「比尔·盖茨」2018年最喜爱的5本书
今天，比尔盖茨在网上推荐了2018年5本他喜爱的书，其中包括《教育改变人生》（Educated）、《无人军团》（Army of None）、《坏血》（Bad Blood）、《今日简史》（21 Lessons for the 21st Century）和《冥想和正念入门指南》（The Headspace Guide to Meditation and Mindfulness）。
As 2018 comes to a close, Bill Gates is out with a list of the five best books he read this year.
Gates, who dropped out of Harvard to start Microsoft in 1975 and is now the world's biggest philanthropist and the world's second-richest person, is also an avid reader.
philanthropist
/fɪˈlænθrəpɪst/
表示“慈善家”，英文解释为“A philanthropist is someone who freely gives money and help to people who need it.”
相关背景
2018年3月6日，福布斯2018富豪榜发布，比尔·盖茨（Bill Gates）以900亿美元排名第二。亚马逊CEO杰夫·贝佐斯（Jeff Bezos）以1120亿美元居榜首。
avid
表示“渴望的；急切的；热衷的；劲头十足的”，英文解释为“extremely eager or interested”，如：an avid football fan 狂热的足球迷；an avid supporter of the arts 艺术活动的热心支持者，an avid reader可以译为书迷/读书迷/读书狂/爱看书的人等。
Every year, he finds time to read about 50 books. He regularly makes suggestions and gives reviews of his favorites ahead of summer and holiday breaks, when he knows many people have downtime. This year, he even gave away a free copy of one of his top picks to any college graduate who wanted one.
downtime
表示“休养期，工间休息时间”，英文解释为“Downtime is time when people are relaxing or not working.”，举个🌰：
Downtime in Hollywood can cost a lot of money.
好莱坞的工间休息会耗费不少钱。
也可以指计算机等机器、设备的“停止工作期，停止运行期”，英文解释为：the time during which a machine, especially a computer, is not working or is not able to be used.
“I think everyone could use a few more books in their lives,” he wrote on his website, Gates Notes, on Monday.
“我想每个人都可以将更多书里的内容应用到自己的生活中。”
His recommendations from 2018 include a book on meditation, as well as on modern warfare. “My list is pretty eclectic this year.”
“我今年列出的书可谓五花八门。”
“From a how-to guide about meditation to a deep dive on autonomous weapons to a thriller about the fall of a once-promising company, there's something for everyone. If you're looking for a fool-proof gift for your friends and family, you can't go wrong with one of these.”
“从冥想的入门指南到自主武器的深入研究，再到讲述一家公司从红极一时逐渐衰落的惊险故事，这其中总有让每个人都感到有兴趣的内容。如果你正在为自己或朋友家人寻找一本有意思、吸引人的好书，选这些中的一本不会有错。”
meditation
表示“默想；冥想”，英文解释为“the practice of emptying your mind of thoughts and feelings, in order to relax completely or for religious reasons”。
thriller
表示“ 惊悚小说；惊悚电影；惊悚戏剧”，英文解释为“A thriller is a book, movie, or play that tells an exciting fictional story about something such as criminal activities or spying.”
fool-proof
表示“（方法、计划、系统等）肯定成功的，万无一失的”，英文解释为“a foolproof method, plan, system etc is certain to be successful”，如：a foolproof way of preventing credit card fraud 防止信用卡诈骗的一个万全之策；
对比：
· infallible：表示“永远正确的，从不犯错误的”（always right and never making mistakes）和“（事物）绝对有效的”（something that is infallible always works or has the intended effect），举个🌰：
No expert is infallible.
没有一个专家永远正确。
· fail-safe：表示“万无一失的，万全的”（very unlikely to fail），如：
a fail-safe plan 万无一失的计划；fail-safe也可以表示“可自动防止故障危害的；有自动保险装置的”（If something is fail-safe, it has been designed so that if one part of it does not work, the whole thing does not become dangerous.）如：a fail-safe device 故障保护装置。
Here are the five books he recommends:
比尔盖茨推荐的五本书如下：
Educated
by Tara Westover
Tara never went to school or visited a doctor until she left home at 17. I never thought I'd relate to a story about growing up in a Mormon survivalist household, but she's such a good writer that she got me to reflect on my own life while reading about her extreme childhood. Melinda and I loved this memoir of a young woman whose thirst for learning was so strong that she ended up getting a Ph.D. from Cambridge University.
