西班牙文化之旅

Chapter 13

第13章

As I began to think a bit more deeply about my own identity, I fell hard for a classmate of mine named Usha. As luck would have it, we were assigned as partners for our first major writing assignment, so we spent a lot of time during that first year getting to know each other. She seemed some sort of genetic anomaly, a combination of every positive quality a human being should have: bright, hardworking, tall, and beautiful. I joked with a buddy that if she had possessed a terrible personality, she would have made an excellent heroine in an Ayn Rand novel, but she had a great sense of humor and an extraordinarily direct way of speaking. Where others might have asked meekly, “Yeah, maybe you could rephrase this?” or “Have you thought about this other idea?” Usha would say simply: “I think this sentence needs work” or “This is a pretty terrible argument.” At a bar, she looked up at a mutual friend of ours and said, without a hint of irony, “You have a very small head.” I had never met anyone like her.

當我開始更深入地思考自己的身份時，我深深地愛上了我的一個名叫烏莎的同學。幸運的是，我們被指派為我們第一個主要寫作任務的合作夥伴，所以我們在第一年花了很多時間相互瞭解。她似乎是某種基因異常，是人類應該具備的所有積極品質的結合：聰明、勤奮、高大和美麗。我和一個朋友開玩笑說，如果她擁有可怕的性格，她會成為安·蘭德小說中的優秀女主角，但她很有幽默感，說話方式非常直接。其他人可能會溫順地問，“是的，也許你可以改寫一下？”或者“你有沒有想過另一個想法？”烏莎會簡單地說：「我認為這句話需要改進」或「這是一個非常糟糕的論點」。。在一家酒吧里，她抬頭看著我們的一個共同朋友，不帶一絲諷刺地說：“你的腦袋很小。我從未見過像她這樣的人。

I had dated other girls before, some serious, some not. But Usha occupied an entirely different emotional universe. I thought about her constantly. One friend described me as “heartsick” and another told me he had never seen me like this. Toward the end of our first year, I learned that Usha was single, and I immediately asked her out. After a few weeks of flirtations and a single date, I told her that I was in love with her. It violated every rule of modern dating I’d learned as a young man, but I didn’t care.

我以前和別的女孩約會過，有些是認真的，有些不是。但烏莎佔據了一個完全不同的情感世界。我不停地想著她。一位朋友形容我「傷心欲絕」，另一位朋友告訴我，他從未見過我這樣。第一年快結束時，我得知烏莎是單身，我立即約她出去。經過幾個星期的調情和一次約會，我告訴她我愛上了她。它違反了我年輕時學到的每一條現代約會規則，但我不在乎。

Usha was like my Yale spirit guide. She’d attended the university for college, too, and knew all of the best coffee shops and places to eat. Her knowledge went much deeper, however: She instinctively understood the questions I didn’t even know to ask, and she always encouraged me to seek opportunities that I didn’t know existed. “Go to office hours,” she’d tell me. “Professors here like to engage with students. It’s part of the experience here.” In a place that always seemed a little foreign, Usha’s presence made me feel at home.

烏莎就像我的耶魯精神嚮導。她也上過大學，知道所有最好的咖啡店和吃飯的地方。然而，她的知識要深入得多：她本能地理解我甚至不知道要問的問題，她總是鼓勵我去尋找我不知道存在的機會。“去上班時間，”她會告訴我。這裡的教授喜歡與學生互動。這是這裏體驗的一部分。在一個看起來總是有點陌生的地方，烏莎的存在讓我有賓至如歸的感覺。

I went to Yale to earn a law degree. But that first year at Yale taught me most of all that I didn’t know how the world worked. Every August, recruiters from prestigious law firms descend on New Haven, hungry for the next generation of high-quality legal talent. The students call it FIP—short for Fall Interview Program—and it’s a marathon week of dinners, cocktail hours, hospitality suite visits, and interviews. On my first day of FIP, just before second-year classes began, I had six interviews, including one with the firm I most coveted—Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP (Gibson Dunn for short)—which had an elite practice in Washington, D.C.

我去耶魯大學攻讀法律學位。但在耶魯的第一年，我學到了最重要的一點，那就是我不知道這個世界是如何運作的。每年八月，來自著名律師事務所的招聘人員都會來到紐黑文，渴望下一代高素質的法律人才。學生們稱之為 FIP（秋季面試計劃的縮寫），這是一個馬拉松式的晚餐、雞尾酒會、招待套房參觀和面試的一周。在我進入FIP的第一天，就在二年級課程開始之前，我進行了六次面試，其中包括我最夢寐以求的公司——Gibson， Dunn & Crutcher， LLP（簡稱Gibson Dunn）——這家公司在華盛頓特區擁有精英業務。

The interview with Gibson Dunn went well and I was invited to their infamous dinner at one of New Haven’s fanciest restaurants. The rumor mill informed me that the dinner was a kind of intermediate interview: We needed to be funny, charming, and engaging, or we’d never be invited to the D.C. or New York offices for final interviews. When I arrived at the restaurant, I thought it a pity that the most expensive meal I’d ever eaten would take place in such a high-stakes environment.

