历史英雄名人演讲 第96期:亚马逊 选择塑造人生(1)

 　　9.Amazon We Are What We Choose

　　9.亚马逊 选择塑造人生

　　But what I want to talk to you about today is the difference between gifts and choices. Cleverness is a gift, kindness is a choice. Gifts are easy---they're given after all. Choices can be hard. You can seduce¹ yourself with your gifts if you're not careful, and if you do, it'll probably be to the detriment² of your choices.

　　但是今天我想对你们说的是，天赋和选择不同。聪明是一种天赋，而善良是一种选择。天赋得来很容易——毕竟它们与生俱来。而选择却颇为艰难。如果一不小心你可能被天赋所诱惑，这可能会损害到你做出的选择。

　　This is a group with many gifts. I'm sure one of your gifts is the gift of a smart and capable brain. I'm confident that's the case because admission is competitive and if there weren't some signs that you're clever, the dean of admission wouldn't have let you in.

　　在应各位都拥有许多夭赋。我确信你们的天赋之一就是拥有精明能干的头脑。我之所以如此确信，是因为入学竞争十分激烈，如果你们不能表现出聪明智慧，便没有资格进入这所学校。

　　Your smarts will come in handy because you will travel in a land of marvels³. We humans, plodding⁴ as we are, will astonish ourselves. We'll invent ways to generate clean energy and a lot of it. Atom by atom, we'll assemble small machines that will enter cell walls and make repairs. This month comes the extraordinary but inevitable⁵ news that we've synthesized life. In the coming years, we'll not only synthesize it, but engineer it to specifications⁶. I believe you'll even see us understand the human brain. Jules Verne, Mark Twain, Galileo, Newton---all the curious from the ages would have wanted to be alive most of all right now.

　　你们的聪明才智必定会派上用场，因为你们将在一片充满奇迹的土地上前进。我们人类尽管缓步前行，却终将令自己大吃一惊。我们能够想方设法制造各种清洁能源，也能够一个原子一个原子地纽装微型机械，使之穿过细胞壁，然后修复细胞。这个月，有一件非凡的而不可避免的事情发生了，那就是人类终于合成了生命。在未来几年，我们不仅会合成生命，还会按说明书驱动它们。我相信你们甚至会看到我们读懂人类的大脑。儒勒·凡尔纳、马克·吐温、伽利略、牛顿——所有那些充满好奇之心的人都希望能够活到现在。

1 seduce   

vt.勾引，诱奸，诱惑，引诱

参考例句：

• She has set out to seduce Stephen.她已经开始勾引斯蒂芬了。
• Clever advertising would seduce more people into smoking.巧妙策划的广告会引诱更多的人吸烟。

2 detriment   

n.损害；损害物，造成损害的根源

参考例句：

• Smoking is a detriment to one's health.吸烟危害健康。
• His lack of education is a serious detriment to his career.他的未受教育对他的事业是一种严重的妨碍。

3 marvels   

n.奇迹( marvel的名词复数 )；令人惊奇的事物（或事例）；不平凡的成果；成就v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The doctor's treatment has worked marvels : the patient has recovered completely. 该医生妙手回春，病人已完全康复。 来自辞典例句
• Nevertheless he revels in a catalogue of marvels. 可他还是兴致勃勃地罗列了一堆怪诞不经的事物。 来自辞典例句

4 plodding   

a.proceeding in a slow or dull way

参考例句：

• They're still plodding along with their investigation. 他们仍然在不厌其烦地进行调查。
• He is plodding on with negotiations. 他正缓慢艰难地进行着谈判。

5 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

6 specifications   

n.规格；载明；详述；（产品等的）说明书；说明书( specification的名词复数 )；详细的计划书；载明；详述

参考例句：

• Our work must answer the specifications laid down. 我们的工作应符合所定的规范。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This sketch does not conform with the specifications. 图文不符。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》