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【YouTube英文】Steve Jobs 贾伯斯在斯坦福大学毕业典礼上的演讲

透過賈伯斯史丹佛大學演講學英文｜逐句精講人生啟示與地道表達

by Bella 七月 26, 2025 34 min read

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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Steve Jobs 在斯坦福大学毕业典礼上的演讲

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English Speech：Steve Jobs 在斯坦福大学毕业典礼上的演讲

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

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派生词：
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

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同根词：
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

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注意不是 "historic 具有重大历史意义的"，这里更偏向 “充满历史感”。

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”

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和 “trust someone 相信某人” 不同，trust in something 常用于表达对命运、系统、理念、力量等的信任。

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

My second story is about love and loss.

我的第二个故事是关于 “爱与失去”。

I was lucky, I found what I love to do early in life.

我很幸运，很早就找到了喜欢做的事情。

Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20.

我和沃兹一起在我父母家的车库里创办了苹果公司，那时我才20岁。

We worked hard and in 10 years, Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees.

我们努力工作，十年之内，苹果从只有我们两人的车库创业发展成一家市值20亿美元，拥有四千多名员工的大公司。

We just released our finest creation - the Macintosh a year earlier, and I had just turned 30.

就在一年前，我们刚推出我们最棒的产品 - Macintosh，而我也刚满三十岁。

And then I got fired.

然后，我被开除了。

How can you get fired from a company you started?

怎么会从自己创立的公司被开除呢？

Well. As Apple grew, we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me.

事情是这样的。随着苹果（公司）的成长，我们请来了一位我认为非常有才华的人和我一起管理公司。

And for the first year or so things went well.

起初大约一年，一切都很顺利。

But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out.

但后来，我们对未来的愿景开始产生分歧，最终我们关系破裂。

🔖 词汇精讲：

di·verge /daɪˈvɜːrdʒ/ ( formal ) ( of opinions, views, etc. 意见、观点等 ) to be different 分歧；相异

例：Opinions diverge greatly on this issue. 在这个问题上意见分歧很大。

falling out：争吵，冲突

When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him.

当这种情况发生时，董事会站在了他那边。

🔖 词汇精讲：

side with sb：在争论中支持某个人或某个团体

And so at 30, I was out, and very publicly out.

于是，在我30岁那年，我被赶出了公司，而且是公开地被赶出去的。

What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone and it was devastating.

我整个成年人生的重心瞬间消失了，这对我来说是毁灭性的打击。

I really didn't know what to do for a few months.

有几个月的时间，我完全不知道该怎么办。

I felt that I'd let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down that I'd dropped the baton as it was being passed to me.

我觉得自己辜负了前一代的创业者，我弄丢了他们传给我的接力棒。

🔖 词汇精讲：

let someone down：辜负某人，让某人失望
I'd 是 I had 的缩写
drop the baton 是来自接力赛的比喻，意为 “掉棒子”
➡️ baton /bəˈtɑːn/ 接力棒
was being passed：过去被动进行时，表示 “某事过去正在被做”

I met with David Packard and Bob Noise and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly.

我去拜访了戴维·帕卡德和鲍勃·诺伊斯，试着为我搞砸的一切道歉。

🔖 词汇精讲：

screw up：俚语，意思是“搞砸了、搞得一团糟”

I always find a way to screw good things up. 我总能找到办法把好事搞砸。

badly：emphasize how serious a situation or an event is 严重地；厉害地

例：Everything's gone badly wrong! 一切都糟透了。

I was a very public failure and I even thought about running away from the valley.

我成了一个非常公开的失败者，甚至一度想离开矽谷。

But something slowly began to dawn on me. I still loved what I did.

但慢慢地，我开始明白一件事，我依然热爱我所做的事情。

🔖 词汇精讲：

something dawn on someone：表示某人突然明白了某事

💡

dawn 作为动词，原意是“破晓，天亮”。它的隐喻来源于 “天逐渐亮了 → 思维逐渐清晰”。

The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit.

苹果发生的那一连串变故，并没有改变这一点。

🔖 词汇精讲：

turn of events：情况的变化，变故

I'd been rejected, but I was still in love, and so I decided to start over.

我虽然被赶走了，但我的热爱还在，于是，我决定重新开始。

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me.

我当时并没有意识到，但后来发现，被苹果公司解雇是我人生中发生过最好的事情。

The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again. Less sure about everything.

成功的沉重感，被重新做新手的轻松感所取代。对一切都不那么确定。

It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

这让我进入了人生中最具创造力的阶段之一。

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife.

接下来的五年里，我创办了一家公司，名为 NeXT，另一家公司名叫皮克斯。爱上了一位了不起的女性，她后来成为了我的妻子。

Pixar went on to create the world's first computer animated feature film, Toy Story and it's now the most successful animation studio in the world.

