名校励志英语演讲 132:珍惜现在 把握将来(8)

 　　But as a parent let me tell you something about parents. Despite all rational impulses, despite all evidence to the contrary, despite what we think you do to us and what you think we do to you—and yes, it is often hell on both sides—the plain, unvarnished truth is we love you. Simply, profoundly, utterly¹.

　　但作为家长，让我告诉你们关于父母的一些事情。尽管父母会有一些合理的冲动行为，尽管所有的证据都证明父母的有些行为是不对的，尽管我们都认为对方的所作所为令自己不满意——而且有时候双方都觉得很伤心——但有一点是简单而朴实的，那就是我们爱你。这种爱朴实无华却又深刻而彻底。

　　I remember, back in the mists of time, yes, the parents, you see.Yeah. And love them too, Daniel.I remember, back in the mists of time, my Dad greeting me off the train at Durham railway station. I was a student at Oxford². Oxford and Cambridge are for Britain kind of like Yale and Harvard, only more so. It was a big deal. I had been away for my first year and was coming home.

　　回顾过去，我记得，是的，你知道的，我的父母，你也爱他们，丹尼尔。回顾过去，我记得又一次我父亲到达拉姆火车站接我。那时，我在牛津大学上学。牛津大学和剑桥大学对英国人就像耶鲁大学和哈佛大学对美国人一样重要，甚至更胜一筹。所以在牛津上学对我来说很重要。上完了第一个学年，我就要回家了。

　　I stepped off the train. My hair was roughly the length of Rumpelstiltskin's and unwashed. I had no shoes and no shirt. My jeans were torn—and this was in the days before this became a fashion item. Worst of all, we had just moved house. Mum had thrown out the sitting room drapes. I had retrieved³ them and made a sleeveless long coat with them.

　　下了火车，我披着脏兮兮的几乎和侏儒怪一样长的头发，光着脚丫子，而且还没有穿衬衫，牛仔裤也破烂不堪——这些在当时还没有成为一种时尚。更糟的是，我们刚换了房子，母亲把客厅的窗帘扔掉了，我把它捡回来做了一件无袖的大衣。

　　托尼·布莱尔给我们的启示

　　The history of humankind is marked by great events but written by great people.

　　人类历史由重大事件标记，却由伟大的人来谱写。

　　Always be alive the possibilities of the next experience, of thinking, doing and being.

　　要时刻准备迎接新的生活，不断思考、积极行动。

　　Judge someone by how they treat those below them not those above them.

　　评价一个人，要看他们怎样对待比自己地位低的人，而不是看他们怎样对待地位比自己高的人

1 utterly   

adv.完全地，绝对地

参考例句：

• Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民，把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
• I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。

2 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

3 retrieved   

v.取回( retrieve的过去式和过去分词 )；恢复；寻回；检索（储存的信息）

参考例句：

• Yesterday I retrieved the bag I left in the train. 昨天我取回了遗留在火车上的包。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He reached over and retrieved his jacket from the back seat. 他伸手从后座上取回了自己的夹克。 来自辞典例句