创业成功人士访谈录 第40期:拉里埃里森(5)

 　　How did this affect you?

　　这对你有何影响？

　　I didn’t know that I was adopted until I was twelve years old.

　　12岁以前我并不知道自己是被收养的。

　　I don’t attribute very much of my personality to my adoption¹.

　　也并不认为被收养的经历影响了我的性格。

　　I attribute an awful lot to my relationship with my father，who was a Russian immigrant.

　　我认为这与我跟父亲的关系有关，他是一个俄罗斯移民。

　　He came here and was very，very poor.

　　他来到这里的时候非常非常穷。

　　He dearly loved this country as only an immigrant can, loved our government as only an immigrant can.

　　他深爱这个国家，深爱这个政府，这是一个移民者能做到的全部。

　　He was a bomber² pilot in World War II. He really had the philosophy of “my country，right or wrong.”

　　他曾在二战时作过轰炸机飞行员。他坚信“不管对错，这都是我 的国家”的哲理。

　　He never questioned the government’s policies, never questioned authority, and he didn’t want me to question authority.

　　他从不质疑政府的政策，从不质疑权威，也不希望我质疑权威。

　　I had some teachers when I was very young that I thought were telling me things that weren't true.

　　小的时候，我认为一些教师告诉我的事不是真的。

　　When I tried to ask questions，they basically wanted me to parrot back what they said.

　　当我想提问时，他们基本上都是要求我记住他们的话。

　　They really weren’t interested in a discourse³ with a child, or a debate with a child.

　　根本不愿意与小孩讲道理或辩论。

　　They said this was true, and “You are smart if you can repeat back to me exactly what I said to you.”

　　他们说这是真的：“如果你能跟我重复我跟你讲过的话，你就很聪明。”

　　I had a real problem with that as well. I had very strong authoritari an figures, both in school and at home, which served as wonderful examples of how not to be.

　　这对我来说也是个问题。无论是在学校还是家里，都有我并不认同的非常权威的人。

　　Was there anybody who was supportive?

　　有没有人是你支持的？

　　Oh sure, my Mom was supportive, and I had a mixture of teachers.

　　哦，肯定有，我的妈妈。并且老师也不一样

　　Some of the teachers were wonderful, and some of the teachers were awful, but the awful teachers served a good purpose by being a bad example.

　　有一些老师很好，但也有一些很糟糕。但是这些糟糕的老师做了很好的反面典型。

　　All examples are good. Bad examples are useful; good examples are useful.

　　所有的例子都是好的。坏的例子是有用的，好的例子也是有用的。

　　It taught me to question experts, to question authority figures.

　　它教我质疑专家，质疑权威人物。

　　Don’t assume they’re right just because they’re in authority, or just because they’re experts.

　　不能仅仅因为他们是权威或专家就认为他们是对的。

1 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。

2 bomber   

n.轰炸机，投弹手，投掷炸弹者

参考例句：

• He flew a bomber during the war.他在战时驾驶轰炸机。
• Detectives hunting the London bombers will be keen to interview him.追查伦敦爆炸案凶犯的侦探们急于对他进行讯问。

3 discourse   

n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述

参考例句：

• We'll discourse on the subject tonight.我们今晚要谈论这个问题。
• He fell into discourse with the customers who were drinking at the counter.他和站在柜台旁的酒客谈了起来。