王力宏牛津大学演讲 第5期

 　　That's a big fat claim. And I'm gonna try to back it up. 这是一个很大的题目，我会试着证明。

　　Now the UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon said, there are no languages required in the musical world. 联合国秘书长潘基文说，在音乐的世界里对语言没有要求。

　　That is the power of music and that's the power of the heart. 这就是音乐的力量，是心灵的力量。

　　Through this promotion¹ of arts, we can better understand the culture and civilizations of the other people. 通过对艺术的推广我们能够更好地理解对方的文化与文明。

　　In this era of instability and intolerance, we need to promote better understanding through the power of music. 在这个动荡和狭隘的时代，我们需要通过音乐的力量促进更好的理解。

　　The UN Secretary General thinks we need more music, and I think he's right. 联合国秘书长认为我们需要更多音乐，我认为他是对的。

　　Music and arts have always played the key role in my life, in building relationships, replacing what once was ignorance², fear and hatred³, with acceptance, friendship and even love. 音乐与艺术在我生活中曾起到重大作用，对人们建立友谊有很重要的作用，将曾经的无知，恐惧和憎恨变为接受，友谊，甚至是爱。

　　So I have strong case for promoting music between cultures, because it happened to me earlier in life. 所以在不同文化中推广音乐这方面，我很有发言权。因为我早年有这种经历。

　　I was born and raised up in New York. I barely⁴ spoke⁵ a word of Chinese. 我在纽约出生和成长，我很少说中文。

　　I didn't know the difference between Taiwan or Thailand. I was...it's true! 我那时分不清台湾和泰国。我曾经…这是真的！

　　I was as American as an apple pie, until one day on a third grade playground, the inevitable⁶ finally happened. 我曾经像一只苹果派那样，是正宗的美国货。直到有一天，在三年级的游乐场上最终发生了不可避免的事。

　　I got teased⁷ for being Chinese. 我被嘲笑是个中国人。

　　Now every kid get teased or made fun of on the playground, but this was fundamentally different, and I knew it right then and there. 我们知道每个小孩都在游乐场上被嘲笑或开过玩笑，但这个玩笑有着根本的不同，我当时就明白了这一点。

　　This kid, let's call him Brian McKilroy. 这个小孩就叫他布莱恩·麦克基罗吧。

　　He started making fun for me, saying, Chinese, Japanese, Dirty knees, Look at these! 他开始嘲笑我，说中国人，日本人，矮油我去，快看啊。

　　I can't believe you're laughing at that, that hurts! OK, I'm just kidding. 你们居然笑，很伤人的！好了，我开玩笑的。

　　I can still remember how I can felt.I felt ashamed, I felt embarrassed, but I laughted along with them, with everyone. 我依然能记得我是什么感觉。我感到羞耻，窘迫，但是我和他们和每个人一起笑。

　　And I didn't know what else to do, it was like having an out-of-body experience. 我不知道还有什么可做，就好像我不是我自己一样。

　　As if I could laugh at that Chinese kid on the playground, with all the other Americans because I was one of them. Right? . 就好像我也可以在游乐场上嘲笑一个中国孩子，和其他美国孩子一起，因为我是“他们”的一员,对吗？

　　Wrong! On many levels. 错了！大错特错。

1 promotion   

n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传

参考例句：

• The teacher conferred with the principal about Dick's promotion.教师与校长商谈了迪克的升级问题。
• The clerk was given a promotion and an increase in salary.那个职员升了级，加了薪。

2 ignorance   

n.无知，愚昧，不了解，（of，about）不知道

参考例句：

• The relation of disease to poverty and ignorance is easy to see.疾病与贫穷、无知之间的关系是显而易见的。
• Maybe it is all due to my own ignorance.也许是我少见多怪。

3 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

4 barely   

adv.仅仅，几乎没有，几乎不

参考例句：

• The male bird is barely distinguishable from the female.雄鸟和雌鸟几乎无法辨别。
• He took barely enough money to keep the children in bread.他赚很少的钱仅够孩子们勉强糊口。

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

7 teased   

v.取笑，戏弄( tease的过去式和过去分词 )；梳理（羊毛等）

参考例句：

• He took a screwdriver and teased out the remaining screws. 他拿出螺丝刀把其余的螺丝卸了下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I felt annoyance at being teased. 我恼恨别人取笑我。 来自《简明英汉词典》