財富精英勵志演講 第13期:我生命中的三個故事(6)
在十七歲那年 ，我真的上了大學(xué)。
But I naively chose a college that was almost asexpensive as Stanford,
但是我很愚蠢的選擇了一個幾乎和你們斯坦福大學(xué)一樣貴的學(xué)校,
and all of my working-class parent‘s savings werebeing spent on my college tuition.
我父母還處于藍(lán)領(lǐng)階層，他們幾乎把所有積蓄都花在了我的學(xué)費上面。
After six months, I couldn't see the value in it.
在六個月后, 我已經(jīng)看不到其中的價值所在。
I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help mefigure it out.
我不知道我真正想要做什么，我也不知道大學(xué)能怎樣幫助我找到答案。
And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life.
但是在這里，我?guī)缀趸ü饬宋腋改高@一輩子的全部積蓄。
So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK.
所以我決定要退學(xué)，我覺得這是個正確的決定。
It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made.
不能否認(rèn)，我當(dāng)時確實非常的害怕，但是現(xiàn)在回頭看看，那的確是我這一生中最棒的一個決定。
The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me,
在我做出退學(xué)決定的那一刻，我終于可以不必去讀那些令我 提不起絲毫興趣的課程了。
and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.
然后我可以開始去修那些看起來有點意思的課程。
It wasn't all romantic.
但是這并不是那么浪漫。
I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms,
我失去了我的宿舍,所以我只能在朋友房間的地板上面睡覺,
I returned coke bottles for the 5-cent deposits to buy food with,
我去撿可以換5美分的可樂罐，僅僅為了填飽肚子,
and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week atthe Hare Krishna temple.
在星期天的晚上,我需要走七英里的路程，穿過這個城市到黑爾·科里施納神廟(注：位于紐約Brooklyn下城),
I loved it.
只是為了能吃上好飯——這個星期唯一一頓好一點的飯，我喜歡那里的飯菜。
And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to bepriceless later on.
我跟著我的直覺和好奇心走, 遇到的很多東西,此后被證明是無價之寶。
Let me give you one example:
讓我給你們舉一個例子吧：
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country.
里德學(xué)院在那時提供也許是全美最好的美術(shù)字課程。
Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was be autifully handcalligraphed.
在這個大學(xué)里面的每個海報,每個抽屜的標(biāo)簽上面全都是漂亮的美術(shù)字。
Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes,
因為我退學(xué)了, 不必去上正規(guī)的課程
I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this.
所以我決定去參加這個課程，去學(xué)學(xué)怎樣寫出漂亮的美術(shù)字。
I learned about serif and san serif typefaces,
我學(xué)到了帶短截線和不帶短截線的字體,
about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations,
我學(xué)會了怎么樣在不同的字母組合之中改變空白間距,
about what makes great typography great.
還有怎么樣才能作出最棒的印刷式樣。
It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture,
那種美好、歷史感和藝術(shù)精妙，是科學(xué)永遠(yuǎn)不能捕捉到的,
and I found it fascinating.
我發(fā)現(xiàn)那實在是太迷人了。
None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life.
當(dāng)時看起來這些東西在我的生命中，好像都沒有什么實際應(yīng)用的可能。
But ten years later,when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back tome.
但是十年之后,當(dāng)我們在設(shè)計第一臺Macintosh電腦的時候,就不是那樣了。
And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography.
我把當(dāng)時我學(xué)的那些東西全都設(shè)計進(jìn)了Mac。那是第一臺使用了漂亮的印刷字體的電腦。
If I had never dropped in on that single course in college,
如果我當(dāng)時沒有退學(xué), 就不會有機(jī)會去參加這個我感興趣的美術(shù)字課程,
the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts.
Mac就不會有這么多豐富的字體，以及賞心悅目的字體間距。
And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them.
因為Windows只是照抄了Mac，所以現(xiàn)在個人電腦才能有現(xiàn)在這么美妙的字型。
If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class,
要是我當(dāng)初沒有退學(xué)，我絕不會碰巧選了這門書法課，
and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do.
個人電腦也可能不會有現(xiàn)在這些漂亮的版式了。
Of course it was impossible to connect he dots looking forward when I was in college.
當(dāng)然我在大學(xué)的時候，還不可能把從前的點點滴滴串連起來,
But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.
但是當(dāng)我十年后回顧這一切的時候,真的豁然開朗了。
