《时代周刊》今年评选了十大辍学成功人士。不过，有一点要说明，这些成功只是个案，对于大多数人而言，大学提供了树立理想，选择人生道路的绝佳机会，青年朋友们，为什么不好好利用呢？

　　Bill Gates

　　The Harvard Crimson called him 'Harvard's most successful dropout' - the rest of the world just calls him ridiculously rich. For more than a decade, Bill Gates has been one of the wealthiest, if not the wealthiest, men in the world. The son of an attorney and a schoolteacher, Gates entered Harvard in the fall of 1973, only to drop out two years later to found Microsoft with childhood friend Paul Allen. In 2007, more than thirty years after he left Harvard, the co-founder of Microsoft would finally receive his degree (an honorary doctorate) from his alma mater. At the commencement, Gates said, 'I'm a bad influence. That's why I was invited to speak at your graduation. If I had spoken at your orientation, fewer of you might be here today.'

　　《哈佛深红报》称他为“哈佛最成功的辍学生”，而世界上其他人则说他富得没有天理。在十几年的时间内，比尔·盖茨即使不是世界上最富有的人，也一直是最富有的人之一。盖茨的父亲是一名律师，母亲是一名教师，他1973年秋季进入哈佛大学，但两年之后便辍学，和儿时好友保罗？艾伦成立了微软公司。2007年，在离开哈佛三十多年后，这位微软的创始人终于从母校获得了学位(荣誉博士)。盖茨在毕业典礼上说：“我是个坏榜样。因此，我受邀在你们的毕业典礼上讲话。如果我在你们刚入学时候给你们讲话，你们现在就没几个人在这里了。”

　　Steve Jobs

　　The Mac, the iPod, heck, even Buzz Lightyear probably wouldn't have existed had Steve Jobs stayed in school. The future wizard of One Infinite Loop dropped out of Reed College after just six months because of the undue financial strain it placed on his working-class parents' savings. He would go on to eventually found Apple, NeXT Computer and Pixar, becoming an instrumental force in shaping the landscape of modern culture. However, his brief tenure in academia was not for naught. In a 2005 commencement speech he gave at Stanford University, Jobs credited a calligraphy class he took at Reed College with forming the basis for the typography used in the first Macintosh computer。

　　如果史蒂夫·乔布斯不辍学的话，就不会有Mac电脑、iPod，甚至巴斯光年(巴斯光年战警是皮克斯最早红遍全球的角色之一，出现于《玩具总动员》系列电影——译者注)了。由于工薪阶层的父母无力承担学费，这个无限循环街1号(苹果公司总部所在地——译者注)的奇才进入里德大学六个月后便退学。这之后，他先后创立了苹果、NeXT电脑公司和皮克斯动画制作公司，成为影响现代文化版图的重要力量。然而，他短暂的大学时光并非白费了。2005年，乔布斯在斯坦福大学毕业典礼上发表演讲时称，正是他在里德大学上的书法课构成了第一代Macintosh电脑里字体的基础。

　　James Cameron

　　The Academy Award-winning director followed a circuitous route to Hollywood. Born and raised in Canada, he and his family moved to Brea, California in 1971. It was there that the young Cameron enrolled in Fullerton College to study physics. His academic life did not last long. He would drop out, marry a waitress and eventually become a truck driver for the local school district. It was not until he saw Star Wars in 1977 that Cameron would trade his blue collar career for one creating some of the late 20th-century's most stunning (and expensive) science-fiction movies。

　　这位奥斯卡最佳导演奖得主进入好莱坞的道路非常曲折。詹姆斯·卡梅隆出生于加拿大，并在那里长大，1971年，他和家人移民至加州布雷亚市。卡梅隆考入当地的富勒顿学院，主修物理。然而，他的大学生活很短暂。他辍学后娶了一位女服务员，最后成为当地学区的一位卡车司机。直到1977年，卡梅隆看到了《星球大战》，他此时才决定放弃蓝领工作，成为一名导演，并最终拍摄了几部可谓20世纪末最令人瞠目结舌(也是最贵)的科幻电影。

　　Mark Zuckerberg

　　Most college students use their dorm rooms to sleep, study, or do things their parents probably don't want to know about. Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook in his. Originally meant only for Harvard students, the popular social networking site quickly spread to the rest of the Ivies and other colleges across the nation. As Facebook's popularity exploded, Zuckerberg packed up his bags and relocated the fledgling company to Palo Alto, California, forever leaving behind Harvard's hallowed halls. So far, the decision has worked out pretty well for the twenty-something. According to Forbes, Zuckerberg is the youngest billionaire in the world, with a 2010 net worth of $4 billion。

　　多数大学生只在宿舍睡觉，学习，做些父母们或许不想知道的事。然而，马克-扎克伯格却在宿舍创建了脸谱网。这个社交网站原本只对哈佛的学生开放，但后来迅速在常春藤联盟和美内其他大学风靡起来。随着脸谱网大受欢迎，扎克伯格收拾行装，将这家新公司搬入加州帕洛阿尔托市，永远离开了哈佛的神圣殿堂。截至目前，这个二十多岁年轻人的这一决定是正确的。《福布斯》杂志称，扎克伯格是全世界最年轻的亿万富翁，其2010年身价达40亿美元。