【逐句精讲名人英文演讲】Steve Jobs 乔布斯在斯坦福大学毕业典礼上的演讲
英文演讲 🎤 English Speech
賈伯斯在史丹佛大學的演講被譽為最具啟發性的畢業致詞之一。這篇文章逐句解析原文，講解道英文用法與文法重點，同時帶你體會他對「熱愛與堅持」的人生哲理。
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逐句精讲
Today, I wanna tell you three stories from my life.
今天 我想跟你们分享三个我人生中的故事。
The first story is about connecting the dots.
第一个故事是关于 “连接人生中的点点滴滴”。
I dropped out of Reed College after the first six months.
我在里德学院读了六个月后就辍学了。
🔖 词汇精讲：
- dropped out of...： 退出，退学，退出（某个组织或活动）
例：His son drop out of school. 他的儿子辍学了。
- Reed College：里德学院是一所坐落在美国俄勒冈州波特兰市西南的一所私立文理学院。成立于1908年，以其严格的学术要求和独特的教育风格而闻名。
But then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit.
但接下来又以 “旁听生” 的身份待了大约18个月才真正离开。
🔖 词汇精讲：
- drop-in：a loose and occasional presence rather than a formal or dedicated one. 在这句话中指的是 “随便来访、不定期参与” 的意思
- or so：大约，左右：用于表示一个数字、数量等不是精确的。
例：We stayed for an hour or so. 我们待了一个小时左右。
例：It cost me a hundred dollars or so. 这花了我大概一百美元左右。
So why'd I drop out? It started before I was born.
那么我为什么要辍学呢？这一切在我出生之前就开始了。
My biological mother was a young unwed graduate student and she decided to put me up for adoption.
我的亲生母亲是一位年轻的未婚研究生，她决定把我送去收养。
🔖 词汇精讲：
- bio·logic·al /ˌbaɪəˈlɑːdʒɪk(ə)l/ connected with the processes that take place within living things 生物的；与生命过程有关的
例：a child's biological parents (= natural parents, not the people who adopted him/her) 孩子的亲生父母
- unwed /ˌʌnˈwed/（亦作 unwedded）没有正式结婚的，未婚的
She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates.
她坚定地认为我应该由大学毕业生来收养。
🔖 词汇精讲：
- feel（very）strongly：坚决认为：对某事持有强烈或明确的观点。
例：They feel strongly that their religion is incompatible with the political system. 他们强烈地感到他们的宗教信仰与政治体制格格不入。
- college graduate：大学毕业生：指已经完成大学学业并获得学位的人。
So everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife.
一切原本都安排好了，由一对律师夫妻在我出生时收养我。
🔖 词汇精讲：
- be all set：准备就绪，都安排好了
Except that when I popped out, they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl.
但当我出生时，他们在最后一刻突然决定他们真正想要的是一个女孩。
🔖 词汇精讲：
- pop out：appear suddenly 突然出现
- at the last minute：在最后一刻
So my parents who were on a waiting list got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We've got an unexpected baby boy. Do you want him?"
于是，我的养父母，一对在等候名单上的夫妇在半夜接到了一通电话询问到：“我们这里意外多了一个小男孩，你们愿意收养吗？”
🔖 词汇精讲：
- a waiting list：等候名单
- in the middle of the night：在深夜或半夜
- un·ex·pect·ed /ˌʌnɪkˈspektɪd/ surprises you because you were not expecting it 出乎意料的；始料不及的
un·ex·pect·ed·ly 出乎意料地
例：They had arrived unexpectedly. 他们意外地到达了。
They said, “Of course.”
他们说：“当然愿意。”
My biological mother found out later that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school.
后来，我的亲生母亲发现我的养母大学没有毕业，而我的养父甚至连高中都没有毕业。
She refused to sign the final adoption papers.
她因此拒绝签署最终的收养文件。
She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would go to college.
