英语听力练习（A2–B1）| 埃隆·马斯克的故事 | 通过简易英语播客提升口语

嘿，朋友们！

Hey friends!

欢迎回到《英语畅谈》！

Welcome back to English Unleashed!

今天，我要讲一个怀有远大梦想的人的故事。

Today I will talk about the story of a man who dreams very big dreams.

一个想要改变世界的人。

A man who wants to change the world.

一个相信人类可以在其他星球上生活的人。

A man who believes that humans can live on other planets.

他的名字叫埃隆·马斯克。

His name is Elon Musk.

在这一集中，我会用简单的英语讲述他的故事。

In this episode, I will tell his story in simple English.

你们将了解他的童年、他的挣扎，以及他是如何开启这段旅程的。

You will learn about his childhood, his struggles, and how he started his journey.

这不仅仅是一个关于金钱的故事。

This is not just a story about money.

这是一个关于理念的故事。

It is a story about ideas.

这是一个关于勇气的故事，也是一个关于永不放弃的故事。

It is a story about courage, and it is a story about never giving up.

埃隆·马斯克于1971年出生在南非。

Elon Musk was born in 1971 in South Africa.

当时，南非与今天大不相同。

At that time, South Africa was very different from today.

那是一个充满诸多政治问题的国家。

It was a country with many political problems.

在那里，生活并不总是容易的。

Life was not always easy there.

小时候，埃隆性格安静且与众不同。

As a child, Elon was quiet and different.

他不太喜欢运动。

He did not enjoy sports very much.

他不在乎是否受欢迎。

He did not care about being popular.

相反，他热爱读书。

Instead, he loved reading books.

他读了很多书。

He read a lot.

他读科幻小说。

He read science fiction books.

科幻指的是关于未来、太空、机器人和技术的故事。

Science fiction means stories about the future, about space, about robots and technology.

他还读了许多关于科学和工程的书籍。

He also read books about science and engineering.

到十岁时，埃隆已经熟悉了电脑。

By the age of 10, Elon got familiar with computers.

这改变了他的一生。

This changed his life.

在20世纪80年代初，电脑并不常见。

In the early 1980s, computers were not common.

许多家庭都没有一台。

Many families did not have one.

但埃隆非常好奇。

But Elon was very curious.

他总是渴望学习和理解新事物。

He always wanted to learn and understand new things.

他自学了编程，学习如何编写指令让计算机执行任务。

He taught himself how to program, how to write instructions for a computer so it can do something.

他没有老师。

He did not have a teacher.

他读了一本书，然后自己练习。

He read a book and practiced by himself.

他年仅12岁时就制作了一个小型电子游戏。

When he was only 12 years old, he created a small video game.

这个游戏名叫《Blaster》。

The game was called Blaster.

它很简单，但能正常运行。

It was simple, but it worked.

他以500美元的价格卖掉了这个游戏，这是他的第一次商业成功。

He sold the game for $500 That was his first business success.

但他的童年并不容易。

But his childhood was not easy.

在学校里，其他孩子欺负他。

At school, other children bullied him.

欺负意味着反复伤害某人，通常是因为他们与众不同。

Bullying means hurting someone again and again, often because they are different.

他身材瘦小、性格内向，有些男孩非常具有攻击性。

He was small and quiet, and some boys were very aggressive.

他们暴力又刻薄。

They were violent and unkind.

有一天，欺凌变得非常严重。

One day, the bullying became very serious.

一群男孩把他推下楼梯，让他受了重伤。

A group of boys pushed him down the stairs and hurt him badly.

他不得不去医院。

He had to go to the hospital.

这些经历很痛苦，但也让他内心变得坚强。

These experiences were painful, but they also made him strong inside.

它们教会了他如何在困境中生存。

They taught him how to survive difficult situations.

在家里，生活也很复杂。

At home, life was also complicated.

他年幼时父母就离婚了。

His parents divorced when he was young.

埃隆决定和父亲住在一起。

Elon decided to live with his father.

后来，他说这是一个错误的决定。

Later, he said this was not a good decision.

