跟讀練習: I Gave the MIT Commencement Speech - 通過影片學習英語口語

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- This is the kind of view you only get if you engineer your graduation cap with the ability to fly.

I had the honor to give the MIT commencement address.

But here's the thing.

I really don't like public speaking 'cause I feel like it makes me more nervous than the average speaker.

But since the main theme of my speech is about putting yourself out there to try new things in order to improve and eventually conquer them, consider my nervous stumbles just a metaobject lesson.

So without further ado, I give you me.

(audience applauds and cheers) Good afternoon, esteemed faculty, distinguished guests, relieved parents, bored siblings, confused pets, and of course, the 2023 graduating class of MIT.

(audience applauds and cheers) It is indeed a warm welcome. It's hot.

And you know what I love to do on a beautiful, sunny, 95-degree summer day?

Wear a big, black blanket.

(audience laughs) At least I'm up here in the shade.

You'd think the best engineering school on the planet could design a bigger awning for everyone.

(audience cheers) It's for next year.

Standing here before you is weird.

I feel this pressure to give some timeless advice that will endure, despite our world changing at an unprecedented pace.

The world is so different even from four years ago.

For example, for the undergrads, you are the first graduating class to have persevered through a global pandemic, just as this is the first commencement speech written entirely by ChatGPT.

(audience laughs) The tech is still very new, so if I make any grammatical errors, or threaten to end all human life, that did not come from me, that's the robot.

At this point, I should probably tell your parents who I am.

I'm Mark Rober, a former Apple and NASA mechanical engineer who became a YouTuber.

And yes, I know to some of you it sounds like I just said I quit the MBA to work at Footlocker, (audience laughs) or I traded a Picasso for an NFT of a stoned monkey.

(audience laughs) But I wouldn't have it any other way.

I sort of feel at home here because Buzz Aldrin went to MIT, and just like me, Buzz was a NASA engineer.

Only Buzz stuck with it and became one of the first humans to set foot on the Moon, whereas I quit to become the first human to sprinkle porch pirates with glitter and fart spray.

(audience laughs and cheers) It's on YouTube. Your kids will explain it at dinner.

But whether it's seeking karmic justice for package thieves, or building an obstacle course for squirrels in my backyard, I plan my monthly YouTube videos really far out in advance.

In fact, I've already decided what my June 2053 video will be, and it's gonna be a collab with all of you.

It's going to be a retrospective look at all the amazing things this MIT graduating class of 2023 has accomplished.

In fact, this right now is the video intro.

So if you've ever wanted to be in one of my videos, this is your chance.

(audience cheers) Now will YouTube still be around in 30 years?

Hopefully. Unless Elon buys it.

(audience laughs) But here's the thing.

The degree to which you positively impact the world is the degree to which you'll be featured in the video.

So in order to increase your chances of making the cut, I wanna give you three pieces of advice based off my life experience.

The first bit of advice is to moisturize when giving a commencement speech.

Is to embrace naive optimism.

What do I mean by naive optimism?

Actually, before I go any further, usually in my YouTube videos when I get to like, the juicy part, I'm not really used to this public speaking thing, so the music kicks in.

So if you'll just give me a moment and hit this button, trust me, this is gonna be better for both of us.

Here we go.

Right here. Let's see.

There we go. All right, that's better.

Okay, what do I mean by naive optimism?

Naive optimism means it's easier to be optimistic about your future when you're sort of naive about what lies ahead.

When you don't know what you don't know.

As an example, think back on the first week at MIT: how naive you were about the number of all-nighters and cans of Red Bull that would be required to be sitting where you are right now.

In fact, you guys drink so much caffeine, I'm surprised you're even sitting at all.

If you truly understood what would be required that discouragement might've prevented you from even starting.

Sometimes it's an advantage not to be the expert with all the experience.

There's no reputational risk, so it's easier to try new things and approach them from a fresh, first principles approach.

Naive optimism can also help when faced with a big life decision: when you feel like you want to know the results before you decide, but the true outcome is simply unknowable.

Naive optimism means you have the irrational confidence of a child learning to walk, or a mom learning to TikTok.

(audience laughs) And you pick what you think is the best path and just move forward, knowing there's more than one trail that leads to the top of Mount Fuji.

