John is reading Business Week after class.
J: Bravo！

J：好极了 ！

H: Hey, John, what made you so excited?

H:梅，约翰，是什么让你这么兴奋？

J: The markets closed strongly last week. The S&P 500 finished up 0.74%, while the DJIA rose 0.65% and the NASDAQ gained 0.19%.

J：上固股票市场强势收盘。标准普尔500指数收盘0.74%,道琼斯工业平均指数 (DJIA )上涨0.65 % ,纳斯达克指数增进0.19 %。

H： What are you talking about?

H:你在说什么呢？

J： The stock markets.

J:股票市场。

H: Did the markets rebound? But, are you speculating in the stock market?

H:股市反弹了吗？你在投资股票吗？

J; Of course not. I’m just interested in economy and business.

J：当然不是。我只是对经济和商业感兴趣而已。

H: You always surprise me. Hello, Mr. All-round.

H:你总是让我吃惊。你好，全能先生！

J: I told you I，ll study business administration for my master degree.

J：我跟你说过我硕士会读工商管理专业。

H: Did you? (Han thinks for a while.) Oh, yes, you did. Business administration is promising.

H:是吗？（ 梅梅想了一会。)哦，是的，你说过。工商管理很有前途。

J: Not all the time. Due to the financial crisis, a lot of people on Wall Street have lost their jobs.

J:也并不总是这样的。由于金融危机，华尔街的 很多人都失业了。

H: Indeed. As far as I know, in the first half of 2007, the Chinese stock market was still the bull market. Then in the second half year, it plunged and became a bear market.

H:是的。据我所知，在2007车前半车，中国的股市还是牛市，但到了后半年，股 市就开始下跌变成了熊市。

J： Things are getting better now. So I’m still bullish on business administration.

J：现在情况有所好转。所以我仍然看好工商管理专业。

H: MBA is very popular now. What’s so good about it?

H: MBA现在非常流行。它有什么好的呀？

J： I don’t know how other people see it, I want to learn it out of interest.

J：我不知道其他人怎么看待工商管理，我是出于兴趣才想学它的。

H: But a lot of people just follow the crowd, believing that MBA can bring them status and money.

H:但是许多人仅仅是随大流，认为MBA能带给他们地位和金钱。

J: That may be an important reason why so many people all over the world want to study Harvard’s MBA,

J:这可能是为什么全世界那么多人想到哈佛读MBA的一个重要原因吧。

H: Why Harvard? I’m not saying it’s not good. I heard that it is only ranked third in the Financial Times Global MBA Rankings 2010 and in Forbes Best Business Schools. It is even rank I4tb in Wall Street Journal MBA Rankings.

H:为什么是哈佛？我不是说哈佛不好。我听说哈佛的MBA在《金融时报》2010年 全球MBA排名和福布斯最佳商学院中只排第3,甚至在《华尔街日报》MBA排名 中只排第14位。

J: I never believe in those alleged rankings. I only believe that Harvard Business School is the founder of MBA and the case method which is used worldwide.

J:我从来不相信这些所谓的排名。我只相信哈佛商学院是MBA和全世界都在用的案 例教学法的奠基者。

H: What’s the case method?

H:什么是案例教学法？

J: That is to say, professors provide a case for you to study. It is more materialized, rather than purely theoretical.

J:就是敎授给你一个案例让你去研究。案例是更实体化的，而不是纯理论的。

H; Oh, I see. Nevertheless, I admire those people, including you, needless to say. It must be demanding to finish MBA study at Harvard.

H:哦，我明白了。我羡慕那些人，不用说也包括你啦。在哈佛大学完成MBA学业的 要求一定很高。

J: How to say. It’s quite odd that in the first year, students will be burdened with courses that lead you nowhere. In the second year, however, life will be surprisingly easy.

J:怎么说呢。很奋怪，第一年课程很多让你设时间做其他事，但是第二年生活就变 得很轻松。

H: How does it happen?

H:为什么呢？

J: Almost 75% of the tasks are compressed to be finished in the first year. Then 20% are left to the first semester of the second year. By the last semester few tasks are left.

J:大约75%的学习都被压缩在第一年完成。还有20 %安排在第二年的第一学期， 最后一个学期就剩下很少的工作了。

H: That is really unbalanced. So，only two years?

H:这也太不平衡了。这么说学习时间只有两年吗？

J; Yes, but in these two years, students have to analyze more than 800 cases, about one case each day.

J:是的。但在这两年里，学生必须要分析800多个案例，差不多每天一个。

H: Given the imbalance of the tasks, students of the first year will work around the clock.

H:考虑到学习安排的不平衡，学生在第一年得夜以继日地工作吧。

J: They do. They often stay up until one or two in the morning and go to class at eight, or sleep even less.

J:是这样的。学生经常熬夜到半夜一两点，早上八点又要去上课,有的睡眠时间更少。

H: No pains, no gains.

H: 一分耕転，一分收获嘛。

J: Then in class, they have to be prepared for the questions from professors.

J:在课堂上，他们还要准备回答教授的问题。

H： I can say “sorry” or “pass”.

H:可以说“对不起，我不会”或者"放弃”呀。

J: That’s a big no-no. If you pass twice, you’ll never receive your degree. Three times, sorry, you go home.

J:这可是大忌。如果你放弃两次，就永远别想拿到学位。放弃三次，对不起，回家吧。

H: Oh, My God! That’s quite different from Chinese universities. Are all American graduate colleges like this?

H:哦，天哪！这和中国的大学太不一样了。所有的美国研究生院都是这样的吗？

J: Not really. But they definitely demand more from students. It’s good for students.

J:不见得。但是对学生的要求确实很高。这对学生有好处。