BILL GATES' SPEECH TO MT. WHITNEY HIGH SCHOOL in Visalia, California. (2003)

Rule 1: Life is not fair -- get used to it!

1 生命本來就是不公平的,要接受這個事實。

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

2 不管你自視多高,你在自傲之前,世界期望看到你的成就。

Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

3 你不會一畢業就擁有高新的工作,高貴的頭銜,你必需努力獲得它們。

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

4 你工作時的老闆會比學校的老師更嚴格。

Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping -- they called it opportunity.

5 餐館打工並不是沒有尊嚴的低級工作,你的祖父輩稱它們為“機會”。

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

6 如果你搞砸了一件事,不是你父母的錯,不要埋怨,要從錯誤中學習。

Rule 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 thought you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

7 你出生以前,你的父母不是像今天這樣無趣。因為要照顧你,負擔你的生活費用,幫你洗衣清潔,和聽你自我炫耀才變成如此。在自以為你能拯救世界之前,先學會自我獨立。

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools they have abolished failing grades and 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.

8 學校可能讓你嘗試很多次直到你得到正確答案,現實社會絕非如此。

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

9 真實社會不分學期,你沒有暑假休息。極少人想幫助你“找到自己”,你該用自己的時間成長。

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

10 電視情節不是真實生活。真實生活中,人不可能整天在咖啡店中而不工作賺錢。

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

11 不要瞧不起愛讀書學習的人,你現在笑他書呆,有一天他很可能成為你的老闆。