It's okay that you don't know exactly what you want to be doing 20 years from now or what you want to have accomplished.

And by the way, even if you do know, it doesn't matter because you're wrong.

Anyone who tells you they knew where they'd be where they're at 20 years ago is either lying or delusional or a time traveler or Pat Sajak.

Life is like trying to cross a big flowing river with lots of rocks and boulders strewn about.

If you want to cross the river, you have to start on the bank and look at the first several rocks in front of you.

You can wiggle them with your toe and sort of scan a few boulders out, but at some point you've just gotta pick one and jump because the river is dynamic and always changing.

If the first rock in this metaphor is a hobby, let curiosity and passion guide your initial step.

If the first rock represents your professional career, take curiosity and passion into account, but you should also weigh what you're good at and what the world needs, even if the world might not know they need it yet.

Whichever one you'd pick, the real secret is to dominate it.

Obsessively study it from every angle. Master it.

Now from your position and more secure footing, you can reevaluate the river, and you'll find you've got a few more rocks available that you couldn't even see from where you started so you could continue on your journey.

Instead of putting the pressure on myself to create some master life plan, this attitude of naive optimism combined with dedication, enthusiasm, and the willingness to jump from my current safe rock to the next is what I feel has led me from college to NASA, to YouTube, to eventually landing on this rock of giving the commencement speech at MI-freaking-T.

(audience laughs and applauds) There's no way I could have predicted that path when I was exactly in your shoes 20 years ago.

So cross your river one rock at a time, but do it with a naive optimism that it's all going to work out.

Let that be your North Star.

If you actually knew how cold the river can get, or how long it takes to recover from a sprained ankle if you slipped, your knowledge might get in the way.

So have faith in yourself.

You're about to get a degree from MIT, so you've obviously made some pretty great decisions so far.

So embrace your inexperience and keep taking leaps forward.

And apologies to all the civil engineering majors who have been grumbling sitting there, saying, "If he wants to cross this river so bad, why doesn't he just build a suspension bridge?" Because it's my metaphor, all right? Back off.

And now for some real talk.

You're gonna take that leap of faith, land on a rock, and only then realize it's not as stable as your foot wiggle had predicted, and you're gonna fall under the river sometimes.

That leads to my second of three pieces of advice to maximize your chance of positively impacting the world and making the video cut, which is to frame your failures.

Ah, you can tell it's the juicy part 'cause the music's back.

To illustrate what I mean by this, I asked 50,000 of my YouTube followers that subscribed to my channel to play a simple computer programming puzzle that I made.

But what they didn't know is that I had served up two slightly different versions of the puzzle.

In one, if you failed the puzzle, you didn't lose any of your starting 200 points, and you were prompted to try again.

Whereas in the other, if you didn't succeed, you were also prompted to try again, but I said I was taking away five of those starting 200 points.

That was the only difference.

And even though they were of no value in the real world, no one will ever see these completely fake, meaningless internet points, those who didn't lose those points attempted to solve the puzzle 2.5 times more and saw success 16% more of the time.

And because 50,000 people took the test, those results are super statistically significant.

Basically, those who didn't frame losing in a negative light stuck with it for longer, saw more success, and learned more.

And I think a great example of this in real life is video games.

When "Super Mario Brothers" first came out, my friends and I became obsessed with making it to the castle and rescuing Princess Peach from the Evil Bowser.

We'd get to school and ask each other, "Dude, what level did you make it to?

Did you pass the game?" We never asked each other for details on all the different ways we might've died.

This was before "Call of Duty." When it comes to video games like this, no one ever picks up the controller for the first time, falls in the pit right away, and thinks, "I'm so ashamed. That was such a failure.

I'm never doing this again.

How am I gonna break it to Luigi? I murdered his brother." (audience laughs) What really happens is you think, "Okay, I gotta remember there's a pit there.

Next time I'm gonna come at it with a bit more speed." The focus and obsession is about beating the game, not how dumb you might look if you get hit by a sliding green shell.

And as a direct result of that attitude, of learning from but not being focused on the failures, we got really good and learned a ton in a very short amount of time.

And in my personal and work life, I've dealt with my share of sliding green shells.

I still feel like every video we make each month there's a moment where it seems everything that can go wrong has gone wrong.

