奧普拉哈弗畢業(yè)典禮發(fā)言稿
奧普拉·溫弗瑞(Oprah Winfrey)，1954年1月29日出生于密西西比州科修斯科，美國(guó)演員，制片，主持人，是當(dāng)今世界上最具影響力的婦女之一，下面是她在哈弗大學(xué)畢業(yè)典禮上的發(fā)言稿，一起來(lái)感受一下她的魅力吧!
奧普拉哈佛大學(xué)畢業(yè)典禮中英文演講稿
Oh my goodness! I’m at Harvard! Wow! To President Faust, my fellow honorans, Carl [Muller] that was so beautiful, thank you so much, and James Rothenberg, Stephanie Wilson, Harvard faculty, with a special bow to my friend Dr. Henry Lewis Gates. All of you alumni, with a special bow to the Class of ’88, your hundred fifteen million dollars. And to you, members of the Harvard class of 2013! Hello!
我的天啊!我在哈...佛!真的!尊敬的Faust校長(zhǎng)、和我一起獲得榮譽(yù)學(xué)位的各位，Carl(注：Carl Muller哈佛校友會(huì)主席)，真是太棒了，謝謝你們!還有James Rothenberg, Stephanie Wilson和哈佛的教職工們，特別感謝我的朋友Henry Lewis Gates博士(注：美國(guó)知名黑人教授)!感謝所有的哈佛校友，特別要感謝88屆的畢業(yè)生，你們?yōu)楣鹁璩鲆粌|一千五百萬(wàn)美元(注：哈佛歷史上最多的一次同一班次校友捐款)。所有2013屆的各位畢業(yè)生們!大家好!
I thank you for allowing me to be a part of the conclusion of this chapter of your lives and the commencement of your next chapter. To say that I’m honored doesn’t even begin to quantify the depth of gratitude that really accompanies an honorary doctorate from Harvard. Not too many little girls from rural Mississippi have made it all the way here to Cambridge. And I can tell you that I consider today as I sat on the stage this morning getting teary for you all and then teary for myself, I consider today a defining milestone in a very long and a blessed journey. My one hope today is that I can be a source of some inspiration. I’m going to address my remarks to anybody who has ever felt inferior or felt disadvantaged, felt screwed by life, this is a speech for the Quad.
感謝你們讓我成為你們?nèi)松@一篇章的結(jié)束與下一篇章開始的紐帶。對(duì)我而言，榮幸根本無(wú)法表達(dá)我內(nèi)心深處對(duì)哈佛授予我榮譽(yù)學(xué)位的感激之情。不是每個(gè)來(lái)自密西西比州的農(nóng)村小姑娘都能來(lái)到劍橋城的(注：哈佛位于波士頓郊劍橋城)。我可以告訴你們，當(dāng)我今天早上坐在這個(gè)臺(tái)上，為你們和我自己流下眼淚的時(shí)候，我覺得今天是我漫長(zhǎng)并被祝福的人生旅途中的一個(gè)里程碑。我希望今天我能為你們帶來(lái)一些啟發(fā)。我的演講是為那些曾在人生中感到自卑或覺得自己沒有優(yōu)勢(shì)，甚至覺得生活一團(tuán)糟的人，這就是我給哈佛帶來(lái)的演講。
Actually I was so honored I wanted to do something really special for you. I wanted to be able to have you look under your seats and there would be free master and doctor degrees but I see you got that covered already. I will be honest with you. I felt a lot of pressure over the past few weeks to come up with something that I could share with you that you hadn’t heard before because after all you all went to Harvard, I did not. But then I realized that you don’t have to necessarily go to Harvard to have a driven obsessive Type A personality. But it helps. And while I may not have graduated from here I admit that my personality is about as Harvard as they come. You know my television career began unexpectedly. As you heard this morning I was in the Miss Fire Prevention contest. That was when I was 16 years old in Nashville, Tennessee, and you had the requirement of having to have red hair in order to win up until the year that I entered. So they were doing the question and answer period because I knew I wasn’t going to win under the swimsuit competition. So during the question and answer period the question came “Why, young lady, what would you like to be when you grow up?” And by the time they got to me all the good answers were gone. So I had seen Barbara Walters on the “Today Show” that morning so I answered, “I would like to be a journalist. I would like to tell other people’s stories in a way that makes a difference in their lives and the world.” And as those words were coming out of my mouth I went whoa! This is pretty good! I would like to be a journalist. I want to make a difference. Well I was on television by the time I was 19 years old. And in 1986 I launched my own television show with a relentless determination to succeed at first. I was nervous about the competition and then I became my own competition raising the bar every year, pushing, pushing, pushing myself as hard as I knew. Sound familiar to anybody here? Eventually we did make it to the top and we stayed there for 25 years.
