OnBeingYourOwnEngineer翻译.doc

精选资料
On Being Your Own Engineer
Ralph B. Peck (1983)
○The occasion for this short talk was the Civil Engineering students Annual Awards Convocation at the University of Illinois on April 24, 1976. Parents, friends, and wives or husbands of the honor students had been invited to the Convocation. I took the occasion to speak to the wives or husbands as well as to the students who received the honors.
○这篇文章是1976年7月24日伊利诺斯州立大学土木工程系学生每年一度的奖励大会上的简短发言。获奖学生的父母，朋友，妻子或丈夫都被邀请出席会议。我参加了这个会议，对这些荣誉学生以及他们的亲朋好友们进行演讲。

①Here at this University and in this Department that has trained so many outstanding civil engineers, you have achieved a standard of excellence that results in recognition at this Honors Day ceremony. It gives me the greatest pleasure to congratulate you on these achievements. Here in your undergraduate career, you have become leaders in the pursuit of engineering knowledge, the first essential step in becoming a civil engineer. Excellence in undergraduate studies correlates highly with a successful engineering career in later years. I sincerely hope that the satisfaction of a successful career continues to be yours and that these honors and recognitions that you so rightfully receive today will be only the first of many satisfactions that will come to you in your practice of civil engineering.
①这所大学，这个系，培养了很多优秀的土木工程师，你们达到了优秀的标准，从而在今天这个值得庆贺的日子，得到认可。这就给了我莫大的荣幸来祝贺你们取得的成就。在你们的本科学习，在追求工程知识的过程中，你们成为了佼佼者，这是成为土木工程师的第一个基本步骤。本科学业的优秀与今后工程事业的成功高度相关。我衷心希望事业成功的成就感继续与你相伴, 你今天理应得到的这些荣誉和认可，将只是今后你获得的许多成就感之一。
②Yet a successful undergraduate career is not always or inevitably followed by leadership in your profession. In a changing world, in a dynamic profession such as civil engineering, how can you to be sure today that you will be among the leaders of your profession 20 or 30 years from now? How can you even be sure to pick the branch of civil engineering, the particular kind of work that you will actually like the best or have the most aptitude for? Do you dare leave these matters to chance, do you dare let nature simply take its course? Nobody can predict the future and nobody can guarantee success in the future. But there are, nevertheless, many positive things you can do to shape your own career. I should like to think about some of this with you today.
② 然而,一个成功的本科学习并不总是或者必然成为职业中的佼佼者。在一个变化的世界，在一个动态的职业如土木工程，今天你怎么可以确保在20到3年后，你仍然是你职业中的佼佼者? 你甚至能否确任你将从事土木工程，这一你最喜欢或是最有前途的职业? 你敢让这些问题任其发展,你敢让它顺其自然吗? 没有人能预测未来,谁也不能保证未来的成功。尽管如此，但你仍然可以做一些积极的事来塑造自己的职业生涯。我今天想与你去探讨一些问题。
③I believe every engineer, perhaps even while an undergraduate but certainly upon graduation, needs to form and follow his own plan for the development of his professional career. Perhaps it is an unpleasant thought, but I believe it is only realistic that nobody else is quite as interested in your career as you yourself should be. If you don’t plan it yourself, it is quite possible that nobody will. On the other hand, there are too many factors, there are too many changes in a dynamic profession to permit laying out a fixed plan. The plan that you follow must be flexible and it must continually be evaluated.
③我相信每一位工程师，甚至一个肯定能毕业的本科生，需要制定和实践自己的职业生涯发展计划。也许这是一个不愉快的想法，但是我相信这是唯一现实的，没有人会像你自己对你的事业那么感兴趣。如果你自己不计划，没有其他人会给你做计划的。另一方面，有太多的因素，有许多的变化，不会让你在动态的职业中制定一个固定的计划。你执行的计划必须是灵活的，它必须被不断地进行评估。
④To be sure, every career depends to some extent on chance, on the breaks , good or bad. But if you have followed a sound plan , you will be ready for the good breaks when they come. Those who feel they have never had favorable opportunities usually have not been ready and have not even recognized opportunities when they came.
④确信的是，在面对转机时，每个职业在一定程度上都或好或坏地取决于机会。但是，如果你遵循一个健全的计划，那么当好的转机来临时，你将变得主动。那些感觉他们从未有过良好机会的人通常都没有准备好，甚至可以说，在机会来临时他们都不会察觉到。
