名校励志英语演讲 26:如何解决这个世界上最严重的不平等?

 　　Harvard was a phenomenal experience for me. Academic life was fascinating. I used to sit in on lots of classes I hadn't even signed up for. And dorm life was terrific. I lived up at Radcliffe, in Currier House. There were always lots of people in my dorm room late at night discussing things, because everyone knew I didn't worry about getting up in the morning. That's how I came to be the leader of the anti-social group. We clung to each other as a way of validating¹ our rejection² of all those social people.

　　对我来说，哈佛的求学经历是一段非凡的经历。校园生活很有趣，我常去旁听许多我没选修的课。在哈佛的宿舍生活也很不错，我当时住在雷迪夫的科里尔公寓。每天我的寝室里总有很多人一直待到半夜，讨论着各种事情。因为每个人都知道我从不考虑第二天早起。这使得我变成了校园里那些不安分学生的头头，我们互相粘在一起，做出一种拒绝所有正常学生的姿态。

　　Radcliffe was a great place to live. There were more women up there, and most of the guys were math-science types. That combination offered me the best odds³, if you know what I mean. That's where I learned the sad lesson that improving your odds doesn't guarantee success.

　　雷迪夫是个生活的好地方。那里的女生比男生多，而且大多数男生都是理工科的。那种状况为我创造了最好的机会，如果你们明白我的意思。也正是在这里我学到了人生中令人悲伤的教训：机会大，并不等于你就会成功。

　　One of my biggest memories of Harvard came in January 1975, when I made a call from Currier House to a company in Albuquerque in New Mexico that had begun making the world's first personal computers. I offered to sell them software.

　　我在哈佛最深刻的回忆发生在1975年1月。那时，我从科里尔公寓给位于美国新墨西哥州阿尔伯克基的一家公司打了一个电话，那家公司已经在着手制造世界上第一台个人电脑。我提出想向他们出售软件。

　　I worried that they would realize I was just a student in a dorm and hang up on me. Instead they said: "We're not quite ready, come see us in a month," which was a good thing, because we hadn't written the software yet.

　　我很担心他们会发觉我是一个住在宿舍的学生从而挂断电话。但是他们却说：“我们还没准备好，一个月后你再来找我们吧。”那是个好消息，因为那时我们根本没有写出软件。

　　phenomenal

　　adj. 不寻常的

　　eg. They are disappearing at a phenomenal rate all across the world.

　　在全球范围内，他们正在以惊人的速度消亡着。

　　clung

　　vi. 粘着

　　eg. The two friends cling together wherever they go.

　　这两个朋友不论走到哪里都形影不离。

　　validate⁴

　　vt. 证实

　　eg. Do these results validate his theory?

　　这些结果可以证实他的理论吗?

　　rejection

　　n. 抛弃；拒绝

　　eg. Her rejection dashed and humiliated⁵ him.

　　她的拒绝使他难堪和丢脸。

　　odds

　　n. 几率；胜算

　　eg. How can you improve your odds of success?

　　如何才能提高你成功的几率呢？

　　guarantee

　　vt. 保证；担保

　　eg. Unity⁶ is the guarantee of victory.

　　团结是胜利的保证。

1 validating   

v.证实( validate的现在分词 )；确证；使生效；使有法律效力

参考例句：

• His politics at home were validating his efforts in the hemisphere. 他的国内政策也有效地支持了他对本半球所做的努力。 来自辞典例句
• A number of different experimental approaches have aided in validating the concept. 许多不同的实验方法，有助于确证这种概念。 来自辞典例句

2 rejection   

n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃

参考例句：

• He decided not to approach her for fear of rejection.他因怕遭拒绝决定不再去找她。
• The rejection plunged her into the dark depths of despair.遭到拒绝使她陷入了绝望的深渊。

3 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

4 validate   

vt.（法律）使有效，使生效

参考例句：

• You need an official signature to validate the order.你要有正式的签字，这张汇票才能生效。
• In order to validate the agreement,both parties sign it.为使协议有效，双方在上面签了字。

5 humiliated   

感到羞愧的

参考例句：

• Parents are humiliated if their children behave badly when guests are present. 子女在客人面前举止失当，父母也失体面。
• He was ashamed and bitterly humiliated. 他感到羞耻，丢尽了面子。

6 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。