书城外语那些给我勇气的句子(每天读一点英文)
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第35章 Bill Gates in His Boyhood (2)

比尔和保罗对电脑和商务的痴迷意味着他们要博览群书。保罗喜爱像《大众电子》之类的刊物,而比尔则翻阅商业杂志。上机时间的昂贵,以及因为这两个孩子迫切需要更多的上机时间,还有比尔早已洞察到他们在经济上会有所收益,于是他们俩决定组建自己的公司:湖畔程序设计者集团。比尔宣布道:“让我们唤醒这个世界并给它推销点东西吧!”

实战提升篇

核心单词

schedule [5Fedju:l] n. 清单;目录;时间表;课程表

especially [is5peFEli] adv. 特别;尤其;格外

rigorous [5ri^ErEs] adj. 严格的;严厉的;苛刻的

dash [dAF] v. 猛撞;猛砸;击碎

overtake [EuvE5teik] v. 追上;赶上;超过

neglect [ni5^lekt] v. 忽视,忽略;疏忽

score [skC:] n. (比赛中的)得分,比数;(测验的)成绩

insight [5insait] n. 洞察力,眼光

announce [E5nauns] v. 宣布,发布

实用句型

As a child—and an adult as well—Bill was untidy.

童年时期——即使成了大人——比尔也一样不修边幅。

①As a child—and an adult介词短语与bill并行 ,并对其进行修饰。

②and...as well也,又,同样地;类似的表达还有as well as不但……而且;might as well该……做;just as well幸好,无妨等固定搭配。

翻译行不行

1.您能否详细地说明一下主题?(in detail)

2.他每月都留出一些钱备用。(set aside)

3.她擅长人物素描。(be good at)

第一章 Oprah Winfrey,a Refulgent Soul

· Terry ·

Oprah Winfrey is one of the most exciting,highest paid,and best-loved celebrities in America. She is also the country’s top television talk show host. Oprah Winfrey is a very fine actress and a successful producer. She is a living example of what talent,hard work,and determination can do.

Oprah Winfrey has come a long way from her poor childhood home in a small Mississippi town. She was an unwanted child whose parents never married. She was brought up on her grandmother’s farm. The possibility that she would become rich and famous was not very good.

Oprah’s mother left her child in her mother’s care,so she could go to work in Milwaukee,Wisconsin. It was a strict and difficult life for Oprah. But it also led the way for her future. She was a highly intelligent child. By the age of three,she had learned to read and write. She also made her first public appearance at that age. She gave a talk in church,which impressed everyone.“That child is gifted,”people said.

Oprah’s intelligence was resented by other children her age. They called her unkind names and pushed her away. Oprah felt very isolated and unwanted. It made her feel worse that she didn’t live with her mother and father. She felt that no one loved her. This made her angry,resentful,and rebellious. These feelings brought her much trouble as she was growing up. She often behaved badly,causing her grandmother to punish her. By the time Oprah was seven,she was too much for her grandmother to discipline. Then Oprah went to live with her mother,Vernita,in Milwaukee.

Vernita worked very hard at her job as a housekeeper. It was hard for her to work and take care of her bright,troublesome child. Oprah was a burden,and she knew it. They lived in poverty in a small apartment in the city. Oprah took out all her angry feelings on her mother. She was a difficult child. When Oprah was eight,Vernita sent her to live with her father and stepmother in Nashville,Tennessee. But she moved again a few months later when Vernita married a man with two children. Vernita wanted Oprah with her and her new family.

Unfortunately she felt she didn’t belong with them. She believed she wasn’t loved by anyone. Her anger and frustration grew stronger. She struck back by misbehaving and running away from home. Her parents found her impossible to discipline. When she was 14 they tried to send her to a special center for troubled girls. But there was no room for her. So Vernita sent Oprah back to live with her father. Vernon Winfrey was by then a successful businessman and family man. He took one look at his daughter and knew she needed guidance,love,and discipline. He gave her all three. It was a turning point in Oprah’s life. Vernon Winfrey was strict about his daughter’s education. He gave her homework in addition to her schoolwork. She was allowed to watch only one hour of television a day. She became an A student and a popular girl in her class.

Oprah watched Barbara Walters,a famous journalist and interviewer,and decided that was what she wanted to be. When she was still in high school,she got a part-time job reading news on the radio. In her senior year she won a beauty contest and a four-year scholarship to Tennessee State University. While still in college she was offered a job as a news broadcaster at a local television station. She was the first female and the first African-American newscaster in Nashville. She was promoted to anchor,the most important position on the news team,while still a senior.

After Oprah graduated she got a job with a Baltimore news station. But she soon realized that broadcasting news wasn’t enough for her. She had to let her personality shine through. She wanted to show emotion when she told a story,not just report it. Meanwhile the station managers were thinking the same way. They couldn’t stop her from commenting on the news she read. They removed her from the anchor spot and wondered what to do with her. Finally they put her on an early morning talk show called People Are Talking. No one knew what to expect.