王力宏牛津大学演讲 第7期

 　　Then in high school, I learnt that music wasn't just about connecting with others, like Brian and I were connected through music. 然后在高中我才知道了音乐不仅是把我们联系在一起，就像布莱恩和我通过音乐联系在一起。

　　It was a powerful tool of influence and inspiration¹. 而且它还是影响和激励他人的有力工具。

　　Sam Nguyen was my high school janitor². 山姆·阮是我高中里的保卫人员。

　　He was an immigrant from Vietnam who barely³ spoke⁴ a word of English. 他是越南移民。他几乎不说英语。

　　Sam swept the floors and cleaned the bathrooms at our school for twenty years. 山姆在我们学校扫地清洁厕所20年了。

　　He never talked to the kids and the kids never talked to Sam. 他从不和孩子说话，孩子也从不和他说话。

　　But one day, before the opening night of our school's annual musical, he walked up to me and holding a letter. 但是有一天在我们学校年度音乐会的前一个晚上，他走到我面前，拿着一封信。

　　And I was taken aback and I was thinking, why is Sam the janitor would approaching me? 我很吃惊，我在想为什么保卫人员山姆会向我走来。

　　And he gave me this letter that I've kept to this day. 他给了我这封信，我一直保存到今天。

　　It was scrolled⁵, in a shaky hand written in all capitals, and I read. 它皱巴巴的，像是用颤抖的手写的，全是大写字母，于是我看了。

　　In all my years of working as a janitor at Sutherland, you are the first Asian boy to play the lead role. 在萨瑟兰德做了那么多年工，你是第一个当主唱的亚洲男孩。

　　I'm going to bring my six-year-old daughter to watch you perform tonight, because I want her to see that Asians can be inspiring. 我要把我六岁的女儿带来，今晚带她来看你的演出，因为我想让她看见亚洲人也可以激励人。

　　And that letter just floored me. I was 15 years old and I was absolutely stunned⁶. 这封信简直击倒了我。我只有15岁，我完全懵了。

　　That was the first time I realized how music was so important. 这是第一次我意识到音乐是如此重要。

　　With Brian, music helped two kids who were initially⁷ enemies become friends. 在布莱恩那里，音乐帮助两个最初是敌人的孩子最终变成朋友。

　　But with Sam, music went beyond the one-on-one. 而在山姆这里，这已经不只是两个人之间的关系了。

　　It was an even higher level, it influenced others I didn't even know in ways I could never imagine. 这是更高一层的，它甚至影响了我不认识的人，这是我从来没有想过的。

　　I can't tell you how grateful I am to Sam the janitor to this day. 我无法形容直到今天我还有多感谢保卫人员山姆。

　　He really is one of the people who helped me discover my life's purpose. 他真的是帮助我发现人生目标的一个人。

　　And I had no idea that something I did could mean more than ever imagined to an immigrant from Vietnam who barely even spoke English. 我以前不知道我所做的对于一个几乎不说英语的越南人能发挥如此超乎我想象的作用。

　　Pop culture, music, and the other methods of storytelling, movies, TV dramas, they are so key, and they do connect us, like me and Brian, and do influence us, and inspire us. 流行文化，音乐，以及其他讲故事的方式，电影，电视剧，他们都是连结我们的关键，就像我和布莱恩，它们确实影响了我们，激励了我们。

1 inspiration   

n.灵感，鼓励者，吸气

参考例句：

• These events provided the inspiration for his first novel.这些事件给了他创作第一部小说的灵感。
• What an inspiration she was to all around her!她对于她周围所有的人是一种多么大的鼓舞！

2 janitor   

n.看门人，管门人

参考例句：

• The janitor wiped on the windows with his rags.看门人用褴褛的衣服擦着窗户。
• The janitor swept the floors and locked up the building every night.那个看门人每天晚上负责打扫大楼的地板和锁门。

3 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。

4 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。

5 scrolled   

adj.具有涡卷装饰的v.（电脑屏幕上）从上到下移动（资料等），卷页( scroll的过去式和过去分词 )；（似卷轴般）卷起；（像展开卷轴般地）将文字显示于屏幕

参考例句：

• Wherever the drop target can possibly be scrolled offscreen, the program needs to auto-scroll. 无论拖放的目标对象是否在屏幕之外，程序都需要自动滚动。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• If It'still is then you've not scrolled up enough lines. 如果还在说明你向上滚动的行数不够。 来自互联网

6 stunned   

adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
• The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。

7 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。