哈佛毕业典礼演讲(中英文对照)

哈佛毕业典礼演讲(中英文对照)

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 would like to say is \only has Harvard given me an extraordinary honour, but the weeks of fear and nausea I’ve endured at the thought of giving this mencement 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：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 responsibility; or so I thought until I cast my mind back to my own graduation. The mencement 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 being a gay wizard.

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 Baroness Mary Warnock，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）。

You seeIf all you remember in years to e is the gay wizard joke, Ive still e out ahead of Baroness Mary Warnock. Achievable goals - the first step to self-improvement. 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Baroness Mary Warnock。建立可实现的目标——这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 expired between that day and 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 with two answers. On this wonderful day when we are gathered together to celebrate your academic suess, 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 quixotic or paradoxical choices, but bear with 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。 Looking back at the 21-year-old that I was at graduation, is a slightly unfortable experience for the 42-year-old that she has bee. 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.