写作思路：先讲述人文科学的困境和人们的态度，再讲述人文科学过去的作用和未来的期望发展。
The humanities: Out of date?
人文科学是否过时？
The data show that as students have increasingly shouldered the ever-rising cost of tuition, they have defected from the study of the humanities and toward applied science and "hard" skills that they bet will lead to employment.
数据显示，随着学生肩负的学费不断增加，他们已从学习人文学科转向他们相信有益于将来就业的应用科学和“硬”技能。
In other words, a college education is more and more seen as a means for economic betterment rather than a means for human betterment. This is a trend that is likely to persist and even accelerate.
换言之，大学教育越来越被看成是改善经济而不是提升人类自身的手段。这种趋势可能会持续，甚至有加快之势。
Over the next few years, as labor markets struggle, the humanities will probably continue their long slide in succession. There already has been a nearly 50 percent decline in the portion of liberal arts majors over the past generation.
在未来几年内，由于劳动力市场的不景气，人文学科可能会继续其长期低迷的态势。在上一代 大学生中，主修文科的学生数跌幅已近 50%。
and it is logical to think that the trend is bound to continue or even accelerate. Once the dominant pillars of university life, the humanities now play little roles when students take their college tours. These days, labs are more vivid and compelling than libraries.
这种趋势会持续、甚至加速的想法是合情合理的。人文学科曾是大学生活的重要支柱，而今在学生们参观校园的时候，却只是一个小点缀。现在，实验室要 比图书馆更栩栩如生、受人青睐。
Here, please allow me to stand up for and promote the true value that the humanities add to people's lives.
在这儿，请允许我为人文学科给人们的生活所增添的真实价值进行支持和宣传。
Studying the humanities improves our ability to read and write. No matter what we do in life, we will have a huge advantage if we can read complex ideas and understand their meaning.
学习人文学科会提高我们的阅读和写作能力。无论我们这一生中从事什么职业，如果我们能读懂复杂的思想并理解它们的内涵，我们都会受益匪浅。
We will have a bright career if we are the person in the office who can write a clear and elegant analysis of those ideas!
如果我们是在办公室里能对这些思想写出既明确又简洁的分析的人，我们会有光明的职业前景。
If we study only mathematics, it's likely we will be a candidate only for jobs as a mathematician. If we include studying the humanities, we can make breakthroughs on many barriers and are limited only by our effort and imagination.
如果我们仅学习数学，我们很可能只能申请数学家之类的工作。如果我们还学了人文学科，那我们就能突破许多障碍，只要我们愿意付出努力，敢于想象。