Harvard University Commencement Address
J.K. Rowling
President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, members of the faculty, proud parents, and, above all, graduates,
士德主席,哈佛(jng)公司和监察委员会的各位成员,大学的员工,自豪的父母,以及所有的毕业生们Q?/p>
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've experienced 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 fool myself into believing I am at the world's best-educated Harry Potter convention.
首先我想说的?#8220;谢谢你们”。这不仅因ؓ哈佛(jng)l了我非比寻常的荣誉Q而且Zq几个礼拜以来,׃惛_q次毕业典礼演说而生的恐惧与恶心让我减肥成功。这真是一个双赢的局面!现在我需要做的就是一ơ深呼吸Q眯着眼看着U色的横q,然后ƺ骗自己Q让自己怿正在参加世界上受到最好教育群体的哈立波特大会?/p>
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.
做毕业典C演说是一个重大的责QQ我的思A回到了自q那次毕业典礼。那天的演讲者是一位英国的杰出哲学?Baroness Marry Warnock. 对她演讲的回忆对我写q篇演讲E帮助巨大,因ؓ我发现她说的话我居然一个字都没有记住。这个发现让我释Ӟ使我得以l箋写完演讲E,我不用再担心Q那U想成ؓ"gay wizard"Qharry porter中的法大师Q的眩晕的愉(zhn),可能会误g们放弃在商业、法律、政治领域的大好前途?/p>
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 towards personal improvement.
你们看,如果你们在若q年后能C“gay wizard”q个W话Q我比Barkoness Mary Warnock有进步了?所以,讑֮一个可以实现的目标是个步的W一步?/p>
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 expired between that day and this.
实际上,我已l绞脑汁、费劲心思去想今天我应该讲什么好。我问自己:我希望在自己毕业那天已经知道的是什么,而又有哪些重要的教训是我从那天开始到现在?1q间学会的?/p>
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 extol the crucial importance of imagination.
我想C两个{案。在今天q个愉快的日子,我们聚在一起庆你们学习上的成功时Q我军_和你们谈谈失败的收益。另外,当你们如今处?#8220;现实生活”的入口处Ӟ我想向你们颂扬想象力的重要性?/p>
These might seem quixotic or paradoxical choices, but please bear with me.
我选择的这两个{案g如同堂吉诃d式想一样不切实际,或者显得荒谬,但是请容忍我讲下厅R?/p>
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 uneasy balance between the ambition I had for myself, and what those closest to me expected of me.
对于我这样一个已l?2岁的人来_回头看自?1岁毕业时的情景,q不是一件舒服的事情。我的前半生之前Q我一直在自己内心的追求与最亲近的hҎ(gu)的要求之间进行不自在的抗争?/p>
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.
我曾信我自己唯一惛_的事情是写小说。但是我的父母都来自贫穷的家庭,都没有上q大学,他们认ؓ我的异常z跃的想象力只是滑稽的个人怪癖Qƈ不能用来付抵押房产,或者确保得到退休金?/p>
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.
他们曑ָ望我L一个职业文凭,而我惌英国文学。最?我们达成了一个回惌v来双斚w不甚满意的妥协:我改学现代语a。可是等到父母一走开Q我立刻报名学习古典文学了?/p>
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 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.
我忘了自己是怎么把学古典文学的事情告诉父母的了,他们也可能是在我毕业那天才第一ơ发现。在q个星球上的所有科目中Q我想他们很隑ֆ发现一门比希腊学更没用的评了?/p>
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 cannot 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.
我想带着说明Q我q没有因Z们的观点而抱怨他们。现在已l不是抱怨父母引Dp错方向的时候了Q如今的你们已经_大来军_自己前进的\E,责Q要靠自己承担。而且Q我也不能批评我的父母,他们是希望我能摆pI他们以前遭受了贫穷Q我也曾lIQ对于他们认Iƈ不高的观点我也坚决同意。I会引v恐惧、压力,有时候甚x沮。这意味着心眹{卑微和很多艰难困苦。通过自己的努力摆pIL实是件很值得自豪的事情,但只有傻瓜才对Ihw夸夸其谈?/p>
What I feared most for myself at your age was not poverty, but failure.
我在你们q个q龄的时候,最x的不是贫穷Q而是p|?/p>
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 examinations, and that, for years, had been the measure of success in my life and that of my peers.
