何为博士(译The illustrated guide to a Ph.D.)

Posted on 2020.03.29 by Pengwei Zhang under CC BY-NC 2.5
本文译自 Matt Might - The illustrated guide to a Ph.D.

译文

每年秋天我都要向新一批博士生解释,到底什么是博士,那很难用言语来表述,于是我画了一组图来解释这个事情。
Every fall, I explain to a fresh batch of Ph.D. students what a Ph.D. is. It’s hard to describe it in words. So, I use pictures. Read below for the illustrated guide to a Ph.D.

请想象一个圆,它包含了人类所有的知识:
Imagine a circle that contains all of human knowledge:



完成小学的学业之后,你获得了一点基础知识:
By the time you finish elementary school, you know a little:



完成中学的学业之后,你的基础知识又增加了一些:
By the time you finish high school, you know a bit more:



攻读学士学位可以让你获得一些专业知识:
With a bachelor’s degree, you gain a specialty:



攻读硕士学位让你的专业知识继续加深:
A master’s degree deepens that specialty:



继续研读专业论文,你将接近人类知识的边缘:
Reading research papers takes you to the edge of human knowledge:



等到达了边界,你全神贯注:
Once you’re at the boundary, you focus:



年复一年地往外推:
You push at the boundary for a few years:


终于有一天,边界被你推出去了一块:
Until one day, the boundary gives way:


如此,被你推出去的这一小块凹槽,便是博士:
And, that dent you’ve made is called a Ph.D.

◀▬ Ph.D.


当然,此时你眼中的世界或许已是这般模样:
Of course, the world looks different to you now:


那是因为你太过全神贯注了,请别忘了整张图的景色:
So, don’t forget the bigger picture:

◀▬ Ph.D.


学海无涯,继续探索吧。
Keep pushing.


其实这篇短文还没结束,作者后面还有一幅图:

◀▬Knowledge to save my son's life


这最后一张图,一言难尽。作者的孩子患有罕见病,当时写这篇文章的时候他家孩子的病还没有着落,所以说【Knowledge to save my son’s life】属于尚不存在的知识,被画到外面去。

最近貌似已经定位到了大概病因,有些进展了,详情、近况可以翻翻他的博客。


绘图说明

用CSS绘图的基本思路在于,先利用边框的各种属性来形成基本图形(矩形、圆形、椭圆、三角形等),再利用基本图形的定位、旋转等操作进行组合,最终形成想要的(复杂)图形。

本文中图形的比例大致是按照原文中原图真实像素的1/3进行处理的,原文为网页中的jpg图片(存在缩放等),本文是实打实的像素,虽然像素比例只有原文中的1/3,但实际显示效果没有小那么多。另外,颜色是用PS的吸管工具从原图中提取出来的,部分形状的定位参数是通过实时显示试出来的,均略有偏差。

直接看代码吧,以这张图为例:


HTML代码如下:

<div class="black">
    <div class="blue"></div>
    <div class="green"></div>
    <div class="pink"></div>
    <div class="pink2"></div>
    <div class="pinkred"></div>
    <div class="red"></div>
    <div class="block"></div>
</div>

每一个div都是一个基本图形,单独进行修饰从而方便组合复用:

.black {/*人类知识的边界*/
    width: 240px;
    height: 240px;           /*定义一个200*200的正方形区域*/
    border-radius: 120px;    /*圆角参数大于长宽一半便成了圆形*/
    /*background: white; */  /*背景白色*/ /*此处不设置背景色,采用默认背景色*/
    margin:0 auto;           /*外边距=0,居中显示*/
    position: relative;      /*采用相对定位*/
    border:1px black solid;  /*边框样式*/
    z-index: 0;              /*设置图层优先级*/
}
.green {/*中学*/
    width: 46px;
    height: 46px;            /*定义一个46*46的正方形区域*/
    border-radius: 100px;    /*圆角参数大于长宽一半便成了圆形*/
    background: #84dc4a;     /*背景色 通过PS吸管工具提取自原文图片*/ 
    position: absolute;      /*采用绝对定位 方便叠加显示*/
    top:50%;
    left:50%;
    transform: translate(-50%, -50%);   /*居中处理*/
    z-index: 6;              /*设置图层优先级*/
}
.blue {/*小学*/
    width: 27px;
    height: 27px;            /*定义一个27*27的正方形区域*/
    border-radius: 100px;    /*圆角参数大于长宽一半便成了圆形*/
    background: #2043dd;     /*背景色 通过PS吸管工具提取自原文图片*/ 
    position: absolute;      /*采用绝对定位 方便叠加显示*/
    top:50%;
    left:50%;
    transform: translate(-50%, -50%);/*居中处理*/
    z-index: 7;
}
.pink {/*本科*/
    width: 64px;
    height: 64px;            /*定义一个64*64的正方形区域*/
    border-radius: 100px;    /*圆角参数大于长宽一半便成了圆形*/
    background: #ff7e7f;     /*背景色 通过PS吸管工具提取自原文图片*/ 
    position: absolute;      /*采用绝对定位 方便叠加显示*/
    top:50%;
    left:50%;
    transform: translate(-50%, -50%); /*居中处理*/
    z-index: 5;
}
.pink2 {/*本科-凸出去的粉色椭圆*/
    width: 25px;
    height: 45px;            /*定义椭圆长宽范围*/
    border-radius: 90% / 100% 100% 0 0;    /*椭圆的圆角参数*/
    background: #ff7e7f;     /*背景色 通过PS吸管工具提取自原文图片*/ 
    position: absolute;      /*采用绝对定位 方便叠加显示*/
    top:50%;
    left:50%;
    transform-origin: center bottom;/*以底部中心为旋转中心*/
    transform: translate(-50%, -100%) rotate(45deg);/*先平移,再顺时针旋转45度*/
    z-index: 4;
}
.pinkred {/*硕士-粉红椭圆*/
    width: 24px;
    height: 80px;            /*定义椭圆长宽范围*/
    border-radius: 90% / 100% 100% 0 0;    /*椭圆的圆角参数*/
    background: #ff4948;     /*背景色 通过PS吸管工具提取自原文图片*/ 
    position: absolute;
    top:50%;
    left:50%;
    transform-origin: center bottom;
    transform: translate(-50%, -100%) rotate(45deg);/*先平移后旋转*/
    z-index: 3;
}
.red {/*博士-红椭圆*/
    width: 25px;
    height: 119px;            /*定义椭圆长宽范围*/
    border-radius: 80% / 100% 100% 0 0;    /*椭圆的圆角参数*/
    background: #fe0000;      /*背景色 通过PS吸管工具提取自原文图片*/ 
    position: absolute;
    top:50%;
    left:50%;
    transform-origin: center bottom;
    transform: translate(-50%, -100%) rotate(45deg);
    z-index: 2;
}
.block {/*点状线方块*/
    width: 40px;
    height: 40px;
    border:1px black dotted;  /*边框样式*/
    position: absolute;
    top: 6.5%;
    left: 77%;
    z-index: 10;
}

