讀點好英文:BiII Gates in His Boyhood 少年比爾·蓋茨

BiII Gates in His Boyhood 少年比爾·蓋茨

·Leopold·

As a child-and an adult as well-Bill was untidy. It has been said that in order to counteract this.Mary drew up weekly clothing plans for him.On Mondays he might go to school in blue, on Tuesdays in green, on Wednesdays in brown, on Thursdays in black, and so on, Weekend meal scheduIes might also be planned in detail.Everything time, at work or during his leisure time, Bill hated wasting time.

Dinner table discussions in the Gates'family home were always lively and educational.“It was a rich environment in which to learn.”Bill remembered.

Bill's contemporaries, even at that age, recognized that he was exceptional. Every year, he and his friends would go to summer camp.Bill especiaIIy liked swimming and other sports.One of his summer camp friends recalled，“He was never a nerd or a goof or the kind of kid you didn't want on your team.We all knew Bill was smarter than us.Even back then, when he was nine or ten years old, he talked like an adult and could express himself in ways that none of us understood.”

Bill was also well ahead of his classmates in mathematics and science. He needed to go to a school that challenged him to Lakeside-an all boys'school for exceptional students.It was Seattle's most exclusive school and was noted for its rigorous academic demands, a place where“even the dumb kids were smart.”

Lakeside allowed students to pursue their own interests, to whatever extent they wished. The school prided itself on making conditions and facilities available that would enable all its students to reach their full potential.It was the ideal environment for someone like Bill Gates.

In 1968，the school made a decision that would change thirteen-year-old Bill Gates's life-and that of many of others, too.

Funds were raised, mainly by parents, that enabled the school to gain access to a computer-a Program Data processor（PDP）—through a teletype machine. Type in a few instructions on the teletype machine and a few seconds later the PDP would type back its response.Bill Gates was immediately hooked-so was his best friend at the time, Kent Evans, and another student, Paul Allen, who was two years older than Bill.

Whenever they had free time, and sometimes when they didn't, they would dash over to the computer room to use the machine. The students became so single-minded that they soon overtook their teachers in knowledge about computing and got into a lot of trouble because of their obsession.They were negIecting their other studies-every piece of work was handed in late.Classes were cut.Computer time was also proving to be very expensive.Within months, the whole budget that had been set aside for the year had been used up.

At fourteen, Bill was already writing short programs for the computer to perform. Early games programs such as Tic-Tac-Toe, or Noughts and Crosses, and Lunar Landing were written in what was to become Bill's second language, BASIC.

One of the reasons Bill was so good at programming is because it is mathematical and logical. During his time at Lakeside, Bill scored a perfect eight hundred on a mathematics test.It was extremely important to him to get this grade-he had to take the test more than once in order to do it.

If Bill Gates was going to be good at something, it was essential to be the best.

Bill's and Paul's fascination with computers and the business world meant that they read a great deal. Paul enjoyed magazines like Popular Electronics while Bill liked the business ones.Computer time was expensive and, because both boys were desperate to get more time and because Bill already had an insight into what they could achieve financially, the two of them decided to set themselves up as a company：The Lakeside Programmers Group.“Let's call the real world and try to sell something to it！”Bill announced.

利奧波特

童年時期——即使成了大人——比爾也一樣不修邊幅。據(jù)說為了改此習慣，瑪麗為他制訂了一周的著裝計劃。周一上學時穿藍色裝，周二綠色，周三棕色，周四黑色，等等。周末的用餐時間也被安排得井井有條，比爾·蓋茨討厭浪費時間，無論是在工作中或閑暇時。

在比爾家的餐桌上的討論總是既生動又富有教育意義?！澳鞘莻€內容豐富的學習環(huán)境?！北葼柣貞浀馈?/p>

比爾的同齡人，即使是在那個年齡，都能看出他的與眾不同。每年，他和朋友們都要去夏令營。比爾特別喜愛游泳或其他的運動。他在夏令營的一位朋友回憶道：“他絕不會是個不足掛齒或無足輕重之人。我們都曉得比爾比我們聰穎。甚至在更早的時候，當他十來歲時，言談就如同成人一般，他說的話有時我們感到高深莫測?！?/p>