其實(shí)我真的很榮幸，因此我想為你們做些特別的事。我想要跟你們說(shuō)，請(qǐng)看你們座位下面有免費(fèi)碩士或博士學(xué)位證書，但是我發(fā)現(xiàn)你們已經(jīng)有了。說(shuō)實(shí)話，在過(guò)去的幾個(gè)星期我感到很大的壓力，因?yàn)槲蚁胍銈兎窒硪恍┠銈儚臎]聽到過(guò)的東西，畢竟你們都上了哈佛，而我沒有。但后來(lái)我意識(shí)到其實(shí)并不是一定要上哈佛才能有一個(gè)驅(qū)動(dòng)性強(qiáng)迫型的A型人格，當(dāng)然上了哈佛還是有幫助的。雖然我沒有從哈佛畢業(yè)，但我認(rèn)為我的性格和哈佛的畢業(yè)生是一樣。大家都知道，我的電視事業(yè)生涯開始的出乎意料。正如你們?cè)缟下牭降�，我�?dāng)時(shí)在參加“防火小姐”比賽。那年我16歲(注：奧普拉出生于1954年，今年59歲)，在田納西州的納什維爾。在我參加比賽那年之前，想贏的話你必須得是紅頭發(fā)女孩。在進(jìn)行問(wèn)答環(huán)節(jié)時(shí)，因?yàn)槲抑牢以谟狙b比賽中不會(huì)贏，所以當(dāng)問(wèn)答環(huán)節(jié)問(wèn)道：“年輕的女士，你長(zhǎng)大后想做什么?為什么?”等輪到我回答的時(shí)候，好答案都被之前的參賽者說(shuō)完了。因?yàn)槟翘煸缟衔艺迷?ldquo;今日秀”中看到了芭芭拉·懷特女士，所以我說(shuō)：“我想成為一名新聞工作者，我想成為為人民帶來(lái)一些在某種程度上能改變?nèi)嗣裆詈透淖兪澜绲墓适隆?rdquo;當(dāng)我說(shuō)出這些話時(shí)，我覺得：“哇!還挺不錯(cuò)的!我想做個(gè)記者，我要做出一番事業(yè)。”后來(lái)，19歲時(shí)我上了電視。在1986年，我推出了我自己的電視節(jié)目，一開始就下定決心要成功。我以前對(duì)比賽很緊張，后來(lái)我和自己競(jìng)爭(zhēng)，每年設(shè)立一個(gè)更高的目標(biāo)，一步一步地推到極限。對(duì)大家來(lái)說(shuō)聽著挺熟悉吧?最終，我們成功達(dá)到巔峰，并在那里待了25年。
The “Oprah Winfrey Show” was number one in our time slot for 21 years and I have to tell you I became pretty comfortable with that level of success. But a few years ago I decided, as you will at some point, that it was time to recalculate, find new territory, break new ground. So I ended the show and launched OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network. The initials just worked out for me. So one year later after launching OWN, nearly every media outlet had proclaimed that my new venture was a flop. Not just a flop, but a big bold flop they call it. I can still remember the day I opened up USA Todayand read the headline “Oprah, not quite standing on her OWN.” I mean really, USA Today? Now that’s the nice newspaper! It really was this time last year the worst period in my professional life. I was stressed and I was frustrated and quite frankly I was actually I was embarrassed. It was right around that time that President Faust called and asked me to speak here and I thought you want me to speak to Harvard graduates? What could I possibly say to Harvard graduates, some of the most successful graduates in the world in the very moment when I had stopped succeeding? So I got off the phone with President Faust and I went to the shower. It was either that or a bag of Oreos. So I chose the shower. And I was in the shower a long time and as I was in the shower the words of an old hymn came to me. You may not know it. It’s “By and by, when the morning comes.” And I started thinking about when the morning might come because at the time I thought I was stuck in a hole. And the words came to me “Trouble don’t last always” from that hymn, “this too shall pass.” And I thought as I got out of the shower I am going to turn this thing around and I will be better for it. And when I do, I’m going to go to Harvard and I’m going to speak the truth of it! So I’m here today to tell you I have turned that network around!
“奧普拉秀”在同一時(shí)間段的電視節(jié)目中連續(xù)21年排名第一，我必須說(shuō)我對(duì)于這個(gè)成功非常的滿足。但是幾年前，我覺得，在人生的某一時(shí)刻，你必須重新來(lái)過(guò)，找到新的領(lǐng)域，實(shí)現(xiàn)新的突破。所以我離開了“奧普拉秀”，以我的名字命名推出了我自己的電視網(wǎng)絡(luò)“奧普拉·溫福瑞電視網(wǎng)”，縮寫正好是“OWN(自己的)”。在奧普拉·溫福瑞電視網(wǎng)推出一年后，幾乎所有的媒體都認(rèn)為我的新項(xiàng)目是失敗的。不僅僅是失敗，他們稱之為一個(gè)大寫的失敗。我還記得有一天我打開《今日美國(guó)報(bào)》時(shí)看到頭條新聞?wù)f“ 奧普拉搞不定‘自己的’電視網(wǎng)”。不是吧，今日美國(guó)報(bào)啊?真是份好報(bào)紙....這正是去年我職業(yè)生涯最低谷的時(shí)刻。我壓力超大近乎崩潰，老實(shí)說(shuō)，我感到羞愧。就在那個(gè)時(shí)候，F(xiàn)aust校長(zhǎng)打電話邀請(qǐng)我到哈佛做畢業(yè)演講。我心想：“你讓我給哈佛的畢業(yè)生演講?我能跟這些世界上最成功的畢業(yè)生說(shuō)什么?而我已經(jīng)不再成功。”我掛了Faust校長(zhǎng)的電話后去洗了個(gè)澡。要么去吃?shī)W利奧要么去洗澡，我選擇了洗澡。那個(gè)澡我洗了很長(zhǎng)時(shí)間，在洗澡的時(shí)候我突然想到某首古老贊美詩(shī)中的一句話，你可能沒聽過(guò)“終于，清晨來(lái)臨...”，之后我就想，我的黎明也許要來(lái)了。因?yàn)槟菚r(shí)我覺得我被困在一個(gè)洞里了。我又想到那首古老贊美詩(shī)中的一句話：“困難只是暫時(shí)的，都會(huì)過(guò)去...”當(dāng)我走出浴室時(shí)，我想：我遇到的麻煩同樣會(huì)有結(jié)束的一天，我會(huì)將這一頁(yè)翻過(guò)去，我會(huì)好起來(lái)的，等我做到了，我就去哈佛，把這個(gè)真實(shí)的故事告訴大家!今天我來(lái)了 并且想告訴你們我已經(jīng)把“奧普拉·溫福瑞電視網(wǎng)”帶上正軌了。
And it was all because I wanted to do it by the time I got to speak to you all so thank you so much. You don’t know what motivation you were for me, thank you. I’m even prouder to share a fundamental truth that you might not have learned even as graduates of Harvard unless you studied the ancient Greek hero with Professor Nagy. Professor Nagy as we were coming in this morning said, “Please Ms. Winfrey, walk decisively.”
