TheFringeBenefitsofFailure(word文檔良心出品)

1、The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination失敗的好處和想象的重要性- JK羅琳 2008 年哈佛大學(xué)畢業(yè)演講President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, members of the faculty, proud parents, and, above all, graduates.福斯特校長，哈佛集團的各位成員，監(jiān)管理事會的各位理事，各位老師，各位自豪的家長，以及最重要的各位畢業(yè)生同學(xué)，The

2、 first thing I would like to say is thank you. Not only has Harvard given me an extraordinary honour, but the weeks of fear and nausea I have 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

3、 the red banners and convince myself that I am at the worlds largest Gryffindor reunion.我想說的第一句話，就是謝謝 。不僅因為哈佛給了我這樣非同一般的榮譽，還因為為了構(gòu)思今天的演講， 我忍受了幾個星期的擔(dān)驚受怕、茶飯不思的生活，使得我體重減輕。這真可謂 雙贏 ??！現(xiàn)在，我唯一要做的就是深呼吸，偷偷看一眼四周飄揚的紅色旗幟，讓自己相信真的來到了世界上最大的 格蘭芬多 聚會。Delivering a commencement address is a great responsibility; or so I

4、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 lib

5、erating discovery enables me to proceed without any fear that I might inadvertently influence you to abandon promising careers in business, the law or politics for the giddy delights of becoming a gay wizard.在畢業(yè)典禮上發(fā)表演講， 是一項巨大的責(zé)任， 令我倍感壓力。 直到我回憶起了自己的畢業(yè)典禮，才稍稍放松。那一次的演講嘉賓是杰出的英國哲學(xué)家瑪麗沃諾克。回想她的演講，極大地幫助我寫作自己的

6、演講稿，因為我發(fā)現(xiàn)一點也不記得她的任何一句話了。這個發(fā)現(xiàn)讓我如釋重負， 不再害怕自己在不經(jīng)意間就對你們產(chǎn)生影響， 讓你們放棄在商業(yè)、法律、政治方面的大好前途，去追求成為一個快樂巫師的那種令人眩暈的愉悅。You see? If all you remember in years to come is the gay wizard joke, Ive come out ahead of Baroness Mary Warnock. Achievable goals: the first step to self improvement.你們明白嗎？如果多年以后，你們只記得我講的這個 快樂巫師 的笑

7、話，我就已經(jīng)超過瑪麗沃諾克了?？梢詫崿F(xiàn)的目標(biāo)，是自己改進的第一步。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 have expired between that day and this.實際上， 我真的是絞盡腦汁， 思索今

8、天自己到底應(yīng)該講什么。 我問自己， 當(dāng)年我畢業(yè)的時候，希望知道哪些事情；以及 21 年后的今天，我又從人生中得到哪些重要的經(jīng)驗教訓(xùn)。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 asyou stand on the threshold of what is sometime

9、s called real life, I want to extol the crucial importance of imagination.我得到了兩個回答。 這個美妙的日子，我們聚集一堂，慶祝你們在學(xué)業(yè)上的成功， 但是我決定跟你們說說失敗的好處。 以及當(dāng)你們站在所謂 真實世界 的門檻之上的時候， 我要頌揚想象力的重要性。These may seem quixotic or paradoxical choices, but please bear with me.這樣的主題可能看上去有點異想天開和自相矛盾，但是請聽下去。Looking back at the 21-year-old t

10、hat I was at graduation, is a slightly uncomfortable experience 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 expected of me.對于一個42 歲的婦女來說， 回想自己21 歲畢業(yè)時的情景，是一種稍稍令人不安的經(jīng)歷?；氐?21 年之前，我正遭受

11、煎熬，不知道在自己內(nèi)心的追求與父母對我的期望之間，應(yīng)該如何平衡。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

12、 would never pay a mortgage, or secure a pension. I know that the irony strikes with the force of a cartoon anvil, now.當(dāng)時，我確信自己一生中唯一想做的事情，就是去寫小說。但是，我的父母出身貧寒，沒有受過大學(xué)教育。 他們認(rèn)為，我那些不安分的想象力只是一種怪癖， 根本不能用來還房貸，或者掙來養(yǎng)老金。我現(xiàn)在知道，這種人生的反諷，有著卡通片里大鐵砧般的巨大打擊力。So they hoped that I would take a vocational degree; I wanted

