1． You and your parents can stop worrying — Pasteur, Edison, Darwin and lots more were far from being geniuses in their teens. 你和你的父母可以停止担心了，因为帕斯卡，爱迪生，达尔文以及别的更多的人在少年时代根本就算不上是天才。
     far from: 毫不；一点也不；远非 例：
     Your work is far from being satisfactory. 你的工作一点也不令人满意。
     The newspaper accounts are far from true. 报纸的报道远非事实。
2．…many of our greatest figures were practically “beatniks” when they were teenagers… 实际上，我们很多大人物在少年时代属于“跨掉的一代”。
     beatniks: “跨掉的一代”的一员。beat， 即beat generation，“跨掉的一代”， 指美国五十年代的一群作家，他们的作品及生活方式都与传统相悖，反映出对当代社会深切的不满。“跨掉的一代”作家依赖毒品、爵士乐、性和神秘主义发泄他们创造力。
3．…never amount to a hill of beans... a hill of beans: 美国英语，非正式用语，指毫无用处的东西。
4． But the point is, your parents would not show you a picture of a certain party who never showed a whit of interest in music during his formative years. 但关键的是，你的父母从不会向你描述某些人在成型期对音乐如何毫无兴趣。
     the point: （某些事情的）关键部分或方面；所讨论的事 例：
     The speaker kept wandering off from the point. 讲话者老是把话题扯到一边。
5．On the other hand, Harvey Cushing, one of the world’s greatest brain surgeons, might have become a professional ballplayer if his father hadn’t pleaded that he give medicine a try. 另一方面，如果不是父亲恳求他尝试，哈维·顾盛，世界上最著名的脑外科医生之一，可能成为一名职业球员。
     plead: 恳求；为某人辩护。 这里“plead”的用法相当于“suggest”后跟宾与从句的用法，从句中的动词用原形或“should” 加原型表示虚拟。
6．You have the Nobel Prize physicist Enrico Fermi, who at 17 had read enough mathematics to qualify for a doctor’s degree. 你可以举诺贝尔物理奖获得者恩里科·费尔米为例，他十七岁时数学知识已够博士资格。
     qualify for sth: 有…的资格 例：
     Do you qualify for the vote？ 你有投票的资格吗？
7．Whereupon he chucked the whole business and shipped to the South Seas on the famous exploring ship Beagle. 于是，他抛弃一切，乘上著名的“猎犬号”探险船到了南海。
8．Turned down by West Point because of poor vision, Harry Truman tried a dozen jobs, including farming and stretches in a drugstore, a bank, a bottling works, and a railroad yard. But he got there just the same. 由于视力不好被西点军校拒之门外后，哈里·杜鲁门尝试过各种工作，工作范围包括药店、银行、装瓶车间及铁路调度场。但是，他还是（和胡佛一样）当了总统。
     turn down: 拒绝 例：
     He asked Jane to marry him but she turned him down. 他求珍尼嫁给他，但她拒绝了。
9．He wangled a postmaster’s job in a small Mississippi town, and infuriated the populace by getting the mail all mixed up and closing the office whenever he felt like it. 在密西西比的一个小镇上，他以不正当手段谋取了邮政局长的职位。由于他使邮件都混杂在一起，而且随心所欲地决定关门时间，激怒了（当地的）民众。
     feel like: 欲，想要 例：
     We’ll go for a walk if you feel like it. 如果你愿意，我们去散步。
     I don’t feel like a big meal now. 我现在不想吃大餐。
10．be better off : 更舒服；更富有 例：
     We’d be better off without him as a partner. 没他合作我们更自在。
11．He has that one special advantage over the greatest man alive — time! 与活着的伟人相比他有一个特殊的优势——时间。
     have an advantage over: 比…占优势；比…更具优势 例： Earthenware has an advantage over wood in being more easily kept clean. 比之木器，陶器的优点在于更易保持清洁。