名校励志英语演讲 15:失败的额外收益和想象力的重要性
时间:2018-12-18 作者:英语课 分类:名校励志英语演讲
英语课
However, my parents, both of whom came from impoverished 1 backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing personal quirk 2 that would never pay a mortgage, or secure a pension.
然而, 我的父母家境都很贫困,两个人都没上过大学,他们认为我过于丰富的想象力是令人惊讶的个人怪癖,根本不足以让我支付按揭,或者获得足够的养老金。
I know that the irony 3 strikes with the force of a cartoon anvil 4, now.
我现在明白了反讽就像用卡通铁砧去打击你,但......
So they hoped that I would take a vocational degree; I wanted to study English Literature. A compromise was reached that in retrospect 5 satisfied nobody, and I went up to study Modern Languages. Hardly had my parents' car rounded the corner at the end of the road than I ditched German and scuttled 7 off down the Classics corridor.
他们希望我取得高职学位,而我却想攻读英国文学。最后,我和父母达成了妥协,我改学现代语言。现在回想起来,当时双方都不怎么满意。于是,父母的车刚一开远,我就丢下德语,去学习古典文学。
I cannot remember telling my parents that I was studying Classics; they might well have found out for the first time on graduation day. Of all the subjects on this planet, I think they would have been hard put to name one less useful than Greek mythology 8 when it came to securing the keys to an executive bathroom.
我不记得告诉过父母自己在学习古典文学,他们可能是在我毕业典礼那天才知道的。我想,他们也许认为,在全世界所有专业中,不会有比研究希腊神话更没用的专业了,那甚至无法换来一间独立宽敞的卫生间。
I would like to make it clear, in parenthesis 9, that I do not blame my parents for their point of view. There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering 10 you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you.
在这里我想说明一点:我不会因为父母的观点而责怪他们。不要因为父母给你的人生路指错了方向就无休止地埋怨他们。当你到了一定年龄,可以自己把握人生时,就应该自己承担责任。
impoverished
adj. 穷困的
eg. Money and food were sent to the impoverished drought victims.
给贫困的灾民送去了救济金和粮食。
quirk
n. 怪癖
eg. He had a strange quirk of addressing his wife as Mrs Smith.
他很怪, 把自己的妻子称作史密斯夫人。
mortgage
n. 抵押
eg. We're paying out 300 a month on our mortgage.
我们每月要付300英镑抵押贷款.
vocational
adj. 职业的
eg. If these can be balanced, the use of a vocational school will be a bonus for his career.
如果这些可以得到平衡,选读职业学校就会对未来事业的发展大有裨益。
compromise
n. 妥协
eg.He refused to compromise his principles.
他对他的原则寸步不让。
in retrospect
回顾往事
eg. In retrospect all successful policies seem preordained.
追溯一切成功的政策,看来都有其预兆。
ditch
vt. 丢弃;掘沟
eg. The driver had to ditch the bus.
司机只好把公共汽车驶入沟中。
scuttle 6 off
急促奔跑
eg. Several conscripts were seen to scuttle off barracks.
有人看见几个新兵从兵营里逃走了。
corridor
n. 走廊
eg. She disappeared down the corridor.
她消失在走廊尽头。
1 impoverished
adj.穷困的,无力的,用尽了的v.使(某人)贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 );使(某物)贫瘠或恶化
- the impoverished areas of the city 这个城市的贫民区
- They were impoverished by a prolonged spell of unemployment. 他们因长期失业而一贫如洗。 来自《简明英汉词典》
2 quirk
n.奇事,巧合;古怪的举动
- He had a strange quirk of addressing his wife as Mrs Smith.他很怪,把自己的妻子称作史密斯夫人。
- The most annoying quirk of his is wearing a cap all the time.他最令人感到厌恶的怪癖就是无论何时都戴著帽子。
3 irony
n.反语,冷嘲;具有讽刺意味的事,嘲弄
- She said to him with slight irony.她略带嘲讽地对他说。
- In her voice we could sense a certain tinge of irony.从她的声音里我们可以感到某种讥讽的意味。
4 anvil
n.铁钻
- The blacksmith shaped a horseshoe on his anvil.铁匠在他的铁砧上打出一个马蹄形。
- The anvil onto which the staples are pressed was not assemble correctly.订书机上的铁砧安装错位。
5 retrospect
n.回顾,追溯;v.回顾,回想,追溯
- One's school life seems happier in retrospect than in reality.学校生活回忆起来显得比实际上要快乐。
- In retrospect,it's easy to see why we were wrong.回顾过去就很容易明白我们的错处了。
6 scuttle
v.急赶,疾走,逃避;n.天窗;舷窗
- There was a general scuttle for shelter when the rain began to fall heavily.下大雨了,人们都飞跑着寻找躲雨的地方。
- The scuttle was open,and the good daylight shone in.明朗的亮光从敞开的小窗中照了进来。
7 scuttled
v.使船沉没( scuttle的过去式和过去分词 );快跑,急走
- She scuttled off when she heard the sound of his voice. 听到他的说话声,她赶紧跑开了。
- The thief scuttled off when he saw the policeman. 小偷看见警察来了便急忙跑掉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
8 mythology
n.神话,神话学,神话集
- In Greek mythology,Zeus was the ruler of Gods and men.在希腊神话中,宙斯是众神和人类的统治者。
- He is the hero of Greek mythology.他是希腊民间传说中的英雄。
9 parenthesis
n.圆括号,插入语,插曲,间歇,停歇
- There is no space between the function name and the parenthesis.函数名与括号之间没有空格。
- In this expression,we do not need a multiplication sign or parenthesis.这个表达式中,我们不需要乘号或括号。