Steve Jobsのスピーチ英文解釈 ~ジョブズの人生・彼の生き方とは~

新製品が登場するたびに大きな話題となるアップル。
最近ではApple Payという決済機能がiPhone7に搭載され、
日本人の生活にますます電子マネーが浸透していくことが予想されています。

人々の生活を大きく変える巨大な影響力をもつアップル社。
今回はそんな会社を創った経営のカリスマ・スティーブジョブズの人生について
英語の勉強がてら、有名なスピーチを基に学んでいきたいと思います。

今回学習するスピーチはスティーブ・ジョブズの最も有名なスピーチ、
スタンフォード大学卒業式でのスピーチを取り上げてみます。

Stay hungry, stay foolish」 という言葉が引用されたあのスピーチです。

<スピーチ全文>

Thank you.I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. Truth be told, I never graduated from college.and 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.

  • commencement:開始 学位授与式
  • No big deal:たいしたことない
  • Stanford University:アメリカカリフォルニア州に本部を置く私立大学。世界大学学術ランキングでは毎年必ずTop3に入るアメリカを代表する名門大学。
スポンサーリンク

Connecting the dots

【大学を辞めた理由】

The first story is about connecting the dots.

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?

  • Reed college:オレゴン州にあるリベラルアーツカレッジ(少人数教育で教養教育に力を入れる大学⇔University)
  • drop-in:ちょっと立ち寄る

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 got an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?” They said: “Of course.” My biological mother found out later 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 go to college.This was the start in my life.

  • unwed:未婚の
  • put me up for adoption:養子にだす
  • pop out:突然現れる (ここでは「生まれる」の意味)
  • relent:和らぐ、解きほぐれる

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents’ savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn’t see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn’t interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked far more interesting.

  • all of my working-class parents’ savings:労働者階級の両親の貯えの全て
  • tuition:授業料 授業 ex)private tuition 個人的授業
  • required classes:必須科目
  • drop in on:不意に立ち寄る

It wasn’t all romantic. I didn’t have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends’ rooms, I returned Coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

  • dorm: (学校などの)寄宿舎 (dormitoryの口語) 
  • buy 〇〇 with money:お金で〇〇を買う
  • 7 miles:約11.2km
  • the Hare Krishna temple:ハレクリシュナ寺院 クリシュナ教の寺院
  • stumble:偶然出会う
  • intuition:直観 (この文章はmuchからintuitionまでが主語)

 

【カリグラフィーとの出会い】

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn’t have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and sans serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating.

  • calligraphy:カリグラフィー。ペンによる西洋書道。印刷技術が普及する前に欧州で発達した手書きの技術。
  • serif:文字の端にある小さな飾り Serif and sans-serif 03.svg(赤い部分がセリフ)
  • sans serif:セリフのない書体    Serif and sans-serif 01.svg<
  • typeface:書体
  • about what makes great typography great:優れた印刷物を優れているものにしているのは何か。=優れた印刷物は何が優れているのか
     (about はlearnと繋がる。learn about A,aboutB,aboutC.)
  • artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture:科学では捉えられない芸術的繊細な方法で

 

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But 10 years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it’s likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backward 10 years later.

  • it all came back to me:私のもとに全て戻ってきた。(=蘇ってきた)
  • If I had never dropped in on ~, the Mac would have never had ~.:(仮定法過去完了の文章。実際には異なる過去の仮定の話。)もし授業を受けていなかったら、~していなかっただろう。

Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that  the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart. Even when it leads you off the well worn path,and that will make all the difference.

  • let me down:がっかりさせる
     (この文章の2つの主語、This と it は「trust in something」 )※間違えてたら教えてくださ
  • leads you off:連れていく
  • the well worn path:(良くすり減った道⇒)みんなが通る道

Love and loss

【Appleをクビに】

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents’ garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4,000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

  • Woz:Apple社共同設立者の一人、スティーブ・ウォズニアックのニックネーム。経営のカリスマジョブズを技術の面からサポートした天才エンジニア。経営と技術、2人の天才がAppleを創り、そしてAppleを発展させていった。
  • billion:10億
  • got fired:解雇された
  • we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me::一緒に会社を運営するのにとても有能だと考えた人を雇った。(元ペプシ社長のJohn Sculleyのこと。Jobsは当時ペプシの社長であったSculleyを「Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to change the world?」と言って、Apple社に誘った。
  • diverge:(意見などが)分かれる
  • we did:前文の「we had a falling out(決裂した)」
  • Board of Directors sided with him:取締役会は彼(Sculley)に味方した
  • I was out:(Appleを)出ていった

I really didn’t know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs downthat I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

  • let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down:一世代前の企業家達をがっかりさせた
  • that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me:私に渡されつつあったバトンを落としてしまった[と感じた。] (was being passedなので、過去進行形。バトンを完全に受け取っていた訳ではなく、受けつつあったというニュアンス)
  • David Packard :ヒューレット・パッカードの共同創業者。
  • Bob Noyce:Robert Noyce。フェアチャイルドセミコンダクターとインテルの共同創業者で「シリコンバレーの主」と称された人物。ジョブズの目標の一人だったと言われている。
  • screwing up:しくじり、失敗
  • the valley:谷。ここではシリコンバレーの意味。
  • dawn:(名詞)夜明け (動詞)分かり始める
  • The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit:アップルでの出来事はそのこと(私がしてきたことを愛しているということ)を少しも変えなかった。

 

【クビが人生の転機に】

I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

  • The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again:成功する重圧は再び新参者になる軽快さに置き換えられた。
  • free:(動詞)解き放つ

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the world’s first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple’s current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

  • current:現在の
  • renaissance:ルネサンス、復活。 (この時期Appleは「マッキントッシュ」の深刻な販売不振に苦しんでいた。Appleに復帰したジョブズはネクストで開発した技術を基に、iMac、iBookなどのヒットを連発してAppleのV字回復を実現させた。)

I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.