13、 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.他們希望我再去讀個職業(yè)學(xué)位， 而我想去研究英國文學(xué)。 最后，達成了

14、一個雙方都不甚滿意的妥協(xié)：我改學(xué)語言學(xué)。 可是等到父母的車消失在公路的轉(zhuǎn)角，我就立刻拋掉了德語， 奔向古典文學(xué)的道路。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 Gr

15、eek mythology when it came to securing the keys to an executive bathroom.我不記得將這事告訴了父母。 他們可能是在畢業(yè)典禮那一天才發(fā)現(xiàn)的。有專業(yè)中， 他們也許認(rèn)為， 不會有比研究希臘神話更沒用的專業(yè)了，的寬敞衛(wèi)生間。我想， 在全世界的所根本無法換來一間獨立I would like to make it clear, in parenthesis, that I do not blame my parents for their point of view. There is an expiry date on blamin

16、g 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 cannotcriticise my parents for hoping that I wouldnever experience poverty. They had been poorthemselves, and I have since been poor, and I quite agr

17、ee with them that it is not an ennobling experience. 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

18、only by fools.我要申明， 我并不責(zé)怪父母有這種看法。 父母只在一段時間內(nèi)，對你的人生方向負責(zé)； 當(dāng)你長大以后， 你自己就控制了人生方向，必須自己承擔(dān)責(zé)任。而且， 他們只是希望我不要過窮日子，我不能批評他們。他們自己很窮，我后來一度也很窮，所以我很理解他們，貧窮是一種悲慘的經(jīng)歷。它帶來恐懼、壓力、有時還有抑郁。它意味著許許多多的羞辱和艱辛?？孔约旱呐[脫貧窮，確實讓人自豪，但是只有傻瓜才會將貧窮本身浪漫化。A mere seven years after my graduation day, I had failed on an epic scale.我畢業(yè)后只過了7 年，就失敗

19、得一塌糊涂。An exceptionally 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

20、 biggest failure I knew.短命的婚姻閃電般地破裂，我還失業(yè)了，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。我父母對我的擔(dān)憂，我對自己的擔(dān)憂，都變成了現(xiàn)實。用平常人的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，我是我所知道的最失敗的人。That period of my life was a dark one. I had no idea how far the tunnel extended, and for a long time, any light at the end of it was a hope rather than a reality.那段日子是我生命中的黑暗

21、歲月。 我不知道還要在黑暗中走多久， 很長一段時間中， 我有的只是希望，而不是現(xiàn)實。So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away ofthe 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 mat

22、tered to me.為什么我說失敗是有好處的？因為失敗將那些非本質(zhì)的東西都剝離了。我不再偽裝自己， 我找到了真正的我，我將自己所有的精力，投入完成對我最重要的唯一一項工作。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.要是我以前在其他地方成功了， 那么我也許永遠不會有這樣的決心， 投身于這個我自信真正屬于我的領(lǐng)域。I was set free, because

23、 my greatest fear had already 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.我自由了， 因為我最大的恐懼已經(jīng)成為現(xiàn)實， 而我卻還依然活著， 依然有一個深愛著的女兒，我還有一臺舊打字機和一個大大的夢想。 我生命中最低的低點

24、， 成為我重建生活的堅實基礎(chǔ)。Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. 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

25、 value was truly above rubies.失敗使我的內(nèi)心產(chǎn)生一種安全感， 以前通過考試也沒有的安全感。 失敗讓我看清自己， 以前我從沒認(rèn)識到自己是這樣的。我發(fā)現(xiàn)，我比自己以為的，有更強的意志和決心。我還發(fā)現(xiàn)，我有一些比寶石更珍貴的朋友。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 painfu

26、lly won, and it has been worth more to me than any qualification I ever earned.只有到逆境來臨的那一天， 你才會真正了解你自己， 了解你結(jié)識的人。 這種了解是真正的財富，雖然是用痛苦換來的，但是它比我以前得到的任何證書都有用。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

27、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.你們是哈佛畢業(yè)生的這個事實， 說明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)很成功了。But how much more are you, Harvard graduates of 2008, likely to touch other peoples lives? Yourintelligence, your capacity for hard work, the education you have earned and received, give you unique status, and uniqu