去年我教的一所美国一流大学的本科生班里,正好大致一半是华裔美国孩子,一半是犹太美国孩子。犹太孩子一方面在理论深入能力方面让我吃惊(他们好像有一种与生俱来的如笋拨壳、如茧抽丝的分析能力),另一方面更让我吃惊的是他们的务实。一个领头的犹太孩子上学的同时在做他的宠物食品生意,准备在中国寻找合适的供应商。一个周一, Last year I taught an undergraduate class at a leading American university, just about half of them Chinese American children and half Jewish American children. Jewish children, on the one hand, were astonished at the in-depth theoretical abilities (they seem to have an innate ability to analyze cocoon silk) and, on the other hand, what surprised me even more was their pragmatism. A leading Jewish child is doing his pet food business while attending school, ready to find a suitable supplier in China. One Monday,