- 目錄
第1篇 jk羅琳2022年哈佛畢業(yè)典禮英語演講稿
president faust, members of the harvard corporation and the board of overseers,members of the faculty, proud parents, and, above all, graduates,
福斯特主席，哈佛公司和監(jiān)察委員會的各位成員，各位老師、家長、全體畢業(yè)生們：
the first thing i would like to say is 'thank you.' not only has harvard given me an e_traordinary honour, but the weeks of fear and nausea i’ve endured at the thought of giving this commencement address have made me lose weight. a win-win situation! now all i have to do is take deep breaths, squint at the red banners and convince myself that i am at the world’s largest gryffindors' reunion.
首先請允許我說一聲謝謝。哈佛不僅給了我無上的榮譽，連日來為這個演講經(jīng)受的恐懼和緊張，更令我減肥成功。這真是一個雙贏的局面。現(xiàn)在我要做的就是深呼吸幾下，瞇著眼睛看看前面的大紅橫幅，安慰自己正在世界上最大的格蘭芬多(提示：以防有人沒看過《哈利波特》……格蘭芬多是小哈利所在的魔法學(xué)院的名字)聚會上。
delivering a commencement address is a great responsibility; or so i thought until i cast my mind back to my own graduation. the commencement speaker that day was the distinguished british philosopher baroness mary warnock. reflecting on her speech has helped me enormously in writing this one, because it turns out that i can't remember a single word she said. this liberating discovery enables me to proceed without any fear that i might inadvertently influence you to abandon promising careers in business, law or politics for the giddy delights of becoming a gay wizard.
發(fā)表畢業(yè)演說是一個巨大的責(zé)任，至少在我回憶自己當(dāng)年的畢業(yè)典禮前是這么認為的。那天做演講的是英國著名的哲學(xué)家 baroness mary warnock，對她演講的回憶，對我寫今天的演講稿，產(chǎn)生了極大的幫助，因為我不記得她說過的任何一句話了。這個發(fā)現(xiàn)讓我釋然，讓我不再擔(dān)心我可能會無意中影響你放棄在商業(yè)，法律或政治上的大好前途，轉(zhuǎn)而醉心于成為一個快樂的魔法師(gay有快樂和同性戀的意思)。
you see? if all you remember in years to come is the 'gay wizard' joke, i've still come out ahead of baroness mary warnock. achievable goals - the first step to self-improvement.
你們看，如果在若干年后你們還記得“快樂的魔法師”這個笑話，那就證明我已經(jīng)超越了baroness mary warnock。建立可實現(xiàn)的目標——這是提高自我的第一步。
actually, i have wracked my mind and heart for what i ought to say to you today. i have asked myself what i wish i had known at my own graduation, and what important lessons i have learned in the 21 years that has e_pired between that day and this.
實際上，我為今天應(yīng)該和大家談些什么絞盡了腦汁。我問自己什么是我希望早在畢業(yè)典禮上就該了解的，而從那時起到現(xiàn)在的 21年間，我又得到了什么重要的啟示。
i have come up with two answers. on this wonderful day when we are gathered together to celebrate your academic success, i have decided to talk to you about the benefits of failure. and as you stand on the threshold of what is sometimes called 'real life', i want to e_tol the crucial importance of imagination.
我想到了兩個答案。在這美好的一天，當(dāng)我們一起慶祝你們?nèi)〉脤W(xué)業(yè)成就的時刻，我希望告訴你們失敗有什么樣的益處;在你們即將邁向“現(xiàn)實生活”的道路之際，我還要褒揚想象力的重要性。
these may seem qui_otic or parado_ical choices, but bear with me.
這些似乎是不切實際或自相矛盾的選擇，但請先容我講完。
looking back at the 21-year-old that i was at graduation, is a slightly uncomfortable e_perience for the 42-year-old that she has become. half my lifetime ago, i was striking an uneasy balance between the ambition i had for myself, and what those closest to me e_pected of me.
回顧21歲剛剛畢業(yè)時的自己，對于今天42歲的我來說，是一個稍微不太舒服的經(jīng)歷?？梢哉f，我人生的前一部分，一直掙扎在自己的雄心和身邊的人對我的期望之間。
i was convinced that the only thing i wanted to do, ever, was to write novels. however, my parents, both of whom came from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing personal quirk that could never pay a mortgage, or secure a pension.
我一直深信，自己唯一想做的事情，就是寫小說。不過，我的父母，他們都來自貧窮的背景，沒有任何一人上過大學(xué)，堅持認為我過度的想象力是一個令人驚訝的個人怪癖，根本不足以讓我支付按揭，或者取得足夠的養(yǎng)老金。
i know the irony strikes like with the force of a cartoon anvil now, but…
我現(xiàn)在明白反諷就像用卡通鐵砧去打擊你，但...
they had hoped that i would take a vocational degree; i wanted to study english literature. a compromise was reached that in retrospect satisfied nobody, and i went up to study modern languages. hardly had my parents' car rounded the corner at the end of the road than i ditched german and scuttled off down the classics corridor.
他們希望我去拿個職業(yè)學(xué)位，而我想去攻讀英國文學(xué)。最后，達成了一個雙方都不甚滿意的妥協(xié)：我改學(xué)現(xiàn)代語言?？墒堑鹊礁改敢蛔唛_，我立刻放棄了德語而報名學(xué)習(xí)古典文學(xué)。
i cannot remember telling my parents that i was studying classics; they might well have found out for the first time on graduation day. of all the subjects on this planet, i think they would have been hard put to name one less useful than greek mythology when it came to securing the keys to an e_ecutive bathroom.
