奧普拉哈弗畢業典禮發言稿
奧普拉·溫弗瑞(Oprah Winfrey)，1954年1月29日出生于密西西比州科修斯科，美國演員，制片，主持人，是當今世界上最具影響力的婦女之一，下面是她在哈弗大學畢業典禮上的發言稿，一起來感受一下她的魅力吧!
奧普拉哈佛大學畢業典禮中英文演講稿
Oh my goodness! I’m at Harvard! Wow! To President Faust, my fellow honorans, Carl [Muller] that was so beautiful, thank you so much, and James Rothenberg, Stephanie Wilson, Harvard faculty, with a special bow to my friend Dr. Henry Lewis Gates. All of you alumni, with a special bow to the Class of ’88, your hundred fifteen million dollars. And to you, members of the Harvard class of 2013! Hello!
我的天啊!我在哈...佛!真的!尊敬的Faust校長、和我一起獲得榮譽學位的各位，Carl(注：Carl Muller哈佛校友會主席)，真是太棒了，謝謝你們!還有James Rothenberg, Stephanie Wilson和哈佛的教職工們，特別感謝我的朋友Henry Lewis Gates博士(注：美國知名黑人教授)!感謝所有的哈佛校友，特別要感謝88屆的畢業生，你們為哈佛捐出一億一千五百萬美元(注：哈佛歷史上最多的一次同一班次校友捐款)。所有2013屆的各位畢業生們!大家好!
I thank you for allowing me to be a part of the conclusion of this chapter of your lives and the commencement of your next chapter. To say that I’m honored doesn’t even begin to quantify the depth of gratitude that really accompanies an honorary doctorate from Harvard. Not too many little girls from rural Mississippi have made it all the way here to Cambridge. And I can tell you that I consider today as I sat on the stage this morning getting teary for you all and then teary for myself, I consider today a defining milestone in a very long and a blessed journey. My one hope today is that I can be a source of some inspiration. I’m going to address my remarks to anybody who has ever felt inferior or felt disadvantaged, felt screwed by life, this is a speech for the Quad.
感謝你們讓我成為你們人生這一篇章的結束與下一篇章開始的紐帶。對我而言，榮幸根本無法表達我內心深處對哈佛授予我榮譽學位的感激之情。不是每個來自密西西比州的農村小姑娘都能來到劍橋城的(注：哈佛位于波士頓郊劍橋城)。我可以告訴你們，當我今天早上坐在這個臺上，為你們和我自己流下眼淚的時候，我覺得今天是我漫長并被祝福的人生旅途中的一個里程碑。我希望今天我能為你們帶來一些啟發。我的演講是為那些曾在人生中感到自卑或覺得自己沒有優勢，甚至覺得生活一團糟的人，這就是我給哈佛帶來的演講。
Actually I was so honored I wanted to do something really special for you. I wanted to be able to have you look under your seats and there would be free master and doctor degrees but I see you got that covered already. I will be honest with you. I felt a lot of pressure over the past few weeks to come up with something that I could share with you that you hadn’t heard before because after all you all went to Harvard, I did not. But then I realized that you don’t have to necessarily go to Harvard to have a driven obsessive Type A personality. But it helps. And while I may not have graduated from here I admit that my personality is about as Harvard as they come. You know my television career began unexpectedly. As you heard this morning I was in the Miss Fire Prevention contest. That was when I was 16 years old in Nashville, Tennessee, and you had the requirement of having to have red hair in order to win up until the year that I entered. So they were doing the question and answer period because I knew I wasn’t going to win under the swimsuit competition. So during the question and answer period the question came “Why, young lady, what would you like to be when you grow up?” And by the time they got to me all the good answers were gone. So I had seen Barbara Walters on the “Today Show” that morning so I answered, “I would like to be a journalist. I would like to tell other people’s stories in a way that makes a difference in their lives and the world.” And as those words were coming out of my mouth I went whoa! This is pretty good! I would like to be a journalist. I want to make a difference. Well I was on television by the time I was 19 years old. And in 1986 I launched my own television show with a relentless determination to succeed at first. I was nervous about the competition and then I became my own competition raising the bar every year, pushing, pushing, pushing myself as hard as I knew. Sound familiar to anybody here? Eventually we did make it to the top and we stayed there for 25 years.
