名校励志英语演讲 67:做真正的自己

 　　Thank you, President Cowan, Mrs. President Cowen; distinguished¹ guests, undistinguished guests—you know who you are, honored faculty² and creepy Spanish teacher.

　　尊敬的考恩校长，校长夫人，尊敬的嘉宾——你们知道自己是谁，不用介绍了，尊敬的老师们，还有令人害怕的西班牙语老师，感谢你们！

　　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.

　　尊敬的所有杜兰大学2009届毕业生们！我知道你们绝大多数人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，但我家大多数的书都是波西米亚的，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 commen 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”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 Cowan knows, I didn't go to any college at all. Any college. And I'm not saying you wasted your time, or money, but look at me, I"m a huge celebrity³.

　　我本以为要够有名，必须要是校友才能来。我没在这儿上过大学，而且，不知道考恩校长知道不知道，我完全没念过大学。任何一所大学。我不是说你们在浪费时间和金钱，看看我，我可是超越成功的名人。

　　背景资料

　　Tulane University Commencement Address Ellen DeGeneres May, 2009

　　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”十足的短短演说中透漏了自己艰辛的成长历程，让人从中受到很大鼓舞，她还给毕业生们以诚恳的建议，让毕业生收益匪浅。

　　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 because 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。

1 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。

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 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。