精彩文章：比爾蓋茨的執著短文閱讀

精彩文章：比爾蓋茨的執著短文閱讀

　　摘錄：我當時就該想到，做事這樣專心致志的孩子，是可以抵達自己的任何目標的。但我萬沒料到的是，他會成為今天資訊時代的奇才。他就是微型軟件大王：比爾·蓋茨——今日美國最富的人。

　　精彩文章： 比爾蓋茨的執著

　　One day in 1965, when I was a librarian at View Ridge School in Seattle ,a fourth-grade teacher approached me.She had a student who finished his work before all the othersand needed a challenge. "Could he help in the library?" she asked.I said, "Send him along."

　　Soon a slight, sandy-haired boy in jeans and a T-shirt appeared.

　　1965年，我在西雅圖維尤里奇學校當圖書館員時，一天，一個四年級老師來找到我說，她有個學生總是最先完成功課，他需要干點別的對他有挑戰性的工作。“他可以來圖書館幫幫忙嗎?”她問。“帶他來吧!”我說。

　　不一會兒，一個穿牛仔褲和圓領衫，長著沙色頭發的清瘦男孩進來了。

　　I told him about the Dewey Decimal System for shelving books.He picked up the idea immediately.Then I showed him a stack of cards for long-overdue booksthat I was beginning to think had actually been returnedbut were miss-shelved with the wrong cards in them.He said, "Is it kind of a detective job?"I answered "yes". And he became an unrelenting sleuth.

　　He had found three books with wrong cardsby the time his teacher opened the door and announced,"Time for recess!" He argued for finishing the job;she made the case for fresh air. She won.

　　我向他講了杜威十進制分類藏書法。他很快明白了。然后，我讓他看了一堆卡片，上面的書目都是逾期很久未歸還的。但現在我懷疑這些書其實已還，只是夾錯了卡片和放錯了地方，需要查找核實一下。“這是否有點像偵探工作?”他問。我說是的。

　　他便勁頭十足，像個真正偵探似的干開了。到他的老師進來宣布“休息時間已到”時，他已發現了3本夾錯卡片的書。他還想繼續把活干完為止。但老師說他得出去呼吸一下新鮮空氣。她最后說服了他。

　　The next morning, he arrived early."I wanted to finish finding those books," he said.At the end of the day, when he asked to be a librarian on a regular basis,it was easy to say yes. He worked untiringly.

　　次日早晨，他很早便來了。“我想今天把夾錯卡片的書全找出來。”他說。到下午下班前，他問我，他是否已夠格當個真正的圖書館員，我說這毫無疑問。他實在勤奮得可以。

　　After a few weeks I found a note on my desk,inviting me to dinner at the boy's home.At the end of a pleasant evening, his mother announcedthat the family would be moving to the adjoining school district.Her son's first concern, she said, was leaving the View Ridge library."Who will find the lost books?" he asked.

　　幾星期后的一天，我在辦公桌上發現了張請柬，是請我去他家吃晚飯。在那愉快的晚宴結束前，他媽媽宣布，他們全家將搬到附近一個地區。她還說，她兒子最舍不得的就是維尤里奇圖書館。“今后誰來找遺失的書呢?”他問。

　　When the time came, I said a reluctant good-bye.Though initially he had seemed an ordinary kid, his zeal had set him apart.

　　到他搬家時，我很不情愿地同他分了手。這男孩乍一看似乎很尋常，但他做事的那種專注和熱情卻使他顯得與眾不同。

　　I missed him, but not for long.A few days later he popped in the door and joyfully announced,"The librarian over there doesn't let boys work in the library.My mother got me transferred back to View Ridge.My dad will drop me off on his way to work.And if he can't I'll walk."

　　我很想念他，但幾天后他突然又來到我家，快活地說：“那邊的圖書館不讓男孩干活，媽媽又把我轉回了維尤里奇。”

　　I should have had an inkling such focused determination would take that young man wherever he wanted to go.What I could not have guessed, however,was that he would become a wizard of the Information Age:Bill Gates, tycoon of Microsoft and America's richest man.

　　我當時就該想到，做事這樣專心致志的孩子，是可以抵達自己的任何目標的。但我萬沒料到的是，他會成為今天資訊時代的奇才。他就是微型軟件大王：比爾·蓋茨——今日美國最富的人。