And those failures can be gut wrenching, and they can sting real bad.

But they sting like missing that one key Mario long jump, right at the end of level 8-1.

100

And then right after that, really quickly it turns in, okay, what did we just learn from that?

101

You know, what should we try differently from next time?

102

And this concept of life gamification is more than just have a positive attitude or never give up, because those imply you have to fight against your true desire to quit.

103

And I feel like when you frame a challenge or a learning process in this way, you actually want to do it.

104

It feels natural to ignore the failure and try again.

105

In the same way a toddler will want to keep trying to stand up.

106

Or in the same way you want to keep playing "Super Mario Bros." Or in the same way half the people who attempted my coding puzzle had a desire to stick with it 2.5 times longer.

107

The framing of their failures made it so they wanted to keep trying and learning.

108

And that's exactly why the most meaningful high fives of my adolescence were when I said, "Dude, I finally beat Bowser last night." Probably goes without saying, but girls didn't talk to me until I was much older.

109

(audience laughs) And in case you're like, "Yeah, but my real life would just be so much better if my top five challenges disappear," would it?

110

I'd like to point out that if "Super Mario Bros." was just jumping over one pit, and then you rescued Princess Peach, no one would play it.

111

Where's the risk and the reward?

112

Where's the challenge?

113

There's no ultimate feeling of satisfaction.

114

The degree you're getting today means so much to you precisely because of all the struggle and setbacks that you've had to endure.

115

So if you want to cross the river of life, you're gonna get wet.

116

You're gonna have to backtrack, and that's not a bug, that's a feature.

117

Frame those failures and slips like a video game, and not only will you learn more and do it faster, but it will make all the successful jumps along the way that much sweeter.

118

All right. Now I've got some good news, which is that you're not crossing the river alone: for my third and final bit of advice is to foster your relationships.

119

Nice. A sad truth about getting older is life gets busier and busier, and it gets harder and harder to make really close friends like you did here at school.

120

And this isn't great because we evolved to be social, cooperative creatures, right?

121

Like, 50,000 years ago, conditions were much harsher.

122

So those who are more inclined to cooperate with their fellow humans were also much more likely to succeed and pass on those cooperation genes.

123

So we've inherited these brains designed for social interaction, and we are hardwired to cooperate with other people.

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And look, I don't blame you if you want to cast aside advice from a guy who makes a living trying to outwit squirrels, but I wouldn't recommend doing that to 6 million years of evolutionary programming.

125

Because in today's society, it's really convenient just to isolate yourself.

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You can attend the board meeting from your kitchen table.

127

You can order food in the shower.

128

You can bank on the toilet.

129

You could even look for a new apartment without leaving your apartment.

130

It's easier to stay anonymous in our big cities versus the small tribes of our ancestors, where everyone knew each other, which means we've got to actively work at fostering meaningful relationships.

131

And because I know this could be harder for some more than others, here's a life hack I've found that really helps.

132

Confirmation bias is when your brain ignores evidence that doesn't support your beliefs, and then it cherry picks the evidence that does.

133

And generally, when people hear this term, they think it's a broken, unscientific way for our brains to approach the world.

134

And this is true, but you could sort of judo flip it to your advantage.

135

The trick is to positively apply confirmation bias to your relationships.

136

If you assume good intentions on the part of your friends and family, and you tell yourself you're lucky to have them, your brain will naturally work to find evidence to support that.

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That's just how our brains work.

138

If you tell yourself that your fellow humans are inherently good, your brain will find examples of it everywhere, and that will reinforce your outlook.

139

The opposite, unfortunately, is also true.

140

Basically, whether you think the world and everyone in it is out to hurt you or help you, you're right.

141

Studies have shown that the best predictor of divorce is if the couple assumes bad intentions in their partner's actions, or if you marry Kanye.

142

(audience applauds) But if you get it in your head that your partner is selfish or inconsiderate, or willfully refusing to take out the garbage, that creates a negative feedback loop of confirmation bias, seeking to find further evidence that your spouse is a jerk, even when good-faith efforts are being made.

143

And this hack works not just for spouses, friends, and family, but even total strangers who might infuriate you.

144

And look, I agree with you. They're wrong.

145

But don't forget, as George Carlin pointed out, anyone who's driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone driving faster than you is a maniac.

