二零二一文章七月期（27）

jk罗琳哈佛大学演讲1（中英对比）

篇一:jk罗琳哈佛大学演讲稿President Faust, members f the Harvard

Crpratin and the Bard f verseers, members f the faculty, prud parents,and, abve all, graduates,福斯特主席哈佛公司和监察委员会的各位成员各位老师、家长、全体毕业生们:

The first thing I uld liket say is thank yu. Nt nly has Harvardgiven me an extrardinary hnur, but the eeks f fear and nausea I’ veendured at the thught f giving this mencement address have made me lseeight. A in-in situatin! N all I have t d is take deep breaths, squintat the red banners and cnvince myself that I am at the rld’ s largestGryffindrs reunin.首先请允许我说一声谢谢。哈佛不仅给了我无上的荣誉连日来为这个演讲经受的恐惧和紧张更令我减肥成功。这真是一个双赢的局面。现在我要做的就是深呼吸几下眯着眼睛看看前面的大红横幅安慰自己正在世界上最大的格兰芬多(沪江小编:

以防有人没看过《哈利波特》 „„格兰芬多是小哈利所在的魔法学院的名字)聚会上。 Delivering a mencement address is a great respnsibility; r s Ithught until I cast my mind back t my n graduatin. The mencement speakerthat day as the distinguished British philspher Barness Mary arnck.Reflecting n her speech has helped me enrmusly in riting this ne,because it turns ut that I can t remember a single rd she said. Thisliberating discvery enables me t prceed ithut any fear that I mightinadvertently influence yu t abandn prmising careers in business, la rplitics fr the giddy delights f being a gay izard.发表毕业演说是一个巨大的责任至少在我回忆自己当年的毕业典礼前是这么认为的。那天做演讲的是英国著名的哲学家Barness Mary arnck对她演讲的回忆对我写今天的演讲稿产生了极大的帮助

因为我不记得她说过的任何一句话了。这个发现让我释然让我不再担心我可能会无意中影响你放弃在商业法律或政治上的大好前途转而醉心于成为一个快乐的魔法师(gay有快乐和同性恋的意思) 。 Yu see? If all yu remember inyears t e is the gay izard jke, I ve still e ut ahead f Barness Maryarnck. Achievable gals - the first step t self-imprvement.你们看如果在若干年后你们还记得―快乐的魔法师‖这个笑话那就证明我已经超越了Barness Mary arnck。建立可实现的目标——这是提高自我的第一步。 Actually,I have racked my mind and heart fr hat I ught t say t yu tday. I haveasked myself hat I ish I had knn at my n graduatin, and hat imprtantlessns I have learned in the 21 years that has expired beteen that dayand this. 实际上我为今天应该和大家谈些什么绞尽了脑汁。我问自己什么是我希望早在毕业典礼上就该了解的而从那时起到现在的21年间我又得到了什么重要的启示。 I have e up ith t ansers. n this nderful day hen e aregathered tgether t celebrate yur academic success, I have decided t talkt yu abut the benefits f failure. And as yu stand n the threshld f hatis smetimes called real life , I ant t extl the crucial imprtance fimaginatin.我想到了两个答案。在这美好的一天 当我们一起庆祝你们取得学业成就的时刻我希望告诉你们失败有什么样的益处;在你们即将迈向―现实生活‖的道路之际我还要褒扬想象力的重要性。 These may seem quixtic rparadxical chices, but bear ith me.这些似乎是不切实际或自相矛盾的选择但请先容我讲完。 Lking back at the 21-year-ld that I as at graduatin, isa slightly unfrtable experience fr the 42-year-ld that she has bee. Halfmy lifetime ag, I as striking an uneasy balance beteen the ambitin I hadfr myself, and hat thse clsest t me expected f me. 回顾21岁刚刚毕业时的自己对于今天42岁的我来说是一个稍微不太舒服的经历。可以说我人生的前一部分一直挣扎在自己的雄心和身边的人对我的期望之间。 I as cnvincedthat the nly thing I anted t d, ever,as t rite nvels. Hever, my parents, bth f hm came frm impverishedbackgrunds and neither f hm had been t cllege, tk the vie that myveractive imaginatin as an amusing persnal quirk that culd never pay amrtgage, r secure a pensin.我一直深信 自己唯一想做的事情就是写小说。不过我的父母他们都来自贫穷的背景没有任何一人上过大学坚持认为我过度的想象力是一个令人惊讶的个人怪癖根本不足以让我支付按揭或者取得足够的养老金。