其實我真的很榮幸，因此我想為你們做些特別的事。我想要跟你們說，請看你們座位下面有免費碩士或博士學位證書，但是我發現你們已經有了。說實話，在過去的幾個星期我感到很大的壓力，因為我想要跟你們分享一些你們從沒聽到過的東西，畢竟你們都上了哈佛，而我沒有。但后來我意識到其實并不是一定要上哈佛才能有一個驅動性強迫型的A型人格，當然上了哈佛還是有幫助的。雖然我沒有從哈佛畢業，但我認為我的性格和哈佛的畢業生是一樣。大家都知道，我的電視事業生涯開始的出乎意料。正如你們早上聽到的，我當時在參加“防火小姐”比賽。那年我16歲(注：奧普拉出生于1954年，今年59歲)，在田納西州的納什維爾。在我參加比賽那年之前，想贏的話你必須得是紅頭發女孩。在進行問答環節時，因為我知道我在泳裝比賽中不會贏，所以當問答環節問道：“年輕的女士，你長大后想做什么?為什么?”等輪到我回答的時候，好答案都被之前的參賽者說完了。因為那天早上我正好在“今日秀”中看到了芭芭拉·懷特女士，所以我說：“我想成為一名新聞工作者，我想成為為人民帶來一些在某種程度上能改變人民生活和改變世界的故事。”當我說出這些話時，我覺得：“哇!還挺不錯的!我想做個記者，我要做出一番事業。”后來，19歲時我上了電視。在1986年，我推出了我自己的電視節目，一開始就下定決心要成功。我以前對比賽很緊張，后來我和自己競爭，每年設立一個更高的目標，一步一步地推到極限。對大家來說聽著挺熟悉吧?最終，我們成功達到巔峰，并在那里待了25年。
The “Oprah Winfrey Show” was number one in our time slot for 21 years and I have to tell you I became pretty comfortable with that level of success. But a few years ago I decided, as you will at some point, that it was time to recalculate, find new territory, break new ground. So I ended the show and launched OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network. The initials just worked out for me. So one year later after launching OWN, nearly every media outlet had proclaimed that my new venture was a flop. Not just a flop, but a big bold flop they call it. I can still remember the day I opened up USA Todayand read the headline “Oprah, not quite standing on her OWN.” I mean really, USA Today? Now that’s the nice newspaper! It really was this time last year the worst period in my professional life. I was stressed and I was frustrated and quite frankly I was actually I was embarrassed. It was right around that time that President Faust called and asked me to speak here and I thought you want me to speak to Harvard graduates? What could I possibly say to Harvard graduates, some of the most successful graduates in the world in the very moment when I had stopped succeeding? So I got off the phone with President Faust and I went to the shower. It was either that or a bag of Oreos. So I chose the shower. And I was in the shower a long time and as I was in the shower the words of an old hymn came to me. You may not know it. It’s “By and by, when the morning comes.” And I started thinking about when the morning might come because at the time I thought I was stuck in a hole. And the words came to me “Trouble don’t last always” from that hymn, “this too shall pass.” And I thought as I got out of the shower I am going to turn this thing around and I will be better for it. And when I do, I’m going to go to Harvard and I’m going to speak the truth of it! So I’m here today to tell you I have turned that network around!
“奧普拉秀”在同一時間段的電視節目中連續21年排名第一，我必須說我對于這個成功非常的滿足。但是幾年前，我覺得，在人生的某一時刻，你必須重新來過，找到新的領域，實現新的突破。所以我離開了“奧普拉秀”，以我的名字命名推出了我自己的電視網絡“奧普拉·溫福瑞電視網”，縮寫正好是“OWN(自己的)”。在奧普拉·溫福瑞電視網推出一年后，幾乎所有的媒體都認為我的新項目是失敗的。不僅僅是失敗，他們稱之為一個大寫的失敗。我還記得有一天我打開《今日美國報》時看到頭條新聞說“ 奧普拉搞不定‘自己的’電視網”。不是吧，今日美國報啊?真是份好報紙....這正是去年我職業生涯最低谷的時刻。我壓力超大近乎崩潰，老實說，我感到羞愧。就在那個時候，Faust校長打電話邀請我到哈佛做畢業演講。我心想：“你讓我給哈佛的畢業生演講?我能跟這些世界上最成功的畢業生說什么?而我已經不再成功。”我掛了Faust校長的電話后去洗了個澡。要么去吃奧利奧要么去洗澡，我選擇了洗澡。那個澡我洗了很長時間，在洗澡的時候我突然想到某首古老贊美詩中的一句話，你可能沒聽過“終于，清晨來臨...”，之后我就想，我的黎明也許要來了。因為那時我覺得我被困在一個洞里了。我又想到那首古老贊美詩中的一句話：“困難只是暫時的，都會過去...”當我走出浴室時，我想：我遇到的麻煩同樣會有結束的一天，我會將這一頁翻過去，我會好起來的，等我做到了，我就去哈佛，把這個真實的故事告訴大家!今天我來了 并且想告訴你們我已經把“奧普拉·溫福瑞電視網”帶上正軌了。
And it was all because I wanted to do it by the time I got to speak to you all so thank you so much. You don’t know what motivation you were for me, thank you. I’m even prouder to share a fundamental truth that you might not have learned even as graduates of Harvard unless you studied the ancient Greek hero with Professor Nagy. Professor Nagy as we were coming in this morning said, “Please Ms. Winfrey, walk decisively.”
