We are What We Choose-JEFF BEZOS 中英对照【DOC精选】.docVIP

(Jeff Bezos the founder and the chief executive officer of worlds largest e-tail bookstore in the world, Amazon, gave the commencement speech to Princetons Class of 2010 which titled We Are What We Choose) We are What We ChooseRemarks by Jeff Bezos, as delivered to the Class of 2010BaccalaureateMay 30, 2010As a kid, I spent my summers with my grandparents on their ranch in Texas. I helped fix windmills, vaccinate cattle, and do other chores. We also watched soap operas every afternoon, especially Days of our Lives. My grandparents belonged to a Caravan Club, a group of Airstream trailer owners who travel together around the U.S. and Canada. And every few summers, wed join the caravan. Wed hitch up the Airstream trailer to my grandfathers car, and off wed go, in a line with 300 other Airstream adventurers. I loved and worshipped my grandparents and I really looked forward to these trips. On one particular trip, I was about 10 years old. I was rolling around in the big bench seat in the back of the car. My grandfather was driving. And my grandmother had the passenger seat. She smoked throughout these trips, and I hated the smell.At that age, Id take any excuse to make estimates and do minor arithmetic. Id calculate our gas mileage -- figure out useless statistics on things like grocery spending. Id been hearing an ad campaign about smoking. I cant remember the details, but basically the ad said, every puff of a cigarette takes some number of minutes off of your life: I think it might have been two minutes per puff. At any rate, I decided to do the math for my grandmother. I estimated the number of cigarettes per days, estimated the number of puffs per cigarette and so on. When I was satisfied that Id come up with a reasonable number, I poked my head into the front of the car, tapped my grandmother on the shoulder, and proudly proclaimed, At two minutes per puff, youve taken nine years off your life!I have a vivid memory of what happened next, and it was not w