（1） 作者刚去哈佛商学院的时候，有一次学生会举办活动，在草坪上搭起帐篷，高音喇叭里放着Black Eyed Peas乐队的一首歌。歌中唱道，Let’s get retarded in here. Let’s get retarded. 让我们一起变成白痴吧！一起变成白痴吧！（作者觉得他读MBA的感觉多少有点类似。）

 

（2）在巴黎，英国人有个小圈子：前外交官，前记者等。作者本人也曾是圈中一员，他担任过《每日电讯报》驻巴黎记者。他说，这个小圈子的人们曾经去英国驻巴黎的大使馆混餐, 衣着不再光鲜，打点零工，嘴唇因为喝了便宜的红酒而变成暗黑。Each month, they seemed to descend ever farther down the freelance ladder, their clothes deteriorating, their lips stained darker with cheaper red wines.

 

（3）有个老师授课时的表情很夸张，瞪眼时，当学生的我生怕他的眼睛像珠宝一样散落在地板上。When he became excited, you thought his eyeballs would burst through his lenses and clatter to the floor like marbles.

 

(4) 作者讲了一个观点，我很认同。判断一个企业的成长性和健康状况，夸张一点说，你只需要看一个指标：销售收入。You could tell everything about a company from its top line, its revenue. All of its creativity, innovation, and processes were there in the top line. Revenue was proof of your ability to win customers, which would determine your success more than your ability to squeeze a few pennies out of your costs.

 

(5) 基金公司或者投资银行的人都说，“我再干两年就退，或者换个自己喜欢的行业”。这全是屁话 bullshit. 他们上了瘾，几个人能真的退？Would there always be one more promotion, one more pay raise, one more bonus? When would be the right time?

 

(6) 别怪别人不为你的创业项目提供资金。只怪你的项目不行。世界上总是钱多于好项目。Never in recorded history has the supply of capital not whelmed the supply of opportunities.

 

(7) 商学院的最大本事就是把简单的事情说得很复杂。例子不胜枚举。某日，学校逼着一个同学写了一封公开的检讨书，说自己因为道德指南针失控，而导致了令人遗憾的...房屋损毁事件。一头雾水。究竟出了什么事？原来这个学生昨晚喝醉了，在邻居的门上撒了点尿。My moral compass went haywire last night, causing regrettable property damage incidents.

 

（8）在谷歌面试之后，作者去等候飞机。他观察周围的打工一族，眼睛盯着手机，等飞回家或者另一个地方。他的心理活动如下，容我不翻译。I waited in a departure lounge, beneath the ten-foot-wide cleavage on a strip-club poster. Across the hall was the crowded smoking area, full of desperate-looking souls. ... （waiting) for the flight that would take them home or off to yet another hotel room with yet more pornography on demand. They were like ghouls, haunting me whenever I wavered, urging me not to go corporate.