他和父亲的关系艰难而痛苦。

His relationship with his father was difficult and painful.

但在所有这些问题中，埃隆始终拥有一样东西——他的想象力。

But through all these problems, Elon always had one thing, his imagination.

他不仅仅思考小目标。

He did not just think about small goals.

他思考的是大问题。

He thought about big problems.

他提出大问题。

He asked big questions.

我们如何才能改善未来？

How can we improve the future?

我们如何保护人类？

How can we protect humanity?

我们如何前往太空？

How can we travel to space?

这些问题伴随了他多年。

These questions stayed with him for many years.

当他17岁时，做了一个重要的决定。

When he was 17, he made an important decision.

他想离开南非。

He wanted to leave South Africa.

当时，南非的年轻男性必须参军。

At that time, young men in South Africa had to join the military.

服兵役意味着加入军队。

Military service means joining the army.

埃隆不想这样做。

Elon did not want to do that.

他同时也想要更多的机会。

He also wanted more opportunities.

所以他搬到了加拿大。

So he moved to Canada.

他的母亲出生在加拿大，因此他可以获得加拿大公民身份。

His mother was born in Canada so he could get Canadian citizenship.

公民身份意味着成为一个国家的正式成员。

Citizenship means being an official member of a country.

起初在加拿大的生活并不容易。

Life in Canada was not easy at first.

他做了许多零工来赚钱。

He did many small jobs to earn money.

他清理锅炉。

He cleaned boilers.

锅炉是一种加热水的机器。

A boiler is a machine that heats water.

这是一份又脏又危险的工作。

It was dirty and dangerous work.

他在农场工作过。

He worked on farms.

他做了一切能做的事情来生存。

He did whatever he could to survive.

一段时间后，他开始在加拿大的女王大学学习。

After some time, he started studying at Queen's University in Canada.

后来，他搬到美国，在宾夕法尼亚大学深造。

Later, he moved to The United States to study at the University of Pennsylvania.

美国对他来说很重要。

The US was important for him.

他相信美国是科技和创新的最佳之地。

He believed that America was the best place for technology and innovation.

在大学里，他学习了物理和经济学。

At university, he studied physics and economics.

他不仅仅是个普通学生，他总是思考着未来。

He was not just a normal student, he was always thinking about the future.

大学毕业后，他被斯坦福大学的博士项目录取。

After finishing university, he was accepted into a PhD program at Stanford University.

但发生了一件令人惊讶的事。

But something surprising happened.

仅仅两天后，他就离开了。

After only two days, he left.

为什么？

Why?

因为他觉得互联网正在变得非常重要。

Because he felt that the internet was becoming very important.

那是1990年代，互联网还很新，令人兴奋。

It was the 1990s and the internet was new and exciting.

很多人并不明白它将来会变得多么重要。

Many people did not understand how big it would become.

埃隆看到了这个机会。

Elon saw the opportunity.

他相信互联网将改变世界。

He believed the internet would change the world.

因此，他做出了一个大胆的决定，一个充满风险和不确定性的决定。

So he made a risky decision, a dangerous and uncertain decision.

他离开了博士项目，决定创办一家公司。

He left his PhD program and decided to start a company.

这标志着他旅程的开始。

This was the beginning of his journey.

他和哥哥共同创建了一家名为Zip2的公司。

He and his brother created a company called Zip2.

这家公司帮助报纸创建在线城市指南。

The company helped newspapers create online city guides.

城市指南是关于城市中餐厅、酒店和企业的信息。

A city guide is information about restaurants, hotels, and businesses in a city.

当时，许多报纸不知道如何使用互联网。

At that time, many newspapers did not know how to use the Internet.

Zip2 帮助它们进入数字世界。

Zip2 helped them move into the digital world.

一开始，生活非常艰难。

In the beginning, life was very hard.

埃隆和他的兄弟日夜工作。

Elon and his brother worked day and night.

他们甚至睡在办公室里。

They even slept in the office.

因为他们没有公寓，所以去附近的健身房洗澡。

They showered at a local gym because they did not have an apartment.

他们手头非常拮据。

They had very little money.

