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I failed to take into account, however, that few such openings exist in the first place. More important, I quickly found out that I was competing with a great many other individualswho not only possessed the same talents as I but also held doctorates. Not finding work atcolleges, these doctors of classics had turned to the private high schools, the traditional haven of bachelor's degree holders like me. But no headmaster is going to hire a youngste with a BA, when he can just as easily have a Ph.D. desperate for a job, and for only a little more money.
然而，我却没有考虑到，首先，这类空缺本来就不多。更为重要的是，我很快就发现，跟我竞争的人比比皆是，他们不仅拥有跟我一样的天资，而且还持有博士学位。这些古典学博士在大学里找不到工作，于是便转向私立中学——像我一样持有学士学位者传统的避难所。但是在只要稍微多花一点钱就能同样轻易地找到一个极需工作的博士时没有哪个中学校长会雇用一个只有文科学士学位的年轻人。
Ignoring this detail, I went through the process of sending out some 30 letters of inquiry to private schools. I received perhaps ten replies, with two schools saying that they might have an opening. I had the good fortune of being granted one interview.
我因为忽略了这一细节，所以便陆续给一些私立中学发出了约30封信去询问情况。我收到了大约十封回信，其中有两所学校说它们可能会有空缺。我有幸得到了一次面试机会。
The school was in Oakland , and since I had neither the time nor the money to make the journey in a leisurely way, I arranged to fly up and back on the same day. For my efforts I was given a 20-minute interview (during which the headmaster did most of the talking) and was taken on a brief tour of the campus. I realized I should have stayed at home when the interview opened with this question: "You're getting your MA?"A few weeks later, I was informed that the position had been filled. It was December, and I abandoned the hunt.
这所学校位于奥克兰。因为我既没有时间也没有钱以一种悠闲的方式作这次旅行，我便安排好在一天内飞去飞回。为了我的这番努力，我只得到了一次20分钟的面试（而其间主要还是校长在侃侃而谈），并被带着在校园里简短地参观了一下。当面试一开始就问我：“你就要拿到文科硕士学位了”时，我便知道我本该待在家里不来面试的。几个星期后，我被告知，那个职位已有人担任。那是12月份，于是我便放弃了寻职。