我不記得將這事告訴了父母，他們可能是在我畢業(yè)典禮那一天才發(fā)現(xiàn)的。我想，在全世界的所有專業(yè)中，他們也許認為，不會有比研究希臘神話更沒用的專業(yè)了，根本無法換來一間獨立寬敞的衛(wèi)生間。
i would like to make it clear, in parenthesis, that i do not blame my parents for their point of view. there is an e_piry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you. what is more, i cannot criticise my parents for hoping that i would never e_perience poverty. they had been poor themselves, and i have since been poor, and i quite agree with them that it is not an ennobling e_perience. poverty entails fear, and stress, and sometimes depression; it means a thousand petty humiliations and hardships. climbing out of poverty by your own efforts, that is indeed something on which to pride yourself, but poverty itself is romanticised only by fools.
我想澄清一下：我不會因為父母的觀點，而責(zé)怪他們。埋怨父母給你指錯方向是有一個時間段的。當(dāng)你成長到可以控制自我方向的時候，你就要自己承擔(dān)責(zé)任了。尤其是，我不會因為父母希望我不要過窮日子，而責(zé)怪他們。他們一直很貧窮，我后來也一度很窮，所以我很理解他們。貧窮并不是一種高貴的經(jīng)歷，它帶來恐懼、壓力、有時還有絕望，它意味著許許多多的羞辱和艱辛?？孔约旱呐[脫貧窮，確實可以引以自豪，但貧窮本身只有對傻瓜而言才是浪漫的。
what i feared most for myself at your age was not poverty, but failure.
我在你們這個年齡，最害怕的不是貧窮，而是失敗。
at your age, in spite of a distinct lack of motivation at university, where i had spent far too long in the coffee bar writing stories, and far too little time at lectures, i had a knack for passing e_aminations, and that, for years, had been the measure of success in my life and that of my peers.
我在您們這么大時，明顯缺乏在大學(xué)學(xué)習(xí)的動力，我花了太久時間在咖啡吧寫故事，而在課堂的時間卻很少。我有一個通過考試的訣竅，并且數(shù)年間一直讓我在大學(xué)生活和同齡人中不落人后。
i am not dull enough to suppose that because you are young, gifted and well-educated, you have never known hardship or heartache. talent and intelligence never yet inoculated anyone against the caprice of the fates, and i do not for a moment suppose that everyone here has enjoyed an e_istence of unruffled privilege and contentment.
我不想愚蠢地假設(shè)，因為你們年輕、有天份，并且受過良好的教育，就從來沒有遇到困難或心碎的時刻。擁有才華和智慧，從來不會使人對命運的反復(fù)無常有所準備;我也不會假設(shè)大家坐在這里冷靜地滿足于自身的優(yōu)越感。
however, the fact that you are graduating from harvard suggests that you are not very well-acquainted with failure. you might be driven by a fear of failure quite as much as a desire for success. indeed, your conception of failure might not be too far from the average person's idea of success, so high have you already flown academically.
相反，你們是哈佛畢業(yè)生的這個事實，意味著你們并不很了解失敗。你們也許極其渴望成功，所以非常害怕失敗。說實話，你們眼中的失敗，很可能就是普通人眼中的成功，畢竟你們在學(xué)業(yè)上已經(jīng)達到很高的高度了。
ultimately, we all have to decide for ourselves what constitutes failure, but the world is quite eager to give you a set of criteria if you let it. so i think it fair to say that by any conventional measure, a mere seven years after my graduation day, i had failed on an epic scale. an e_ceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and i was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern britain, without being homeless. the fears my parents had had for me, and that i had had for myself, had both come to pass, and by every usual standard, i was the biggest failure i knew.
最終，我們所有人都必須自己決定什么算作失敗，但如果你愿意，世界是相當(dāng)渴望給你一套標準的。所以我想很公平的講，從任何傳統(tǒng)的標準看，在我畢業(yè)僅僅七年后的日子里，我的失敗達到了史詩般空前的規(guī)模：短命的婚姻閃電般地破裂，我又失業(yè)成了一個艱難的單身母親。除了流浪漢，我是當(dāng)代英國最窮的人之一，真的一無所有。當(dāng)年父母和我自己對未來的擔(dān)憂，現(xiàn)在都變成了現(xiàn)實。按照慣常的標準來看，我也是我所知道的最失敗的人。
now, i am not going to stand here and tell you that failure is fun. that period of my life was a dark one, and i had no idea that there was going to be what the press has since represented as a kind of fairy tale resolution. i had no idea how far the tunnel e_tended, and for a long time, any light at the end of it was a hope rather than a reality.
現(xiàn)在，我不打算站在這里告訴你們，失敗是有趣的。那段日子是我生命中的黑暗歲月，我不知道它是否代表童話故事里需要歷經(jīng)的磨難，更不知道自己還要在黑暗中走多久。很長一段時間里，前面留給我的只是希望，而不是現(xiàn)實。
so why do i talk about the benefits of failure? simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. i stopped pretending to myself that i was anything other than what i was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. had i really succeeded at anything else, i might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena i believed i truly belonged. i was set free, because my greatest fear had been realised, and i was still alive, and i still had a daughter whom i adored, and i had an old typewriter and a big idea. and so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which i rebuilt my life.
那么為什么我要談?wù)撌〉暮锰幠?因為失敗意味著剝離掉那些不必要的東西。我因此不再偽裝自己、遠離自我，而重新開始把所有精力放在對我最重要的事情上。如果不是沒有在其他領(lǐng)域成功過，我可能就不會找到，在一個我確信真正屬于的舞臺上取得成功的決心。我獲得了自由，因為最害怕的雖然已經(jīng)發(fā)生了，但我還活著，我仍然有一個我深愛的女兒，我還有一個舊打字機和一個很大的想法。所以困境的谷底，成為我重建生活的堅實基礎(chǔ)。
you might never fail on the scale i did, but some failure in life is inevitable. it is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.
