名校励志英语演讲 第40期:我人生中的三个故事
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，我真的上了大学。但是当时我幼稚地选了一所学费几乎和斯坦福大学一样昂贵的学校，而我的养父母只是工薪阶层，他们倾其积蓄为我支付了大学学费。过了六个月后，我却看不出上大学有什么意义。我既不知道自己这一生想干什么，也不知道念大学是否能帮我弄明白这一点，而且在那儿我会花光父母一辈子节省下来的钱。
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，我决定退学，并坚信日后会证明我这样做是对的。当年做出这个决定时心里很害怕，但现在回想起来，这还真是我有生以来做出的最好的决定之一。一退学，我就可以不再选那些我一点儿都不感兴趣的必修课，开始旁听一些看上去有趣得多的课。
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:
那种日子一点儿都不浪漫。我没有宿舍，只能睡在朋友房间的地板上。我去退还可乐瓶，用那五分钱的押金来买吃的。每个星期天晚上我都要步行七英里，走到城那头的黑尔·科里施纳礼堂去吃每周才能享用一次的美餐。我喜欢那里的饭菜。我凭着好奇心和直觉所做的许多事情后来都证明是无价的。我来给大家举个例子。
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.
当时，里德学院的书法课大概是全国最好的。校园里所有的公告栏和每个抽屉的标签上的字都非常漂亮。因为我已经退学，不用正常上课，所以我决定选修书法课，学学怎么写出漂亮的字。
十七年后，我真的上了大学。但是当时我幼稚地选了一所学费几乎和斯坦福大学一样昂贵的学校，而我的养父母只是工薪阶层，他们倾其积蓄为我支付了大学学费。过了六个月后，我却看不出上大学有什么意义。我既不知道自己这一生想干什么，也不知道念大学是否能帮我弄明白这一点，而且在那儿我会花光父母一辈子节省下来的钱。
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，我决定退学，并坚信日后会证明我这样做是对的。当年做出这个决定时心里很害怕，但现在回想起来，这还真是我有生以来做出的最好的决定之一。一退学，我就可以不再选那些我一点儿都不感兴趣的必修课，开始旁听一些看上去有趣得多的课。
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:
那种日子一点儿都不浪漫。我没有宿舍，只能睡在朋友房间的地板上。我去退还可乐瓶，用那五分钱的押金来买吃的。每个星期天晚上我都要步行七英里，走到城那头的黑尔·科里施纳礼堂去吃每周才能享用一次的美餐。我喜欢那里的饭菜。我凭着好奇心和直觉所做的许多事情后来都证明是无价的。我来给大家举个例子。
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.
当时，里德学院的书法课大概是全国最好的。校园里所有的公告栏和每个抽屉的标签上的字都非常漂亮。因为我已经退学，不用正常上课，所以我决定选修书法课，学学怎么写出漂亮的字。
