Bill Gates
心灵寄语
从退学创建微软，到成为世界首富，比尔·盖茨仅用了20年的时间，被美国人誉为“站在世界巅峰的人”。世界首富比尔·盖茨也曾经和我们一样不名一文，但他知道如何利用自身的优势去抓住身边的机遇，于是，他成功了。
I"ve been an optimist and I supposed that is rooted in my belief that the power of creativity and intelligence can make the world a better place.
For as long as I can remember， I"ve loved learning new things and solving problems. So when I sat down at a computer for the first time in seventh grade， I was hooked. It was a clunky1 and teletype2 machine that barely do anything compared to the computer we have today. But it changed my life.
When my friend Paul Allen and I started Microsoft 30 years ago， we had a vision of“a computer on every desk and in every home”，which probably sounded a little too optimistic at a time when most computers were the size of refrigerators. But we believe that personal computer would change the world. And they have. And after 30 years， I still inspired3 by computers as I was back in seventh grade.
I believe that computers are the most incredible4 tool we can use to feed our curiosity and inventiveness5—to help us solve problems that even the smartest people couldn"t solve on their own. Computer have transformed how we learn， giving kids everywhere a window into all of the world"s knowledge. They"re helping us build communicates around the things we care about and to stay close to the people who are important to us， no matter where they are.
Like my friend Warren Buffett， I feel particularly lucky to do something every day I love to do. He calls it“tap-dancing to work”. My job at Microsoft is as challenging as ever， but what makes me“tap-dancing to the work”is when we show people something new， like a computer that can recognize your handwriting or your speech， or one that can store a lifetime"s worth of photos， and they say，“I didn"t know you can do that with a PC！”
But for all the cool things that a person can do with a PC， there are lots other ways we can put our creativity and intelligence to work to improve our world. There are still far too many people in the world whose most basic needs go unmet. Every year， for example， millions of people die from diseases that are easy to prevent or treat in the developed world.
I believe that my own good fortune brings with it a responsibility to give back to the world. My wife， Melinda， and I have committed to improving health and education in a way that can help as many people as possible.
As a father， I believe that the death of a child in Africa is no less poignant6 or tragic than the death of a child anywhere else. And that doesn"t take much to make an immense7 difference in these children"s lives.
I"m still very optimist， and I believe that progress on even the world"s toughest problems is possible——and it"s happening every day. We"re seeing new drugs for deadly diseases， new diagnostic8 tools， and new attention paid to the health problems in the developing world.
I"m excited by the possibilities I see for medicine， for education and， of course， for technology. And I believe that through our natural inventiveness， creativity and willingness to solve tough problems， we"re going to make some amazing achievements in all these areas in my lifetime.
比尔·盖茨
我是一个乐观主义者，有这样一种信念扎根于我的内心深处，那就是人类凭借创造力和聪明才智可以把世界变得更加美好。
从我记事时起，就迷恋于学习新事物、解决难题。因此，当我在七年级第一次坐在计算机面前时，我完全着迷了。那是一台笨重的旧式机器，和我们今天拥有的计算机相比，它相当逊色，几乎毫无用处，但正是它改变了我的一生。
当我的朋友保罗·艾伦和我30年前创办微软时，我们想象着某一天“每个家庭、每张办公桌上都有一台电脑”，这在当时听起来也许有点匪夷所思，因为在那个时代，大多数的电脑都如同冰箱的尺寸。然而，我们坚信个人电脑将改变整个世界。如今看来，我们的预料没错！30年过去了，我仍然像七年级时一样痴迷于电脑。
我相信计算机是一个最神奇的工具，它可以让我们满足自己的好奇心，不断地发明创造——电脑将那些世界上最聪明的人也无法应对的难题都瞬间解决。电脑已经改变了我们的学习方式，它为全球各地的孩子们开启了一扇窗，让他们了解这个大千世界。它可以帮我们围绕我们关注的事物建立“群”，让我们和那些对自己重要的人保持密切联系，不管他们身处何方。
正如我的朋友沃伦·巴菲特，我为每天都能做自己热爱的事而感到十分幸运。巴菲特把它称为“跳着踢踏舞工作”。我在微软的工作像往常一样充满了挑战，但是我们向人们展示某些新鲜发明的时刻一直激励着我这样“跳着踢踏舞工作”。比如，人们在看到电脑能辨认笔迹、辨认别人的声音或者能存储值得保留一生的照片时会不由的赞叹：“我真不敢相信个人电脑竟如此万能”。
但是，除了设计出能让人们感觉很酷的电脑，我们还可以将创造力和聪明才智用来改善这个世界。在这个世界上，有太多的人连最基本的生存需求都难以满足。比如，每年仍有数以百万的人死于疾病，而这些疾病在发达国家很容易预防或是治愈。
我相信，我所拥有的大量财富让我有义务回馈这个社会。我的妻子梅林达和我多年来致力于改善一些地区的医疗状况和教育条件，以此来帮助更多的人。
作为一个父亲，我认为，一个非洲孩子的死亡与世界其他国家孩子的死亡一样令人悲痛；我做一些力所能及的事情，也许会使这些孩子们的命运发生翻天覆地的变化。
我仍然非常乐观，我坚信即使是世界上最棘手的难题也有可能取得一些进展——其实这样的事情每天都在发生。每天我们都看到新的治疗绝症的药物和新的诊断器械被发明，并且，人们越来越关注发展中国家的健康问题。
医药、教育还有技术发展的大好前景都令我感到兴奋。而且，我坚信通过人类天生的发明和创造力，以及坚忍不拔、不畏艰难的品质，我将有幸在有生之年看到这些领域的可喜成就。
词汇空间 ocabulary
1.clunky adj. 笨拙的
2.teletype n. 电传打字机，电报交换机
3.inspired adj. 有创造力的，能力卓越的
4.incredible adj. 难以置信的，不可思议的
5.inventiveness n. 独创性
6.poignant adj. 伤心至极的，痛切的
7.immense adj. 极大的，巨大的
8.diagnostic adj. 诊断的
文化链接 Culture Background
比尔·盖茨简介
比尔·盖茨是一名美国企业家、软件工程师、慈善家以及微软公司的董事长。他与保罗·艾伦一起创建了微软公司，曾任微软CEO和首席软件设计师，并持有公司超过8%的普通股，也是公司最大的个人股东。1995年到2007年的《福布斯》全球亿万富翁排行榜中，比尔·盖茨连续13年蝉联世界首富。2008年6月27日正式退出微软公司，并把580亿美元个人财产尽数捐到比尔与美琳达·盖茨基金会。《福布斯》杂志2009年3月12日公布全球富豪排名，比尔·盖茨以400亿美元资产重登榜首。盖茨2001—2007年蝉联世界首富！2008年排名世界第三，2009年又一次成为世界首富！
妙语拾珠
1.I"ve been an optimist and I supposed that is rooted in my belief that the power of creativity and intelligence can make the world a better place.
我是一个乐观主义者，有这样一种信念扎根于我的内心深处，那就是人类凭借创造力和聪明才智可以把世界变得更加美好。
2.And I believe that through our natural inventiveness， creativity and willingness to solve tough problems， we"re going to make some amazing achievements in all these areas in my lifetime.
而且，我坚信通过人类天生的发明和创造力，以及坚忍不拔、不畏艰难的品质，我将有幸在有生之年看到这些领域的可喜成就。
