But I didn't need to think about it
我根本不需要考虑
I knew what intellectual passion felt like because I'd felt it here, at Princeton and I wanted to feel it again
我知道知性表达的激情是什么感觉 因为在这里 普林斯顿 我曾感受过 而我想重燃那份激情
I was 26 years old. Had I waited until I was 36
我那时26岁 如果我真的等到36岁
I would never have done it
我将永远无法写成那本书
I would have forgotten the feeling, and would feel too risky
我会已经忘记了那种感觉 我会觉得太冒险
The book I wrote was called Liar's Poker
我的这本书名叫《说谎者的扑克牌》
It sold a million copies
卖了100万册
I was 28 years old. I had a career, a little fame a small fortune and a new life narrative
我那时28岁 我有了一项事业 一点名气 一笔财富和一个新的生命传奇
All of a sudden people were telling me I was a born writer
突然间所有的人都告诉我我天生就是作家的料
This was absurd. Even I could see there was another more true narrative, with luck as its theme
这太扯淡了 即使我都能看的明白 有另一种更真实的传奇 它的主题是运气
What were the odds of being seated at that dinner next to that Salomon Brothers lady?
那顿晚宴刚好坐在 所罗门兄弟女士身旁的几率有多大呢？
Of landing inside the best Wall Street firm to write the story of an age?
空降在一个最好的华尔街公司从而有机会 写这个时代的故事的几率有多大呢？
Of landing in the seat with the best view of the business?
正好坐在一个可以俯瞰行业全景的职位上的 几率又有多大呢？碰巧遇到这样父母
Of having parents who didn't disinherit me but instead sighed and said do it if you must?
没有与我断绝关系 而只是叹了口气 说 如果你非要这样就去做吧 这样的几率又是多大呢？
Of having had that sense of must kindled inside me by a professor of art history at Princeton?
有幸心中有被普林斯顿艺术史教授点燃的 那种非做不可的激情的几率又有多大呢？
Of having been let into Princeton in the first place?
而最初能够入读普林斯顿的几率又是多大呢？
This isn't just false humility. It's false humility with a point
我不是在装谦虚 我是在有目的的装谦虚
My case illustrates how success is always rationalized
我的经历表明了 成功一直是如何被世人理解的
People really don't like to hear success explained away as luck especially successful people
人们真的不喜欢听到的成功被归结到运气上面 尤其是成功人士
As they age, and succeed people feel their success was somehow inevitable
当他们年龄增长 当他们步向成功 他们觉得自己的成功根本是历史的必然