有时他们甚至买不起像样的食物。

Sometimes they could not even afford proper food.

但他们没有停下。

But they did not stop.

他们相信自己的想法。

They believed in their idea.

慢慢地，公司成长起来了。

Slowly, the company grew.

投资者开始注意到他们。

Investors began to notice them.

投资者是那些因为相信公司会成功而提供资金的人。

Investors are people who give money to a company because they believe it will succeed.

1999年，一家大公司以约3亿美元收购了Zip2，埃隆在27岁时成为百万富翁。

In 1999, a big company bought Zip2 for about $300,000,000 Elon became a millionaire at the age of 27.

但这里有一件重要的事。

But here is something important.

对埃隆来说，这并不是最终目标。

For Elon, this was not the final goal.

对许多人来说，成为百万富翁就已经足够了。

For many people, becoming a millionaire would be enough.

他们会放松下来。

They would relax.

他们会享受生活。

They would enjoy life.

但埃尔隆不是这样。

But not Elon.

对他来说，这仅仅是开始。

For him, this was only the beginning.

对埃尔隆来说，金钱并不是最终目标。

For Elon, money was not the final goal.

它只是燃料。

It was only fuel.

它只是前进的动力。

It was only energy for movement.

就像燃料推动汽车一样，金钱帮助他推动了自己的想法前进。

Just like fuel moves a car, money helped him move his ideas forward.

在出售Zip2之后，埃隆做了一件大胆的事。

After selling Zip2, Elon did something bold.

他做了一件勇敢而自信的事。

He did something brave and confident.

他没有把钱存在银行里安逸度日。

He did not keep the money in the bank and relax.

相反，他将几乎全部资金投资了一家新公司。

Instead, he invested almost all of it into a new company.

这家公司后来成为了PayPal。

This company later became PayPal.

起初，这家公司叫x.com。

At first, the company was called x.com.

它是一家在线银行。

It was an online bank.

在20世纪90年代末，在线银行还非常新颖。

Online banking was very new in the late 1990s.

许多人并不信任互联网。

Many people did not trust the Internet.

他们害怕在线转账。

They were afraid to send money online.

但埃隆相信未来将是数字化的。

But Elon believed the future would be digital.

数字化意味着使用电脑和互联网，而不是纸张和现金。

Digital means using computers and the Internet instead of paper and cash.

后来，x.com与另一家公司合并，成为了PayPal。

Later, x.com joined with another company and became PayPal.

PayPal允许人们通过电子邮件转账。

PayPal allowed people to send money through email.

这是一次革命性的突破。

This was revolutionary.

革命性的意思是以一种根本的方式改变整个体系。

Revolutionary means something that changes the system in a big way.

例如，人们可以在eBay上购物，并快速安全地付款。

For example, people could buy things on eBay and pay quickly and safely.

这使得在线购物变得容易多了。

This made online shopping much easier.

然而，在公司内部，存在着冲突。

However, inside the company, there were conflicts.

出现了严重的分歧。

There were serious disagreements.

埃隆和一些其他领导者对公司未来的方向有不同的看法。

Elon and some other leaders had different ideas about the future of the company.

因此，有一段时间，埃隆被解除了公司最高领导的职务。

So at one point, Elon was removed as the top leader of the company.

这是一个艰难的时刻，但他并没有完全离开公司。

This was a difficult moment, but he did not leave the company completely.

他仍然是主要股东。

He stayed as a major stakeholder.

股东是指拥有公司部分股份的人。

A stakeholder is someone who owns part of a company.

2002年，eBay以15亿美元收购了PayPal，埃隆从这笔交易中获得了约1.8亿美元。

In 2002, eBay bought PayPal for $1,500,000,000 Elon earned about $180,000,000 from the sale.

现在，他拥有了巨额财富。

Now he had serious money.

但他再次没有选择安逸的生活。

But again, he did not choose a quiet life.

相反，他做出了人生中最疯狂的决定之一。

Instead, he made one of the craziest decisions of his life.

他决定制造火箭。

He decided to build rockets.

是的，火箭。

Yes, rockets.

