比尔盖茨给年轻人的11条生活准则

 　　In Bill Gates' Book for high school and college graduates, there is a list of 11 things they did not learn in school. In his book, Bill Gates talks about how feel good, politically-correct teachings created a full generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this education set them up for failure in the real world.

　　在比尔·盖茨写给高中毕业生和大学毕业生的书里，有一个单子上面列有11项学生在学校里学不到的事情。比尔·盖茨谈到“政治正确”的教导培养出一整代不知现实为何物，却还感觉良好的年轻人，而这种教育只能使年轻人成为现实世界中的失败者。

　　The 11 things are:

　　这11项事情是：

　　1. Life is not fair, get used to it.

　　生活是不公平的，你要去适应它。

　　2. The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself.

　　世界并不会在意你的自尊。这世界指望你在自我感觉良好之前先要有所成就。

　　3. You will not make 40 thousand dollars a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice¹ president with a car phone, until you earn both.

　　高中刚毕业你不会一年挣4万美元。你不会成为一个公司的副总裁，并拥有一部装有电话的汽车，直到你将此职位和汽车电话都挣到手。

　　4. If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure².

　　如果你认为你的老师严厉，等你有了老板再这样想。老板可是没有任期限制的。

　　5. Flipping³ burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping; they called it opportunity.

　　烙牛肉饼并不有损你的尊严。你的祖父母对烙牛肉饼可有不同的定义;他们称它为机遇。

　　6. If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine⁴ about our mistakes, learn from them.

　　如果你陷入困境，那不是你父母的过错，所以不要尖声抱怨错误，而要从中吸取教训。

　　7. Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites⁵ of your parents' generation, try "delousing" the closet in your own room.

　　在你出生之前，你的父母并非像他们现在这样乏味。他们变成今天这个样子是因为这些年来他们一直在为你付账单，给你洗衣服，听你大谈你是如何得酷。所以，如果你想消灭你父母那一辈中的寄生虫来拯救雨林的话，还是先去清除自己房间衣柜里的虫子吧。

　　8. Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools they have abolished failing grades; they'll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to anything in real life.

　　你的学校也许已经不再分优等生和劣等生，但生活却仍在做出类似的区分。某些学校已经废除不及格的分数;只要你想找到正确答案，学校就会给你无数的机会。这和现实生活中的任何事情没有一点相似之处。

　　9. Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping⁶ you find yourself. Do that on your own time.

　　生活不分学期。你并没有暑假可以休息，也没有几位雇主乐于帮你发现自我。自己找时间去做那些事情吧。

　　10. Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

　　电视并不是真实的生活。在现实生活中，人们实际上得离开咖啡屋去干自己的工作。

　　11. Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

　　善待你不喜欢的人。有可能你就会为一个自己不喜欢的人工作。

1 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

2 tenure   

n.终身职位；任期；(土地)保有权，保有期

参考例句：

• He remained popular throughout his tenure of the office of mayor.他在担任市长的整个任期内都深得民心。
• Land tenure is a leading political issue in many parts of the world.土地的保有权在世界很多地区是主要的政治问题。

3 flipping   

讨厌之极的

参考例句：

• I hate this flipping hotel! 我讨厌这个该死的旅馆！
• Don't go flipping your lid. 别发火。

4 whine   

v.哀号，号哭；n.哀鸣

参考例句：

• You are getting paid to think,not to whine.支付给你工资是让你思考而不是哀怨的。
• The bullet hit a rock and rocketed with a sharp whine.子弹打在一块岩石上，一声尖厉的呼啸，跳飞开去。

5 parasites   

寄生物( parasite的名词复数 )； 靠他人为生的人； 诸虫

参考例句：

• These symptoms may be referable to virus infection rather than parasites. 这些症状也许是由病毒感染引起的，而与寄生虫无关。
• Kangaroos harbor a vast range of parasites. 袋鼠身上有各种各样的寄生虫。

6 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。