翻译题 When I ask veteran college teachers and administrators to describe how college students have changed over the years, I often get an answer like this: "Today's students are more accomplished than past generations, but they are also more emotionally fragile." That rings true to me.
And if you hang around the middle aged, you hear a common story line to explain the rise of the orchid generation. Once upon a time, the story line goes, kids were raised in a tough environment. 【F1】But today, helicopter parents protect their children from setbacks and hardship; they supervise every playground conflict so kids never learn to handle disputes or deal with pain.
There's a lot of truth to that narrative, but let's not be too sentimental for the past. A lot of what we take to be the toughness of the past was really just heartlessness. 【F2】There was a greater tendency in years gone by to wall off emotions, to put on a thick skin—for some men to be stone-like and uncommunicative and for some women to be brittle and untouchable.
Perhaps it's time to rethink toughness. Being emotionally tough is not some defensive posture. It's not having some armor surrounding you so that nothing can hurt you.
People are much stronger than they think they are when in pursuit of their purpose for living. In short, emotional fragility is not only caused by overprotective parenting. It's also caused by anything that makes it harder for people to find their purpose for living. It's caused by the culture of modem psychology, which sometimes tries to talk about psychological traits in isolation from moral purposes. 【F3】It's caused by the guiding beliefs of the modern university, which in the name of "critical thinking" encourages students to be detached and destructively skeptical. It's caused by the status code of modern meritocracy, which encourages people to pursue success symbols that they don't actually desire.
【F4】We are all fragile when we don't know what our purpose is, when we haven't thrown ourselves with abandon into a social role, when we haven't committed ourselves to certain people, when we feel like a swimmer in an ocean with no edge.
【F5】If you really want people to be tough, make them idealistic for some cause, make them tender for some other person, make them committed to some worldview that puts today's temporary pain in the context of a larger hope.
Emotional fragility seems like a psychological problem, but it has only a philosophical answer. People are really tough only after they have taken a leap of faith for some truth or mission or love.
问答题 6.【F1】
【正确答案】但如今，整天围着孩子转的“直升机式的父母”保护他们的孩子免受挫折和困难；他们监看好操场上的每一次冲突，因此，他们的孩子从未学会如何处理纠纷或应对痛苦。
【答案解析】①本句为并列复合句，主句包含分号连接的两个并列分句。句首的today在句中作时间状语成分。②分句1中，介词短语from．．．hardship作状语，说明保护孩子免遭什么痛苦。③分句2中，连词so引导结果状语从句，说明家长监看孩子在操场上的每个冲突所导致的结果。
问答题 7.【F2】
【正确答案】在过去那些年，一个更大的趋势是人们戴上厚厚的面具，把情感隐藏起来——有些男性会像石头一样冷冰冰的，不跟人交流，而有些女人变得冷漠，不可接近。
【答案解析】①本句尽管较长，却是一个简单句：破折号前的内容是主干部分，破折号后的内容是对主干部分的解释。②主干部分in years gone by作时间状语，说明这个更大的趋势存在的时间，不定式短语to wall off emotions作后置定语，修饰tendency，具体说明该趋势是怎样的，to put on a thick skin是同位语，对to wall off emotions进行解释。
问答题 8.【F3】
【正确答案】它由现代大学的指导思想造成，这种思想以“批判思维”的名义鼓励学生少卷入其他事情，鼓励学生恶意怀疑。
【答案解析】①本句为复合句，包含一个非限制性定语从句。主句中，介词短语of the modern university作the guiding beliefs的后置定语，补充说明“指导思想”是源自现代大学。②定语从句修饰先行词the guiding beliefs，对现代大学的指导思想进行补充说明。定语从句中in the name of“critical thinking”在句中作状语成分，表示方式，说明如何鼓励学生。③句末to be detached and destructively skeptical作students的宾语补足语，说明鼓励学生做何事。
问答题 9.【F4】
【正确答案】当我们不知道自己的目的时，当我们没有恣意地将自己置于某个社会角色中时，当我们没有让自己忠于某个人时，当我们感觉像在无垠的海洋中游泳时，我们都是脆弱的。
【答案解析】①本句为复合句，包含一个宾语从句和四个并列的时间状语从句。②第一个时间状语从句中包含what引导的宾语从句。③最后一个时间状语从句中，in an ocean作a swimmer的后置定语，说明是“在海洋中的游泳者”；介词短语with no edge作an ocean的后置定语，说明海洋是无边无际的。
问答题 10.【F5】
【正确答案】如果真的想让人们变得坚韧，就让他们对某个奋斗目标心怀理想，让他们温柔对待其他人，让他们坚信某个世界观，即如今暂时的痛苦会换来未来更大的希望。
【答案解析】①本句为主从复合句，主句由三个并列的祈使句构成，还包含一个定语从句。②主句中三个并列的祈使句里，idealistic for some cause，tender for some other person和committed to some worldview分别在三个祈使句里作宾语补足语，补充说明宾语的状态或特质。③最后一个祈使句包含一个定语从句，修饰worldview。句末的of a larger hope作the context的后置定语，说明the context的特点是“有更大希望的”。