名人励志英语演讲 第110期:选择塑造人生(2)（在线收听）

 　　At that age, I'd take any excuse to make estimates and do minor 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 puff 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 decided to do the math for my grandmother. I estimated the number of cigarettes per day, estimated the number of puffs per cigarette and so on. When I was satisfied that I'd come up with a reasonable number, I poked 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 tricky 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 fully.
　　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。
  原文地址：http://www.tingroom.com/lesson/mrlzyj/235862.html