皮克斯后来制作了世界上第一部电脑动画长片《玩具总动员》，如今是全球最成功的动画工作室。

🔖 词汇精讲：

computer animated feature film：计算机动画电影

In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT and I returned to Apple.

在一次非凡的转折中，苹果收购了 NeXT，我也回到了苹果公司。

🔖 词汇精讲：

remarkable turn of events：意外的转折

And the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance and Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

我们在 NeXT 开发的技术成为苹果当下复兴的核心。我和劳伦也拥有了一个美满的家庭。

🔖 词汇精讲：

re·nais·sance /ˈrenəsɑːns/ （某一学科或艺术形式等衰落后的）复兴

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple.

我很确定，如果我没有被苹果解雇，这一切都不会发生。

It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it.

这药苦口难咽，但我猜病人是需要的。

Sometimes, life's gonna hit you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith.

有时候，生活会给妳当头一棒，别失去信心。

I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did.

我坚信，唯一让我坚持下去的事是因为我热爱我的工作。

You've got to find what you love.

你必须找到你所热爱的东西。

And that is as true for work as it is for your lovers.

对工作如此，对待爱情也一样。

Your work is gonna fill a large part of your life and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.

你的工作将占据你生命中很大一部分，而唯一真正满足的方式就是去做你认为伟大的事情。

And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.

而做出伟大工作的唯一方法就是热爱你所做的事。

If you haven't found it yet, keep looking and don't settle.

如果你还没找到，继续寻找，别将就。

As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it.

正如所有关于内心的事情，当你找到它时，你自然会知道。

And like any great relationship, It just gets better and better as the years roll on.

就像任何伟大的感情关系一样，随着岁月流逝，它会变得越来越美好。

So keep looking. Don't settle.

所以，继续寻找，不要将就。

My third story is about death.

我的第三个故事是关于死亡的。

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday, you'll most certainly be right."

我17岁时，读到一句话，大意是：如果你把每一天都当作生命中的最后一天来过那么有一天，你一定会做对的。

It made an impression on me.

这句话给我留下了深刻印象。

And since then for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself, "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?"

从那以后的过去33年里，我每天早晨都会照镜子问自己：如果今天是我生命中的最后一天，我还会想做今天即将做的事情吗？

And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

每当连续很多天的答案是否定的，我就知道我需要改变了。

🔖 词汇精讲：

in a row：连续

例：This is her third win in a row. 这是她连续获得的第三次胜利。

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.

记住我终将死去是我遇到过的最重要的工具，帮助我在人生中做出重大选择。

Because almost everything, all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure, these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.

因为几乎所有事情，外界的期望，所有的自尊，对尴尬或失败的恐惧，在面对死亡时，这些都会烟消云散。

Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking: You have something to lose.

记住你终将死去是我所知道的最好的方法避免陷入“要失去什么了”的思维陷阱。

You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

你已经赤裸裸了，没有理由不去跟随你的内心。

About a year ago, I was diagnosed with cancer.

大约一年前，我被诊断出罹患癌症。

🔖 词汇精讲：

be diagnosed：被诊断出（diag·nose /ˈdaɪəɡnəʊz/ 诊断（疾病））

I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas.

那天早上7点半，我做了一个扫描，清楚地显示我的胰腺上有一个肿瘤。

🔖 词汇精讲：

pan·creas /ˈpæŋkriəs/ 胰；胰腺

I didn't even know what a pancreas was.

我什至不知道胰腺是做什么的。

The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months.

医生告诉我这几乎肯定是一种无法治愈的癌症。我可能只剩三到六个月的生命。

My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order which is doctor's code for prepare to die.

医生建议我回家，整理好自己的事务。这是医生用来告诉病人「准备去死」的委婉说法。

🔖 词汇精讲：

put/get one's affairs in order：处理好自己的事务：指把自己的事情安排得井井有条，以便在离开或死亡之前，不会给别人带来麻烦。

例：She wanted to put her affairs in order before she died. 她想在去世前把自己的事务安排妥当。

It means to try and to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months.

这意味着你得把未来十年想告诉孩子的话，在短短几个月内告诉他们。

It means to make sure everything is buttoned up, so that it will be as easy as possible for your family.

这意味着要确保一切都安排妥当，让你的家人能尽量轻松应对。

🔖 词汇精讲：

button up：本意是 “把纽扣扣上”，引申义（尤其在职场/项目管理中）指 “把一切安排妥当、落实到位、做得一丝不苟”

It means to say your goodbyes.

这意味着要向亲人告别。

I lived with that diagnosis all day.

我整天都想着那个诊断。

Later that evening, I had a biopsy where they stuck an endoscope down my throat through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor.

当天晚上，我做了活检。医生用内窥镜从我的喉咙穿过胃，进入肠道，然后用针头刺入我的胰腺，取了几颗肿瘤细胞。

🔖 词汇精讲：

bi·opsy /ˈbaɪɑːpsi/ 活组织检查（从身体取下细胞或组织进行检验）
en·do·scope /ˈendəskoʊp/ 内镜；内窥镜；内腔镜

I was sedated, but my wife who was there told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctor started crying.

