生活是不公平的，要去适应它。

　　Life is not fair, get used to it.

　　世界并不会在意你的自尊。这世界指望你在自我感觉良好之前先要有所成就。

　　The world won"t care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself.

　　You will not make 40 thousand dollars a year right out of high school. You won"t be a vice¹ president with a car phone, until you earn both.

　　刚毕业的你不会一年挣4万美元，在你将此职位和汽车都挣到手以前，你不会成为一个公司的副总裁，并拥有一部装有电话的汽车。

　　你认为你的教师严厉，等你在老板手下干活时再这样想，老板可不像教师那样有任期限制的。

　　If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. He doesn"t have tenure².

　　如果你陷入困境，那不是你父母的过错，所以不要抱怨错误，要从中汲取教训。

　　If you mess up, it"s not your parents" fault, so don"t whine³ about our mistakes, learn from them.

        在你出生之前，你的父母并非像他们现在这样乏味。他们变成今天这个样子，是因为这些年来一直在为你付帐单，给你洗衣服，听你大谈如何的酷。所以在对父母喋喋不休之前，还是先去打扫一下你自己的屋子吧。

　　Before you were born, your parents weren"t as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites⁴ of your parents" generation, try "delousing" the closet in your own room.

　　你的学校也许已经不再分优等生和劣等生，但生活却仍在做出类似区分。某些学校已经废除不及格分，只要你想找到正确答案，学校会给你无数次机会。这和现实生活中的任何事情没有一点相似之处。

　　Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools they have abolished failing grades; they"ll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This doesn"t bear the slightest resemblance to anything in real life.

　　生活不分学期，你并没有暑假可以休息，也没有几位雇主乐于帮助你发现自我。自己找时间做吧。

　　Life is not divided into semesters. You don"t get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping⁵ you find yourself. Do that on your own time.

　　电视不是真实的生活。现实生活中，人们实际上得离开咖啡屋去干自己的工作。

　　Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

　　善待乏味的人。有可能到头来你在工作中也会变成一个乏味的人。

　　Be nice to nerds. Chances are you"ll end up working for one.