你們可能永遠沒有達到我經(jīng)歷的那種失敗程度，但有些失敗，在生活中是不可避免的。生活不可能沒有一點失敗，除非你生活的萬般小心，而那也意味著你沒有真正在生活了。無論怎樣，有些失敗還是注定地要發(fā)生。
failure gave me an inner security that i had never attained by passing e_aminations. failure taught me things about myself that i could have learned no other way. i discovered that i had a strong will, and more discipline than i had suspected; i also found out that i had friends whose value was truly above the price of rubies.
失敗使我的內(nèi)心產(chǎn)生一種安全感，這是我從考試中沒有得到過的。失敗讓我看清自己，這也是我通過其他方式無法體會的。我發(fā)現(xiàn)，我比自己認為的，要有更強的意志和決心。我還發(fā)現(xiàn)，我擁有比寶石更加珍貴的朋友。
the knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. you will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. such knowledge is a true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more to me than any qualification i ever earned.
從挫折中獲得智慧、變得堅強，意味著你比以往任何時候都更有能力生存。只有在逆境來臨的時候，你才會真正認識你自己，了解身邊的人。這種了解是真正的財富，雖然是用痛苦換來的，但比我以前得到的任何資格證書都有用。
so given a time turner, i would tell my 21-year-old self that personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a check-list of acquisition or achievement. your qualifications, your cv, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two. life is difficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone's total control, and the humility to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes.
如果給我一部時間機器，我會告訴21歲的自己，人的幸福在于知道生活不是一份漂亮的成績單，你的資歷、簡歷，都不是你的生活，雖然你會碰到很多與我同齡或更老一點的人今天依然還在混淆兩者。生活是艱辛的，復(fù)雜的，超出任何人的控制能力，而謙恭地了解這一點，將使你歷經(jīng)滄桑后能夠更好的生存。
you might think that i chose my second theme, the importance of imagination, because of the part it played in rebuilding my life, but that is not wholly so. though i will defend the value of bedtime stories to my last gasp, i have learned to value imagination in a much broader sense. imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation. in its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathise with humans whose e_periences we have never shared.
對于第二個主題的選擇——想象力的重要性——你們可能會認為是因為它對我重建生活起到了幫助，但事實并非完全如此。雖然我愿誓死捍衛(wèi)睡前要給孩子講故事的價值觀，我對想象力的理解已經(jīng)有了更廣泛的含義。想象力不僅僅是人類設(shè)想還不存在的事物這種獨特的能力，為所有發(fā)明和創(chuàng)新提供源泉，它還是人類改造和揭露現(xiàn)實的能力，使我們同情自己不曾經(jīng)受的他人苦難。
one of the greatest formative e_periences of my life preceded harry potter, though it informed much of what i subsequently wrote in those books. this revelation came in the form of one of my earliest day jobs. though i was sloping off to write stories during my lunch hours, i paid the rent in my early 20s by working at the african research department at amnesty international's headquarters in london.
其中一個影響最大的經(jīng)歷發(fā)生在我寫哈利波特之前，為我隨后寫書提供了很多想法。這些想法成形于我早期的工作經(jīng)歷，在20 多歲時，盡管我可以在午餐時間里悄悄寫故事，可為了付房租，我做的主要工作是在倫敦總部的國際研究部門。
there in my little office i read hastily scribbled letters smuggled out of totalitarian regimes by men and women who were risking imprisonment to inform the outside world of what was happening to them. i saw photographs of those who had disappeared without trace, sent to amnesty by their desperate families and friends. i read the testimony of torture victims and saw pictures of their injuries. i opened handwritten, eye-witness accounts of summary trials and e_ecutions, of kidnappings and rapes.
在我的小辦公室，我看到了人們匆匆寫的信件，它們是從極權(quán)主義政權(quán)被偷送出來的。那些人冒著被監(jiān)禁的危險，告知外面的世界他們那里正在發(fā)生的事情。我看到了那些無跡可尋的人的照片，它們是被那些絕望的家人和朋友送來的。我看過拷問受害者的證詞和被害的照片。我打開過手寫的目擊證詞，描述綁架和強女干犯的審判和處決。
many of my co-workers were e_-political prisoners, people who had been displaced from their homes, or fled into e_ile, because they had the temerity to think independently of their government. visitors to our office included those who had come to give information, or to try and find out what had happened to those who they had left behind.
我有很多的同事是前政治犯，他們已離開家園流離失所，或逃亡流放，因為他們敢于懷疑政府、獨立思考。來我們辦公室的訪客，包括那些前來提供信息，或想設(shè)法知道那些被迫留下的同志發(fā)生了什么事的人。
i shall never forget the african torture victim, a young man no older than i was at the time, who had become mentally ill after all he had endured in his homeland. he trembled uncontrollably as he spoke into a video camera about the brutality inflicted upon him. he was a foot taller than i was, and seemed as fragile as a child. i was given the job of escorting him to the underground station afterwards, and this man whose life had been shattered by cruelty took my hand with e_quisite courtesy, and wished me future happiness.
我將永遠不會忘記一個非洲酷刑的受害者，一名當(dāng)時還沒有我大的年輕男子，他因在故鄉(xiāng)的經(jīng)歷而精神錯亂。在攝像機前講述被殘暴地摧殘的時候，他顫抖失控。他比我高一英尺，卻看上去像一個脆弱的兒童。我被安排隨后護送他到地鐵站，這名生活已被殘酷地打亂的男子，小心翼翼地握著我的手，祝我未來生活幸福。
and as long as i live i shall remember walking along an empty corridor and suddenly hearing, from behind a closed door, a scream of pain and horror such as i have never heard since. the door opened, and the researcher poked out her head and told me to run and make a hot drink for the young man sitting with her. she had just given him the news that in retaliation for his own outspokenness against his country's regime, his mother had been seized and e_ecuted.