在你们这个年龄,管我明昄在大学学习的动力,我花了很多时间在咖啡吧写故事Q很去听课Q但是我知道通过考试的技巧,当然Q这也是好多q来评h(hun)我,以及我同龄h是否成功的标准?/p>
I am not dull enough to suppose that because you are young, gifted and well-educated, you have never known hardship or heartbreak. 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 existence of unruffled privilege and contentment.
我想_q不是我太迟钝,我觉得你们还不曾知道什么是艰难困苦Q或者什么是心碎的感觉,因ؓ你们q年轻,而且天资聪明Q受到良好教肌Ӏ但是天赋和智商q未能M人免于命q无常的折磨Q我从来不认里的每个人已ln有^静的恩典和满?/p>
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.
然而,你们能从哈佛(jng)毕业q个现实表明Q你们对p|q不是很熟?zhn)Q对于失败的恐惧与对于成功的渴望可能对你们有相同的驱动力。确实,你们对于p|的概念可能与普通h的成功差不了太多。你们在学习q方面已l站得相当高了!
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 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 biggest failure I knew.
当然Q最l我们所有h不得不ؓ自己军_什么是p|的组成元素,但是如果你愿意的话,世界很愿意给你一堆的标准。基于Q何一U传l标准,我可以说Q仅仅在我毕?q后Q我l历了一ơ巨大的p|。我H然间结束了一D늟暂的婚姻Q失M工作。作Z个单w妈妈,而且在这个现代化的英国,除了不是无家可归Q你可以说我有多I就有多I我父母对于我的担心Q以及我对自q担心都成了现实,从Q何一个通常的标准来看,q是我知道的最大失败?/p>
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 extended, and for a long time, any light at the end of it was a hope rather than a reality.
现在Q我不会站在q里和你们说p|很好玩。我生命的那D|间非常的灰暗Q那时我q不知道我的书会被新ȝ认ؓ是神话故事的革命Q我也不知道q段灰暗的日子要持箋多久。那时候的很长一D|间里QQ何出现的光芒只是希望而不是现实?/p>
作家冰心正在路上走着Q听见\边的喇叭正播攑֥的一作品。听着听着Q就不由自主地停了下来。冰心怎么也没惛_Q自q文章l过播音员读出来Q竟变得如此感hQ文章经q播韛_的朗诵加工,得到了升华,辑ֈ了一个更高的境界。这里是播音员的动h的语韌调的力起了作用。冰心激动不Ԍ军_要找到这位播韛_Q好好地跟她谈一谈,好好地向她学习。经q多番努力,冰心的愿望终于实C。两Z见如故,很快成了莫逆之交?/p>
说v语音语调Q我׃想h的一位大学老师。他说的是一口标准的灉|风贵族式pQ对语调研究得很深。他说的p很有味道Q而且他的话也很有内涵。听他的评直就是一Un受。有一天,他给我们讲语调,在黑板上写了大大的:‘Come in. ‘让我们上d出尽可能多的语调曲线Qƈ说出各种语调的背景。同学们热情很高Q纷Uh上去发言Qƈ划出各种语调曲线。可是划Z六条曲线之后没ZM。因为大家再也想不出q有什么别的语调了。这时老师来帮大家分析:那六U语调实际上才是五种Q里Ҏ(gu)两种是重复的。老师又在黑板上划Z八种曲线Qƈ一一加以解释。这时我们才如大梦初醒。语调里竟有q么大的学问Q一个小学生都会?#8216;Come in.‘读v来竟然有q么多的变化Q从此以后,我们再也不敢瞧p的语韌调了?/p>
我教学生Ӟ我对学生的语韌调十分重视,让他们背课文时是先检查语韌调,如果背得一字不错,但是语音语调错了Q我也算他错。有一ơ,有个学生背诵时字字正,但语调错了。我说他错了。他不服气。我pQ?#8217;q句话是Mh公在生气时说的,而你q_^淡E的读出来。如果让你来当电(sh)影导演,你的演员q样背台词,你能让他通过吗?’他才没话说了?/p>
囄和文字的不同大家都很清楚Q但讲出来的话和文字?strong style="background-color: #99ff99; color: black">不同有很多人没注意到。语韌调里含有很多感情成分Q情l成分,有时q有很多非常微妙的东西,都是用文字很难以表达的。所以对语音语调是万万不可掉以轻心的。要认真揣摩里边l微的变化,掌握语音语调的真谛?/p>