⑤Civil engineering projects don’t exist in the classroom, or in the office, or in the laboratory. They exist out in the field, in society. They are the highways, the transit systems, the landslides to be corrected, the waste disposal plants to be constructed, the bridges, the airports; they have to be built by men and machines. In my view, nobody can be a good designer, a good researcher, a leader in the civil engineering profession unless he understands the methods and the problems of the builders. This understanding ought to be firsthand, and if you are going to get it, you have to plan for it. Without this experience in the field, your design may be impractical, your research may be irrelevant, or your teaching may not prepare your students properly for their profession. There are several ways in which you can get construction experience. One is by being an engineer for a builder, for a contractor. Or on the other hand, you might be an inspector for a resident engineer for the designer or owner. It doesn’t matter in what capacity you work, and it doesn’t take a very long time to get worthwhile experience in the field, but sometimes early in your career, you should plan to get it. Since the real projects are out there in the field, you will have to go where they are to get the construction experience, and you may have to put up with a little inconvenience in order to get it.
⑤土木工程项目不存在于教室、办公室或实验室里。他们存在于生活中，社会中。他们是公路，交通运输系统，被防护的山体滑坡，改造的垃圾处理厂，桥梁以及机场；他们必须依靠人力和机器来建立。依我看，如果不理解施工方法和建设者的问题，没人能成为土木工程中一位优秀的设计师，优秀的研究人员或者领导。这种理解力应该是第一位的。而如果你想获得它，你就必须得有计划。没有工地的经验，你的设计可能变得不切实际，你的研究可能没有针对性，或者说你的教学不能使你的学生最好适当的准备。有一些方法可以让你获得建造经验。一个是成为建筑或承包工程师。另一方面，你可以成为住宅设计师或业主的房屋检测工程师。这与你工作的能力无关，也并不需要太长时间，你就会获得有价值的工地经验，但有时在你的职业生涯早期，你应该为此做计划。由于真正的项目存在于外面的工地，你应该到那里去获取施工经验，为了获得经验，你应该吃些苦头。
⑥Real problems of civil engineering design include both concept and detail. In fact, details often make or break a project. A beautifully designed cantilever bridge in Vancouver Harbor collapsed during construction because a few stiffeners were omitted on the webs of some temporary supporting beams. Spectacular failures such as this don’t always follows from neglected details, but poor design, poor engineering often do. I believe every civil engineer needs a personal knowledge of the details of his branch of civil engineering. If he’s going to be a geotechnical engineer, for example, he needs to know among other things exactly how borings are made and samples taken under a variety of circumstances. If he’s going to be a structural engineer, he needs to know how steel structures are actually fabricated and erected. He needs to know, in other words, the state of the commercial art that plays such a large part in his profession.he need to know how things are customarily done so that he can tell whether, for example, a commercially available sampling tool will do the job at a modest competitive price or whether some unusual tool must be developed for the particular requirements of the job.He needs to know, in other words, the state of the commercial art that plays such a large part in his profession. he need to know how things are customarily done so that he can tell whether, for example, a commercially available sampling tool will do the job at a modest competitive price or whether some unusual tool must be developed for the particular requirements of the job. So it seems to me that you should plan to get this sort of experience also: to spend some time on a drilling rig if you plan to be a geotechnical engineer; to work for a steel fabricator or in a design office if you intend to be a structural engineer.
⑥土木工程设计真正的问题包括概念和细节两个方面。事实上，细节总是决定着一项工程的成败。位于温哥华海港的一个非常漂亮的悬臂桥，因为在一些支撑梁腹板上没有布置加劲肋，因而在建造过程中发生了坍塌。当然，像这样大的事故并不总是由于忽略了细节，还有不良的设计和施工等因素。我相信每一位土木工程师都需要个性化的专业知识，这些知识要包含他所研究的土木工程分支中的细节。举例来说，如果他想成为一位岩土工程师，他就需要详细了解钻孔是怎样钻的，如何在不同情况下进行采样。如果他想成为一位结构工程师，他就需要了解人们是如何拼装和架设钢结构的。换句话书说，他需要知道在行业中很重要的商业艺术现状。他需要知道如何按照惯例做事。例如，一个买的到的取样工具是否可以合适而有竞争力地来完成工作，或者因为工作的特殊要求，需要制作一些特殊工具。所以，我觉得你们应该去获得这种经验，如果你想当一名岩土工程师，那么可以花一些时间在钻孔平台上，如果你想当结构工程师，你可以去钢结构制造厂或者设计所工作。