只要我活著，我還會記得，在一個空蕩蕩的的走廊，突然從背后的門里，傳來我從未聽過的痛苦和恐懼的尖叫。門打開了，調(diào)查員探出頭請求我，為坐在她旁邊的青年男子，調(diào)一杯熱飲料。她剛剛給他的消息是，為了報復(fù)他對國家政權(quán)的批評，他的母親已經(jīng)被捕并執(zhí)行了槍決。
every day of my working week in my early 20s i was reminded how incredibly fortunate i was, to live in a country with a democratically elected government, where legal representation and a public trial were the rights of everyone.
在我20多歲的那段日子，每一天的工作，都在提醒我自己是多么幸運。生活在一個民選政府的國家，依法申述與公開審理，是所有人的權(quán)利。
every day, i saw more evidence about the evils humankind will inflict on their fellow humans, to gain or maintain power. i began to have nightmares, literal nightmares, about some of the things i saw, heard and read.
每一天，我都能看到更多有關(guān)惡人的證據(jù)，他們?yōu)榱双@得或維持權(quán)力，對自己的同胞犯下暴行。我開始做噩夢，真正意義上的噩夢，全都和我所見所聞有關(guān)。
and yet i also learned more about human goodness at amnesty international than i had ever known before.
同時在這里我也了解到更多關(guān)于人類的善良，比我以前想象的要多很多。
amnesty mobilises thousands of people who have never been tortured or imprisoned for their beliefs to act on behalf of those who have. the power of human empathy, leading to collective action, saves lives, and frees prisoners. ordinary people, whose personal well-being and security are assured, join together in huge numbers to save people they do not know, and will never meet. my small participation in that process was one of the most humbling and inspiring e_periences of my life.
大赦動員成千上萬沒有因為個人信仰而受到折磨或監(jiān)禁的人，去為那些遭受這種不幸的人奔走。人類同理心的力量，引發(fā)集體行動，拯救生命，解放囚犯。個人的福祉和安全有保證的普通百姓，攜手合作，大量挽救那些他們素不相識，也許永遠不會見面的人。我用自己微薄的力量參與了這一過程，也獲得了更大的啟發(fā)。
unlike any other creature on this planet, human beings can learn and understand, without having e_perienced. they can think themselves into other people's places.
不同于在這個星球上任何其他的動物，人類可以學(xué)習(xí)和理解未曾經(jīng)歷過的東西。他們可以將心比心、設(shè)身處地的理解他人。
of course, this is a power, like my brand of fictional magic, that is morally neutral. one might use such an ability to manipulate, or control, just as much as to understand or sympathise.
當(dāng)然，這種能力，就像在我虛構(gòu)的魔法世界里一樣，在道德上是中立的。一個人可能會利用這種能力去操縱控制，也有人選擇去了解同情。
and many prefer not to e_ercise their imaginations at all. they choose to remain comfortably within the bounds of their own e_perience, never troubling to wonder how it would feel to have been born other than they are. they can refuse to hear screams or to peer inside cages; they can close their minds and hearts to any suffering that does not touch them personally; they can refuse to know.
而很多人選擇不去使用他們的想象力。他們選擇留在自己舒適的世界里，從來不愿花力氣去想想如果生在別處會怎樣。他們可以拒絕去聽別人的尖叫，看一眼囚禁的籠子;他們可以封閉自己的內(nèi)心，只要痛苦不觸及個人，他們可以拒絕去了解。
i might be tempted to envy people who can live that way, e_cept that i do not think they have any fewer nightmares than i do. choosing to live in narrow spaces can lead to a form of mental agoraphobia, and that brings its own terrors. i think the wilfully unimaginative see more monsters. they are often more afraid.
我可能會受到誘惑，去嫉妒那樣生活的人。但我不認為他們做的噩夢會比我更少。選擇生活在狹窄的空間，可以導(dǎo)致不敢面對開闊的視野，給自己帶來恐懼感。我認為不愿展開想像的人會看到更多的怪獸，他們往往更感到更害怕。
what is more, those who choose not to empathise may enable real monsters. for without ever committing an act of outright evil ourselves, we collude with it, through our own apathy.
更甚的是，那些選擇不去同情的人，可能會激活真正的怪獸。因為盡管自己沒有犯下罪惡，我們卻通過冷漠與之勾結(jié)。
one of the many things i learned at the end of that classics corridor down which i ventured at the age of 18, in search of something i could not then define, was this, written by the greek author plutarch: what we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.
我18歲開始從古典文學(xué)中汲取許多知識，其中之一當(dāng)時并不完全理解，那就是希臘作家普魯塔克所說：我們內(nèi)心獲得的，將改變外在的現(xiàn)實。
that is an astonishing statement and yet proven a thousand times every day of our lives. it e_presses, in part, our inescapable connection with the outside world, the fact that we touch other people's lives simply by e_isting.
那是一個驚人的論斷，在我們生活的每一天里被無數(shù)次證實。它指明我們與外部世界有無法脫離的聯(lián)系，我們以自身的存在接觸著他人的生命。
but how much more are you, harvard graduates of 2022, likely to touch other people's lives? your intelligence, your capacity for hard work, the education you have earned and received, give you unique status, and unique responsibilities. even your nationality sets you apart. the great majority of you belong to the world's only remaining superpower. the way you vote, the way you live, the way you protest, the pressure you bring to bear on your government, has an impact way beyond your borders. that is your privilege, and your burden.
但是，哈佛大學(xué)的2022屆畢業(yè)生們，你們多少人有可能去觸及他人的生命?你們的智慧，你們努力工作的能力，以及你們所受到的教育，給予你們獨特的地位和責(zé)任。甚至你們的國籍也讓你們與眾不同，你們絕大部份人屬于這個世界上唯一的超級大國。你們表決的方式，你們生活的方式，你們抗議的方式，你們給政府帶來的壓力，具有超乎尋常的影響力。這是你們的特權(quán)，也是你們的責(zé)任。
if you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice; if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless; if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your e_istence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped to change. we do not need magic to transform the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.
