书城英文图书那些激励你前行的声音
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第18章 青春不老,理想不死(5)

从今以后,各位将离开巴纳德学院,但今后伴你同行的并不仅仅是一纸文凭,而是无尽的幸运。在座的诸位当中,有些人来自重视教育的家庭,而另一些却是克服了重重阻碍才获得了在这里学习的机会,今天她们成为了家族中第一个大学生,这是多么神奇的成绩。无论你们的起点在哪里,在今天你们都享有同样的特权——在你们面前有无穷无尽的机遇在等着你们。问题是,你要怎样来迎接这些机遇?你打算如何运用在学校里刻苦学习获取的知识呢?世界需要什么样的改变,而你在这场改变之中又愿意扮演什么样的角色?

Pulitzer Prize winners SherylWuDunn and Nicholas Kristof assert thatthe fundamental moral challenge for ourcentury, it is oppression of girls and womenaround the world. Their book is a call toarms, to give women all over the world,women who are exactly like us except forthe circumstances into which they wereborn, basic human rights.

普利策奖的获得者伍洁芳和尼古拉斯·克里斯托夫认为21世纪最主要的道德挑战是全世界对女性的压制。这本书号召全世界的女性同胞武装起来——尤其是那些出生在和我们不同社会环境中的女性——为争取基本的人权而战斗。

Compared to these women, we arelucky. In America, as in the entire developedworld, we are equal under the law. But thepromise of equality is not equality. As we sithere looking at this magnificent blue-robedclass, we have to admit something thatssad but true: men run the world. Of 190heads of two states, nine are women. Of allthe parliaments around the world, 13% ofthose seats are held by women. CorporateAmerica top jobs, 15% are women;numbers which have not movedat all in the past nine years. Nineyears. Of full professors aroundthe United States, only 24% arewomen.

相比较而言我们是幸运的。美国和其他所有发达国家一样,在法律的保护下,我们都是平等的,但是承诺平等并不等同于真正得到了平等。即使现在坐在下面的各位,看看你的周围,我们不得不承认一个令人难过的事实:男性掌控着世界。两个州共计190名官员,只有9名女性;全世界的各国议会,只有13%的席位是女性;美国大公司的高层管理者,15%是女性;在全美国获得教授资格的人中,只有24%是女性。在过去的九年里,这些数字没有任何进步,九年啊。

So today, we turn to you. Youare the promise for a more equalworld. You are our hope. I trulybelieve that only when we get realequality in our governments, inour businesses, in our companiesand our universities, will westart to solve this generationscentral moral problem, which isgender equality. We need womenat all levels, including the top, to change thedynamic, reshape the conversation, to makesure womens voices are heard and heeded, notoverlooked and ignored.

今天,我们这一代将希望寄托于在座的各位。你们是更平等的世界的希望,也是我们这一代人的希望。我真的相信,只有我们的政府、企业、公司和学校实现了真正意义上的平等,我们才能开始解决这个时代最主要的道德问题——性别平等。我们需要生活在社会各个阶层的女性,包括身处顶层的女性来改变推动的力量,重塑对话,让女性同胞的声音被听到、被注意,而不是听而不闻、视而不见。

Youre going to walk off this stage todayand youre going to start your adult life. Startout by aiming high. Like everyone here, Ihave great hopes for the members of this graduating class. I hope you find truemeaning, contentment and passion in your life. I hope that you navigatethe hard times and you come out with greater strength and resolve. I hopethat whatever balance you seek, you find it with your eyes wide open. AndI hope that you-yes, you-each and every one of you have the ambition torun the world, because this world needs you to run it. Women all aroundthe world are counting on you. Im counting on you.

今天你们就要走出校园,开始进入成年人的世界。胸怀大志地开启你的旅程吧。同在座的各位一样,我对毕业班的同学寄予厚望——希望你们能找到生命的真正意义、价值和激情;希望你们能顺利渡过难关,获得更强大的力量;希望无论你在寻找什么样的平衡,一定要把眼睛睁得大大的;希望你们每个人都有掌控世界的野心,因为世界真的需要你们掌控。全世界的女性同胞都依靠各位,我也依靠各位。

I know thats a big challenge and responsibility, a really daunting task,but you can do it. You can do it if you lean in. So go home tonight andask yourselves, “What would I do if I werent afraid?” And then go do it. Congratulations.