對吉布森·鄧恩（Gibson Dunn）的採訪進行得很順利，我被邀請參加他們在紐黑文最高檔餐廳之一舉行的臭名昭著的晚宴。謠言工廠告訴我，晚宴是一種中間面試：我們需要有趣、迷人、引人入勝，否則我們永遠不會被邀請到華盛頓特區或紐約的辦公室進行最後的面試。當我到達餐廳時，我覺得很遺憾，我吃過的最昂貴的一頓飯會發生在如此高風險的環境中。

Before dinner, we were all corralled into a private banquet room for wine and conversation. Women a decade older than I was carried around wine bottles wrapped in beautiful linens, asking every few minutes whether I wanted a new glass of wine or a refill on the old one. At first I was too nervous to drink. But I finally mustered the courage to answer yes when someone asked whether I’d like some wine and, if so, what kind. “I’ll take white,” I said, which I thought would settle the matter. “Would you like sauvignon blanc or chardonnay?”

晚餐前，我們都被關在一個私人宴會廳裡喝酒聊天。比我大十歲的女人被提著用漂亮的亞麻布包裹的酒瓶，每隔幾分鐘就問我是要一杯新酒還是舊酒續杯。起初我太緊張了，不敢喝酒。但當有人問我是否想要一些葡萄酒，如果想要，想要什麼樣的酒時，我終於鼓起勇氣回答了“是”。“我會拿白色的，”我說，我以為這樣可以解決這個問題。“你想要長相思還是霞多麗？”

I thought she was screwing with me. But I used my powers of deduction to determine that those were two separate kinds of white wine. So I ordered a chardonnay, not because I didn’t know what sauvignon blanc was (though I didn’t) but because it was easier to pronounce. I had just dodged my first bullet. The night, however, was young.

我以為她在搞砸我。但是我用我的推理能力來確定這是兩種不同的白葡萄酒。所以我點了一杯霞多麗，不是因為我不知道長相思是什麼（儘管我不知道），而是因為它更容易發音。我剛剛躲過了第一顆子彈。然而，夜晚還很年輕。

At these types of events, you have to strike a balance between shy and overbearing. You don’t want to annoy the partners, but you don’t want them to leave without shaking your hand. I tried to be myself; I’ve always considered myself gregarious but not oppressive. But I was so impressed by the environment that “being myself” meant staring slack-jawed at the fineries of the restaurant and wondering how much they cost.

在這些類型的活動中，您必須在害羞和霸道之間取得平衡。你不想惹惱合作夥伴，但你不希望他們不握手就離開。我試著做我自己;我一直認為自己是合群的，但不是壓迫性的。但這裡的環境給我留下了深刻的印象，以至於“做我自己”意味著鬆弛地盯著餐廳的華麗裝飾，想知道它們要花多少錢。

The wineglasses look like they’ve been Windexed. That dude did not buy his suit at the three-suits-for-one sale at Jos. A. Bank; it looks like it’s made from silk. The linens on the table look softer than my bedsheets; I need to touch them without being weird about it. Long story short, I needed a new plan. By the time we sat down for dinner, I’d resolved to focus on the task at hand—getting a job—and leave the class tourism for later.

酒杯看起來像是被打碎了。那傢伙沒有在喬斯·A·班克（Jos. A. Bank）的三套西裝拍賣會上買他的西裝;它看起來像是用絲綢製成的。桌上的床單看起來比我的床單還柔軟;我需要觸摸它們而不感到奇怪。長話短說，我需要一個新計劃。當我們坐下來吃晚飯時，我已經下定決心專注於手頭的任務——找一份工作——然後把班級旅遊留到以後。

My bearing lasted another two minutes. After we sat down, the waitress asked whether I’d like tap or sparkling water. I rolled my eyes at that one: As impressed as I was with the restaurant, calling the water “sparkling” was just too pretentious—like “sparkling” crystal or a “sparkling” diamond. But I ordered the sparkling water anyway. Probably better for me. Fewer contaminants.

我的方位又持續了兩分鐘。我們坐下后，女服務員問我是要自來水還是蘇打水。我翻了個白眼：儘管我對這家餐廳印象深刻，但稱水為“波光粼粼”實在是太自命不凡了——就像“波光粼粼”的水晶或“波光粼粼”的鑽石一樣。但我還是點了蘇打水。可能對我來說更好。更少的污染物。

I took one sip and literally spit it out. It was the grossest thing I’d ever tasted. I remember once getting a Diet Coke at a Subway without realizing that the fountain machine didn’t have enough Diet Coke syrup. That’s exactly what this fancy place’s “sparkling” water tasted like. “Something’s wrong with that water,” I protested. The waitress apologized and told me she’d get me another Pellegrino. That was when I realized that “sparkling” water meant “carbonated” water. I was mortified, but luckily only one other person noticed what had happened, and she was a classmate. I was in the clear. No more mistakes.