這一切都是因?yàn)槲蚁朐趤?lái)哈佛之前把事情做好，所以非常感謝你們!你們不知道你們給了我多大的動(dòng)力，謝謝!我甚至能更驕傲地來(lái)和各位分享一個(gè)基本的真理。作為哈佛的畢業(yè)生你也未必知道，除非你上過(guò)Nagy教授的課程知道古希臘英雄人物。在今天早上來(lái)的路上，Nagy教授說(shuō)：“溫福瑞女士，請(qǐng)堅(jiān)決地向前走。”
I shall walk decisively.我應(yīng)該堅(jiān)決地向前走。
This is what I want to share. It doesn’t matter how far you might rise. At some point you are bound to stumble because if you’re constantly doing what we do, raising the bar. If you’re constantly pushing yourself higher, higher the law of averages not to mention the Myth of Icarus predicts that you will at some point fall. And when you do I want you to know this, remember this: there is no such thing as failure. Failure is just life trying to move us in another direction. Now when you’re down there in the hole, it looks like failure. So this past year I had to spoon feed those words to myself. And when you’re down in the hole, when that moment comes, it’s really okay to feel bad for a little while. Give yourself time to mourn what you think you may have lost but then here’s the key, learn from every mistake because every experience, encounter, and particularly your mistakes are there to teach you and force you into being more who you are. And then figure out what is the next right move. And the key to life is to develop an internal moral, emotional G.P.S. that can tell you which way to go. Because now and forever more when you Google yourself your search results will read “Harvard, 2013″. And in a very competitive world that really is a calling card because I can tell you as one who employs a lot of people when I see “Harvard” I sit up a little straighter and say, “Where is he or she? Bring them in.” It’s an impressive calling card that can lead to even more impressive bullets in the years ahead: lawyer, senator, C.E.O., scientist, physicist, winners of Nobel and Pulitzer Prizes or late night talk show host. But the challenge of life I have found is to build a résumé that doesn’t simply tell a story about what you want to be but it’s a story about who you want to be. It’s a résumé that doesn’t just tell a story about what you want to accomplish but why. A story that’s not just a collection of titles and positions but a story that’s really about your purpose. Because when you inevitably stumble and find yourself stuck in a hole that is the story that will get you out. What is your true calling? What is your dharma? What is your purpose? For me that discovery came in 1994 when I interviewed a little girl who had decided to collect pocket change in order to help other people in need. She raised a thousand dollars all by herself and I thought, well if that little 9-year-old girl with a bucket and big heart could do that, I wonder what I could do? So I asked for our viewers to take up their own change collection and in one month, just from pennies and nickels and dimes, we raised more than three million dollars that we used to send one student from every state in the United States to college. That was the beginning of the Angel Network.
這就是我想分享的。無(wú)論你已經(jīng)達(dá)到怎樣的成就，在某個(gè)節(jié)點(diǎn)，你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)你會(huì)跌倒，因?yàn)槿绻阋恢辈粩嗟脑谧鑫覀兠總�(gè)人做的事：不斷設(shè)定更高的目標(biāo)。如果你一直不斷把你自己推向更高的目標(biāo)，你將在某一點(diǎn)上落下，更不必說(shuō)伊卡洛斯能預(yù)測(cè)你會(huì)跌倒的神話。當(dāng)你真的跌倒時(shí)我想讓你知道，并請(qǐng)記住：“世間并不存在失敗，那不過(guò)是生活想讓我們換個(gè)方向走走罷了，現(xiàn)在當(dāng)你在人生谷底，那看起來(lái)像是失敗。”在過(guò)去的一年里，這些話支撐著我自己。當(dāng)你到了人生谷底，到那時(shí)候，你可以難過(guò)一段時(shí)間，給自己時(shí)間去哀悼你認(rèn)為你可能失去的一切，但關(guān)鍵在于：從每個(gè)失敗和遭遇中學(xué)習(xí) 特別是你的每個(gè)錯(cuò)誤，都會(huì)教并迫使你成為真正的自己，然后想想接下來(lái)怎么做。生活的重點(diǎn)在于建立內(nèi)在道德、情感的定位系統(tǒng)，它能為你指路，因?yàn)楝F(xiàn)在或?qū)?lái)當(dāng)你在谷歌上搜索你自己，結(jié)果會(huì)是“哈佛2013畢業(yè)生”。在這個(gè)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)激烈的世界，那的確是塊敲門磚。我作為一個(gè)雇傭過(guò)很多人的人，可以說(shuō)當(dāng)我聽到哈佛的畢業(yè)生，我都會(huì)坐直一點(diǎn)，然后說(shuō)“他/她在哪，帶來(lái)見我”。