學(xué)生是否只需關(guān)注自己的學(xué)習(xí)，做到“一心只讀圣賢書”就行了呢？在華盛頓這個(gè)遍地都是機(jī)會(huì)，碰上名人和拐個(gè)彎一樣容易的地方，同時(shí)也坐落著眾多知名企業(yè)組織，去那實(shí)習(xí)的機(jī)會(huì)似乎都唾手可得，但卻不是人人都能獲得這種機(jī)會(huì)。我曾在應(yīng)征實(shí)習(xí)的路上一度失利，現(xiàn)在我開始正視人際關(guān)系網(wǎng)和交際能力的重要性，同時(shí)也意識到什么更為重要……

By Leo Luo

陳馨 注

Ask any college student about the best part of attending university in Washington D.C., and he or she will most likely respond with “the networking opportunities.” Because of its status as the political capital of the West, countless dignitaries and high-ranking officials from around the world descend upon D.C. each day. Strolling down Pennsylvania Avenue alongside the headquarters of the World Bank or the FBI, bumping into the movers and shakers of the international community is as easy as rounding the next corner. To prove my point, one of my classmates even took a selfie with John Kerry, the Secretary of State of the U.S.A., while he was window-shopping with his wife. With the abundance of influential people waiting to be discovered, potential internships at prestigious organizations are just a handshake and an elevator pitch away. After two years immersed in this environment, I’ve realized that the most powerful weapon in Washington D.C. is not Obama’s key to the nuclear weapons, but simply a honeyed tongue and a chance to network.

The official definition of networking means establishing connections with contacts, or even potential employers, at various organizations. But in practice, networking is the art of presenting the most qualified version of yourself to people in power. The art-form balances the confidence to approach strangers and an elastic mind to adjust to any situation whatsoever. In the bluntest terms, networking consists of sucking up to those most useful for personal career advancement. When I first learned about the ins-and-outs of networking, it sounded like the exact opposite of the supposed meritocracy of America. Instead of promoting the classical American virtues of integrity and hard work, this practice seemed to cement the idea that success revolves around “who you know, not what you know.” And the worst part, my university was encouraging this kind of behaviour through the recommendations of both the career center and upperclassmen. At the exact moment when students are meant to open their minds to as much new knowledge as possible, they are seduced by opportunities to bolster their resumes to become as marketable as possible. The most overzealous of these students even work on job applications during class time. I distinctly remember trying to inspire a discussion amongst my peers in my Political and Social Thought class, only to be met with silence punctuated by everyone typing away at their resumes. From that moment on, I would grimace anytime someone mentioned the word “networking,” and I absolutely refused to become involved.

But while my classmates began to snag internships left and right, I continued to receive no replies from the places that I applied to. Not only did I lose count of the number of times that I said “I dunno” when friends asked what my summer plans were, but I had also already memorized how their eyebrows would left and how they hesitated before quickly replying: “I’m sure you’ll find something!” By the time the cherry blossoms had already wilted that year, I finally decided to give this “networking” a try. Donning my wrinkled suit, I strolled into a career fair at my school with nothing in my hands but a notebook and a pen. That was mistake number one. All of my peers around me clutched copies of their resumes, stuffing them into the hands of the various company representatives sitting at their desks in the conference hall. Imitating what everyone else did, I hopped in line with a consulting company that I had not heard of until today. When I came face to face with the representative, she asked me “What do you do at Georgetown ?” I jumped into the obvious answer. “Well, I’m a student here, but I don’t know what I’m going to major in.” Mistake number two. The representative’s eyes lost their glimmer . Although she answered all my questions, her wandering eyes told me that she was eager to move onto the next candidate. Announcing a “Thank you” to the representative, I moved out of the line and busied myself with examining their flyers spread out at their table. As I shuffled away, I started to watch how the upperclassmen networked. Words tumbled out of their mouths, with buzzwords like “goal-driven” and “mission statements” swarming in their speeches. After sharing a final firm handshake, they exchanged business cards with a grin and a promise to call. Business cards! I thought to myself, “What is a college student doing with a business card?” Once I got over my disbelief, my thoughts turned to “how do they make it look so easy?”

I found my answer by being on the receiving end of this networking. One day last spring, while I buried my head in a biology textbook, a classmate, who I barely talk to outside of class, slid into the chair facing me. With a huge grin, she dragged me into a conversation:

“Hey Leo!” she exclaimed. “Long time no see!”