我喝了一口，然後把它吐了出來。這是我吃過的最噁心的東西。我記得有一次在地鐵上買了健怡可樂，卻沒有意識到噴泉機沒有足夠的健怡可樂糖漿。這正是這個高檔地方的「蘇打水」的味道。“那水有問題，”我抗議道。女服務員向我道歉，並告訴我她會再給我買一杯培露。那時我意識到「蘇打水」意味著「碳酸」水。我感到很羞愧，但幸運的是，只有一個人注意到發生了什麼，她是她的同學。我很清楚。不再有錯誤。

Immediately thereafter, I looked down at the place setting and observed an absurd number of instruments. Nine utensils? Why, I wondered, did I need three spoons? Why were there multiple butter knives? Then I recalled a scene from a movie and realized there was some social convention surrounding the placement and size of the cutlery. I excused myself to the restroom and called my spirit guide: “What do I do with all these damned forks? I don’t want to make a fool of myself.” Armed with Usha’s reply—“Go from outside to inside, and don’t use the same utensil for separate dishes; oh, and use the fat spoon for soup”—I returned to dinner, ready to dazzle my future employers.

緊接著，我低頭看了看這個地方的設置，觀察到了數量荒謬的樂器。九件器皿？我想知道，為什麼我需要三把勺子？為什麼有多把黃油刀？然後我回想起電影中的一個場景，並意識到圍繞餐具的位置和大小存在一些社會習俗。我藉口去洗手間，打電話給我的精神嚮導：“我該怎麼處理這些該死的叉子？我不想自欺欺人。有了烏莎的回答——“從外面到裡面，不要用同一個器皿來盛不同的菜;哦，用胖勺子煲湯“——我回到晚餐，準備讓我未來的僱主眼花繚亂。

The rest of the evening was uneventful. I chatted politely and remembered Lindsay’s admonition to chew with my mouth closed. Those at our table talked about law and law school, firm culture, and even a little politics. The recruiters we ate with were very nice, and everyone at my table landed a job offer—even the guy who spit out his sparkling water.

晚上剩下的時間很平靜。我彬彬有禮地聊了幾句，想起了琳賽的告誡，要閉著嘴咀嚼。我們桌上的人談論了法律和法學院，公司文化，甚至還有一點政治。和我們一起吃飯的招聘人員都很好，我桌上的每個人都得到了工作機會——甚至包括那個吐出蘇打水的人。

It was at this meal, on the first of five grueling days of interviews, that I began to understand that I was seeing the inner workings of a system that lay hidden to most of my kind. Our career office had emphasized the importance of sounding natural and being someone the interviewers wouldn’t mind sitting with on an airplane. It made perfect sense—after all, who wants to work with an asshole?—but it seemed an odd emphasis for what felt like the most important moment of a young career. Our interviews weren’t so much about grades or résumés, we were told; thanks to a Yale Law pedigree, one foot was already in the door. The interviews were about passing a social test—a test of belonging, of holding your own in a corporate boardroom, of making connections with potential future clients.

正是在這頓飯上，在五天艱苦的採訪的第一天，我開始明白，我看到了一個對我大多數人來說隱藏的系統的內部運作。我們的職業辦公室強調了聽起來很自然的重要性，並且是面試官不介意坐在飛機上的人。這很有道理——畢竟，誰願意和一個混蛋一起工作呢?——但對於一個年輕職業生涯中最重要的時刻來說，這似乎是一個奇怪的強調。我們被告知，我們的面試與其說是成績或簡歷，不如說是關於成績或簡歷;多虧了耶魯大學法學院的血統，一隻腳已經踏進了門。面試是關於通過社會測試的——對歸屬感的考驗，在公司董事會中保持自己的地位，與潛在的未來客戶建立聯繫。

The most difficult test was the one I wasn’t even required to take: getting an audience in the first place. All week I marveled at the ease of access to the most esteemed lawyers in the country. All of my friends had at least a dozen interviews, and most led to job offers. I had sixteen when the week began, though by the end I was so spoiled (and exhausted) by the process that I turned down a couple of interviews. Two years earlier, I had applied to dozens of places in the hope of landing a well-paying job after college but was rebuffed every time. Now, after only a year at Yale Law, my classmates and I were being handed six-figure salaries by men who had argued before the United States Supreme Court.

最困難的測試是我甚至不需要參加的測試：首先要吸引觀眾。整個星期，我都驚歎於能夠輕鬆獲得該國最受尊敬的律師。我所有的朋友都至少參加了十幾次面試，大多數都獲得了工作機會。當這一周開始時，我有16個，儘管到最後我被這個過程寵壞了（和筋疲力盡），以至於我拒絕了幾次面試。兩年前，我申請了幾十個地方，希望在大學畢業后找到一份高薪工作，但每次都被拒絕了。現在，在耶魯大學法學院學習了一年後，我和我的同學們就得到了在美國最高法院辯論的人的六位數薪水。

It was pretty clear that there was some mysterious force at work, and I had just tapped into it for the first time. I had always thought that when you need a job, you look online for job postings. And then you submit a dozen résumés. And then you hope that someone calls you back. If you’re lucky, maybe a friend puts your résumé at the top of the pile. If you’re qualified for a very high-demand profession, like accounting, maybe the job search comes a bit easier. But the rules are basically the same.