如果你選擇利用自己的地位和影響，去為那些沒有發(fā)言權(quán)的人發(fā)出聲音;如果你選擇不僅與強者為伍，還會同情幫扶弱者;如果你會設(shè)身處地為不如你的人著想，那么你的存在，將不僅是你家人的驕傲，更是無數(shù)因為你的幫助而改變命運的成千上萬人的驕傲。我們不需要改變世界的魔法，我們自己的內(nèi)心就有這種力量：那就是我們一直在夢想，讓這個世界變得更美好。
i am nearly finished. i have one last hope for you, which is something that i already had at 21. the friends with whom i sat on graduation day have been my friends for life. they are my children's godparents, the people to whom i've been able to turn in times of real trouble, people who have been kind enough not to sue me when i've used their names for death eaters. at our graduation we were bound by enormous affection, by our shared e_perience of a time that could never come again, and, of course, by the knowledge that we held certain photographic evidence that would be e_ceptionally valuable if any of us ran for prime minister.
我的演講要接近尾聲了。對你們，我有最后一個希望，也是我21歲時就有的。畢業(yè)那天坐在我身邊的朋友現(xiàn)在是我終身的摯交，他們是我孩子的教父母，是在我遇到麻煩時愿意伸出援手，在我用他們的名字給哈利波特中的 “食死徒”起名而不會起訴我的朋友。我們在畢業(yè)典禮時坐在了一起，因為我們關(guān)系親密，擁有共同的永遠無法再來的經(jīng)歷，當(dāng)然，也因為假想要是我們中的任何人競選首相，那照片將是極為寶貴的關(guān)系證明。
so today, i can wish you nothing better than similar friendships. and tomorrow, i hope that even if you remember not a single word of mine, you remember those of seneca, another of those old romans i met when i fled down the classics corridor, in retreat from career ladders, in search of ancient wisdom:
所以今天我可以給你們的，沒有比擁有知己更好的祝福了。明天，我希望即使你們不記得我說的任何一個字，你們還能記得哲學(xué)家塞內(nèi)加的一句至理明言。我當(dāng)年沒有順著事業(yè)的階梯向上攀爬，轉(zhuǎn)而與他在古典文學(xué)的殿堂相遇，他的古老智慧給了我人生的啟迪：
as is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.
生活就像故事一樣：不在乎長短，而在于質(zhì)量，這才是最重要的。
i wish you all very good lives.
我祝愿你們都有美好的生活。
thank you very much.
非常感謝大家。
第2篇 《哈利波特》作者：羅琳 在哈佛大學(xué)的演講
立波特作家羅琳在哈佛大學(xué)的演講：失敗的額外收益與想象力的重要性
浮士德主席，哈佛公司和監(jiān)察委員會的各位成員，大學(xué)的員工，自豪的父母，以及所有的畢業(yè)生們：
首先我想說的是“謝謝你們”。這不僅因為哈佛給了我非比尋常的榮譽，而且為了這幾個禮拜以來，由于想到這次畢業(yè)典禮演說而產(chǎn)生的恐懼與惡心讓我減肥成功。這真是一個雙贏的局面！現(xiàn)在我需要做的就是一次深呼吸，瞇著眼看著紅色的橫幅，然后欺騙自己，讓自己相信正在參加世界上受到最好教育群體的哈立波特大會。
做畢業(yè)典禮演說是一個重大的責(zé)任，我的思緒回到了自己的那次畢業(yè)典禮。那天的演講者是一位英國的杰出哲學(xué)家 baroness marry warnock. 對她演講的回憶對我寫這篇演講稿幫助巨大，因為我發(fā)現(xiàn)她說的話我居然一個字都沒有記住。這個發(fā)現(xiàn)讓我釋然，使我得以繼續(xù)寫完演講稿，我不用再擔(dān)心，那種想成為'gay wizard'（harry porter中的魔法大師）的眩暈的愉悅，可能會誤導(dǎo)你們放棄在商業(yè)、法律、政治領(lǐng)域的大好前途。
你們看，如果你們在若干年后能記住“gay wizard”這個笑話，我就比barkoness mary warnock有進步了。所以，設(shè)定一個可以實現(xiàn)的目標是個人進步的第一步。
實際上，我已經(jīng)絞盡腦汁、費勁心思去想今天我應(yīng)該講什么好。我問自己：我希望在自己畢業(yè)那天已經(jīng)知道的是什么，而又有哪些重要的教訓(xùn)是我從那天開始到現(xiàn)在的21年間學(xué)會的。
我想到了兩個答案。在今天這個愉快的日子，我們聚在一起慶祝你們學(xué)習(xí)上的成功時，我決定和你們談?wù)勈〉氖找?。另外，?dāng)你們?nèi)缃裉幱凇艾F(xiàn)實生活”的入口處時，我想向你們頌揚想象力的重要性。
我選擇的這兩個答案似乎如同堂吉訶德式幻想一樣不切實際，或者顯得荒謬，但是請容忍我講下去。
