财富精英励志演讲13：请追随自己的梦(2)

 　　My father's father worked in the Chevy plant in Flint, Michigan. He was an assemblyline worker.He drove his two children here to Anna Arbor,and told them: That is where you're going to go to college.I know it sounds funny now.Both of his kids actually did graduate from Michigan.That was the American dream.

　　我的爷爷在密歇根州弗林特的雪弗兰汽车厂工作。他是装配线上的一名工人。他曾开车带两个孩子来到安娜堡。告诉他们：你们以后要上这所大学！我知道现在听起来很好笑。他的两个孩子也确实从密歇根大学毕业了。这就是美国梦。

　　His daughter, Beverly, is also with us today.My Grandpa used to carry an "Alley¹ Oop" hammer,a heavy iron pipe with a big hunk of lead melted on the end.The workers made them during the sit-down strikes to protect themselves.When I was growing up, we used that hammer whenever we needed to pound a stake² or something into the yard.It is wonderful that most people don't need to carry a heavy blunt³ object for protection anymore.But just in case, I brought it with me.My Dad became a professor at uh…Michigan State,and I was an incredibly lucky boy.A professor's life is pretty flexible,and he was able to spend oodles of time raising me.Could there be a better upbringing than university brat⁴?

　　我姑姑贝弗利今天也来了。爷爷以前经常扛着一个大铁锤，铁管上铸着大铅坨的那种。那是用来在静坐罢工时，保护自己的武器。小时候，我们常用它在后院打桩子。现在世道好了，大家不需要铁锤保护自己了。但以防万一，我还是把它带来了。后来我的父亲成为了一名教授，密歇根州立大学的教授，我很走运，因为教授的工作比较灵活，有大量的时间陪我。还有比大学校园更适合培养孩子的地方吗？

　　What I'm trying to tell you is that this is way more than just a homecoming for me.It's not easy for me to express how proud I am to be here,with my Mom, my brother and my wife Lucy, and with all of you,at this amazing institution that is responsible for my very existence.I am thrilled for all of you,and I'm thrilled for your families and friends,as all of us join this great, big Michigan family I feel I've been a part of all of all my life.What I'm also trying to tell you is that I know exactly what it feels like to be sitting in your seat,listening to some old gasbag give a long-winded commencementspeech.Don't worry. I'll be brief.

　　我想告诉大家的是，来这里不仅仅是重回母校。我非常自豪能跟我的妈妈，哥哥，妻子露西，还有你们大家聚在这里。这里见证了我的成长。我的自豪难以言表。我为你们感到骄傲，也为你们的家人和朋友感到骄傲，因为我们都是密歇根大家庭的一员，它是我生命中不可或缺的一部分。同时，我也知道你们现在坐在台下的感受：听我们这些老家伙絮叨，老生常谈。别担心，我简单说几句。

　　人物介绍：

　　拉里·佩奇（劳伦斯·爱德华·“拉里”·佩奇 Lawrence Edward "Larry" Page），拉里·佩奇出生在美国密歇根州东兰辛市的一个犹太家庭，为美国密歇根大学安娜堡分校的毕业生，拥有理工科学士学位；因其出色的领导才能获得过多项荣誉，以奖励他对工学院的贡献。他曾担任密西根大学Eta Kappa Nu 荣誉学会的会长。其指导教授是 Terry Winogad 博士。Google 就是由 Page 在斯坦福大学发起的研究项目转变而来的。

1 alley   

n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路

参考例句：

• We live in the same alley.我们住在同一条小巷里。
• The blind alley ended in a brick wall.这条死胡同的尽头是砖墙。

2 stake   

n.木柱；赌注，奖金；v.打赌，下赌注

参考例句：

• A wooden stake was driven firmly into the ground.木桩被牢牢钉进土地里。
• He put up a stake to support the newly planted tree.他竖了一根桩支撑新种的树。

3 blunt   

adj.（刀子）钝的，不锋利的，迟钝的，直率的

参考例句：

• The axe is too blunt to cut down the tree.斧头太钝，砍不倒树。
• She is rather blunt in speech.她说话很直率。

4 brat   

n.孩子；顽童

参考例句：

• He's a spoilt brat.他是一个被宠坏了的调皮孩子。
• The brat sicked his dog on the passer-by.那个顽童纵狗去咬过路人。