物，如灵长类，才会被认为具有理解“相同”和“不同”这些概念的能力。但鹦鹉和灵长类一样长期生活在复杂社会里，因此抽象的智力对它们而言似乎也同样是有价值的生存技巧。
达尔文认为，动物的心智和它们的身体一样因为要适应环境而进化了。他甚至说：即便是虫子也有一点点智慧，因为他观察到虫子能判断什么样的叶子适合用来堵它们的洞口。许多20世纪的科学家轻视这些发现，认为它们不可靠，这是受了拟人说的影响，即根据人的特征来判断动物。但是，现在舆论的天平已经不再向那些认为动物像机器一样没有智慧的观点倾斜了，而是向达尔文的观点倾斜。大范围的动物研究表明：智慧之根在动物界的分布既深又广，变化多端。
人们吃惊地发现黑猩猩及其他灵长类动物都很聪明，它们会制造工具。红毛黑猩猩能用树叶当斗笠挡雨；在爬带刺的树时，它们知道如何保护自己的手。科学家把这种现象归结为灵长类动物和人类拥有共同祖先这一事实。但是，现在让他们吃惊的是智慧似乎并不仅仅体现在与人同祖的物种身上。进化似乎能够在不同物种身上重新创造出相似的意识形式。令人吃惊的是，这种智慧并非高等哺乳动物的专利。目前的研究提出了一个重大的问题：如果这一切都是真的，如果动物具有情感和智力，这会改变人类对待动物的方式吗？
Unit 8 Painting as a Pastime
A gifted American psychologist has said, \
something and will not let it go.\more futile the task. One can only gently insinuate something else into its convulsive grasp. And if this something else is rightly chosen, if it is really attended by the illumination of another field of interest, gradually, and often quite swiftly, the old undue grip relaxes and the process of recuperation and repair begins.
The cultivation of a hobby and new forms of interest is therefore a policy of first importance to a public man. But this is not a business that can be undertaken in a day or swiftly improvised by a mere command of the will. The growth of alternative mental interests is a long process. The seeds must be carefully chosen; they must fall on good ground; they must be sedulously tended, if the vivifying fruits are to be at hand when needed.
To be really happy and really safe, one ought to have at least two or three hobbies, and they must all be real. It
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is no use starting late in life to say: \strain of mental effort. A man may acquire great knowledge of topics unconnected with his daily work, and yet
hardly get any benefit or relief. It is no use doing what you like; you have got to like what you do. Broadly speaking, human beings maybe divided into three classes: those who are toiled to death, those who are worried to death, and those who are bored to death. It is no use offering the manual laborer, tired out with a hard week's sweat and effort, the chance of playing a game of football or baseball on Saturday afternoon. It is no use inviting the politician or the professional or businessman, who has been working or worrying about serious things for six days, to work or worry about trifling things at the weekend.
As for the unfortunate people who can command everything they want, who can gratify every caprice and lay their hands on almost every object of desire — for them a new pleasure, a new excitement is only an additional satiation. In vain they rush frantically round from place to place, trying to escape from avenging boredom by mere clatter and motion. For them discipline in one form or another is the most hopeful path.
It may be said that rational, industrious, useful human beings are divided into two classes: first, those whose work is work and whose pleasure is pleasure; and secondly, those whose work and pleasure are one. Of these the former are the majority. They have their compensations. The long hours in the office or the factory bring with them as their reward, not only the means of sustenance, but a keen appetite for pleasure even in its simplest and most modest forms. But Fortune's favored children belong to the second class. Their life is a natural harmony. For them the working hours are never long enough. Each day is a holiday, and ordinary holidays when they come are grudged as enforced interruptions in an absorbing vocation. Yet to both classes the need of an alternative outlook, of a change of atmosphere, of a diversion of effort, is essential. Indeed, it may well be that those whose work is their pleasure are those who most need the means of banishing it at intervals from their minds.
