The Two College Majors

Sophie sat at her desk with two college brochures spread out in front of her. One was for biology, and the other was for graphic design. The deadline to choose a major was Friday, and she still hadn't made up her mind.

索菲坐在书桌前，面前摊着两本大学简介册。一本是生物学的，另一本是平面设计的。选专业的截止日期是星期五，可她还是没拿定主意。

She had always liked science. She enjoyed labs, and she was curious about how the human body worked. But she also loved drawing, and she had spent hours designing posters for her school's drama club.

她一直喜欢科学。她喜欢做实验，也很好奇人体是怎么运转的。但她同样热爱画画，还花了好几个小时为学校的戏剧社设计海报。

Her friend Dylan came over after school to help her think it through. "What does your gut tell you?" he asked, sitting down across from her.

放学后，她的朋友迪伦来帮她一起理清思路。“你的直觉怎么说？”他在她对面坐下，问道。

"That's the problem," Sophie said. "My gut doesn't know either."

“问题就在这儿，”索菲说，“我的直觉也不知道。”

"Okay, let's do this differently," Dylan said. "If you study biology, what will your life look like in five years?"

“好吧，我们换个方式，”迪伦说，“如果你学生物，五年后你的生活会是什么样？”

Sophie thought about it. "I'll probably be in a lab somewhere, or maybe studying to become a doctor. It's stable, and it matters."

索菲想了想。“我大概会待在某个实验室里，或者在准备当医生。这很稳定，也很有意义。”

"And if you study design?"

“那如果学设计呢？”

"I'd be doing something creative every day," she said, smiling for the first time that afternoon. "I've wanted that since I was a kid."

“我每天都能做些有创意的事，”她说，这是那天下午她第一次露出笑容，“我从小就想过这样的生活。”

Dylan leaned back. "You've just answered your own question, you know."

迪伦往后靠了靠。“你知道吗，你刚才已经回答了自己的问题。”

"Have I?" Sophie asked.

“是吗？”索菲问。

"You talked about biology like a plan. You talked about design like a dream," he said. "That's not nothing."

“你说起生物学，像在说一个计划；你说起设计，像在说一个梦想，”他说，“这可不是小事。”

Sophie was quiet for a moment. She had assumed the safer choice was automatically the better one. But Dylan's question had made her see it differently. Neither major was a mistake; they simply led to different lives.

索菲沉默了一会儿。她一直以为，更稳妥的选择就自然是更好的选择。可迪伦的问题让她换了一种看法。两个专业都不是错误，只是通向不同的人生。

She picked up the graphic design brochure and read it one more time, slower than before. The photos of student projects on the cover reminded her of the posters she had made last spring. People had actually stopped to look at those posters.

她拿起平面设计的简介册，又读了一遍，这次比之前慢得多。封面上学生作品的照片让她想起了去年春天做的那些海报。当时真的有人停下脚步来看。

That night, Sophie opened the online application and typed her name into the major field: Graphic Design. She read it twice, took a breath, and clicked submit before she could change her mind.

那天夜里，索菲打开网上的申请表，在专业一栏里输入了：平面设计。她读了两遍，深吸一口气，趁自己还没改主意，点击了提交。