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AWomanCanLearnAnythingaManCan男人会的，女人也能学会carolynTurkWhenIwasakid,everythinginmybedroomwaspink.Ihavetwosistersandwehadacompleteminiaturekitchen,aherdofMyLittlePoniesandseveralBarbieandKendolls.Wedidn’thaveanytoytrucks,G.I.Joesorbasketballs.WedidhaveaWiffle-ballset,butyouwouldhavebeenhard-pressedtofinditinourplayroom.Tomboysweweren’t.当我还是个小孩时，我卧室里的所有东西都是粉红色的。我有两个姐姐，我们有一个一应俱全的微型厨房、一群小矮种马和一些芭比娃娃、肯娃娃。我们没有玩具卡车、玩具大兵、篮球。我们确实有一套空心棒球，但是很难在我们的游戏室中找到。毕竟我们不是假小子。SosomepeoplemayfinditironicthatIgrewuptobeamechanicalengineer.Infact,Iamtheonlyfemaleengineeratmycompany.Inordertogetmycollegedegree,Ihadtotakealotofmathandscienceclasses.Ialsohadtoworkwithateamofstudentsaspartofanationalcompetitiontoconvertagas-guzzlingSUVintoahybridelectricvehicle—that’swhereIlearnedhowtofixcars.I’mproudtosaythatIgotA’sinallmyclasses,includingmultivariablecalculusanddifferentialequations.I’vealwaysbeenprettygoodatmathanddesign,butIdidn'tunderstandwherethatcouldtakeme.Iwasexpectedtogotocollege,butnooneevertoldmeI’dmakeagoodengineersomeday.因而一些人或许会对我成长为一个机械工程师而倍感惊讶。事实上，我是我们公司唯一的一名女工程师。为了获得我的大学文凭，我不得不上许多数学和自然科学课程。我也不得不和一小组学生合作去参加一个全国竞赛——将一辆耗油特多的运动型多用途汽车改装为一辆混合电动汽车——正是这样我学会了修车。我很骄傲我门门功课都是A，包括多元微积分和微分方程。我的数学和设计一向很好，虽然我不明白这会给我带来什么结果。家里人期盼我去上大学，但没有人告诉过我我将来会成为一名优秀的工程师。WhenIwasinhighschool,Ididn’tknowthefirstthingaboutengineering.Icouldn’thavedistinguishedatransmissionfromanalternator.ThecarIdroveneededsomeworkbutIwasafraidtotakeittothemechanic.Becausehonestly,themechaniccouldhaveshownmeanelectriccanopenerandsaid,“Thisispartofyourcarandit’sbroken—paymetofixit,”andIwouldn’thaveknownanybetter.在我还在上高中时，我对工程一窍不通。我根本分辨不出哪一个是变速器，哪一个是交流发电机。我开的车坏了需要修理，但我害怕让机修工给我修一下。因为说实话，机修工可能会给我看一个电动开罐器，然后对我说：“这是你车上的零部件，坏了——给我钱，我替你修,,我不会清楚这是否是个敲诈。Attheendofmyjunioryearofhighschool,Iheardaboutasummerprogramdesignedtointerestgirlsinengineering.Thesix-weekprogramwasfree,andstudentsweregivencollegecreditandadormroomattheUniversityofMaryland.Iappliedtotheprogram,notbecauseIwantedtobeanengineer,butbecauseIwascravingindependenceandwantedtogetoutofmyparents’houseforsixweeks.我在高中第三年末的时候，听说了一个暑期班，专门致力于提升文档冲亿季，好礼乐相随miniipad移动硬盘拍立得百度书包女孩对工程的兴趣。课程长达六周，完全免费，并且参加的学生还能获得大学学分以及住在马兰里大学的学生宿舍里。我报了那个暑期班，并不是因为我想成为一名工程师，而是由于我渴望独立，希望能够搬离父母的房子自己生活六周。IwasacceptedtotheprogramandIearnedsixengineeringcredits.ThenextyearIenteredtheuniversityasanengineeringmajor.FiveyearslaterIhadadegreeandthreedecentjoboffers.我被那个暑期班接受了并且获得了6个工程学分。第二年我进入马兰里大学学习，主修工程学。五年后我获得了学位并且得到了3个像样的工作机会。