這一切都是因為我想在來哈佛之前把事情做好，所以非常感謝你們!你們不知道你們給了我多大的動力，謝謝!我甚至能更驕傲地來和各位分享一個基本的真理。作為哈佛的畢業生你也未必知道，除非你上過Nagy教授的課程知道古希臘英雄人物。在今天早上來的路上，Nagy教授說：“溫福瑞女士，請堅決地向前走。”
I shall walk decisively.我應該堅決地向前走。
This is what I want to share. It doesn’t matter how far you might rise. At some point you are bound to stumble because if you’re constantly doing what we do, raising the bar. If you’re constantly pushing yourself higher, higher the law of averages not to mention the Myth of Icarus predicts that you will at some point fall. And when you do I want you to know this, remember this: there is no such thing as failure. Failure is just life trying to move us in another direction. Now when you’re down there in the hole, it looks like failure. So this past year I had to spoon feed those words to myself. And when you’re down in the hole, when that moment comes, it’s really okay to feel bad for a little while. Give yourself time to mourn what you think you may have lost but then here’s the key, learn from every mistake because every experience, encounter, and particularly your mistakes are there to teach you and force you into being more who you are. And then figure out what is the next right move. And the key to life is to develop an internal moral, emotional G.P.S. that can tell you which way to go. Because now and forever more when you Google yourself your search results will read “Harvard, 2013″. And in a very competitive world that really is a calling card because I can tell you as one who employs a lot of people when I see “Harvard” I sit up a little straighter and say, “Where is he or she? Bring them in.” It’s an impressive calling card that can lead to even more impressive bullets in the years ahead: lawyer, senator, C.E.O., scientist, physicist, winners of Nobel and Pulitzer Prizes or late night talk show host. But the challenge of life I have found is to build a résumé that doesn’t simply tell a story about what you want to be but it’s a story about who you want to be. It’s a résumé that doesn’t just tell a story about what you want to accomplish but why. A story that’s not just a collection of titles and positions but a story that’s really about your purpose. Because when you inevitably stumble and find yourself stuck in a hole that is the story that will get you out. What is your true calling? What is your dharma? What is your purpose? For me that discovery came in 1994 when I interviewed a little girl who had decided to collect pocket change in order to help other people in need. She raised a thousand dollars all by herself and I thought, well if that little 9-year-old girl with a bucket and big heart could do that, I wonder what I could do? So I asked for our viewers to take up their own change collection and in one month, just from pennies and nickels and dimes, we raised more than three million dollars that we used to send one student from every state in the United States to college. That was the beginning of the Angel Network.
