名人励志英语演讲 第164期:奏出生命中最美的乐曲(11)

 　　Me, I'm in love with this country called America. I'm a huge fan--I'm a huge fan of America. I'm like one of those annoying fans, you know the ones that read the CD notes and follow you into bathrooms and ask you all kinds of annoying questions about why you didn't live up to that. You know. I'm that kind of fan. And I read the Declaration¹ of Independence and I've read the Constitution of the United States, and they are some liner² notes, dude.

　　我本人就非常热爱这个被称为美国的国家。我是一个美国迷，令人烦心的美国迷，你们知道，就是那些读着CD上的说明，追随你到洗手间、问你各种烦人的问题，比如“你为什么不像音乐中那样去生活？”我就是那类“粉丝”。我读过《独立宣言》和《美国宪法》，那不过是些虚妄的文字解说。

　　And as I said yesterday, I--I--I made my pilgrimage to Independence Hall, and I love America because America is not just a country, it's an idea. You see my country, Ireland, is a great country, but it's not an idea. America is an idea. But it's an idea that brings with it some baggage, like power brings reponsibility. It's an idea that brings with it equality, but equality, even though it's the highest calling, is the hardest to reach. The idea that anything is possible, that's one of the reason why I'm a fan of America. It's like, "Hey, look there's the moon up there, let's--let's, you know, let's take a walk on it, bring back a piece of it." That's the kind of America that I'm a fan of. And in 1971--actually, no--In 1771--not great for glam rock, that year--but your founder³ Mr. Franklin, spent three months in Ireland and Scotland⁴ to look at the relationship they had with England to see whether they--this could be a model for America, whether America should follow their example and remain a part of the British Empire.

　　昨天，我怀着崇敬之情来到独立大厅。我热爱美国，因为美国不仅仅是一个国家，更是一种信念。我的祖国爱尔兰是一个伟大的国家，但却不是一种信念。美国有信念，但这种信念却给它带来了负担，正如权力伴随着义务一样。这种信念让美国人渴望平等，虽然平等是最高的呼唤，却也是最难达成的愿望。在美国，一切皆有可能，这是我痴迷美国的一个原因。就像这样，“嘿，看那儿有一个月亮，让我们上去走走，再带回来一瓣。”这就是我所热爱的美国。1771年，美国的缔造者富兰克林在爱尔兰和苏格兰待了三个月，观察它们与英格兰之间的关系，以研究美国是否可效仿它们，也成为大不列颠帝国的一部分。

1 declaration   

n.宣布，宣告，宣言，声明（书），申报

参考例句：

• We read the declaration posted on the bulletin board.我们读了贴在布告板上的声明。
• At the recent convention a declaration was adopted.在最近举行的大会上通过了一项宣言。

2 liner   

n.班船，定期班机

参考例句：

• They sailed to America in a large liner.他们乘坐一艘大客轮航行到美国。
• The liner flew straight to Nanjing.客机径直飞往南京。

3 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

4 Scotland   

n.苏格兰

参考例句：

• He has been hiking round Scotland for a month.他围着苏格兰徒步旅行了一个月。
• Scotland is to the north of England.苏格兰在英格兰之北。