很明顯，有某種神秘的力量在起作用，而我剛剛第一次接觸到它。我一直認為，當你需要工作時，你會在網上尋找招聘資訊。然後你提交了十幾份簡歷。然後你希望有人給你回電話。如果你幸運的話，也許一個朋友會把你的簡歷放在最前面。如果你有資格從事一個需求量很大的職業，比如會計，也許找工作會容易一些。但規則基本相同。

The problem is, virtually everyone who plays by those rules fails. That week of interviews showed me that successful people are playing an entirely different game. They don’t flood the job market with résumés, hoping that some employer will grace them with an interview. They network. They email a friend of a friend to make sure their name gets the look it deserves. They have their uncles call old college buddies. They have their school’s career service office set up interviews months in advance on their behalf. They have parents tell them how to dress, what to say, and whom to schmooze.

問題是，幾乎每個遵守這些規則的人都失敗了。那一周的採訪告訴我，成功人士正在玩一個完全不同的遊戲。他們不會在就業市場上充斥著簡歷，希望一些僱主能給他們面試機會。他們建立網路。他們給朋友的朋友發電子郵件，以確保他們的名字得到應有的外觀。他們讓他們的叔叔稱他們為大學老夥伴。他們讓學校的職業服務辦公室提前幾個月代表他們安排面試。他們有父母告訴他們如何穿衣，說什麼，和誰聊天。

That doesn’t mean the strength of your résumé or interview performance is irrelevant. Those things certainly matter. But there is enormous value in what economists call social capital. It’s a professor’s term, but the concept is pretty simple: The networks of people and institutions around us have real economic value. They connect us to the right people, ensure that we have opportunities, and impart valuable information. Without them, we’re going it alone.

這並不意味著你的簡歷或面試表現的強度無關緊要。這些事情當然很重要。但是，經濟學家所說的社會資本具有巨大的價值。這是一個教授的術語，但概念很簡單：我們周圍的人和機構網路具有真正的經濟價值。他們將我們與合適的人聯繫起來，確保我們有機會，並傳遞有價值的資訊。沒有他們，我們只能單打獨鬥。

I learned this the hard way during one of my final interviews of the marathon FIP week. At that point, the interviews were like a broken record. People asked about my interests, my favorite classes, my expected legal specialty. Then they asked if I had any questions. After a dozen tries, my answers were polished, and my questions made me sound like a seasoned consumer of law firm information. The truth was that I had no idea what I wanted to do and no idea what field of law I expected to practice in. I wasn’t even sure what my questions about “firm culture” and “work-life balance” meant. The whole process was little more than a dog and pony show. But I didn’t seem like an asshole, so I was coasting.

在馬拉松FIP周的最後一次採訪中，我艱難地學到了這一點。在這一點上，採訪就像一個破紀錄。人們問我的興趣，我最喜歡的課程，我期望的法律專業。然後他們問我是否有任何問題。經過十幾次嘗試，我的答案得到了完善，我的問題讓我聽起來像是一個經驗豐富的律師事務所信息消費者。事實是，我不知道我想做什麼，也不知道我希望在哪個法律領域執業。我甚至不確定我關於“公司文化”和“工作與生活平衡”的問題是什麼意思。整個過程只不過是一場狗和小馬的表演。但我看起來不像個混蛋，所以我在滑行。

Then I hit a wall. The last interviewer asked me a question I was unprepared to answer: Why did I want to work for a law firm? It was a softball, but I’d gotten so used to talking about my budding interest in antitrust litigation (an interest that was at least a little fabricated) that I was laughably unprepared. I should have said something about learning from the best or working on high-stakes litigation. I should have said anything other than what came from my mouth: “I don’t really know, but the pay isn’t bad! Ha ha!” The interviewer looked at me like I had three eyes, and the conversation never recovered.

然後我撞到了牆上。最後一位面試官問了我一個我沒有準備好回答的問題：我為什麼想在律師事務所工作？這是一場壘球比賽，但我已經習慣了談論我對反壟斷訴訟的萌芽興趣（這種興趣至少有點捏造），以至於我可笑地毫無準備。我應該說一些關於向最好的人學習或從事高風險訴訟的事情。我應該說些什麼，而不是從我嘴裡說出來：“我真的不知道，但薪水還不錯！哈哈！面試官看著我，就像我有三隻眼睛一樣，談話再也沒有恢復過來。

I was certain I was toast. I had flubbed the interview in the worst way. But behind the scenes, one of my recommenders was already working the phones. She told the hiring partner that I was a smart, good kid and would make an excellent lawyer. “She raved about you,” I later heard. So when the recruiters called to schedule the next round of interviews, I made the cut. I eventually got the job, despite failing miserably at what I perceived was the most important part of the recruiting process. The old adage says that it’s better to be lucky than good. Apparently having the right network is better than both.

