公众人物毕业演讲第302期:亚马逊创始人贝佐斯普林斯顿大学毕业演讲

 As a kid, I spent my summers with my grandparents on their ranch¹ in Texas.

在我还是一个孩子的时候，我的夏天总是在德州祖父母的农场中度过。

I helped fix windmills, vaccinate² cattle, and do other chores.

我帮忙修理风车，为牛接种疫苗，也做其它家务。

We also watched soap operas every afternoon, especially "Days of our Lives."

每天下午，我们都会看肥皂剧，尤其是《我们的岁月》。

My grandparents belonged to a Caravan³ Club, a group of Airstream trailer owners who travel together around the U.S. and Canada.

我的祖父母参加了一个房车俱乐部，那是一群驾驶Airstream拖挂型房车的人们，他们结伴遍游美国和加拿大。

And every few summers, we'd join the caravan.

每隔几个夏天，我也会加入他们。

We'd hitch⁴ up the Airstream to my grandfather's car, and off we'd go, in a line with 300 other Airstream adventurers.

我们把房车挂在祖父的小汽车后面，然后加入300余名Airstream探险者们组成的浩荡队伍。

I loved and worshipped my grandparents and I really looked forward to these trips.

我爱我的祖父母，我崇敬他们，也真心期盼这些旅程。

On one particular trip, I was about 10 years old.

那是一次我大概十岁时的旅行。

I was rolling around in the big bench seat in the back of the car.

我照例坐在后座的长椅上。

My grandfather was driving.

祖父开着车。

And my grandmother had the passenger seat.

祖母坐在他旁边。

She smoked throughout these trips, and I hated the smell.

她一直在吸着烟，我讨厌烟味。

At that age, I'd take any excuse to make estimates and do minor⁵ arithmetic.

在那样的年纪，我会找任何借口做些估测或者小算术。

I'd calculate our gas mileage⁶ - figure out useless statistics on things like grocery spending.

我会计算油耗还有杂货花销等鸡毛蒜皮的小事。

I'd been hearing an ad campaign about smoking.

我听过一个有关吸烟的广告。

I can't remember the details, but basically the ad said, every puff⁷ of a cigarette takes some number of minutes off of your life:

我记不得细节了，但是广告大意是说，每吸一口香烟会减少几分钟的寿命，

I think it might have been two minutes per puff.

大概是两分钟。

At any rate, I decided⁸ to do the math for my grandmother.

无论如何，我决定为祖母做个算术。

I estimated the number of cigarettes per days, estimated the number of puffs⁹ per cigarette and so on.

我估测了祖母每天要吸几支香烟，每支香烟要吸几口等等。

When I was satisfied that I'd come up with a reasonable number, I poked¹⁰ my head into the front of the car, tapped my grandmother on the shoulder,

然后心满意足地得出了一个合理的数字。接着，我把头探到车子前面，又拍了拍祖母的肩膀，

and proudly proclaimed, "At two minutes per puff, you've taken nine years off your life!"

然后骄傲地宣称，“每天吸两分钟的烟，你就少活九年！”

1 ranch   

n.大牧场，大农场

参考例句：

• He went to work on a ranch.他去一个大农场干活。
• The ranch is in the middle of a large plateau.该牧场位于一个辽阔高原的中部。

2 vaccinate   

vt.给…接种疫苗；种牛痘

参考例句：

• Local health officials then can plan the best times to vaccinate people.这样，当地的卫生官员就可以安排最佳时间给人们接种疫苗。
• Doctors vaccinate us so that we do not catch smallpox.医生给我们打预防针使我们不会得天花。

3 caravan   

n.大蓬车；活动房屋

参考例句：

• The community adviser gave us a caravan to live in.社区顾问给了我们一间活动住房栖身。
• Geoff connected the caravan to the car.杰弗把旅行用的住屋拖车挂在汽车上。

4 hitch   

v.免费搭(车旅行)；系住；急提；n.故障；急拉

参考例句：

• They had an eighty-mile journey and decided to hitch hike.他们要走80英里的路程，最后决定搭便车。
• All the candidates are able to answer the questions without any hitch.所有报考者都能对答如流。

5 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

6 mileage   

n.里程，英里数；好处，利润

参考例句：

• He doesn't think there's any mileage in that type of advertising.他认为做那种广告毫无效益。
• What mileage has your car done?你的汽车跑了多少英里？

7 puff   

n.一口(气)；一阵(风)；v.喷气，喘气

参考例句：

• He took a puff at his cigarette.他吸了一口香烟。
• They tried their best to puff the book they published.他们尽力吹捧他们出版的书。

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 puffs   

n.吸( puff的名词复数 )；（烟斗或香烟的）一吸；一缕（烟、蒸汽等）；（呼吸或风的）呼v.使喷出( puff的第三人称单数 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧

参考例句：

• We sat exchanging puffs from that wild pipe of his. 我们坐在那里，轮番抽着他那支野里野气的烟斗。 来自辞典例句
• Puffs of steam and smoke came from the engine. 一股股蒸汽和烟雾从那火车头里冒出来。 来自辞典例句

10 poked   

v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交

参考例句：

• She poked him in the ribs with her elbow. 她用胳膊肘顶他的肋部。
• His elbow poked out through his torn shirt sleeve. 他的胳膊从衬衫的破袖子中露了出来。 来自《简明英汉词典》