他相信人类必须成为多星球物种。

He believed that humans must become a multi planet species.

多星球意味着在不止一个星球上生活。

Multi planet means living on more than one planet.

他担心地球的未来。

He was worried about the future of the earth.

他认为，如果发生可怕的灾难，比如全球性灾难，人类可能会消失。

He thought that if something terrible happened, like a global disaster, humanity could disappear.

所以他希望人类有朝一日能生活在火星上。

So he wanted humans to live on Mars one day.

许多人嘲笑他。

Many people laughed at him.

他们认为他疯了。

They thought he was crazy.

火箭原本是由政府建造的，而不是由私营公司建造的。

Rockets were built by governments, not by private companies.

一个人怎么能与之抗衡呢？

How could one man compete with that?

但埃隆并没有以传统方式尝试竞争。

But Elon did not try to compete in the traditional way.

他于2002年创建了一家名为SpaceX的公司。

He created a company called SpaceX in 2002.

起初，SpaceX面临困境。

At first, SpaceX struggled.

它遇到了严重的困难。

It faced serious difficulties.

第一次火箭发射失败了。

The first rocket launch failed.

火箭爆炸了。

The rocket exploded.

第二次发射也失败了。

The second launch also failed.

第三次发射又失败了。

The third launch failed again.

每枚火箭的成本高达数百万美元。

Each rocket cost millions of dollars.

埃隆正在迅速亏损。

Elon was losing money very fast.

他濒临破产。

He was close to bankruptcy.

破产意味着没钱了，也无法偿还债务。

Bankruptcy means having no money left and not being able to pay debts.

与此同时，他另一家公司也陷入了困境。

At the same time, another company of his was also in trouble.

那家公司就是特斯拉。

That company was Tesla.

特斯拉由其他工程师于2003年创立，但埃隆早早加入并投入了大量资金。

Tesla was founded in 2003 by other engineers, but Elon joined early and invested a lot of money.

后来，他成为了首席执行官。

Later, he became the CEO.

特斯拉希望制造电动汽车。

Tesla wanted to build electric cars.

当时，电动汽车并不受欢迎。

At that time, cars were not popular.

人们认为它们速度慢且无聊。

People thought they were slow and boring.

汽车工业由福特等大型传统公司主导。

The car industry was controlled by big traditional companies like Ford.

埃隆相信电动汽车可以又快又漂亮且动力强劲。

Elon believed electric cars could be fast, beautiful and powerful.

但制造汽车非常昂贵。

But building cars is very expensive.

生产成本很高。

Production costs were high.

出现了延误。

There were delays.

遇到了技术问题。

There were technical problems.

投资者感到不安。

Investors were nervous.

到2008年，埃隆·马斯克几乎身无分文。

By 2008, Elon Musk was almost out of money.

SpaceX和特斯拉都濒临倒闭。

Both SpaceX and Tesla were close to collapse.

它们即将彻底失败。

They were about to fail completely.

因此，埃隆必须做出决定。

So Elon had to make a decision.

他拿出了最后的钱，平均分给了两家公司。

He took his last money and divided it between the two companies.

他相信这两个梦想。

He believed in both dreams.

然后，一件不可思议的事情发生了。

Then something incredible happened.

在2008年底，SpaceX终于成功了。

In late two thousand and eight, SpaceX finally succeeded.

第四次火箭发射成功了。

The fourth rocket launch worked.

这是具有历史意义的。

This was historic.

这是私人公司首次发射火箭。

It was the first time a private company launched a rocket.

因此，SpaceX得救了。

So SpaceX was saved.

与此同时，特斯拉也挺过了2008年的金融危机。

At the same time, Tesla survived the financial crisis of two thousand and eight.

金融危机是指经济变得非常疲软和不稳定的时期。

A financial crisis is a period when the economy becomes very weak and unstable.

特斯拉后来推出了Model S，一款豪华电动汽车。

Tesla later released the Model S, a luxury electric car.

豪华意味着高品质和昂贵。

Luxury means high quality and expensive.

Model S速度快、造型时尚，证明了电动汽车能够与汽油车竞争。

The Model S was fast, it was stylish, and it proved that electric cars could compete with gasoline cars.

