--
Unit 1
The Story of Steve Jobs
This is the text of the Commencement Address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Com
本文是苹果计算机公司和皮克斯动画工作室的首席执行官史蒂夫?乔布斯
puter and of Pixar Animation Studios, at 于2005年6月12日在斯坦福大学Stanford University, delivered on June 12, 毕业典礼上的演讲稿。1 ? 今天,2005.
1 I am honored 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 eout of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in fSo why did I drop out?
2 It started before I was born. My biologicgraduate student, and she decided to put me u
我很荣幸能来到这所世界顶尖大学参加你们的毕业典礼。我大学没有毕业。说实话,现在是我最接近大学毕业的时刻。我在里德学院读了6个月就退学了,但是作为旁听生又在那里待了18我为什么要退学呢?2 ? 这要从我还没有出生的时候说起。我的生母我送给别人收养。她觉得我必须由有大学学历的人收养。于是,她安排好了律师和他的妻子收养。但是我出生之
ver gotten to a college graduation. I dropped 个月左右,然后才真正离开学校。那么
or another 18 months or so before I really quit. 是个年轻未婚的研究生,因此她决定把
al mother was a young, unwed college 一切,只要我一出生,就把我交给一位p for adoption. She felt very strongly 后,他们在最后一刻决定他们还是想that I should be adopted by college graduates, 要一个女孩。当时我父母还在候补名so everything was all set for me to be 单上,一天半夜他们接到一个电话,问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 askinwant him?\ They said, \course.\ My biol
他们:“有个新生儿,是意外怀上的,是个男孩,你们要吗?”他们回答:“当然要。”但是,我的生母随后发现我母亲大学没有毕业,我父亲甚至连高中也没毕业,因此拒绝在最后几份领养文件上签一定让我上大学,她才同意了。这就
g, "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you 字。直到几个月后,我父母承诺将来ogical mother later found out that my mother 是我生命的开始。
had never graduated from college and that 3 17年后,我确实上了大学。但my father had never graduated from high school. 是出于无知,我选了一所几乎与斯坦福She refused to sign the final adoption paper
一样昂贵的学校,因此,工薪阶层的父
s. She only relented a few months later 母把所有积蓄都花在了我的学费上。6when my parents promised that I would 个月过去了,我看不到其中的价值所someday go to college. This was the start 在。我不知道我的人生定位,也不知in my life.
3 And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was amy working-class parents' savings were bein
道大学将如何帮我找到答案,而我正在这里耗尽父母一生的积蓄。所以我决定退学,并相信一切都会顺利。这在当时看来非常可怕,但现在回头看看,学的那一刻起,我就不用再上那些不
lmost as expensive as Stanford, and all of 那是我做过的最棒的决定之一。从退g spent on my college tuition. After six 感兴趣的必修课,而开始去学那些看上
--
--
months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had 去更有意思的课程。但一切也不全是no idea what I wanted to do with my life and 这么美妙。我没有自己的宿舍,只有no idea how college was going to help me figuthe money my parents had saved their entrusted that it would all work out OK. It was p
在朋友的房间里打地铺;我拣可乐瓶吃的;而到了每个周日晚上,我都会步的庙宇饱餐一顿。我喜欢这样。我依
re it out. And here I was spending all of 子,把退来的5美分押金攒起来去买tire life. So I decided to drop out and 行7英里,穿过城镇去克利须那觉悟会retty scary at the time, but looking back 照好奇心和直觉做事,大多事后证明it was one of the best decisions I ever 是非常值得的。让我给你们举个例子:made. The minute I dropped out I could st
当当时里德学院开设可能在全国是最
op taking the required classes that didn't 好的书法课程。园里的每一张海报、interest me, and begin dropping in on the 每一个抽屉的每张标签上都有漂亮的ones that looked far more interesting. It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm rooreturned coke bottles for the five-cent deposits t
书法。
4 因为我已经辍学,不用参加正规书法。我了解了衬线和无衬线字体,学
m, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms. I 的课程,所以我决定去上这门课,学习o buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles 会了如何在不同的字母组合间改变间across town every Sunday night to get one 距,知道了如何让大字体显得很漂亮。good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. 这种科学所无法捕捉的、美妙的、充I loved it. And much of what I stumbled 满历史感的微妙艺术,让我心醉神迷。into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example: Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy i
? 5 这一切在我的生活中是否实用,我不抱希望。直到10年后,当我们在设计第一台麦金托什电脑时,我想起了这些东西。于是,我们把所有这些都
nstruction in the country. Throughout 设计进了Mac机。这是第一类拥有漂the campus every poster, every label on 亮字体排版的电脑。如果我没有在大every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed.
学旁听那门课程,Mac就不会有多种字体以及间距分配合理的字型,很可
4 Because I had dropped out and didn't have 能现在的微软PC也不会有这些字型to take the normal classes, I decided to take ——你们要知道,Windows也只是a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and sanserif type
抄袭Mac,并非独创。如果我从未退学,我就绝不会旁听那门书法课,而个
faces, about varying the amount of space 人电脑可能也不会有现在这样美妙的between different letter combinations, about 字体排版。在大学的时候,我当然不what makes great typography great. It was 可能把这些点点滴滴都串起来展望未beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way 来。但在十年后再回首,一切都变得that science can't capture, and I found it 非常、非常清晰。 fascinating.
