https://online2.tingclass.net/lesson/shi0529/0009/9203/39.mp3
https://image.tingclass.net/statics/js/2012
I'm honored to be with you today for yourcommencement from one of the finest universities inthe world. Truth be told, I never graduated fromcollege, and this is the closest I've ever gotten to acollege graduation. Today, I want to tell you threestories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just threestories.
很榮幸和你們一起參加世界上最好的一所大學的畢業(yè)典禮。說實話,我大學沒畢業(yè),這是我第一次離大學畢業(yè)這么近。今天,我想給大家講我人生中的三個故事,不談別的,也不講大道理,三個故事就好。
The first story is about connecting the dots.
第一個故事講的是把生命中的點滴串連起來。
I dropped out of Reed College after the first six months, but then stayed around as a drop-in foranother 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?
我在里德學院只讀了六個月就退學了。此后便在學校里旁聽,又過了大約一年半,我徹底離開。那么,我為什么退學了?
It started before I was 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 bycollege 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 they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So myparents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking, "We've got anunexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said, "Of course." My biological mother found outlater that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduatedfrom high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few monthslater when my parents promised that I would go to college. This was the start in my life.
這得從我出生前講起。我的生母是一名年輕的未婚在校研究生,她決定將我送給別人收養(yǎng)。她非常希望收養(yǎng)我的是有大學學歷的人,所以把一切都安排好了,決定我一出生就將我交給一對律師夫婦收養(yǎng)。沒想到我才剛剛出生,那對夫妻卻決定收養(yǎng)一名女孩。就這樣,我的養(yǎng)父母——他們的名字當時還在登記冊上——半夜三更接到一個電話:“我們這兒現在有一個沒人要的男嬰,你們要嗎?”“當然要。”他們回答。但是,我的生母后來發(fā)現我的養(yǎng)母不是大學畢業(yè)生,我的養(yǎng)父甚至高中都沒畢業(yè),所以就拒絕在最后的收養(yǎng)文件上簽字。不過,每過幾個月她就心軟了,因為我的養(yǎng)父母許諾日后一定送我上大學。這就是我生命的起點。