名人英語勵志演講3篇
在找一些名人英語的勵志演講嗎?以下是小編為大家整理的關於名人英語勵志演講，給大家作為參考，歡迎閱讀!
名人英語勵志演講1：比爾蓋茨在哈佛大學畢業典禮上的演講
President Bok, former President Rudenstine, incoming President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, members of the faculty, parents, and especially, the graduates: I've been waiting more than 30 years to say this: “Dad, I always told you I’d come back and get my degree.”
尊敬的博克校長，前校長魯登斯坦，即將上任的佛斯特校長，哈佛集團和監察理事會的各位成員。各位老師，各位家長，各位同學：有句話我憋了30年，今天終於能一吐為快了：““爸 我沒騙你吧，文憑到手了!”
I want to thank Harvard for this timely honor. I’ll be changing my job next year … and it will be nice to finally have a college degree on my résumé.
我由衷地感謝哈佛這個時候給我這個榮譽。明年我要換工作***退休***。 我終於能在簡歷裡註明自己有大學學歷了。
I applaud the graduates today for taking a much more direct route to your degrees. For my part, I’m just happy that the Crimson has called me “Harvard’s most successful dropout.” I guess that makes me valedictorian of my own special class … I did the best of everyone who failed.
我要恭喜今年的畢業生們，因為你們畢業比我順利多了。其實我倒是很樂意克萊姆森把我喚作“哈佛大學最成功的輟學生”。這大概是我脫穎而出的法寶……我是輟學生中的領頭羊。
But I also want to be recognized as the guy who got Steve Ballmer to drop out of business school. I’m a bad influence. That’s why I was invited to speak at your graduation. If I had spoken at your orientation, fewer of you might be here today.
我還要檢討一下史蒂夫-鮑爾默也是受我蠱惑從商學院退學。我劣跡斑斑。這就是為什麼我會受邀參加畢業演講。如果是開學典禮，恐怕今天的人會少很多。
Harvard was just a phenomenal experience for me. Academic life was fascinating. I used to sit in on lots of classes I hadn’t even signed up for. And dorm life was terrific. I lived up at Radcliffe, in Currier House. There were always lots of people in my dorm room late at night discussing things, because everyone knew I didn’t worry about getting up in the morning. That’s how I came to be the leader of the antisocial group. We clung to each other as a way of validating our rejection of all those social people.
哈佛是我生命裡的一段非凡經歷。校園生活格外充實，我旁聽過很多沒有選過的課程。住宿的日子也很爽我當時住在拉德克利夫的柯里爾宿舍，總是很多人在我的寢室討論到深夜。 大家知道我屬於夜行動物。就這樣，我成為了這堆人的頭目。我們粘在一起，擺出拒絕社交的姿態。
Radcliffe was a great place to live. There were more women up there, and most of the guys were science-math types. That combination offered me the best odds, if you know what I mean. This is where I learned the sad lesson that improving your odds doesn’t guarantee success.
拉德克利夫是個好地方。那裡的女生比男生多，男生們大多都是科學怪人。所以我的機會來了，你懂的。可同時我也明白了一個道理——機會大也不能保證成功。
One of my biggest memories of Harvard came in January 1975, When I made a call from Currier House to a company in Albuquerque that had begun making the world’s first personal computers. I offered to sell them software.
1975年1月在哈佛打出的一通電話讓我畢生難忘。我打給位於阿爾伯克基的一個公司，那家公司當時著手製造世界上第一臺個人電腦。我說我想出售軟體給他們。
I worried that they would realize I was just a student in a dorm and hang up on me. Instead they said: “We’re not quite ready, come see us in a month,” which was a good thing, because we hadn’t written the software yet. From that moment, I worked day and night on this little extra credit project that marked the end of my college education and the beginning of a remarkable journey with Microsoft.
我擔心他們會因為我學生身份而掛掉電話。但他們只是說：“現在還沒有準備好 請一個月後再聯絡我們。”我長舒一口氣，壓根我們就沒開工。從那時起 我不分晝夜地趕工 它是我大學生活結束的標誌，也是微軟偉大旅程的開始。
What I remember above all about Harvard was being in the midst of so much energy and intelligence. It could be exhilarating, intimidating, sometimes even discouraging, but always challenging. It was an amazing privilege and though I left early, I was transformed by my years at Harvard, the friendships I made, and the ideas I worked on.
哈佛的獨特氛圍讓我充滿精力和智慧。這裡的日子可能振奮快樂、也可能令人退縮沮喪，但永遠充滿了挑戰，神奇的體驗!雖然我提前離開了這裡，但是這段經歷對我影響重大。
But taking a serious look back … I do have one big regret.
不過說心裡話……我確實有一點遺憾。
I left Harvard with no real awareness of the awful inequities in the world - the appalling disparities of health, and wealth, and opportunity that condemn millions of people to lives of despair.
我離開哈佛時，根本沒有意識到這個世界是多麼地不平等。健康、財富、機遇差異懸殊，數以百萬計的人生活在絕望之中。
I learned a lot here at Harvard about new ideas in economics and politics. I got great exposure to the advances being made in the sciences.
我在哈佛觸控著經濟政治中的新思想，探索科學技術的未知前沿。
But humanity’s greatest advances are not in its discoveries – but in how those discoveries are applied to reduce inequity. Whether through democracy, strong public education, quality health care, or broad economic opportunity – reducing inequity is the highest human achievement.
但是，人類的進步不在於這些新發現，而在於如何運用這些發現減少社會不公。不管是通過民主政策、健全的公共教育、高質量的醫療保健還是廣泛的商機，消除不平等始終是人類最大的目標。
I left campus knowing little about the millions of young people cheated out of educational opportunities here in this country. And I knew nothing about the millions of people living in unspeakable poverty and disease in developing countries. It took me decades to find out.
離開校園的時候，根本不知道在美國上百萬年輕人沒有接受教育的機會。也對發展中國家被貧困和病痛折磨的人們一無所知。我花了幾十年才明白這些事情。
You graduates came to Harvard at a different time. You know more about the world’s inequities than the classes that came before. In your years here, I hope you’ve had a chance to think about how – in this age of accelerating technology – we can finally take on these inequities, and we can solve them.
如今，在座的各位應該比我更瞭解世界上的這些不平等現象。在你們的求學之路上我希望你們已經思考過這個問題——如何在這個高速發展的時代解決不平等現象。
Imagine, just for the sake of discussion, that you had a few hours a week and a few dollars a month to donate to a cause and you wanted to spend that time and money where it would have the greatest impact in saving and improving lives. Where would you spend it?
試想一下如果你每週捐出幾個小時，幾塊錢，來參與一項能夠拯救生命和提高生活品質的專案，你會如何選擇?
For Melinda and for me, the challenge is the same: how can we do the most good for the greatest number with the resources we have.
我和妻子梅琳達就面臨著這樣一個問題：怎樣才能充分利用我們擁有的資源。
During our discussions on this question, Melinda and I read an article about the millions of children who were dying every year in poor countries from diseases that we had long ago made harmless in this country. Measles, malaria, pneumonia, hepatitis B, yellow fever. One disease I had never even heard of, rotavirus, was killing half a million kids each year- none of them in the United States.
舉棋不定時我們讀到一篇文章，文章裡說在貧困的國家裡，每年有數百萬，兒童死於於美國早已戰勝的疾病——麻疹、瘧疾、肺炎、乙肝、黃熱病，還有一種從未聽說的輪狀病毒每年會奪走五十萬兒童的生命，而在美國沒有一例死亡病例。
We were shocked. We had just assumed that if millions of children were dying and they could be saved, the world would make it a priority to discover and deliver the medicines to save them. But it did not. For under a dollar, there were interventions that could save lives that just weren’t being delivered.
當時我們就震驚了。我以為全世界會不遺餘力地拯救這些在死亡線上掙扎的兒童們，然而這些不值錢的救命藥卻沒有送到他們手中。
If you believe that every life has equal value, it’s revolting to learn that some lives are seen as worth saving and others are not. We said to ourselves: “This can’t be true. But if it is true, it deserves to be the priority of our giving.”
如果你堅信人生而平等，把生命分等級的做法簡直令人髮指。我們對自己說：“這絕不可能。但萬一這是真的，那麼這將成為我們慈善事業的首要任務。
So we began our work in the same way anyone here would begin it. We asked: “How could the world let these children die?”
於是我們開始行動了 我相信這也會是你們的選擇。我們疑惑：“這個世界怎麼可以眼睜睜看著這些孩子死去?”
The answer is simple, and harsh. The market did not reward saving the lives of these children, and governments did not subsidize it. So the children died because their mothers and their fathers had no power in the market and no voice in the system. But you and I have both. We can make market forces work better for the poor if we can develop a more creative capitalism.
答案簡單卻殘酷。市場經濟中，拯救兒童沒有利潤，政府也不會給予補貼。父母無財無權 孩子們就死了。我們不一樣，我們可以讓市場更好地為窮人服務，如果我們可以改進現有資本主義制度。
If we can stretch the reach of market forces so that more people can make a profit, or at least make a living, serving people who are suffering from the worst inequities. We also can press governments around the world to spend taxpayer money in ways that better reflect the values of the people who pay the taxes.
