异类之不一样的成功启示录 第37期:盖茨的九件幸事

 　　Gates was now in his senior year,

　　此时，盖茨已经是高年级学生，

　　and somehow he managed to convinced¹ his teachers to let him decamp for Bonneville under the guise² of an independent study project.

　　也不知道用了什么办法，他成功地劝说了他的老师让他离开学校，来到博纳维尔，开展所谓的独立学习计划。

　　There he spent the spring writing code³ under the direction of a man named John Norton,

　　在那里，他在一个名叫约翰.诺顿的人的指导下，整个春天都在编写程序。

　　who Gates says taught him as much about programming as almost anyone else he'd ever met.

　　盖茨认为诺顿对自己编程知识方面的帮助，是他见过的人中无人可比的。

　　Those five years, from eighth grade to the end of high school, were Bill Gates's Hamburg,

　　这五年，从八年级到中学结束，便是比尔.盖茨的“汉堡之旅”。

　　and by any measure, he was presented with an even more extraordinary series of opportunities than Bill Joy.

　　在很多方面，机遇都一次次眷顾他，他远比比尔.乔伊幸运。

　　Opportunity number one was that Gates got sent to Lakeside.

　　首先值得庆幸的是，盖茨被送到了湖边学校。

　　How many high schools in the world had an access to a time-sharing terminal⁴ in 1968?

　　在1968年，世界上能有多少中学拥有分时系统的计算机终端？

　　Opportunity number two was that the mothers of Lakeside had enough money to pay for the school's computer fees.

　　第二件幸事，便是湖边中学的母亲们能够为学校计算机的运作提供足够的资金支持，

　　Number three was that, when that money ran out, one of the parents happened to work at C-Cubed,

　　第三件幸事，便是资金快耗尽的时候，刚好有位父母在电脑中心公司工作，

　　which happened to need someone to check its code on the weekends,

　　而公司刚好需要找人在周末测试他们的程序，

　　and which also happened not to care if weekends turned into weeknights.

　　并且从周末做到周日晚上都行，

　　Number four was that Gates just happened to find out about ISI,

　　第四件幸事，便是盖茨遇上了ISI,

　　and ISI just happened to need someone to work on its payroll⁵ software.

　　而ISI刚好需要人手帮他们开发工资单程序，

　　And number five was that Gates happened to live within walking distance of the University of Washington.

　　第五件幸事，便是盖茨住的地方离华盛顿大学很近，从家里到华盛顿大学只需要步行就行；

　　And number six was that the university happened to have free computer time between three and six in the morning.

　　第六件幸事，就是刚好在凌晨3点到6点之间，可以免费上机，

　　And number seven was that TRW happened to call Bud⁶ Pembroke.

　　第七件幸事，便是TRW这家跨国公司刚好雇用了巴德.彭布罗克；

　　And number eight was that the best programmers Pembroke knew for that particular problem happened to be two high school kids.

　　第八件幸事，便是彭布罗克知道，能够解决特殊问题的最好的程序员，是中学里的两个孩子；

　　And number nine was that Lakeside was willing to let those kids spend their spring term miles away, writing code.

　　第九件幸事，便是湖边学校允许它的学生在春季就读时间内，到离学校数里之外去编程。

　　And what did virtually⁷ all those opportunities have in common?

　　那么，所有的幸运儿都有什么共同点？

　　They gate Bill Gates extra time to practice.

　　这些机遇给了盖茨充分的训练时间。

1 convinced   

adj.确信的；深信的；有坚定信仰的v.使确信(convince的过去分词)；说服

参考例句：

• I am convinced of her innocence. 我坚信她是清白无辜的。
• I'm convinced there's a jinx on this car. 我看这辆汽车是灾星。

2 guise   

n.外表，伪装的姿态

参考例句：

• They got into the school in the guise of inspectors.他们假装成视察员进了学校。
• The thief came into the house under the guise of a repairman.那小偷扮成个修理匠进了屋子。

3 code   

n.代码，代号，密码；法典，法规，规划

参考例句：

• What's the code for Tianjin?天津的代号是多少？
• Remember to use postal code.勿忘使用邮政编码。

4 terminal   

n.终端机，终点，末端；adj.终点的，按期的，致死的

参考例句：

• The car has reached its terminal speed and can run faster no longer.这辆车的速度已达到了极限，不能再跑更快了。
• There's a taxi stand outside the terminal.在终点站的外面有出租车。

5 payroll   

n.工资表，在职人员名单，工薪总额

参考例句：

• His yearly payroll is $1.2 million.他的年薪是120万美元。
• I can't wait to get my payroll check.我真等不及拿到我的工资单了。

6 bud   

vi.发芽，萌芽；n.芽，花蕾

参考例句：

• Some flowers bud their leaves very early in spring.有些花在春季里很早发出叶来。
• A bad habit in a child should be nipped in the bud.应该尽早把孩子的坏习惯改过来。

7 virtually   

adv.实际上，事实上

参考例句：

• The job was virtually completed by the end of the week.到周末时这项工作差不多完成了。
• He was virtually a prisoner.他实际上是个囚犯。