Youtube最受欢迎的毕业演讲：你并不特别

　　It’s an epidemic — and in its way, not even dear old Wellesley High is immune… one of the best of the 37,000 nationwide, Wellesley High School… where good is no longer good enough, where a B is the new C, and the midlevel curriculum is called Advanced College Placement.  And I hope you caught me when I said “one of the best。”  I said “one of the best” so we can feel better about ourselves, so we can bask in a little easy distinction, however vague and unverifiable, and count ourselves among the elite, whoever they might be, and enjoy a perceived leg up on the perceived competition.  But the phrase defies logic.  By definition there can be only one best.  You’re it or you’re not。

　　这是一种传染病，以它传染的程度来说，连历史悠久的韦斯利高中都无法幸免。全国37000所高中最好的之一－韦斯利高中。在这里，“良好”已算不上够好；B被视为新的C；中等程度的课程被称为大学先修课程。我希望你们注意到我刚刚所说的“最好的之一”；我说“最好的之一”，是因为这样我们才能对自己感觉良好；才能沉浸在这微不足道的差异中，无论这多么地含糊不清、无法验证；才能将自己视为菁英之一，无论菁英可能是谁；并享受在自我认定的竞争中自以为是的领先。但这句话并不合逻辑。以定义来说，最好的只有一个；是就是，不是就不是。

　　If you’ve learned anything in your years here I hope it’s that education should be for, rather than material advantage, the exhilaration of learning.  You’ve learned, too, I hope, as Sophocles assured us, that wisdom is the chief element of happiness.  (Second is ice cream…  just an fyi)  I also hope you’ve learned enough to recognize how little you know… how little you know now… at the moment… for today is just the beginning.  It’s where you go from here that matters。

　　如果你在高中岁月里有学到任何东西，我希望是教育的本质－乐在学习，而不是物质上的优势。我也希望你们学习

　　到，如Sophocles(古希腊悲剧作家)所说的，智能是快乐的首要元素；第二个是冰淇淋－仅供参考。我也希望你所学的足以使你体认到自己的不足，了解

　　自己目前所知的是多么地少。因为今天只是一个开始，重要的是今后的学习。

　　As you commence, then, and before you scatter to the winds, I urge you to do whatever you do for no reason other than you love it and believe in its importance.  Don’t bother with work you don’t believe in any more than you would a spouse you’re not crazy about, lest you too find yourself on the wrong side of a Baltimore Orioles comparison.  Resist the easy comforts of complacency, the specious glitter of materialism, the narcotic paralysis of self-satisfaction.  Be worthy of your advantages.  And read… read all the time… read as a matter of principle, as a matter of self-respect.  Read as a nourishing staple of life.  Develop and protect a moral sensibility and demonstrate the character to apply it.  Dream big.  Work hard.  Think for yourself.  Love everything you love, everyone you love, with all your might.  And do so, please, with a sense of urgency, for every tick of the clock subtracts from fewer and fewer; and as surely as there are commencements there are cessations, and you’ll be in no condition to enjoy the ceremony attendant to that eventuality no matter how delightful the afternoon。

　　当你们毕业后，准备大展鸿图之前，我建议你们，不管做任何事，都应基于热爱和相信它的重要性。别费心理会你根本不相信的事，就像你不会跟一位你并未疯狂爱上的伴侣结婚；也避免让自己在巴尔的摩金莺队的比赛中站错边。别志得意满；别被物质主义华而不实的光芒蒙蔽；

　　别被自我满足麻痹；别愧对自己的优势。并阅读…养成阅读习惯；阅读跟原则和自重有关，把阅读当成生活中的精神食粮。培养及保持道德感，并展现道德品格；拥有远大梦想，并努力实现；进行独立思考；全心全意地爱你所爱的一切人事物。请一定要把握时间，及时行动，因为时间正一分一秒地流逝。