對于我這樣一個已經(jīng)42歲的人來說，回頭看自己21歲畢業(yè)時的情景，并不是一件舒服的事情。我的前半生之前，我一直在自己內(nèi)心的追求與最親近的人對我的要求之間進行不自在的抗爭。
我曾確信我自己唯一想做的事情是寫小說。但是我的父母都來自貧窮的家庭，都沒有上過大學(xué)，他們認為我的異?；钴S的想象力只是滑稽的個人怪癖，并不能用來付抵押房產(chǎn)，或者確保得到退休金。
他們曾希望我去拿一個職業(yè)文憑，而我想讀英國文學(xué)。最后,我們達成了一個回想起來雙方都不甚滿意的妥協(xié)：我改學(xué)現(xiàn)代語言?？墒堑鹊礁改敢蛔唛_，我立刻報名學(xué)習(xí)古典文學(xué)了。
我忘了自己是怎么把學(xué)古典文學(xué)的事情告訴父母的了，他們也可能是在我畢業(yè)那天才第一次發(fā)現(xiàn)。在這個星球上的所有科目中，我想他們很難再發(fā)現(xiàn)一門比希臘神學(xué)更沒用的課程了。
我想順帶著說明，我并沒有因為他們的觀點而抱怨他們?，F(xiàn)在已經(jīng)不是抱怨父母引導(dǎo)自己走錯方向的時候了，如今的你們已經(jīng)足夠大來決定自己前進的路程，責(zé)任要靠自己承擔(dān)。而且，我也不能批評我的父母，他們是希望我能擺脫貧窮。他們以前遭受了貧窮，我也曾經(jīng)貧窮過，對于他們認為貧窮并不高尚的觀點我也堅決同意。貧窮會引起恐懼、壓力，有時候甚至是沮喪。這意味著小心眼、卑微和很多艱難困苦。通過自己的努力擺脫貧窮確實是件很值得自豪的事情，但只有傻瓜才對貧窮本身夸夸其談。
我在你們這個年齡的時候，最害怕的不是貧窮，而是失敗。
在你們這個年齡，盡管我明顯缺少在大學(xué)學(xué)習(xí)的動力，我花了很多時間在咖啡吧寫故事，很少去聽課，但是我知道通過考試的技巧，當(dāng)然，這也是好多年來評價我，以及我同齡人是否成功的標準。
我想說，并不是我太遲鈍，我覺得你們還不曾知道什么是艱難困苦，或者什么是心碎的感覺，因為你們還年輕，而且天資聰明，受到良好教育。但是天賦和智商還未能使任何人免于命運無常的折磨，我從來不認為這里的每個人已經(jīng)享有平靜的恩典和滿足。
然而，你們能從哈佛畢業(yè)這個現(xiàn)實表明，你們對失敗還不是很熟悉，對于失敗的恐懼與對于成功的渴望可能對你們有相同的驅(qū)動力。確實，你們對于失敗的概念可能與普通人的成功差不了太多。你們在學(xué)習(xí)這方面已經(jīng)站得相當(dāng)高了！
當(dāng)然，最終我們所有人不得不為自己決定什么是失敗的組成元素，但是如果你愿意的話，世界很愿意給你一堆的標準。基于任何一種傳統(tǒng)標準，我可以說，僅僅在我畢業(yè)7年后，我經(jīng)歷了一次巨大的失敗。我突然間結(jié)束了一段短暫的婚姻，失去了工作。作為一個單身媽媽，而且在這個現(xiàn)代化的英國，除了不是無家可歸，你可以說我有多窮就有多窮。我父母對于我的擔(dān)心，以及我對自己的擔(dān)心都成了現(xiàn)實，從任何一個通常的標準來看，這是我知道的最大失敗。
現(xiàn)在，我不會站在這里和你們說失敗很好玩。我生命的那段時間非常的灰暗，那時我還不知道我的書會被新聞界認為是神話故事的革命，我也不知道這段灰暗的日子要持續(xù)多久。那時候的很長一段時間里，任何出現(xiàn)的光芒只是希望而不是現(xiàn)實。
那么我為什么還要談?wù)撌〉氖找婺?？僅僅是因為失敗意味著和非我的脫離，失敗后我找到了自我，不再裝成另外的形象，我開始把我所有的精力僅僅放在我關(guān)心的工作上。如果我在其他方面成功過，我可能就不會具備要求在自己領(lǐng)域內(nèi)獲得成功的決心。我變得自在，因為我已經(jīng)經(jīng)歷過最大的恐懼。而且我還活著，我有一個值得我自豪的女兒，我有一個陳舊的打字機和很不錯的寫作靈感。我在失敗堆積而成的硬石般的基礎(chǔ)上開始重筑我的人生。
你們可能不會經(jīng)歷像我那么大的失敗，但生活中面臨失敗是不可避免的。永遠不失敗是不可能，除非你活得過于謹慎，這樣倒還不如根本就沒有在世上生活過，因為你從一開始就失敗了。
失敗給了我內(nèi)心的安寧，這種安寧是順利通過測驗考試獲得不了的。失敗讓我認識自己，這些是沒法從其他地方學(xué)到的。我發(fā)現(xiàn)自己有堅強的意志，而且，自我控制能力比自己猜想的還要強，我也發(fā)現(xiàn)自己擁有比紅寶石更真的朋友。
從挫折中獲得的知識越充滿智慧、越有力，你在以后的生存中則越安全。除非遭受磨難，你們不會真正認識自己，也沒法知道你們之間關(guān)系有多鐵。這些知識才是真正的禮物，他們比我曾經(jīng)獲得的任何資格證書更為珍貴，因為這些是我經(jīng)歷過痛苦后才獲得的。
第3篇 jk羅琳演講稿
jk羅琳演講稿
jk羅琳演講稿
——《哈利.波特》作者j.k羅琳
jk羅琳哈佛大學(xué)演講(中英文)
president faust, members of the harvard corporation and the board of overseers,
members of the faculty, proud parents, and, above all, graduates,
福斯特主席，哈佛公司和監(jiān)察委員會的各位成員，
各位老師、家長、全體畢業(yè)生們：
the first thing i would like to say is 'thank you.' not only has harvard given me an e_traordinary honour, but the weeks of fear and nausea i’ve endured at the thought of giving this commencement address have made me lose weight. a win-win situation! now all i have to do is take deep breaths, squint at the red banners and convince myself that i am at the world’s largest gryffindors reunion.