我確信我是乾杯。我以最糟糕的方式在採訪中失敗了。但在幕後，我的一位推薦人已經在使用手機了。她告訴招聘夥伴，我是一個聰明、好的孩子，會成為一名優秀的律師。“她對你讚不絕口，”我後來聽說。因此，當招聘人員打電話安排下一輪面試時，我成功了。我最終得到了這份工作，儘管在我認為是招聘過程中最重要的部分慘遭失敗。有句老話說，運氣好，好運氣好。顯然，擁有正確的網路比兩者都好。

At Yale, networking power is like the air we breathe—so pervasive that it’s easy to miss. Toward the end of our first year, most of us were studying for The Yale Law Journal writing competition. The Journal publishes lengthy pieces of legal analysis, mostly for an academic audience. The articles read like radiator manuals—dry, formulaic, and partially written in another language. (A sampling: “Despite grading’s great promise, we show that the regulatory design, implementation, and practice suffer from serious flaws: jurisdictions fudge more than nudge.”) Kidding aside, Journal membership is serious business. It is the single most significant extracurricular activity for legal employers, some of whom hire only from the publication’s editorial board.

在耶魯，網路力量就像我們呼吸的空氣一樣，無處不在，很容易被忽視。第一年快結束時，我們大多數人都在為《耶魯法學雜誌》的寫作比賽而學習。《華爾街日報》發表冗長的法律分析文章，主要面向學術讀者。這些文章讀起來就像散熱器手冊——枯燥、公式化，而且部分是用另一種語言寫的。（抽樣：“儘管分級有很大的希望，但我們表明，監管設計、實施和實踐存在嚴重缺陷：司法管轄區的捏造多於推動。撇開玩笑不談，《華爾街日報》的會員資格是一件嚴肅的事情。對於合法僱主來說，這是最重要的課外活動，其中一些僱主只從該出版物的編輯委員會中僱用。

Some kids came to the law school with a plan for admission to The Yale Law Journal. The writing competition kicked off in April. By March, some people were weeks into preparation. On the advice of recent graduates (who were also close friends), a good friend had begun studying before Christmas. The alumni of elite consulting firms gathered together to grill each other on editorial techniques. One second-year student helped his old Harvard roommate (a first-year student) design a study strategy for the final month before the test. At every turn, people were tapping into friendship circles and alumni groups to learn about the most important test of our first year.

一些孩子來到法學院，計劃進入《耶魯法學雜誌》。寫作比賽於4月拉開帷幕。到三月份，一些人已經準備了數周。在應屆畢業生（他們也是密友）的建議下，一位好朋友在耶誕節前開始學習。精英諮詢公司的校友們齊聚一堂，就編輯技巧互相討論。一位二年級學生説明他的哈佛室友（一年級學生）設計了考試前最後一個月的學習策略。每時每刻，人們都在利用朋友圈和校友團體來了解我們第一年最重要的考試。

I had no idea what was going on. There was no Ohio State alumni group—when I arrived, I was one of two Ohio State graduates at the entire law school. I suspected the Journal was important, because Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor had been a member. But I didn’t know why. I didn’t even know what the Journal did. The entire process was a black box, and no one I knew had the key.

我不知道發生了什麼。沒有俄亥俄州立大學的校友會——當我到達時，我是整個法學院的兩名俄亥俄州立大學畢業生之一。我懷疑《華爾街日報》很重要，因為最高法院大法官索尼婭·索托馬約爾（Sonia Sotomayor）曾是該雜誌的成員。但我不知道為什麼。我什至不知道《華爾街日報》是做什麼的。整個過程就像一個黑匣子，我認識的人都沒有鑰匙。

There were official channels of information. But they telegraphed conflicting messages. Yale prides itself on being a low-stress, noncompetitive law school. Unfortunately, that ethos sometimes manifests itself in confused messaging. No one seemed to know what value the credential actually held. We were told that the Journal was a huge career boost but that it wasn’t that important, that we shouldn’t stress about it but that it was a prerequisite for certain types of jobs. This was undoubtedly true: For many career paths and interests, Journal membership was merely wasted time. But I didn’t know which career paths that applied to. And I was unsure how to find out.

有官方的信息管道。但他們電報的資訊相互矛盾。耶魯大學以成為一所低壓力、非競爭性的法學院而自豪。不幸的是，這種精神有時會表現為混亂的信息傳遞。似乎沒有人知道證書的實際價值。我們被告知，《華爾街日報》是一個巨大的職業提升，但它並不那麼重要，我們不應該強調它，但它是某些類型工作的先決條件。這無疑是正確的：對於許多職業道路和興趣來說，期刊會員資格只是浪費時間。但我不知道這適用於哪些職業道路。我不確定如何找出答案。

It was around this time that Amy Chua, one of my professors, stepped in and told me exactly how things worked: “Journal membership is useful if you want to work for a judge or if you want to be an academic. Otherwise, it’s a waste. But if you’re unsure what you want to do, go ahead and try out.” It was million-dollar advice. Because I was unsure what I wanted, I followed it. Though I didn’t make it during my first year, I made the cut during my second year and became an editor of the prestigious publication. Whether I made it isn’t the point. What mattered was that, with a professor’s help, I had closed the information gap. It was like I’d learned to see.