绘画消遣（节选）
一位天才美国心理学家说过：“烦恼是感情的发作；此时大脑缠住了某种东西不肯放手。”在这种情况下，和头脑争论（让它放手）是无用的。愿望越强烈，与之争论就越是徒劳。你只能温和地将另一种东西慢慢灌输到痉挛状态的头脑中。如果（这一东西）选得恰当，而且它真的从另一领域的情趣中受到启迪的话，那么逐渐地，往往也是迅速地，原先不适当的“不肯放手”就会慢慢放松，恢复和补救的过程就会开始。
因此，对于公众人物而言，培养业余爱好和新的兴趣才是上策。但这并非一日之功，也不是单凭意志力就能做到的事情。精神情趣的培养是一个长期的过程。要想在需要的时候可随手摘取充满生机的果实，种子就必须精挑细选，必须播种在肥沃的土壤里，还必须辛勤地护理。
要想真正快乐，真正安全，一个人至少应有两三种业余爱好，而且必须是实际可行的。到了晚年才开始说：“我会培养对这或对那的兴趣”，这是没有用的。这种愿望只能加剧精神紧张。一个人可能会获得大量与其日常工作无关的知识，却不能从中得到任何益处或宽慰。做你喜欢做的事是没有用的，你要喜欢你做的事。泛而言之，人可以分为三类：极其劳累的人，极其操心的人，极其无聊的人。对于卖了一周力气、流了一周汗水的体力劳动者来说，让他们在星期六下午踢足球或打垒球是不合适的。同样，对于工作了六天、一直为公务操心的政界人士、专业人员或商人来说，在周末再让他们为鸡毛蒜皮的琐事而操心劳累也是无益的。
那些能够支配一切、能够肆意妄为、能够染指一切追求目标的人是“不幸的”。对于他们而言，不多一种新的乐趣、多一种新的刺激只是增加一分厌腻而已。他们到处奔乱跑，企图靠喧闹和骚动来摆脱无聊对他们的报复，但这么做是徒劳的。对他们来说，某种形式的纪律约束是最有希望让他们走出｛困境、走上正道的。
可以这样说，理智的，勤劳的、有用的人可以分为两类：第一类人认为工作是工作，娱乐于是娱乐；第二类人认为工作和娱乐是一回事。这两类人当中，第一类人占大多数。他们是能够得到补偿的。在办公室或工厂里长时间工作给他们带来了报酬，这不仅是谋生的手段，也使他们对寻找快乐充满了渴望，哪怕是最简单、最质朴的快乐。但是，幸运之神偏爱的是第二类人。他们的生活是一种自然的和谐。对他们来说，工作时间永远不会太长（永远都不够长），每一天都是假日，而当普通节日来到时，他们会感到厌恶，因为这强行打断了他们埋头从事的工作。然而对这两种人来说，换换脑子，改变一下气氛，转移一下注意力都是不可缺少的。其实，把工作当作乐趣的人，很可能是最需要每隔一段时间就把工作放下，让头脑放松的人。
Unit 9 Are You the Right Person for the Job?
In the old days it was easy. They were going to be the best three years of your life, and you knew it. You spent your time chatting late into the night with new-found friends in coffee bars and pubs, playing your heart out in the squash courts and on the cricket field, or strutting across the stage as a leading light of the university dramatic
society. Whatever your interest, university life catered for it. And, let's not forget, you would usually manage to keep up with the work too, by doing the required reading and dashing off the week’s essay at the last minute. The only thing you didn't find time for was thinking about what came afterwards, at the end of those three exciting years. But you didn’t need to, because whatever your chosen career, the companies were all lining up to offer you a job.
That was what it was like in the old days as a student in the UK. But things have changed. A recent study of Britain's major multinational companies reveals that even with a good degree graduates can no longer walk into the top jobs. Today there are twice as many universities as there were just 30 years ago, and 40 percent of young people now go on to higher education. So with no shortage of graduates, a good degree has become vital in the search for a job. Competition is tough, and today's students are spending more time than ever preparing for those dreaded final exams, or doing low-paid part-time jobs to pay off debts.
But that's just the problem. In the opinion of managers from more than 200 British companies, students are spending too much time studying, or worrying about making ends meet, instead of joining clubs and acquiring
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basic skills such as teamwork and making presentations. The managers also said that they were prepared to leave jobs unfilled rather than appoint graduates who didn't have the necessary skills to get ahead in the global market.
But what can be done about the problem? The solution, the managers believe, is to include social skills in degree courses; and some universities are taking the advice. At the University of Southampton, for example,
history students have to do a 12-week project —frequently related to the local context — working in teams of six. This includes making a presentation, writing a group thesis, and carrying out a public service, which might involve teaching schoolchildren or making a radio program about the topic.
There can be no doubt that this sort of cooperative approach can help many students develop personal skills which will help improve their prospects in their search for a job. One of the most well-known personality tests used by employers when interviewing candidates, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), puts the extrovert / introvert dichotomy at the top of the list of personality traits it tries to analyze. There are no \but extroverts, it is assumed, are going to be more suited to jobs in which they have to work in teams or deal with other people.
