名校勵志英語演講 第183期:一切皆有可能(5)
我們始終相信作為中國人是生活中最大的優(yōu)勢。在我家、生活中所有重要的東西都來自中國，都是中國發(fā)明的，都歸功于中國人。
We went on elementary school field trips to pulp plants, where they taught us how paper was made. Paper was invented in China, Mom said, after we relayed the process in awe. Our favorite neighbors were Italian and invited us over for spaghetti. When we came home and raved, Dad would remind us that Marco Polo brought pasta home from China. Not Italian....Chinese....and so it went. And how wonderful they were to instill in us the sense of pride in our heritage thatwe have never forgotten.
讀小學(xué)時，我們?nèi)ゼ垵{廠參觀，在那里他們教我們紙是怎樣生產(chǎn)的。回家之后，我們崇拜地描述了一番，然后母親告訴我們，紙是中國人發(fā)明的。我們最喜歡的鄰居是意大利人，他們邀請我們?nèi)コ砸獯罄?。我們吃完飯回到家極力贊美，父親提醒我們，馬可波羅是從中國把面團帶回去的，不是意大利的，而是中國的...不斷如此。我的父母很偉大，他們不斷地向我們灌輸對中國傳統(tǒng)文化的自豪感，我們從未忘記中國文化。
When I first became CEO, a famous American television journalist interviewed my dad and asked him if he always knew I would be successful in business. No, he said, quite to the contrary, he worried for years that raising me to be a respectful Chinese daughter would hinder my ability to compete in a world with what he considered the aggressive, cut throat traits of typical America CEO's. In fact, he passed on a letter to me that I keep, translated from Chinese to English, in my desk drawer.
當我剛擔任首席執(zhí)行官時，一個著名的美國電視記者采訪我的父親，問他是否早就知道我會在商界取得成功。不，他回答，恰恰相反，他很多年來一直擔心把我教育成一個孝順的中國女兒會妨礙我在一個他認為充滿了攻擊性和殘酷無情的典型美國首席執(zhí)行官的圈子里和別人競爭。實際上，他寫了一封信給我，我還保存在我辦公室的抽屜里。信是由中文翻譯成英文的。
