My dear:
I have been thinking about our conversation of last night, and I hope you hve too. 我一直在思考我们昨天晚上的谈话，我希望你也如此。
1962, in some ways, is Wylie O' Hara's Year of Decision. Soome of the decisions you make this year will have an important bearing on decisions you may want to make several years hence. 1962年，从某种意义上来说，是对威利.奥哈拉具有决定性的一年。你今年所做的决定将会对你几年后所希望做出的决定起到至关重要的作用。
For example: suppose that when you are 20 or 21 you should discover that you want to participate in one of the many activities that will be open to young people on the federal or state government. The first thing they will want to know is what education and/or training you have had. Nowadays the minimum, absolute minimum requirement for hundreds of jobs is two years' college, either at a four year college or at a junior college. 比如说：假如在20岁或21岁时，你发现自己想报名参加联邦政府或州政府为年轻人组织的某项活动。他们需要了解的第一件事情就是你受过什么样的教育和接受过怎样的培训。如今，对各行各业最低的学历要求是两年的大学教育，要么在四年制大学里学习过，要么在两年制大学里学习过。
For another example: you have said that you don't expect to marry before you are 23. Well, that is something you can't be sure of, but suppose you do wait till you're 23. Suppose your fiance is a young man who is taking graduate work at some university---law, medicine, the sciences, government work, etc. --- and you and he are living in the vicinity of his graduate school. You may want to do work on the college or the graduate school level yourself, but I assure you will not be very enthusiastic about it if you have to start as a freshman of 23. 再举一个例子：你说过你不想在23岁以前结婚。也许，这是你无法确定的，但我们就假设你的确是等到23岁。假设你的未婚夫是个在某所大学生里读研究生的男孩儿，他学的可能是法律、医学、科学、行政管理等。你和他住在他的研究生院附近。你也许会希望自己也上大学或读研究生，但我肯定， 如果你在23岁时才成为一个大学新生，你将没有热情去学习了。
Now I could go on at some length, but th
e point I am aiming at is this: I want you to think very, very seriously about what you are going to do after St. Tim's. You are not Miss Rich. You are not going to be Miss Church mouse, either, but your must think in terms of being able to earn at least part of your own living. I don't think you are going to fall in love with a dumb head. I think dumb head, rich or not, would bore the hell out of you. Therefore it is extremely likely that the kind of boy you will like and fall in love with is going to be one who uses his brains to earn his living. That almost automatically means that he will be taking either graduate work or special post -college training of some sort. And even if you have children right away, you will want to keep up with him intellectually. 现在我得继续多说一些，但我的目的也就是：我希望你能够非常非常认真地考虑一下从圣.蒂姆斯中学毕业后你将做什么这个问题。现在，你不是一位富家小姐。将来，你也不会是一贫如洗，但你必须考虑一下怎样才能至少挣到你自己的部分的生活费。 我想，你一定不会爱上一个笨蛋。因为一个笨蛋，无论贫穷与否，他都会使你感到极其厌烦。因此，你喜欢并爱上的那个男孩儿，极有可能是以智慧来谋生的人。那就理所当然地意味着，他会读研究生或是接受大学毕业后的某种培训。就算你很快有了孩子，你也会理智地想与他保持一致。
I can tell you from my own experience how important it is to have a wife with whom to discuss one's work. My first wife was a Wellesley B. A. and a Columbia M. A. and a diplomat, I think they are called, at the Sorbonne. Your mother did not go to college, but she could have. Sister and your mother both graduated from good schools and took courses at Columbia and your mother even attended lectures at Oxford without having to enroll there. Both your mother and Sister loved to read and read a great deal, and Sister is multilingual. Both your mother and Sister disliked women's colleges, but they did not deslike higher learning. They formed their dislike of college-girl types thirty years ago. The type has almost vanished, because the kind of girl your mother and Sister were then would be applying for college today.
我可以用自己的经验告诉你，有一个能与之讨论工作的妻子是多么重要。我的第一个妻子是威尔斯利大学的学士和哥伦比亚大学的硕士，在索波姆被称为有学位证书的人。你母亲没有上过大学，但原本她有能力上大学。西斯特和你母亲都毕业于优秀的中学，并且在哥伦比亚大学修过课，你母亲甚至在不必注册的情况下在剑桥大学听过课。你母亲和西斯特都酷爱读书，她们都读过大量的书，而且西方斯特还会说好几种语言。你母亲和西斯特都不喜欢女子大学，但她们并非不喜欢高等教育。她们不喜欢三十年前的那种女大学生的模式。现在，这种模式几乎已经消失了，因为像当年你母亲和西斯特那样的女孩儿，如今都在申请读大学。
Now this is what's on my mind: the tentative program you have outlined for yourself does not seem to me very 'realistic' in 1962 and 1963 and so on. I am hopeful that you will redirect yourself toward a good college so that you will get those two minimum-requirement years on your record and then be able, there years from now, to qualify for jobs or continue working for a degree. You will not regret having those tywo years on your record, where as you might easily regret not having them. As your father I have a duty to point these things out to you. But once I have done that I have to leave the real decision up to you. 现在我所考虑的是：你为自己所制订的暂时计划，在我看来在1962年或1963年以及今后几年都是不太现实的。我希望你能改变原来的计划，去读一所好大学，这样在你档案上就会有受过两年大学教育这一最低要求，自此三年后，你就有资格去找工作或继续学习以获得学位。你不会因为在你的履历上有这两年而感到后悔，而你也许极易因为没有这两年而懊悔。作为你的父亲， 我有责任为你指明这些情况。但是，在指出了这些以后，我就得把真正的决定权留给你。
Love,
Dad
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