比尔盖茨致青年的黄金准则

1. Life is not fair, get used to it.

2. The world wont care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself.

3. You will not make 40 thousand dollars a year right out of high school. You wont be a vice president with a car, until you earn both.

4. If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. He doesnt have tenure.

5. Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping; they called it opportunity.

6. If you mess up, its not your parents fault, so dont whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

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

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

9. Life is not divided into semesters. You dont get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time.

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

参考译文：

1. 生活是不公平的，你要去适应它。

2. 这个世界并不会在意你的自尊，而是要求你在自我感觉良好之前先有所成就。

3. 刚从学校走出来的时候不可能一年挣4万美元，更不会成为哪家公司的副总裁，还拥有一部汽车，直到你将这些都挣到手的那一天。

4. 如果你认为学校里的老师过于严厉，那么等你有了老板再回头想一想。

5. 卖汉堡包并不会有损于你的尊严。你的祖父对卖汉堡包有着不同的理解，他们称之为机遇。

6. 如果你陷入困境，那不是你父母的过错，不要将你理应承担的责任转嫁给他人，而要学着从中吸取教训。

7. 在你出生之前，你的父母并不像现在这样乏味。他们变成今天这个样子是因为这些年来一直为你付账单，给你洗衣服，听你谈你有多酷。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。

8. 你所在学校也许已经不再分优等生和劣等生，但生活并不如此。在某些学校已经有了不及格的概念，学校会不断地给你机会让你进步，然而现实生活完全不是这样的。

9. 走出学校后的生活不像在学校一样有学期之分，也没有暑假之说。没有几位老板乐于帮你发现自我，你必须依靠自己去完成。

10. 电视中的许多场景决不是真实的生活。在现实生活中，人们必须埋头做自己的工作，而并不像电视里演的那样天天泡在咖啡馆里。