這就是我想分享的。無論你已經達到怎樣的成就，在某個節點，你會發現你會跌倒，因為如果你一直不斷的在做我們每個人做的事：不斷設定更高的目標。如果你一直不斷把你自己推向更高的目標，你將在某一點上落下，更不必說伊卡洛斯能預測你會跌倒的神話。當你真的跌倒時我想讓你知道，并請記�。�“世間并不存在失敗，那不過是生活想讓我們換個方向走走罷了，現在當你在人生谷底，那看起來像是失敗。”在過去的一年里，這些話支撐著我自己。當你到了人生谷底，到那時候，你可以難過一段時間，給自己時間去哀悼你認為你可能失去的一切，但關鍵在于：從每個失敗和遭遇中學習 特別是你的每個錯誤，都會教并迫使你成為真正的自己，然后想想接下來怎么做。生活的重點在于建立內在道德、情感的定位系統，它能為你指路，因為現在或將來當你在谷歌上搜索你自己，結果會是“哈佛2013畢業生”。在這個競爭激烈的世界，那的確是塊敲門磚。我作為一個雇傭過很多人的人，可以說當我聽到哈佛的畢業生，我都會坐直一點，然后說“他/她在哪，帶來見我”。這是一個令人印象深刻的敲門磚，在未來的日子里那的確是顆有力的子彈：成為律師、議員、老板、科學家、物理學家，諾貝爾獎普利策獎獲得者或者晚間脫口秀主持人。然而來自生活的挑戰并不是做個履歷簡單地告訴大家你想做什么，而是你想成為什么樣的人。這份履歷不只是告訴大家你完成了什么，而是你為什么做這些?這份履歷不僅僅是一個頭銜和職位的羅列，而是告訴大家你究竟想做什么?因為當你不可避免地跌倒或陷入困境時，它可以幫你走出困境，人生真正的意義是什么?你的人生哲學是什么?你的目標是什么?對我來說，我是在1994年采訪了一位決定攢零花錢來幫助他人的小女孩，她籌集了一千美金。我想：“嗯，如果一個9歲的小姑娘，用一個筐和熱忱的心就能做到，我能做到什么?”所以我請我們的觀眾拿出自己的零錢，在一個月內我從一分一毫籌集超過300萬美金，我們用這筆錢從每個州選出一個學生上大學。這就是“天使網絡”的開始。
And so what I did was I simply asked our viewers, “Do what you can wherever you are, from wherever you sit in life. Give me your time or your talent your money if you have it.” And they did. Extend yourself in kindness to other human beings wherever you can. And together we built 55 schools in 12 different countries and restored nearly 300 homes that were devastated by hurricanes Rita and Katrina. So the Angel Network — I have been on the air for a long time — but it was the Angel Network that actually focused my internal G.P.S. It helped me to decide that I wasn’t going to just be on TV every day but that the goal of my shows, my interviews, my business, my philanthropy all of it, whatever ventures I might pursue would be to make clear that what unites us is ultimately far more redeeming and compelling than anything that separates me. Because what had become clear to me, and I want you to know, it isn’t always clear in the beginning because as I said I had been on television since I was 19 years old. But around ’94 I got really clear. So don’t expect the clarity to come all at once, to know your purpose right away, but what became clear to me was that I was here on Earth to use television and not be used by it; to use television to illuminate the transcendent power of our better angels. So this Angel Network, it didn’t just change the lives of those who were helped, but the lives of those who also did the helping. It reminded us that no matter who we are or what we look like or what we may believe, it is both possible and more importantly it becomes powerful to come together in common purpose and common effort. I saw something on the “Bill Moore Show” recently that so reminded me of this point. It was an interview with David and Francine Wheeler. They lost their 7-year-old son, Ben, in the Sandy Hook tragedy. And even though gun safety legislation to strengthen background checks had just been voted down in Congress at the time that they were doing this interview they talked about how they refused to be discouraged. Francine said this, she said, “Our hearts are broken but our spirits are not. I’m going to tell them what it’s like to find a conversation about change that is love, and I’m going to do that without fighting them.” And then her husband David added this, “You simply cannot demonize or vilify someone who doesn’t agree with you, because the minute you do that, your discussion is over. And we cannot do that any longer. The problem is too enormous. There has to be some way that this darkness can be banished with light.” In our political system and in the media we often see the reflection of a country that is polarized, that is paralyzed and is self-interested. And yet, I know you know the truth. We all know that we are better than the cynicism and the pessimism that is regurgitated throughout Washington and the 24-hour cable news cycle. Not my channel, by the way. We understand that the vast majority of people in this country believe in stronger background checks because they realize that we can uphold the Second Amendment and also reduce the violence that is robbing us of our children. They don’t have to be incompatible.
