名校励志英语演讲 05:给大学毕业生的几个忠告

 　　After nine years at Bell labs, I decided¹ to leave that warm, cozyivory towerfor what I considered to be the “real world,” a university. Bell Labs, to quote what was said about Mary Poppins, was “practically perfect in every way,” but I wanted to leave behind something more than scientific articles. I wanted to teach and I wanted to give birth to my own set of scientific children.

　　在贝尔实验室待了9年后，我决定离开这个温暖舒适的象牙塔，走进我眼中的“真实世界”——大学。我对贝尔实验室的看法，可以引用玛丽·波平斯的话，“实际上十全十美”。但是，我想为世界留下更多东西，而不只是科学论文。我要去教书，培育我自己在科学上的后代。

　　Ted² Geballe, a friend and distinguished³ colleague of mine at Stanford, went from Berkeley to Bell Labs to Stanford years earlier, described our motives⁴ best, and I quote:

　　我在斯坦福大学有一个好友兼杰出同事泰德·格贝拉。他也是从伯克利分校去了贝尔实验室，几年前又离开贝尔实验室去了斯坦福大学。他对我们的动机做出了最佳描述：

　　“The best part of working at a university is the students. They come in fresh,enthusiastic, open to ideas,unscarredby the battles of life. They don’t realize it, but they’re therecipientsof the best our society can offer. If a mind is ever free to be creative, that’s the time. They come in believing textbooks areauthoritative, but eventually they figure out that textbooks and professors don’t know everything, and then they start to think on their own. And then, I began learning from them.”

　　“在大学工作，最大的优点就是能和学生们在一起。他们生机勃勃，充满热情，思想自由，还没被生活的重压改变。虽然他们自己没有意识到，但是他们是这个社会中你能找到的最佳接受者。如果生命中只有一段时间是思想自由且充满创造力，那么那段时间就是在大学期间。进校时，学生们对课本上的一字一句毫不怀疑，渐渐地，他们发现课本和教授并不是无所不知的，于是他们开始独立思考。从那时起，就是我开始向他们学习了。”

　　My students, post doctoral fellows, and the young researchers who worked with me at Bell Labs, Stanford, and Berkeley have beenextraordinary. Over 30 former group members are now professors, many at the best research institutions in the world, including Harvard. I have learned much from them. Even now, in rare moments on weekends, the remaining members of mybiophysicsgroup meet with me in theetherworld ofcyberspace.

　　我在贝尔实验室、斯坦福大学和伯克利大学教过的学生、带过的博士后、合作过的年轻同事都非常优秀。他们中有30多人现在已经是教授了。他们所在的研究机构有不少是世界第一流的，其中就包括哈佛大学。我从他们身上学到了很多东西。即使现在，我周末偶尔还会上网，和还在从事生物物理学的研究组成员在网络世界里相聚。

　　ivory tower

　　n. 象牙塔

　　eg. The professor lives in an ivory tower and he doesn't pay much attention to current events.

　　这位教授生活在象牙塔中，不太关心时事。

　　enthusiastic

　　adj. 热情的；热心的

　　eg. Jim had an enthusiastic reception when he returned home.

　　吉姆回家时受到了热情的接待。

　　unscarred

　　adj. 无疤痕的

　　eg. Thus, except for tourist facilities, the parks' mountains and valleys were kept unscarred, the forests flourishing and the meadows lush with vegetation.

　　因此，除了一些游人服务设施外，公园中的山林谷地始终郁郁葱葱，林木茂盛，没有受到损害。

　　recipient⁵

　　n. 接受者；容纳

　　eg. This is a blend of elements of the invading and recipient cultures.

　　这是入侵文化和接受文化两种成分的融合。

　　authoritative⁶

　　adj. 有权威的，可信赖的

　　eg. Her voice was crisp and authoritative.

　　她的声音干脆利落，具有权威性。

　　extraordinary

　　adj. 非凡的，惊人的，显著的

　　eg. He had the appearance of an extraordinary fine gentleman.

　　他具有极上流的绅士的风采。

　　biophysics

　　n. 生物物理学

　　eg. One of the most exciting developments in modern times has been the birth of biophysics.

　　生物物理学的诞生，是当代最激动人心的成就之一。

　　ether

　　n. 天空；气象；【化】乙醚

　　eg. The hospital smelled of formaldehyde and ether.

　　医院里充满甲醛和乙醚的味道。

　　cyberspace⁷

　　n. 网络空间

　　eg. It's easy to create a phony identity in cyberspace.

　　在信息网络世界很容易制作假身份 。

1 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。

2 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

3 distinguished   

adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的

参考例句：

• Elephants are distinguished from other animals by their long noses.大象以其长长的鼻子显示出与其他动物的不同。
• A banquet was given in honor of the distinguished guests.宴会是为了向贵宾们致敬而举行的。

4 motives   

n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• to impeach sb's motives 怀疑某人的动机
• His motives are unclear. 他的用意不明。

5 recipient   

a.接受的,感受性强的 n.接受者,感受者,容器

参考例句：

• Please check that you have a valid email certificate for each recipient. 请检查是否对每个接收者都有有效的电子邮件证书。
• Colombia is the biggest U . S aid recipient in Latin America. 哥伦比亚是美国在拉丁美洲最大的援助对象。

6 authoritative   

adj.有权威的，可相信的；命令式的；官方的

参考例句：

• David speaks in an authoritative tone.大卫以命令的口吻说话。
• Her smile was warm but authoritative.她的笑容很和蔼，同时又透着威严。

7 cyberspace   

n.虚拟信息空间，网络空间，计算机化世界

参考例句：

• She travels in cyberspace by sending messages to friends around the world.她利用电子空间给世界各地的朋友们发送信件。
• The teens spend more time in cyberspace than in the real world of friends and family.青少年花费在电脑上的时间比他们和真正的朋友及家人在一起的时间要多。