下面這篇托福寫(xiě)作材料的主要內(nèi)容是比爾蓋茨給青年人寫(xiě)的黃金準(zhǔn)則。這十個(gè)準(zhǔn)則都是非常具有指導(dǎo)意義的，是對(duì)生活的感悟，如果能應(yīng)用在托福寫(xiě)作中，將會(huì)起到非常好的效果。

　　1. Life is not fair, get used to it.

　　2. The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself.

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

　　4. If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure.

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

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

　　7. Before 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 your 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.

　　8. 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.

　　9. Life is not divided 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.

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

　　參考譯文：

　　1. 生活是不公平的，你要去適應(yīng)它。

　　2. 這個(gè)世界并不會(huì)在意你的自尊，而是要求你在自我感覺(jué)良好之前先有所成就。

　　3. 剛從學(xué)校走出來(lái)的時(shí)候不可能一年掙4萬(wàn)美元，更不會(huì)成為哪家公司的副總裁，還擁有一部汽車(chē)，直到你將這些都掙到手的那一天。

　　4. 如果你認(rèn)為學(xué)校里的老師過(guò)于嚴(yán)厲，那么等你有了老板再回頭想一想。

　　5. 賣(mài)漢堡包并不會(huì)有損于你的尊嚴(yán)。你的祖父對(duì)賣(mài)漢堡包有著不同的理解，他們稱(chēng)之為“機(jī)遇”。

　　6. 如果你陷入困境，那不是你父母的過(guò)錯(cuò)，不要將你理應(yīng)承擔(dān)的責(zé)任轉(zhuǎn)嫁給他人，而要學(xué)著從中吸取教訓(xùn)。

　　7. 在你出生之前，你的父母并不像現(xiàn)在這樣乏味。他們變成今天這個(gè)樣子是因?yàn)檫@些年來(lái)一直為你付賬單，給你洗衣服，聽(tīng)你談你有多酷。所以，在對(duì)父母喋喋不休之前，還是先去打掃一下你自己的屋子吧。

　　8. 你所在學(xué)校也許已經(jīng)不再分優(yōu)等生和劣等生，但生活并不如此。在某些學(xué)校已經(jīng)有了“不及格”的概念，學(xué)校會(huì)不斷地給你機(jī)會(huì)讓你進(jìn)步，然而現(xiàn)實(shí)生活完全不是這樣的。

　　9. 走出學(xué)校后的生活不像在學(xué)校一樣有學(xué)期之分，也沒(méi)有暑假之說(shuō)。沒(méi)有幾位老板樂(lè)于幫你發(fā)現(xiàn)自我，你必須依靠自己去完成。

　　10. 電視中的許多場(chǎng)景決不是真實(shí)的生活。在現(xiàn)實(shí)生活中，人們必須埋頭做自己的工作，而并不像電視里演的那樣天天泡在咖啡館里。