2018年英语四级美文：Versatile Man

 

　　Versatile Man

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　　It is, perhaps,

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　　no accident that many of the outstanding figures of the past

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　　were exceptionally versatile men.

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　　Right up until comparatively recent times,

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　　it was possible for an intelligent person

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　　to acquaint himself with almost every branch of knowledge.

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　　Thus, men of genius like Leonardo da Vinci or Sir Philip Sidney,

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　　engaged in many careers at once as a matter of course.

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　　Da Vinci was so busy with his numerous inventions,

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　　that he barely found the time to complete his paintings;

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　　Sidney, who died in battle

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　　when he was only thirty-two years old,

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　　was not only a great soldier,

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　　but a brilliant scholar and poet as well.

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　　Both these men came very near

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　　to fulfilling the Renaissance ideal of the “universal man”,

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　　the man who was good at everything.

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　　Today, we rarely, if ever,

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　　hear that a musician has just invented a new type of submarine.

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　　Knowledge has become divided and sub-divided into countless,

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　　narrowly-defined parts.

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　　The specialist is respected;

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　　the versatile person, far from being admired,

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　　is more often regarded with suspicion.

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　　The modern world is a world of highly-skilled “experts”

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　　who have had to devote the greater part of their lives

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　　to a very limited field of study

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　　in order to compete with their fellows.

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　　With this high degree of specialization,

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　　the frontiers of knowledge are steadily being pushed back

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　　more rapidly than ever before.

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　　But this has not been achieved without considerable cost.

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　　The scientist,

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　　who outside his own particular subject is little more than an idiot,

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　　is a modern phenomenon;

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　　as is the man of letters who is barely aware of the tremendous strides

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　　that have been made in technology.

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　　Similarly,

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　　specialization has indirectly affected quite ordinary people

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　　in every walk of life.

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　　Many activities which were once pursued for their own sakes,

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　　are often given up in despair:

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　　they require techniques,

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　　the experts tell us,

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　　which take a life-time to master.

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　　Why learn to play the piano,

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　　when you can listen to the world’s greatest pianists

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　　in your own drawing-room?