朱迪福斯特演讲：不要让机会从指缝中溜走

考研吧来源：文都教育 2016-11-25　

My fellow graduates, I've got the best seat in the house today, a view of the greatest hearts, minds and talents of this generation. You will undoubtedly hear a lot of that kind of talk here today. There are sayings like "the intellectual elite" or "the hope for this country's future" or "the responsibilitythat comes with the privilege of education."

毕业生们，今天我坐在这个大厅最好的位置，看到你们这拥有最伟大的心灵、头脑和才华的一代。毫无疑问，今天你们将听到许多这样的话，像“知识精英”“国家未来之希望”或是“精英教育赋予的光荣使命”等等。

And if you're anything like I was at my Yale graduation in 1984, you'll think, what a load of elitistcrap. You'll look around you, at your friends still bleary eyed and silly from last night's concoctions, the buddies you curl up with, sing stupid songs with, make faces with. These guys? We can't possibly be the ones they're talking about...Do we know where we're going? Hell no! If you're anything like I was you'll spend the next six months in bed watching re-runs feeling like a complete idiot.

如果你们一如我1984年在耶鲁毕业时的状态，就会认为这关于精英的说法简直就是一堆废话!你们会望望四周，看着朋友惺松而略带傻气的眼睛，其眼角甚至还带着昨天晚上的分泌物;看着那些密友，他们曾和你相互依偎，和你哼唱愚蠢歌曲，和你互做鬼脸，然后不禁会想就这些人?我们不可能成为人们口中所谓的精英，我们知道该何去何从吗?见鬼，还真不知道!如果你们此时就像当时的我，就会在接下来的6个月里，缩在床上观看毕业典礼录像，然后觉得自己完全像个白痴。

But somewhere in the middle of free from post-graduation survival, the journey of your life has a way of sneaking off the starting line. That is when your Penn education start specking through. You have been given the promise of meaningfulness. You've learned the discipline to "just do it," to apply yourself and lay your guts on the line. You have been inspired and not just by the things you have learned here. (Let's face it. You won't remember a single test question in a few months.) You have been inspired by the experiences you have had, the people you've held, the blood you have shed, all the growing up surrounded by hopefulness of spirit. You have dared, have stuck your hands in the surf and come up with dripping substance? All of that fine and delicious matter has a way of becoming the material of your life. You pick up bits and pieces of treasure and trash, pain and pleasure, passions and disappointments and you start stuffing them in your bag...your big bag of experience. You do some dumb things that don't work out at all. You stumble excitedly on little gems that you never saw coming. And you stuff them all in your bag. You pursue the things you love and believe in. You cast off the images of yourself that don't fit. And suddenly you look behind you and a pattern emerges. You look in front of you and the path makes sense. There is nothing more beautiful than finding your courses you believe you bob aimlessly in the current. Wouldn't you know that your path was there all along, waiting for you to knock, waiting for you to become. This path does not belong to your parents, your teachers, your leaders, or your lovers.

但就在毕业后谋生的过程中，你们不知不觉地跨出起跑线，开始生命的旅程，而那也是你们在宾夕法尼亚大学接受的教育开始发生作用的时候。你们得到的承诺就是生命是充满意义的。你们熟谙“抛开杂念，动手去做”的告诫。激励你们的不仅仅是你们在学校里学到的东西(事实上，考试过后没几个月你就会忘光所有的试题)，还有你们的经历，与之交往过的人物，付出的血汗，以及整个被希望之光笼罩着的成长历程。你们也曾勇敢无畏，小试牛刀，小有建树，所有这些美好而令人愉快的事物无不构成了你们生活的材料。你们捡拾起所有美好或糟糕的记忆片段，重温每一次的激情和失望，然后开始将它们塞人你们的行囊—个装满着你们经验的大行囊。你们会做些根本行不通的傻事，你们会怀揣着憧憬一路跌跌撞撞，而那块小小的宝石却迟迟不肯出现。所有这一切，你们都收人囊中。你们追逐自己所深爱的和所坚信的，丢弃那些与自己不符的形象，当你们蓦然回首，将看到渐渐成型的自己;展望前方，一条道路渐渐明晰。当你们在生活大潮中漫无目的地漂浮游荡时，没有什么是比重新找到航线更好的事了。你们难道没有意识到;路其实一直就在前方，它在静候你们的脚步，等待你们实现梦想。这条路不属于你们的父母、老师、领导或爱人。

Your path is your character defining itself more and more everyday like a photograph coming into focus, like a color that becomes more vivid in contrast with its surroundings. And who is this shiny penny rolling towards that bright future, our graduating cliche? Is he or she so shiny? Is the future truly bright? Well, that is only for you to know and for you to find out. You are standing on a freeway and things will happen. How you duck, weave and balance, how you push, twist and choose, well, that is up to you.

这条路一天天地帮助你们认清自我，就如同照片慢慢对准了焦点，也像一种颜色在周围的映衬下变得更加鲜艳生动。那么，是谁正跌跌撞撞地寻找那个我们在毕业时所谓远大的前程呢?他们真的如此优秀吗?未来真的如此光明吗?这只有你们自己才知道，也只能由你们自己去发现。你们正置身于高速公路上，一切都有可能发生。你们可以疾速行驶，迂回穿行或是两者并用;你们也可以向前推进，蜿蜒蛇行或是另辟蹊径，这一切都取决于你们自己。

I'm sure all of you remember your fresh man year of 2002. On the anniversary of the worst September in our nation's history we were all glued to those burning buildings, the screaming confusion, the fiery chaos of the 9 .1lattacks set against a painful drumbeat for war.