首先請允許我說一聲謝謝。哈佛不僅給了我無上的榮譽，連日來為這個演講經(jīng)受的恐懼和緊張，更令我減肥成功。這真是一個雙贏的局面?，F(xiàn)在我要做的就是深呼吸幾下，瞇著眼睛看看前面的大紅橫幅，安慰自己正在世界上最大的格蘭芬多（滬江小編：以防有人沒看過《哈利波特》格蘭芬多是小哈利所在的魔法學(xué)院的名字）聚會上。
delivering a commencement address is a great responsibility; or so i thought until i cast my mind back to my own graduation. the commencement speaker that day was the distinguished british philosopher baroness mary warnock. reflecting on her speech has helped me enormously in writing this one, because it turns out that i cant remember a single word she said. this liberating discovery enables me to proceed without any fear that i might inadvertently influence you to abandon promising careers in business, law or politics for the giddy delights of becoming a gay wizard.
發(fā)表畢業(yè)演說是一個巨大的責(zé)任，至少在我回憶自己當(dāng)年的畢業(yè)典禮前是這么認為的。那天做演講的是英國著名的哲學(xué)家 baroness mary warnock，對她演講的回憶，對我寫今天的演講稿，產(chǎn)生了極大的幫助，因為我不記得她說過的任何一句話了。這個發(fā)現(xiàn)讓我釋然，讓我不再擔(dān)心我可能會無意中影響你放棄在商業(yè)，法律或政治上的大好前途，轉(zhuǎn)而醉心于成為一個快樂的魔法師（gay有快樂和同性戀的意思）。
you seeif all you remember in years to come is the gay wizard joke, ive still come out ahead of baroness mary warnock. achievable goals - the first step to self-improvement.
你們看，如果在若干年后你們還記得“快樂的魔法師”這個笑話，那就證明我已經(jīng)超越了baroness mary warnock。建立可實現(xiàn)的目標——這是提高自我的第一步。
actually, i have wracked my mind and heart for what i ought to say to you today. i have asked myself what i wish i had known at my own graduation, and what important lessons i have learned in the 21 years that has e_pired between that day and this.
實際上，我為今天應(yīng)該和大家談些什么絞盡了腦汁。我問自己什么是我希望早在畢業(yè)典禮上就該了解的，而從那時起到現(xiàn)在的 21年間，我又得到了什么重要的啟示。
i have come up with two answers. on this wonderful day when we are gathered together to celebrate your academic success, i have decided to talk to you about the benefits of failure. and as you stand on the threshold of what is sometimes called real life, i want to e_tol the crucial importance of imagination.
我想到了兩個答案。在這美好的一天，當(dāng)我們一起慶祝你們?nèi)〉脤W(xué)業(yè)成就的時刻，我希望告訴你們失敗有什么樣的益處；在你們即將邁向“現(xiàn)實生活”的道路之際，我還要褒揚想象力的重要性。
these may seem qui_otic or parado_ical choices, but bear with me.
這些似乎是不切實際或自相矛盾的選擇，但請先容我講完。
looking back at the 21-year-old that i was at graduation, is a slightly uncomfortable e_perience for the 42-year-old that she has become. half my lifetime ago, i was striking an uneasy balance between the ambition i had for myself, and what those closest to me e_pected of me.
回顧21歲剛剛畢業(yè)時的'自己，對于今天42歲的我來說，是一個稍微不太舒服的經(jīng)歷?？梢哉f，我人生的前一部分，一直掙扎在自己的雄心和身邊的人對我的期望之間。
i was convinced that the only thing i wanted to do, ever, was to write novels. however, my parents, both of whom came from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing personal quirk that could never pay a mortgage, or secure a pension.
我一直深信，自己唯一想做的事情，就是寫小說。不過，我的父母，他們都來自貧窮的背景，沒有任何一人上過大學(xué)，堅持認為我過度的想象力是一個令人驚訝的個人怪癖，根本不足以讓我支付按揭，或者取得足夠的養(yǎng)老金。
i know the irony strikes like with the force of a cartoon anvil now, but…
我現(xiàn)在明白反諷就像用卡通鐵砧去打擊你，但...
they had hoped that i would take a vocational degree; i wanted to study english literature. a compromise was reached that in retrospect satisfied nobody, and i went up to study modern languages. hardly had my parents car rounded the corner at the end of the road than i ditched german and scuttled off down the classics corridor.
他們希望我去拿個職業(yè)學(xué)位，而我想去攻讀英國文學(xué)。最后，達成了一個雙方都不甚滿意的妥協(xié)：我改學(xué)現(xiàn)代語言?？墒堑鹊礁改敢蛔唛_，我立刻放棄了德語而報名學(xué)習(xí)古典文學(xué)。
i cannot remember telling my parents that i was studying classics; they might well have found out for the first time on graduation day. of all the subjects on this planet, i think they would have been hard put to name one less useful than greek mythology when it came to securing the keys to an e_ecutive bathroom.
我不記得將這事告訴了父母，他們可能是在我畢業(yè)典禮那一天才發(fā)現(xiàn)的。我想，在全世界的所有專業(yè)中，他們也許認為，不會有比研究希臘神話更沒用的專業(yè)了，根本無法換來一間獨立寬敞的衛(wèi)生間。
i would like to make it clear, in parenthesis, that i do not blame my parents for their point of view. there is an e_piry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you. what is more, i cannot criticise my parents for hoping that i would never e_perience poverty. they had been poor themselves, and i have since been poor, and i quite agree with them that it is not an ennobling e_perience. poverty entails fear, and stress, and sometimes depression; it means a thousand petty humiliations and hardships. climbing out of poverty by your own efforts, that is indeed something on which to pride yourself, but poverty itself is romanticised only by fools.