這是一個(gè)令人印象深刻的敲門磚，在未來(lái)的日子里那的確是顆有力的子彈：成為律師、議員、老板、科學(xué)家、物理學(xué)家，諾貝爾獎(jiǎng)普利策獎(jiǎng)獲得者或者晚間脫口秀主持人。然而來(lái)自生活的挑戰(zhàn)并不是做個(gè)履歷簡(jiǎn)單地告訴大家你想做什么，而是你想成為什么樣的人。這份履歷不只是告訴大家你完成了什么，而是你為什么做這些?這份履歷不僅僅是一個(gè)頭銜和職位的羅列，而是告訴大家你究竟想做什么?因?yàn)楫?dāng)你不可避免地跌倒或陷入困境時(shí)，它可以幫你走出困境，人生真正的意義是什么?你的人生哲學(xué)是什么?你的目標(biāo)是什么?對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō)，我是在1994年采訪了一位決定攢零花錢來(lái)幫助他人的小女孩，她籌集了一千美金。我想：“嗯，如果一個(gè)9歲的小姑娘，用一個(gè)筐和熱忱的心就能做到，我能做到什么?”所以我請(qǐng)我們的觀眾拿出自己的零錢，在一個(gè)月內(nèi)我從一分一毫籌集超過(guò)300萬(wàn)美金，我們用這筆錢從每個(gè)州選出一個(gè)學(xué)生上大學(xué)。這就是“天使網(wǎng)絡(luò)”的開始。
And so what I did was I simply asked our viewers, “Do what you can wherever you are, from wherever you sit in life. Give me your time or your talent your money if you have it.” And they did. Extend yourself in kindness to other human beings wherever you can. And together we built 55 schools in 12 different countries and restored nearly 300 homes that were devastated by hurricanes Rita and Katrina. So the Angel Network — I have been on the air for a long time — but it was the Angel Network that actually focused my internal G.P.S. It helped me to decide that I wasn’t going to just be on TV every day but that the goal of my shows, my interviews, my business, my philanthropy all of it, whatever ventures I might pursue would be to make clear that what unites us is ultimately far more redeeming and compelling than anything that separates me. Because what had become clear to me, and I want you to know, it isn’t always clear in the beginning because as I said I had been on television since I was 19 years old. But around ’94 I got really clear. So don’t expect the clarity to come all at once, to know your purpose right away, but what became clear to me was that I was here on Earth to use television and not be used by it; to use television to illuminate the transcendent power of our better angels. So this Angel Network, it didn’t just change the lives of those who were helped, but the lives of those who also did the helping. It reminded us that no matter who we are or what we look like or what we may believe, it is both possible and more importantly it becomes powerful to come together in common purpose and common effort. I saw something on the “Bill Moore Show” recently that so reminded me of this point. It was an interview with David and Francine Wheeler. They lost their 7-year-old son, Ben, in the Sandy Hook tragedy. And even though gun safety legislation to strengthen background checks had just been voted down in Congress at the time that they were doing this interview they talked about how they refused to be discouraged. Francine said this, she said, “Our hearts are broken but our spirits are not. I’m going to tell them what it’s like to find a conversation about change that is love, and I’m going to do that without fighting them.” And then her husband David added this, “You simply cannot demonize or vilify someone who doesn’t agree with you, because the minute you do that, your discussion is over. And we cannot do that any longer. The problem is too enormous. There has to be some way that this darkness can be banished with light.” In our political system and in the media we often see the reflection of a country that is polarized, that is paralyzed and is self-interested. And yet, I know you know the truth. We all know that we are better than the cynicism and the pessimism that is regurgitated throughout Washington and the 24-hour cable news cycle. Not my channel, by the way. We understand that the vast majority of people in this country believe in stronger background checks because they realize that we can uphold the Second Amendment and also reduce the violence that is robbing us of our children. They don’t have to be incompatible.