I raised one eyebrow, since we had just met in class about two hours ago. But she appeared unfazed and happily continued:

“What are you working on?”

I pointed at my textbook and replied: “Eh, not much. Just some bio .”

My classmate stretched her eyelids as far as they could open, revealing a pair of gleaming eyes. She clapped her hands together and gushed, “Oh, that’s so cool that you’re taking bio! I love bio! Back in high school, I was a research assistant for a professor at Yale! Oh man, I was slaving in the lab every day. It was SOOO much work, you know?”

“Reeally…?” I replied, grasping at an appropriate response. “But how come you’re a political science major now?”

Her grin, which was already covering half her face, grew wider.

“Oh you know, life happens. I just decided to volunteer one day for my local city elections, just to see what it’s like. Next thing I know, I get suuuper involved in the entire campaign. And I was like, I don’t know the first thing about politics, but it is so cool. And so here I am.”

I whistled in awe. “Wow… that’s pretty impressive. We’re the same grade, but you’ve done so much more than me.”

Her expression lit up, but she still kept her bulging eyes trained on mine. “Awww, thanks! But you’re so much more talented. I mean, you dance!”

Just when I gathered breath to respond, she broke eye contact to glance at her phone. She clapped her hand to her mouth.

“Oh no, look at the time. I need to get to my internship. The Morgan Stanley office is SOOO far away. Let’s get coffee soon.” She patted my shoulder and breezed away.

I had to blink a couple times to process everything she threw at me. From the way she flashed perfect smiles to her insistence on stroking others’ egos, she had stamped a dazzling image of herself onto me. She made me feel appreciated while presenting her best traits for me to admire. Perhaps the deepest impression that she left was her casual mentions of her accomplishments. Even though she was interning at one of the most powerful financial institutions in the world, she laughed it off by complaining about how far away their offices were. In other words, she veiled her talent underneath a shroud of humility and charm. And all of that in less than five minutes! The professionals may call this behaviour networking, but the translation for us commoners is “a tongue dripping with honey.”

I am known for being honest to a fault, especially in regards to keeping my promises. But this time, I broke my word to stay away from networking. Over the summer after my sophomore year, I trawled my university databases for records of alumni who worked in influential organizations. Whenever I found an email address, I shot off a message, with just the right amount of wheedling and praise, in order to arrange a meet-up for coffee. Despite the blazing D.C. summer, I suited up every other day to exchange resumes and discuss the insider strategies of applying to various internships. Thinking back to my classmate, I channelled her spirit and began to cultivate my own networking style. However, I did learn one thing about networking that allowed me to forgive myself. During my talks, a honeyed tongue only works for the first few minutes as you shake hands and crack the occasional joke. But once you actually start talking about your own passions and goals, that’s when your accumulated knowledge will come to light. Although charm can be faked, the insight and curiosity given by a proper education, replete with diverse literature and cross-industry knowledge, will always be the real deal. In other words, a honeyed tongue may open the door, but a classical education will be your guiding light for the journey ahead. As school started up again, I had donned my suit one more time, but this time I sported an ID badge for my newfound internship. My friends asked me if I was headed off to network, but I smiled and replied: “Nope. Just off to prove that I’m more than just a honeyed tongue.”

Vocabulary

1. hub: 中心；honeyed tongue: 能言善道的人。

2. networking: 人際關(guān)系網(wǎng)。

3. dignitary: 達(dá)官顯貴；descend upon: 涌入。

4. stroll: 散步；Pennsylvania Avenue: 賓夕法尼亞大道；headquarter: 總部；FBI: Federal Bureau of Investigation， 聯(lián)邦調(diào)查局；bump into: 偶然碰到；mover and shaker: 有權(quán)勢的人物；round: v. 繞過。

5. John Kerry: 約翰·克里，現(xiàn)任美國國務(wù)卿；window-shopping: 瀏覽商店櫥窗。

6. 在這里，有不計(jì)其數(shù)的大人物等著你發(fā)現(xiàn)，一次握手、一場電梯演講都有可能為你贏得去知名企業(yè)實(shí)習(xí)的機(jī)會(huì)。abundance of: 大量的，眾多的；elevator pitch: 電梯演講，意為在坐電梯時(shí)的短短30秒到1分鐘里向別人介紹自己，說出自己的長處，并成功吸引住對方；prestigious: 著名的。