我相信你们都还记得初入学的2002年，当时正值我们国家历史最糟糕的9"11事件发生后一周年，犹记得悲剧发生的那一刻，熊熊燃烧的大楼，惊慌失措的人群，9"11事件的烈焰和喧嚣让我们记忆犹新，惊恐万分。

And there were the stories. The immigrant window washer working on the Twin Towers that day. How he'd had breakfast that morning with one of those happy grins. "It's gonna be sunny

这其中也涌现出很多故事。那天早上，双子塔外来务工的窗户清洁员带着惯常的憨笑，享用着早饭，并感叹道;“今天又将是个晴天”。

The preschoolers holding hands as they were hurried down Greenwich Street away from the explosions. The teachers would shout, "If you see their parents tell them they're okay " Firemen climbing up, climbing up into the smoke as the world we'd come to believe in crumbled below them. Grief, unending grief, too hard for one nation to bear. And in that one instant of deep sorrowful mourning the world was with us. We reached out our arms as the world reached out its arms. A terrible moment. A moment of wonder. A moment so true and so beautiful and so exquisitely sad, one that we shared with humankind...And then the moment was gone, in my belief, squandered. So many lives lost, for what? And where are we now?

当幼儿园的孩子们手牵手沿着格林威治大街匆匆离开爆炸现场时，老师们朝大楼高声喊道;“如果看见孩子们的父母，务必请他们放心，孩子们很安全”。消防队员们不断地向上攀爬，冲进滚滚浓烟当中，我们一直以来信任的世界在他们脚下破碎坍塌。悲伤袭来，这是我们的国家不能承受之重。就在那无比沉痛的一刻，整个世界站到了我们这边，和我们伸手相拥，相互扶持。这是恐怖的一刻，也是神奇的一刻，这一刻如此真实，如此美妙，如此令人心醉。这一刻我们分享人性—然后这一刻消失不见了。依我看，是被我们挥霍殆尽了。这么多的生命葬送了，原因何在?我们目前又是处于怎样一种状态?

Your senior year witnessed the terrible wake of Hurricane Katrina, a mark so devastating on our country that words just cannot describe. (Not just the natural disaster but our leader's equally disastrous and shameful reaction.)

你们大三的时候亲眼目睹了“卡特里娜”咫风造成的伤害，这一灾害给我们国家造成的损失无法用语言表达，不仅仅因为咫风是一场自然灾害，更由于我们的领导人灾后应对措施不力，他们应对此感到羞愧。

How do you live down that mark, a scar that will haunt America and the fabric of its communities for decades to come? No, this country is not better now than it was four years ago. The world is not better now than it was four years ago. That will be part of your story, graduates of the class of 2006. Not your parents' story, not your teachers', your friends', your lovers' or your leaders'. Where will your story take you? How will your experience pave the way for a new voice in America? I hope it will take you out of these doors, out into the open air. You will breathe it in your lungs and say, "From now on this life will be what I stand for, dammit. Move over. This is my story now"

这块伤痛将在未来几十年里一直困扰折磨着美国社会生活的各个方面。我们如何将这一切遗忘?不，相比四年前，这个国家没有变得更美好。同样，世界也没有比四年前变得更美好。2006届毕业生们，这将成为你们故事的一部分，而不是你们的父母、老师、朋友、爱人或领导故事。这些故事将把你们带往何方?而这些的经历将如何帮助你们在美国发出自己的声音?我希望它能让你们走出室内，来到户外，深吸一口气然后说:“从这一刻起，我将代表这个世界仁嘟L一让，现在轮到我上场了。”

You will find on your diplomas, and my diploma the motto of the University of Pennsylvania, which in Latin reads: "Leges sine moribus vanae." "Laws without morals are useless." I would add that morals without commitment are empty. Your Penn education has given you a two-by-four. You may build a building or hit someone over the head. The choice is yours. How lucky to find you have the option of filling your life with your passions. And no, not everyone does. You have the privilege of` creating meaning in your life so that others might also come to enjoy that privilege. Do not waste it trying to become someone you're not. Use it to become who you are already. Class of 2006, I'll leave you with a quote you all know by heart. Feel free to chime in. I'm going to say it twice. You better lose yourself in the music, the moment, You own it. You better never let it go. One shot! Do not miss your chance to blow

在你们的学位证书和我的学位证书上，赫然印着宾夕法尼亚大学受人尊崇的格言，从拉丁语翻译过来就是“法无德不立”。对此，我想稍加补充:没有奉献的道德准则是空洞的。你们在宾夕法尼亚大学接受的教育是十分有限的，你们可以建造大楼或是伤害他人，选择权在于你们自己。当你们发现自己可以选择让激情充满生活时会倍感幸运，因为并非所有人都有选择的权利。你们有权利为自己创造有意义的生活，而这反过来也能使别人拥有同样的权利。不要试图成为别人，那只是浪费时间，而要花时间成为自己。2006届毕业生们，我将为你们留下一段你们烂熟于心的引言，你们无需拘谨，可以和我一起大声说出来，我将会说两次—你最好能沉醉在音乐之中，这一刻，属于你，不要让它溜走，只能射击一次!仅此一次，不要让机会从你指缝中溜走。

This opportunity comes once in a lifetime.

这个机会一生只有一次。