英语美文背诵 酿酒也疯狂(上)（在线收听）

The Brewer's Son

酿酒也疯狂

When I was a teenager, my dad did everything he could to dissuade me from becoming a brewer. He'd spent his life brewing beer for local breweries, barely making a living, as had his father and grandfather before him. He didn't want me anywhere near a vat of beer.

在青少年时期，父亲就极力告诫我，将来不要做一个酿酒人。因为，他一辈子就像他父亲及祖父一样，仅仅是为了谋生，专为当地的啤酒厂酿造啤酒。他甚至不许我靠近啤酒桶半步。

So I did as he asked. I got good grades, went to Harvard and in 1971 was accepted into a graduate program there that allowed me to study law and business simultaneously.

因此我也就按他的意愿做了。我以优异的成绩考取了哈佛大学，并于1971年获得了继续在那里攻读研究生课程的机会，得以同时学习法律和商业专业。

In my second year of grad school, I had something of an epiphany I've never done anything but go to school. I thought, and I'm getting pressured to make a career choice for the rest of my life. That's stupid. The future was closing in on me a lot earlier than I wanted.

在读研究生二年级时，我似乎有一种顿悟的感觉，我想除了上学以外，我什么也没有做过。我感到有一种压力迫使我为今后的人生道路作出事业的选择。我真傻。未来早已向我逼近，比我预期的要早得多。

So, at 24, I decided to drop out. Obviously, my parents didn't think this was a great idea. But I felt strongly that you can't wait till you're 65 to do what you want in life. You have to go for it.

所以在24岁时，我决定退学。显然，父母并不认为这是什么好主意。但我强烈地意识到，人不能等到65岁才去做想要做的事。你得自己去寻找。

I packed my stuff into a U-Haul and headed to Colorado to become an instructor at Outward Bound, the wilderness-education program. The job was a good fit for me. Heavily into mountaineering and rock climbing, I lived and climbed everywhere, from crags outside Seattle to volcanoes in Mexico.

我打点起行囊，把它们装进一辆小面包车内，便上路向科罗拉多进发，去作一名野外训练项目教练。这工作的确很适合我。大量地登山、攀岩，从西雅图周围的峭壁到墨西哥的火山，到处都留下了我生活和登攀的身影。

I never regretted taking time to "find myself". I think we'd all be a lot better off if we could take off five years in our 20s to decide what we want to do for the rest of our lives.

我从未因花费时间去“寻找自我”而后悔。我觉得如果人们能在20岁左右的时候，拿出五年时间去决定自己今后想要做什么，那可能会更快乐一些。