nature上的一篇文章--如何成为一名好的研究生.docxVIP

What makes a good PhD student? --- Nature, Vol 441, May 11, 2006 —— 《自然》，第 441 期， 2006 年 5 月 11 日 翻译：计军平 Doing a PhD should be fun and rewarding, because you can spend all your working time discovering things and pursuing ideas -- and getting paid for it, without any administrative responsibilities. Those who stick with a career in science do so because, despite the relatively poor pay, long hours and lack of security, it is all we want to do. 做一名博士研究生充满了乐趣，也是非常值得的，因 为你可以把所有的时间都用在探索事物、追求理念上 ——并且可以获得报酬，没有任何行政上的责任。那 些有志于从事科学研究的人之所以能这样做，是因为 这些都是他们真正想做的——虽然报酬相对较少，工 作时间很长，也缺乏保障。 Unfortunately most new PhD students are ill-prepared, and as a consequence very few will fulfil their aspirations to be independent scientists. The main reasons for this are the grade creep inherent at most universities, making it difficult to identify the really talented first-class graduates from the rest, and the pressure on universities to graduate as many PhD students as possible. The consequence is that we enrol far too many of them without telling them clearly what doing a doctorate should entail. We therefore set ourselves, and the students, on a path of frustration and disappointment. 不幸的是大多数博士新生并没有做好充分的准备，其 结果就是几乎没有人能从事独立研究。造成这种现象 的原因主要是多数大学评价学生的“等级差”太小， 很难将真正优秀的研究生区别出来，同时各大学也面 临着让尽可能多的博士生毕业的巨大压力。结果导致 我们招了太多的博士生，但没有让他们明白博士因该 具备哪些素质。这不但使我们自己，同时也使博士生 们感到万分痛苦和失望。 So what should we be telling prospective PhD students? 那么，我们应该对未来的博士生们说些什么呢？ Choose a supervisor whose work you admire and who is well supported by grants and departmental infrastructure. 选择研究经费充足、设备齐全，同时其工作受到你认 同的导师。 (2) Take responsibility for your project. 对你的研究项目负责。 Work hard -- long days all week and part of most weekends. If research is your passion this should be easy, and if it isnt, you are probably in the wrong field. Note who goes home with a full briefcase to work on at the end of the day. This is a cause of success, not a consequence. 努力工作——所有工作日的大部分时间，以及部分周 末。如果你所从事的研究是你感兴趣的，做到这点很 容易，但如果不是，那你就要好好想想是不是进错研 究领域了。有些人