我知道,这是一个巨大的挑战,也是沉重的责任,一个真正让人畏惧的任务。但是,你一定能做到。只要勇往直前,你就肯定能做到。所以今天晚上回到家,问问自己:“如果我无所畏惧我会做什么?”然后义无返顾地去做吧。祝贺各位。

2008年在哈佛大学毕业典礼上的演讲

The 2008 commencement address at Harvard University

[乔安妮·凯瑟琳·罗琳 / Joanne Kathleen Rowling]

On this wonderful day when weare gathered together to celebrate youracademic success, I have decided to talk toyou about the benefits of failure. And as youstand on the threshold of what is sometimescalled “real life”, I want to extol the crucialimportance of imagination.

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。

Looking back at the 21-year-oldthat I was at graduation, is a slightlyuncomfortable experience for the 42-year-old that she has become. Half my lifetimeago, I was striking an uneasy balancebetween the ambition I had for myself, andwhat those closest to me expected of me.

回顾21岁刚刚毕业时的自己,对于今天42岁的我来说,是一个稍微不太舒服的经历。可以说,我人生的前一部分,一直挣扎在自己的雄心和身边的人对我的期望之间。

I was convinced that the only thingI wanted to do, ever, was to write novels. However, my parents, both of whom camefrom impoverished backgrounds and neitherof whom had been to college, took theview that my overactive imagination wasan amusing personal quirk that could neverpay a mortgage, or secure a pension.

我一直深信,自己唯一想做的事情,就是写小说。不过,我的父母,他们都来自贫穷的背景,没有任何一人上过大学,坚持认为我过度的想象力是一个令人惊讶的个人怪癖,根本不足以让我支付按揭,或者取得足够的养老金。

I know the irony strikes likewith the force of a cartoon anvilnow, but…

我现在明白反讽就像用卡通铁砧去打击你,但……

They had hoped that I wouldtake a vocational degree; I wantedto study English Literature. Acompromise was reached thatin retrospect satisfied nobody,and I went up to study ModernLanguages. Hardly had myparents car rounded the corner atthe end of the road than I ditchedGerman and scuttled off down theClassics corridor.

他们希望我去拿个职业学位,而我想去攻读英国文学。最后,达成了一个双方都不甚满意的妥协:我改学现代语言。可是等到父母一走开,我立刻放弃了德语而报名学习古典文学。

What I feared most for myselfat your age was not poverty, butfailure.

我在你们这个年龄,最害怕的不是贫穷,而是失败。

Now, I am not going to standhere and tell you that failure isfun. That period of my life was a dark one, andI had no idea that there was going to be whatthe press has since represented as a kind of fairytale resolution. I had no idea how far the tunnelextended, and for a long time, any light at theend of it was a hope rather than a reality.

现在,我不打算站在这里告诉你们失败是有趣的。那段日子是我生命中的黑暗岁月,我不知道它是否代表童话故事里需要历经的磨难,更不知道自己还要在黑暗中走多久。很长一段时间里,前面留给我的只是希望,而不是现实。

So given a Time Turner, I would tellmy 21-year-old self that personal happinesslies in knowing that life is not a check-list of acquisition or achievement. Yourqualifications, your CV, are not your life,though you will meet many people of myage and older who confuse the two. Lifeis difficult, and complicated, and beyondanyones total control, and the humility toknow that will enable you to survive itsvicissitudes.

如果给我一部时间机器,我会告诉21岁的自己,人的幸福在于知道生活不是一份漂亮的成绩单,你的资历、简历,都不是你的生活,虽然你会碰到很多与我同龄或更老一点的人今天依然还在混淆两者。生活是艰辛的、复杂的,超出任何人的控制能力,而谦恭地了解这一点,将使你历经沧桑后能够更好地生存。