jk羅琳在哈佛大學畢業(yè)典禮上的演講

1、J·K·羅琳在哈佛大學畢業(yè)典禮上的演講 J·K·羅琳在哈佛大學畢業(yè)典禮上的演講作者： 阮一峰日期： 2008年6月17日一、今年6月5日是哈佛大學的畢業(yè)典禮，請來的演講嘉賓是哈利波特的作者J.K.羅琳女士。她的演講題目是失敗的好處和想象的重要性（The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination）。我讀了一遍講稿，覺得很好，很感染人。她幾乎沒有談到哈里波特，而是說了年輕時的一些經(jīng)歷。雖然J·K·羅琳現(xiàn)在很有錢，是英國僅次于女皇的最富有的女人

2、，但是她曾經(jīng)有一段非常艱辛的日子，30歲了，還差點流落街頭。她主要談的是，自己從這段經(jīng)歷中學到的東西。去年的演講嘉賓是比爾·蓋茨，我翻譯了他的演講，影響挺大。今年，我繼續(xù)翻譯，有興趣的朋友可以在網(wǎng)上找到原文和視頻。二、她首先說了自己如何構思演講稿，以及選擇的兩個演講主題。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

3、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，The 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!

4、 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 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，還因為為了構思今天的演講，我忍受了幾個星期的擔驚受怕、茶飯不思的生活，使得我體重減輕。這真可謂"雙贏"啊！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

5、"格蘭芬多"聚會。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 writ

6、ing 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, the law or politics for the giddy delights of becoming a gay wizard

7、.在畢業(yè)典禮上發(fā)表演講，是一項巨大的責任，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家瑪麗·沃諾克?；叵胨难葜v，極大地幫助我寫作自己的演講稿，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, I've come out ahead o

8、f 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"的笑話，我就已經(jīng)超過瑪麗·沃諾克了。可以實現(xiàn)的目標，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 graduat

9、ion, 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，思索今天自己到底應該講什么。我問自己，當年我畢業(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。I have come up with two answers. On this wonderful day when we are gathered together to celebrate your academic suc

10、cess, 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 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，慶祝你們在學業(yè)上的成功，但是我決定跟你們說說失敗的好處。以及當你們站在所謂"真實世界"的門檻之上的時候，我要頌揚想象力的重要

11、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。三、她開始回憶自己大學畢業(yè)時的情景：Looking back at the 21-year-old that 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 u

12、neasy 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?1年之前，我正遭受煎熬，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 f

13、rom impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing personal quirk that would never pay a mortgage, or secure a pension. I know that the irony strikes with the force of a cartoon anvil, now.當時，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

14、母出身貧寒，沒有受過大學教育。他們認為，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 to study English Literature. A compromise was reached that in retrospect satisfied nobody, and I went up to study Modern Languages. Hardly had my parent

15、s' 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)學位，而我想去研究英國文學。最后，達成了一個雙方都不甚滿意的妥協(xié)：我改學語言學?？墒堑鹊礁改傅能囅г诠返霓D角，我就立刻拋掉了德語，奔向古典文學的道路。I cannot remember telling my parents that I was studying Classics; they might well have found

16、 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 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。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

17、立的寬敞衛(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 expiry 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 canno

18、t criticise my parents for hoping that I would never experience poverty. They had been poor themselves, and I have since been poor, and I quite agree 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 only by fools.我要申明，我并不責怪