直到几个月后，我的养父母保证会送我上大学，她才终于同意。
🔖 词汇精讲：
- re·lent /rɪˈlent/ to finally agree to sth after refusing 终于答应；不再拒绝
- a few months later：几个月后
This was the start in my life.
这就是我人生的起点。
And 17 years later, I did go to college.
17年后，我的确上了大学。
But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford.
但我天真地选择了一所学费几乎和史丹佛一样贵的学校。
🔖 词汇精讲：
- naive·ly /naɪˈiːvli/ 天真地
naive 天真的，幼稚的；轻信的
例：I'm not naive, I know how it works. 我不天真无知，我知道怎么回事。
And all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition.
我那工薪阶层的父母把所有积蓄都用来支付我的学费。
🔖 词汇精讲：
- working-class：工人阶级的；劳动阶级的
- tu·ition /tuˈɪʃ(ə)n/ the money that you pay to be taught, especially in a college or university （尤指大专院校的）学费
After six months, I couldn't see the value in it.
六个月后，我实在看不到上大学的意义。
I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life.
我不知道自己想做什么。
And no idea how college was going to help me figure it out.
也不知道大学能如何帮我找到答案。
And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life.
而我却在花光父母一生的积蓄。
So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out okay.
于是我决定辍学并相信一切最终会没事的。
It was pretty scary at the time.
当时这个决定让我很害怕。
But looking back, it was one of the best decisions I ever made.
但回头看，这是我做过最好的决定之一。
The minute I dropped out, I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me.
我一辍学就不用再上那些让我提不起兴趣的必修课了。
🔖 词汇精讲：
- the minute：一……就
例：The minute you do this, you'll lose control. 你一干这个，就会失去控制。
And begin dropping in on the ones that looked far more interesting.
开始去旁听那些我觉得更有趣的课程。
It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms.
这一切并不浪漫。我没有宿舍，只能睡在朋友宿舍的地板上。
🔖 词汇精讲：
- dorm = dormitory 宿舍
I returned coke bottles for the five cent deposits to buy food with.
我靠退可乐瓶子换来的五美分押金来买食物。
🔖 词汇精讲：
- de·posit /dɪˈpɑːzɪt/ 押金
And I would walk the seven miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna Temple.
每周日晚上都会步行七英里穿过城市，只为了去 Hare Krishna 庙吃上一顿像样的饭。
I loved it.
但我很喜欢那段日子。
And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on.
而那些我凭直觉和好奇心走进的经历后来成了无价之宝。
🔖 词汇精讲：
- stumble into：指无意中开始做某事，没有预先计划或意图。
- curi·os·ity /ˌkjʊriˈɑːsəti/ a strong desire to know about sth 好奇心；求知欲
- in·tu·ition /ˌɪntuˈɪʃ(ə)n/ an idea or a strong feeling that sth is true although you cannot explain why （一种）直觉
Let me give you one example.
让我举一个例子。
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country.
当时，里德学院提供全美最顶尖的书法课程。
🔖 词汇精讲：
- cal·lig·raphy /kəˈlɪɡrəfi/ beautiful handwriting that you do with a special pen or brush; the art of producing this 书法；书法艺术
Throughout the campus, every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed.
整个校园里的每张海报、每个抽屉的标签都是用手工书法精心书写的。
🔖 词汇精讲：
- calligraphed：用美术体书写（calligraph /ˈkælɪɡrɑːf/ 的过去式和过去分词）
Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes. I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this.
因为我已经辍学，不需要修一般课程。我决定去上书法课，学习这种技巧。
I learned about serif and sans serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great.
我学到了有衬线字体与无衬线字体，还学会了如何调整字母组合之间的间距，以及什么样的设计能造就优秀的排版。
🔖 词汇精讲：
- serif /ˈserɪf/ a short line at the top or bottom of some styles of printed letters 衬线，截线（部分印刷体的西文字母顶端或底部的短线）
- type·face /ˈtaɪpfeɪs/ a set of letters, numbers, etc. of a particular design, used in printing （印刷用的）字体
例：a serif typeface 衬线字体；sans serif typefaces 无衬线字体
- typ·og·raphy /taɪˈpɑːɡrəfi/ the art or work of preparing books, etc. for printing, especially of designing how text will appear when it is printed 印刷术；排印；版面设计
It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.