改善市場環境，讓更多的人賺到錢、維持生計，緩解苦難。給世界各地的政府施壓 讓他們把納稅人的錢花到最值得的地方。採取一些既滿足滿足窮人的需求，又能帶來商業利潤併為政治家帶來選票的措施。
If we can find approaches that meet the needs of the poor in ways that generate profits for business and votes for politicians, we will have found a sustainable way to reduce inequity in the world.This task is open-ended. It can never be finished. But a conscious effort to answer this challenge will change the world.
採取一些既滿足滿足窮人的需求，又能帶來商業利潤併為政治家帶來選票的措施，我們就摸索到了減少世界不平等的可持續發展道路。然而這項任務並沒有終點，我們也許無法徹底解決。但只要不懈努力，就可以改變世界。
I am optimistic that we can do this, but I talk to skeptics who claim there is no hope. They say: “Inequity has been with us since the beginning, and will be with us till the end – because people just … don’t … care.” I completely disagree.
我始終保持樂觀。但也聽到過消極的言論。他們認為：“這種不平等現象會伴隨我們一生，因為人們漠視這一切。”但我不苟同。
I believe we have more caring than we know what to do with. All of us here in this Yard, at one time or another, have seen human tragedies that broke our hearts, and yet we did nothing, not because we didn’t care, but because we didn’t know what to do. If we had known how to help, we would have acted.
雖然我們不知道該如何幫助他們，但我們絕對有這份心。我們都有過這樣的經歷，看到令人心碎的悲劇，卻沒有伸出援手。不是因為冷漠 而是我們不知道該怎麼做。如果我們知道如何去幫，就一定會採取行動。
The barrier to change is not too little caring; it is too much complexity. To turn caring into action, we need to see a problem, see a solution, and see the impact. But complexity blocks all three steps.
阻礙援助步伐的並非冷漠，而是世界太複雜。要把愛心轉變為行動，我們首先要發掘問題，然後尋找解決方案，並且監測效果。然而世界的複雜性阻礙著這些步驟的實施。
Even with the advent of the Internet and 24-hour news, it is still a complex enterprise to get people to truly see the problems. When an airplane crashes, officials immediately call a press conference. They promise to investigate, determine the cause, and prevent similar crashes in the future.
即使有了網際網路和24小時不間斷的新聞，人們仍然很難看到真正的問題。一架飛機發生墜毀事故，官員們會立刻召開新聞釋出會，承諾調查起因，以避免今後發生類似的事故。
But if the officials were brutally honest, they would say: “Of all the people in the world who died today from preventable causes, one half of one percent of them were on this plane. We’re determined to do everything possible to solve the problem that took the lives of the one half of one percent.” The bigger problem is not the plane crash, but the millions of preventable deaths.
但如果那些官員敢講真話，他們會說：“全世界每天會有好多人含恨而終，這起空難只是冰山一角。我們會不惜一切代價解決削平這一角冰山，此外的問題我們無力解決。” 可是與空難相比，那些奪走數百萬生命的問題則更為嚴重。
We don’t read much about these deaths. The media covers what’s new – and millions of people dying is nothing new. So it stays in the background, where it’s easier to ignore. But even when we do see it or read about it, it’s difficult to keep our eyes on the problem. It’s hard to look at suffering if the situation is so complex that we don’t know how to help. And so we look away.
事實上那些人的死輕如鴻毛，司空見慣，連媒體都不屑於報道。更無法吸引我們的注意。即使我們知道了 它也很難刺痛我們的神經。世間最痛苦的事莫過於看著他人經受苦難的卻無能為力，於是我們選擇了逃避。
If we can really see a problem, which is the first step, we come to the second step: cutting through the complexity to find a solution.
發現問題，只是邁出了第一步，接下來我們還要：尋找解決方案。
Finding solutions is essential if we want to make the most of our caring. If we have clear and proven answers anytime an organization or individual asks “How can I help?,” then we can get action – and we can make sure that none of the caring in the world is wasted. But complexity makes it hard to mark a path of action for everyone who cares — and that makes it hard for their caring to matter.
如果不想讓愛心變成空談，就必須找到問題的解決方案。如果有清晰可靠的方案，那麼政府或個人組織就能立刻採取行動，將愛心落實。但是世界的複雜性使找尋方案的過程無比艱難 於是愛心才淪為空談。
Cutting through complexity to find a solution runs through four predictable stages: determine a goal, find the highest-leverage approach, discover the ideal technology for that approach, and in the meantime, make the smartest application of the technology that you already have whether it’s something sophisticated, like a drug, or something simpler, like a bednet.
打破複雜性需要四個步驟：確定目標、找到最有效的途徑、尋找最理想的技術，併合理利用現有技術。無論是製作複雜的藥物，還是利用簡單的蚊帳，都行。
The AIDS epidemic offers an example. The broad goal, of course, is to end the disease. The highest-leverage approach is prevention. The ideal technology would be a vaccine that gives lifetime immunity with a single dose. So governments, drug companies, and foundations fund vaccine research. But their work is likely to take more than a decade, so in the meantime, we have to work with what we have in hand – and the best prevention approach we have now is getting people to avoid risky behavior.
以艾滋病為例。我們的目標是消滅它。最有效的途徑是預防，最理想的技術是注射一劑疫苗實現終身免疫。所以現在政府、製藥公司、基金會都在資助疫苗的研究。但可能要十幾年才能研究出來，所以目前的最好的預防措施就是避開那些可能傳播艾滋病的行為。
Pursuing that goal starts the four-step cycle again. This is the pattern. The crucial thing is to never stop thinking and working – and never do what we did with malaria and tuberculosis in the 20th century – which is to surrender to complexity and quit.
四步迴圈直達目標。記住永遠不要停止思考和行動——永遠不要像人們在20世紀對待瘧疾和肺結核那樣，向疾病投降。
The final step – after seeing the problem and finding an approach – is to measure the impact of your work and share your successes and failures so that others learn from your efforts.
在發現問題並找到解決方法後，還需監測結果，並與他人分享成功的經驗和失敗的教訓，讓別人也能從中受益。
You have to have the statistics, of course. You have to be able to show that a program is vaccinating millions more children. You have to be able to show a decline in the number of children dying from these diseases. This is essential not just to improve the program, but also to help draw more investment from business and government.
當然，你還得有統計資料。用來證明你的專案為上百萬兒童接種了疫苗，證明這些孩子的死亡率降低了。這不僅有利於專案的改進，也有助於吸引更多的企業和政府投資。
But if you want to inspire people to participate, you have to show more than numbers. You have to convey the human impact of the work – so people can feel what saving a life means to the families affected.
但如果想吸引更多的人蔘與進來，光靠數字還遠遠不夠。你需要展示出專案承載的價值，讓他們明白挽救一個生命對其家庭的意義。
Remember going to Davos some years back and sitting on a global health panel that was discussing ways to save millions of lives. Millions! Think of the thrill of saving just one person’s life – then multiply that by millions. Yet this was the most boring panel I’ve ever been on – ever. So boring even I couldn’t bear it.
我記得幾年前去達沃斯參加全球健康討論會，關於如何挽救數百萬人的生命。數百萬人!只要想想挽救一條生命帶來的震撼，再把這種震撼乘上幾百萬倍是什麼感覺!然而，那是我見過的最無聊的討論會。
What made that experience especially striking was that I had just come from an event where we were introducing version 13 of some piece of software, and we had people jumping and shouting with excitement. I love getting people excited about software – but why can’t we generate even more excitement for saving lives?
之所以銘記在心是因為我最近參加的一款軟體釋出會的現場氛圍異常火爆。人們激動地歡呼雀躍。看到人們因為軟體興奮，我也很開心——但我們為什麼無法對挽救生命更感興趣呢?
You can’t get people excited unless you can help them see and feel the impact. And how you do that – is a complex question.
除非人們能感知到行動的影響力，否則人們就不會動心。如何做到這一點並不簡單。
Still, I’m optimistic. Yes, inequity has been with us forever, but the new tools we have to cut through complexity have not been with us forever. They are new – they can help us make the most of our caring – and that’s why the future can be different from the past.
儘管如此，我還是很樂觀。是的，不平等現象一直存在，但我們總會想出新的解決辦法。新技術可以幫助我們傳播愛心，我對未來充滿信心。
The defining and ongoing innovations of this age – biotechnology, the computer, the Internet--give us a chance we’ve never had before to end extreme poverty and end death from preventable disease.
創新技術不斷湧現，比如生物技術、計算機、網際網路。讓我們有機會終結救極度貧困和非惡性死亡。
Sixty years ago, George Marshall came to this commencement and announced a plan to assist the nations of post-war Europe. He said: “I think one difficulty is that the problem is one of such enormous complexity that the very mass of facts presented to the public by press and radio make it exceedingly difficult for the man in the street to reach a clear appraisement of the situation. It is virtually impossible at this distance to grasp at all the real significance of the situation.”
六十年前，喬治-馬歇爾在哈佛的畢業典禮上宣佈了一項協助戰後歐洲的計劃。他說：“我認為推動這項計劃的困難在於，報紙和廣播源源不斷地提供各種事實，使得公眾難以清晰地判斷形勢。事實上，經過層層傳播，想要真正地把握形勢，是根本不可能的。
Thirty years after Marshall made his address, as my class graduated without me, technology was emerging that would make the world smaller, more open, more visible, less distant.
