TED演讲:人生交叉点(3)

 　　I began my college experience just after my family had fallen apart. 我的大学生涯伊始，家庭就分崩离析。

　　Our financial situation disintegrated¹ just after my father's departure from our lives. 随着父亲离我们而去，家里的经济状况急转直下。

　　This thrust my mother, my sister and I out of the relative comfort of middle-class life and into the almost constant struggle to make ends meet. 我的母亲，姐姐和我，一下子从衣食无忧的中产阶级生活掉入了勉强维持生计的生活状态。

　　Thus, I was one of roughly 60 percent of women of color who find finances to be a major barrier to their educational goals. 就这样，我与其他差不多60%的女性有色人种一样，财务状况成为我们求学的主要障碍。

　　Thankfully, Norfolk State University provided me with full funding, and I was able to achieve my bachelor's in physics. 幸运的是，诺福克州立大学为我提供了全额奖学金，我成功获得了物理学学士学位。

　　After graduation, and despite knowing that I wanted a PhD in astrophysics, I fell through the cracks. 毕业以后，尽管怀揣成为天体物理学博士的梦想，但现实依旧不遂人愿。

　　It was a poster that saved my dream, and some really incredible people and programs. 是一张海报拯救了我的梦想，当然还多亏一些好心人和项目。

　　The American Physical Society had this beautiful poster encouraging students of color to become physicists². 美国物理学会为了鼓励有色人种学生成为物理学家，设计了一张非常美的海报。

　　It was striking to me because it featured a young black girl, probably around 12 years old, 它深深打动了我，海报上是一个黑人小女孩，也许12岁左右，

　　looking studiously at some physics equations. 在非常认真地解物理方程。

　　I remember thinking I was looking directly back at the little girl who first dared to dream this dream. 这让我想起了曾经的自己，那个曾经敢于梦想的小女孩。

　　I immediately wrote to the Society and requested my personal copy of the poster, which to this day still hangs in my office. 我立刻给学会发了封邮件，请他们给我一张海报，现在这张海报还挂在我的办公室里。

　　I described to them in the email my educational path, and my desire to find myself again in pursuit of the PhD. 我在邮件里讲述了我的求学之路，也表达了自己想继续攻读博士学位，实现自我价值的想法。

　　They directed me to the Fisk-Vanderbilt University Bridge Program, 他们将我介绍到“菲斯克-范德堡大学桥梁计划”，

　　itself an intersection³ of the master's and PhD degrees at two institutions. 这个计划本身就是个交叉点，涵盖来自两所大学的硕士和博士学位。

　　After two years out of school, they accepted me into the program, and I found myself again on the path to the PhD. 我在离开学校两年后，加入这个计划，再次踏上了成为博士的道路。

1 disintegrated   

v.（使）破裂[分裂，粉碎]，（使）崩溃( disintegrate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The plane disintegrated as it fell into the sea. 飞机坠入大海时解体了。
• The box was so old;it just disintegrated when I picked it up. 那箱子太破旧了，我刚一提就散了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 physicists   

物理学家( physicist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• For many particle physicists, however, it was a year of frustration. 对于许多粒子物理学家来说，这是受挫折的一年。 来自英汉非文学 - 科技
• Physicists seek rules or patterns to provide a framework. 物理学家寻求用法则或图式来构成一个框架。

3 intersection   

n.交集，十字路口，交叉点；[计算机] 交集

参考例句：

• There is a stop sign at an intersection.在交叉路口处有停车标志。
• Bridges are used to avoid the intersection of a railway and a highway.桥用来避免铁路和公路直接交叉。