其實我做的只是簡單的請求我們的觀眾：“無論你在哪里處于人生的哪個階段，如果可以，請拿出你的時間、天賦以及金錢，做你力所能及的事。”他們這樣做了。無論你在哪里，將你的仁慈帶給他人。眾人拾柴火焰高，我們一起在12個國家建了55所學校，重建了近300個被麗塔和卡特里娜颶風摧毀的家園。所以 “天使網絡”聚集了我內在的定位系統。它能幫助我知道，我不是僅僅每天在電視上出現，還有我的采訪目標，我的生意，我的慈善事業，所有的一切。無論我追求怎樣的事業，我更清楚把我們凝聚在一起的力量比分離我們的力量更令人滿足和不可抗拒。但我想讓你們知道，任何事情的一開始對于我們未必明朗，正如我所說我 19歲就開始上電視，然而到了94年我才漸漸清楚，所以不要期待一下子就想清楚、并馬上明白自己的使命。對我來說，我最終清楚，我要利用電視而不是被電視利用，利用電視來照亮我們內在天使的一面。這個“天使網絡”，它不只是改變那些我們幫助過的人們的生活，同時也改變那些提供幫助的人們的生活。它提醒我們，無論是誰，看上去如何，或者我們相信什么，更重要的是它成為了我們為共同目標走到一起的驅動力。我最近在“比利摩爾秀”上看到一些東西再次提醒了我。那是一個采訪戴維和弗朗辛·惠勒的節目，他們在Sandy Hook慘案中痛失他們7歲幼子Ben。盡管在此次訪談時國會已經否決了加強背景調查的槍支安全立法，他們談到他們拒絕被國會的否決所打擊。弗朗辛說： “我們的心都碎了，但我們的精神沒有垮，我想告訴他們關于變故的對話是怎樣的感覺，那感覺就是愛。我將會接受他而不是抵觸。”然后她的丈夫戴維繼續說： “你不能詆毀或妖魔化那些持有異見的人，因為如果你這樣做的那一刻，就不再有下文，我不能再那樣做了，問題已經很嚴重了，總會有方法將光明驅逐黑暗。”在我們的政治體系和媒體環境下，我們經�？吹綄@個國家的反思，這個兩級分化，近乎癱瘓、自我利益的國家。然而，我知道你們明白真相。我們都知道我們比電視上新聞媒體24小時滾動從華盛頓傳來的那些憤世嫉俗和悲觀主義更好。順便說一句，那不是我的電視頻道。我們理解，在這個國家絕大多數人相信并支持背景調查，因為他們明白我們可以支持憲法第二次修正案，同時減少殘殺我們孩子的暴力。而這兩者并不必水火不相容。
And we understand that most Americans believe in a clear path to citizenship for the 12,000,000 undocumented immigrants who reside in this country because it’s possible to both enforce our laws and at the same time embrace the words on the Statue of Liberty that have welcomed generations of huddled masses to our shores. We can do both.
我們知道大多數美國人相信讓1200萬沒有合法身份的移民居住在這個國家成為公民會有一條清晰的路徑。因為在捍衛法律的同時，我們還要擁抱自由女神像上的辭藻，而這些話語歡迎了一代代人到達美國的海岸。我們都能做得到 。
And we understand. I know you do because you went to Harvard. There are people from both parties, and no party, [who] believe that indigent mothers and families should have access to healthy food and a roof over their heads and a strong public education because here in the richest nation on Earth, we can afford a basic level of security and opportunity. So the question is, what are we going to do about it? Really, what are you going to do about it? Maybe you agree with these beliefs. Maybe you don’t. Maybe you care about these issues and maybe there are other challenges that you, Class of 2013, are passionate about. Maybe you want to make a difference by serving in government. Maybe you want to launch your own television show. Or maybe you simply want to collect some change. Your parents would appreciate that about now. The point is your generation is charged with this task of breaking through what the body politic has thus far made impervious to change. Each of you has been blessed with this enormous opportunity of attending this prestigious school. You now have a chance to better your life, the lives of your neighbors and also the life of our country. When you do that let me tell you what I know for sure. That’s when your story gets really good. Maya Angelou always says, “When you learn, teach. When you get, give. That my friends is what gives your story purpose and meaning.” So you all have the power in your own way to develop your own Angel Network and in doing so, your class will be armed with more tools of influence and empowerment than any other generation in history. I did it in an analog world. I was blessed with a platform that at its height reached nearly 20,000,000 viewers a day. Now here in a world of Twitter and Facebook and YouTube and Tumbler, you can reach billions in just seconds. You’re the generation that rejected predictions about your detachment and your disengagement by showing up to vote in record numbers in 2008. And when the pundits said, they said they talked about you, they said you’d be too disappointed, you’d be too dejected to repeat that same kind of turnout in 2012 election and you proved them wrong by showing up in even greater numbers. That’s who you are.