馬歇爾發表演講三十年後，我的同學畢業了，科技開始發展，這個世界變得更小、更開放、更透明、人們之間的關係拉得更近。
The emergence of low-cost personal computers gave rise to a powerful network that has transformed opportunities for learning and communicating.
低成本個人電腦和網際網路為人們提供了更多學習和交流的機會。
The magical thing about this network is not just that it collapses distance and makes everyone your neighbor. It also dramatically increases the number of brilliant minds we can have working together on the same problem and that scales up the rate of innovation to a staggering degree.
神奇的是，網路不僅縮短了人與人之間的距離，也增加了精英們集思廣益共同解決難題的機會。加快了創新的規模和速度。
At the same time, for every person in the world who has access to this technology, five people don’t. That means many creative minds are left out of this discussion smart people with practical intelligence and relevant experience who don’t have the technology to hone their talents or contribute their ideas to the world.
然而世界上只有六分之一的人能夠接觸網際網路，很多精英不能參與我們的討論，很多人無法把它們解決問題的智慧和經驗分享出 來。
We need as many people as possible to have access to this technology, because these advances are triggering a revolution in what human beings can do for one another.They are making it possible not just for national governments, but for universities, corporations, smaller organizations, and even individualsto see problems, see approaches, and measure the impact of their efforts to address the hunger, poverty, and desperation George Marshall spoke of 60 years ago.
如今，新技術將引發一場革命，讓儘可能多的人與世界接軌，科技不僅為政府，也為大學、企業、小團體甚至個人帶來了機會，而今這些機構和個人能夠運用科技找到有效的解決60年前喬治•馬歇爾談到的饑荒、貧困和絕望。
Members of the Harvard Family: Here in the Yard is one of the great collections of intellectual talent in the world. What for?
各位哈佛大家庭的成員，你們是世界上少有的精英。我們為什麼要上哈佛?
There is no question that the faculty, the alumni, the students, and the benefactors of Harvard have used their power to improve the lives of people here and around the world. But can we do more? Can Harvard dedicate its intellect to improving the lives of people who will never even hear its name?
毫無疑問，我們的教員、學生、校友都曾盡其所能改善全球人類的生活。我們還能更進一步嗎?哈佛能夠為不知道哈佛名氣的陌生人奉獻智慧，伸出援助之手嗎?
Let me make a request of the deans and the professors the intellectual leaders here at Harvard: As you hire new faculty, award tenure, review curriculum, and determine degree requirements, please ask yourselves: Should our best minds be dedicated to solving our biggest problems?
請院長和教授接受我的不情之請，各位哈佛大學的精英領導者們，在你們僱用新教員、授予教授終身教職、評估課程安排和決定學位要求時，請問自己一個問題：最優秀的人才是否應該致力於解決人類的困境?
Should Harvard encourage its faculty to take on the world’s worst inequities? Should Harvard students learn about the depth of global poverty … the prevalence of world hunger … the scarcity of clean water …the girls kept out of school the children who die from diseases we can cure?
哈佛是否應該鼓勵教授解決世界上存在的嚴重不平等?哈佛的學生是不是應該多關注一些全球貧富不均、糧食短缺、水資源稀缺、女童輟學的問題?以及那些因無法接受有效治療而死亡的孩子?
Should the world’s most privileged people learn about the lives of the world’s least privileged?
世界上最衣食無憂的人是否應該瞭解那些掙扎在死亡邊緣的人們的生活?
These are not rhetorical questions – you will answer with your policies.
這並非言語修辭，這些問題只能用行動回答。
My mother, who was filled with pride the day I was admitted here – never stopped pressing me to do more for others. A few days before my wedding, she hosted a bridal event, at which she read aloud a letter about marriage that she had written to Melinda. My mother was very ill with cancer at the time, but she saw one more opportunity to deliver her message, and at the close of the letter she said: “From those to whom much is given, much is expected.”
我的母親一直為我考上哈佛而自豪，也一直督促我回報社會。我結婚的前幾天的儀式上，她高聲朗讀自己寫給我妻子的信。當時我母親已經是癌症晚期，但她堅持要用這個機會表達自己的觀點。信的最後 她念道：“獲益越多，責任越大。”
When you consider what those of us here in this Yard have been given – in talent, privilege, and opportunity – there is almost no limit to what the world has a right to expect from us.
想想我們獲得了什麼——天賦，特權，機遇——世界寄予殷切的期望。
In line with the promise of this age, I want to exhort each of the graduates here to take on an issue –a complex problem, a deep inequity, and become a specialist on it.If you make it the focus of your career, that would be phenomenal.But you don’t have to do that to make an impact. For a few hours every week, you can use the growing power of the Internet to get informed, find others with the same interests, see the barriers, and find ways to cut through them.
我希望每位畢業生承擔起這樣一種責任—— 參與解決人類不平等的問題，如果你獻身這項事業，你的影響力將會是驚人的。既便不打算以此為業，你一樣可以有所作為。每週只需要花幾個小時，就可以利用網際網路獲取資訊、找到志同道合的朋友、設法解決一兩個問題。
Don't let complexity stop you. Be activists. Take on the big inequities. It will be one of the great experiences of your lives.
不要畏難，儘管放手去做。它將是你生命中最寶貴經歷。
You graduates are coming of age in an amazing time.As you leave Harvard, you have technology that members of my class never had. You have awareness of global inequity, which we did not have. And with that awareness, you likely also have an informed conscience that will torment you if you abandon these people whose lives you could change with very little effort. You have more than we had; you must start sooner, and carry on longer.
這是一個神奇的時代。今天的科技是我年輕時不曾體驗的。你們對不平等現象的認識遠遠超過我們這代人。面對這種不平等，你們更容易受良心的譴責。行動起來，時不我待。
And I hope you will come back here to Harvard 30 years from now and reflect on what you have done with your talent and your energy. I hope you will judge yourselves not on your professional accomplishments alone, but also on how well you have addressed the world’s deepest inequities … on how well you treated people a world away who have nothing in common with you but their humanity.
30年後當你再次回到哈佛的時候，我希望看到你用自己的天賦和精力做了哪些事。不僅用專業成就來衡量成功，還要看你是如何解決人類根深蒂固的不平等問題。你是怎樣對待那些與你相隔萬里、迥然不同的人的。
Good luck.
同學們，祝你們好運!
名人英語勵志演講2：奧斯卡最佳劇作家索爾金雪城大學畢業演講
Thank you very much.
謝謝，謝謝大家。
Madam Chancellor, members of the Board of Trustees, members of the faculty and administration, parents and friends, honored guests and graduates, thank you for inviting me to speak today at this magnificent Commencement ceremony.
校長、校董會委員、所有教職員、各位家長和朋友、各位來賓和畢業生，感謝你們今天邀請我在這個盛大的畢業典禮上演講。
There's a story about a man and a woman who have been married for 40 years. One evening at dinner the woman turns to her husband and says, "You know, 40 years ago on our wedding day you told me that you loved me and you haven't said those words since." They sit in silence for a long moment before the husband says "If I change my mind, I'll let you know."
我先說個關於一對結婚40年夫妻的故事。某天晚餐時，妻子轉頭對丈夫說，“你知道嗎?40年前，我們結婚那天，你對我說你愛我，之後就不曾再說過這句話。”沉默了許久後，丈夫終於開口，“如果我改變了主意，會讓你知道。”
Well, it's been a long time since I sat where you sit, and I can remember looking up at my teachers with great admiration, with fondness, with gratitude and with love. Some of the teachers who were there that day are here this day and I wanted to let them know that I haven't changed my mind.
好了，我像你們這樣坐在臺下是很久以前的事了，我還記得自己滿懷敬佩、感激與喜愛之情看著臺上的老師，當時有些老師今天也在場。我想讓他們知道，我對他們的感激之情不曾改變。
There's another story. Two newborn babies are lying side by side in the hospital and they glance at each other. Ninety years later, through a remarkable coincidence, the two are back in the same hospital lying side by side in the same hospital room. They look at each other and one of them says, "So what'd you think?"
再說另一個故事。兩位新生兒並肩躺在醫院的育兒室裡，彼此對一眼。90年後，在一個不可思議地巧合下，兩人並肩躺在同一家醫院的病房裡。他們看著對方，其中一位說，“好吧，你感覺如何?”
It's going to be a very long time before you have to answer that question, but time shifts gears right now and starts to gain speed. Just ask your parents whose heads, I promise you, are exploding right now. They think they took you home from the maternity ward last month. They think you learned how to walk last week. They don't understand how you could possibly be getting a degree in something today. They listened to "Cats in the Cradle" the whole car ride here.
你們很久以後才需要回答這個問題。但物換星移，時間飛快流逝，只要問你們的父母就知道。我向你們保證，現在他們的思緒必定亂成一團。在他們記憶裡，彷佛上個月才將你從產房帶回家，彷佛你上星期才學會走路，他們不明白你們怎麼可能今天就取得某個學位。他們一路聽著“搖籃裡的貓”前來這裡。
I'd like to say to the parents that I realized something while I was writing this speech: the last teacher your kids will have in college will be me. And that thought scared the hell out of me. Frankly, you should feel exactly the same way. But I am the father of an 11-year-old daughter, so I do know how proud you are today, how proud your daughters and your sons make you every day, and that they did just learn how to walk last week, that you'll never not be there for them, that you love them more than they'll ever know and that it doesn’t matter how many degrees get put in their hand, they will always be dumber than you are.
