1、Unit 1 The Story of Steve Jobs This is the text of the Commencement Address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, at Stanford University, delivered on June 12, 2005. 1 I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the wor

2、ld. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest Ive ever gotten to a college graduation. I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out? 2 It started before I w

3、as born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife except that when I popped out t

4、hey decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking, We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him? They said, Of course. My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from

5、college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college. This was the start in my life. 3 And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively cho

6、se a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldnt see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And h

7、ere I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trusted that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required cl

8、asses that didnt interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked far more interesting. It wasnt all romantic. I didnt have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends rooms. I returned coke bottles for the five-cent deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town e

9、very 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 priceless later on. Let me give you one example: Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction

10、in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. 4 Because I had dropped out and didnt have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and sanserif typefaces, abou

11、t varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science cant capture, and I found it fascinating. 5 None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But

12、ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or propo

13、rtionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impo

14、ssible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later. 6 Again, you cant connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. Yo

15、u have to trust in somethingyour gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life. 本文是蘋果計算機公司和皮克斯動畫工作室的首席執(zhí)行官史蒂夫?喬布斯于2005年6月12日在斯坦福大學(xué)畢業(yè)典禮上的演講稿。 1 今天，我很榮幸能來到這所世界頂尖大學(xué)參加你們的畢業(yè)典禮。我大學(xué)沒有畢業(yè)。說實話，現(xiàn)在是我最接近大學(xué)畢業(yè)的時刻。我在里德學(xué)院讀了6個月就退學(xué)了，但是作為旁聽生又在那里待了

16、18個月左右，然后才真正離開學(xué)校。那么我為什么要退學(xué)呢？ 2 這要從我還沒有出生的時候說起。我的生母是個年輕未婚的研究生，因此她決定把我送給別人收養(yǎng)。她覺得我必須由有大學(xué)學(xué)歷的人收養(yǎng)。于是，她安排好了一切，只要我一出生，就把我交給一位律師和他的妻子收養(yǎng)。但是我出生之后，他們在最后一刻決定他們還是想要一個女孩。當(dāng)時我父母還在候補名單上，一天半夜他們接到一個電話，問他們：“有個新生兒，是意外懷上的，是個男孩，你們要嗎？”他們回答：“當(dāng)然要?！钡?，我的生母隨后發(fā)現(xiàn)我母親大學(xué)沒有畢業(yè)，我父親甚至連高中也沒畢業(yè)，因此拒絕在最后幾份領(lǐng)養(yǎng)文件上簽字。直到幾個月后，我父母承諾將來一定讓我上大學(xué)，她才同意了。

17、這就是我生命的開始。 3 17年后，我確實上了大學(xué)。但是出于無知，我選了一所幾乎與斯坦福一樣昂貴的學(xué)校，因此，工薪階層的父母把所有積蓄都花在了我的學(xué)費上。6個月過去了，我看不到其中的價值所在。我不知道我的人生定位，也不知道大學(xué)將如何幫我找到答案，而我正在這里耗盡父母一生的積蓄。所以我決定退學(xué)，并相信一切都會順利。這在當(dāng)時看來非?？膳?，但現(xiàn)在回頭看看，那是我做過的最棒的決定之一。從退學(xué)的那一刻起，我就不用再上那些不感興趣的必修課，而開始去學(xué)那些看上去更有意思的課程。但一切也不全是這么美妙。我沒有自己的宿舍，只有在朋友的房間里打地鋪；我揀可樂瓶子，把退來的5美分押金攢起來去買吃的；而到了每個周日晚