其實(shí)我做的只是簡(jiǎn)單的請(qǐng)求我們的觀眾：“無(wú)論你在哪里處于人生的哪個(gè)階段，如果可以，請(qǐng)拿出你的時(shí)間、天賦以及金錢，做你力所能及的事。”他們這樣做了。無(wú)論你在哪里，將你的仁慈帶給他人。眾人拾柴火焰高，我們一起在12個(gè)國(guó)家建了55所學(xué)校，重建了近300個(gè)被麗塔和卡特里娜颶風(fēng)摧毀的家園。所以 “天使網(wǎng)絡(luò)”聚集了我內(nèi)在的定位系統(tǒng)。它能幫助我知道，我不是僅僅每天在電視上出現(xiàn)，還有我的采訪目標(biāo)，我的生意，我的慈善事業(yè)，所有的一切。無(wú)論我追求怎樣的事業(yè)，我更清楚把我們凝聚在一起的力量比分離我們的力量更令人滿足和不可抗拒。但我想讓你們知道，任何事情的一開始對(duì)于我們未必明朗，正如我所說(shuō)我 19歲就開始上電視，然而到了94年我才漸漸清楚，所以不要期待一下子就想清楚、并馬上明白自己的使命。對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō)，我最終清楚，我要利用電視而不是被電視利用，利用電視來(lái)照亮我們內(nèi)在天使的一面。這個(gè)“天使網(wǎng)絡(luò)”，它不只是改變那些我們幫助過(guò)的人們的生活，同時(shí)也改變那些提供幫助的人們的生活。它提醒我們，無(wú)論是誰(shuí)，看上去如何，或者我們相信什么，更重要的是它成為了我們?yōu)楣餐繕?biāo)走到一起的驅(qū)動(dòng)力。我最近在“比利摩爾秀”上看到一些東西再次提醒了我。那是一個(gè)采訪戴維和弗朗辛·惠勒的節(jié)目，他們?cè)赟andy Hook慘案中痛失他們7歲幼子Ben。盡管在此次訪談時(shí)國(guó)會(huì)已經(jīng)否決了加強(qiáng)背景調(diào)查的槍支安全立法，他們談到他們拒絕被國(guó)會(huì)的否決所打擊。弗朗辛說(shuō)： “我們的心都碎了，但我們的精神沒有垮，我想告訴他們關(guān)于變故的對(duì)話是怎樣的感覺，那感覺就是愛。我將會(huì)接受他而不是抵觸。”然后她的丈夫戴維繼續(xù)說(shuō)： “你不能詆毀或妖魔化那些持有異見的人，因?yàn)槿绻氵@樣做的那一刻，就不再有下文，我不能再那樣做了，問(wèn)題已經(jīng)很嚴(yán)重了，總會(huì)有方法將光明驅(qū)逐黑暗。”在我們的政治體系和媒體環(huán)境下，我們經(jīng)�？吹綄�(duì)這個(gè)國(guó)家的反思，這個(gè)兩級(jí)分化，近乎癱瘓、自我利益的國(guó)家。然而，我知道你們明白真相。我們都知道我們比電視上新聞媒體24小時(shí)滾動(dòng)從華盛頓傳來(lái)的那些憤世嫉俗和悲觀主義更好。順便說(shuō)一句，那不是我的電視頻道。我們理解，在這個(gè)國(guó)家絕大多數(shù)人相信并支持背景調(diào)查，因?yàn)樗麄兠靼孜覀兛梢灾С謶椃ǖ诙涡拚�，同時(shí)減少殘殺我們孩子的暴力。而這兩者并不必水火不相容。
And we understand that most Americans believe in a clear path to citizenship for the 12,000,000 undocumented immigrants who reside in this country because it’s possible to both enforce our laws and at the same time embrace the words on the Statue of Liberty that have welcomed generations of huddled masses to our shores. We can do both.
我們知道大多數(shù)美國(guó)人相信讓1200萬(wàn)沒有合法身份的移民居住在這個(gè)國(guó)家成為公民會(huì)有一條清晰的路徑。因?yàn)樵诤葱l(wèi)法律的同時(shí)，我們還要擁抱自由女神像上的辭藻，而這些話語(yǔ)歡迎了一代代人到達(dá)美國(guó)的海岸。我們都能做得到 。
And we understand. I know you do because you went to Harvard. There are people from both parties, and no party, [who] believe that indigent mothers and families should have access to healthy food and a roof over their heads and a strong public education because here in the richest nation on Earth, we can afford a basic level of security and opportunity. So the question is, what are we going to do about it? Really, what are you going to do about it? Maybe you agree with these beliefs. Maybe you don’t. Maybe you care about these issues and maybe there are other challenges that you, Class of 2013, are passionate about. Maybe you want to make a difference by serving in government. Maybe you want to launch your own television show. Or maybe you simply want to collect some change. Your parents would appreciate that about now. The point is your generation is charged with this task of breaking through what the body politic has thus far made impervious to change. Each of you has been blessed with this enormous opportunity of attending this prestigious school. You now have a chance to better your life, the lives of your neighbors and also the life of our country. When you do that let me tell you what I know for sure. That’s when your story gets really good. Maya Angelou always says, “When you learn, teach. When you get, give. That my friends is what gives your story purpose and meaning.” So you all have the power in your own way to develop your own Angel Network and in doing so, your class will be armed with more tools of influence and empowerment than any other generation in history. I did it in an analog world. I was blessed with a platform that at its height reached nearly 20,000,000 viewers a day. Now here in a world of Twitter and Facebook and YouTube and Tumbler, you can reach billions in just seconds. You’re the generation that rejected predictions about your detachment and your disengagement by showing up to vote in record numbers in 2008. And when the pundits said, they said they talked about you, they said you’d be too disappointed, you’d be too dejected to repeat that same kind of turnout in 2012 election and you proved them wrong by showing up in even greater numbers. That’s who you are.