正如我們了解的那樣，你們能理解，因為你們上了哈佛。來自兩黨派和無黨派的人同樣堅信：貧困的母親和家庭都理應獲得使其健康的食物、住所以及強有力的教育支持。因為我們現在正生活在全世界最為富有的國家中，我們有能力去提供安全與機遇最基礎的社會保障。于是問題便隨之而來：我們將對此有何打算呢?說真的，我們將要對此做些什么呢?也許你是贊同這些理念的，也有可能你會持反對意見�；蛟S你作為2013屆哈佛的畢業生，對這些問題很上心，抑或是你把關注點放在了其他極具挑戰性的事情上。你可能想要通過行政工作改變我們的社會，你可能想要做自己的電視節目，你也可能僅僅是想收集一些零錢，你的父母會贊揚你現在的所作所為。關鍵是你們這一代人肩負著突破國家積年累月無法突破的重重圍嶂的使命。你們每一位上了哈佛這所名校的人都擁有千萬機會、無盡不可。現在你有機會來改善你的生活，改變你周圍人的'生活，以及整個國家的命運。當你這樣做的時候，我可以堅定地告訴你：這個時候，有關你的故事已然盡善盡美。Maya Angelou常常說：“有所學時你要去施教，有所得時你便去給予。我親愛的朋友，那將賦予你的故事以目的與意義。”你們都有能力用自己的方式去打造屬于你們自己的“天使網絡”，與此同時你會擁有史無前例的影響力與權力的工具。我用虛擬網絡的方式做到這一點，我的網絡電視在鼎盛時期的日瀏覽量能夠達到 2000萬，在這個Twitter、Facebook、YouTube與Tumbler盛行的時代，你在片刻之間便可獲得幾十億的瀏覽量。就是你們這一代，在其他人都以為你們會對政治漠不關心的時候，你們用你們的一腔熱情，徹底顛覆了世人的想象，你們在2008年的時候，參與總統大選投票的人數創造新高。當那些“博學多識”的人們猜測道，你們必然已經失望透頂，你們在2012年總統大選中由于太沮喪而不可能重復2008年的輝煌時，你們用甚至比 2008年更高的參與記錄，再一次讓世人刮目相看。這就是你們這一代.
This generation, your generation I know, has developed a finely honed radar for B.S. Can you say “B.S.” at Harvard? The spin and phoniness and artificial nastiness that saturates so much of our national debate. I know you all understand better than most that real progress requires authentic — an authentic way of being, honesty, and above all empathy. I have to say that the single most important lesson I learned in 25 years talking every single day to people, was that there is a common denominator in our human experience. Most of us, I tell you we don’t want to be divided. What we want, the common denominator that I found in every single interview, is we want to be validated. We want to be understood. I have done over 35,000 interviews in my career and as soon as that camera shuts off everyone always turns to me and inevitably in their own way asks this question “Was that okay?” I heard it from President Bush, I heard it from President Obama. I’ve heard it from heroes and from housewives. I’ve heard it from victims and perpetrators of crimes. I even heard it from Beyonce and all of her Beyonceness. She finishes performing, hands me the microphone and says, “Was that okay?” Friends and family, yours, enemies, strangers in every argument in every encounter, every exchange I will tell you, they all want to know one thing: was that okay? Did you hear me? Do you see me? Did what I say mean anything to you? And even though this is a college where Facebook was born my hope is that you would try to go out and have more face-to-face conversations with people you may disagree with.
我所了解的你們這一代對一些胡言亂語有極為敏銳的追求，你能在哈佛“胡說”嗎?關于我們的國家，虛偽幻象鋪張在你眼前，紛擾流言充斥在你耳畔。我深知你們比眾人更加了解，一個國家真正的進步是要求建立在真實而坦然的基礎之上的，還有更為重要的——一種感同身受的心理。我想我不得不坦言，在我25年的訪談歷程中，我所學到的最重要的，我們的人生有一個共同的公分母。我可以告訴你的是，我們中的大多數人，并不愿意被分割。我在每次訪談中發現我們的“公分母”，發現我們想要的，是我們想要被證實、被認可。我們渴望被理解。我的職業生涯中容納了大約35000個訪談，每每在攝像機的鏡頭關閉后，幾乎所有人都不可避免地轉向我，用他們各自的方式，詢問著同一個問題“像這樣可以嗎?”布什總統這樣問，奧巴馬總統這樣問，我在英雄的口中聽到過這個疑問，同樣也在家庭主婦的口中聽說過這句話。我聽受害者這樣問，也聽過那些有罪行的人們這樣問，我甚至聽過碧昂斯和她的粉絲們這樣問。碧昂斯結束表演之后，把麥克風遞到我手中，問道：“像我這樣可以嗎?”朋友或家人、支持者或敵人、每次爭論或邂逅的陌生人，有關每一次交流，我都可以篤定地告訴你們，他們都想知道一件事兒 ——“像這樣可以嗎?你聽得見我嗎?你看的見我嗎?我之所言是否對你有些許意義?”盡管這里是Facebook誕生的大學，我還是希望你們能夠脫離虛擬，盡可能多的和那些與你意見相左的人進行一些面對面的交流。
That you’ll have the courage to look them in the eye and hear their point of view and help make sure that the speed and distance and anonymity of our world doesn’t cause us to lose our ability to stand in somebody else’s shoes and recognize all that we share as a people. This is imperative, for you as an individual, and for our success as a nation. “There has to be some way that this darkness can be banished with light,” says the man whose little boy was massacred on just an ordinary Friday in December. So whether you call it soul or spirit or higher self, intelligence, there is I know this, there is a light inside each of you, all of us, that illuminates your very human beingness if you let it. And as a young girl from rural Mississippi I learned long ago that being myself was much easier than pretending to be Barbara Walters. Although when I first started because I had Barbara in my head I would try to sit like Barbara, talk like Barbara, move like Barbara and then one night I was on the news reading the news and I called Canada “Can-a-da,” and that was the end of me being Barbara. I cracked myself up on TV. Couldn’t start laughing and my real personality came through and I figured out, oh gee, I can be a much better Oprah than I could be a pretend Barbara.
