公众人物毕业演讲 第206期:杰雷诺2014爱默生学院(4)

 　　And Emerson gave me that opportunity

　　爱默生给了我这个机会

　　Plus I learned stuff, I learned real stuff而且我学到了真正的东西

　　I remember taking a black history course

　　我记得上过一门黑人历史课

　　and reading James Baldwin and Dick Gregory读詹姆斯·鲍德温和迪克·格雷戈里的作品

　　and for the first time in my life

　　我人生中第一次意识到

　　I realized all the things I didn't know

　　自己不知道这么多东西

　　I mean, I always knew I couldn't do math

　　当然 我一直知道自己不懂数学

　　but I had no idea I was this clueless

　　但我原来不知道连这些我也不知道

　　My problem was at that time, Emerson College had no stand-up comedy program我的问题是 当时在爱默生学院没有单口喜剧节目I tried out for the drama department

　　我去过戏剧系

　　but was intimidated¹ and I just failed miserably²结果失败了 而且失败很惨重

　　So rather than try again, I got a chip on my shoulder我没有再尝试 而是感到非常憋屈

　　to the attitude, oh, this is going to be on the test我很不喜欢他们的态度 我心想

　　I was right, they were wrong, I'll show them我是对的 他们错了 我要证明给他们看

　　I won't learn anything

　　我不打算学任何东西

　　So I kind of turned my back on Emerson

　　这时 我转身背离了爱默生

　　and decided³ to try and go it alone

　　决定自己出去打拼

　　I mean, I didn't drop out or anything like that当然 我没有退学

　　I just did the basic minimum necessary to get by我只是在学校中花最小精力 得过且过

　　So then I literally⁴ went door-to-door trying to be a comedian⁵之后我尝试逐门逐户推销自己的喜剧

　　You know Boston was a very serious place

　　波士顿是一个很严肃的地方

　　especially students in the 60s and 70s

　　特别是六七十年代的学生

　　Most clubs did a lot of stop you warm machine music and that kind of stuff很多俱乐部都只允许一些音乐节目

　　with the exception of maybe George Carlin and Richard Pryor除了乔治·卡林和理查德·普赖尔之外

　　most comedy didn't really fit in with college students大多数喜剧都不受大学生欢迎

　　I will go to music clubs and I tell them, I'm a comedian我去这些音乐俱乐部 说我是喜剧演员

　　and they said, get lost

　　他们说 滚开

　　And then I put a $50 bill on the bar and I'd say我于是掏出五十美元放到台上 说

　　look, if people leave, you keep the 50

　　如果观众离场 这五十就是你的了

　　but if they laugh and stay, give me my 50 back如果他们笑了 这五十我就收回来

　　And that worked out hard at the time

　　这在当时能起作用 才怪了

　　Sometimes it was just gut⁶ wrenching⁷

　　有时 这非常虐心

　　There was just one club I went to said, you're in union?

　　我去的一家俱乐部问 你是协会成员吗

　　I said no I didn't know there was union

　　我说 不是 我不知道有协会

　　They said, oh yeah, I can't hire you unless you're in union他们说 我们不能招你 你连协会都没入

　　He said, go and see my friend at the after office over that street down他说 你可以到街那头去找我的一位朋友

 

1 intimidated   

v.恐吓；威胁adj.害怕的；受到威胁的

参考例句：

• We try to make sure children don't feel intimidated on their first day at school. 我们努力确保孩子们在上学的第一天不胆怯。
• The thief intimidated the boy into not telling the police. 这个贼恫吓那男孩使他不敢向警察报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 miserably   

adv.痛苦地；悲惨地；糟糕地；极度地

参考例句：

• The little girl was wailing miserably. 那小女孩难过得号啕大哭。
• It was drizzling, and miserably cold and damp. 外面下着毛毛细雨，天气又冷又湿，令人难受。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

5 comedian   

n.喜剧演员；滑稽演员

参考例句：

• The comedian tickled the crowd with his jokes.喜剧演员的笑话把人们逗乐了。
• The comedian enjoyed great popularity during the 30's.那位喜剧演员在三十年代非常走红。

6 gut   

n.[pl.]胆量；内脏；adj.本能的；vt.取出内脏

参考例句：

• It is not always necessary to gut the fish prior to freezing.冷冻鱼之前并不总是需要先把内脏掏空。
• My immediate gut feeling was to refuse.我本能的直接反应是拒绝。

7 wrenching   

n.修截苗根，苗木铲根（铲根时苗木不起土或部分起土）v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的现在分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛

参考例句：

• China has been through a wrenching series of changes and experiments. 中国经历了一系列艰苦的变革和试验。 来自辞典例句
• A cold gust swept across her exposed breast, wrenching her back to reality. 一股寒气打击她的敞开的胸膛，把她从梦幻的境地中带了回来。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）