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I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.
今天與你們一起參加世界上最好的大學之一的畢業典禮，我感到很榮幸。我從來沒有從大學畢業。說實話，這是我離大學畢業典禮最近的一次。今天我想向你們講述我生活中的三個故事。就是這樣。不是什么大不了的事情，只是三個故事而已。
The first story is about connecting the dots.
第一個故事是關于把點串連成線的故事
I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?
我在里德學院（Reed College）只讀了六個月就退學了，但是我還經常去學校旁聽，又過了大約18個月，我才真正離開校園。那么，我為什么要退學呢?
It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college 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 have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out 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 someday go to college.
這要從我出生前講起。母親懷上我時，她還是一名年輕的未婚在校研究生，于是她決定把我送給別人來收養。她非常強烈地希望我被上過大學的人收養，所以，我的一切都被安排好，等我一出生就由一名律師和他的妻子收養。哪知我剛一出世，這對夫婦突然改變了主意，他們真正想要的是一個女孩。這樣，我的養父母——當時還列在登記的申請人名單中——突然在半夜接到了一個電話：“我們有一個不期而至的男嬰，你們想要他嗎？”他們回答道：“當然要?！钡俏疑负髞戆l現，我的養母并沒有大學學歷，而我的養父甚至沒從中學畢業。她拒絕在最終的收養文件上簽字。但幾個月之后，我的父母承諾將來一定送我上大學，我的生母就松口了。