你們要有勇氣去直視他們的雙眼，去聆聽他們的觀點，并且確保這世界的高速、距離、匿名不會讓我們失去站在他人的立場上去認可那些我們作為人類共同享受東西的能力。這是你作為一個個體或是為了整個國家的成功必須要做到的。“一定存在某種方法可以使光明驅逐黑暗。”一位孩子在12月一個普通的星期五被殺害的父親如是說道。所以無論你愿意稱她為靈魂、精神、抑或是更高尚的自我，天資什么的，我知道，我們內心深處的星星之火總能夠點燃我們——只要你愿意讓自己被點亮。作為一個來自密西西比州農村的年輕姑娘，我早就知道，成為自己比假裝成芭芭拉更容易�？v使我對自己的堅守是因為我想要成為芭芭拉而起，我希望的的坐姿像芭芭拉、談吐像芭芭拉，舉止像芭芭拉。直到有一天晚上，我在電視上讀新聞的時候，我把“Canada”讀成“Can-a-da”，這就成了我試圖變成芭芭拉的終止。我在電視上把自己層層剖析，我笑個不停。隨后真正的自我脫穎而出，我突然就想通了“哦，哎呀，與其成為芭芭拉我能夠成為一個更出色的奧普拉。”
I know that you all might have a little anxiety now and hesitation about leaving the comfort of college and putting those Harvard credentials to the test. But no matter what challenges or setbacks or disappointments you may encounter along the way, you will find true success and happiness if you have only one goal, there really is only one, and that is this: to fulfill the highest most truthful expression of yourself as a human being. You want to max out your humanity by using your energy to lift yourself up, your family and the people around you. Theologian Howard Thurman said it best. He said, “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” The world needs … People like Michael Stolzenberg from Fort Lauderdale. When Michael was just 8 years old Michael nearly died from a bacterial infection that cost him both of his hands and both of his feet. And in an instant, this vibrant little boy became a quadruple amputee and his life was changed forever. But in losing who he once was Michael discovered who he wanted to be. He refused to sit in that wheelchair all day and feel sorry for himself so with prosthetics he learned to walk and run and play again. He joined his middle school lacrosse team and last month when he learned that so many victims of the Boston Marathon bombing would become new amputees, Michael decided to banish that darkness with light. Michael and his brother, Harris, created Mikeysrun.com to raise $1 million for other amputees — by the time Harris runs the 2014 Boston Marathon. More than 1,000 miles away from here these two young brothers are bringing people together to support this Boston community the way their community came together to support Michael. And when this 13-year-old man was asked about his fellow amputees he said this, “First they will be sad. They’re losing something they will never get back and that’s scary. I was scared. But they’ll be okay. They just don’t know that yet.” We might not always know it. We might not always see it, or hear it on the news or even feel it in our daily lives, but I have faith that no matter what, Class of 2013, you will be okay and you will make sure our country is okay. I have faith because of that 9-year-old girl who went out and collected the change. I have faith because of David and Francine Wheeler, I have faith because of Michael and Harris Stolzenberg, and I have faith because of you, the network of angels sitting here today. One of them Khadijah Williams, who came to Harvard four years ago. Khadijah had attended 12 schools in 12 years, living out of garbage bags amongst pimps and prostitutes and drug dealers; homeless, going in to department stores, Wal-Mart in the morning to bathe herself so that she wouldn’t smell in front of her classmates, and today she graduates as a member of the Harvard Class of 2013.
