TED演讲:如何培养出成功的小孩(8)

 All right, so you're thinking, chores and love, that sounds all well and good, but give me a break. 好，你可能会想，家务和爱，这听起来很好，但是得了吧。

The colleges want to see top scores and grades and accolades¹ and awards, and I'm going to tell you, sort of. 大学看的是好成绩、荣誉和奖项，我会告诉你们，是有那么点。

The very biggest brand-name schools are asking that of our young adults, but here's the good news. 那些最有名的学校需要这些，但有个好消息。

Contrary to what the college rankings racket would have us believe... 与大学排行榜传达的信息相反...

you don't have to go to one of the biggest brand name schools to be happy and successful in life.  你不需要为了人生的幸福和成功，而一定要去那些最有名的学校。

Happy and successful people went to state school, went to a small college no one has heard of,  幸福和成功的人们也会来自于公立学校，来自于没人听过的学院，

went to community college, went to a college over here and flunked² out. 来自于社区大学，来自于附近的学校甚至被退学。

The evidence is in this room, is in our communities, that this is the truth. 证据就来自这个房间，来自我们的社区，这就是事实。

And if we could widen our blinders and be willing to look at a few more colleges,  如果我们眼光放开一些，愿意看一些别的大学，

maybe remove our own egos³ from the equation, we could accept and embrace this truth and then realize,  抛开我们的偏见，我们会接受并拥抱这个事实，并且意识到

it is hardly the end of the world if our kids don't go to one of those big brand-name schools.  我们的孩子考不上顶尖大学并不是什么世界末日。

And more importantly, if their childhood has not been lived according to a tyrannical checklist then when they get to college,  更重要的是，如果孩子不在严格的清单约束下长大，等他们进入大学，

whichever one it is, well, they'll have gone there on their own volition⁴, fueled by their own desire, capable and ready to thrive there. 不管什么大学，都是他们自主决定的，是他们自身渴望的，想要在那里有一番作为。

1 accolades   

n.（连结几行谱表的）连谱号( accolade的名词复数 )；嘉奖；（窗、门上方的）桃尖拱形线脚；册封爵士的仪式（用剑面在肩上轻拍一下）

参考例句：

• Unlike other accolades for literature which tend to value style or experimentation. 有别于其他偏重风格活实验性的文学奖项。 来自互联网
• Build your trophy room while amassing awards and accolades. 建立您的奖杯积累奖项和荣誉。 来自互联网

2 flunked   

v.( flunk的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）（考试、某学科的成绩等）不及格；评定（某人）不及格；（因不及格而） 退学

参考例句：

• I flunked math in second grade. 我二年级时数学不及格。
• He flunked out (of college) last year. 他去年（从大学）退学了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 egos   

自我，自尊，自负( ego的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Their egos are so easily bruised. 他们的自尊心很容易受到伤害。
• The belief in it issues from the puerile egos of inferior men. 这种信仰是下等人幼稚的自私意识中产生的。

4 volition   

n.意志；决意

参考例句：

• We like to think that everything we do and everything we think is a product of our volition.我们常常认为我们所做和所想的一切都出自自己的意愿。
• Makin said Mr Coombes had gone to the police of his own volition.梅金说库姆斯先生是主动去投案的。