大約在這個時候，我的一位教授艾米·蔡（Amy Chua）介入並告訴我事情的確切運作方式：“如果你想為法官工作或想成為一名學者，期刊會員資格很有用。否則，這是一種浪費。但如果你不確定自己想做什麼，那就去嘗試吧。這是價值百萬美元的建議。因為我不確定自己想要什麼，所以我跟著它走了。雖然我在第一年沒有成功，但我在第二年成功晉級，並成為這家著名出版物的編輯。我是否成功不是重點。重要的是，在一位教授的説明下，我縮小了信息鴻溝。就像我學會了看東西一樣。

This wasn’t the last time Amy helped me navigate unfamiliar terrain. Law school is a three-year obstacle course of life and career decisions. One the one hand, it’s nice to have so many opportunities. On the other hand, I had no idea what to do with those opportunities or any clue which opportunities served some long-term goal. Hell, I didn’t even have a long-term goal. I just wanted to graduate and get a good job. I had some vague notion that I’d like to do public service after I repaid my law school debt. But I didn’t have a job in mind.

這不是艾米最後一次説明我駕馭不熟悉的地形。法學院是人生和職業決策的三年障礙課程。一方面，有這麼多機會真是太好了。另一方面，我不知道如何處理這些機會，也不知道哪些機會可以實現一些長期目標。見鬼，我甚至沒有一個長期目標。我只是想畢業並找到一份好工作。我有一些模糊的想法，我想在還清法學院的債務後從事公共服務。但我心裏沒有工作。

Life didn’t wait. Almost immediately after I committed to a law firm, people started talking about clerkship applications for after graduation. Judicial clerkships are one-year stints with federal judges. It’s a fantastic learning experience for young lawyers: Clerks read court filings, research legal issues for a judge, and even help the judge draft opinions. Every former clerk raves about the experience, and private-sector employers often shell out tens of thousands in signing bonuses for recent clerks.

生活沒有等待。幾乎在我加入一家律師事務所后，人們就開始談論畢業后的文員申請。司法書記員是在聯邦法官那裡任職一年。對於年輕律師來說，這是一次奇妙的學習經歷：書記員閱讀法庭檔，為法官研究法律問題，甚至説明法官起草意見。每個前文員都對這段經歷讚不絕口，私營部門的僱主經常為新文員支付數萬美元的簽約獎金。

That’s what I knew about clerkships, and it was completely true. It was also very superficial: The clerkship process is infinitely more complex. First you have to decide what kind of court you want to work for: a court that does a lot of trials or a court that hears appeals from lower courts. Then you have to decide which regions of the country to apply to. If you want to clerk for the Supreme Court, certain “feeder” judges give you a greater chance of doing so. Predictably, those judges hire more competitively, so holding out for a feeder judge carries certain risks—if you win the game, you’re halfway to the chambers of the nation’s highest court; if you lose, you’re stuck without a clerkship. Sprinkled on top of these factors is the reality that you work closely with these judges. And no one wants to waste a year getting berated by an asshole in black robes.

這就是我對文員的瞭解，這是完全正確的。這也是非常膚淺的：見習過程要複雜得多。首先，你必須決定你想為什麼樣的法院工作：一個進行大量審判的法院，還是一個審理下級法院上訴的法院。然後，您必須決定申請該國的哪些地區。如果你想成為最高法院的書記員，某些「支線」法官會給你更大的機會。可以預見的是，這些法官的聘用更具競爭力，因此堅持使用支線法官會帶來一定的風險——如果你贏了比賽，你就已經進入了美國最高法院的一半;如果你輸了，你就被困在沒有書記員的位置。除了這些因素之外，還有你與這些評委密切合作的現實。沒有人願意浪費一年的時間被一個穿黑袍的混蛋斥責。

There’s no database that spits out this information, no central source that tells you which judges are nice, which judges send people to the Supreme Court, and which type of work—trial or appellate—you want to do. In fact, it’s considered almost unseemly to talk about these things. How do you ask a professor if the judge he’s recommending you to is a nice lady? It’s trickier than it might seem.

沒有資料庫可以吐出這些資訊，也沒有中央來源告訴你哪些法官是好的，哪些法官把人送到最高法院，以及你想做哪種類型的工作——審判或上訴。事實上，談論這些事情被認為是幾乎不合時宜的。你怎麼問教授他推薦你的法官是否是一位好女士？這比看起來更棘手。

So to get this information, you have to tap into your social network—student groups, friends who have clerked, and the few professors who are willing to give brutally honest advice. By this point in my law school experience, I had learned that the only way to take advantage of networking was to ask. So I did. Amy Chua told me that I shouldn’t worry about clerking for a prestigious feeder judge because the credential wouldn’t prove very useful, given my ambitions. But I pushed until she relented and agreed to recommend me to a high-powered federal judge with deep connections to multiple Supreme Court justices.

