精美英文欣赏:多才多艺的人（在线收听）

It is perhaps, no accident that many of the outstanding figures of the past were exceptionally versatile men. Right up until comparatively recent times, it was possible for an intelligent person to acquaint himself with almost every branch of knowledge. Thus man of genius like Leonardo da Vinci or Sir Philip Sidney, engaged in many careers at once as a matter of course. Da Vinci was so busy with his numerous inventions, that he barely found time to complete his paintings; Sidney, who died when he was only 32 years old, was not only a great soldier, but a brilliant scholar and poet as well. Both these men came very near to fulfilling the Renaissance ideal of the “universal man”, the man who was good at everything.

Today, we rarely, if ever, hear that a musician has invented a new type of submarine. Knowledge has been divided and sub-divided into countless, narrow-defined parts. The specialists are respected; the versatile person, far from being admired, is more often regarded with suspicion. The modern world is a world of high-skilled experts who have had to devote the greater part of their lives to a very limited field of study in order to compete with their fellows.

With this high degree of specialization, the frontiers of knowledge are steadily being pushed back more rapidly than ever before. But this has not been achieved without considerable cost. The scientist, who outside his own particular subject is little more than a idiot, is a modern phenomenon; as is the man of letters who is barely aware of the tremendous strides that have been made in technology. Similarly, specialization has indirectly affected quite ordinary people in every walk of life. Many activities which were once pursued for their own sakes, are often given up in despair; they require techniques, the experts tell us, which take a life-time to master. Why learn to play the piano, when you can listen to the world’s greatest pianists in your own drawing-room?

多才多艺的人

在过去的时代里，很多人杰出的人都是多才多艺的人，或许这并不是人感到意外。知道相对较近的时代，一个聪明的人可以通晓很多知识领域。所以像达芬奇和西德尼这样的天才，同时从事多种职业，也是理所当然的。达芬奇忙于他的很多发明以至于不能完成他的画作；年仅32岁战死沙场的西德尼不只是个伟大的战士，还是个出色的学者和诗人。这两个人都达到了文艺复兴的“通才”思想，他们精通一切。

而今，我们很少听说一个音乐家发明了一种新的潜水艇。知识领域被一分再分到数不清的狭窄领域。专家受人尊敬，多才多艺的人却不受敬佩，反而经常让人怀疑。现在社会是一个对专业技能高度精通的专家的世界，他们为了与同行竞争，而不得不花一生大部分时间去研究一个狭小的领域。

随着高度的专业化，知识的界限也正稳固的缩小，其速度前所未有。但是带到这种情形也付出了相当大的代价。一个科学家在他领域以外和一个白痴一样，一个文人却又对科学领域的进展一无所知。同样，专业化也使各个行业的普通人间接受到影响。过去人们从事某些活动只是应为兴趣，现在也不得不在绝望中放弃；他们需要技术。专家告诉我们要掌握这些技术需要花费毕生的经历。当你能在自己的客厅听到世界最好的钢琴加演奏时，为什么还要自己学钢琴呢？