Thank you, President Cowan, Mrs. President Cowen; distinguished guests, undistinguished guests--you know who you are, honored faculty and creepy Spanish teacher. So and thank you to all the graduating class of 2009, I realize most of you are hungover and have splitting headaches and haven't slept since Fat Tuesday, but you can't graduate till I finish, so listen up.
尊敬的考恩校长，校长夫人，尊贵的嘉宾，不知名的嘉宾——你们知道自己是谁，不用介绍了，老师们还有令人害怕的西班牙语老师，感谢你们！感谢所有杜兰大学2009届毕业生们！我知道你们绝大多数还因为宿醉而头痛欲裂，狂欢到今天都还没有睡觉。但没听完我演讲不能毕业，所以要注意听了。
When I was asked to make the commencement speech, I immediately said yes. Then I went to look up what commencement meant. Which would have been easy if I had a dictionary, but most of the books in our house are Portia's, and they're all written in Australian. So I had to break the word down myself, to find out the meaning.
当我应邀来发表毕业演讲时，我毫不犹豫就答应了，然后我才去查毕业典礼是什么意思。如果我有字典的话就轻松多了，但我家里有的书大多都是波西亚的，而且都是澳式英语，所以我得自己拆分单词，摸索它的意思。
Commencement: common, and cement. Common cement. You commonly see cement on sidewalks. Sidewalks have cracks, and if you step on a crack, you break your mother's back. So there's that. But I'm honored that you've asked me here to speak at your common cement.
Commencement由common和cement构成，意思是“常见的水泥”。在人行道上你常看见水泥。人行道上有裂缝，你踩到了裂缝，撞伤了你妈妈的背。意思就是这样。但是我很荣幸应邀给你们做“常见的水泥”的演讲。
I thought that you had to be a famous alumnus-alumini-aluminum-alumis-you had to graduate from this school. And I didn't go to college here, and I don't know if President Cowen know, I didn't go to college at all. Any collge. And I'm not saying you wasted your time, or money, but look at me, I'm a huge celebrity.
我原以为要够有名，并且必须是贵校的校友才能来这里演讲。我没在这儿上过大学，而且，不知道考恩校长是否知道，我根本没念过大学，没上过任何大学。我不是说你们在浪费时间和金钱。看看我，我可是超级成功的名人。
重点讲解：
1. listen up
听我说；
eg. Okay, listen up, guys. We've got to talk a little about how you look.
好了，听我说，各位。我们需要谈谈大家的形象问题。
eg. Stop wagging your chin for a minute and listen up!
暂时别讲话了。注意听！
2. break down
分解；将…分成若干部分；
eg. The report breaks down the results region by region.
报告将调查结果按地区分成若干部分。
eg. These rules tell us how a sentence is broken down into phrases.
这些规则告诉我们一个句子是怎样分解成若干短语的。
3. step on
踩；踏；跨步；迈步；
eg. Be careful not to step on the crops.
当心别踩了庄稼。
eg. He do not even say "sorry" when he step on my toe.
他踩了我的脚连“对不起”也不说一声。
背景资料：
艾伦风趣自然的风格似乎与生俱来，她在杜兰大学的演讲延续了自己的幽默风格，艾伦拆分了commencement，在“笑”果十足的短短的演说中透露自己艰辛的成长历程，让人从中受到很大鼓舞。她还给毕业学生们以诚恳的建议，让毕业生受益匪浅。
名人经典：
And really when I look back on it, I wouldn't change a thing. I mean, it was so important for me to lose everything becasue I found out what the most important thing is, is to be true to yourself. And ultimately, that's what's gotten me to this place. I don't live in fear. I'm free. I have no secrets. And I know I'll always be OK, because no matter what, I know who I am.
当我回首这些往事的时候，我一点也不会改变。因为我发现，即使失去一切，最重要的是做真正的自己。最终，我来到了这里。我不再恐惧，我感觉很自在，也不再有秘密，而且我知道一切都会好的，因为无论如何，我知道我是谁。 |