名校励志英语演讲 13:失败的额外收益和想象力的重要性

 　　President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, members of the faculty¹, proud parents, and, above all, graduates.

　　尊敬的福斯特校长，哈弗集团的各位成员，监管理事会的各位理事，各位老师，各位自豪的家长，尤其是毕业生们：

　　The first thing I would like to say is 'thank you'. Not only has Harvard given me an extraordinary honour, but the weeks of fear and nausea² I have endured at the thought of giving this commencement address have made me lose weight. A win-win situation! Now all I have to do is take deep breaths, squint³ at the red banners and convince myself that I am at the world's largest Gryffindor' reunion.

　　首先请允许我说一声谢谢。哈弗不仅给了我至高无上的荣誉，连日来一想到要发表这个毕业演说所经受的恐惧和紧张，更令我减肥成功。这真是“双赢”。现在，我只需要深呼吸几次，眯着眼睛看看前面的大红横幅，然后安慰自己，让自己相信我正在参加世界上最大的魔法学院聚会。

　　Delivering a commencement address is a great responsibility; or so I thought until I cast my mind back to my own graduation. The commencement speaker that day was the distinguished⁴ British philosopher Baroness⁵ Mary Warnock. Reflecting on her speech has helped me enormously in writing this one, because it turns out that I can't remember a single word she said. This liberating⁶ discovery enables me to proceed without any fear that I might inadvertently influence you to abandon promising⁷ careers in business, the law or politics for the giddy delights of becoming a gay wizard.

　　发表毕业演说责任重大。至少我回想我当年的毕业典礼时是这么认为的。那天致辞的是英国著名的哲学家玛丽·沃诺克男爵夫人。回想她的演讲，对我完成这篇演讲稿有极大的帮助，因为我已完全不记得她当时讲了什么。这让我释然，让我不再担心我可能会无意中影响你们，使你们放弃商业、法律或政治上的大好前途，转而醉心于成为一个快乐的魔法师。

　　overseer

　　n. 检查员

　　eg. The overseer was explaining the job to young trainees⁸.

　　监工向年轻的实习工讲解工作情况。

　　faculty

　　n. （美国高等院校或院系的）全体教员

　　eg. She has recently joined the faculty of Yale University.

　　她最近当了耶鲁大学的教授。

　　nausea

　　n. 恶心，呕吐感

　　eg. He lay on his back in a nausea of self-disgust.

　　他仰面躺在那里，充满了对自己的鄙夷和厌恶。

　　squint

　　vi. 眯着眼看，斜视

　　eg. He could not help thinking how uncanny the man's squint eyes looked under its straight outstanding visor.

　　他不禁想到这个家伙的斜视眼，从帽子的大帽舌下望出来是何等的令人毛骨悚然。

　　banner

　　n. 横幅

　　eg. The patriots⁹ unfurled the banner of freedom.

　　爱国志士们打出了自由的旗帜。

　　Griffindor

　　葛莱芬多（哈利波特所在的魔法学院）

　　cast one's mind back to

　　回想

　　eg. The scene cast his mind back to a snowy night twenty years before.

　　这种景象使他回想起20年前的一个雪夜。

　　distinguished

　　adj. 著名的，卓越的

　　eg. China's past is distinguished by more than longevity¹⁰, resiliencey, and culture.

　　中国的过去不仅仅以历史悠久，富有韧性和文化灿烂而著称。

　　enormously

　　adv. 巨大地；在极大程度上

　　eg. His English improved enormously because of his association with British people.

　　因为他和英国人有来往, 所以他的英语突飞猛进。

　　proceed

　　vi. 开始；继续进行

　　eg. He paused to consult his notes,and then proceeded with his question.

　　他停了下来看了看笔记，然后继续提问。

　　inadvertently

　　adv. 非故意地

　　eg. The possibility of sending a new manager was inadvertently hinted at.

　　无意中透露出的消息暗示可能会派来一名新经理。

　　giddy

　　adj. 令人眼花缭乱的

　　eg. We looked down from a giddy height.

　　我们从使人头晕的高处往下看。

1 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。

2 nausea   

n.作呕，恶心；极端的憎恶(或厌恶)

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕期常有恶心的现象。
• He experienced nausea after eating octopus.吃了章鱼后他感到恶心。

3 squint   

v. 使变斜视眼, 斜视, 眯眼看, 偏移, 窥视; n. 斜视, 斜孔小窗; adj. 斜视的, 斜的

参考例句：

• A squint can sometimes be corrected by an eyepatch. 斜视有时候可以通过戴眼罩来纠正。
• The sun was shinning straight in her eyes which made her squint. 太阳直射着她的眼睛,使她眯起了眼睛。

4 distinguished   

adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的

参考例句：

• Elephants are distinguished from other animals by their long noses.大象以其长长的鼻子显示出与其他动物的不同。
• A banquet was given in honor of the distinguished guests.宴会是为了向贵宾们致敬而举行的。

5 baroness   

n.男爵夫人，女男爵

参考例句：

• I'm sure the Baroness will be able to make things fine for you.我相信男爵夫人能够把家里的事替你安排妥当的。
• The baroness,who had signed,returned the pen to the notary.男爵夫人这时已签过字，把笔交回给律师。

6 liberating   

解放，释放( liberate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Revolution means liberating the productive forces. 革命就是为了解放生产力。
• They had already taken on their shoulders the burden of reforming society and liberating mankind. 甚至在这些集会聚谈中，他们就已经夸大地把改革社会、解放人群的责任放在自己的肩头了。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）

7 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

8 trainees   

新兵( trainee的名词复数 )； 练习生； 接受训练的人； 训练中的动物

参考例句：

• We've taken on our full complement of new trainees. 我们招收的新学员已经满额了。
• The trainees were put through an assault course. 受训人员接受了突击训练课程。

9 patriots   

爱国者，爱国主义者( patriot的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Abraham Lincoln was a fine type of the American patriots. 亚伯拉罕·林肯是美国爱国者的优秀典型。
• These patriots would fight to death before they surrendered. 这些爱国者宁愿战斗到死，也不愿投降。

10 longevity   

n.长命；长寿

参考例句：

• Good habits promote longevity.良好的习惯能增长寿命。
• Human longevity runs in families.人类的长寿具有家族遗传性。