名人励志英语演讲 第125期:追随你的幸福 倾听你的心声(4)

 　　But her advice to me at Yale graduation was "Follow your Bliss¹". I was hoping for something a little more specific, like plastics. What, plastic? You like plastic? All right. In retrospect², "follow your bliss" was pretty good advice. My mom didn't actually coin the phrase--actually it was a professor at Sarah Lawrence College named Joseph Campbell who did--and my mom had seen a taped interview on TV. It kind of shows you our relationship--she was giving advice she had gotten off of television. I'm thankful she wasn't watching Montel Williams or something, or Fox News. So I kid, because they have huge ratings. They kill me.

　　但是，从耶鲁毕业时，母亲给我的建议是“追随你的幸福”。我本希望得到一些更具体的建议，比如信用卡。什么？信用卡？你喜欢信用卡？没错。但是现在回想起来，“追随你的幸福”确实是个很好的建议。事实上，这个短语并不是我母亲原创的，而是圣劳伦斯学期一位名叫约瑟夫·坎贝尔的教授在一个电视访谈节目中谈到的。你们从这件事多少可以看出我们的关系——她给我的建议都是从电视上学来的。我很庆幸她没有看蒙特尔·威廉姆斯的脱口秀节目或福克斯新闻等收视率较高的节目，否则我将会被摧毁。开个玩笑。

　　The problem, of course, with "follow your bliss" (and I actually think that's pretty good advice), but the problem with "follow your bliss" is actually trying to figure out what your bliss is, and that's not an easy thing to do. Like many of you, I have a liberal art degree, which is to say, I have no actual skill. And I majored in political science. You're excited about it now, but believe me, it doesn't go very far. It means you can read a newspaper, but other than that, I'm not really sure what else. I also focused a lot of my studies on communism, which when the Berlin Wall fell, I was totally screwed. I know, it was a happy occasion for a lot of people, but on this campus, believe me, all of the Russian studies majors were very down in the dumps. The one thing I knew I liked was television and particularly television news. I watched a lot of it growing up so I figured okay, I've got a Yale degree, I'll go give that a shot, I'll apply for an entry-level job at ABC News, a gopher position. Like I'm totally qualified³ for this: answering phones, I'll go do whatever Peter Jennings wants. I could not get this job. It took six months; they stung me along; I did interviews, I could not get the job, which shows you the value of a Yale education.

　　事实上，追随你的幸福是个很好的建议，但问题是你的幸福是什么，而弄清楚这一点并非易事。同你们大多数人一样，我拿到了文科学位，这就意味着我没有任何实际技能。我主修政治学。也许你们现在会很感兴趣，但相信我，这种兴趣是维持不了多久的，这意味着你可以读报纸，但除此之外，我真的不敢确实自己还可以做什么。我还主要研究共产主义，但当柏林墙被推倒时，我变得心烦意乱。我知道，柏林墙的倒塌对许多人来说都是一件欢欣的事情，但相信我，当时学校里所有俄罗斯研究专业的学生都非常失落。我唯一确定自己喜欢的就是电视节目，尤其是新闻节目。从小到大我看了很多新闻节目，所以我想，我获得了耶鲁学位，就试着应聘一下美国广播公司的基层工作岗位，做一中勤杂工。看起来我完全可以胜任这份工作：接听电话，完全听从彼得·杰宁斯的差遣。我却没得到这份工作。整整花了六个月，这让我很痛心。我获得了面试机会，却没有得到这份工作，这也说明了耶鲁学位的价值。

　　重点讲解：

　　1. in retrospect

　　回顾；回想；

　　eg. In retrospect, I wish that I had thought about alternative courses of action.

　　回想起来，我真希望自己当时考虑过其他做法。

　　eg. It was a very strange feeling in retrospect — I was frightened, but excited at the same time.

　　回想起来那是一种非常奇怪的感觉——我当时既害怕又兴奋。

　　2. figure out

　　想出；理解；弄清；

　　eg. They're trying to figure out the politics of this whole situation.

　　他们正试图弄明白整个情形背后的权术争斗。

　　eg. I don't have to be a detective to figure that out.

　　我不是侦探也想得出。

　　3. other than

　　（用于否定陈述后）除了…以外；

　　eg. She makes no reference to any feminist⁴ work other than her own.

