Most Practical Degree 最实际的学位
Yang Li: Hello and welcome to Ask About Britain. I'm Li.
Finn: And I'm Finn. Now Li, can you cast your mind back just a couple of years to when you were at university?
Yang Li: Yes Finn, as you know it wasn't long ago! But certainly not a couple of years ago.
Finn: Well, I wanted to ask: what major did you study?
Yang Li: Well I did English language and literature. And you, Finn, you did Chinese, didn't you?
Finn: That's right, I did Chinese. And, you know, at the time I remember people thought it wasn't a very practical subject, though now a degree in Chinese is seen as a very useful thing to have.
Yang Li: 是的。Finn 说现在拿到一个汉语学位非常有用 very useful, 不过12年前人们认为学汉语不实际 not practical. 这也正是我们今天要探讨的话题，对不对？
Finn: 对。
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Hi. My name is Gao Yuanxue in China. I am studying Economics, which is often seen as a noble major in China, but quite unpractical sometimes. So I was wondering which subjects are seen as most practical in the UK?
Yang Li: 高原雪是学经济的，她说这是一个受人尊敬的专业不过不实际 unpractical. So what subjects are seen as most practical in the UK then?
Finn: I think it's an interesting question. Although it's perhaps easier to say which subjects are most popular rather than most practical. Which subjects do you think are most popular then, Li?
Yang Li: Well without doubt, 当然是管理喽。Management, of course, which tends to lead to a better paid job. Do you agree?
Finn: Well actually that's a very good answer. Because I have some statistics, and the top subject is business and administrative studies. Now, that includes management. So that's right.
Yang Li: Of course.
Finn: What other popular ones do you think we have?
Yang Li: Well what I can think of is accounting and finance? 财会专业也很热门对吧？
Finn: That's right. Which is also part of business and administrative studies. And we also have a few more here in the statistics. Subjects like biology, social studies, education and medicine and nursing; these are all very popular subjects.
Yang Li: Yes they are. But then, of course, it has a lot to do with what you want to be and to do in the future. For instance I know a lot of young people who want to be vets. To be a vet. And for those people who want to be a vet,也就是当兽医，对这样的人来说呢，当然兽医学专业是最实际不过的了。
Finn: Of course, that's right. But not everybody is so sure of what they want to be when they graduate, which job they want to do. So are there any subjects which are seen as most practical in general? Ok, let's listen to these people here.
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Anything to do with math is extremely practical, especially in today’s world.
Usually it’s the social sciences: economics, anything that involves math that seems practical.
Medicine because doctors are always needed.
Probably engineering and science.
I don't know how you define 'practical', but if you define it in terms of job prospects I think it seems that science subjects are most practical.
Business-related, economics, people seem to respect that, whether rightfully so or not.
I think like my course is quite practical: accounting finance.
Yang Li: Ah, so we have heard: maths.
Finn: 数学
Yang Li: Medicine
Finn: 医学
Yang Li: Business
Finn: 商务
Yang Li: Science
Finn: 科学
Yang Li: Finance
Finn: 金融。And Gao Yuanxue will be pleased to know that economics was also mentioned there.
Yang Li: That's right, someone said that people seem to respect economics and business-related subjects, whether rightfully or not, 不论对错。
Finn: So, we've heard a few of what people think are the most practical subjects. What do you think people will say are the least practical?
Yang Li: 最不实际的专业？
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The least practical would probably be what I did which was museology.
And the least practical may be something like… geography?
I’d have to go with the humanities. English is… unfortunately, people don’t want to pay for them, or may not be able to pay for them.
Some of the theoretical ones, they don’t really teach you how to apply anything to actual life. I find those slightly less useful.
The most impractical would be finance because it makes you miserable!
Media: least practical.
Yang Li: So what did we hear there?
Finn: Well, we heard museology – the study of museums.
Yang Li: 第一次听说这个词：博物馆学 museology.
Finn: It's my first time as well.
Yang Li: 其他人文类的专业比如地理 geography, English and also media 这些专业被一些人认为是不实际的。
Finn: And also subjects which are theoretical – which involve things which are hard to apply to real life.
Yang Li: Theoretical 理论性强的、理论的、很难应用于实际生活的专业 hard to apply to real life.
Finn: And finally, although earlier some people thought finance was very practical, we also heard somebody say that it was the most impractical subject because it makes you miserable.
Yang Li: Miserable indeed?! 痛苦的. I wonder why he said that… Does finance make you miserable Finn?
Finn: Well Li, maybe a lack of finance would make me miserable!
Yang Li: That's right. I couldn't agree more.
Finn: I know. We all need money. Anyway.
Yang Li: Ha ha. Well that's all for today. 希望我们回答了高原雪同学的问题，谢谢收听再会。
Finn: Goodbye.
词汇学习：
1. very useful 非常有用
2. practical 实际的
3. not practical = impractical 不实际的
4. accounting and finance 财会
5. vet 兽医
6. whether rightfully or not 不论对错
7. museology 博物馆学
8. theoretical 理论性强的、理论的
9. hard to apply to real life 很难应用于实际生活的专业
10. miserable 痛苦的