因此，要獲得這些資訊，你必須利用你的社交網路——學生團體、做過書記員的朋友，以及少數願意給出殘酷誠實建議的教授。在我法學院的經歷中，我瞭解到利用網路的唯一方法就是詢問。所以我做到了。艾米·蔡（Amy Chua）告訴我，我不應該擔心為一位享有盛譽的支線法官擔任書記員，因為考慮到我的雄心壯志，證書不會很有用。但我堅持不懈，直到她心軟，同意將我推薦給一位與多位最高法院大法官有著深厚聯繫的位高權重的聯邦法官。

I submitted all the materials—a résumé, a polished writing sample, and a desperate letter of interest. I didn’t know why I was doing it. Maybe, with my Southern drawl and lack of a family pedigree, I felt like I needed proof that I belonged at Yale Law. Or maybe I was just following the herd. Regardless of the reason, I needed to have this credential.

我提交了所有的材料——一份簡歷、一份精美的寫作樣本和一封絕望的意向書。我不知道我為什麼要這樣做。也許，由於我的南方血統和缺乏家庭血統，我覺得我需要證明我屬於耶魯法學院。或者也許我只是跟著牛群走。不管是什麼原因，我都需要有這個證書。

A few days after I submitted my materials, Amy called me into her office to let me know that I had made the short list. My heart fluttered. I knew that all I needed was an interview and I’d get the job. And I knew that if she pushed my application hard enough, I’d get the interview.

在我提交材料幾天后，艾米把我叫到她的辦公室，告訴我我已經進入了候選名單。我的心撲通撲通的跳動。我知道我需要的只是一個面試，我就會得到這份工作。我知道，如果她足夠努力地推動我的申請，我就會得到面試。

That was when I learned the value of real social capital. I don’t mean to suggest that my professor picked up the phone and told the judge he had to give me an interview. Before she did that, my professor told me that she wanted to talk to me very seriously. She turned downright somber: “I don’t think you’re doing this for the right reasons. I think you’re doing this for the credential, which is fine, but the credential doesn’t actually serve your career goals. If you don’t want to be a high-powered Supreme Court litigator, you shouldn’t care that much about this job.”

從那時起，我才知道真正的社會資本的價值。我並不是說我的教授拿起電話告訴法官他必須接受我的採訪。在她這樣做之前，我的教授告訴我，她想非常認真地和我交談。她變得非常憂鬱：「我不認為你這樣做是出於正確的原因。我認為你這樣做是為了證書，這很好，但證書實際上並不能為你的職業目標服務。如果你不想成為一名高權重的最高法院訴訟律師，你就不應該那麼在意這份工作。

She then told me how hard a clerkship with this judge would be. He was demanding to the extreme. His clerks didn’t take a single day off for an entire year. Then she got personal. She knew I had a new girlfriend and that I was crazy about her. “This clerkship is the type of thing that destroys relationships. If you want my advice, I think you should prioritize Usha and figure out a career move that actually suits you.”

然後她告訴我，在這位法官那裡做書記員是多麼困難。他的要求達到了極致。他的店員整整一年沒有休息過一天。然後她變得個人化了。她知道我有了一個新女朋友，而且我對她很著迷。“這種文員工作是那種破壞人際關係的事情。如果你想要我的建議，我認為你應該優先考慮Usha，並找出一個真正適合你的職業發展。

It was the best advice anyone has ever given me, and I took it. I told her to withdraw my application. It’s impossible to say whether I would have gotten the job. I was probably being overconfident: My grades and résumé were fine but not fantastic. However, Amy’s advice stopped me from making a life-altering decision. It prevented me from moving a thousand miles away from the person I eventually married. Most important, it allowed me to accept my place at this unfamiliar institution—it was okay to chart my own path and okay to put a girl above some shortsighted ambition. My professor gave me permission to be me.

這是任何人給我的最好的建議，我接受了。我告訴她撤回我的申請。不可能說我是否會得到這份工作。我可能過於自信了：我的成績和簡歷都很好，但不是很好。然而，艾米的建議阻止了我做出改變人生的決定。它阻止了我離開我最終結婚的人一千英里。最重要的是，它讓我接受了自己在這個陌生機構中的位置——可以規劃自己的道路，也可以讓一個女孩超越一些短視的野心。我的教授允許我做我自己。

It’s hard to put a dollar value on that advice. It’s the kind of thing that continues to pay dividends. But make no mistake: The advice had tangible economic value. Social capital isn’t manifest only in someone connecting you to a friend or passing a résumé on to an old boss. It is also, or perhaps primarily, a measure of how much we learn through our friends, colleagues, and mentors. I didn’t know how to prioritize my options, and I didn’t know that there were other, better paths for me. I learned those things through my network—specifically, a very generous professor.