我非常理解在你們即將離開大學象牙塔一樣舒服單純的生活，把你們在哈佛里積累的經驗拿出去實踐的時候，或多或少會有些焦慮與猶豫不決，但是無論你一路上經歷到怎樣的挑戰、挫折、險釁、絕望，如果你自始至終都只有一個目標，真的只有一個目標，你就會找到真正的成功和幸福。這個目標就是：作為一個人，你要滿足你最真摯、最坦誠的自我表達，奮力拓展自己的人生領域，去追逐生命的最大化，去改變你周圍你親友，讓他們的人生也因你而不同。神學家Howard Thurman將這件事兒闡釋的淋漓盡致，他說：“不要追問這世界需要什么樣的人，捫心自問是什么支持著你活到現在，然后你奔赴你的信仰、因為這世界需要的就是人們充滿活力地活在世上，”這是世界需要的——正如來自勞德代爾堡的邁克爾·斯托爾岑貝格。邁克爾年僅8歲時險些喪命于細菌感染，雖然他活了下來，但卻永遠失去了雙手雙腳。須臾之間，原本一個完整的，充滿活力的男孩兒失去四肢，成為一個殘疾人，他的命運軌跡在這一劫難之后被硬生生地扭轉。但在失去一切之后，他聽懂了他的心，他明白了自己真正想成為誰，他拒絕整日坐在輪椅中上沮喪、難過，而是選擇了在假肢的扶持下繼續行走、奔跑、玩耍、他甚至加入了他高中的曲棍球隊。上個月當他得知在波士頓馬拉松的轟炸中，有一些不幸的人同樣被截肢時，他決心用同樣的“燈光”幫助他們驅逐黑暗，于是邁克爾和他的兄弟哈里斯創辦了mikeysrun.com為其他被截肢的人募捐。他希望集資100萬美元，等到2014年哈里斯從1000多英里外跑波士頓馬立松時，這兩位年輕的兄弟將把人們聚集在一起來支持整個波士頓社區，如同他們的社區支持邁克爾那樣。當這個十三歲的孩子第一次被問及一些關于同樣被截肢的人的事時，他說：“他們一定會很傷心，因為他們失去了生命中重且永不復返的東西，那是很可怕的一件事，但是他們一定會振作起來的，他們只是現在還沒察覺罷了。”我們可能對這種事所知甚少，這些事情并不常見，在電視里也鮮聽聞，我們的日常生活中也不能有所獲知。但是我對你們有信心，不管發生什么，2013屆的畢業生們，請相信，柳暗花明又一村，你們也要記得去確保我們的國家的安康。我有信心，因為那個9歲小女孩會出去收集零錢;我有信心，因為David和 Wheeler;我有信心，因為邁克爾和哈里斯。我有信心是你們讓我充滿信心，因為你，因為“天使網絡”現在就在這里。這其中就有四年前來到哈佛的 Khadijah Williams。Khadijah在過去的12年中上了12個不同的學校，身處在皮條客、妓女、毒品販子和流浪兒之間的垃圾袋子里，她為了不讓同學們聞到他身上的異味，他每天清晨會去百貨大樓、沃爾瑪超市洗澡，今天他成為2013屆哈佛畢業生的一員。
From time to time you may stumble, fall, you will for sure, count on this, no doubt, you will have questions and you will have doubts about your path. But I know this, if you’re willing to listen to, be guided by, that still small voice that is the G.P.S. within yourself, to find out what makes you come alive, you will be more than okay. You will be happy, you will be successful, and you will make a difference in the world. Congratulations Class of 2013. Congratulations to your family and friends. Good luck, and thank you for listening.
不時地，你可能會失足跌倒，我們之中誰也難以幸免。對你的未來之路你會彷徨、會憂慮、會無所適從，但是我知道：只要你肯聽聽你內心深處的聲音 ，你體內隱藏的GPS定位系統，能讓你回歸你人生的本真，你可能會因此活的更加奪目。你一定會快樂，一定會成功。你一定可以讓世界因你而不同。祝賀你們，2012屆哈佛的畢業生們。把祝賀同樣送給你們的親朋好友們。祝你們的命運永遠備受眷顧，同時感謝你們的聆聽。
Was that okay?像這樣可以嗎?
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