Equally interesting in the Southampton project is the conviction that students should be aware of the wider community, and find ways to make contributions to it. In today's shrinking world, students are increasingly aware that a university is not an ivory tower of learning, cut off from the real problems of the world, but on the contrary, can itself be an agent for change for a better world. There are numerous ways in which students can be volunteers—before, during, or after their degree courses. With courses making heavy demands on students' time, as we have seen, a popular option is to take a gap year before or after university.
Typically, volunteering might mean helping the sick or elderly, entertaining underprivileged children on holiday camps, teaching in a Third World country or perhaps working on agricultural or environmental projects.
For students who choose to offer their talents in this way, one side effect is to gain a wealth of experience to be added to the CV, which will not go unnoticed by future employers. But a word of warning is in order: You should remember what your priorities are. As Shane Irwin, who worked for two years in Papua New Guinea, puts it: \through volunteering — the main reason you should get involved is because you want to help.\
你适合做这个工作吗？
过去，大学生活很轻松。那将是你一生中最美好的三年，你知道这一点。你是这样消磨时光的：在咖啡馆和酒吧里与新结交的朋友聊到深夜，在壁球场和板球场上尽情地挥舞球拍，或是作为大学戏剧社的大腕在舞台上昂首阔步。不管你有什么爱好，大学生活都能为你创造条件。而且，别忘了，你的学习还总能跟得上，能完成指定的阅读，并在最后一分钟匆忙草就那一周的文章。你唯一没有时间考虑的是过完这激动人心的三年后要做什么。不过这个问题并不需要考虑，因为无论选择什么职业，都有一大堆公司排着队来聘用你。
那是过去英国大学生校园生活的情形，现在情况已经改变了。最近一项对英国各大跨国公司的研究表明，即使拥有一个优良的学位，大学生再也不可能一毕业就得到最好的工作了。今天的大学数量比30年前翻了一番，40%的年轻人接受高等教育。由于并不缺少大学毕业生，拥有一个优良的学位对找工作就变得尤其重要了。竞争很激烈，结果是如今的大学生花了比任何时候都要多的时间来复习功课，为那些可怕的期末考试做准备，做报酬低的兼职以偿还债务。
然而，这恰恰是问题之所在。英国二百多家公司的经理认为，学生花在学习或挣钱维持生计上的时间太多了。他们本应该去参加各种俱乐部，学习一些基本的技能，如团队合作和现场演示。这些经理还说，他们宁可让职位空缺，也不愿意聘请那些缺乏必要技能，无法在国际市场上占领商机的毕业生。
该怎么做才能解决这个问题呢？经理们相信，解决的办法就是在学位课程里增加社交能力的训练。有的大学已经开始这样做了，例如南安普敦大学历史系学生必须做一个为期十二周、六人一组协同工作的项目—通常与当地的生活有关。项目内容包括：做一次演示、写一篇集体论文、做一项公众服务—可以是给中、小学生讲课，或做一期有关中、小学教学的广播节目。
毫无疑问，这种合作学习法能帮助许多学生培养有助于改善就业前景的个人技能。公司在面试应聘者时使用的最有名的人格测试之一是“迈尔斯一布里格斯性格分类法”（简称MBTI），这种分类法把外向／内向性格两分法置于它所分析的人格特征列表之首。测试中没有“正确答案”，但是它认为：性格外向者更适合做团队工作或与他人打交道的工作。
南安普敦大学项目中同样有趣的一个理念是：学生应该关注比校园更广阔的社区，并设法为之做出自己的贡献。在当今越来越小的世界里，学生们越来越清楚地意识到大学并不是与社会现实问题完全脱钩的学术象牙塔。正相反，大学本身可以促使世界变得更加美好。在学学位课程之前、期间、之后，学生们都可以通过多种渠道成为志愿者。正如我们所知，大学课程需要学生花费大量的时间，一般人会选择腾出上大学前或大学毕业后的一年时间作为实践年。
通常，志愿者工作指帮助病人或老年人、在假日营里招待贫困儿童、在第三世界国家教书，或者做农业或环境研究项目。
对那些选择在这些方面施展才能的学生而言，还有个意外的收获：可以把他们获取的丰富经验写进个人履历里，而未来的雇主是不会不注意到这些经验的。不过提醒一句：你应该记住自己的首要目的是什么。曾经在巴布亚新几内亚工作了两年的谢恩·欧文指出：“志愿者的工作能教给你宝贵的职业技能，但我认为你不应该只想着通过志愿者工作来给自己的履历表增添光彩—你做志愿工作的主要原因是因为你想帮助别人。”
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