7. immerse in: 沉浸于。

8. qualified: 有資格的。

9. elastic: 靈活的。

10. blunt: 直白的；suck up to: 討好，奉承。

11. ins-and -outs: 詳細(xì)情況；meritocracy: 精英管理制度。

12. integrity: 誠實(shí)正直；cement: 強(qiáng)化；revolve around: 圍繞，以……為重要內(nèi)容。

13. recommendation: 建議；upperclassman: （中學(xué)或大學(xué)的）高年級學(xué)生。

14. 就在學(xué)生們需要盡可能多地學(xué)習(xí)新知識時(shí)，他們也被許多能夠美化自己簡歷的實(shí)習(xí)機(jī)會(huì)所誘惑，以使自己就業(yè)行情更好。seduce: 引誘；bolster: 加強(qiáng)，提高；resume: 簡歷；marketable: 有銷路的，符合市場需求的。

15. overzealous: 過于熱情的。

16. 我還清楚地記得在社會(huì)政治思想課上，我試圖鼓勵(lì)大家進(jìn)行討論，現(xiàn)場一片沉默，唯一的聲音是同學(xué)們編輯簡歷時(shí)發(fā)出的鍵盤敲擊聲。distinctly: 清楚地；punctuate: 不時(shí)打斷。

17. grimace: （因疼痛、厭惡等）做怪相，扮鬼臉。

18. snag: 抓住，獲得；left and right: 到處。

19. lose count of: 數(shù)的過程中忘記，數(shù)不清；dunno: 非正式用法，即don’t know。

20. cherry blossom: 櫻花；wilt: 枯萎，凋謝。

21. don: 穿上； wrinkled: 有褶皺的；career fair: 招聘會(huì)。

22. clutch: 緊握；stuff: 把……塞進(jìn)。

23. imitate: 模仿，效仿；hop in: 跳入。

24. Georgetown: 指美國喬治敦大學(xué)（Georgetown University）。

25. 我沒想太多，直接給出了最顯而易見的答案。

26. glimmer: 微光。

27. wandering: 游動(dòng)的；candidate: 求職者。

28. busy oneself with: 使自己忙于；flyer: （廣告）傳單。

29. shuffle: 拖著腳走路。

30. 他們談吐自然流暢，話語中充滿大量如“目標(biāo)驅(qū)動(dòng)”和“任務(wù)陳述”這樣的專業(yè)術(shù)語。tumble: 蜂擁而出；buzzword: 時(shí)髦詞語，（重要的）專門術(shù)語；swarm: 成群結(jié)隊(duì)地移動(dòng)。

31. unfazed: 不受影響的，不受煩擾的。

32. bio: 即biography，指“簡略傳記，個(gè)人簡歷”。

33. gleaming: 閃閃發(fā)亮的，晶瑩的。

34. clap: 拍手；gush: 裝腔作勢地說，夸大其詞地稱贊。

35. grasp at: 抓住。

36. 生活總有意外。

37. whistle: 吹口哨；in awe: 敬畏地。

38. light up: （人的臉或眼睛）放光彩，露喜色；bulging: 凸出的；train: 對準(zhǔn)。

39. clap: 突然把手放到……。

40. Morgan Stanley: 摩根士丹利，全球領(lǐng)先的國際性金融服務(wù)公司，世界500強(qiáng)企業(yè)。

41. pat: 輕拍（以示關(guān)心或撫慰）； breeze: 自信地走。

42. blink: 眨眼。

43. flash a smile: 對某人一笑（指帶有特定含義地快速做某個(gè)動(dòng)作）；stroke: 討好，奉承（某人）；stamp: 留下印記。

44. veil: 遮蓋，掩飾；shroud: 覆蓋物，遮蔽物；humility: 謙遜。

45. break one’s words: 失信，食言。

46. sophomore: 大二學(xué)生；trawl: 搜尋，搜索；alumni: 校友。

47. wheedling: 甜言蜜語。

48. blazing: 炎熱的；suit up: 穿上正裝。

49. channel: 傳遞，引導(dǎo)，這里指“借鑒”她的精神。

50. crack a joke: 說笑話。

51. accumulated: 累積的；come to light: 顯露出來，為人所知。

52. 個(gè)人魅力可以假裝，但是教育培養(yǎng)的洞察力和好奇心，以及廣泛的人文知識和跨領(lǐng)域知識，才是最后決定一切的真才實(shí)學(xué)。insight: 洞察力；replete: 充足的；cross-industry: 跨行業(yè)。

53. sport: v. 惹人注目地穿戴；ID badge: 工作證，身份信息牌。

（來源：英語學(xué)習(xí)雜志 編輯：丹妮）