公众人物毕业演讲 第304期:亚马逊创始人贝佐斯普林斯顿大学毕业演讲(3)

 Your smarts will come in handy because you will travel in a land of marvels¹.

你们的聪明才智必定会派上用场，因为你们将在一片充满奇迹的土地上行进。

We humans - plodding² as we are - will astonish ourselves.

我们人类，尽管跬步前行，却终将令自己大吃一惊。

We'll invent ways to generate³ clean energy and a lot of it.

我们能够想方设法制造很多清洁能源。

Atom by atom, we'll assemble small machines that can enter cell walls and make repairs.

也能够一个原子一个原子地组装微型机械，使之穿过细胞壁，然后修复细胞。

This month comes the extraordinary but also inevitable⁴ news that we've synthesized life.

这个月，有一个异常而不可避免的事情发生了—人类终于合成了生命。

In the coming years, we'll not only synthesize it, but we'll engineer it to specifications⁵.

在未来几年，我们不仅会合成生命，还会按说明书驱动它们。

I believe you'll even see us understand the human brain.

我相信你们甚至会看到我们理解人类的大脑。

Jules Verne, Mark Twain, Galileo, Newton - all the curious from the ages would have wanted to be alive most of all right now.

儒勒·凡尔纳，马克·吐温，伽利略，牛顿—所有那些充满好奇之心的人都希望能够活到现在。

As a civilization, we will have so many gifts, just as you as individuals have so many individual gifts as you sit before me.

作为文明人，我们会拥有如此之多的天赋，就像是坐在我面前的你们，每一个生命个体都拥有许多独特的天赋。

How will you use these gifts?

你们要如何运用这些天赋呢？

And will you take pride in your gifts or pride in your choices?

你们会为自己的天赋感到骄傲，还是会为自己的选择感到骄傲？

I got the idea to start Amazon 16 years ago.

16年前，我萌生了创办亚马逊的想法。

I came across the fact that Web usage⁶ was growing at 2,300 percent per year.

彼时我面对的现实是互联网使用量以每年2300%的速度增长。

I'd never seen or heard of anything that grew that fast, and the idea of building an online bookstore with millions of titles

我从未看到或听说过任何增长如此快速的东西。创建涵盖几百万种书籍的网上书店的想法令我兴奋异常，

something that simply couldn't exist in the physical world - was very exciting to me.

因为这个东西在物理世界里根本无法存在。

I had just turned 30 years old, and I'd been married for a year.

那时我刚刚30岁，结婚才一年。

I told my wife MacKenzie that I wanted to quit my job and go do this crazy thing that probably wouldn't work since most startups don't,

我告诉妻子MacKenzie想辞去工作，然后去做这件疯狂的事情，很可能会失败，因为大部分创业公司都是如此，

and I wasn't sure what would happen after that.

而且我不确定那之后会发生什么。

MacKenzie (also a Princeton grad and sitting here in the second row) told me I should go for it.

MacKenzie，（也是普林斯顿的毕业生，就在第二排坐着）告诉我，我应该放手一搏。

As a young boy, I'd been a garage inventor.

在我还是一个男孩儿的时候，我是车库发明家。

I'd invented an automatic gate closer out of cement-filled tires, a solar cooker that didn't work very well out of an umbrella and tinfoil⁷, baking-pan alarms to entrap⁸ my siblings⁹.

我曾用水泥填充的轮胎、雨伞和锡箔以及报警器制作了一个自动关门器。

I'd always wanted to be an inventor, and she wanted me to follow my passion.

我一直想做一个发明家，MacKenzie支持我追随内心的热情。

I was working at a financial firm in New York City with a bunch of very smart people, and I had a brilliant boss that I much admired.

我当时在纽约一家金融公司工作，同事是一群非常聪明的人，我的老板也很有智慧，我很羡慕他。

1 marvels   

n.奇迹( marvel的名词复数 )；令人惊奇的事物（或事例）；不平凡的成果；成就v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The doctor's treatment has worked marvels : the patient has recovered completely. 该医生妙手回春，病人已完全康复。 来自辞典例句
• Nevertheless he revels in a catalogue of marvels. 可他还是兴致勃勃地罗列了一堆怪诞不经的事物。 来自辞典例句

2 plodding   

a.proceeding in a slow or dull way

参考例句：

• They're still plodding along with their investigation. 他们仍然在不厌其烦地进行调查。
• He is plodding on with negotiations. 他正缓慢艰难地进行着谈判。

3 generate   

vt.生成，产生（光、热、电等）导致

参考例句：

• We need someone to generate new ideas.我们需要有人出新主意。
• This book will continue to generate excitement for a long time.这本书将在很长一段时间里继续使人们为之激动。

4 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

5 specifications   

n.规格；载明；详述；（产品等的）说明书；说明书( specification的名词复数 )；详细的计划书；载明；详述

参考例句：

• Our work must answer the specifications laid down. 我们的工作应符合所定的规范。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This sketch does not conform with the specifications. 图文不符。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 usage   

n.惯用法，使用，用法

参考例句：

• I am clear about the usage of this word at last.这个词的用法我算是弄明白了。
• The usage is now firmly established.这种用法现已得到确认。

7 tinfoil   

n.锡纸，锡箔

参考例句：

• You can wrap it up in tinfoil.你可以用锡箔纸裹住它。
• Drop by rounded tablespoon onto tinfoil.Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown.用大餐勺把刚刚搅拌好的糊糊盛到锡纸上，烘烤9至11分钟，直到变成金黄色。

8 entrap   

v.以网或陷阱捕捉，使陷入圈套

参考例句：

• The police have been given extra powers to entrap drug traffickers.警方已经被进一步授权诱捕毒贩。
• He overturned the conviction,saying the defendant was entrapped.他声称被告是被诱骗的，从而推翻了有罪的判决。

9 siblings   

n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分