名人励志英语演讲 第141期:感觉失败及寻找幸福(3)

 　　I just love saying "Stanford." Because of the truth is, I know I would have never gotten my degree at all, because I didn't go to Stanford. I went to Tennessee State University. But I never would have gotten diploma¹ at all, because I was supposed to graduate back in 1975, but I was short one credit². I was short one credit, and I figured³, I'm just going to forget it, because, you know, I'm not going to march with my class. Because by that point, I was already on television. I'd been in television since I was 19 and sophomore⁴. Granted⁵, I was the only television anchor⁶ person that had an 11 o'clock curfew doing the 10 o'clock news.

　　我就是喜欢说“斯坦福”。因为事实上，我知道我根本不可能会拿到斯坦福的学位，因为我没有在这儿念过书。我读的是田纳西州立大学。我原本是拿不到毕业证的，因为我本应该在1975年毕业，但临毕业时我还差一个学分。我原打算不再想这件事情，因为你知道，本来我也不想跟我的同学一样，一直上完大学。因为我那时已经上了电视。我还在大学二年级的时候就已经上了电视，那时我19岁。我是唯一播报晚上十点的新闻，却还得遵守晚上十一点宵禁的节目主持人。

　　Seriously, my dad was like, "Well, that news is over at 10:30. Be home by 11."

　　父亲严肃地告诉我，“嗯，新闻十点半结束，十一点前要回家。”

　　But that didn't matter to me, because I was earning a living. I was on my way. So, I thought, I'm going to let this college thing go and I only had one credit. But, my father, from that time on and for years after, was always on my case, because I did not graduate. he'd say, "Oprah Gail"--that's my middle name--"I don't know what you're gonna do without that degree." And I say, "But, Dad, I have my own television show."

　　但是这对我并不重要，因为我在自谋生计。我在走我自己的路。所以我想就让大学那件事这么过去吧，而我只是差一个学分。但从那时起往后的数年里，父亲却一直对我没有毕业这件事情耿耿于怀。他总是说：“奥普拉·盖尔”——我的中间名字——“我不知道没有学位你能做些什么。”然后我会说：“但是，爸爸，我已经有我自己的电视节目啦。”

　　And he'd say, "Well, I still don't know what you're going to do without that degree." And I'd say, "But, Dad, now I'm a talk show host." He'd say, "I don't know how you're going to get another job without that degree."

　　他说：“嗯，但是我还是不知道没有那个学位你能干什么。”我又说：“但是，爸爸，现在我已经是脱口秀的主持人了。”他还是说：“我不知道没有那个学位你怎么去找其他的工作。”

　　重点讲解：

　　1. be supposed to do sth.

　　（按计划或期望）应当，应该，须做某事；

　　eg. He was supposed to go back to Bergen on the last bus, but of course the accident prevented him.

　　他本来要乘最后一班汽车回卑尔根，但当然，这起事故使他没能回去。

　　eg. The first debate⁷ was supposed to have been held on Tuesday.

　　第一场辩论本该在星期二就举行了。

　　2. earning a living

　　谋生；

　　eg. He was able to turn to writing to earn a living.

　　他开始以写作谋生。

　　eg. To earn a living, you have to work hard.

　　为了谋生，你必须努力工作。

　　3. on one's way

　　在路上；在途中；

　　eg. He has been allowed to leave the country and is on his way to Britain.

　　他已获准离境，正在去往英国的路上。

　　eg. By sunrise tomorrow we'll be on our way.

　　明天天亮前我们就将赶路。

1 diploma   

n.毕业文凭，学位证书

参考例句：

• She won her diploma in only three years.她仅用三年时间就取得了毕业文凭。
• She worked hard to earn her music diploma.她刻苦用功，以求获得音乐学位证书。

2 credit   

n.信用，荣誉，贷款，学分；v.归功于，赞颂，信任

参考例句：

• I credit him with a certain amount of sense.我认为他有一定的见识。
• He got the credit,and we did the dirty work.他得荣誉，我们做不讨好的工作。

3 figured   

adj.以图形和数字表示的，华丽的

参考例句：

• I have figured out how much during the week I spent. 我算出了这个星期花了多少钱。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We figured in the travel expenses but forgot the cost of meals. 我们把旅费算了进去，但忘了算伙食费。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 sophomore   

n.大学二年级生；adj.第二年的

参考例句：

• He is in his sophomore year.他在读二年级。
• I'm a college sophomore majoring in English.我是一名英语专业的大二学生。

5 granted   

conj.假定，就算v.（退一步）承认( grant的过去式和过去分词 )；（尤指正式地或法律上）同意；准许；让渡

参考例句：

• The president granted a general amnesty for all political prisoners. 总统大赦了所有的政治犯。
• She feared she would not be granted re-entry into Britain. 她担心不会获准再次踏足英伦。

6 anchor   

n./v.锚；危难时可依靠的人或物；用锚泊船

参考例句：

• Letters from home were an anchor to him when he worked abroad.他在国外工作时，家书是他的精神支柱。
• The ship dragged her anchor during the storm. 船在暴风雨中拖动了锚链。

7 debate   

vt.争论，辩论；vi. 辩论；n.争论，辩论

参考例句：

• They will debate face to face.他们将当面进行辩论。
• They clashed in the debate.他们辩论中发生冲突。