正如我們了解的那樣，你們能理解，因?yàn)槟銈兩狭斯�。�?lái)自兩黨派和無(wú)黨派的人同樣堅(jiān)信：貧困的母親和家庭都理應(yīng)獲得使其健康的食物、住所以及強(qiáng)有力的教育支持。因?yàn)槲覀儸F(xiàn)在正生活在全世界最為富有的國(guó)家中，我們有能力去提供安全與機(jī)遇最基礎(chǔ)的社會(huì)保障。于是問(wèn)題便隨之而來(lái)：我們將對(duì)此有何打算呢?說(shuō)真的，我們將要對(duì)此做些什么呢?也許你是贊同這些理念的，也有可能你會(huì)持反對(duì)意見�；蛟S你作為2013屆哈佛的畢業(yè)生，對(duì)這些問(wèn)題很上心，抑或是你把關(guān)注點(diǎn)放在了其他極具挑戰(zhàn)性的事情上。你可能想要通過(guò)行政工作改變我們的社會(huì)，你可能想要做自己的電視節(jié)目，你也可能僅僅是想收集一些零錢，你的父母會(huì)贊揚(yáng)你現(xiàn)在的所作所為。關(guān)鍵是你們這一代人肩負(fù)著突破國(guó)家積年累月無(wú)法突破的重重圍嶂的使命。你們每一位上了哈佛這所名校的人都擁有千萬(wàn)機(jī)會(huì)、無(wú)盡不可。現(xiàn)在你有機(jī)會(huì)來(lái)改善你的生活，改變你周圍人的'生活，以及整個(gè)國(guó)家的命運(yùn)。當(dāng)你這樣做的時(shí)候，我可以堅(jiān)定地告訴你：這個(gè)時(shí)候，有關(guān)你的故事已然盡善盡美。Maya Angelou常常說(shuō)：“有所學(xué)時(shí)你要去施教，有所得時(shí)你便去給予。我親愛的朋友，那將賦予你的故事以目的與意義。”你們都有能力用自己的方式去打造屬于你們自己的“天使網(wǎng)絡(luò)”，與此同時(shí)你會(huì)擁有史無(wú)前例的影響力與權(quán)力的工具。我用虛擬網(wǎng)絡(luò)的方式做到這一點(diǎn)，我的網(wǎng)絡(luò)電視在鼎盛時(shí)期的日瀏覽量能夠達(dá)到 2000萬(wàn)，在這個(gè)Twitter、Facebook、YouTube與Tumbler盛行的時(shí)代，你在片刻之間便可獲得幾十億的瀏覽量。就是你們這一代，在其他人都以為你們會(huì)對(duì)政治漠不關(guān)心的時(shí)候，你們用你們的一腔熱情，徹底顛覆了世人的想象，你們?cè)?008年的時(shí)候，參與總統(tǒng)大選投票的人數(shù)創(chuàng)造新高。當(dāng)那些“博學(xué)多識(shí)”的人們猜測(cè)道，你們必然已經(jīng)失望透頂，你們?cè)?012年總統(tǒng)大選中由于太沮喪而不可能重復(fù)2008年的輝煌時(shí)，你們用甚至比 2008年更高的參與記錄，再一次讓世人刮目相看。這就是你們這一代.
This generation, your generation I know, has developed a finely honed radar for B.S. Can you say “B.S.” at Harvard? The spin and phoniness and artificial nastiness that saturates so much of our national debate. I know you all understand better than most that real progress requires authentic — an authentic way of being, honesty, and above all empathy. I have to say that the single most important lesson I learned in 25 years talking every single day to people, was that there is a common denominator in our human experience. Most of us, I tell you we don’t want to be divided. What we want, the common denominator that I found in every single interview, is we want to be validated. We want to be understood. I have done over 35,000 interviews in my career and as soon as that camera shuts off everyone always turns to me and inevitably in their own way asks this question “Was that okay?” I heard it from President Bush, I heard it from President Obama. I’ve heard it from heroes and from housewives. I’ve heard it from victims and perpetrators of crimes. I even heard it from Beyonce and all of her Beyonceness. She finishes performing, hands me the microphone and says, “Was that okay?” Friends and family, yours, enemies, strangers in every argument in every encounter, every exchange I will tell you, they all want to know one thing: was that okay? Did you hear me? Do you see me? Did what I say mean anything to you? And even though this is a college where Facebook was born my hope is that you would try to go out and have more face-to-face conversations with people you may disagree with.
我所了解的你們這一代對(duì)一些胡言亂語(yǔ)有極為敏銳的追求，你能在哈佛“胡說(shuō)”嗎?關(guān)于我們的國(guó)家，虛偽幻象鋪張?jiān)谀阊矍�，紛擾流言充斥在你耳畔。我深知你們比眾人更加了解，一個(gè)國(guó)家真正的進(jìn)步是要求建立在真實(shí)而坦然的基礎(chǔ)之上的，還有更為重要的——一種感同身受的心理。我想我不得不坦言，在我25年的訪談歷程中，我所學(xué)到的最重要的，我們的人生有一個(gè)共同的公分母。我可以告訴你的是，我們中的大多數(shù)人，并不愿意被分割。我在每次訪談中發(fā)現(xiàn)我們的“公分母”，發(fā)現(xiàn)我們想要的，是我們想要被證實(shí)、被認(rèn)可。我們渴望被理解。我的職業(yè)生涯中容納了大約35000個(gè)訪談，每每在攝像機(jī)的鏡頭關(guān)閉后，幾乎所有人都不可避免地轉(zhuǎn)向我，用他們各自的方式，詢問(wèn)著同一個(gè)問(wèn)題“像這樣可以嗎?”布什總統(tǒng)這樣問(wèn)，奧巴馬總統(tǒng)這樣問(wèn)，我在英雄的口中聽到過(guò)這個(gè)疑問(wèn)，同樣也在家庭主婦的口中聽說(shuō)過(guò)這句話。我聽受害者這樣問(wèn)，也聽過(guò)那些有罪行的人們這樣問(wèn)，我甚至聽過(guò)碧昂斯和她的粉絲們這樣問(wèn)。碧昂斯結(jié)束表演之后，把麥克風(fēng)遞到我手中，問(wèn)道：“像我這樣可以嗎?”朋友或家人、支持者或敵人、每次爭(zhēng)論或邂逅的陌生人，有關(guān)每一次交流，我都可以篤定地告訴你們，他們都想知道一件事兒 ——“像這樣可以嗎?你聽得見我嗎?你看的見我嗎?我之所言是否對(duì)你有些許意義?”盡管這里是Facebook誕生的大學(xué)，我還是希望你們能夠脫離虛擬，盡可能多的和那些與你意見相左的人進(jìn)行一些面對(duì)面的交流。
That you’ll have the courage to look them in the eye and hear their point of view and help make sure that the speed and distance and anonymity of our world doesn’t cause us to lose our ability to stand in somebody else’s shoes and recognize all that we share as a people. This is imperative, for you as an individual, and for our success as a nation. “There has to be some way that this darkness can be banished with light,” says the man whose little boy was massacred on just an ordinary Friday in December. So whether you call it soul or spirit or higher self, intelligence, there is I know this, there is a light inside each of you, all of us, that illuminates your very human beingness if you let it. And as a young girl from rural Mississippi I learned long ago that being myself was much easier than pretending to be Barbara Walters. Although when I first started because I had Barbara in my head I would try to sit like Barbara, talk like Barbara, move like Barbara and then one night I was on the news reading the news and I called Canada “Can-a-da,” and that was the end of me being Barbara. I cracked myself up on TV. Couldn’t start laughing and my real personality came through and I figured out, oh gee, I can be a much better Oprah than I could be a pretend Barbara.
