名人励志英语演讲 第157期:奏出生命中最美的乐曲(4)

 　　So that for better or worse that was my education. I came away with a clear sense of the difference music could make in my own life, in other people's lives if I did my job right. --Which, if you're a singer in a rock band, means avoiding the obvious pitfalls¹ like, say, a mullet hairdo. If anyone here doesn't know what a mullet is by the way, your education's certainly not complete. I'd ask for your money back. For a lead singer like me, a mullet is, I would suggest, arguably more dangerous than a drug problem. Yes, I had a mullet in the 80s.

　　所以，不管是好还是坏，那就是我所接受的教育。当我离开时，我清醒地意识到，如果我做好自己的工作，音乐将会对我的生活以及他人的生活产生巨大的影响——作为摇滚乐队的一名歌手，就意味着要避免犯一些显而易见的错误，比如留个胭脂鱼发型。如果有人不知道什么是胭脂鱼发型，那么他所接受的教育就绝对是不全面的，我得把你的学费给要回来。关于胭脂鱼发型，我可以给大家一个提示，像我这样的乐队主唱，留那个发型比吸毒还危险。没错，我在80年代确实留过胭脂鱼发型。

　　Now this is the point where the members of the faculty² star smiling uncomfortably and thinking maybe they should have offered me the honors--the honorary bachelors degree instead of the full blown [doctorate]--"he should have been the bachelor's one, he's talking about mullets and stuff³." And if they're asking what on earth I'm doing here, I think it's a fair question. What am I doing here? And more to the point--what are you doing here? Because if you don't mind me saying so: this is a strange ending to an Ivy⁴ League educatin. Four years in these historic⁵ halls thinking great thoughts, and now you're sitting in a stadium better suited for football, listening to an Irish rock star give a speech that is so far mostly about himself. What are you doing here?

　　现在，各位教师可能会无奈的笑了，他们也许在想，授予我一个荣誉学士学位已经绰绰有余了，而不应授予我学院最高的博士学位，因为我只是在谈论诸如胭脂鱼发型一类的废话。如果他们要问，我到底在这儿干什么，我想这是一个很好的问题。我在这儿做什么呢？更切题一点——你们在这儿干什么呢？如果你们不介意的话，我想说，对于常春藤盟校的教育而言，这是一个奇怪的终点。你们在这些历史悠久的殿堂里度过了四年，不断思考着那些伟大的思想，而现在你们却坐在这个更适合踢足球的体育场上，听一个爱尔兰的摇滚歌手做一个几乎全是关于他自己的演讲。你们在这儿干什么呢？

1 pitfalls   

（捕猎野兽用的）陷阱( pitfall的名词复数 )； 意想不到的困难，易犯的错误

参考例句：

• the potential pitfalls of buying a house 购买房屋可能遇到的圈套
• Several pitfalls remain in the way of an agreement. 在达成协议的进程中还有几个隐藏的困难。

2 faculty   

n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员

参考例句：

• He has a great faculty for learning foreign languages.他有学习外语的天赋。
• He has the faculty of saying the right thing at the right time.他有在恰当的时候说恰当的话的才智。

3 stuff   

n.原料，材料，东西；vt.填满；吃饱

参考例句：

• We could supply you with the stuff in the raw tomorrow.明天我们可以供应你原材料。
• He is not the stuff.他不是这个材料。

4 ivy   

n.常青藤，常春藤

参考例句：

• Her wedding bouquet consisted of roses and ivy.她的婚礼花篮包括玫瑰和长春藤。
• The wall is covered all over with ivy.墙上爬满了常春藤。

5 historic   

adj.历史上著名的，具有历史意义的

参考例句：

• This is a historic occasion.这是具有重大历史意义的时刻。
• We are living in a great historic era.我们正处在一个伟大的历史时代。