工科女生的自白

I’d bet my 1）graphing calculator that you don’t have many girlfriends that are engineers. It’s not because we’re antisocial， it’s because there aren’t many of us to begin with. Sure， it may seem like a pretty sweet deal to be one of seven girls in a class of 100， but I promise it’s not all it’s 2）cracked up to be.

Let’s start with a day in the life of. Unlike most other college girls， I get taken less seriously if I dress well. Yes， wearing a cute blazer and jeans （or makeup and accessories） actually diminishes how seriously my peers and professors take me. For some reason， certain professors seem to hold it against me that I am a girl going into a seriously male dominated world. However， being taken seriously is seemingly on the bottom of my to-do list when it comes to classes.

For example， this past semester I had one assignment due for each one of my five classes per week. An average assignment is about 5 problems long， making around 25 problems due per week. Not so bad， right？ That is until you take into account the level of difficulty， the amount of time spent and 3）precision required for each section of each problem. Every assignment seems to bring its own unique headache. Four hours， two 4）lattes， and nearly half a pad of engineering paper later， I might have finished half an assignment.

That is， if I had no other commitments and rarely made a mistake.

Forget weeknight TV marathons or $1 pitcher night at the campus bar―the night before an assignment’s due is for nothing other than that assignment. I could go on for hours about the extreme amount of time dedicated to our assigned projects（like the time I spent more hours in the computer lab than in my dorm one week）， or the high expectations we’re held to， but I think you get the picture. Engineering is hard.

It’s not only classes where I receive a 5）lukewarm welcome. I can’t even count how many times I’ve been asked what exactly I do as a civil engineer. “Bridges， buildings， roads， stuff like that，”seems to be my auto-answer， though that barely scratches the surface. I know people at parties or in coffee shops couldn’t care less about hearing my drawn out “it’s really soil 6）cohesion and 7）pile driving techniques” answer， but there’s so much more than meets the eye.

Oh， and bring on those 8）stereotypes. Sure， I laugh at 9）derivative jokes and I carry a pencil sharpener and calculator in my purse most of the time， but not all of them are true. My engineering friends are some of the most personable and funniest people I know. They’re not all stiff and uptight and they don’t only speak in Greek letters. Like any other major， engineers come in all shapes and sizes. Some of them even have girlfriends！ Okay， that was kind of mean， but you get the point.

Someday I’ll be standing on a construction site， wearing Tims， a hardhat and a pencil skirt， doing 10）mental calculations and managing an entire project. Despite how 11）idiosyncratic of a picture that might paint， I’m excited to graduate， dive right in and get my hands dirty. Haha， get it？ I’ll work on a dirty construction site？ No one？ Okay… so maybe engineers aren’t as funny as they think…

So next time you’re sitting in traffic thinking about what you could be doing wherever it is that you’re going， just think about me in the car next to you， calculating how much more efficient the light cycle could be if they just increased the number of lanes so that the capacity would… okay， I promise I’ll stop now.

我敢用我的图形计算器打赌，大家没几个女性朋友是工程师。这么说不是出于心理，而是因为我们系里就没多少女生。当然了，在一个100人的班里，作为仅有的七名女生中的一员，那看起来可能是件美美的事儿，但我敢肯定，情况可并不都像人们所吹嘘的那样。

让我们以工程科生涯的一天来开始吧。与大部分其他的大学女生不同，要是我精心打扮，反而更不会被人看在眼里。没错，穿着漂亮的外套和牛仔裤（或者化妆、佩戴饰物）其实会削弱同学以及教授们对我的重视度。出于某种原因，有些教授似乎会对我这么个闯进男性主导世界的女孩心生质疑。然而，说到学业，被人严肃看待不过是我的待办事项清单上最不重要的一点。

打个比方，在过去的这个学期，每一周，我的五门功课都有一项作业。而平均每项作业都大概有五个问题那么多，那就是每周都有差不多25个问题。不是太坏，对吧？那是你还没考虑到每个问题各个部分的难度、时间消耗以及所需的精确性。每项作业似乎都会带来一种独有的头痛。耗费四个小时，两杯拿铁，几乎半叠工程纸之后，我可能才完成半项作业。

那是，假设我没有其他任务，也几乎没有犯错误的情况。

忘掉工作日晚间的电视马拉松，或者校园酒吧的“一元狂饮”夜吧――交作业的前一晚除了作业就别无他物了。最后的那点时间里，我会连续好几个小时都投入到布置下来的项目当中（就像每周我更多地花在计算机实验室而不是宿舍里的那些时间），或者投入到我们被寄予的厚望之中，但我想你已经想象得到那番情景了。工程学好难啊。

不只是在学业上我会受到冷淡的对待。我甚至都数不清有多少次被问及作为一名土木工程师我到底是干什么的。“桥梁、建筑、公路，诸如此类的东西”似乎成了我的自动回复，虽然这些只不过是皮毛而已。我知道听到我说出“其实是土体黏聚和打桩技术”时，派对上或者咖啡店里的人都兴味索然，但真的有太多东西并非三言两语能说清的。

噢，说回那些陈词滥调吧。没错，我会嘲笑无创意的笑话，大多数时间我的手袋里都带着铅笔刀和计算器，但并不是所有的传言都是真的。我的工程学朋友是我所认识的最帅气、最有趣的人中的一部分。他们并非个个呆板保守，也并非满嘴希腊字母。像任何其他专业那样，工程师也是千姿百态的。他们中有些人甚至还有“女”朋友！好吧，那说得有点损人，但你懂的。

有一天，我将站在一个建筑工地上，头戴安全帽，身穿铅笔裙，做着心算，统筹整个项目。不管那个场面会有多么怪异，我却兴奋地盼望着毕业，立马投入工作，一试身手。哈哈，想象得到吗？我将在一个脏兮兮的工地上工作？没有人？好吧，那可能工程师并不像他们想象的那么有趣……

所以，下次当你堵在路上，无论正奔赴何地，想着自己本可能做着的事，那就想想我吧，我就在你旁边的那辆小车上，计算着，如果他们增加车道提升承载量，信号灯周期的效率会提高多少……好了，我答应现在就闭嘴。