昂立王晓波：养成每周读“自己的信息”的习惯

前几天有学生给我看网上一篇帖子，说有很多口译考生过于关注英语、口译学习，而忽视了其它专业技能的培养，进而得出结论，“考口译不如考CPA”。

我做口译，但读研究生的时候也考过CPA，虽然有两门怎么都通不过，虽然几乎已经彻底忘记。我自己经历过“拼命考证”甚至“疯狂考证”的年代。想说几句话。

第一，任何证书，本身只是一张纸。没有能力的支撑，这张纸和花点钱造假的证书没有区别。所以问自己到底要什么，是那张纸，还是能力。

第二，如果一张证书是有价值的，那么一定是部分稀缺的，竞争性的，要获得这证书，一定是有难度的。如果凭你现在的能力，已经可以轻而易举获得某张证书，比如高级口译，CPA，那就该ask for more, dare for more.

第三，在开始考证之前，一定先想清楚自己的vision. “最初的梦想是什么”。从这个意义来说，我承认只有很少一部分拿口译证书的人会从事专业口译，但其中大部分人具备了行业入门的基础，更重要的人，其中所有的人都通过口译课程的学习、练习，真正全面提高英语综合能力，在“识”和“才”方面都有长进。从这个意义上来说，也许“错误地选择读CPA”比“错误地选择读口译”要更成问题。

第四，让自己开阔些，别让区区几张证书覆盖自己太多。“证书们”很有意思，太在乎了，也许反而得不到，少想多做，也许自然就来了。多读，多听，多思考，也许反而比其它一些生活方式来得轻松，让人身心舒畅。

本次R for Reading，我选了Economist上的Business This Week，并随手写了点注解。

这样的阅读和摘抄，适合vision中包括“从事较高端的、涉外的金融行业”的朋友们。我有学生朋友在做这个行业，我知道下面这些东西，现在对他们来说都是“常识”，ABC，那么这样的扫盲工作，越早越好。

如果您的vision中没有这行字，那就把Business This Week中的Business换成属于您的关键词，养成weekly reading的习惯，会受用的。

如果您还没有vision，那么，我的建议是，找个时机，心里搞个小小的仪式，ritual，试着想一个比较明确的vision. Follow your heart.

当然，如果您实在懒得想什么vision，那就stay hungry, stay foolish. （请务必正确理解。有朋友说，“我只做到了一条，stay foolish, literally.” ）

以下为阅读内容：(原始网址 http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10026825 )

Merrill Lynch said it would take $8.4 billion in write-downs stemming from collateralised-debt obligations, other subprime-related assets and leveraged loans, which is much larger than the $5 billion it forecast on October 5th. The investment bank also reported its first quarterly net loss from continuing operations in six years, of $2.3 billion. （美林；减记；债务抵押，次级债，杠杆贷款）

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China agreed to take a 20% stake in Standard Bank, based in Johannesburg and Africa's biggest lender by assets, for $5.5 billion. Chinese firms are investing heavily in Africa; the deal represents the biggest-ever foreign acquisition by a Chinese company. （工行，ICBC，就是那个传说中的“爱存不存”；此处的Standard Bank非Standard Chartered渣打，口译中还不如直接报原文，如果一知半解反而闹笑话；收购）

Bear Stearns, an investment firm, and Citic Securities, China's biggest brokerage, agreed to form a joint alliance in Asia, ending weeks of speculation about a deal. （中信证券）

A week after Bank of America posted a sharp drop in profit and Kenneth Lewis, its boss, said he had had “all the fun I can stand” in investment banking, America's second-largest bank sounded a partial retreat from Wall Street: 3,000 staff will go, mainly from the investment-banking division. （忍不住想和高口班的学生说，上次课刚讲过post的用法…）

Microsoft ended its lengthy tussle with the European Commission when it said it would not contest September's landmark court judgment that upheld the commission's 2004 antitrust ruling against it. Instead, the company agreed to comply with the ruling and to license technical information, making the integration of its software with rival systems easier.