TED演讲:新美国梦(4)

 My great-grandfather was a drunk in Detroit, who sometimes managed to hold down a factory job. 我的曾祖父曾经住在底特律，他是个酒鬼，有时勉强去工厂工作。

He had, as unbelievable as it might sound, 21 children, with one woman, my great-grandmother, who died at 47 years old of ovarian cancer. 他和我的曾祖母有21个孩子，听起来难以置信，我的曾祖母因为卵巢癌，于47岁去世。

Now, I'm pregnant with my second child, and I cannot even fathom¹ what she must have gone through. 现在，我怀着第二个孩子，我甚至不敢想象她经历了什么。

And if you're trying to do the math -- there were six sets of twins. 如果你们算一下的话，其中有6对双胞胎。

So my grandfather, their son, became a traveling salesman, and he lived boom and bust². 我的祖父，也就是他们的儿子，当了一名旅行推销员，生活起伏不定。

So my dad grew up answering the door for debt collectors and pretending his parents weren't home. 因此我父亲的童年一直就是，给催债的人开门，假装说父母不在家。

He actually took his braces³ off himself with pliers in the garage, 我祖父说没有钱去看正牙医。

when his father admitted he didn't have money to go back to the orthodontist. 我父亲就自己在车库里用钳子把牙套拔掉。

So my dad, unsurprisingly, became a bankruptcy⁴ lawyer. Couldn't write this in a novel, right? 因此不足为奇，我父亲成了一位破产清算律师。这可不能写在小说里，对吧？

He was obsessed⁵ with providing a secure foundation for my brother and I. 他一心想为我们姐弟俩提供稳定的生活。

So I ask these questions by way of a few generations of struggle. 因此我通过描述几代人的奋斗，回答了刚才的问题

My parents made sure that I grew up on a kind of steady ground that allows one to question and risk and leap. 父母想确保我的成长建立在稳固的基础上，在这种基础上就会产生质疑、风险、冒险。

And ironically, and probably sometimes to their frustration⁶, 具有讽刺意味的是，可能对此我的父母也很失望，

it is their steadfast⁷ commitment to security that allows me to question its value, 正是因为他们想要为我提供稳定生活的决心，我才开始质疑其价值

or at least its value as we've historically defined it in the 21st century. 或是说，21世纪对其价值的定义。

1 fathom   

v.领悟，彻底了解

参考例句：

• I really couldn't fathom what he was talking about.我真搞不懂他在说些什么。
• What these people hoped to achieve is hard to fathom.这些人希望实现些什么目标难以揣测。

2 bust   

vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部

参考例句：

• I dropped my camera on the pavement and bust it. 我把照相机掉在人行道上摔坏了。
• She has worked up a lump of clay into a bust.她把一块黏土精心制作成一个半身像。

3 braces   

n.吊带，背带；托架( brace的名词复数 )；箍子；括弧；（儿童）牙箍v.支住( brace的第三人称单数 )；撑牢；使自己站稳；振作起来

参考例句：

• The table is shaky because the braces are loose. 这张桌子摇摇晃晃，因为支架全松了。
• You don't need braces if you're wearing a belt! 要系腰带，就用不着吊带了。

4 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

5 obsessed   

adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的

参考例句：

• He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
• The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。

6 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

7 steadfast   

adj.固定的，不变的，不动摇的；忠实的；坚贞不移的

参考例句：

• Her steadfast belief never left her for one moment.她坚定的信仰从未动摇过。
• He succeeded in his studies by dint of steadfast application.由于坚持不懈的努力他获得了学业上的成功。