它是那么美丽。有历史感、艺术性极高，是科学无法描绘的。我对此着迷不已。
🔖 词汇精讲：
- his·tor·ic·al /hɪˈstɔːrɪk(ə)l/ connected with the past（有关）历史的
- cap·ture /ˈkæptʃər/ to succeed in accurately expressing a feeling, an atmosphere, etc. in a picture, piece of writing, film/movie, etc. （用图画、文章、电影等准确地）表达，刻画，描
例：The article captured the mood of the nation. 这篇文章把国民的情绪把得很准。
- fas·cin·at·ing /ˈfæsɪneɪtɪŋ/ extremely interesting and attractive 极有吸引力的；迷人的
None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life.
这些知识在当时看来根本没什么实际用途。
🔖 词汇精讲：
- practical application：实际应用
But 10 years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me, and we designed it all into the Mac.
但十年后，当我们在设计第一台 Macintosh 电脑时，这一切全都派上了用场。我们把它们全部设计进了 Mac 里。
It was the first computer with beautiful typography.
它成为第一台拥有优美排版的电脑。
If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts.
如果我当时没有旁听那门书法课，Mac 就不会拥有多种字体和按比例间距的字型。
🔖 词汇精讲：
- proportionally spaced font：按比例间隔字型
And since windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them.
而由于 Windows 完全仿效了 Mac，所以很可能没有任何一台个人电脑会具备这些。
If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on that calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do.
如果我当初没有辍学，我就不会去旁听那门书法课，而如今的个人电脑也可能不会有这么精美的字体设计。
Of course, it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college.
当然，在我大学的时候是不可能预见这些「点」未来会如何连结的。
But it was very, very clear looking backwards 10 years later.
但十年后回头看，一切却非常清楚。
Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards.
再说一次，你无法预先连接人生中的点滴，你只能在回顾时把它们串联起来。
So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.
所以你必须相信，这些点最终会以某种方式在未来连接起来。
You have to trust in something, your gut, destiny, life, Karma, whatever.
你必须相信某种东西，你的直觉、命运、人生、因果，或其他任何信念。
🔖 词汇精讲：
- trust in：是一个固定搭配，意思是 “相信、信任某种抽象的事物或力量”
- gut：是 “肠子”的意思，但在这里，意为 “the place where your natural feelings that make you react in a particular way are thought to be 内心；直觉；本能”
例：I had a feeling in my guts that something was wrong. 我本能地感到出了事。
- karma /ˈkɑːrmə/ ( in Buddhism and Hinduism 佛教和印度教 ) the sum of sb's good and bad actions in one of their lives, believed to decide what will happen to them in the next life 羯磨，因果，业（据信为可决定来生的个人善恶行为）
Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart.
因为相信这些点最终会连成一线会让你有信心去追随你的内心。
🔖 词汇精讲：
- down the road：字面意思是 “在路的下方”，引申意义为 “将来、有一天、在未来的某个时刻”
- follow your heart：是一个常见表达，意思是 “听从内心的声音”、“追随你的梦想或直觉”
Even when it leads you off the well worn path and that will make all the difference.
即使那会带你走上一条不那么传统的道路。而这，将改变你的一切。
🔖 词汇精讲：
- lead someone off (something)：把某人带离某个地方
- well-worn /ˌwel ˈwɔːrn/ 原意是“磨得很旧的”、“经常使用的”，这里是形容 “常走的路”、“传统的、安全的、主流的”
- path /pæθ/ 路径，这里用来象征人生的选择、方向、轨迹
- make all the difference：使大不相同，关系重大，起决定性作用
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