If you mess up, it"s not your parents" fault, so don"t whine about our mistakes, learn from them.

如果你陷入困境，那不是你父母的過錯，所以不要尖聲抱怨我們的錯誤，要從中吸取教訓。

　you were born, your parents weren"t as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parents" generation, try "delousing" the closet in your own room.

在你出生之前，你的父母并非像他們現在這樣乏味。他們變成今天這個樣子是因為這些年來他們一直在為你付賬單，給你洗衣服，聽你大談你是如何的酷。所以，如果你想消滅你父母那一輩中的"寄生蟲"來拯救雨林的話，還是先去清除你房間衣柜里的蟲子吧。

　Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools they have abolished failing grades; they"ll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This doesn"t bear the slightest resemblance to anything in real life.

你的學校也許已經不再分優等生和劣等生，但生活卻仍在作出類似區分。在某些學校已經廢除不及格分；只要你想找到正確答案，學校就會給你無數的機會。這和現實生活中的任何事情沒有一點相似之處。

　Life is not spanided into semesters. You don"t get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time.

生活不分學期。你并沒有暑假可以休息，也沒有幾位雇主樂于幫你發現自我。自己找時間做吧。

　Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

電視并不是真實的生活。在現實生活中，人們實際上得離開咖啡屋去干自己的工作。

　Life is not fair, get used to it.

生活是不公平的；要去適應它。

　The world won"t care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself.

這世界并不會在意你的自尊。這世界指望你在自我感覺良好之前先要有所成就。

　You will not make 40 thousand dollars a year right out of high school. You won"t be a vice Psident with a car phone, until you earn both.

高中剛畢業你不會一年掙4萬美元。你不會成為一個公司的副總裁，并擁有一部裝有電話的汽車，直到你將此職位和汽車電話都掙到手。

　If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. He doesn"t have tenure.

如果你認為你的老師嚴厲，等你有了老板再這樣想。老板可是沒有任期限制的。

　Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping; they called it opportunity.

烙牛肉餅并不有損你的尊嚴。你的祖父母對烙牛肉餅可有不同的定義；他們稱它為機遇。