在塔拉17岁离开家之前，她从没上过学或看过医生。我没想到自己会对这样一个故事产生共鸣——一个在摩门教家庭中的成长故事。但塔拉实在写得太好，以至于让我在阅读她极端的童年故事时，也开始反思起自己的生活。我和梅琳达都很喜欢这位年轻女性的回忆录，她渴望学习的心是如此强烈，这让她最终获得了剑桥大学的博士学位。
memoir
/ˈmɛmwɑː/
表示“回忆录”，英文解释为“a biography or historical account, esp one based on personal knowledge”。
Army of None
by Paul Scharre
Autonomous weapons aren't exactly top of mind for most around the holidays, but this thought-provoking look at A.I. in warfare is hard to put down. It's an immensely complicated topic, but Scharre offers clear explanations and presents both the pros and cons of machine-driven warfare. His fluency with the subject should come as no surprise: he's a veteran who helped draft the U.S. government's policy on autonomous weapons.
大多数人都不会在假期去想自主武器这个话题，但你很难放下这样一本书，它从发人深省的视角看待人工智能在战争中的应用。这是一个极为复杂的问题，但沙雷为我们提供了清晰的解释，并且展示了在自主武器驱动下的未来战争的利与弊。他理所应当精通这一领域：他是一名退伍军人，曾帮助美国政府起草关于自主武器的政策。
the pros and cons
表示“（尤指正在考虑做的事情的）优缺点”，英文解释为“the advantages and disadvantages of something, especially something that you are considering doing”，举个🌰：
We're just weighing up the pros and cons of moving to a bigger house.
我们正在权衡搬进大房子里住的利弊。
Bad Blood
by John Carreyrou
A bunch of my friends recommended this one to me. Carreyrou gives you the definitive insider's look at the rise and fall of Theranos. The story is even crazier than I expected, and I found myself unable to put it down once I started. This book has everything: elaborate scams, corporate intrigue, magazine cover stories, ruined family relationships, and the demise of a company once valued at nearly $10 billion.
好几个朋友向我推荐了这本书。凯瑞鲁带给你的是Theranos公司腾飞和衰落的确切内部消息。故事比我想象的还要疯狂，我发现自己从开始阅读的那一刻起就无法停下来。这本书包含一切应该有的：精心设计的骗局、公司的阴谋、杂志的封面故事、破裂的家庭关系，以及一个曾估值近100亿美元的公司的消亡。
intrigue
表示“阴谋，密谋；诡计”，英文解释为“the making of secret plans to harm someone or make them lose their position of power, or a plan of this kind”，举个🌰：
It's an exciting story of intrigue and murder.
那是一个关于阴谋和谋杀的故事，扣人心弦。
demise
表示“(曾经存在的事物的)终止，结束，消亡”，英文解释为“the end of something that used to exist”，如：the imminent demise of the local newspaper 地方报纸的即将停刊，也可以直接指“死亡”。
21 Lessons for the 21st Century
by Yuval Noah Harari
I'm a big fan of everything Harari has written, and his latest is no exception. While Sapiens and Homo Deus covered the past and future respectively, this one is all about the present. If 2018 has left you overwhelmed by the state of the world, 21 Lessons offers a helpful framework for processing the news and thinking about the challenges we face.
我是赫拉利所有作品的忠实读者，当然也包括他最新的著作《今日简史》。《人类简史》和《未来简史》分别讲述了过去和未来，而这一本讲的全都是现在。如果2018年使你对世界的局势感到不知所措，那么《今日简史》给你提供了一个有用的思维框架，帮助你处理新闻及思考我们面临的挑战。
overwhelm
作动词，表示“(强烈地影响而) 使不知所措，感到不能自持”，英文解释为“If you are overwhelmed by a feeling or event, it affects you very strongly, and you do not know how to deal with it.”，举个🌰：
He was overwhelmed by a longing for times past.
他陷入了一种对过去的渴望而不能自拔。
The Headspace Guide to Meditation and Mindfulness
by Andy Puddicombe
I'm sure 25-year-old me would scoff at this one, but Melinda and I have gotten really into meditation lately. The book starts with Puddicombe's personal journey from a university student to a Buddhist monk and then becomes an entertaining explainer on how to meditate. If you're thinking about trying mindfulness, this is the perfect introduction.
25岁的我一定会对此非常不屑，但梅琳达和我最近都非常喜欢冥想。这本书一开始讲述了普迪科姆从大学生到佛教僧人的个人历程，接着便成了教你如何冥想的有趣指南。如果你正想尝试正念训练，这会是一本完美的入门手册。
scoff
表示“嘲笑，讥笑，嘲弄”，英文解释为“to laugh at a person or idea, and talk about them in a way that shows you think they are stupid”，举个🌰：
At first I scoffed at the notion.
刚开始时我对那种想法嗤之以鼻。
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