我想告訴各位家長，我在寫這篇演講稿時領悟到的一件事：你們孩子大學裡最後一位老師將會是我。這個念頭令我膽顫心驚。老實說，你們也應該有相同感覺。但我是一位11歲女兒的父親，所以我確實瞭解你們今天是多麼驕傲;你們的兒女時時刻刻讓你們 感到多麼自豪;他們確實上星期才學會走路;你永遠不需要為了參加他們的畢業典禮而來到這裡;他們永遠不知道你有多麼愛他;無論他們拿到多少個學位，他們永遠比你笨。
And make no mistake about it, you are dumb. You're a group of incredibly well-educated dumb people. I was there. We all were there. You're barely functional. There are some screw-ups headed your way. I wish I could tell you that there was a trick to avoiding the screw-ups, but the screw-ups, they're a-coming for ya. It's a combination of life being unpredictable, and you being super dumb.
這是無庸置疑地，你們確實是傻子。你們是一群受過良好教育的傻子。我經歷過這個階段，我們全都經歷過這個階段。你們幾乎做不成什麼大事。總會有一些愚蠢的想法牽引著你的決定，我希望我能告訴你們避開這些愚蠢想法的訣竅，但你依然逃不開這些愚蠢的想法，這就是導致生命變得無法預知、讓你顯得超級愚蠢的罪魁禍首。
Today is May 13th and today you graduate. Growing up, I looked at my future as a timeline of graduations in which every few years, I'd be given more freedom and reward as I passed each milestone of childhood. When I get my driver's license, my life will be like this; when I'm a senior, my life will be like that; when I go off to college, my life will be like this; when I move out of the dorms, my life will be like that; and then finally, graduation. And on graduation day, I had only one goal left, and that was to be part of professional theater. We have this in common, you and I—we want to be able to earn a living doing what we love. Whether you're a writer, mathematician, engineer, architect, butcher, baker or candlestick maker, you want an invitation to the show.
今天是5月13日，你們畢業的日子。成長過程中，每隔幾年，畢業就成了標記我未來人生程序的時間軸。每當我走過一個童年的里程碑，就得到更多的自由和獎勵。當我拿到駕照時，生活會像這樣;當我升上高中時，生活會像那樣;當我念大學時，生活會像這樣;當我搬出宿舍時，生活會像那樣;然後我終於畢業。畢業那天，我只剩下一個目標，就是成為專業劇團的一員。這是你們和我的共同點，我們都希望從事自己感興趣的工作，無論是作家、數學家、工程師、建築師、屠夫、麵包師傅或燭臺製造商，你們都希望登上屬於自己的舞臺。
Today is May 13th, and today you graduate, and today you already know what I know: to get where you're going, you have to be good, and to be good where you're going, you have to be damned good. Every once in a while, you'll succeed. Most of the time you'll fail, and most of the time the circumstances will be well beyond your control.
今天是5月13日，你們畢業的日子，我明白的道理你們也都明白。想達成目標，你必須有好的表現;希望能有所成就，你必須拿出超乎尋常的好表現。偶爾你能僥倖成功，大多時候則難免經歷失敗;大多時候，情況並非你所能掌控。
When we were casting my first movie, "A Few Good Men," we saw an actor just 10 months removed from the theater training program at UCLA. We liked him very much and we cast him in a small, but featured role as an endearingly dimwitted Marine corporal. The actor had been working as a Domino's Pizza delivery boy for 10 months, so the news that he'd just landed his first professional job and that it was in a new movie that Rob Reiner was directing, starring Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson, was met with happiness. But as is often the case in show business, success begets success before you've even done anything, and a week later the actor's agent called. The actor had been offered the lead role in a new, as-yet-untitled Milos Forman film. He was beside himself. He felt loyalty to the first offer, but Forman after all was offering him the lead. We said we understood, no problem, good luck, we'll go with our second choice. Which, we did. And two weeks later, the Milos Forman film was scrapped. Our second choice, who was also making his professional debut, was an actor named Noah Wyle. Noah would go on to become one of the stars of the television series "ER" and hasn't stopped working since. I don't know what the first actor is doing, and I can't remember his name. Sometimes, just when you think you have the ball safely in the end zone, you're back to delivering pizzas for Domino's. Welcome to the NFL.
當我第一部電影《軍官與魔鬼》開拍時，劇組裡有位十個月前才修完加州大學洛杉磯分校戲劇表演課程的演員。他很討人喜歡，我們讓他擔任一個不是很重要、但十分顯眼的角色-一位傻氣而討喜的海軍下士。這位演員在Domino披薩擔任了10個月的外送員，所以首次獲得參與一部新電影演出的機會令他十分興奮。這部電影由Rob Reiner導演，湯姆.克魯斯和傑克.尼克遜主演。但如同演藝圈經常發生的情形：在你還來不及完成任何事之前，成功的機會便接踵而來。一 星期後，這位演員的經紀人致電給劇組：米洛斯·福爾曼一部尚未命名的電影邀請這位演員擔任主角。他欣喜若狂，雖然他認為應該對第一個機會展現忠誠，但畢竟福爾曼讓他擔任主角。我們回覆說，我們瞭解，沒問題，祝你好運，我們將採用第二順位的角色選擇，我們確實這麼做了。兩星期後，米洛斯·福爾曼這部影片停拍，我們的第二選擇——也是一位職業生涯中首次獲得演出機會的演員，這位演員名叫Noah Wyle。Noah之後成為電視影集《急診室的春天》主角之一，至今仍在演藝圈大放異彩。我不知道第一位演員現況如何，甚至想不起他的名字。有時候，就在你以為自己安全達陣時，卻得回到Domino送披薩。歡迎來到野蠻世界。
In the summer of 1983, after I graduated, I moved to New York to begin my life as a struggling writer. I got a series of survival jobs that included bartending, ticket-taking, telemarketing, limo driving, and dressing up as a moose to pass out leaflets in a mall. I ran into a woman who'd been a senior here when I was a freshman. I asked her how it was going and how she felt Syracuse had prepared her for the early stages of her career. She said, "Well, the thing is, after three years you start to forget everything they taught you in college. But once you've done that, you'll be fine." I laughed because I thought it was funny and also because I wanted to ask her out, but I also think she was wrong.
1983年畢業後那個夏天，我搬到紐約，開始艱苦的寫作生涯。我做過許多賴以餬口的工作，包括酒保、收票員、電話推銷員、豪華轎車司機、穿著麋鹿裝在商場裡發傳單。我曾遇見一位雪城大學的學姐，我問她近況如何，她認為雪城大學對她早期職業生涯提供了什麼幫助。她說，“嗯，事實上，畢業三年後，你就會開始把學校所教的全都忘光;但一旦到了這個階段，你就會開始漸入佳境。”我忍不住大笑，因為我覺得這十分荒謬，也有部分原因是我想約她出去。但我還是認為她的想法並不正確。
As a freshman drama student—and this story is now becoming famous—I had a play analysis class—it was part of my requirement. The professor was Gerardine Clark. If anybody was wondering, the drama students are sitting over there. The play analysis class met for 90 minutes twice a week. We read two plays a week and we took a 20-question true or false quiz at the beginning of the session that tested little more than whether or not we'd read the play. The problem was that the class was at 8:30 in the morning, it met all the way down on East Genesee, I lived all the way up at Brewster/Boland, and I don't know if you've noticed, but from time to time the city of Syracuse experiences inclement weather. All this going to class and reading and walking through snow, wind chill that's apparently powered by jet engines, was having a negative effect on my social life in general and my sleeping in particular. At one point, being quizzed on "Death of a Salesman," a play I had not read, I gave an answer that indicated that I wasn't aware that at the end of the play the salesman dies. And I failed the class. I had to repeat it my sophomore year; it was depressing, frustrating and deeply embarrassing. And it was without a doubt the single most significant event that occurred in my evolution as a writer. I showed up my sophomore year and I went to class, and I paid attention, and we read plays and I paid attention, and we discussed structure and tempo and intention and obstacle, possible improbabilities, improbable impossibilities, and I paid attention, and by God when I got my grades at the end of the year, I'd turned that F into a D. I'm joking: it was pass/fail.