Ican’thelpshudderingwhenIhearaboutstudiesthatshowthatwomenareatadisadvantagewhenitcomestomath.TheyimplythatIamsomehowabnormal.I’mnot,butIdoknowthatifIhadn’tstumbledintothatsummerprogram,Iwouldn’tbeanengineer.每当听到研究表明女人在学数学方面处于劣势时我总是情不自禁地战栗。这暗示我有点不正常。我并非不正常，但我确实知道如果不是因为一个偶然的机遇参加了那个暑期班，我绝不会成为一名工程师。WhenIwasgrowingupIwastold,asmanystudentsare,todowhatIambestat.ButIdidn’tknowwhatthatwas.Mostpeoplethinkthatwhenyouaregoodatsomething,itcomeseasilytoyou.ButthisiswhatIdiscovered:justbecauseasubjectisdifficulttolearn,itdoesnotmeanyouarenotgoodatit.Youjusthavetogrityourteethandworkhardertogetgoodatit.Onceyoudo,there’sastrongchanceyouwillenjoyitmorethananythingelse.和许多学生一样，在我成长过程中，别人告诉我将来去从事自己擅长的事。但我并不清楚我自己最擅长什么。大多数人会认为你某样东西学得很好时，这种东西对你而言就很简单但是我发现：仅仅因为一门学科很难学，这并不意味着你在这方面不强。你只是需要咬紧牙关，更加努力地去学好它。一旦你这样做了，就很有可能你会享受这门学科给你带来的其他任何东西都无法比拟的无限乐趣。IneighthgradeItookalgebra.OnonetestIgotonly36percentoftheanswerscorrect.Ifailedthenextone,too.Istartedtothink,MaybeI’mjustnogoodatthis.Iwasluckyenoughtohaveateacherwhodidn’ttakemybadgradesasajudgmentofmyabilities,butsimplyasanindicationthatIshouldstudymore.HepulledmeasideandtoldmeheknewIcoulddobetter.Heletmethetests,andIpulledmygradeuptoanA.八年级我学代数时，一次考试我只有36%的答案正确。接下来的一次考试我又不及格。我开始质疑自己，或许我真的不擅长代数。值得庆幸的是，我的老师并没有用我糟糕的分数来评判我的能力，而是将它作为我应该多多强化的信号。他把我叫到一旁，告诉我他知道我能做的更好。他让我重考，结果我将成绩提升到了A。Istudiedalotincollege,too.IhadmomentsofpanicwhilesittingunderneaththebuzzingfluorescentlightsintheengineeringlibraryonSaturdayafternoons,whenIworriedthattheestrogeninmybodywaspreventingmefromunderstandingthermodynamics.Buttheguysinmyclasseshadtoworkjustashard,andIknewthatIcouldn’taffordtoloseconfidenceinmyself.Ididn’twanttochoosebetweenmyfemininityandagoodcareer.SoIremindedmyselfthatthosestudies,theonesthatsaythatmathcomesmorenaturallytomen,arebasedonafaultypremise:thatyoucanjudgeaperson’sabilitiesseparatefromtheculturalcuesthatshehasreceivedsinceshewasaninfant.Nomanisanisland.Nowomanis,either.在大学里我同样学了很多东西。星期六下午坐在工程图书馆吱吱作响的荧光灯下学习时，我也有过恐惧的时候，担心我体内的雌激素会阻碍我理解热力学。但是我班上的男同学们也同样在刻苦学习，我知道我不能够对自己丧失信心。我不想在我女性气质和拥有一份好工作两者之中只取其一。因此我提醒自己那些研究，那些说数学对男性来说更自然的研究是建立在一个有缺陷的前提之上的：那就是认为你可以完全不考虑一个人从她还是婴儿时就受到的文化熏陶来判断她的能力。男人不是孤岛，女人也不是。Whyarewesoquicktolimitourselves?I’mnotdenyingthatmostlittlegirlslovedollsandmostlittleboyslovevideogames,anditmaybetruethatsomepeoplefavorsideoftheirbrain,andotherstheleft.Buthowrelevantisthattome,ortoanyone,asanindividual?Insteadoftranslatingourdifferencesintohardandfastconclusionsaboutthehumanbrain,whycan’twefocusinsteadonhowincrediblyflexibleweare?Insteadofusingwhatweknowasareasonwhywomencan’tlearnphysics,maybeweshouldconsiderthepo