本来计划翻译Galgary大学博士职业发展顾问Stephanie Warner博士所写的《6 ways to find your silver linings in grad school》。尝试过用自己语言来表达某些句子，果然文字功底太差。不禁让我回想起高一语文老师说过的话：“把自己所想的准确地表达出来才是写作文地最高境界”。此外，联系Galgary大学授权翻译也没得到回音。也罢了我就扯一点不痛不痒的感受，算是了却一桩心事。
实话说，我对于作者提出的那六个方法完全无感，而且觉得和市面上畅销的职业规划类鸡汤文以及高校团学干部们为了职称写的‘口号文’没有本质区别。我对于此文的兴趣在于前两段，更具体一点：研究生是否了解自己的优势在哪？身处学业的低谷时是否能有能力赏识透过乌云的那一道道光明（Silver lining）？看到这个文章，有翻译冲动正是因为我自己在这两个问题上曾今垂死挣扎过，只是最终活过来了。回过头来，我现在的答案非常简单：眼界、时机和运气。我的答案与废话也没有本质区别。
在不侵犯版权的前提下，将我认为对研究生有重要价值的两段抄录于此：
Partway through my PhD, I was in a workshop when the facilitator stopped us and requested: “Turn to the person next to you, and spend the next two minutes telling them about something you’re good at.” This exercise is etched into my brain. Not because I remember what I or my partner shared, but because of what followed. The facilitator asked, “How was that to share?” Sharing felt universally awkward, like bragging, or faking it, or struggling to find something to say. Then she asked, “What was it like to listen?” The responses were the polar opposite; listening was interesting, engaging, and motivating. Why the disconnect?
Graduate school is a time of growth, where development often comes through critique. Ask most graduate students what they need to work on, and they’ll quickly begin to list their perceived flaws, saying “I should get better at… (insert every single graduate activity here – writing, reading papers, giving presentations, scheduling time).” Ask them what they’re good at, and you’ll often hear a nervous chuckle, or a deflection, or a sarcastic quip. They may have an answer prepared, but it may be accompanied by that gnawing little fear that they’re not being quite truthful, and the listener will find them out. The impostor phenomenon is rampant – we often feel we don’t deserve recognition, or we’re somehow faking our success, or that others around us are more successful than ourselves. Add to this that there is a recognized mental health crisis in our graduate student population, with disproportionately high rates of anxiety and depression, and it becomes clear that something must change.