#005: Discurso de abertura da Stanford dado por Steve Jobs

Estava procurando por um texto suficientemente interessante pra prender a nossa atenção e, ao mesmo tempo, melhorar nosso Inglês. Acabei descobrindo um transcript do discurso de abertura que Steve Jobs fez na StaNford, uma universidade líder de pesquisa do mundo e instituições de ensino. Isso mesmo, Steve Jobs. Quer alguém mais inspirador? No transcript, entretanto, eu tirei apenas a introdução, já que o discurso inteiro chega a mais ou menos 15 minutos. Seria um pouco fadigante estudar todo o texto. Ao decorrer da leitura, você verá que eu destaquei algumas expressões que, posteriormente, serão explicadas em detalhes e exemplos. Enjoy!

Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories. 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. My biological mother was a young, unwed graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife, except that when I popped out, they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking, "We've got an unexpected baby boy. Do you want him?" They said, "Of course." My biological mother found out later that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would go to college.
This was the start in my life. And seventeen years later, I did go to college, but I naïvely chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. 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.

Glossário:

No big deal = Não é grande coisa, nada de grande importância ou consequência.

to connect the dots = Entender a relação entre ideias diferentes ou experiências. Ex.: It took years of hard work to connect the dots between the murder and the suspect. [Levou anos de trabalho duro até ligar os pontos entre o assassino e o suspeito.]

drop out of = parar de fazer algo, desistir. Neste caso, Steve disse que desistiu da Universidade de Reed.

drop-in = participante de algo sem compromisso. um drop-in é alguém que toma a ação de drop in on something, ou seja, participar de algo descompromissadamente. pode ser considerado o oposto de drop out of, mas assim como este, demonstra descompromisso.

unwed graduate student = uma estudante graduada solteira.

put me up for adoption = colocar/disponibilizar para adoção.

to be set to do something = estar provável a algo. No caso do Steve, he was all set to be adopted. (ele estava para ser adotado.)

to pop out = aparecer por um curto período de tempo. Este phrasal verb também se refere a ação de sair por um período curto de tempo, talves pra ir a padaria, por exemplo. Veja este exemplo: I'm popping out to the shops. Do you need anything while I'm out? (Eu vou dá um pulinho nas lojas. Precisa de algo de fora?)

to relent = ceder, abrandar. Pode significar também desistir, como neste exemplo: That is why we will not relent nor slacken in our efforts until all of you are very conscious of this truth. (Por isso que nem vamos desistir nem abrandar em nossos esforços até todos vocês estejam bem conscientes desta verdade.)

naïvely = ingenuamente

working-class = classe operária

work out OK = dar certo.

Fontes: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1422863/posts, http://www.usingenglish.com/