実践ビジネス英語 Friday, December 13
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Finding Career Passion (6)
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1[S] In our current vignette, members of H&B talk about the importance of
career passion, saying that life is more rewarding and enjoyable when we
have a sense of passion about what we do. You certainly seem to have that, Heather?
2[H]: I think I do. Yes, I'm lucky in that regard. And I was lucky to
discover what excited me, what I wanted to devote my life to - Japanese and cross-cultural communication - very early in life. So even before I entered the workforce, I had a lot of enthusiasm about my studies. At the risk of sounding pompous, I never skipped a single Japanese class in four years of college. And apparently my zeal did not only make me happy, it provided a great deal of joy for others as well.
3{S]: What do you mean?
4[H]: When I was in college, a lot of my Japanese homework involved the
place called the language lab. We sat in little cubicles listening to
recorded questions through headphones and providing answers in specific
grammatical patterns. For example, one series went, "Will you go to the bank today?" "No, I went to the bank yesterday." "Will you see a movie today?" "No, I saw a movie yesterday." That sort of thing.
I used to really get into the process. I would imagine myself saying these things over coffee at a Tokyo café, and I would shake my head and gesture with my hands. Eventually, one of my classmates told me that everyone thought my enthusiasm was very funny and cute, and) that people were often muffling their laughter behind my back.
5[S]: Also in the vignette, Alyce Collins says she'd like to see a complete loser share his insights in a college commencement speech, someone like the infamous criminal who graduated from her university. Did anyone famous speak at your graduation, Heather?
6[H]: No, the speaker at my commencement ceremony was the president of my
university, but he was always wonderful to hear: funny, smart, inspiring and he hardly used any notes at all. Whenever he spoke, he wrote just a few words on index cards to remind himself of the main points he needed to cover. Other than that, he always spoke extemporaneously and his style was very natural and relaxed as a result.
However, my graduating class only got to hear a little bit of his eloquence. The day of graduation, the temperature suddenly dropped to around zero Celsius and it started raining. It had been pretty warm before that and the graduating students were all leaving. Of course, so most of us had mailed our warm clothes home. I bought a sweat shirt at the campus store but I still sat there shivering in a short thin skirt. The president came up to speak and got a huge round of applause when his first words were "I'll keep this brief."
7[S]: So what were his abbreviated words of wisdom?
8[H:] I'm embarrassed to say I don't remember. It must have been because it was so cold but what has stuck in my mind are the jokes he told about the weather. Apparently, it was the first time in 17 years that had rain on our commencement day. And many people had asked the president over the years, "Why our university had such good weather for graduation every year?" In his speech that day he said, "I've always replied 'Clean living by our students.'" So class of 1992, I am worried."