我想澄清一下：我不會因為父母的觀點，而責(zé)怪他們。埋怨父母給你指錯方向是有一個時間段的。當(dāng)你成長到可以控制自我方向的時候，你就要自己承擔(dān)責(zé)任了。尤其是，我不會因為父母希望我不要過窮日子，而責(zé)怪他們。他們一直很貧窮，我后來也一度很窮，所以我很理解他們。貧窮并不是一種高貴的經(jīng)歷，它帶來恐懼、壓力、有時還有絕望，它意味著許許多多的羞辱和艱辛?？孔约旱呐[脫貧窮，確實可以引以自豪，但貧窮本身只有對傻瓜而言才是浪漫的。
what i feared most for myself at your age was not poverty, but failure.
我在你們這個年齡，最害怕的不是貧窮，而是失敗。
at your age, in spite of a distinct lack of motivation at university, where i had spent far too long in
the coffee bar writing stories, and far too little time at lectures, i had a knack for passing e_aminations, and that, for years, had been the measure of success in my life and that of my peers.
我在您們這么大時，明顯缺乏在大學(xué)學(xué)習(xí)的動力，我花了太久時間在咖啡吧寫故事，而在課堂的時間卻很少。我有一個通過考試的訣竅，并且數(shù)年間一直讓我在大學(xué)生活和同齡人中不落人后。
i am not dull enough to suppose that because you are young, gifted and well-educated, you have never known hardship or heartache. talent and intelligence never yet inoculated anyone against the caprice of the fates, and i do not for a moment suppose that everyone here has enjoyed an e_istence of uuffled privilege and contentment.
我不想愚蠢地假設(shè)，因為你們年輕、有天份，并且受過良好的教育，就從來沒有遇到困難或心碎的時刻。擁有才華和智慧，從來不會使人對命運的反復(fù)無常有所準備；我也不會假設(shè)大家坐在這里冷靜地滿足于自身的優(yōu)越感。
however, the fact that you are graduating from harvard suggests that you are not very well-acquainted with failure. you might be driven by a fear of failure quite as much as a desire for success. indeed, your conception of failure might not be too far from the average persons idea of success, so high have you already flown academically.
相反，你們是哈佛畢業(yè)生的這個事實，意味著你們并不很了解失敗。你們也許極其渴望成功，所以非常害怕失敗。說實話，你們眼中的失敗，很可能就是普通人眼中的成功，畢竟你們在學(xué)業(yè)上已經(jīng)達到很高的高度了。
ultimately, we all have to decide for ourselves what constitutes failure, but the world is quite eager to give you a set of criteria if you let it. so i think it fair to say that by any conventional measure, a mere seven years after my graduation day, i had failed on an epic scale. an e_ceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and i was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern britain, without being homeless. the fears my parents had had for me, and that i had had for myself, had both come to pass, and by every usual standard, i was the biggest failure i knew.
最終，我們所有人都必須自己決定什么算作失敗，但如果你愿意，世界是相當(dāng)渴望給你一套標準的。所以我想很公平的講，從任何傳統(tǒng)的標準看，在我畢業(yè)僅僅七年后的日子里，我的失敗達到了史詩般空前的規(guī)模：短命的婚姻閃電般地破裂，我又失業(yè)成了一個艱難的單身母親。除了流浪漢，我是當(dāng)代英國最窮的人之一，真的一無所有。當(dāng)年父母和我自己對未來的擔(dān)憂，現(xiàn)在都變成了現(xiàn)實。按照慣常的標準來看，我也是我所知道的最失敗的人。
now, i am not going to stand here and tell you that failure is fun. that period of my life was a dark one, and i had no idea that there was going to be what the press has since represented as a kind of fairy tale resolution. i had no idea how far the tunnel e_tended, and for a long time, any light at the end of it was a hope rather than a reality.
現(xiàn)在，我不打算站在這里告訴你們，失敗是有趣的。那段日子是我生命中的黑暗歲月，我不知道它是否代表童話故事里需要歷經(jīng)的磨難，更不知道自己還要在黑暗中走多久。很長一段時間里，前面留給我的只是希望，而不是現(xiàn)實。
so why do i talk about the benefits of failuresimply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. i stopped pretending to myself that i was anything other than what i was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. had i really succeeded at anything else, i might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena i believed i truly belonged. i was set free, because my greatest fear had been realised, and i was still alive, and i still had a daughter whom i adored, and i had an old typewriter and a big idea. and so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which i rebuilt my life.
那么為什么我要談?wù)撌〉暮锰幠?？因為失敗意味著剝離掉那些不必要的東西。我因此不再偽裝自己、遠離自我，而重新開始把所有精力放在對我最重要的事情上。如果不是沒有在其他領(lǐng)域成功過，我可能就不會找到，在一個我確信真正屬于的舞臺上取得成功的決心。我獲得了自由，因為最害怕的雖然已經(jīng)發(fā)生了，但我還活著，我仍然有一個我深愛的女兒，我還有一個舊打字機和一個很大的想法。所以困境的谷底，成為我重建生活的堅實基礎(chǔ)。
you might never fail on the scale i did, but some failure in life is inevitable. it is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.
你們可能永遠沒有達到我經(jīng)歷的那種失敗程度，但有些失敗，在生活中是不可避免的。生活不可能沒有一點失敗，除非你生活的萬般小心，而那也意味著你沒有真正在生活了。無論怎樣，有些失敗還是注定地要發(fā)生。
failure gave me an inner security that i had never attained by passing e_aminations. failure taught me things about myself that i could have learned no other way. i discovered that i had a strong will, and more discipline than i had suspected; i also found out that i had friends whose value was truly above the price of rubies.
失敗使我的內(nèi)心產(chǎn)生一種安全感，這是我從考試中沒有得到過的。失敗讓我看清自己，這也是我通過其他方式無法體會的。我發(fā)現(xiàn)，我比自己認為的，要有更強的意志和決心。我還發(fā)現(xiàn)，我擁有比寶石更加珍貴的朋友。