  • none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple:(仮定法過去完了)アップルから解雇されていなかったら、これらはみな起きなかった。
  • It was awful tasting medicine:それ(アップルをクビになること)はひどい味の薬だった。
  • Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick:人生は時々レンガで頭を殴る
  •  that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers:それ(愛することを見つけべきであるということ)は、愛する人と同様に仕事にも当てはまる。
  • Don’t settle:安住するな。落ち着いてしまうな。(settleはふらふらしていたものが落ち着くという意味。ここでは自分の探し物が見つかるまで探し続けろという意味と捉えられる)

About death

【人生最後の日として今日を生きる】

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

  • quote:引用
  • If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.:毎日を人生最後の日であるように生きていれば、いつか必ずその通りになる。
    as if ~は まるで~のように。仮定法過去のため本来はas if it wereが文法的には正しいが、口語ではit wasでもOKらしい。
  • in a row:連続的に

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

  • Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life:自分はまもなく死ぬという認識が、重大な決断を下すときに最も役に立つのです。
  • external expectations:外部の期待

【現実の死を目の前にして】

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn’t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor’s code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you’d have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

  •  diagnose:診断する
  • tumor:腫瘍
  • pancreas:膵臓
  • incurable:不治の
  • live no longer than three to six months:3か月から6か月しか長くは生きられない
  •  My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor’s code for prepare to die:医者は家に帰って、身辺整理をするよう私に伝えた。それは死の準備をしろという医者の言い回しだった。
  • buttoned up:ボタンを留める、仕上げる (ここでは家族のために万事整えておくという意味だと思われる)

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I’m fine now.

  • biopsy:生体組織検査
  • stuck:stick(動詞:突き刺す)の過去形。
  • endoscope:内視鏡
  • intestine:腸
  • sedate:(形容詞)平静な (動詞)落ち着かせる、鎮静剤を投与する
  • started crying:泣き始めた

This was the closest I’ve been to facing death, and I hope it’s the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

  •  I hope it’s the closest I get for a few more decades:これは数十年間最接近であってほしいと望む。(実際にはこの6年後、膵臓腫瘍が原因で亡くなってしまう)
  • more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:死が有用だが純粋に知的概念であったときよりも確実に

【死は生命の最高の発明】

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

  • that is as it should be:これ(みな死から逃げられないこと)はそうあるべきである。
  • someday not too long from now:今からそう遠くないいつか
  • dramatic:芝居がかった

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

  • dogma:教義。宗教の教えを体系化したもの。(ここでは他者の考えた結果に基づき生きることとして使われている。)
  • secondary:二の次。副次的。

Stay hungry,stay foolish

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960s, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors and Polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: It was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

  • my generation:私の世代
  • fellow:やつ、(漠然とした)人物。 (ここでは「Stewart Brandという人物が」)
  • Menlo Park:カリフォルニア州の北部にある都市の名前。スタンフォード大学やfacebookの本社がある。
  • It was sort of like Google in paperback form:ペーパーバック版のグーグルのようなものだった。
  • overflowing with neat tools and great notions:正しい道具や素晴らしい考えで溢れている。

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.

  • it had run its course:(コースをすべて走り切った⇒)全てやり終えた
  • the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous:冒険的であれば、ヒッチハイクをしていそうな類の
  • sign off:書き終える、仕事をやめる
  • hungry:腹の減った、飢えた、渇望する
  • foolish:愚か、ばかげた

成功を手にしても、常にチャレンジし続けたジョブズ。
その源流は富でも名誉でもプライドでもなく、
ただただ自分の愛する分野を追い求める「純粋さ」だと感じました。

日々、会社という組織で働いていると、その「純粋さ」を失いがちですが、
一度立ち止まって、自分の心の奥底に流れる「純粋さ」を探してみようかな。
そんなことを思わせる、心が揺さぶられる名スピーチでした。


<おすすめ映画>
・スティーブ・ジョブズ(2013)
ジョブズの生涯を描いた、代表的な作品。
これを観ると先ほどのスピーチの内容が良く理解できるようになります。
そして、これを観るとジョブズがいかにクレイジーだったかが良く分かります。笑
主演の俳優がジョブズにそっくり。

スティーブ・ジョブズ (2016)
ジョブズにとって転機となった3つの有名な商品発表プレゼンに焦点を当てた映画。
発表会本番までの緊迫した舞台裏を中心に、ジョブズの家族愛も織り交ぜながら、
社会に変革をもたらすまでを描いた作品。
2013年の作品よりもジョブズの性格の悪さ、クレイジーさがより表現されています。笑

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