英語(yǔ)美文朗讀 第533期 The most important innovation in your life

Growing up in a lower middle-class community on the south side of Chicago, virtually everyone important in my life, my family, my teachers, my girlfriend, wanted me to be a doctor. Overtime, their dreams became my dreams.

 

芝加哥南部的一個(gè)底層中產(chǎn)階級(jí)社區(qū)，這就是我長(zhǎng)大的地方。在我的生命中，幾乎所有重要的人，我的家人，我的老師，我的女友，都想讓我成為一位醫(yī)生。久而久之，他們的夢(mèng)想，變成了我的夢(mèng)想。

 

They convinced me I should be a doctor, but as hard as I tried, I couldn't do it. I was unable to make myself into the person that I thought I should be, so I decided to stop trying. I was 21 years old when I dropped out of college.

他們讓我相信，我應(yīng)該成為一位醫(yī)生。但是，無(wú)論我多么努力，我都做不到，我無(wú)法變成理想中的自己。所以，我不再嘗試這樣做。那時(shí)，我21歲，從大學(xué)輟學(xué)了。

 

During my California springs and summers, I spent most of my days in the High Sierras in Yosemite Valley, working as a river guide and a rock-climbing instructor. I loved those jobs, but unfortunately, they didn't pay that well. So, I also got a job working a couple of days a week as a computer programmer back in Berkeley.

在加州度過的那幾年，大多數(shù)時(shí)候，我都待在約塞米蒂峽谷的西亞拉山區(qū)，我在那兒當(dāng)河道向?qū)?，?dāng)攀巖教練。我愛這些工作，然而，不幸的是，它們帶來(lái)的薪水并不高。所以，我也在當(dāng)伯克利當(dāng)程序員，每周在那兒工作幾天。

 

I had learned program in college. I didn't love programming but it was fun and I was good at it. I started taking classes at UC Berkeley. I took several classes, but the only one I can remember was a sailing class taught at Berkeley marina. When my class was over, I wanted to buy a sailboat.

我在大學(xué)的時(shí)候?qū)W過編程，我不喜歡編程，但編程還挺有趣的，而且我很擅長(zhǎng)編程。我開始在加州大學(xué)伯克利分校上課，我選了幾門課，但是，只有一門課讓我記憶猶新，那就是在伯克利碼頭那里上的帆船課。這門課結(jié)束后，我想買一艘帆船。

 

My wife said, this was a single stupidest idea she had ever heard in her entire life. She accused me of being irresponsible, and she told me I lacked ambition. She kicked me out, and then she divorced me. This is a pivotal moment in my life.

我的妻子說，這是她聽過的最愚蠢的想法。她指責(zé)我，說我不負(fù)責(zé)任，說我胸?zé)o大志。她把我趕出家門，然后和我離婚了。這可是我人生中的關(guān)鍵時(shí)刻。

 

My family was still mad at me for not going to medical school, and now my wife was divorcing me because I lacked ambition. It looked like a reoccurrence of the same old problem. Once again, I was unable to live up to the expectations of others, but this time, I was not disappointed in myself for failing to be the person they thought I should be.

我的家人還在生我的氣，因?yàn)槲也粚W(xué)醫(yī)了。我的妻子要跟我離婚，因?yàn)槲覜]有抱負(fù)。這一切，就像在重蹈覆轍。我無(wú)法滿足別人的期待，這已經(jīng)不是第一次發(fā)生了。換做以往，我會(huì)對(duì)自己感到失望，因?yàn)槲覜]能成為他們認(rèn)為我該成為的人，然而，這一次，我不再對(duì)自己失望。

 

Their dreams and my dreams were different. I would never confuse the two of them again. Throughout my 20s, I continued experimenting, trying different things, racing bikes and boats and constantly changing jobs. I searched and I searched, but I just could not find a software engineering job thought that I loved as much as I loved sailing. So, I tried to create one.

他們的夢(mèng)想，和我的夢(mèng)想，是不一樣的，我再也不會(huì)混淆這兩者。在二十多歲這段時(shí)光里，我不斷試驗(yàn)，嘗試不同的事情，騎自行車，劃船，不斷換工作。我很熱愛帆船運(yùn)動(dòng)，然而，這些年里，我找了很久，都沒有一份編程工作能讓我感受到同樣的熱愛。所以，我嘗試自己創(chuàng)造一份這樣的工作。

 

My goal was to create the perfect job for me, a job I truly loved. I never expected the company to grow beyond 50 people, so, maybe I really did lack ambition or vision back then. Today Oracle employs around 150,000 people, but when I started, it was not my intention to build a big company.

我的目標(biāo)，就是為自己打造一份完美的工作，一份我真心熱愛的工作。我從來(lái)沒想過，我的公司規(guī)模會(huì)超過50人。所以，也許，當(dāng)時(shí)我確實(shí)是沒多大野心，也沒什么遠(yuǎn)見。如今，我們公司有十五萬(wàn)員工。但是，在創(chuàng)業(yè)初期，我沒有想過要把公司做得這么大。

 

We assembled an all-star team of gifted programmers, who were among the best in the world at what they did. That team plus one crazy idea gave birth to a giant company. I call it a crazy idea, because of the time everyone told me it was a crazy idea. The idea was to build the world's first relational database.

我們把很有才的程序員們聚到一起，組成了一個(gè)全明星團(tuán)隊(duì)，他們是各自領(lǐng)域里的頂尖行家。一個(gè)優(yōu)秀的團(tuán)隊(duì)，加上一個(gè)瘋狂的想法，就產(chǎn)生了一個(gè)超大規(guī)模的公司。我把它稱之為瘋狂的想法，是因?yàn)椋?jīng)，所有人都告訴我，想創(chuàng)造世界上第一個(gè)關(guān)系數(shù)據(jù)庫(kù)，這個(gè)想法很瘋狂。

 

But back then, the collective wisdom of computer experts was, that while relational data bases could be built, they would never be fast enough to be useful. I thought, all those so-called computer experts were wrong, and when you start telling people that all the experts are wrong, at first, they call you arrogant, and then they say you're crazy.

但是，當(dāng)時(shí)，電腦專家們都認(rèn)為，要建一個(gè)關(guān)系數(shù)據(jù)庫(kù)，可以，但這個(gè)數(shù)據(jù)庫(kù)的運(yùn)行速度會(huì)很慢，所以它沒什么用處。我認(rèn)為，那些所謂的電腦專家們，他們的看法都是錯(cuò)的。當(dāng)你告訴別人，說專家們都是錯(cuò)的，人們就會(huì)說，你很傲慢，然后他們會(huì)說，你太瘋狂了。

 

So, remember this, graduates, when people start telling you that you're crazy you just might be onto the most important innovation in your life. Oracle doubled in size year after year after year for 10 years. It was growing so fast that it was impossible for anyone to control. It was like sailing in a hurricane. And then we went public.

所以，畢業(yè)生們，請(qǐng)記住，如果有人跟你說，你很瘋狂，那么，你可能正要經(jīng)歷人生最重要的變革。我們公司的規(guī)模，連續(xù)十年實(shí)現(xiàn)翻倍。它發(fā)展得非?？?，勢(shì)不可擋，它就像是在風(fēng)暴中航行一樣。然后，我們就上市了。

 

Oh my god. Maybe I should have been a doctor.

噢，也許我本應(yīng)該當(dāng)個(gè)醫(yī)生！