我当时是被麻醉的，但当时在场的妻子告诉我：医生在显微镜下观察细胞时忍不住流泪了。

🔖 词汇精讲：

sedated：If someone is sedated, they are given a drug to calm them or to make them sleep. (用镇静剂) 使镇静，被麻醉的

Because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery.

因为结果显示这是一种非常罕见的胰腺癌，这种癌症可以透过手术治愈的。

I had the surgery and thankfully, I'm fine now.

我接受了手术，谢天谢地，我现在很好。

This was the closest I've been to facing death and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades.

这是我最接近死亡的一次。我希望未来几十年都不会再这么接近。

Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept.

经历过这一切之后，我现在可以更有把握地对你说 - 因为对我来说，死亡不再是一个抽象的概念。

🔖 词汇精讲：

pure·ly /ˈpjʊrli/ only; completely 仅仅；完全
intellectual concept：知识概念：指人类智力活动中所形成的、具有普遍性和抽象性的思维内容。

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there.

没有人想死。即使那些想去天堂的人也不想为了到达那里而死去。

And yet, death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it.

然而，死亡是我们共同的终点。从来没有人能逃脱它。

And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life.

这也是理所当然的，因为死亡很可能是生命最伟大的发明。

It's Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.

它是生命的变革者。它清理掉旧的，为新的腾出空间。

Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away.

现在，你们就是新生力量。但不久的将来，你们也会逐渐变成 “旧的”，然后被清理走。

Sorry to be so dramatic, but it's quite true.

抱歉这么说听起来有点戏剧化，但这确实是真的。

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.

你的时间有限，所以不要浪费时间活在别人的期待里。

Don't be trapped by dogma which is living with the results of other people's thinking.

不要被教条束缚，教条就是活在别人的思想里。

🔖 词汇精讲：

dogma /ˈdɔːɡmə/ a belief or set of beliefs held by a group or organization, which others are expected to accept without argument 教义；教理；信条；教条

Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice.

不要让别人的喧嚣声音淹没了你内心的声音。

🔖 词汇精讲：

drown out：淹没，压过

例：She turned up the radio to drown out the noise from next door. 她开大了收音机的音量以压过隔壁房间的吵闹声。

inner voice：内心深处的声音或想法，即内心的声音或直觉

And most important have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.

最重要的是要有勇气跟随你的内心和直觉。

They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

它们某种程度上已经知道你真正想成为的人。其他一切都是次要的。

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called "The Whole Earth Catalog", which was one of the bibles of my generation.

我年轻的时候有一本非常棒的出版物叫做《全球概览》。它是我们那一代人的圣经之一。

It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand, not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch.

它是由一个叫斯图尔特·布兰德的人创办的，就在离这里不远的门洛帕克。他用诗意的方式赋予了它生命。

🔖 词汇精讲：

fel·low /ˈfeloʊ/ a way of referring to a man or boy 男人；男孩；小伙子；家伙；哥儿们
Menlo Park：门洛帕克：加利福尼亚州西部的一个城市，位于旧金山东南方向
with his poetic touch：用他富有诗意的笔触，指某种事物或场景具有诗意的氛围或特质，使人产生美好的情感和联想

This was in the late 60s before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors and polaroid cameras.

那是在60年代末，还没有个人电脑和桌面排版，所以它全是用打字机、剪刀和宝丽来相机制作的。

🔖 词汇精讲：

Polaroid /ˈpoʊlərɔɪd/ 宝丽来，一次成像照片

It was sort of like Google in paperback form 35 years before Google came along.

它有点像纸质版的谷歌，比谷歌出现早了35年。

🔖 词汇精讲：

paperback /ˈpeɪpərbæk/ 平装书，简装书
come along：出现

It was idealistic, overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

它充满奇思妙想，各种实用工具和伟大的想法。

🔖 词汇精讲：

overflowing /ˌoʊvərˈfloʊɪŋ/ 满是（overflow 的现在分词）

Stewart and his team put out several issues of "The Whole Earth Catalog" and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue.

斯图尔特和他的团队出版了几期《全球概览》，然后当它完成使命后，他们出了最后一期。

🔖 词汇精讲：

put out：发行，出版，推出
run its course：是一个惯用表达，意思是 “走到尽头；完成自然发展过程；寿终正寝”

It was the mid-1970s and I was your age.

那是1970年代中期，我当时和你们一样大。

On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous.

他们最后一期的封底是一张清晨乡间小路的照片，是那种你去搭便车旅行会看到的景色。

Beneath it were the words: Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

照片下面写着：保持饥饿，保持愚钝。

It was their farewell message as they signed off.

这是他们的告别寄语，他们用这句话作为结束。

🔖 词汇精讲：