146

Fostering your relationship closes out my list of three bits of advice because that may be where your impact is the greatest.

147

Due to a challenging upbringing, my mom barely graduated high school, but she took being a mom and instilling values in her children really seriously.

148

As such, she's the single biggest influence on my life by far.

149

She passed away over a decade ago from ALS, six months before I ever released my first YouTube video.

150

But I love the idea that the ripples from her influence are still being felt as strongly as they ever have through the work that I try and do today.

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If anything I've said today has resonated with you, in my mind, it's a direct result of her commitment to this third piece of advice.

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So leverage confirmation bias to enhance your relationships as you cooperate to cross the river.

153

Train your brain to assume good intentions.

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And try to remember, if someone cuts you off on the freeway, maybe they're not out to get you.

155

Maybe they just have diarrhea.

156

(audience laughs) For piece of advice number four, engage in occasional playful anarchy.

157

But Mark, you told us you were only gonna give us three pieces of advice.

158

Boom, here's a fourth, 'cause why not?

159

I'm playing music in a commencement speech, because why not?

160

Is not ending your speech with pump-up music just objectively better?

161

Or like how these graduation robes and hats are just objectively silly.

162

Why shouldn't I take my own fourth piece of advice right now and engage in some playful anarchy?

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Anybody can toss their hat in the air.

164

We see it at every graduation.

165

But few have dared to make it actually fly.

166

(majestic music) I bet Buzz Aldrin never tried this.

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You know what, timeout.

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This is actually a great opportunity to review everything we just talked about.

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(audience laughs) To my first point, I will embrace my naive optimism that my hat will actually get airborne.

170

But if not, to my second point, if it goes haywire, and I accidentally blow up E53, I can reframe the failure as an opportunity to renovate a very old and sketchy building.

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Maybe this time we'll even add a few windows.

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And then to my third point, when I get sued by the faculty, I will foster the relationship I have with my defense lawyers, (audience laughs) because settling with MIT over damages will bring us all closer together.

173

And so now, after turning on my hats, I've done my part and filmed a banger of an intro to our upcoming collab 30 years from now, which means all that's left to do is your part: to go out and change the world for the better.

174

Congratulations, MIT class of 2023. You totally got this.

175

(majestic music) (audience cheers and applauds)

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本課的詞彙與口語要點

這節 B2 級別的口語課以影片“I Gave the MIT Commencement Speech”為素材。這段影片共有 175 個句子、3286 個單詞可供跟讀。講話部分時長為 19:04。說話人語速自然，每分鐘約 172 個詞，接近日常對話。 82% 的單詞屬於英語最常用的 3,000 詞，其餘的詞建議在練習前先學一下。

影片中的重點詞彙

影片中最難的 15 個單詞，附發音和釋義：

單詞	發音	釋義
naive 形容詞	/naɪˈiv/	天真, 幼稚
optimism 名詞	/ˈɑptɪmɪzəm/	樂觀主義 /樂觀主義
cheers	/t͡ʃɪəz/	乾杯 /乾杯
applaud 動詞	/əˈplɔd/	拍手, 鼓掌
commencement 名詞	/kəˈmɛnsmənt/	畢業禮 /畢業禮, 畢業典禮 /畢業典禮
puzzle 名詞	/ˈpʌzəl/	謎 /謎, 難題 /難題
confirmation 名詞	/ˌkɑn.fəɹˈmeɪ.ʃən/	確認 /確認
bias 名詞	/ˈbaɪ.əs/	偏見 /偏見
cooperate 動詞	/kəʊˈɒp.ə.ɹeɪt/	合作, 協力 /協力
graduation 名詞	/ˌɡɹæd͡ʒuˈeɪʃən/	畢業 /畢業
embrace 動詞	/ɛmˈbɹes/	擁抱 /擁抱, 摟抱 /摟抱
anarchy 名詞	/ˈæn.ɚ.ki/	無政府狀態 /無政府狀態
squirrel 名詞	/ˈskwɪ.ɹ(ə)l/	松鼠, 灰鼠
juicy 形容詞	/ˈd͡ʒuːsi/	多汁的
boulder 名詞	/ˈboʊl.dɚ/	漂礫 /漂礫, 磐石

影片中出現的短語動詞

單詞	發音	釋義
point out 動詞		指, 指出
blow up 動詞		炸掉, 爆破
come out 動詞	/ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/	出, 出來 /出來
give up 動詞		投案, 自首
go out 動詞		出, 出口
pick up 動詞		拾取, 撿 /撿
stand up 動詞		站起來 /站起來, 起來 /起來
take out 動詞		取出

值得反覆跟讀的句子

影片中簡短而完整的句子，可以直接用在日常對話裡：

What do I mean by naive optimism?
When you don't know what you don't know.
I'm never doing this again.
You know, what should we try differently from next time?
I'm playing music in a commencement speech, because why not?