?strong style="background-color: #ffff66; color: black">p的很多朋友只注意单词Q不注意语音语调Q用中国的语韌调来?strong style="background-color: #ffff66; color: black">pQ结果很多单词老是听不出来。他们就埋怨录音不好。其实这是因?strong style="background-color: #ffff66; color: black">p的语调和汉语的语调的不同所致?strong style="background-color: #ffff66; color: black">p的语调像一条丝带,或是一D|Ԍ词词相连Q轻的(介词Q冠词,代词Q连词,叹词Q可以轻到几乎听不清楚,没经q训l的人有时一句只听到几个重读的词Q名词,动词Q副词,形容词,数词Q。汉语的语调则像锯Q字字另起音Q字字清楚。因?strong style="background-color: #ffff66; color: black">p读v来是像一条带子,所以就有所谓的q读Q有时一qv来滴里嘟噜的Q很隑ֈ辨那个音是那个词的,q在汉语是没有的。用听汉语的Ҏ(gu)来听pQ当然听不清楚了?/p>
最后我q要谈一谈[新概?strong style="background-color: #ffff66; color: black">p]。有一位学者在[p世界]上发表文章说Q?#8216;[新概?strong style="background-color: #ffff66; color: black">p]的录韛_全可以和最l典的[灉|?strong style="background-color: #ffff66; color: black">p]相媲?#8216;q就是说Q[新概?strong style="background-color: #ffff66; color: black">p]的录xp录音的又一巅峰之作Q是p录音的瑰宝。全国的外语院校每年都要举行一q一度的学术交流会。参加的有老师和一些优U的学生。有一ơ交会上,一位北外的学生上台讲了他的学习体会。他的语韌调o所有的在场学生佩服得五体投地。他的讲话一l束Q就被同学们围了h。大家纷U问他是如何学到如此_ֽ的语调的。他说他是背[新概?strong style="background-color: #ffff66; color: black">p]学来的。大安不相信。要知道Q能参加q个交流会的都是各校的尖子,谁没学过[新概?strong style="background-color: #ffff66; color: black">p]Q他是个聪明人,马上q出来大家的想法了。他问大家是怎么背的。大安说是先读Q然后听录音q跟读,最后背下来。他W了W,?span style="color: red">Q?#8216;我不是这样学的。我是先读,然后听ƈ跟读Q再把课文连同语韌调一赯下来Q反复练习,直到自己认ؓd和原录音差不多了Q就录下韟뀂再用两台录x同时攑֎录音和我的录韟뀂要两台录音机放出来的音听v来好像是合唱时我才Ş手?#8216;高手是如此珍爱新概念p的录韻I而我们很多朋友对新概?strong style="background-color: #ffff66; color: black">p的录韛_是听几遍放C边去了,岂不是把qD世瑰宝给白白费了!希望大家也能像那位高手一样好好珍爱[新概?strong style="background-color: #ffff66; color: black">p]的录韻I让这块D世瑰宝放出更耀眼的光芒Q?/p>
我说了这么多Q就是希望朋友们?strong style="background-color: #ffff66; color: black">p一定要认真的学好语韌调,才能学得快,学得好,真正?strong style="background-color: #ffff66; color: black">p学到手?/p>
[灉|?strong style="background-color: #ffff66; color: black">p]是风行世界近癑ֹ的经?strong style="background-color: #ffff66; color: black">p教材Q其录音语音语调都堪UC界第一。但是其语调是贵族式的,如准备到上层C会M用,比较合适。[新概?strong style="background-color: #ffff66; color: black">p]的语调是qx式的Q比较适合一般h在一般场合用,所以近q来更受Ƣ迎?/p>
你的读音和语调都不错。开始的时候或怼觉得[新概念]d有点装腔作势Q因为那是英式读法,p如此。新概念的语韌调是现在最好的了,不要对它有Q何怀疑。书法中有一句话Q先要[无我]Q然后才能[有我]。就是说在学习之初,pl对无条件地照着学,不能有丝毫的自己的意见。等到学会了Q才可以有自q到的见解。因为初时脑子里Ҏ(gu)没有树立正确的参照物Q没鉴别对和错的能力?/p>