【遠見X浩爾】Connect the dots!一起複習賈伯斯教你的人生智慧

關鍵時刻,英文總是卡住?《遠見》與口譯專家「浩爾」強強聯手,帶你三分鐘升級英語競爭力!

浩爾所主持、每週一次的YouTube節目《英語溝通小學堂》,精采內容將收錄在《遠見》平台、每週二刊出,陪你一起找對方法學英語。

本週的《英語溝通小學堂》,浩爾解析蘋果創辦人賈伯斯(Steve Jobs)在2005 年在史丹佛大學畢業演講。「Stay hungry, stay foolish.」是這場演講膾炙人口的經典名句,而賈伯斯運用自身三個人生故事,勉勵台下的畢業生。


賈伯斯:如果我沒有輟學,蘋果電腦就不會出現美麗的字體

(此段影片教學▼點我▼)

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.
(老實說,我大學沒有畢業,現在是我離大學畢業最近的時刻。今天我想告訴你我生命中的3個故事。就這樣,其實沒有什麼,只有 3 個故事。)

首先,賈伯斯表示自己非常榮幸能夠前來演講。而他也分享自己其實大學並沒有畢業,所以這裡用了「Truth be told」老實說,這比較是口語用法。而正式用法可以說:Truth to be told。

僅情境配圖,蘇義傑攝。
僅情境配圖,蘇義傑攝。

僅情境配圖,蘇義傑攝。
接著,賈伯斯用一句話「I want to tell you three stories from my life.」,勾勒出這場畢業演講的大綱。浩爾也強調這樣的用法在簡報或演講中,都是非常萬用的,主要能夠讓聽眾掌握演講內容的方向。

The first story is about connecting the dots. I dropped out of Reed College after the first six months but then stayed around as a drop-in for another eighteen months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out? It started before I was born.

賈伯斯也直接切入第一個關於「connecting the dots」的故事。如果直接翻譯,很容易誤以為是字面上連結不同點的意思。其實,賈伯斯真正想表達的意思是在當下的人生經驗,不見得能看到全貌,但當一段時間,回頭看這些過往人生經驗時,就像不同的點,會把各種不同的經驗串聯起來。

他也談到自己從Reed College「drop out」,有輟學的意思。而後來又「drop- in」復學。但還是在課堂旁聽,並且待了近18個月後才真正離開。接著,他談到自己的生母希望擁有大學學歷的人領養他,但對方在最後一刻反悔。於是,在賈伯斯的養父母承諾未來會讓他就讀大學後,賈伯斯的生母才同意簽下領養相關文件。

After six months, I couldn’t see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, and no idea of how college was going to help me figure it out, and here I was, spending all the money my parents had saved their entire life.

So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back, it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out, I could stop taking the required classes that didn’t interest me and begin dropping in on the ones that looked far more interesting.

然而,真正讓賈伯斯輟學的轉捩點是:他看不見大學的價值。畢竟他就讀大學的所有開銷,幾乎快花光他養父母一生的積蓄。6個月後,我無法看見它的價值。當時的他很迷茫,I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life.,表示他不知道自己的人生要做什麼,也可以說I had no life goal.。

所以,當時他決定輟學,而且相信事情最終會得到解決。work out在這裡並不能當作健身,而是有「最終」的意思。當他現在回頭看looking back,也覺得這是他做過最好的決定之一。什麼什麼的之一,可以用one of the….句型。

取自unsplash。
取自unsplash。

取自unsplash。

眾所皆知,賈伯斯去旁聽文字藝術Calligraphy的相關課程,這也讓後來的蘋果電腦中有漂亮的排版設計和不同字型。這裡浩爾也解釋雖然Calligraphy有書法的意涵,這讓很多人誤以為賈伯斯有上過類似像書法課。但其實在歐美國家Calligraphy指的是文字藝術,像是有無襯線的字體等。

Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college, but it was very, very clear looking backwards 10 years later. Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards, so you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.

這裡賈伯斯也做個小結,表示當你往前看時是不能把這些點連起來的,只有當你回顧時才能。所以你必須相信某些事情,像是你的直覺、人生等不管是什麼,用心地追隨你內心聲音。

賈伯斯:被蘋果解雇,是人生中發生最好的事

(此段影片教學▼點我▼)

My second story is about love and loss. I was lucky. Woz and I started Apple in my parents’ garage when I was twenty. We worked hard and in ten years, Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. and I’d just turned thirty, and then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started?

接著,賈伯斯開始說關於「愛與失去」的故事。他在自己20歲時和沃茲在車庫開始了蘋果電腦。我們努力工作,並且在10年內,讓蘋果的員工數從2個人成長到超過 4000 人。但就在他30歲時,卻被解僱了。

I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods in my life.

當時的賈伯斯並不知道,被蘋果解僱可能是發生在他身上最好的事。因為成功所帶來的重擔,也如釋重負了。「The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again」在這一段話賈伯斯也巧妙運用heaviness/ lightness對比的方式。這也讓他迎來人生最具有創造力的時期,創立了NeXT和Pixar(皮克斯動畫)公司。

取自達志影像。
取自達志影像。

取自達志影像。

Sometimes life’s going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love, and that is as true for work as it is for your lovers.

「有時人生可能會用磚塊打你的頭。」(Sometimes life’s going to hit you in the head with a brick.)浩爾這裡也解釋就是可能在人生中碰到某些事情,讓人很灰心挫折等。而賈伯斯的心念就是:喜愛自己所做的事,積極去尋找到你所愛的事情,這個道理適用於工作和你的愛人一樣。

最後,賈伯斯講到第三個故事是關於死亡。他提到自己在2004年被診斷出罹患癌症,並勉勵畢業生不要浪費時間活在別人的期待;而最重要的是,要有勇氣追隨你的內心及直覺。

本文轉載自遠見雜誌