B2U1-Text.pptx

Unit One A,Way to Success,Text,Innovation English Integrated Course Book 2,Text Study,When,I was about 10 years old,I had a trip with my grandparents.My grandfather was driving,and my,grandmother had the passenger seat.She smoked throughout the trip,and I hated the smell.,At,that age,Id take any excuse to make estimates and do minor arithmetic.Id calculate our,gas mileage,or figure out useless statistics on things like grocery spending,.,Id been hearing an ad campaign about smoking,which basically said,every puff of a cigarette takes 2 minutes off of your life,.,When,I was satisfied that Id come up with a reasonable number,I my head into the front of the car,tapped my grandmother on the shoulder,and proudly ,“At two minutes per puff,At any rate,I decided to do the math for my grandmother.I estimated the number of cigarettes per day,estimated the,number of puffs per cigarette and so on.,poke,proclaim,youve,taken,nine years,off,your life!”,I,have a vivid memory of what happened,and it was not what I expected.I expected to,be applauded,for my cleverness and arithmetic skills.I imagined theyd say something like:“Jeff,youre so,smart.You had to have made some tricky estimates,figure out the number of minutes in a year and,do some,division.”Thats not what happened.Instead,my grandmother burst into tears.I sat in the,backseat and,did not know what to do.,While,my grandmother sat crying,my grandfather,who had been driving in silence,onto,the shoulder of the highway.,pulled over,He got out of the car and opened my door,and waited,for me to follow.Was I in trouble?My grandfather was a highly intelligent,quiet man.He,had never,said a harsh word to me,and maybe this was to be the first time?He looked at me,and after a,bit of,silence,he gently and calmly said,“Jeff,one day youll understand that its harder to be kind,than clever,.”,What,I want to talk to you about today is the difference between gifts and choices.Cleverness is,a gift,kindness is a choice.Gifts are easy theyre given after all.Choices can be hard.,You,can,yourself,with your gifts if youre not careful,and if you do,itll probably be to the detriment of your choices.,seduce,This,is a group with many gifts.Im sure one of your gifts is the gift of a smart and capable,brain.How,will you use these gifts?And will you take pride in your gifts or pride in your choices?,I,got the idea to start Amazon 16 years ago.I came across the fact that Web usage was growing,at 2,300,percent per year.,I had just turned 30 years old,and Id been married for a year.I told my wife MacKenzie that I wanted to quit my job and go to do this crazy thing that probably wouldnt work since most startups dont,and I wasnt sure what would happen after that.MacKenzie told me I should go for it.,Id,never seen or heard of anything that grew that fast,and the idea of,building an,online bookstore with millions of titles something that simply couldnt exist in the world was very exciting to me.,physical,I,was working at a financial firm in New York City with a bunch of very smart people,and I had,a brilliant,boss that I admired.I went to my boss and told him I wanted to start a company selling books,on the,Internet.He took me on a long walk in Central Park,listened carefully to me,and finally said,“,That sounds,like a really good idea,but it would be an even better idea for someone who didnt already have,a good,job.”That logic made some sense to me,and he convinced me to think about it for 48 hours,before making,a final decision.,Seen ,it really was a difficult choice,but ,I decided I,had to,give it a shot.,in that light,ultimately,I,didnt think Id regret trying and failing,.,And I suspected I would always be,by,a decision to not try at all.,haunted,I,took the less safe path to follow my,passion,and,Im proud of that choice.,How,will you use your gifts?What choices will you make?,Will inertia be your guide,or will you follow your passions?,Will,you follow dogma,or will you be original?,Will,you choose a life of ease,or a life of service and adventure?,Will,you play it safe,or will you be a little bit swashbuckling?,When its tough,will you give up,or will you be relentless?,Will,you be a cynic,or will you be a builder?,Will,you be clever at the expense of others,or will you be kind?,Tomorrow,your life the life,you,on your,own begins,.,author,in a very real sense,from scratch,When,you are 80 years old,and in a quiet moment of,narrating for,only yourself the most personal version of your life story,the telling that will be most,and meaningful,will be the series of choices you have made.,I will a prediction,.,hazard,In,the end,we are our choices.Build yourself a great story.Thank you and good luck!,reflection,compact,