世界首富也有遗憾 盖茨后悔没学二外

 　　The world's richest man might seem to have it all, but Bill Gates has one regret. The self-made billionaire said he felt stupid for not knowing any foreign languages.

　　世界首富比尔·盖茨看上去似乎是坐拥万千，但是他有一个遗憾。这名白手起家的亿万富翁坦言，他觉得自己不会一门外语真是大大的失策。

　　Speaking in his third Ask Me Anything question-and-answer session for online forum¹ Reddit, the Microsoft founder² revealed that he wished he spoke³ French, Arabic or Chinese.

　　在在线论坛Reddit上的“随便问我点啥”的问答环节，他回答了这第三个问题，这名微软创始人坦言，他希望他会说法语、阿拉伯语或是汉语。

　　He said: 'I took Latin and Greek in high school and got A's and I guess it helps my vocabulary.

　　他说：“我在高中的时候选修过拉丁文和希腊语，并拿到了A的好成绩，我猜这对我的词汇量很有帮助。

　　'I keep hoping to get time to study one of these - probably French because it is the easiest. I did Duolingo for a while but didn't keep it up.'

　　我希望继续有时间学习其中一门语言——可能是法语，因为法语最好学。我有一阵子用Duolingo语言学习应用学过，但是没坚持下去。”

　　Gates, who is worth $79.3billion, praised Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg for stunning⁴ an audience in Beijing when he spoke fluent Mandarin⁵.

　　身价793亿美金的盖茨，赞扬了脸书的创始人马克·扎克伯格——用一口流利的汉语让北京的观众惊艳四座。

　　He said: 'Mark Zuckerberg amazingly learned Mandarin and did a Q&A with Chinese students - incredible.'

　　他说：“马克·扎克伯格学习了汉语真是太惊奇了，而且难以置信，他还和中国学生进行问答。”

　　During the session yesterday, the 59-year-old said that he loves BBQ sauce but avoids it before TV appearances because he tends to spill it, his biggest splurge is having a private jet and he enjoys Indian and Thai food.

　　在昨天的问答环节，59岁的盖茨说，他很喜欢烧烤酱，但是在电视上露面之前他不会吃，因为他会洒出来，他最值得炫耀的就是有一架私人飞机，而且他喜欢印度菜和泰国菜。

1 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

2 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 stunning   

adj.极好的；使人晕倒的

参考例句：

• His plays are distinguished only by their stunning mediocrity.他的戏剧与众不同之处就是平凡得出奇。
• The finished effect was absolutely stunning.完工后的效果非常美。

5 Mandarin   

n.中国官话，国语，满清官吏；adj.华丽辞藻的

参考例句：

• Just over one billion people speak Mandarin as their native tongue.大约有十亿以上的人口以华语为母语。
• Mandarin will be the new official language of the European Union.普通话会变成欧盟新的官方语言。