My idea of a university was that it was a center of cultural life,a resource for the entire community.In all my twenty-one year,it had never occurred to me that a school would have a wall around it .Walls enclose and separate; schools expand and integrate.The very ideas seemed fundamentally incompatible.
I asked a chinese friend if all Chinese universities had walls around them."You know,I`ve never really thought about it ;I guess so .I guess all Chinese schools have walls around them,primary,middle and secondary schools,too -not just universities." "Why?"I asked. "What`s the point ?" "I don`t know.To protect us ,I suppose." "From whom?" "It`s not really something I`ve thought about.I don`t know.Don`t you have walls around your schools in the United States?" I thought carefully before answering."No ,I`ve never seen or heard of a university encircled by a wall ".My Chinese friend seemed puzzled.Walls around schools cames to strike me as more than just an archintectural differedce between the United States and China ;the walls bespoke a fundamentally different view towad the very concept of education.As China continues to open up to the outside world ,there walls seem increasingly out of place.
integrate v. 使成整体，使一体化
incompatible adj. 性质相反的，矛盾的，不调和的
architectural adj. 建筑上的，建筑学的
译文
被墙围着的大学（二）
大不是文化生活的中心，是全地区文明的摇篮。在我21年的生活中，我从未见过有围墙围着的学校。围墙的作用是封闭和隔离，然而，学校的宗旨则是要扩展学生的知识，扩展学生对外面世界的了解，这两个概念是根本不相容的。
我曾问一个中国朋友， 是否所有的中国大学都有围墙？“我想是的，可我从没细想过这个问题，恐怕不只是大学，中学、小学都有围墙。”
“为什么要有？”
“说不清楚，我想是为了保护学生。”
“谁会伤害学生？”
“其实也不一定真会怎么样，难道你们的大学没有围墙吗？”
回答之前，我认真想了想，说：“没有，我没见过也没听说过美国的大学有围墙。”我的中国朋友似乎有点儿不解。校园的围墙使我陷入思考，它不仅仅是中美校园建筑风格的不同，也体现了不同的教育观念。在中国对外开放的进程中，围墙似乎显得越来越没有用了。