當我身為戲劇系大一新生時-這個故事已越來越出名-我修了一堂戲劇分析課-這是必修課程之一，指導教授是 Gerardine Clark。如果有人想知道這些歡呼是怎麼回事，戲劇系學生坐在那裡。戲劇分析課每週上兩次，每次九十分鐘，每星期得研讀兩部劇本，每堂課開始時，會舉行一場二十題是非題的小考，測驗我們是否預習了劇本。問題是，這是早上八點三十分的課，上課地點在East Genesee街尾，我住在Brewster/Boland街 頭。不知道你們是否注意到，雪城市的氣候經常十分惡劣，我總是得在風雪交加中前往學校上課， 刺骨的寒風簡直像從噴射機引擎中噴出似的，這對我的社交生活產生不少負面影響，尤其是睡眠質量。某次小考的內容是關於《推銷員之死》，我並未事先預習這出 戲劇，我寫出的答案顯示，我不知道劇終時那位推銷員是不是死了。這門課沒有及格。我不得不在大二時重修，這令我十分沮喪、深感羞愧。毫無疑問地，這是我邁向作家之路過程中最刻骨銘心的事。大二時，我孜孜不倦地參與這門課程，用心研讀劇本，討論每一部劇本的架構、節奏、寓意及轉折點，反覆地 思考探索。我投注了全副心力，確實，當我在期末收到成績單時，成績從F進步到D。開個玩笑;這堂課只有過與不過的分別。
But I stood at the back of the Eisenhower Theater at the Kennedy Center in Washington watching a pre-Broadway tryout of my plays, knowing that when the curtain came down, I could go back to my hotel room and fix the problem in the second act with the tools that Gerry Clark gave me. Eight years ago, I was introduced to Arthur Miller at a Dramatists Guild function and we spent a good part of the evening talking. A few weeks later when he came down with the flu he called and asked if I could fill in for him as a guest lecturer at NYU. The subject was "Death of a Salesman." You made a good decision coming to school here.
但當我站在華盛頓肯尼迪表演藝術中心的Eisenhower劇場，觀看我的劇作在進駐百老匯之前舉行的試演時，心裡想著，落幕之後，我就能回酒店房間，使用從Gerry Clark***其著作曾改編成著名戲劇***作品學到的技巧，修改第二幕的瑕疵。八年前，阿瑟.米勒***美國傳奇劇作家***將我引介給美京劇作家協會，當晚我們相談 甚歡。幾星期後，他罹患流行感冒，打電話問我是否能代替他出席紐約大學的客座演講，演講主題正是《推銷員之死》。來雪城大學唸書確實是明智的選擇。
I've made some bad decisions. I lost a decade of my life to cocaine addiction. You know how I got addicted to cocaine? I tried it. The problem with drugs is that they work, right up until the moment that they decimate your life. Try cocaine, and you'll become addicted to it. Become addicted to cocaine, and you will either be dead, or you will wish you were dead, but it will only be one or the other. My big fear was that I wasn't going to be able to write without it. There was no way I was going to be able to write without it. Last year I celebrated my 11-year anniversary of not using coke. Thank you. In that 11 years, I've written three television series, three movies, a Broadway play, won the Academy Award and taught my daughter all the lyrics to "Pirates of Penzance." I have good friends.
我曾誤入歧途。因為古柯鹼成癮，浪費了生命中寶貴的十年。你們知道我怎麼會染上古柯鹼毒癮嗎?我只是試了一口。毒品最大的問題在於它們確實有用，直到摧毀你人生那一刻。只要試一 口，你就萬劫不復。一旦染上毒癮，你不是吸毒而死，就是生不如死，但總是逃不出這兩 種悲慘的命運。我最大的恐懼是，沒有它我會失去寫作靈感，沒有它我根本無法寫作。上個月我慶祝了戒毒11週年。謝謝。這11年來，我寫了三部電視系列影集、三部電影、一出百老匯戲劇、榮獲奧斯卡獎，並教會我女兒整出《彭贊斯的海盜》***音樂劇***的歌詞。我有許多好朋友。
You'll meet a lot of people who, to put it simply, don't know what they're talking about. In 1970 a CBS executive famously said that there were four things that we would never, ever see on television: a divorced person, a Jewish person, a person living in New York City and a man with a moustache. By 1980, every show on television was about a divorced Jew who lives in New York City and goes on a blind date with Tom Selleck.
你會遇見許多人，簡單來說，總是滿口胡言。1970年代，CBS將一句名言奉為圭臬：有四種角色絕不可能出現 在電視螢幕上-離婚的人、猶太人、紐約居民和蓄鬍男子。到了1980年代，每部電視節目的內容都是描寫住在紐約市的離婚猶太人，並和湯姆·謝立克***知名演員，蓄鬍***進行盲目約會。
Develop your own compass, and trust it. Take risks, dare to fail, remember the first person through the wall always gets hurt. My junior and senior years at Syracuse, I shared a five-bedroom apartment at the top of East Adams with four roommates, one of whom was a fellow theater major named Chris. Chris was a sweet guy with a sly sense of humor and a sunny stage presence. He was born out of his time, and would have felt most at home playing Mickey Rooney's sidekick in "Babes on Broadway." I had subscriptions back then to Time and Newsweek. Chris used to enjoy making fun of what he felt was an odd interest in world events that had nothing to do with the arts. I lost touch with Chris after we graduated and so I'm not quite certain when he died. But I remember about a year and a half after the last time I saw him, I read an article in Newsweek about a virus that was burning its way across the country. The Centers for Disease Control was calling it "Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome" or AIDS for short. And they were asking the White House for $35 million for research, care and cure. The White House felt that $35 million was way too much money to spend on a disease that was only affecting homosexuals, and they passed. Which I'm sure they wouldn't have done if they'd known that $35 million was a steal compared to the $2 billion it would cost only 10 years later.Am I saying that Chris would be alive today if only he'd read Newsweek? Of course not. But it seems to me that more and more we've come to expect less and less of each other, and that's got to change. Your friends, your family, this school expect more of you than vocational success.
掌握自己的指南針，並相信它;勇於冒險、不怕失敗;記住，第一位衝破高牆的人總不免受傷。我大三和大四時，在 East Adams街盡頭和四位室友分租一棟五間臥室的公寓，其中一位名叫Chris的室友主修戲劇。Chris是個可愛的傢伙，有著狡黠幽默感，總是在舞臺上扮陽光男孩角色。他生不逢時，最擅長扮演《百老匯的小鬼》中Mickey Rooney夥伴那種角色。當時我訂閱了《時代雜誌》和《新聞週刊》;Chris感興趣的是一些千奇百怪、跟藝術無關的事物。畢業後，我與Chris失去聯絡，所以不確定Chris是何時過世的。但我記得，大約在最後一次見到他一年半之後，我在《新聞週刊》上讀到一篇文章，關於某種病毒正在全國蔓延的報導，疾病控制與預防中心稱它為“獲得性免疫缺陷綜合症”，簡稱艾滋病。他們向白宮申請3500萬美元的研究、照護和治療經費，白宮認為，將3500萬美元花 在某種只會感染同性戀的疾病上太過昂貴，拒絕了這項申請。我敢肯定，如果他們知道，比起10年後花在治療上的20億美元，3500萬美元不過是九牛一毛， 當初就不會拒絕。我的意思是，只要Chris閱讀《新聞週刊》，今天就能好好活著嗎?當然不是。但在我看來，當我們期待越多，瞭解的就越少，這是必須改變 的現象。你的朋友、你的家人、這所學校對你的期待，不僅是職場上的成就。
Today is May 13th and today you graduate and the rules are about to change, and one of them is this: Decisions are made by those who show up. Don't ever forget that you're a citizen of this world. Don't ever forget that you're a citizen of this world, and there are things you can do to lift the human spirit, things that are easy, things that are free, things that you can do every day. Civility, respect, kindness, character. You're too good for schadenfreude, you're too good for gossip and snark, you're too good for intolerance—and since you're walking into the middle of a presidential election, it's worth mentioning that you're too good to think people who disagree with you are your enemy. Unless they went to Georgetown, in which case, they can go to hell.
今天是5月13日， 你們畢業的日子，代表你必須做出某些改變，其中一個原則如下：挺身而出者才有機會做出改變，別忘了你是這個世界的公民。別忘了你是這個世界的公民，你可以做些提升人類心靈層面的事，這些事並不困難，不過是舉手之勞，隨時隨地都能進行。文明、尊重、善良、品格;你們不會幸災樂禍;你們不會散播謠言、危言聳聽;你們不會心胸狹窄、缺乏寬容。既然你們都可能邁向競選總統之途，這句話值得 一提：你們不會視反對者為敵人，除非是來自喬治敦大學的人***雪城大學的死對頭***。若碰上這種情況，就叫他們下地獄吧!
Don't ever forget that a small group of thoughtful people can change the world. It's the only thing that ever has. Rehearsal's over. You're going out there now, you're going to do this thing. How you live matters. You're going to fall down, but the world doesn't care how many times you fall down, as long as it's one fewer than the number of times you get back up.
別忘了，一群深思熟慮的人可以改變世界，這是唯一的真理。人生的排練已經結束，你們即將走出校門，開創真實人生，重要的是，你如何經營自己的人生。失敗在所難免，但這個世界並不在乎你曾經失敗過多少次，只要你能一次又一次地重新站起來。
For the class of 2012, I wish you joy. I wish you health and happiness and success, I wish you a roof, four walls, a floor and someone in your life that you care about more than you care about yourself. Someone who makes you start saying "we" where before you used to say "I" and "us" where you used to say "me." I wish you the quality of friends I have and the quality of colleagues I work with. Baseball players say they don't have to look to see if they hit a home run, they can feel it. So I wish for you a moment—a moment soon—when you really put the bat on the ball, when you really get a hold of one and drive it into the upper deck, when you feel it. When you aim high and hit your target, when just for a moment all else disappears, and you soar with wings as eagles. The moment will end as quickly as it came, and so you'll have to have it back, and so you'll get it back no matter what the obstacles. A lofty prediction, to be sure, but I flat out guarantee it.
