203 Continuing Education 2

Lisa请Shirley吃饭，说自己想回学校去读个硕士或是博士学位，征求Shirley的意见。Shirley说，

Shirley: I got my Master's in Business Management. It's helped my career, but it took several years of hard studying. If I didn't have a supportive family and a husband with a good job, I don't think I could have done it.

L: So you're counseling me against this idea?

S: Not necessarily, but I do recommend taking a slow approach. 
Can you take some night classes or find some way to keep working while you go back to school?

L: Might be difficult.

Shirley念的商业管理硕士学位，她觉得，自己之所以能读下来，靠的是家人的支持，和老公的高收入。Lisa问Shirley是不是劝她放弃这种想法，so you're counseling me against it? to counsel someone against something意思是劝说某人不要做某事。Shirley说，not necessarily那也不一定。她建议Lisa慢慢来，take a slow approach, 看能不能边工作边选课。Lisa觉得不太实际。

S: Maybe you could get an MBA or something more marketable.

L: That's worth considering.

S: I got my BA from Brown University. My major was Environmental Studies but that hasn't been as useful as the business courses I took.
L: Or maybe I should just take some courses that I'm interested in, but skip the Master's.

S: That's another idea, but if you really have a dream, don't let anything stop you from going for it! Going back to school is hard, but it's not impossible.

Shirley劝Lisa考虑其他更容易找高薪工作的专业。不过，她同时也鼓励Lisa说，if you really have a dream, don't let anything stop you from going for it! 如果这真是你的梦想的话，那就不要让任何事情阻挡你。

L: You're right! I need to decide if this is truly what I want.

S: And take your time. You're still young. Maybe there's even a correspondence course you can take during your free time.

L: Yeah! Then I could slowly build up credits and maybe later transfer into a university program.

S: There you go! That's some clear thinking.

L: I guess I just love learning! I remember the day my SAT test scores came back....I was so excited! 

S: (chuckle) I don't remember loving school quite so much....most of the time I was either bored or totally stressed out. But like I said earlier, if you have a dream, don't let anything hold you back! 

Shirley说，Lisa甚至可以抽空先选几门correspondence course函授课程，这样可以慢慢积攒一些学分credits, 以后如果真想读学位，也可以用得上。她再次强调说，If you have a dream, don't let anything hold you back. 意思是有梦想，就不要让任何事情拉你的后腿。