因此，特斯拉开始成长。

So Tesla began to grow.

埃隆·马斯克不再仅仅是一位商人。

Elon Musk was no longer just a businessman.

他正在成为一种象征，代表了更宏大的理念。

He was becoming a symbol, something that represents a bigger idea.

他代表着创新。

He represented innovation.

他代表着风险。

He represented risk.

他代表着宏大的思维。

He represented big thinking.

但他的旅程并非总是一帆风顺。

But his journey was not always smooth.

他工作时间极长，有时每周达八十到一百小时。

He worked extremely long hours, sometimes eighty or one hundred hours per week.

他睡在工厂里。

He slept in factories.

他给团队施加了极大的压力。

He pushed his teams very hard.

有些人钦佩他。

Some people admired him.

他们非常尊重他。

They respected him deeply.

其他人批评他。

Others criticized him.

他们对他的评价很负面。

They spoke negatively about him.

他非常专注，非常强势且严肃。

He was intense he was very strong and serious.

但有一件事很明确：他不怕失败。

But one thing was clear he was not afraid of failure.

他曾说过，失败是一个可选项。

He once said that failure is an option.

如果你有时不失败，那说明你还不够努力。

If you are not failing sometimes, you are not trying hard enough.

埃隆·马斯克的故事不仅仅是关于成功。

Elon Musk's story is not just about success.

它关乎风险、压力与责任。

It is about risk, pressure and responsibility.

那个在南非读科幻小说的男孩，如今正在制造真实的火箭，他的梦想也变得更大了。

The boy who read science fiction books in South Africa was now building real rockets, and his dreams were getting bigger.

梦想正在变为现实。

The dream is becoming real.

但埃隆·马斯克并没有止步于火箭和汽车。

But Elon Musk did not stop with rockets and cars.

他还对人工智能（AI）产生了兴趣。

He also became interested in artificial intelligence or AI.

那么，埃隆为什么继续前进呢？

So why did Elon continue?

因为他思考的是长远的未来。

Because he thought about the long term future.

他不断问自己：五十年后的世界会是什么样子？

He asked questions like, what will the world look like in fifty years?

我们如何才能减少痛苦？

How can we reduce suffering?

我们如何减轻痛苦？

How can we reduce pain?

我们如何扩展人类的意识？

How can we expand human consciousness?

意识意味着觉知，是思考和体验生活的能力。

Consciousness means awareness, the ability to think and experience life.

有些人把他视为英雄。

Some people see him as a hero.

有些人认为他颇具争议。

Some people see him as controversial.

争议意味着引发强烈分歧。

Controversial means causing strong disagreement.

但几乎所有人都同意一件事。

But almost everyone agrees on one thing.

他与众不同。

He is different.

他承担着大多数人永远不会承担的风险。

He takes risks most people would never take.

他把钱投资在看似不可能的点子上。

He invests his money in ideas that seem impossible.

他工作极其努力，并且相信未来可以变得更好。

He works extremely hard, and he believes that the future can be better.

创新需要冒险，而失败往往是成功的一部分。

Innovation requires risk, and failure is often part of success.

现在，让我问你一个问题。

Now, let me ask you something.

你的远大梦想是什么？

What is your big dream?

它不必是去火星。

It does not need to be Mars.

也许它是能流利地讲英语。

Maybe it is learning English fluently.

也许它是创办一家企业。

Maybe it is starting a business.

也许它是写一本书。

Maybe it is writing a book.

每一个伟大的故事都始于小小的一步。

Every big story begins with one small step.

这也为我们带来了《English Unleashed》另一集的结尾。

And that brings us to the end of another episode of English Unleashed.

如果你喜欢这个故事，再听一遍。

If you enjoyed this story, listen again.

注意新单词。

Notice new words.

重复关键句子。

Repeat key sentences.

让语言变得熟悉而自然。

Let language become familiar and comfortable.

请记住，未来是由敢于想象它的人所创造的。

And remember, the future is built by people who dare to imagine it.

再见，暂时告别。

Bye for now.