2012年畢業生，祝福你們常懷喜悅，祝福你們健康、幸福、成功，祝福你們擁有幸福美滿的家庭，擁有某個你在 乎他勝過自己的人，某個能與你共享生活中一切喜怒哀樂的人，希望你們擁有跟我朋友和同事一樣優秀的夥伴。棒球選手說，他們不需要緊盯著球，就能感覺自己擊出了全壘打。我期待有那麼一天-在不久的將來-你們真正擊中那顆球。掌握這個機會，更上一層樓，真正擁有這份感受。當你擁有崇高目標，並盡力達成時，在一刻，一切艱辛都將煙消雲散，你將如鷹般展翅翱翔。這個瞬間稍縱即逝，所以你必須繼續往目標邁進，你必須繼續往目標邁進，不論途中遭遇多少阻礙。這確實是個崇高的目標，但只要付出努力，必定能夠達成。
名人英語勵志演講3：莫言諾貝爾文學獎演講
尊敬的瑞典學院各位院士，女士們、先生們：
Distinguished members of the Swedish Academy, Ladies and Gentlemen:
通過電視或網路，我想在座的各位對遙遠的高密東北鄉，已經有了或多或少的瞭解。你們也許看到了我的九十歲的老父親，看到了我的哥哥姐姐、我的妻子女兒，和我的一歲零四個月的外孫子。但是有一個此刻我最想念的人，我的母親，你們永遠無法看到了。我獲獎後，很多人分享了我的光榮，但我的母親卻無法分享了。
Through the mediums of television and the Internet, I imagine that everyone here has at least a nodding acquaintance with far-off Northeast Gaomi Township. You may have seen my ninety-year-old father, as well as my brothers, my sister, my wife and my daughter, even my granddaughter, now a year and four months old. But the person who is most on my mind at this moment, my mother, is someone you will never see. Many people have shared in the honor of winning this prize, everyone but her.
我母親生於1922年，卒於1994年。她的骨灰，埋葬在村莊東邊的桃園裡。去年，一條鐵路要從那兒穿過，我們不得不將她的墳墓遷移到距離村子更遠的地方。掘開墳墓後，我們看到，棺木已經腐朽，母親的骨殖，已經與泥土混為一體。我們只好象徵性地挖起一些泥土，移到新的墓穴裡。也就是從那一時刻起，我感到，我的母親是大地的一部分，我站在大地上的訴說，就是對母親的訴說。
My mother was born in 1922 and died in 1994. We buried her in a peach orchard east of the village. Last year we were forced to move her grave farther away from the village in order to make room for a proposed rail line. When we dug up the grave, we saw that the coffin had rotted away and that her body had merged with the damp earth around it. So we dug up some of that soil, a symbolic act, and took it to the new gravesite. That was when I grasped the knowledge that my mother had become part of the earth, and that when I spoke to mother earth, I was really speaking to my mother.
我是我母親最小的孩子。
I was my mother’s youngest child.
我記憶中最早的一件事，是提著家裡唯一的一把熱水壺去公共食堂開啟水。因為飢餓無力，失手將熱水瓶打碎，我嚇得要命，鑽進草垛，一天沒敢出來。傍晚的時候我聽到母親呼喚我的乳名，我從草垛裡鑽出來，以為會受到打罵，但母親沒有打我也沒有罵我，只是撫摸著我的頭，口中發出長長的嘆息。
My earliest memory was of taking our only vacuum bottle to the public canteen for drinking water. Weakened by hunger, I dropped the bottle and broke it. Scared witless, I hid all that day in a haystack. Toward evening, I heard my mother calling my childhood name, so I crawled out of my hiding place, prepared to receive a beating or a scolding. But Mother didn’t hit me, didn’t even scold me. She just rubbed my head and heaved a sigh.
我記憶中最痛苦的一件事，就是跟著母親去集體的地理揀麥穗，看守麥田的人來了，揀麥穗的人紛紛逃跑，我母親是小腳，跑不快，被捉住，那個身材高大的看守人煽了她一個耳光，她搖晃著身體跌倒在地，看守人沒收了我們揀到的麥穗，吹著口哨揚長而去。我母親嘴角流血，坐在地上，臉上那種絕望的神情深我終生難忘。多年之後，當那個看守麥田的人成為一個白髮蒼蒼的老人，在集市上與我相逢，我衝上去想找他報仇，母親拉住了我，平靜的對我說：“兒子，那個打我的人，與這個老人，並不是一個人。”
My most painful memory involved going out in the collective’s field with Mother to glean ears of wheat. The gleaners scattered when they spotted the watchman. But Mother, who had bound feet, could not run; she was caught and slapped so hard by the watchman, a hulk of a man, that she fell to the ground. The watchman confiscated the wheat we’d gleaned and walked off whistling. As she sat on the ground, her lip bleeding, Mother wore a look of hopelessness I’ll never forget. Years later, when I encountered the watchman, now a gray-haired old man, in the marketplace, Mother had to stop me from going up to avenge her.“Son,” she said evenly, “the man who hit me and this man are not the same person.”
我記得最深刻的一件事是一箇中秋節的中午，我們家難得的包了一頓餃子，每人只有一碗。正當我們吃餃子時，一個乞討的老人來到了我們家門口，我端起半碗紅薯幹打發他，他卻憤憤不平地說：“我是一個老人，你們吃餃子，卻讓我吃紅薯幹。你們的心是怎麼長的?”我氣急敗壞的說：“我們一年也吃不了幾次餃子，一人一小碗，連半飽都吃不了!給你紅薯幹就不錯了，你要就要，不要就滾!”母親訓斥了我，然後端起她那半碗餃子，倒進了老人碗裡。
My clearest memory is of a Moon Festival day, at noontime, one of those rare occasions when we ate jiaozi at home, one bowl apiece. An aging beggar came to our door while we were at the table, and when I tried to send him away with half a bowlful of dried sweet potatoes, he reacted angrily: “I’m an old man,” he said. “You people are eating jiaozi, but want to feed me sweet potatoes. How heartless can you be?” I reacted just as angrily: “We’re lucky if we eat jiaozi a couple of times a year, one small bowlful apiece, barely enough to get a taste! You should be thankful we’re giving you sweet potatoes, and if you don’t want them, you can get the hell out of here!” After ***dressing me down*** reprimanding me, Mother dumped her half bowlful of jiaozi into the old man’s bowl.
我最後悔的一件事，就是跟著母親去賣白菜，有意無意的多算了一位買白菜的老人一毛錢。算完錢我就去了學校。當我放學回家時，看到很少流淚的母親淚流滿面。母親並沒有罵我，只是輕輕的說：“兒子，你讓娘丟了臉。”
My most remorseful memory involves helping Mother sell cabbages at market, and me overcharging an old villager one jiao – intentionally or not, I can’t recall – before heading off to school. When I came home that afternoon, I saw that Mother was crying, something she rarely did. Instead of scolding me, she merely said softly, “Son, you embarrassed your mother today.”
我十幾歲時，母親患了嚴重的肺病，飢餓，病痛，勞累，使我們這個家庭陷入了困境，看不到光明和希望。我產生了一種強烈的不祥之兆，以為母親隨時都會自己尋短見。每當我勞動歸來，一進大門就高喊母親，聽到她的迴應，心中才感到一塊石頭落了地。如果一時聽不到她的迴應，我就心驚膽戰，跑到廚房和磨坊裡尋找。有一次找遍了所有的房間也沒有見到母親的身影，我便坐在了院子裡大哭。這時母親揹著一捆柴草從外面走進來。她對我的哭很不滿，但我又不能對她說出我的擔憂。母親看到我的心思，她說：“孩子你放心，儘管我活著沒有一點樂趣，但只要閻王爺不叫我，我是不會去的。”
Mother contracted a serious lung disease when I was still in my teens. Hunger, disease, and too much work made things extremely hard on our family. The road ahead looked especially bleak, and I had a bad feeling about the future, worried that Mother might take her own life. Every day, the first thing I did when I walked in the door after a day of hard labor was call out for Mother. Hearing her voice was like giving my heart a new lease on life. But not hearing her threw me into a panic. I’d go looking for her in the side building and in the mill. One day, after searching everywhere and not finding her, I sat down in the yard and cried like a baby. That is how she found me when she walked into the yard carrying a bundle of firewood on her back. She was very unhappy with me, but I could not tell her what I was afraid of. She knew anyway. “Son,” she said, “don’t worry, there may be no joy in my life, but I won’t leave you till the God of the Underworld calls me.”
我生來相貌醜陋，村子裡很多人當面嘲笑我，學校裡有幾個性格霸蠻的同學甚至為此打我。我回家痛苦，母親對我說：“兒子，你不醜，你不缺鼻子不缺眼，四肢健全，醜在哪裡?而且只要你心存善良，多做好事，即便是醜也能變美。”後來我進入城市，有一些很有文化的人依然在背後甚至當面嘲弄我的相貌，我想起了母親的話，便心平氣和地向他們道歉。
I was born ugly. Villagers often laughed in my face, and school bullies sometimes beat me up because of it. I’d run home crying, where my mother would say, “You’re not ugly, Son. You’ve got a nose and two eyes, and there’s nothing wrong with your arms and legs, so how could you be ugly? If you have a good heart and always do the right thing, what is considered ugly becomes beautiful.” Later on, when I moved to the city, there were educated people who laughed at me behind my back, some even to my face; but when I recalled what Mother had said, I just calmly offered my apologies.