6 同样,你们现在也无法预见这
5 None of this had even a hope of 类琐碎的经历之间能有什么联系,只有any practical application in my life. But ten 在回首往事时才能发现。你们要相信,years later, when we were designing the 这些片断会在未来以某种方式连接起first Macintosh computer, it all came b
来。你们必须相信一些东西——勇气、
ack to me. And we designed it all into the 命运、人生、因缘等等。这个方法从Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful 未让我失望,也正是它改变了我的整
--
--
typography. If I had never dropped in on 个人生。 that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.
6 Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something—your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
New Words
commencement
[C, usu. sing.] a ceremony at which students receive their academic d
egrees or diplomas 学位授予典礼,毕业典礼
He made a speech at the commencement.
他在毕业典礼上作了演讲。?We will get our diplomas at the commencement in May or June.
我们将会在五、六月份举行的毕业典礼上拿到毕业证书。
[C, U] beginning 开始,开端?The commencement of this year will be better. 今年将会有一个更好的开始。 Animation
n. [U] 动画制作
n. [C] a film or movie in which drawings of people and animals seem to move 动画片 quit
vi/vt. to leave your job, school, etc. 离开;离校
He got his present job when he quitted/quit the army.
他退伍后找到了现在这份工作。?If I don't get a pay raise, I'll quit. ?如果不给我加薪,我就不干了。
--
--
vi/vt. (informal) to stop doing sth. 停止,戒掉 Quit fooling around!
别胡闹了!?You must quit smoking. Most important of all, you should start taking exercise. ?你必须戒烟;最重要的是,你该开始运动了。 biological
a. connected with the processes that take place within living things 生物的;与生命过程有关的?a child's biological parents 孩子的亲生父母
a. connected with the science of biology 生物学
The school has a large biological laboratory. ?这所学校有一个很大的生物实验室。 unwed
not married 没有结婚的,未婚的
In 1993 alone, 26,270 babies were born to unwed teens. 仅仅在1993年便有26270名婴儿为未婚少女所生。 adoption
n. [C, U] the act of adopting a child 收养,领养?He was pleased with the adoption of a little girl. ?他很高兴收养了一个小女孩.
n. [U] the decision to start using sth. such as an idea, a plan or a name 采纳,采用
The adoption of this policy would relieve the unions of a tremendous burden. ?采用这一政策将会减轻工会沉重的负担。 adopt
vt. to take sb. else's child into your family and become its legal parent(s) 收养,领养
vt. to formally accept a suggestion or policy by voting 正式通过,表决采纳(建议、政策等)vt. to start to use a particular method or to show a particular attitude towards sb./sth. 采用(某方法);采取(某态度) relent
vi. to finally agree to sth. after refusing 终于答应,不再拒绝?Afterwards she relented and let the children stay up late to watch TV. ?后来她让步了,让孩子们看会儿电视,晚点再睡。 ?The police will not relent in their fight against crime. 警方在跟犯罪分子的斗争中决不手软.
vi. to become less determined, strong, etc. 减弱,变缓和
The pressure on us to finish this task will not relent. ?为完成此项任务,我们受到的压力不会减轻。 naively
ad. in a naive manner 无知地;天真地?They naively assume things can only get better. ?他们天真地以为情况肯定会好转。 scary
a. causing fear or alarm 引起恐慌的 That movie was too scary. 那部电影太吓人了。 stumble
vi. 1) to move or walk in an unsteady way 跌跌撞撞地走,蹒跚而行
--
--
A drunk stumbled past us. ?有个喝醉的人跌跌撞撞地从我们身边走过。 The tired old man stumbled along. 那位疲惫的老人蹒跚而行。
vi. 2) to hit one's foot against sth. while one is walking or running and a
lmost fall 绊脚
I stumbled over a tree root. ?树根绊了我一下。 He stumbled on the staircase and hurt his leg. 他在楼梯上绊了一跤,伤了腿. intuition
n. 1) [U] the ability to know sth. by using your feelings rather than considering the facts 直觉力?Nobody told me where to find you. It was sheer intuition.
没有人告诉我到哪儿去找你。我纯粹是凭直觉找到你的。?Intuition told me you were an honest man. ?直觉告诉我你是个诚实的人。
n. 2) [C] (一种)直觉
I had a sudden intuition about the missing jewels.
我凭直觉突然知道失踪的珠宝的去向。I had an intuition that we would win at last. ?我有一种直觉,那就是我们最终会成功。 calligraphy
n. [U] (the art of producing) beautiful handwriting 书法;书法艺术?I'm
considering studying calligraphy or Chinese painting. ?我正在考虑要学书法还是国画。?The graphic arts include calligraphy and lithography. 平面造型艺术包括书法和平版印刷术。 calligraph
vt. to produce by means of calligraphy 用美术体书写
serif
n. [U] a short line at the top or bottom of some styles of printed letters 衬线,截线 sanserif
n. [U] 无衬线字体 typeface
n. [C] (印刷用的)字体 typography
n. [U] 印刷术,排版,版面设计 historical
a. 1) connected with the past (有关)历史的?Are there any historical sites in
this area? ?这个地区有什么历史遗迹吗??The book is based on historical events. 这本书是以历史事件为基础的。
a. 2) based on the study of history 有关历史研究的,历史学的?We have no historical evidence for it. ?我们缺乏可以证明这一点的史学依据。 It's a historical fact. ?这是历史事实。 artistically
ad. in an artistic manner 艺术性地;在艺术上 She is artistically aware.
--