My father came from Iran,

我父親來自伊朗，

and my mother came from China.

而我母親來自中國。

I speak some Chinese,

我會說一些中文，

I understand some Farsi,

也懂一些波斯文，

and, recently, I've started to study Spanish.

最近我開始學西班牙文。

I attend one of the most competitive schools in the city,

我就讀的學校，如果不是全國最好的，

if not the country.

在這城市中也是數一數二。

The educational system is validly criticized

我們的教育體制被合理地批評為

as being broken and dysfunctional.

支離破碎與運作失常。

The primary goal should be,

就像網際網路，

like the internet,

它的主要目標應該是

as a great leveler.

讓世界更平等。

It ought to be able to provide everybody

教育應該提供美國所有人

in America with opportunity,

同等機會，

but an administrative culture that focuses on

而著重於標準化考試的 行政文化（administrative culture）

standardized testing does us no good at all

對我們一點好處也沒有，

because there is a difference

因為知識和理解

between knowledge and understanding.

有所不同。

My jazz piano teacher has really shown me

我的爵士鋼琴老師讓我學習到

new ways of thinking about learning.

思考和學習的新方法。

Jazz really required me

我真的得用

to use a different set of skills

和古典鋼琴不一樣的技巧

than I'd been using for classical piano

來彈爵士樂，

because I had to infuse music with my own touches.

我必須加入我的個人色彩。

It's one thing to regurgitate

咀嚼你學到的新花招

a fancy maneuver you've learned,

是一回事

but it's another thing to be able to improvise

能夠即興演奏一段和弦合當的樂曲

a harmonically stable piece by yourself.

又是另一回事。

And, if you truly understand something,

而當你真的理解一件事，

it's far more important to you,

它將對你更為重要，

it's more likely to be retained,

也才最容易把它記住，

it's far more likely to have some sort of meaning to you.

更容易為你帶來特別的意義。