我母親不識字，但對識字的人十分敬重。我們家生活困難，經常吃了上頓沒下頓。但只要我對她提出買書買文具的要求，她總是會滿足我。她是個勤勞的人，討厭懶惰的孩子，但只要是我因為看書耽誤了幹活，她從來沒批評過我。
My illiterate mother held people who could read in high regard. We were so poor we often did not know where our next meal was coming from, yet she never denied my request to buy a book or something to write with. By nature hard working, she had no use for lazy children, yet I could skip my chores as long as I had my nose in a book.
有一段時間，集市上來了一個說書人。我偷偷地跑去聽書，忘記了她分配給我的活兒。為此，母親批評了我，晚上當她就著一盞小油燈為家人趕製棉衣時，我忍不住把白天從說書人聽來的故事複述給她聽，起初她有些不耐煩，因為在她心目中說書人都是油嘴滑舌，不務正業的人，從他們嘴裡冒不出好話來。但我複述的故事漸漸的吸引了她，以後每逢集日她便不再給我排活，默許我去集上聽書。為了報答母親的恩情，也為了向她炫耀我的記憶力，我會把白天聽到的故事，繪聲繪色地講給她聽。
A storyteller once came to the marketplace, and I sneaked off to listen to him. She was unhappy with me for forgetting my chores. But that night, while she was stitching padded clothes for us under the weak light of a kerosene lamp, I couldn’t keep from retelling stories I’d heard that day. She listened impatiently at first, since in her eyes professional storytellers were smooth-talking men in a dubious profession. Nothing good ever came out of their mouths. But slowly she was dragged into my retold stories, and from that day on, she never gave me chores on market day, unspoken permission to go to the marketplace and listen to new stories. As repayment for Mother’s kindness and a way to demonstrate my memory, I’d retell the stories for her in vivid detail.
很快的，我就不滿足複述說書人講的故事了，我在複述的過程中不斷的添油加醋，我會投我母親所好，編造一些情節，有時候甚至改變故事的結局。我的聽眾也不僅僅是我的母親，連我的姐姐，我的嬸嬸，我的奶奶都成為我的聽眾。我母親在聽完我的故事後，有時會憂心忡忡地，像是對我說，又像是自言自語：“兒啊，你長大後會成為一個什麼人呢?難道要靠耍貧嘴吃飯嗎?”
It did not take long to find retelling someone else’s stories unsatisfying, so I began embellishing my narration. I’d say things I knew would please Mother, even changed the ending once in a while. And she wasn’t the only member of my audience, which later included my older sisters, my aunts, even my maternal grandmother. Sometimes, after my mother had listened to one of my stories, she’d ask in a care-laden voice, almost as if to herself: “What will you be like when you grow up, son? Might you wind up prattling for a living one day?”
我理解母親的擔憂，因為在村子裡，一個貧嘴的孩子，是招人厭煩的，有時候還會給自己和家庭帶來麻煩。我在小說《牛》裡所寫的那個因為話多被村子裡厭惡的孩子，就有我童年時的影子。我母親經常提醒我少說話，她希望我能做一個沉默寡言、安穩大方的孩子。但在我身上，卻顯露出極強的說話能力和極大的說話慾望，這無疑是極大的危險，但我說的故事的能力，又帶給了她愉悅，這使他陷入深深的矛盾之中。
I knew why she was worried. Talkative kids are not well thought of in our village, for they can bring trouble to themselves and to their families. There is a bit of a young me in the talkative boy who falls afoul of villagers in my story “Bulls.” Mother habitually cautioned me not to talk so much, wanting me to be a taciturn, smooth and steady youngster. Instead I was possessed of a dangerous combination – remarkable speaking skills and the powerful desire that went with them. My ability to tell stories brought her joy, but that created a dilemma for her.
俗話說“江山易改、本性難移”，儘管我有父母親的諄諄教導，但我並沒有改掉我喜歡說話的天性，這使得我的名字“莫言”，很像對自己的諷刺。
A popular saying goes “It is easier to change the course of a river than a person’s nature.” Despite my parents’ tireless guidance, my natural desire to talk never went away, and that is what makes my name – Mo Yan, or “don’t speak” – an ironic expression of self-mockery.
我小學未畢業即輟學，因為年幼體弱，幹不了重活，只好到荒草灘上去放牧牛羊。當我牽著牛羊從學校門前路過，看到昔日的同學在校園裡打打鬧鬧，我心中充滿悲涼，深深地體會到一個人，哪怕是一個孩子，離開群體後的痛苦。
After dropping out of elementary school, I was too small for heavy labor, so I became a cattle- and sheep-herder on a nearby grassy riverbank. The sight of my former schoolmates playing in the schoolyard when I drove my animals past the gate always saddened me and made me aware of how tough it is for anyone – even a child – to leave the group.
到了荒灘上，我把牛羊放開，讓它們自己吃草。藍天如海，草地一望無際，周圍看不到一個人影，沒有人的聲音，只有鳥兒在天上鳴叫。我感到很孤獨，很寂寞，心裡空空蕩蕩。有時候，我躺在草地上，望著天上懶洋洋地飄動著的白雲，腦海裡便浮現出許多莫名其妙的幻象。我們那地方流傳著許多狐狸變成美女的故事，我幻想著能有一個狐狸變成美女與我來作伴放牛，但她始終沒有出現。但有一次，一隻火紅色的狐狸從我面前的草叢中跳出來時，我被嚇得一屁股蹲在地上。狐狸跑沒了蹤影，我還在那裡顫抖。有時候我會蹲在牛的身旁，看著湛藍的牛眼和牛眼中的我的倒影。有時候我會模仿著鳥兒的叫聲試圖與天上的鳥兒對話，有時候我會對一棵樹訴說心聲。但鳥兒不理我，樹也不理我。許多年後，當我成為一個小說家，當年的許多幻想，都被我寫進了小說。很多人誇我想象力豐富，有一些文學愛好者，希望我能告訴他們培養想象力的祕訣，對此，我只能報以苦笑。
I turned the animals loose on the riverbank to graze beneath a sky as blue as the ocean and grass-carpeted land as far as the eye could see – not another person in sight, no human sounds, nothing but bird calls above me. I was all by myself and terribly lonely; my heartfelt empty. Sometimes I lay in the grass and watched clouds float lazily by, which gave rise to all sorts of fanciful images. That part of the country is known for its tales of foxes in the form of beautiful young women, and I would fantasize a fox-turned-beautiful girl coming to tend animals with me. She never did come. Once, however, a fiery red fox bounded out of the brush in front of me, scaring my legs right out from under me. I was still sitting there trembling long after the fox had vanished. Sometimes I’d crouch down beside the cows and gaze into their deep blue eyes, eyes that captured my reflection. At times I’d have a dialogue with birds in the sky, mimicking their cries, while at other times I’d divulge my hopes and desires to a tree. But the birds ignored me, and so did the trees. Years later, after I’d become a novelist, I wrote some of those fantasies into my novels and stories. People frequently bombard me with compliments on my vivid imagination, and lovers of literature often ask me to divulge my secret to developing a rich imagination. My only response is a wan smile.
就像中國的先賢老子所說的那樣：“福兮禍之所伏，福禍福所倚”，我童年輟學，飽受飢餓、孤獨、無書可讀之苦，但我因此也像我們的前輩作家沈從文那樣，及早地開始閱讀社會人生這本大書。前面所提到的到集市上去聽說數人說書，僅僅是這本大書中的一頁。
Our Taoist master Laozi said it best: “Fortune depends on misfortune. Misfortune is hidden in fortune.” I left school as a child, often went hungry, was constantly lonely, and had no books to read. But for those reasons, like the writer of a previous generation, Shen Congwen, I had an early start on reading the great book of life. My experience of going to the marketplace to listen to a storyteller was but one page of that book.
輟學之後，我混跡於成人之中，開始了“用耳朵閱讀”的漫長生涯。二百多年前，我的故鄉曾出了一個講故事的偉大天才蒲松齡，我們村裡的許多人，包括我，都是他的傳人。我在集體勞動的田間地頭，在生產隊的牛棚馬廄，在我爺爺奶奶的熱炕頭上，甚至在搖搖晃晃地進行著的牛車社，聆聽了許許多多神鬼故事，歷史傳奇，逸聞趣事，這些故事都與當地的自然環境，家庭歷史緊密聯絡在一起，使我產生了強烈的現實感。
After leaving school, I was thrown uncomfortably into the world of adults, where I embarked on the long journey of learning through listening. Two hundred years ago, one of the great storytellers of all time – Pu Songling – lived near where I grew up, and where many people, me included, carried on the tradition he had perfected. Wherever I happened to be – working the fields with the collective, in production team cowsheds or stables, on my grandparents’ heated kang, even on oxcarts bouncing and swaying down the road, my ears filled with tales of the supernatural, historical romances, and strange and captivating stories, all tied to the natural environment and clan histories, and all of which created a powerful reality in my mind.