在數(shù)學和自然科學方面，比爾比同班同學也更勝一籌。他需要上一所對他充滿挑戰(zhàn)的學校。隨即，父母決定送他去湖畔中學——一所專門招收超常男生的學校。這是西雅圖一所限制最嚴的學校，它以嚴格的課程要求而著稱，是個“連啞童都聰明”的地方。

湖畔中學允許學生們按自己興趣自由發(fā)揮，去通達他們希望的極致。令校方驕傲的是，他們所創(chuàng)造的環(huán)境及設施使學生們能充分發(fā)揮各自的潛能。這是像比爾·蓋茨這樣學生的理想環(huán)境。

1968年，學校做出的一項決定，改變了十三歲的比爾·蓋茨的生活——同時也改變了許多其他的人。

學校主要靠家長提供的資金通過一種電傳打字機進入電腦——程序數(shù)據(jù)處理機。在電傳打字機上鍵入幾條指令，幾秒鐘后程序數(shù)據(jù)處理機即會反饋回信息。比爾·蓋茨當即就著了迷——他那時最要好的朋友坎特·埃文斯和另一名長他兩歲的同學保羅·艾倫也是如此。

他們不管有沒有空，都要趕到電腦室去用用那臺機器。這些學生非常專注，以至于在電腦方面的知識都超過了老師。同時，因為他們的執(zhí)著也帶來了不少麻煩。他們忽略了其他的課程——每項作業(yè)都未按時上交，有時還曠課。上機的費用也很昂貴。幾個月后，當初留作一年用的預算就已經被消耗殆盡了。

比爾十四歲時，就已開始編寫簡短的電腦運行程序了。早期的游戲程序如“三棋殺三子”，或“畫圈打叉游戲”，及“登月”就是用后來成為比爾的第二種語言BASIC來寫的。

比爾善于編程的其中一個原因就是它蘊含的運算性與邏輯性。比爾在湖畔中學的那段時間，在一次數(shù)學測驗中取得了滿分八百分，取得這樣的成績對他來說是至關重要的——為了這個成績他不得不參加幾次測驗。

倘若比爾·蓋茨決定要做好某件事，他必定會做得最為出色。

比爾和保羅對電腦和商務的癡迷意味著他們要博覽群書。保羅喜愛像《大眾電子》之類的刊物，而比爾則翻閱商業(yè)雜志。上機時間的昂貴，以及因為這兩個孩子迫切需要更多的上機時間，還有比爾早已洞察到他們在經濟上會有所收益，于是他們倆決定組建自己的公司：湖畔程序設計者集團。比爾宣布道：“讓我們喚醒這個世界并給它推銷些東西吧！”

核心單詞

scheduIe['?edju：l]n.清單；目錄；時間表；課程表

especiaIIy[is'pe??li]adv.特別；尤其；格外

rigorous['rig?r?s]adj.嚴格的；嚴厲的；苛刻的

dash[d??]v.猛撞；猛砸；擊碎

overtake[?uv?'teik]v.追上；趕上；超過

negIect[ni'glekt]v.忽視，忽略；疏忽

score[sk?：]n.（比賽中的）得分，比數(shù)；（測驗的）成績；vi.得分

insight['insait]n.洞察力，眼光

announce[?'nauns]v.宣布，發(fā)布

實用句型

As a chiId-and an aduIt as weII-BiII was untidy.

童年時期——即使成了大人——比爾也一樣不修邊幅。

①as a child-and an adult介詞短語與Bill并行，并對其進行修飾。

②and……as well也，又，同樣地；類似的表達還有as well as不但……而且；might as well該……做；just as well幸好，無妨等固定搭配。

翻譯練習

1.您能否詳細地說明一下主題？（in detail）

2.他每月都留出一些錢備用。（set aside）

3.她擅長人物素描。（be good at）