你們要有勇氣去直視他們的雙眼，去聆聽他們的觀點(diǎn)，并且確保這世界的高速、距離、匿名不會(huì)讓我們失去站在他人的立場(chǎng)上去認(rèn)可那些我們作為人類共同享受東西的能力。這是你作為一個(gè)個(gè)體或是為了整個(gè)國(guó)家的成功必須要做到的。“一定存在某種方法可以使光明驅(qū)逐黑暗。”一位孩子在12月一個(gè)普通的星期五被殺害的父親如是說(shuō)道。所以無(wú)論你愿意稱她為靈魂、精神、抑或是更高尚的自我，天資什么的，我知道，我們內(nèi)心深處的星星之火總能夠點(diǎn)燃我們——只要你愿意讓自己被點(diǎn)亮。作為一個(gè)來(lái)自密西西比州農(nóng)村的年輕姑娘，我早就知道，成為自己比假裝成芭芭拉更容易�？v使我對(duì)自己的堅(jiān)守是因?yàn)槲蚁胍蔀榘虐爬穑蚁Ｍ牡淖讼癜虐爬�、談吐像芭芭拉，舉止像芭芭拉。直到有一天晚上，我在電視上讀新聞的時(shí)候，我把“Canada”讀成“Can-a-da”，這就成了我試圖變成芭芭拉的終止。我在電視上把自己層層剖析，我笑個(gè)不停。隨后真正的自我脫穎而出，我突然就想通了“哦，哎呀，與其成為芭芭拉我能夠成為一個(gè)更出色的奧普拉。”
I know that you all might have a little anxiety now and hesitation about leaving the comfort of college and putting those Harvard credentials to the test. But no matter what challenges or setbacks or disappointments you may encounter along the way, you will find true success and happiness if you have only one goal, there really is only one, and that is this: to fulfill the highest most truthful expression of yourself as a human being. You want to max out your humanity by using your energy to lift yourself up, your family and the people around you. Theologian Howard Thurman said it best. He said, “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” The world needs … People like Michael Stolzenberg from Fort Lauderdale. When Michael was just 8 years old Michael nearly died from a bacterial infection that cost him both of his hands and both of his feet. And in an instant, this vibrant little boy became a quadruple amputee and his life was changed forever. But in losing who he once was Michael discovered who he wanted to be. He refused to sit in that wheelchair all day and feel sorry for himself so with prosthetics he learned to walk and run and play again. He joined his middle school lacrosse team and last month when he learned that so many victims of the Boston Marathon bombing would become new amputees, Michael decided to banish that darkness with light. Michael and his brother, Harris, created Mikeysrun.com to raise $1 million for other amputees — by the time Harris runs the 2014 Boston Marathon. More than 1,000 miles away from here these two young brothers are bringing people together to support this Boston community the way their community came together to support Michael. And when this 13-year-old man was asked about his fellow amputees he said this, “First they will be sad. They’re losing something they will never get back and that’s scary. I was scared. But they’ll be okay. They just don’t know that yet.” We might not always know it. We might not always see it, or hear it on the news or even feel it in our daily lives, but I have faith that no matter what, Class of 2013, you will be okay and you will make sure our country is okay. I have faith because of that 9-year-old girl who went out and collected the change. I have faith because of David and Francine Wheeler, I have faith because of Michael and Harris Stolzenberg, and I have faith because of you, the network of angels sitting here today. One of them Khadijah Williams, who came to Harvard four years ago. Khadijah had attended 12 schools in 12 years, living out of garbage bags amongst pimps and prostitutes and drug dealers; homeless, going in to department stores, Wal-Mart in the morning to bathe herself so that she wouldn’t smell in front of her classmates, and today she graduates as a member of the Harvard Class of 2013.
