TED演讲:选择的困惑(4)

 Something as dramatic as our identity has now become a matter of choice, as this slide is meant to indicate. 如今像我们的性别身份这类的事都成了选择的话题了，就像这张幻灯片试图说明的那样。

We don't inherit an identity; we get to invent it. 现在我们的性别不是从父母那里继承下来，而是由自己来发明。

And we get to re-invent ourselves as often as we like. 这样我们就可以随心所欲地的重新塑造自己的性别身份。

And that means that every day, when you wake up in the morning, you have to decide what kind of person you want to be. 这也意味每天早上你醒来，你先得对今天你想做个什么样的人，男的还是女的做出决定。

With respect to marriage and family, 在婚姻家庭方面，

there was a time when the default assumption that almost everyone had is that you got married as soon as you could, 在过去每个人到了年龄就结婚，这几乎是理所当然的事，

and then you started having kids as soon as you could. 然后就是尽快生儿育女。

The only real choice was who, not when, and not what you did after. 唯一你需要选择的就是和谁结婚，而不是什么时候结，也不是结婚以后做什么。

Nowadays, everything is very much up for grabs. 而如今呢，所有的事都可以拿来挑挑拣拣。

I teach wonderfully intelligent students, and I assign 20 percent less work than I used to. 我教的是一群优秀又聪明的学生，可是现在我给他们布置的作业比从前少了五分之一。

And it's not because they're less smart, and it's not because they're less diligent¹. 这不是因为他们（比以前的学生）笨，也不是因为他们不那么勤奋。

It's because they are preoccupied², asking themselves, "Should I get married or not? Should I get married now? 原因是他们现在脑子都装满了各种事情，总是在问自己：我到底该结婚还是不该结婚？是该现在结？

Should I get married later? Should I have kids first, or a career first?" 还是以后再说？我是该先要孩子，还是先顾事业？

All of these are consuming questions. And they're going to answer these questions, 这些都是费脑筋的问题。这些问题他们都必须回答，

whether or not it means not doing all the work I assign and not getting a good grade in my courses. 不论他们是做还是不做我布置的功课，也不论他们在我的课上拿个什么成绩。

And indeed they should. These are important questions to answer. 他们的确应该去想这些问题。因为这都是些重要问题。

Work -- we are blessed, as Carl was pointing out, 如今做工作，像卡尔先前说的，我们真的是有福气，

with the technology that enables us to work every minute of every day from any place on the planet -- except the Randolph Hotel. 技术的进步使得我们可以在一天的任何时间，在地球的任一角落工作，当然这个兰多夫旅店除外。

1 diligent   

adj.勤勉的，勤奋的

参考例句：

• He is the more diligent of the two boys.他是这两个男孩中较用功的一个。
• She is diligent and keeps herself busy all the time.她真勤快，一会儿也不闲着。

2 preoccupied   

adj.全神贯注的，入神的；被抢先占有的；心事重重的v.占据（某人）思想，使对…全神贯注，使专心于( preoccupy的过去式)

参考例句：

• He was too preoccupied with his own thoughts to notice anything wrong. 他只顾想着心事，没注意到有什么不对。
• The question of going to the Mount Tai preoccupied his mind. 去游泰山的问题盘踞在他心头。 来自《简明英汉词典》