影片中的語法

說話人最常用的結構，並附上影片中的原話：

結構	影片中的用法
條件句 if + 從句，will/would + 動詞 — 條件及其結果	If you truly understood what would be · if my top five challenges disappear," would it
現在完成時 have/has + 過去分詞 — 過去發生但與現在仍有關聯的事	I've already decided · has accomplished · you've ever wanted
定語從句 who / which + 從句 — 補充說明人或事物	Anyone who tells · cut, which is · those who didn
被動語態 be + 過去分詞 — 強調發生了什麼，而不是誰做的	be featured · would be required · were prompted

需要注意的發音

說話人用了 81 次縮略和弱讀形式，例如 you're, gonna, I'm。請按聽到的簡短形式來說。

“th” 音: thief /ˈθiːf/, threaten /ˈθɹɛt.n̩/, enthusiasm /ɪnˈθuziæzəm/
“sh” 和 “zh” 音: confirmation /ˌkɑn.fəɹˈmeɪ.ʃən/, graduation /ˌɡɹæd͡ʒuˈeɪʃən/, intentions /ɪnˈtɛnʃənz/, accomplish /əˈkɑm.plɪʃ/, evolutionary /ˌiː.vəˈluː.ʃən.ɛɹ.i/
長單詞——注意重音位置: optimism /ˈɑptɪmɪzəm/, confirmation /ˌkɑn.fəɹˈmeɪ.ʃən/, cooperate /kəʊˈɒp.ə.ɹeɪt/, positively /ˈpɑ.zɪ.tɪv.li/, graduation /ˌɡɹæd͡ʒuˈeɪʃən/

中文母語者容易讀錯的音：

/v/ — 不要讀成 /w/，上齒輕觸下唇: naive /naɪˈiv/, positively /ˈpɑ.zɪ.tɪv.li/, objectively /əbˈd͡ʒɛktɪvli/, whichever /wɪt͡ʃˈɛvɚ/, relieve /ɹɪˈliːv/
詞尾子音 — 要讀清楚，後面不要加母音: naive /naɪˈiv/, cheers /t͡ʃɪəz/, applaud /əˈplɔd/, commencement /kəˈmɛnsmənt/, bias /ˈbaɪ.əs/
/r/ 和 /l/ 的區別: squirrel /ˈskwɪ.ɹ(ə)l/, follower /ˈfɒləʊə(ɹ)/, illustrate /ˈɪl.əˌstɹeɪt/, relieve /ɹɪˈliːv/, evolutionary /ˌiː.vəˈluː.ʃən.ɛɹ.i/

如何用這段影片練習

先完整聽一遍影片，不要開口，記下不認識的單詞。
先用 0.75 倍速逐句跟讀，熟練之後再回到正常速度。
錄下自己的聲音並與原聲對比，特別注意 naive, optimism, cheers 這類單詞。

什麼是跟讀法？

跟讀法 (Shadowing) 是一種有科學依據的語言學習技巧，最初開發用於專業口譯員的培訓，並由多語言者Alexander Arguelles博士普及。這個方法簡單而強大：您在聽英語母語原聲的同時立即大聲重複——就像是一個延遲1-2秒緊跟說話者的影子。與被動聽力或語法練習不同，跟讀法強迫您的大腦和口腔肌肉同時處理並模模擬實的講話模式。研究表明它能顯著提高發音準確性，語調，節奏，連讀，聽力理解和口語流利度——使其成為雅思口語備考和真實英語交流最有效的方法之一。

影子跟讀法: 閱讀完整分步指南 →

跟讀練習: I Gave the MIT Commencement Speech - 通過影片學習英語口語

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