　　除了自己的之外，她没有提及其他女权主义著作。

　　eg. The journey by road to Wolverhampton is not recommended to anyone other than the most experienced cyclist.

　　除了经验非常丰富的自行车手外，建议其他人不要走去伍尔弗汉普顿的那条路。

　　4. down in the dumps

　　郁闷的；沮丧的；闷闷不乐的；

　　eg. She's feeling a bit down in the dumps and needs cheering up.

　　她情绪有点低落，需要振奋起来。

　　eg. Afterward⁵, when we feel guilty and down in the dumps, friends can reassure⁶ us.

　　事后我们感到愧疚和沮丧，这时朋友会安慰我们。

　　5. give a shot

　　试一试；

　　eg. I know, not much of a chance, but I had to give it a shot.

　　我知道,机会很少,但我还是想试一下。

　　eg. He liked to do everything himself or at least give it a shot.

　　他凡事喜欢亲力亲为或者至少放手一试。

　　6. emtry-level

　　adj. 初级的；入门级的；

　　eg. She started at a low-paid entry-level job at her company and advanced quickly up the ladder.

　　她在公司从低薪的入门级职位干起，升职很快。

　　eg. On-campus interview is the main forum⁷ where global financial institutions recruit their entry-level employees.

　　校园面试是一些全球性金融机构招募初级职位的重要场合。

　　名人简介：

　　1989年，毕业于耶鲁大学政治学专业。曾在河内大学学习越南语。

　　1995年，库珀成为ABC新闻台的通讯记者。

　　1999年9月21日，开始合作主持晚间新闻节目《World News Now》。

　　2000年，成为ABC社会真实节目The Mole⁸的联合主持人。

　　2001年12月加入美国有线新闻网，成为CNN的周末黄金时段的主持人。

　　2003年9月3日，他开始主持节目《Anderson Cooper 360°》。

　　2005年，库珀负责报道了许多重要事件，包括斯里兰卡的海啸，在黎巴嫩的贝鲁特的雪松革命，教皇约翰·保罗二世的死亡，以及查尔斯王子和卡米拉的皇家婚礼。

　　2007年10月，库珀开始和Jeff Corwin一起主持记录片《Planet in Peril》。2008年， 他和Gupta以及来自National Geographic⁹ Explorer的Lisa Ling合作制作了续集。

　　2010年9月Warner Bros. 公司和Telepictures公司宣布同库珀签定协议，由他来主持一个全国性的联合脱口秀。《纽约时报》的Brian Stelter在Twitter上称Warner Bros.的这个脱口秀节目会被命名为“Anderson”。于2011年9月12日开播。

1 bliss   

n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福

参考例句：

• It's sheer bliss to be able to spend the day in bed.整天都可以躺在床上真是幸福。
• He's in bliss that he's won the Nobel Prize.他非常高兴，因为获得了诺贝尔奖金。

2 retrospect   

n.回顾，追溯；v.回顾，回想，追溯

参考例句：

• One's school life seems happier in retrospect than in reality.学校生活回忆起来显得比实际上要快乐。
• In retrospect,it's easy to see why we were wrong.回顾过去就很容易明白我们的错处了。

3 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

4 feminist   

adj.主张男女平等的，女权主义的

参考例句：

• She followed the feminist movement.她支持女权运动。
• From then on,feminist studies on literature boomed.从那时起，男女平等受教育的现象开始迅速兴起。

5 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

6 reassure   

v.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• This seemed to reassure him and he continued more confidently.这似乎使他放心一点，于是他更有信心地继续说了下去。
• The airline tried to reassure the customers that the planes were safe.航空公司尽力让乘客相信飞机是安全的。

7 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。

8 mole   

n.胎块；痣；克分子

参考例句：

• She had a tiny mole on her cheek.她的面颊上有一颗小黑痣。
• The young girl felt very self- conscious about the large mole on her chin.那位年轻姑娘对自己下巴上的一颗大痣感到很不自在。

9 geographic   

adj.地理学的，地理的

参考例句：

• The city's success owes much to its geographic position. 这座城市的成功很大程度上归功于它的地理位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Environmental problems pay no heed to these geographic lines. 环境问题并不理会这些地理界限。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法