　　凡事有开始必有结束；无论你们这个下午过得多么愉快，这场典礼终究会结束。

　　The fulfilling life, the distinctive life, the relevant life, is an achievement, not something that will fall into your lap because you’re a nice person or mommy ordered it from the caterer.  You’ll note the founding fathers took pains to secure your inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness–quite an active verb, “pursuit”–which leaves, I should think, little time for lying around watching parrots rollerskate on Youtube。

　　充实的人生、与众不同的人生、有意义的人生是一项成就；这不是某种只因为你是好人就会从天而降，或妈妈能为你提供的东西。你会注意到，开国元勋们费尽心力地确保你不可剥夺的权力，包括生命、自由和对幸福的追求。“追求”－一个相当积极的动词；我想，懒懒地躺着观看Youtube上的鹦鹉怎么溜冰应该算不上。

　　The first President Roosevelt, the old rough rider, advocated the strenuous life.  Mr. Thoreau wanted to drive life into a corner, to live deep and suck out all the marrow.  The poet Mary Oliver tells us to row, row into the swirl and roil.  Locally, someone… I forget who… from time to time encourages young scholars to carpe the heck out of the diem.  The point is the same: get busy, have at it.  Don’t wait for inspiration or passion to find you.  Get up, get out, explore, find it yourself, and grab hold with both hands。

　　老罗斯福总统－一位老练的骑士，提倡艰苦的生活；梭罗先生尽力简化生活，希望活得深刻并吸取生命的精髓；诗人

　　Mary Oliver告诉我们向前划，划进漩涡和湍流中；本校有个人－我忘了是谁，不时鼓励年轻学子们把握当下。这些话的重点都相同：动起来，付诸行动；别枯等灵

　　感或热情来找你。站起来、走出门外、进行探索、靠自己的力量寻找，并好好把握。

　　Now, before you dash off and get your YOLO tattoo, let me point out the illogic of that trendy little expression–because you can and should live not merely once, but every day of your life.  Rather than You Only Live Once, it should be You Live Only Once… but because YLOO doesn’t have the same ring, we shrug and decide it doesn’t matter. None of this day-seizing, though, this YLOOing, should be interpreted as license for self-indulgence.  Like accolades ought to be, the fulfilled life is a consequence, a gratifying byproduct.  It’s what happens when you’re thinking about more important things。

　　现在，在你们匆匆离开，去纹上YOLO刺青之前，请容我指出这个流行语的不合逻辑处。因为你不可能也不应只活一次，而是得好好地度过每一天。不是你只能活一次(YOLO)，而是人生不能重来(YLOO)，但因为YLOO的发音不太一样，所以我们耸耸肩，决定这无关紧要。把握当下－YLOOing－不应被曲解为自我放纵的许可。就像被称赞一样，充实的生活是结果；一个令人愉快的副产品。这就是当你思考更重要的事物时会发生的结果。

　　Climb the mountain not to plant your flag, but to embrace the challenge, enjoy the air and behold the view.  Climb it so you can see the world, not so the world can see you.  Go to Paris to be in Paris, not to cross it off your list and congratulate yourself for being worldly.  Exercise free will and creative, independent thought not for the satisfactions they will bring you, but for the good they will do others, the rest of the 6.8 billion–and those who will follow them.  And then you too will discover the great and curious truth of the human experience is that selflessness is the best thing you can do for yourself。

　　爬山不是为了插上旗帜，而是迎接挑战、享受新鲜空气、欣赏眼前的美景。爬山是为了看世界，而不是让世界看见你。去巴黎，就好好体验巴黎的一切；不是为了将它从你的清单上划去，然后庆祝自己又到过一个新国家。运用自由意志和创造力、进行独立思考，不是为了替自己带来满足感，而是为了替其他68亿人及后代子孙带来福祉。然后，你会发现人类体验到的伟大而奇妙的真理－无私是你能为自己所做最棒的事。

　　The sweetest joys of life, then, come only with the recognition that you’re not special。

　　Because everyone is。

　　要体会生命中最甜美的喜悦，只有当你体认到，你并不特别。因为每个人都是特别的。

　　翻译来源：www.myoops.org

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