名人励志英语演讲 第110期:选择塑造人生(2)

 　　At that age, I'd take any excuse to make estimates and do minor¹ arithmetic. I'd calculate our gas mileage--figure out useless statistics on things like grocery spending. I'd been hearing an ad campaign about smoking. I can't remember the details, but basically the ad said, every puff² of a cigarette takes some number of minutes off of your life: I think it might have been two minutes per puff. At any rate, I decided³ to do the math for my grandmother. I estimated the number of cigarettes per day, estimated the number of puffs⁴ per cigarette and so on. When I was satisfied that I'd come up with a reasonable number, I poked⁵ my head into the front of the car, tapped my grandmother on the shoulder, and proudly proclaimed, "At two minutes per puff, you've taken nine years off your life!"

　　在那样的年纪，我会找任何借口做些估测和小算术。我会计算油耗——还有杂货花销等鸡毛蒜皮的小事。我听过一个关于吸烟的广告活动。我不记得细节了，但广告的大意是说，每吸一口香烟会减少几分钟的寿命，我想大概是两分钟。无论如何，我决定为祖母做个算术。我估测了祖母每天要吸多少支香烟，每支香烟要吸几口等等。当我心满意足地得出了一个合理的数字后，我往车前探探头，拍了拍祖母的肩膀，然后骄傲地宣布，“每吸一口烟就减少两分钟的寿命，你已经减少了九年的寿命！”

　　I have a very vivid memory of what happened next, and it was not what I had expected. I expected to be applauded for my cleverness and my arithmetic skills. "Jeff, you're so smart. You had to have made some tricky⁶ estimates, figure out the number of minutes in a year and do some division." That's not what happened. Instead, my grandmother burst into tears. I sat in the backseat and did not know what to do.

　　我清晰地记得接下来发生了什么，而那是我意料之外的。我本期待着我的小聪明和算术技巧能赢得赞美。“杰夫，你很聪明，你做了些复杂的估算，计算出一年中有多少分钟，还做了些除法。”但那并没有发生。相反，我的祖母哭泣起来。我坐在后座不知道该怎么办。

　　重点讲解：

　　1. figure out

　　想出；理解；弄清；

　　eg. It didn't take the children long to figure out the correct answer.

　　孩子们没有花很多时间就算出了正确的答案。

　　eg. He's trying to figure out a way to solve the problem.

　　他正在努力想办法解决这个问题。

　　2. at any rate

　　无论如何；至少；总而言之；不管怎样；

　　eg. He doesn't understand me, or at any rate not fully⁷.

　　他并不了解我，至少是了解得不全面。

　　eg. At any rate the task must be fulfilled.

　　无论如何，任务总得完成。

　　3. come up with

　　想出，提出（计划、想法等）；

　　eg. I hope you can come up with a better plan than this.

　　我希望你们能提出一个比这个更好的计划。

　　eg. The scientists are beating their brains trying to come up with a solution to the problem.

　　科学家正绞尽脑汁，力求找到解决这个问题的办法。

　　4. burst into tears

　　突然哭起来；

　　eg. She burst into tears and ran from the kitchen.

　　她突然哭起来，跑出了厨房。

　　eg. I burst into tears of happiness the moment I found out that I had passed the test.

　　在我得知通过考试时，高兴得哭了出来。

　　名人简介：

　　个人履历

　　1964年，出生于美国新墨西哥州阿尔布奎克。1986年，毕业于美国普林斯顿大学，进入纽约的一家高新技术开发公司FITEL，主要从事计算机系统开发。1988年，进入华尔街的Bankers Trust Co，担任副总裁。1990年至1994年，与他人一起组建套头基金交易管理公司D.E. Shaw & Co，于1992年成为副总裁。1995年7月16日成立Cadabra网络书店，后将Cadabra更名为亚马逊，于1995年7月重新开张。1997年5月股票上市，亚马逊成为了世界上最成功的电子商务网站之一。

1 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

2 puff   

n.一口(气)；一阵(风)；v.喷气，喘气

参考例句：

• He took a puff at his cigarette.他吸了一口香烟。
• They tried their best to puff the book they published.他们尽力吹捧他们出版的书。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 puffs   

n.吸( puff的名词复数 )；（烟斗或香烟的）一吸；一缕（烟、蒸汽等）；（呼吸或风的）呼v.使喷出( puff的第三人称单数 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧

参考例句：

• We sat exchanging puffs from that wild pipe of his. 我们坐在那里，轮番抽着他那支野里野气的烟斗。 来自辞典例句
• Puffs of steam and smoke came from the engine. 一股股蒸汽和烟雾从那火车头里冒出来。 来自辞典例句

5 poked   

v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交

参考例句：

• She poked him in the ribs with her elbow. 她用胳膊肘顶他的肋部。
• His elbow poked out through his torn shirt sleeve. 他的胳膊从衬衫的破袖子中露了出来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

7 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。