當前位置

首頁 > 英語閱讀 > 英語閱讀理解 > 一年一度畢業季 籌備畢業演講大綱

一年一度畢業季 籌備畢業演講大綱

推薦人: 來源: 閱讀: 3.23W 次

一年一度畢業季 籌備畢業演講

It is that time of year when famous people put on baggy black capes and peculiar hats in order to hold forth on university lawns to thousands of students and their parents.
每年的這個時節,名人們披上寬鬆的黑色斗篷,頭戴奇怪的帽子,在大學草坪上對着成千上萬的學生和家長們高談闊論。

But this time something strange has happened. Each of the big-name speakers seems to have hit on the identical homily for their commencement addresses: they are all telling graduates to make the world a better place.
不過今年有點奇怪。每個大名鼎鼎的演說者似乎都碰巧在畢業典禮演講中談到了同樣的主題——他們都告訴畢業生,要讓世界變得更美好。

So there was Arianna Huffington at Smith College saying “what I urge you to do is not just take your place at the top of the world, but to change the world”.
阿里安娜•赫芬頓(Arianna Huffington)在史密斯學院(Smith College)表示:“我奉勸你們,不要只想着成爲世界頂尖人物,還要改變這個世界。”

The actress Kerry Washington told students at her alma mater George Washington University (after telling them she loved them, twice): “The world needs your voice. Every single one of you.”
女演員凱麗•華盛頓(Kerry Washington)在其母校喬治•華盛頓大學(George Washington University)——在兩次告訴學生她愛他們之後——表示:“世界需要你們的聲音,需要你們中每個人的聲音。”

And then this, from Jeff Immelt, head of General Electric, at the University of Connecticut: “Graduates should be optimistic; believe in better. The world awaits your leadership.”
還有這個,通用電氣(General Electric)董事長傑夫•伊梅爾特(Jeff Immelt)在康涅狄格大學(University of Connecticut)講道:“畢業生應該樂觀,應該相信世界會變得更美好。世界在等待着你們的領導。”

Any student who has learnt anything at all in their time at university will be able to spot the hogwash. The world has 7bn voices to listen to already – it won’t be bothered about one more or less. Neither is it clear why graduates should be especially optimistic, especially at the moment. The world doesn’t await their leadership; only a tiny minority will get the chance to lead anything, apart, perhaps, from themselves.
每個在大學時光中學了點東西的學生都能發現這些言論中的廢話。全世界已經有70億人的聲音,多一個還是少一個根本不算什麼。爲什麼畢業生尤其應該樂觀也不清楚,特別是在當下這個時候。世界並沒等着他們領導,也許只有極少數人有機會領導除自己以外的任何東西。

Far better – and much snappier – advice was given by Stephen Colbert to students at the University of Virginia. The satirist started by ordering everyone to make sure their cell phones were turned on: “Take a moment to follow my Twitter feed in case I tweet anything during my speech.” I hope the graduates took heed: I felt chastened when I just watched it on YouTube.
斯蒂芬•科爾伯特(Stephen Colbert)在弗吉尼亞大學(University of Virginia)向學生們提出的建議就恰當得多,也時髦得多。這位諷刺演員一開場就囑咐大家把手機都開着:“花點時間關注下我的推特(Twitter)賬戶,以免我在演講期間發佈任何推特消息。”我希望畢業生們聽從了這一建議——我在YouTube上看這個演講的視頻時就感覺到受教了。

Alas, he then went and spoiled it all by telling the students to “choose the hard path that leads to the life and the world that you want”. But who says the hard path is a better bet than the easy one? And as to the world that we want – that isn’t on offer. So the trick for graduates is surely to make do with the world we have.
唉,他接下來的話把這次演說完全毀掉了,他建議學生“選擇那條通向你們想要的生活、想要的世界的艱難道路”。誰說艱難道路就一定是比輕鬆道路更好的選擇?至於我們想要的世界——這東西概不出售。所以說,畢業生們需要掌握的顯然是如何適應我們現在所處的世界。