⑦How can you get this varied experience, these various components of civil engineering that are so dissimilar? I think, for the most part, you have to do it by choosing your jobs carefully and changing your job if and when it seems necessary. You may be lucky in your very first job and go to work for an organization that designs, that supervises constructions, that makes its own laboratory tests, that supervises borings, and so on. If this should be true, you would be fortunate, but this is not usually the case. Even such an organization may tend to let you get stuck in one phase of their work, and you may have to persuade them from time to time to let you work in other parts of their activities. More likely you will have to change organization, possibly even to another part of the country or of the world. Unfortunately you can’t order the jobs that you want, when you want them, and where you want them. But you can look at every opportunity to see if it fits in your plan and to judge if the time is right to make a change. The breadth of experience so important in a civil engineer’s background can’t be obtained any other way than by a variety of jobs or a variety of activities within a given job. You owe it to yourself and to your career to see that you get this varied background. On the other hand, while you’re getting this background, you ought to avoid being a job-hopper. Each of your employers will have an investment in you. At least for a while, when you start to work for him, he will not be getting his money’s worth from you. You owe him a return on his investment, you owe him good work, and you owe staying with him a reasonable minimum time while you’re getting that experience.
⑦你如何才能够得到这些不同的经验，这些土木工程的分支是如何的不同？我想，在一般情况下，你要做到这些，就应该仔细选择工作，如有必要时更换工作。也许你是幸运的，第一份工作就进入设计院，监理单位，在实验室做研究，或者是其他。如果真是这样，那么只能说你很幸运。但是这并不是常有的事。甚至经常有企业会从事他们众多工作中的一项，然后你就不得不一遍又一遍不厌其烦的去说服他们让你从事你所学专业的工作。更有可能得更换单位，到国内或是国外的其他地方工作。不幸的是，你不能制定工作（你所需要的）以及工作的时间和地点。但你可以盯住每一个机会去看是否适合你的计划并判断“跳槽”的机会是否成熟。对于土木工程师背景如此重要的丰富经验只能通过多样的工作和一项工作中的多种任务来获得，除此别无它途。你应该感谢你的职业生涯让你得到了那么多经验。另一方面，当你正在吸取这些经验的时候，就不应该跳槽了。你的每一个老板都会对你投资，至少在刚开始工作的一段时间内，他是收不回与他投资的钱相同价值的东西的。你欠他投资的回报，你欠他一个努力工作。在你获得经验的同时，你欠他一个合理的最短工作时间。
⑧On my first job, I had the good fortune to be working under Karl Terzaghi. He had a good many requirements, but one of the most important was that I should keep a notebook in which I should record not just what I had done that day, but what I had seen, what I had observed. When I went down into a tunnel heading, I should come back and sketch how the heading was being executed and how it was being braced. I soon discovered that very often, when I came back, I couldn’t remember exactly what had gone on in the heading. I couldn’t remember exactly how the bracing fit together. In other words, my eyes had seen what was going on, but my brain didn’t really register. My powers of observation were poor. But as I continued to keep this notebook, I discovered that more and more I could remember what I had seen, and more and more my powers of observation developed, I recommend this to you as one way to make your experience more meaningful.
⑧在我的第一份工作中，我有幸在太沙基手下工作，他有相当多的要求，但是其中最重要的是我必须要做笔记，不仅仅只是记录我今天干了什么，而是观察到了什么，学习到了什么。当我下到一个隧道的深处，返回时需要对这个工程的施工状况做一个梗概，还要记录它是怎么支撑的。不久，我就发现了问题。当我返回的时候，我完全记不得了下面的施工状况。我也完全忘记了支撑间详细的连接情况。换句话说，我的眼睛看到发生了什么，但是我的大脑却一点都没有记录。我的观察能力实在是太差了。但是当我开始记录这些笔记的时候，我渐渐地发现我可以记下来我看到的东西了，我的观察力也提升了，我把这一点告诉你们，作为一种使你的实践更有意义的方法。
