财富精英励志演讲01：我生命中的三个故事(1)

 　　I am honored¹ to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

　　今天与你们一起参加世界上最好的大学之一的毕业典礼，我感到很荣幸。我从来没有从大学毕业。说实话，这是我离大学毕业典礼最近的一次。今天我想向你们讲述我生活中的三个故事。就是这样。不是什么大不了的事情，只是三个故事而已。

　　The first story is about connecting the dots.

　　第一个故事是关于把点串连成线的故事

　　I dropped out of Reed² College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

　　我在里德学院（Reed College）只读了六个月就退学了，但是我还经常去学校旁听，又过了大约18个月，我才真正离开校园。那么，我为什么要退学呢?

　　It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided³ to put me up for adoption⁴. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected⁵ baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers⁶. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

　　这要从我出生前讲起。母亲怀上我时，她还是一名年轻的未婚在校研究生，于是她决定把我送给别人来收养。她非常强烈地希望我被上过大学的人收养，所以，我的一切都被安排好，等我一出生就由一名律师和他的妻子收养。哪知我刚一出世，这对夫妇突然改变了主意，他们真正想要的是一个女孩。这样，我的养父母——当时还列在登记的申请人名单中——突然在半夜接到了一个电话：“我们有一个不期而至的男婴，你们想要他吗？”他们回答道：“当然要。”但是我生母后来发现，我的养母并没有大学学历，而我的养父甚至没从中学毕业。她拒绝在最终的收养文件上签字。但几个月之后，我的父母承诺将来一定送我上大学，我的生母就松口了。

　　背景资料：

　　毕业典礼上的演讲大多轻松愉快，但是容易被遗忘。然而乔布斯2005年6月在斯坦福大学的演讲至今依然为人们所津津乐道。这位苹果公司的创始人在演讲中谈到了他人生中的三个故事，这三个故事引起了巨大的反响。

1 honored   

adj.光荣的：荣幸的v.尊敬，给以荣誉( honor的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I hope to be honored with further orders. 如蒙惠顾，不胜荣幸。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This is a time-honored custom. 这是一个古老的习俗。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 reed   

n.芦苇，芦丛，簧舌，簧片

参考例句：

• The river banks were overgrown with reed.河岸长满了芦苇。
• They inhabit reed huts built on stilts above the water.他们住在建于水中木桩之上的芦苇草屋里。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 adoption   

n.采用，采纳，通过；收养

参考例句：

• An adoption agency had sent the boys to two different families.一个收养机构把他们送给两个不同的家庭。
• The adoption of this policy would relieve them of a tremendous burden.采取这一政策会给他们解除一个巨大的负担。

5 unexpected   

adj.想不到的，意外的

参考例句：

• I always keep some good wine in for unexpected guests.我总保存些好酒，用来招待不速之客。
• His promotion was unexpected.他的升迁出人意料。

6 papers   

n.文件，纸币，论文

参考例句：

• I want to check with my secretary before I sign the papers.在签署这些文件前，我要与我的秘书商议。
• The lawyer read all the papers relating to the case.律师阅读了与该案有关的全部文件。