The whole time he was talking to me,
整个谈话期间
I sat there smiling and nodding like a numb idiot,
我麻木的像个傻子。
with my arms crossed over my chest,
双手交叉在胸前,
while nothing, nothing, nothing came out of my throat.
不住地微笑和点头,却一句话都不说,
So in the end, he patted me on the shoulder like a swim coach might.
最后他像一个游泳教练一样 拍了拍我的肩膀。
And he wished me luck and he gave me some free books
他祝我好运,送了我几本免费的书
and he showed me out the door.
请我出去了。
Next, they took me to the offices of W.W. Norton, W.W.
接下来他们让我去诺顿的办公室,
where I was pretty sure I'd be escorted from the building just for wearing Doc Martens.
我以为穿了马腾斯博士靴的我一定会有人陪同一起过去。
But that didn't happen.
但是并没有人陪我。
Being at the Norton offices felt like reaching up into the night sky and touching the moon
在诺顿的办公室里就像身处洪荒,摘星揽月
while the stars stitched your name across the cosmos.
群星闪烁,在无尽的宇宙中编织着我的名字。
I mean, that's how big a deal it was to me.
这是我人生中多么重大的一件事啊。
You get it?
你明白了么?
Their lead editor, Carol Houck Smith,
他们的主编,卡罗尔·霍克史密斯,
leaned over right in my face with these beady, bright, fierce eyes and said,
靠在我面前,闪烁着有神,明亮,犀利的目光跟我说:
"Well, send me something then, immediately!"
“寄给我你的一些作品,马上!”
See, now most people, especially TED people, would have run to the mailbox, right?
大部分人,尤其是来能TED的人马上会去寄,对吧?
It took me over a decade to even imagine putting something in an envelope and licking a stamp.
而我花了很久的时间来思考要不要做这件事。