名校勵(lì)志英語(yǔ)演講 第40期:我人生中的三個(gè)故事
And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naivelychose a college that was almost as expensive asStanford, and all of my working-class parents' savingswere being spent on my college tuition. After sixmonths, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no ideawhat I wanted to do with my life and no idea howcollege was going to help me figure it out. And here Iwas spending all of the money my parents had savedtheir entire life.
十七年后，我真的上了大學(xué)。但是當(dāng)時(shí)我幼稚地選了一所學(xué)費(fèi)幾乎和斯坦福大學(xué)一樣昂貴的學(xué)校，而我的養(yǎng)父母只是工薪階層，他們傾其積蓄為我支付了大學(xué)學(xué)費(fèi)。過(guò)了六個(gè)月后，我卻看不出上大學(xué)有什么意義。我既不知道自己這一生想干什么，也不知道念大學(xué)是否能幫我弄明白這一點(diǎn)，而且在那兒我會(huì)花光父母一輩子節(jié)省下來(lái)的錢。
So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out ok. It was pretty scary at the time, butlooking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stoptaking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked farmore interesting.
所以，我決定退學(xué)，并堅(jiān)信日后會(huì)證明我這樣做是對(duì)的。當(dāng)年做出這個(gè)決定時(shí)心里很害怕，但現(xiàn)在回想起來(lái)，這還真是我有生以來(lái)做出的最好的決定之一。一退學(xué)，我就可以不再選那些我一點(diǎn)兒都不感興趣的必修課，開始旁聽一些看上去有趣得多的課。
It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms. Ireturned coke bottles for the five cent deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the seven milesacross town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it.And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be pricelesslater on. Let me give you one example:
那種日子一點(diǎn)兒都不浪漫。我沒有宿舍，只能睡在朋友房間的地板上。我去退還可樂(lè)瓶，用那五分錢的押金來(lái)買吃的。每個(gè)星期天晚上我都要步行七英里，走到城那頭的黑爾·科里施納禮堂去吃每周才能享用一次的美餐。我喜歡那里的飯菜。我憑著好奇心和直覺所做的許多事情后來(lái)都證明是無(wú)價(jià)的。我來(lái)給大家舉個(gè)例子。
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country.Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully handcalligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided totake a calligraphy class to learn how to do this.
當(dāng)時(shí)，里德學(xué)院的書法課大概是全國(guó)最好的。校園里所有的公告欄和每個(gè)抽屜的標(biāo)簽上的字都非常漂亮。因?yàn)槲乙呀?jīng)退學(xué)，不用正常上課，所以我決定選修書法課，學(xué)學(xué)怎么寫出漂亮的字。
十七年后，我真的上了大學(xué)。但是當(dāng)時(shí)我幼稚地選了一所學(xué)費(fèi)幾乎和斯坦福大學(xué)一樣昂貴的學(xué)校，而我的養(yǎng)父母只是工薪階層，他們傾其積蓄為我支付了大學(xué)學(xué)費(fèi)。過(guò)了六個(gè)月后，我卻看不出上大學(xué)有什么意義。我既不知道自己這一生想干什么，也不知道念大學(xué)是否能幫我弄明白這一點(diǎn)，而且在那兒我會(huì)花光父母一輩子節(jié)省下來(lái)的錢。
So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out ok. It was pretty scary at the time, butlooking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stoptaking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked farmore interesting.
所以，我決定退學(xué)，并堅(jiān)信日后會(huì)證明我這樣做是對(duì)的。當(dāng)年做出這個(gè)決定時(shí)心里很害怕，但現(xiàn)在回想起來(lái)，這還真是我有生以來(lái)做出的最好的決定之一。一退學(xué)，我就可以不再選那些我一點(diǎn)兒都不感興趣的必修課，開始旁聽一些看上去有趣得多的課。
It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms. Ireturned coke bottles for the five cent deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the seven milesacross town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it.And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be pricelesslater on. Let me give you one example:
那種日子一點(diǎn)兒都不浪漫。我沒有宿舍，只能睡在朋友房間的地板上。我去退還可樂(lè)瓶，用那五分錢的押金來(lái)買吃的。每個(gè)星期天晚上我都要步行七英里，走到城那頭的黑爾·科里施納禮堂去吃每周才能享用一次的美餐。我喜歡那里的飯菜。我憑著好奇心和直覺所做的許多事情后來(lái)都證明是無(wú)價(jià)的。我來(lái)給大家舉個(gè)例子。
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country.Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully handcalligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided totake a calligraphy class to learn how to do this.
當(dāng)時(shí)，里德學(xué)院的書法課大概是全國(guó)最好的。校園里所有的公告欄和每個(gè)抽屜的標(biāo)簽上的字都非常漂亮。因?yàn)槲乙呀?jīng)退學(xué)，不用正常上課，所以我決定選修書法課，學(xué)學(xué)怎么寫出漂亮的字。