Only Barack Obama in his address at Morehouse College refrained from urging anyone to change the world. That may be because he feels the world is his prerogative. Or it may be because he alone knows how hard it is to change it – even if you happen to be the President of the United States. Not only has he failed to change the world, he can’t even get people to give up guns or fix the budget in his own country.
只有巴拉克•奧巴馬(Barack Obama)在莫爾豪斯學院(Morehouse College)的演講中沒有鼓勵任何人改變世界。這可能是因爲他覺得世界是他的職權所在。抑或是因爲他自己知道改變世界有多難——就算你碰巧是美國總統也是如此。他不僅沒能改變世界,他甚至都沒能讓他的人民放下槍支,也沒能解決他自己國家的預算問題。

Instead of aiming so impossibly high, the graduates of 2013 would do better to start a bit lower. When they leave their campuses it will not be “Hello world!” but “Hello again, Mum and Dad!”
2013年的畢業生與其好高騖遠,不如把起步的目標放低點可能更好。當他們離開校園時,他們可能會說的不是:“你好,世界!”而是“你們好,爸爸媽媽!”

This is the boomerang generation, and where most of them will be heading is straight back to their childhood bedrooms. What Ms Huffington, Mr Obama and Mr Immelt ought to have said was: change the world if you must, but it would be nice if you could help out by changing the bag in the vacuum cleaner first.
這是“飛去來器”的一代,他們中的多數人出校園後將徑直回到他們兒時的臥室。赫芬頓、奧巴馬和伊梅爾特應該說的是:如果你非要去做,那就去改變世界,不過先幫忙更換一下吸塵器裏的袋子也不錯。

They should then have followed up with stern words on the virtue of hard work. This sort of thing has fallen sadly out of fashion.
接着,他們應講講讚美勤奮工作的逆耳忠言。可悲的是這些話如今已過時了。

When I had just graduated, my then boyfriend – who had been hired by investment bank Salomon Brothers – was instructed by the chief executive, John Gutfruend, to arrive every day “ready to bite the ass off of a bear”. The fact that I can remember his words three decades later is partly because I love the way Americans say “off of”, but it’s also because the advice was so good.
我剛畢業的時候,所羅門兄弟公司(Salomon Brothers)首席執行官約翰•古特弗洛恩德(John Gutfruend)告訴我當時的男朋友——那時他已被該投資銀行聘用——每天上班要“準備摸老虎屁股(ready to bite the ass off of a bear)”。三十年後我還記得他的原話,這部分是因爲我喜歡美國人說“off of”的方式,不過也是因爲這條建議太棒了。

As well as changing their work ethic, graduates also need to change their employment status. They need jobs. What no one ever tells them in commencement addresses is that even a bad job is better than none at all.
畢業生除了要轉變職業道德,還需要改變他們的就業狀況。他們需要工作。沒人在畢業典禮上告訴他們,壞工作也比沒工作好。

I know a young graduate who has just been hired to hand out licences to taxi cabs in deepest south London. It’s dull, but it’s better than being unemployed, which is what she was before. Graduates should be told not to lose heart: as their working lives will last 50 or 60 years, a slow start is not a disaster.
我認識一位年輕的畢業生,她近期找到了一份工作:在倫敦最南部給出租車發牌照。這工作確實很無聊,但總比失業好——她之前就處於失業狀態。應該有人告訴畢業生不要灰心:他們的職場生涯將持續五六十年,因此起步慢一點並不是災難。

Mr Obama urged the Morehouse students to strive to become finer people and said he was himself trying to be a better father and a better husband. For a minute I thought this was quite sweet. But if you are president you should never say such an irresponsible thing to people just starting out. They need to know the truth: that you can either do a big job and try to change the world, or you can be a good father and husband. Each on its own is quite tricky. But both at the same time? Can’t be done.
奧巴馬鼓勵莫爾豪斯學院的學生要努力成爲更好的人,他自己就在努力當好父親、好丈夫。有那麼一刻我覺得這話說得十分好。但既然你是總統,你永遠都不該對這些人生剛剛起步的人說這樣不負責任的話。他們需要知道真相——你要麼完成宏圖偉業並試圖改變世界,要麼當一個好父親和好丈夫。做到這兩件事本身的難度都很大。但同時做到這兩點?沒戲。