18、上，我都會步行7英里，穿過城鎮(zhèn)去克利須那覺悟會的廟宇飽餐一頓。我喜歡這樣。我依照好奇心和直覺做事，大多事后證明是非常值得的。讓我給你們舉個例子：當(dāng)當(dāng)時里德學(xué)院開設(shè)可能在全國是最好的書法課程。園里的每一張海報、每一個抽屜的每張標(biāo)簽上都有漂亮的書法。 4 因為我已經(jīng)輟學(xué)，不用參加正規(guī)的課程，所以我決定去上這門課，學(xué)習(xí)書法。我了解了襯線和無襯線字體，學(xué)會了如何在不同的字母組合間改變間距，知道了如何讓大字體顯得很漂亮。這種科學(xué)所無法捕捉的、美妙的、充滿歷史感的微妙藝術(shù)，讓我心醉神迷。 5 這一切在我的生活中是否實用，我不抱希望。直到10年后，當(dāng)我們在設(shè)計第一臺麥金托什電腦時，我想起了這些東西。于是，我

19、們把所有這些都設(shè)計進(jìn)了Mac機。這是第一類擁有漂亮字體排版的電腦。如果我沒有在大學(xué)旁聽那門課程，Mac就不會有多種字體以及間距分配合理的字型，很可能現(xiàn)在的微軟PC也不會有這些字型你們要知道，Windows也只是抄襲Mac，并非獨創(chuàng)。如果我從未退學(xué)，我就絕不會旁聽那門書法課，而個人電腦可能也不會有現(xiàn)在這樣美妙的字體排版。在大學(xué)的時候，我當(dāng)然不可能把這些點點滴滴都串起來展望未來。但在十年后再回首，一切都變得非常、非常清晰。 6 同樣，你們現(xiàn)在也無法預(yù)見這類瑣碎的經(jīng)歷之間能有什么聯(lián)系，只有在回首往事時才能發(fā)現(xiàn)。你們要相信，這些片斷會在未來以某種方式連接起來。你們必須相信一些東西勇氣、命運、人生、因緣

20、等等。這個方法從未讓我失望，也正是它改變了我的整個人生。New WordscommencementC, usu. sing. a ceremony at which students receive their academic degrees or diplomas學(xué)位授予典禮，畢業(yè)典禮He made a speech at the commencement. 他在畢業(yè)典禮上作了演講。We will get our diplomas at the commencement in May or June. 我們將會在五、六月份舉行的畢業(yè)典禮上拿到畢業(yè)證書。C, U beginning 開始，開

21、端The commencement of this year will be better. 今年將會有一個更好的開始。Animationn.U 動畫制作n.C a film or movie in which drawings of people and animals seem to move 動畫片quitvi/vt.to leave your job, school, etc. 離開；離校He got his present job when he quitted/quit the army. 他退伍后找到了現(xiàn)在這份工作。If I dont get a pay raise, Ill q

22、uit. 如果不給我加薪，我就不干了。vi/vt.(informal) to stop doing sth. 停止，戒掉Quit fooling around! 別胡鬧了!You must quit smoking. Most important of all, you should start taking exercise. 你必須戒煙；最重要的是，你該開始運動了。biologicala.connected with the processes that take place within living things 生物的；與生命過程有關(guān)的a childs biological pare

23、nts 孩子的親生父母a.connected with the science of biology生物學(xué)The school has a large biological laboratory. 這所學(xué)校有一個很大的生物實驗室。unwed not married 沒有結(jié)婚的，未婚的In 1993 alone, 26,270 babies were born to unwed teens. 僅僅在1993年便有26270名嬰兒為未婚少女所生。adoption n.C, U the act of adopting a child 收養(yǎng)，領(lǐng)養(yǎng)He was pleased with the adop

24、tion of a little girl. 他很高興收養(yǎng)了一個小女孩. n.U the decision to start using sth. such as an idea, a plan or a name 采納，采用The adoption of this policy would relieve the unions of a tremendous burden. 采用這一政策將會減輕工會沉重的負(fù)擔(dān)。 adopt vt.to take sb. elses child into your family and become its legal parent(s) 收養(yǎng)，領(lǐng)養(yǎng) vt.t

25、o formally accept a suggestion or policy by voting 正式通過，表決采納（建議、政策等）vt.to start to use a particular method or to show a particular attitude towards sb./sth. 采用（某方法）；采?。硲B(tài)度）relentvi.to finally agree to sth. after refusing 終于答應(yīng)，不再拒絕Afterwards she relented and let the children stay up late to watch TV.