I kn the irny strikes like ith the frce f a cartn anvil n, but„我现在明白反讽就像用卡通铁砧去打击你但. . . They had hped that I uld take avcatinal degree; I anted t study English Literature. A prmise as reachedthat in retrspect satisfied nbdy, and I ent up t study Mdern Languages.Hardly had my parents car runded the crner at the end f the rad than Iditched German and scuttled ff dn the Classics crridr.他们希望我去拿个职业学位而我想去攻读英国文学。最后达成了一个双方都不甚满意的妥协:我改学现代语言。可是等到父母一走开我立刻放弃了德语而报名学习古典文学。 I cannt remember telling my parents that I as studying Classics;they might ell have fund ut fr the first time n graduatin day. f all thesubjects n this planet, I think they uld have been hard put t name neless useful than Greek mythlgy hen it came t securing the keys t anexecutive bathrm.我不记得将这事告诉了父母他们可能是在我毕业典礼那一天才发现的。我想在全世界的所有专业中他们也许认为不会有比研究希腊神话更没用的专业了根本无法换来一间独立宽敞的卫生间。 I uld like t make itclear, in parenthesis, that I d nt blame my parents fr their pint f vie.There is an expiry date n blaming yur parents fr steering yu in the rngdirectin; the mment yu are ld enugh t take the heel, respnsibility liesith yu. hat is mre, I cannt criticise my parents fr hping that I uldnever experience pverty. They had been pr themselves, and I have sincebeen pr, and I quite agree ith them that it is nt an ennblingexperience. Pverty entails fear, and stress, and smetimes depressin;it means a thusand petty humiliatins and hardships. Climbing ut f pvertyby yur n effrts, that is indeed smething n hich t pride yurself, butpverty itself is rmanticised nly by fls.我想澄清一下:

我不会因为父母的观点而责怪他们。埋怨父母给你指错方向是有一个时间段的。当你成长到可以控制自我方向的时候你就要自己承担责任了。尤其是我不会因为父母希望我不要过穷日子而责怪他们。他们一直很贫穷我后来也一度很穷所以我很理解他们。贫穷并不是一种高贵的经历它带来恐惧、压力、有时还有绝望它意味着许许多多的羞辱和艰辛。靠自己的努力摆脱贫穷确实可以引以自豪但贫穷本身只有对傻瓜而言才是浪漫的。 hat I feared mst fr myself atyur age as nt pverty, but failure.我在你们这个年龄最害怕的不是贫穷而是失败。 At yur age, in spite f a distinct lack f mtivatin atuniversity, here I had spent far t lng in the cffee bar riting stries,and far t little time at lectures, I had a knack fr passing examinatins,and that, fr years, had been the measure f success in my life and that fmy peers.我在您们这么大时 明显缺乏在大学学习的动力我花了太久时间在咖啡吧写故事而在课堂的时间却很少。我有一个通过考试的诀窍并且数年间一直让我在大学生活和同龄人中不落人后。 I am nt dull enugh t suppse thatbecause yu are yung, gifted and ell-educated, yu have never knn hardshipr heartache. Talent and intelligence never yet inculated anyne againstthe caprice f the Fates, and I d nt fr a mment suppse that everyne herehas enjyed an existence f unruffled privilege and cntentment.我不想愚蠢地假设 因为你们年轻、有天份并且受过良好的教育就从来没有遇到困难或心碎的时刻。拥有才华和智慧从来不会使人对命运的反复无常有所准备;我也不会假设大家坐在这里冷静地满足于自身的优越感。 Hever, the fact that yu aregraduating frm Harvard suggests that yu are nt very ell-acquainted ithfailure. Yu might be driven by a fear f failure quite as much as adesire fr success. Indeed, yur cnceptin f failure might nt be t far frmthe average persn s idea f success, s high have yu already flnacademically.相反你们是哈佛毕业生的这个事实意味着你们并不很了解失败。你们也许极其渴望成功所以非常害怕失败。说实话你们眼中的失败很可能就是普通人眼中的成功毕竟你们在学业上已经达到很高的高度了。

Ultimately, e all have t decide fr urselves hat cnstitutes failure, butthe rld is quite eager t give yu a set f criteria if yu let it. S Ithink it fair t say that by any cnventinal measure, a mere seven yearsafter my graduatin day, I had failed n an epic scale. An exceptinallyshrt-lived marriage had implded, and I as jbless, a lne parent, and aspr as it is pssible t be in mdern Britain, ithut being hmeless. Thefears my parents had had fr me, and that I had had fr myself, had bth et pass, and by every usual standard, I as the biggest failure I kne.最终我们所有人都必须自己决定什么算作失败但如果你愿意世界是相当渴望给你一套标准的。所以我想很公平的讲从任何传统的标准看在我毕业仅仅七年后的日子里我的失败达到了史诗般空前的规模:

短命的婚姻闪电般地破裂我又失业成了一个艰难的单身母亲。除了流浪汉我是当代英国最穷的人之一真的一无所有。当年父母和我自己对未来的担忧现在都变成了现实。按照惯常的标准来看我也是我所知道的最失败的人。 N, I amnt ging t stand here and tell yu that failure is fun. That perid f mylife as a dark ne, and I had n idea that there as ging t be hat thepress has since represented as a kind f fairy tale reslutin. I had nidea h far the tunnel extended, and fr a lng time, any light at the endf it as a hpe rather than a reality.现在我不打算站在这里告诉你们失败是有趣的。那段日子是我生命中的黑暗岁月我不知道它是否代表童话故事里需要历经的磨难更不知道自己还要在黑暗中走多久。很长一段时间里前面留给我的只是希望而不是现实。

S hy d I talk abut the benefits f failure? Simply because failuremeant a stripping aay f the inessential. I stpped pretending t myselfthat I as anything ther than hat I as, and began t direct all my energyint finishing the nly rk that mattered t me. Had I really succeeded atanything else, I might never have fund the determinatin t succeed in thene arena I believed I truly belnged. I as set free, because my greatestfear had been realised, and I as still alive, and I still had a daughterhm I adred, and I had an ld