演讲原文

I'm honored to be with you today for your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. Truth be told, I never graduated from college, and this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today, I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.
很荣幸和你们一起参加世界上最好的一所大学的毕业典礼。说实话，我大学没毕业，这是我第一次离大学毕业这么近。今天，我想给大家讲我人生中的三个故事，不谈别的，也不讲大道理，三个故事就好。

The first story is about connecting the dots.
第一个故事讲的是把生命中的点滴串连起来。

I dropped out of Reed College after the first six months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?
我在里德学院只读了六个月就退学了。此后便在学校里旁听，又过了大约一年半，我彻底离开。那么，我为什么退学了？

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She 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. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking, "We've got an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said, "Of course." My biological mother found out later that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would go to college. This was the start in my life.
这得从我出生前讲起。我的生母是一名年轻的未婚在校研究生，她决定将我送给别人收养。她非常希望收养我的是有大学学历的人，所以把一切都安排好了，决定我一出生就将我交给一对律师夫妇收养。没想到我才刚刚出生，那对夫妻却决定收养一名女孩。就这样，我的养父母——他们的名字当时还在登记册上——半夜三更接到一个电话：“我们这儿现在有一个没人要的男婴，你们要吗？”“当然要。”他们回答。但是，我的生母后来发现我的养母不是大学毕业生，我的养父甚至高中都没毕业，所以就拒绝在最后的收养文件上签字。不过，每过几个月她就心软了，因为我的养父母许诺日后一定送我上大学。这就是我生命的起点。

热词空间

drop-in
n.旁听生
eg. After a while, the drop-in stopped appearing at all, but he would sometimes come around to give the professor advice.
过了一阵子，这位旁听生不再来了，不过有时会前来给这位教授一些建议。

drop out
(中途)退学；退出
eg. She longed to drop out of the race and make an independent life for herself.
她真想脱离这个圈子去过自由的生活。

biological mother
生母；亲生母亲
eg. If somebody approaches the tortoise, the hippo becomes aggressive, as if protecting its biological mother," Kahumbu added.
如果有人要靠近老海龟，那么小荷马就会变得很有攻击性，就像要保护自己的生母一样。

unwed
adj. 未婚的
eg. The young, unwed lady is going to have a baby this winter.
那位年轻的且未婚的女士今年冬天就要生了。

pop
vi. 突然出现
eg. The cork popped out and the Champagne gushed from the bottle.
木塞砰的一 声打开，香槟酒从瓶中溢了出来。

relent
vi. 变得心软
eg. She relented when she saw her husband bursting into tears.
看见丈夫一哭，她的心就软了。