⑨An investment of ten years or so after your degree, including perhaps graduate studies as well, in accordance with a carefully planned but of flexible program, will go a long way toward assuring success in your engineering career. But there is another important aspect to be considered. Any worthwhile career is demanding. It makes demand on your time and effort, and also your family. And there are other demands on your life besides your career. Your wife or your husband will have her or his own goals and even may also have a career in mind. The demands of others in your life and the fulfillment of their goals and careers will require that cooperation, adjustment, give and take. Moves from one place to another will require leaving friends; will require that your children change schools. Tension and conflicts are inevitable and compromise and reason are necessary. You and your partner will need the best possible understanding. Many a marriage has founded on the career ambitions of one or both partners and, conversely, many a career has founded on unreasonable or nonunderstanding or financial demands of the partner. There is seldom a perfect solution to this problem, but there are many good solutions. The important thing is to face up to the problems early and to keep working on them. The best engineers, I think have achieved a reasonable balance among their goals in life.Often they can truly say that their partner in life has also been their partner in their career.
⑨在你们获得学位后十年左右的投资，也包括可能的研究生学习，遵循一个详细制定但又有灵活性的计划。经过一段长的时间，必然会有事业上的成功。仍需考虑另一个重要的方面，任何有价值的事业都是需要付出的。这就需要你的时间和精力，还有家人的支持。但除了事业，你有其他生活上的要求。你的妻子或丈夫也会有她或他自己的目标，甚至心中也有一个事业。在你的生活中别人的要求，以及他们目标和事业的实现需要合作，调整，给予和采取。从一个地方搬到另一个地方会导致我们失去朋友，也会导致你的小孩转学。紧张和冲突是不可避免的，妥协和理性也是必要的。你和你的伴侣需要尽可能的理解。许多婚姻都建立在一方或双方的职业抱负上，相反，许多人的职业生涯都建立在对配偶不合理以及不可理解的社会和经济要求上。对于这个问题几乎没有一个完美的解决方法，但却有很多好的解决方式。最重要的就是很早地正面应对问题，然后持之以恒的对待问题。我认为，一个最好的工程师已经在生活中的目标之间取得了一个合理的平衡。他们可以经常发自内心地说，他们生活中的伴侣也是他们事业上的伴侣。
⑩Your generation has a most exciting prospect. Don’t believe for a minute the prophecies that technology has outlived its usefulness. You will have, fortunately, much more to consider than technology. You will need to be true conservationists, true ecologists in the positive sense. You will need to be involved in the social cost-benefit assessments of civil engineering work above and beyond the dollar cost-benefits. Progress in these directions will be the challenge and the great achievement of your generation, and it is an exciting prospect. But to succeed, you must be fully prepared, not poorer, but better grounded technically than your predecessors. In next ten years, the choices you make and the experiences you get will be crucial. As Honor Students, you have taken the first necessary step with skill and distinction. All of us, your teachers, your partners, your husbands, wives, and friends wish you even greater success in the future. Indeed you must succeed, or this world will be a poorer place rather than a richer place in which to live.
⑩你们这一代人有着最激动人心的前途。一点也不要相信技术将来比其用途更有生命力。幸运的话，你要考虑的不仅仅是技术。在积极的方面，你需要成为一个真正的环保主义者，生态学者。你也将需要参与评定一个工程是否超出预算。这些进展对你们这一代来说不仅会是挑战和成就，而且意味着很光明的未来。但是对于成功，你应该完全准备好，要比你的前辈们有更精湛的技术。在今后的十年里，你们的选择和经历将会至关重要。作为优秀生，你们已经完成了第一步，并且成就非凡。我们所有人，包括你们的老师，父母，伙伴，都希望你将来能够更加成功。你们一定要成功呀！否则我们这个世界将会成为你居住的贫困地狱而不是富裕天堂。

THANKS !!!

致力为企业和个人提供合同协议，策划案计划书，学习课件等等
打造全网一站式需求

欢迎您的下载，资料仅供参考

可修改编辑