很難給這個建議一個美元價值。這種事情會繼續帶來紅利。但不要搞錯了：這些建議具有切實的經濟價值。社會資本不僅體現在有人將你與朋友聯繫起來，或者將簡歷傳遞給老老闆。它也是，或者說主要是衡量我們通過朋友、同事和導師學到了多少。我不知道如何確定我的選擇的優先順序，也不知道還有其他更好的道路適合我。我通過我的人際網路學到了這些東西——特別是一位非常慷慨的教授。

My education in social capital continues. For a time, I contributed to the website of David Frum, the journalist and opinion leader who now writes for The Atlantic. When I was ready to commit to one D.C. law firm, he suggested another firm where two of his friends from the Bush administration had recently taken senior partnerships. One of those friends interviewed me and, when I joined his firm, became an important mentor. I later ran into this man at a Yale conference, where he introduced me to his old buddy from the Bush White House (and my political hero), Indiana governor Mitch Daniels. Without David’s advice, I never would have found myself at that firm, nor would I have spoken (albeit briefly) to the public figure I most admired.

我在社會資本方面的教育仍在繼續。有一段時間，我為大衛·弗魯姆（David Frum）的網站撰稿，大衛·弗魯姆（David Frum）是記者和意見領袖，現在為《大西洋月刊》（The Atlantic）撰稿。當我準備承諾去華盛頓特區的一家律師事務所時，他推薦了另一家律所，他的兩個布什政府朋友最近在那裡獲得了高級合夥伴。其中一位朋友面試了我，當我加入他的公司時，我成為了一位重要的導師。後來我在耶魯大學的一次會議上遇到了這個人，他把我介紹給了他在布希白宮的老朋友（也是我的政治英雄），印第安那州州長米奇·丹尼爾斯。如果沒有大衛的建議，我永遠不會在那家公司工作，也不會與我最欽佩的公眾人物交談（儘管是簡短的）。

I did decide that I wanted to clerk. But instead of walking into the process blindly, I came to know what I wanted out of the experience—to work for someone I respected, to learn as much as I could, and to be close to Usha. So Usha and I decided to go through the clerkship process together. We landed in northern Kentucky, not far from where I grew up. It was the best possible situation. We liked our judicial bosses so much that we asked them to officiate our wedding.

我確實決定要當文員。但是，我沒有盲目地進入這個過程，而是知道我想要從這段經歷中得到什麼——為我尊敬的人工作，盡可能多地學習，並與烏莎親近。因此，我和烏莎決定一起完成見習過程。我們降落在肯塔基州北部，離我長大的地方不遠。這是最好的情況。我們非常喜歡我們的司法老闆，以至於我們請他們主持我們的婚禮。

This is just one version of how the world of successful people actually works. But social capital is all around us. Those who tap into it and use it prosper. Those who don’t are running life’s race with a major handicap. This is a serious problem for kids like me. Here’s a non-exhaustive list of things I didn’t know when I got to Yale Law School:

這隻是成功人士世界實際運作方式的一個版本。但社會資本無處不在。那些利用它並使用它的人會繁榮昌盛。那些不這樣做的人正在以重大障礙進行人生比賽。對於像我這樣的孩子來說，這是一個嚴重的問題。以下是我進入耶魯法學院時不知道的事情的非詳盡清單：

That you needed to wear a suit to a job interview.

你需要穿西裝去面試。

That wearing a suit large enough to fit a silverback gorilla was inappropriate.

穿著足夠大的西裝來容納銀背大猩猩是不合適的。

That a butter knife wasn’t just decorative (after all, anything that requires a butter knife can be done better with a spoon or an index finger).

黃油刀不僅僅是裝飾性的（畢竟，任何需要黃油刀的東西都可以用勺子或食指做得更好）。

That pleather and leather were different substances.

皮革和皮革是不同的物質。

That your shoes and belt should match.

你的鞋子和腰帶應該匹配。

That certain cities and states had better job prospects.

某些城市和州有更好的就業前景。

That going to a nicer college brought benefits outside of bragging rights.

去一所更好的大學帶來了吹牛之外的好處。

That finance was an industry that people worked in.

金融業是人們從事的行業。

Mamaw always resented the hillbilly stereotype—the idea that our people were a bunch of slobbering morons. But the fact is that I was remarkably ignorant of how to get ahead. Not knowing things that many others do often has serious economic consequences. It cost me a job in college (apparently Marine Corps combat boots and khaki pants aren’t proper interview attire) and could have cost me a lot more in law school if I hadn’t had a few people helping me every step of the way.

媽媽總是憎恨鄉巴佬的刻板印象——認為我們的人民是一群流口水的白癡。但事實是，我對如何取得成功一無所知。不知道許多其他人所做的事情往往會帶來嚴重的經濟後果。這讓我在大學里失去了一份工作（顯然海軍陸戰隊的戰鬥靴和卡其色褲子不是合適的面試服裝），如果我沒有幾個人説明我走好每一步，我可能會在法學院付出更多的代價。