26、 后來她讓步了，讓孩子們看會兒電視，晚點再睡。 The police will not relent in their fight against crime. 警方在跟犯罪分子的斗爭中決不手軟.vi.to become less determined, strong, etc. 減弱，變緩和The pressure on us to finish this task will not relent. 為完成此項任務(wù)，我們受到的壓力不會減輕。naivelyad.in a naive manner 無知地；天真地They naively assume things can only get be

27、tter. 他們天真地以為情況肯定會好轉(zhuǎn)。scarya.causing fear or alarm 引起恐慌的That movie was too scary. 那部電影太嚇人了。stumblevi.1) to move or walk in an unsteady way 跌跌撞撞地走，蹣跚而行A drunk stumbled past us. 有個喝醉的人跌跌撞撞地從我們身邊走過。The tired old man stumbled along. 那位疲憊的老人蹣跚而行。vi.2) to hit ones foot against sth. while one is walking or

28、running and almost fall 絆腳I stumbled over a tree root. 樹根絆了我一下。He stumbled on the staircase and hurt his leg. 他在樓梯上絆了一跤，傷了腿.intuitionn.1) U the ability to know sth. by using your feelings rather than considering the facts 直覺力Nobody told me where to find you. It was sheer intuition. 沒有人告訴我到哪兒去找你。我純粹是

29、憑直覺找到你的。Intuition told me you were an honest man. 直覺告訴我你是個誠實的人。n.2) C （一種）直覺I had a sudden intuition about the missing jewels. 我憑直覺突然知道失蹤的珠寶的去向。I had an intuition that we would win at last. 我有一種直覺，那就是我們最終會成功。calligraphyn.U (the art of producing) beautiful handwriting 書法；書法藝術(shù)Im considering studying c

30、alligraphy or Chinese painting. 我正在考慮要學(xué)書法還是國畫。The graphic arts include calligraphy and lithography. 平面造型藝術(shù)包括書法和平版印刷術(shù)。calligraphvt.to produce by means of calligraphy 用美術(shù)體書寫serifn.U a short line at the top or bottom of some styles of printed letters 襯線，截線sanserifn.U 無襯線字體typefacen.C （印刷用的）字體typography

31、n.U 印刷術(shù)，排版，版面設(shè)計historicala. 1) connected with the past（有關(guān)）歷史的Are there any historical sites in this area? 這個地區(qū)有什么歷史遺跡嗎？The book is based on historical events. 這本書是以歷史事件為基礎(chǔ)的。a.2) based on the study of history 有關(guān)歷史研究的，歷史學(xué)的We have no historical evidence for it. 我們?nèi)狈梢宰C明這一點的史學(xué)依據(jù)。 Its a historical fact.

32、這是歷史事實。artisticallyad.in an artistic manner 藝術(shù)性地；在藝術(shù)上She is artistically aware. 她藝術(shù)感很強。The room is luxuriously and artistically furnished. 這個房間裝飾得十分豪華雅致。fascinatinga.extremely interesting and attractive 極有吸引力的，迷人的The results of the survey made fascinating reading. 調(diào)查結(jié)果讀起來令人饒有興趣。proportionallyad.corr

33、esponding in size or amount 成比例地，相應(yīng)地Crime rate is proportionally much higher in the north of the country. 就比例而言，犯罪率在這個國家的北部要高得多。Families with children spend proportionally less per person than families without children. 有孩子的家庭人均開銷比沒有孩子的家庭相對要少。fontn.C 字型，字體；鉛字gutn.C, usu. pl. 內(nèi)心，直覺，本能destinyn.1) U th