我非常理解在你們即將離開大學(xué)象牙塔一樣舒服單純的生活，把你們?cè)诠鹄锓e累的經(jīng)驗(yàn)?zāi)贸鋈?shí)踐的時(shí)候，或多或少會(huì)有些焦慮與猶豫不決，但是無(wú)論你一路上經(jīng)歷到怎樣的挑戰(zhàn)、挫折、險(xiǎn)釁、絕望，如果你自始至終都只有一個(gè)目標(biāo)，真的只有一個(gè)目標(biāo)，你就會(huì)找到真正的成功和幸福。這個(gè)目標(biāo)就是：作為一個(gè)人，你要滿足你最真摯、最坦誠(chéng)的自我表達(dá)，奮力拓展自己的人生領(lǐng)域，去追逐生命的最大化，去改變你周圍你親友，讓他們的人生也因你而不同。神學(xué)家Howard Thurman將這件事兒闡釋的淋漓盡致，他說(shuō)：“不要追問(wèn)這世界需要什么樣的人，捫心自問(wèn)是什么支持著你活到現(xiàn)在，然后你奔赴你的信仰、因?yàn)檫@世界需要的就是人們充滿活力地活在世上，”這是世界需要的——正如來(lái)自勞德代爾堡的邁克爾·斯托爾岑貝格。邁克爾年僅8歲時(shí)險(xiǎn)些喪命于細(xì)菌感染，雖然他活了下來(lái)，但卻永遠(yuǎn)失去了雙手雙腳。須臾之間，原本一個(gè)完整的，充滿活力的男孩兒失去四肢，成為一個(gè)殘疾人，他的命運(yùn)軌跡在這一劫難之后被硬生生地扭轉(zhuǎn)。但在失去一切之后，他聽懂了他的心，他明白了自己真正想成為誰(shuí)，他拒絕整日坐在輪椅中上沮喪、難過(guò)，而是選擇了在假肢的扶持下繼續(xù)行走、奔跑、玩耍、他甚至加入了他高中的曲棍球隊(duì)。上個(gè)月當(dāng)他得知在波士頓馬拉松的轟炸中，有一些不幸的人同樣被截肢時(shí)，他決心用同樣的“燈光”幫助他們驅(qū)逐黑暗，于是邁克爾和他的兄弟哈里斯創(chuàng)辦了mikeysrun.com為其他被截肢的人募捐。他希望集資100萬(wàn)美元，等到2014年哈里斯從1000多英里外跑波士頓馬立松時(shí)，這兩位年輕的兄弟將把人們聚集在一起來(lái)支持整個(gè)波士頓社區(qū)，如同他們的社區(qū)支持邁克爾那樣。當(dāng)這個(gè)十三歲的孩子第一次被問(wèn)及一些關(guān)于同樣被截肢的人的事時(shí)，他說(shuō)：“他們一定會(huì)很傷心，因?yàn)樗麄兪チ松兄厍矣啦粡?fù)返的東西，那是很可怕的一件事，但是他們一定會(huì)振作起來(lái)的，他們只是現(xiàn)在還沒察覺罷了。”我們可能對(duì)這種事所知甚少，這些事情并不常見，在電視里也鮮聽聞，我們的日常生活中也不能有所獲知。但是我對(duì)你們有信心，不管發(fā)生什么，2013屆的畢業(yè)生們，請(qǐng)相信，柳暗花明又一村，你們也要記得去確保我們的國(guó)家的安康。我有信心，因?yàn)槟莻�(gè)9歲小女孩會(huì)出去收集零錢;我有信心，因?yàn)镈avid和 Wheeler;我有信心，因?yàn)檫~克爾和哈里斯。我有信心是你們讓我充滿信心，因?yàn)槟�，因�(yàn)?ldquo;天使網(wǎng)絡(luò)”現(xiàn)在就在這里。這其中就有四年前來(lái)到哈佛的 Khadijah Williams。Khadijah在過(guò)去的12年中上了12個(gè)不同的學(xué)校，身處在皮條客、妓女、毒品販子和流浪兒之間的垃圾袋子里，她為了不讓同學(xué)們聞到他身上的異味，他每天清晨會(huì)去百貨大樓、沃爾瑪超市洗澡，今天他成為2013屆哈佛畢業(yè)生的一員。
From time to time you may stumble, fall, you will for sure, count on this, no doubt, you will have questions and you will have doubts about your path. But I know this, if you’re willing to listen to, be guided by, that still small voice that is the G.P.S. within yourself, to find out what makes you come alive, you will be more than okay. You will be happy, you will be successful, and you will make a difference in the world. Congratulations Class of 2013. Congratulations to your family and friends. Good luck, and thank you for listening.
不時(shí)地，你可能會(huì)失足跌倒，我們之中誰(shuí)也難以幸免。對(duì)你的未來(lái)之路你會(huì)彷徨、會(huì)憂慮、會(huì)無(wú)所適從，但是我知道：只要你肯聽聽你內(nèi)心深處的聲音 ，你體內(nèi)隱藏的GPS定位系統(tǒng)，能讓你回歸你人生的本真，你可能會(huì)因此活的更加奪目。你一定會(huì)快樂(lè)，一定會(huì)成功。你一定可以讓世界因你而不同。祝賀你們，2012屆哈佛的畢業(yè)生們。把祝賀同樣送給你們的親朋好友們。祝你們的命運(yùn)永遠(yuǎn)備受眷顧，同時(shí)感謝你們的聆聽。
Was that okay?像這樣可以嗎?
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