向前一步:第48期 往桌前坐(16)

 　　This put me ahead of First Lady Michelle Obama and Indian politician Sonia Gandhi. Absurd. 而且，我居然排在米歇尔·奥巴马和索尼娅·甘地的前面，这太荒谬了。

　　My own mother called to say, "Well, dear, I do think you are very powerful, 我母亲打电话来说：“亲爱的，我的确认为你很有影响力，

　　but I am not sure you are more powerful than Michelle Obama." You think? 但跟米歇尔·奥巴马比就很难说了。”你认为呢？

　　Far from feeling powerful, I felt embarrassed and exposed. 我真没觉得自己有多大的影响力，反倒感觉被暴露在公众视野里，很是窘迫。

　　When colleagues at Facebook stopped me in the halls to say congratulations, I pronounced the list "ridiculous." 当脸谱网的同事在办公楼里拦住我大加称赞时，我告诉他们这个排行榜是“可笑的”。

　　When friends posted the link on Facebook, I asked them to take it down. 当朋友们在脸谱网上发布新闻链接时，我请他们删掉帖子。

　　After a few days, my longtime executive assistant, Camille Hart, summoned me into a conference room and closed the door. This was serious. 几天后，长期担任我的执行助理的卡米尔·哈特把我叫进会议室，并关上门——这是一次严肃的谈话。

　　She told me that I was handling the Forbes thing poorly 她告诉我，我对福布斯排行榜这件事处理得很差劲，

　　and that I needed to stop subjecting anyone who brought up the list to a diatribe¹ on its absurdity². 我应该立即停止与那些提起福布斯排行榜的人争论“为什么这件事是荒谬可笑的”。

　　I was showing too many people how uncomfortable I felt and revealing my insecurity. 我在太多人面前表现出了自己的不自在和不安全感，

　　Instead, I needed to simply say, "Thank you." 其实，我只需要说声“谢谢”就可以了。

　　We all need colleagues like Camille, who was honest enough to point out my less-than-gracious response. 我们都需要像卡米尔这样的同事，他们会真诚地指出我不合宜的回应。她是对的。

　　She was right. Whether the list was ridiculous or not, I didn't write it and I didn't have to react negatively to it. 不管排行榜是否荒谬，我不是发起者，也没有必要产生过于负面的反应。

　　I doubt a man would have felt so overwhelmed by others' perception of his power. 我怀疑，一个男人会不会因为感到自己越来越有影响力而不知所措。

1 diatribe   

n.抨击，抨击性演说

参考例句：

• He launched a diatribe against the younger generation.他对年轻一代发起了长篇抨击。
• The book is a diatribe against the academic left.这本书对学术左派进行了长时间的谩骂。

2 absurdity   

n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论

参考例句：

• The proposal borders upon the absurdity.这提议近乎荒谬。
• The absurdity of the situation made everyone laugh.情况的荒谬可笑使每个人都笑了。