Unit 5 乔布斯斯坦福大学演讲
①I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world.
②Truth be told, I never graduated from college.
③And this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation.
④Today I want to tell you three stories from my life.
⑤That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.
⑥The first story is about connecting the dots.
⑦I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months.
⑧But then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit.
⑨So why did I drop out? It started before I was born.
⑩My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student.
⑪And she decided to put me up for adoption.
⑫She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife.
⑬Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl.
⑭So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking.
Key words and phrases
commencement [kəˈmensmənt] n．毕业典礼
biological [ˌbaɪəˈlɒdʒɪkl] a．有血亲关系的
drop out of不参与，退出
adoption [əˈdɒpʃn] n．收养
句构分析
译 今天，我很荣幸能与诸位，来自世界上最好大学之一的毕业生们，一起参加毕业典礼。
译 老实说，我从未大学毕业。
译 这应该算是我离大学毕业最近的一次。
译 今天我想告诉你们我生活中的三个故事。
语法分析 该句中want是谓语，to tell you three stories是动词不定式作宾语，tell后加双宾语，tell three stories是直接宾语，you是间接宾语。
译 不是什么大不了的事情，仅仅是三个故事而已。
译 第一个故事是关于如何把生活中的点点滴滴连接起来。
译 我在里德大学学习了六个月之后就退学了。
译 但是在十八个月以后——我真正的作出退学决定之前，我还是经常去学校。
译 那我为什么退学呢？那要从我出生的时候讲起。
译 我的亲生母亲是一个年轻的、未婚的大学毕业生。
译 她决定让别人收养我。
译 她十分想让我被大学毕业生收养，所以她为我准备好了一切，我一出生就会被一个律师一家收养。
译 但出乎意料的是，当我出生之后，律师夫妇突然想要一个女孩。
译 所以我的养父母（在待选名单上的）突然在半夜接到了一个电话。