名校励志英语演讲 24:失败的额外收益和想象力的重要性

 　　If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice; if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless; if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped change. We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.

　　如果你们选择用自己的地位和影响力为那些没有发言权的人呐喊；如果你们不仅能认同有权势的人，而且也能帮扶无权势的人；如果你会设身处地为没有你这些优势的人着想，那么你的存在将不仅是你家人的骄傲，更是成千上万因为你的帮助而生活得更好的人的骄傲。我们不需要用魔法改变世界，我们自己的内心就有这种力量：我们拥有想象力，可以让这个世界变得更美好。

　　I am nearly finished. I have one last hope for you, which is something that I already had at 21. The friends with whom I sat on graduation day have been my friends for life. They are my children’s godparents, the people to whom I’ve been able to turn in times of trouble, people who have been kind enough not to sue me when I took their names for Death Eaters. At our graduation we were bound by enormous affection, by our shared experience of a time that could never come again, and, of course, by the knowledge that we held certain photographic evidence that would be exceptionally valuable if any of us ran for Prime Minister.

　　我的演讲即将结束。对你们，我有最后一个希望，也是我21岁时就有的一个希望。毕业那天与我坐在一起的朋友们现在是我终身的挚交，他们是我孩子的教父或教母，是我处于困境时可以求助的人，是在我用他们的名字给《哈利·波特》中的“食死徒”起名而不会起诉我的人。我们在毕业典礼时坐在了一起，因为我们关系亲密，因为我们共同分享了那永远都不能重来的时光。当然，也因为假想要是我们中任何人竞选首相，那照片将是极有价值的证明。

　　So today, I wish you nothing better than similar friendships. And tomorrow, I hope that even if you remember not a single word of mine, you remember those of Seneca, another of those old Romans I met when I fled down the Classics corridor, in retreat from career ladders, in search of ancient wisdom:

　　所以今天我能送给你们的最好的祝福，就是希望你们能拥有这样的友谊。我希望，即使明天你们不记得我说过的任何一个字，你们还能记得古罗马哲学家塞内加的一句至理名言。我当年没有顺着事业的阶梯向上攀爬，转而与他在古典文学的殿堂相遇，他的古老智慧给了我人生的启迪：

　　As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.

　　生活就像故事一样，不在于长短，而在于品质，这才是最重要的。

　　I wish you all very good lives. Thank you very much.

　　祝愿你们拥有美好的生活。非常感谢大家。

　　retain

　　vt. 保持；记住

　　eg. Concentrated study will help you to retain knowledge.

　　专心学习有助于你记住知识。

　　godparent

　　n. 教父或教母

　　eg. It is indeed inappropriate for someone to ask to be the godparent.

　　主动要求成为教父教母确实不太恰当。

　　sue

　　vt. 控告，和......打官司

　　eg. I don't think it's neccessary for you to sue him for such a matter.

　　我认为就这点小事，没必要对他提起诉讼。

　　be bound by

　　由......联系起来

　　eg. Yin also encouraged her daughter not to be bound by narrow thinking.

　　尹建莉还鼓励女儿不要被狭隘的思维方式所束缚。

　　photographic

　　adj. 摄影的

　　eg. She has a photographic memory for detail.

　　她对细节有惊人的记忆力。

　　exceptionally

　　adv. 异常的

　　eg. Thus, limited liability is likely to have an exceptionally big impact on their behaviour.

　　因此，有限责任可能会对银行的行为产生异常重大的影响。