34、e power believed to control events 命運Destiny drew us together. 命運把我們連在了一起。n.2) C what happens to sb./sth. (thought to be decided beforehand by fate) 天數(shù)，天命It was his destiny to die in a foreign country. 他注定要客死異國。karman.U 因緣，因果報應(yīng)Phrases and Expressions be honored (to do sth.) =to feel proud and happy（

35、做某事）感到榮幸I was honored to have been mentioned in his speech. 他在講話中提到了我，真是榮幸。Im honored to meet you. 很榮幸見到您。put (sb./sth.) up for 提供；推薦，提名We decide to put up the family jewels for auction. 我們決定把家中的珠寶拿去拍賣。Harrison put up for the secretaryship. 哈里森自薦秘書一職。work out1) to develop in a successful way 成功地發(fā)展My

36、 first job didnt wok out. 我的第一份工作干得不好。The new strategy may not work out well. 新戰(zhàn)略也許不會產(chǎn)生令人滿意的效果。2) to train the body by physical exercise 鍛煉身體I work out regularly to keep fit. 我經(jīng)常做運動以保持健康。stumble into sth. to become involved in sth. by chance 無意間涉足某事The urge to wider voyages caused men to stumble int

37、o New America. 擴大航行范圍的緊迫要求使人類意外地發(fā)現(xiàn)了新美洲。have a hope of 有的希望make all the difference to have an important effect on sb./sth.; to make sb. feel better 有很大影響，使大不相同A few kind words at the right time make all the difference. 在適當(dāng)?shù)臅r候說幾句體貼話能產(chǎn)生很大的影響.Proper Nouns Steve Jobs史蒂夫喬布斯Stanford University斯坦福大學(xué)Pixar An

38、imation Studios皮克斯動畫工作室Reed College里德學(xué)院Hare Krishna國際克利須那覺悟會Macintosh麥金托什電腦（蘋果電腦中某系列個人電腦）3. Questions on the text1. What did Steve Jobs do after he dropped out of Reed College? He stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before he really quit.2. What can we learn from Steve Jobs narrat

39、ion about his biological mother? His biological mother was a young college graduate student when she gave birth to Steve Jobs as a single woman. She put up Steve Jobs for adoption, and felt strongly that her son should be adopted by college graduates and sent to college in the future.3. What kind of

40、 people were Steve Jobsadoptive parents? His parents were a working-class couple without a college degree. His mother never graduated from college and his father never graduated from high school. However, they did send their adopted son to college as they had promised, and this cost them nearly all

41、their savings.4. Why did Steve Jobs drop out of Reed College? Because he had no idea what he wanted to do with his life and no idea how college was going to help him figure it out. Besides, the college was so expensive that all of his parents savings were being spent on his tuition. 5. What did Stev

42、e Jobs think about his decision of dropping out? Why? He thought it was one of the best decisions he had ever made as he looked back on his past. After he dropped out, he didnt have to take the required classes and he had the opportunity to take classes that interested him. Much of what he learned i

43、n this way proved priceless later on.6. Why did Steve Jobs say his life as a drop-in in the college was not allromantic? Because he was living a shabby life during the 18 months: he didnt have a dorm room, so he slept on the floor in friends rooms; he returned coke bottles for the five-cent deposits

44、 to buy food with; he would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple.7. What did Steve Jobs learn in the calligraphy class? He learned about serif and sanserif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinat

45、ions, about what makes great typography great. 8. What do you think the graduating students can learn from Steve Jobs life experience? They might learn to trust in somethingtheir gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. They might also learn to have the confidence to follow their heart even when off the

46、 beaten path.4. Working with words and phrasesA. Put the following Chinese expressions into English.生母 biological mother 收養(yǎng)某人 adopt somebody 簽署最終的領(lǐng)養(yǎng)文件 sign the final adoption papers 無意間進(jìn)入演藝界 stumble into acting 憑好奇心與直覺 follow ones curiosity and intuition 實際用途 practical applicationB. Complete the fol

47、lowing sentences with appropriate words in the text.1. At first she threatened to dismiss us all, but later she r(elented). 2. If you cant have children of your own, why not consider a(doption)? 3. She sensed something wrong by i(ntuition). 4. She went to Cambridge on a scholarship but d(ropped) out