再看看这张:

◀▬ Ph.D.


HTML代码(请忽略毫无辨识度的变量名):

<div class="part2">
    <div class="part2-1"></div>
    <div class="part2-2-2"></div>
    <div class="part2-dot"></div>
    <div class="part2-dot2"></div>
    <div class="phdtag1">◀▬ Ph.D.</div>
</div>

CSS代码:

.part2 { /*边界*/
    width: 240px;
    height: 240px;      /*与前文黑色圆形区域大小一致*/
    overflow:hidden;    /*超出部分隐藏*/
    position: relative; /*相对定位*/
    margin: 0 auto;     /*水平居中*/
}
.part2-1{ /*四分之一圆弧*/
    width: 240px;
    height: 240px;
    border-radius: 0 240px 0 0;
    margin:0 auto;           /*外边距=0,居中显示*/
    position: relative;
    border:4px black solid;  /*边框样式*/
    border-left: 0;          /*不显示左侧边框*/
    border-bottom: 0;        /*不显示底部边框*/
    transform: translate(0,30px); /*将圆弧稍微往下移动一点*/
}

.part2-2 { /*圆弧内的红色椭圆*/
    width: 50px;
    height: 232px;            
    border-radius: 80% / 100% 100% 0 0;   /*定义一个半椭圆*/
    background: #ff0000;                  /*背景色*/ 
    position: absolute;
    top:110%;                             /*将椭圆挪下来*/
    transform-origin: center bottom;      /*以底部中间为旋转中心*/
    transform: translate(-50%, -100%) rotate(45deg);/*先平移后旋转*/
}
.part2-2-2 { /*圆弧内的红色椭圆 稍加长版*/
    width: 50px;
    height: 237px;            
    border-radius: 80% / 100% 100% 0 0;  
    background: #ff0000;       
    position: absolute;
    top:110%;
    transform-origin: center bottom;
    transform: translate(-50%, -100%) rotate(45deg);
}
.part2-dot {/*小凹槽*/
    width: 16px;
    height: 12px;            /*此处大小是根据视觉效果调整出来的*/
    border:4px black solid;  /*边框样式*/
    border-radius: 120px 120px 0 0;
    position: absolute;
    top: 36.8%;
    left: 65.2%;
    transform-origin: center bottom;
    transform: rotate(45deg);
}
.part2-dot2 {/*用于遮挡四分之一圆弧上的线,使小凹槽并入圆弧中*/
    width: 10px;
    height: 10px;            /*此处大小是根据视觉效果调整出来的*/
    background: red;
    border-radius: 120px;
    position: absolute;
    top: 38.5%;
    left: 67.2%;             /*此处位置是根据视觉效果调整出来的*/
}
.phdtag1 {/*Ph.D.文字标签*/
    font-size: 12px;
    font-weight: bold;
    position: absolute;
    top: 35%;
    left: 77%;
}

大概就是这么多。

版权声明

License: Creative Commons

I receive numerous requests to reproduce this work, and I’m happy to grant them all, subject to three small conditions:

Please attribute the original work to me (Matt Might) and link back to this page in your reproduction:

 http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/

as The Illustrated Guide to a Ph.D.
When you attribute, please also link my name, Matt Might, to:

 http://matt.might.net/

And, don't forget the "Keep pushing," at the bottom!

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License.

That means you can share, copy, modify and reproduce this work as long as you attribute the original work to me and link back to it as outlined above.

However, you may not sell this work, or use it for commercial purposes. You may only distribute it free of charge. If you’re not sure whether your use is a “commercial purpose,” please send me an email.

If possible, please host the images on your own server instead of linking back to mine.