48、 a year later. 5. I fail to see what women find so f(ascinating) about him.6. Practice: interpretingAfter the speech, a reporter interviewed Steve Jobs. The following is the conversation between the reporter and Steve Jobs. Interpret it into English with your partner.記者：您好，喬布斯先生。我可以就您的演講進(jìn)行采訪嗎？ Repor

49、ter: Hello, Mr. Jobs. Can I have an interview with you about your speech?喬布斯：好的。 Jobs: Sure.記者：您能夠再談一下您的身世嗎？ Reporter: Can you tell your story to us again?喬布斯：就像我剛才說的，我的生母是一個年輕未婚的研究生，所以她決定讓別人收養(yǎng)我。我的養(yǎng)父母都不是大學(xué)畢業(yè)生，但他們答應(yīng)會供我上大學(xué)，所以我的母親才最終同意讓他們收養(yǎng)我。 Jobs: Just as what I said, my biological mother was a young,

50、 unwed college graduate and she decided to put me up for adoption. However, neither of my parents who adopted me went to college. My biological mother agreed at last after they promised that someday I would go to college.記者：不過您父母確實做到了他們所承諾的，送您上了大學(xué)。 Reporter: Your parents did do what they had promise

51、d. They sent you to college.喬布斯：是的，17年后，我考進(jìn)了里德學(xué)院。 Jobs: Yes, I went to Reed College 17 years later.記者：但是您并未讀完大學(xué)，能給我們講一下您當(dāng)時為什么要輟學(xué)嗎？ Reporter: But you didnt graduate from college. Can you tell us why you dropped out?喬布斯：好的，我在里德學(xué)院讀了半年后就輟學(xué)了。一方面是因為學(xué)費太貴，我父母一生的積蓄都花在了我的學(xué)費上；另一方面，我看不出讀大學(xué)的價值所在。所以我就輟學(xué)了。 Jobs: O

52、K. I dropped out six months after I started my studies in Reed College. On the one hand, the tuition was so expensive that all my parents savings were being spent on my tuition. On the other hand, I could not see the value of attending college. So I dropped out.記者：那您怎么看當(dāng)時這一決定的？ Reporter: What do you

53、 think of your decision of dropping out?喬布斯：就像我剛才演講中所提到的，這或許是我所做的最棒的決定之一。我輟學(xué)之后參加了書法班，學(xué)到了襯線和無襯線字體，10年后這些在設(shè)計Mac時都用上了，不然，很有可能現(xiàn)在的個人電腦就沒有這種美妙的版面設(shè)計了。 Jobs: Just as I mentioned in my speech, that was probably one of the best decisions I ever made. Since I had dropped out of Reed College, I took a calligrap

54、hy class and learned about serif and sanserif typefaces which were designed into the Mac 10 years later. Otherwise, personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do.記者：您的故事讓我們學(xué)到了很多東西。謝謝您接受我的采訪。 Reporter: We learn a lot from your story. Thanks for granting my interview.7. Pract

55、ice: translationA. Put the following sentences in the text into Chinese. Pay special attention to the italicized expressions.1. I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. 我在里德學(xué)院讀了6個月就退學(xué)了，但是作為旁聽生又在那里待了1

56、8個月左右，然后才真正離開學(xué)校。2. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. 我的生母是個年輕未婚的研究生，因此她決定把我送給別人收養(yǎng)。3. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. 這在當(dāng)時看來非?？膳拢F(xiàn)在回頭看看，那是我做過的最棒的決定之一。4. And much

57、 of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. 我依照好奇心和直覺做事，大多事后證明是非常值得的。5. None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. 這一切在我的生活中是否實用，我不抱希望。B. Complete the sentences by translating into English the Chinese given in the brackets.1.Every time I saw the straw hat (每當(dāng)我看到那頂草帽), it reminded me of the tour I had