我做夢也想不到有朝一日這些東西會成為我的寫作素材，我當時只是一個迷戀故事的孩子，醉心地聆聽著人們的講述。那時我是一個絕對的有神論者，我相信萬物都有靈性，我見到一棵大樹會肅然起敬。我看到一隻鳥會感到它隨時會變化成人，我遇到一個陌生人，也會懷疑他是一個動物變化而成。每當夜晚我從生產隊的記工房回家時，無邊的恐懼便包圍了我，為了壯膽，我一邊奔跑一邊大聲歌唱。那時我正處在變聲期，嗓音嘶啞，聲調難聽，我的歌唱，是對我的鄉親們的一種折磨。
Even in my wildest dreams, I could not have envisioned a day when all this would be the stuff of my own fiction, for I was just a boy who loved stories, who was infatuated with the tales people around me were telling. Back then I was, without a doubt, a theist, believing that all living creatures were endowed with souls. I’d stop and pay my respects to a towering old tree; if I saw a bird, I was sure it could become human any time it wanted; and I suspected every stranger I met of being a transformed beast. At night, terrible fears accompanied me on my way home after my work points were tallied, so I’d sing at the top of my lungs as I ran to build up a bit of courage. My voice, which was changing at the time, produced scratchy, squeaky songs that grated on the ears of any villager who heard me.
我在故鄉生活了二十一年，期間離家最遠的是乘火車去了一次青島，還差點迷失在木材廠的巨大木材之間，以至於我母親問我去青島看到了什麼風景時，我沮喪地告訴她：什麼都沒看到，只看到了一堆堆的木頭。但也就是這次青島之行，使我產生了想離開故鄉到外邊去看世界的強烈願望。
I spent my first twenty-one years in that village, never traveling farther from home than to Qingdao, by train, where I nearly got lost amid the giant stacks of wood in a lumber mill. When my mother asked me what I’d seen in Qingdao, I reported sadly that all I’d seen were stacks of lumber. But that trip to Qingdao planted in me a powerful desire to leave my village and see the world.
1976 年2 月，我應徵入伍，揹著我母親賣掉結婚時的首飾幫我購買的四本《中國通史簡編》，走出了高密東北鄉這個既讓我愛又讓我恨的地方，開始了我人生的重要時期。我必須承認，如果沒有30 多年來中國社會的巨大發展與進步，如果沒有改革開放，也不會有我這樣一個作家。
In February 1976 I was recruited into the army and walked out of the Northeast Gaomi Township village I both loved and hated, entering a critical phase of my life, carrying in my backpack the four-volume Brief History of China my mother had bought by selling her wedding jewelry. Thus began the most important period of my life. I must admit that were it not for the thirty-odd years of tremendous development and progress in Chinese society, and the subsequent national reform and opening of her doors to the outside, I would not be a writer today.
在軍營的枯燥生活中，我迎來了八十年代的思想解放和文學熱潮，我從一個用耳朵聆聽故事，用嘴巴講述故事的孩子，開始嘗試用筆來講述故事。起初的道路並不平坦，我那時並沒有意識到我二十多年的農村生活經驗是文學的富礦，那時我以為文學就是寫好人好事，就是寫英雄模範，所以，儘管也發表了幾篇作品，但文學價值很低。
In the midst of mind-numbing military life, I welcomed the ideological emancipation and literary fervor of the nineteen-eighties, and evolved from a boy who listened to stories and passed them on by word of mouth into someone who experimented with writing them down. It was a rocky road at first, a time when I had not yet discovered how rich a source of literary material my two decades of village life could be. I thought that literature was all about good people doing good things, stories of heroic deeds and model citizens, so that the few pieces of mine that were published had little literary value.
1984年秋，我考入解放軍藝術學院文學系。在我的恩師著名作家徐懷中的啟發指導下，我寫出了《秋水》、《枯河》、《透明的紅蘿蔔》、《紅高粱》等一批中短篇小說。在《秋水》這篇小說裡，第一次出現了“高密東北鄉”這個字眼，從此，就如同一個四處遊蕩的農民有了一片土地，我這樣一個文學的流浪漢，終於有了一個可以安身立命的場所。我必須承認，在建立我的文學領地“高密東北鄉”的過程中，美國的威廉·福克納和哥倫比亞的加西亞·馬爾克斯給了我重要啟發。我對他們的閱讀並不認真，但他們開天闢地的豪邁精神激勵了我，使我明白了一個作家必須要有一塊屬於自己的地方。一個人在日常生活中應該謙卑退讓，但在文學創作中，必須頤指氣使，獨斷專行。我追隨在這兩位大師身後兩年，即意識到，必須儘快地逃離他們，我在一篇文章中寫道：他們是兩座灼熱的火爐，而我是冰塊，如果離他們太近，會被他們蒸發掉。根據我的體會，一個作家之所以會受到某一位作家的影響，其根本是因為影響者和被影響者靈魂深處的相似之處。正所謂“心有靈犀一點通”。所以，儘管我沒有很好地去讀他們的書，但只讀過幾頁，我就明白了他們幹了什麼，也明白了他們是怎樣乾的，隨即我也就明白了我該幹什麼和我該怎樣幹。
In the fall of 1984 I was accepted into the Literature Department of the PLA Art Academy, where, under the guidance of my revered mentor, the renowned writer Xu Huaizhong, I wrote a series of stories and novellas, including: “Autumn Floods,” “Dry River,” “The Transparent Carrot,” and “Red Sorghum.” Northeast Gaomi Township made its first appearance in “Autumn Floods,” and from that moment on, like a wandering peasant who finds his own piece of land, this literary vagabond found a place he could call his own. I must say that in the course of creating my literary domain, Northeast Gaomi Township, I was greatly inspired by the American novelist William Faulkner and the Columbian Gabriel García Márquez. I had not read either of them extensively, but was encouraged by the bold, unrestrained way they created new territory in writing, and learned from them that a writer must have a place that belongs to him alone. Humility and compromise are ideal in one’s daily life, but in literary creation, supreme self-confidence and the need to follow one’s own instincts are essential. For two years I followed in the footsteps of these two masters before realizing that I had to escape their influence; this is how I characterized that decision in an essay: They were a pair of blazing furnaces, I was a block of ice. If I got too close to them, I would dissolve into a cloud of steam. In my understanding, one writer influences another when they enjoy a profound spiritual kinship, what is often referred to as “hearts beating in unison.” That explains why, though I had read little of their work, a few pages were sufficient for me to comprehend what they were doing and how they were doing it, which led to my understanding of what I should do and how I should do it.
我該乾的事情其實很簡單，那就是用自己的方式，講自己的故事。我的方式，就是我所熟知的集市說書人的方式，就是我的爺爺奶奶、村裡的老人們講故事的方式。坦率地說，講述的時候，我沒有想到誰會是我的聽眾，也許我的聽眾就是那些如我母親一樣的人，也許我的聽眾就是我自己，我自己的故事，起初就是我的親身經歷，譬如《枯河》中那個遭受痛打的孩子，譬如《透明的紅蘿蔔》中那個自始至終一言不發的孩子。我的確曾因為幹過一件錯事而受到過父親的痛打，我也的確曾在橋梁工地上為鐵匠師傅拉過風箱。當然，個人的經歷無論多麼奇特也不可能原封不動地寫進小說，小說必須虛構，必須想象。很多朋友說《透明的紅蘿蔔》是我最好的小說，對此我不反駁，也不認同，但我認為《透明的紅蘿蔔》是我的作品中最有象徵性、最意味深長的一部。那個渾身漆黑、具有超人的忍受痛苦的能力和超人的感受能力的孩子，是我全部小說的靈魂，儘管在後來的小說裡，我寫了很多的人物，但沒有一個人物，比他更貼近我的靈魂。或者可以說，一個作家所塑造的若干人物中，總有一個領頭的，這個沉默的孩子就是一個領頭的，他一言不發，但卻有力地領導著形形色色的人物，在高密東北鄉這個舞臺上，盡情地表演。
What I should do was simplicity itself: Write my own stories in my own way. My way was that of the marketplace storyteller, with which I was so familiar, the way my grandfather and my grandmother and other village old-timers told stories. In all candor, I never gave a thought to audience when I was telling my stories; perhaps my audience was made up of people like my mother, and perhaps it was only me. The early stories were narrations of my personal experience: the boy who received a whipping in “Dry River,” for instance, or the boy who never spoke in “The Transparent Carrot.” I had actually done something bad enough to receive a whipping from my father, and I had actually worked the bellows for a blacksmith on a bridge site. Naturally, personal experience cannot be turned into fiction exactly as it happened, no matter how unique that might be. Fiction has to be fictional, has to be imaginative. To many of my friends, “The Transparent Carrot” is my very best story; I have no opinion one way or the other. What I can say is, “The Transparent Carrot” is more symbolic and more profoundly meaningful than any other story I’ve written. That dark-skinned boy with the superhuman ability to suffer and a superhuman degree of sensitivity represents the soul of my entire fictional output. Not one of all the fictional characters I’ve created since then is as close to my soul as he is. Or put a different way, among all the characters a writer creates, there is always one that stands above all the others. For me, that laconic boy is the one. Though he says nothing, he leads the way for all the others, in all their variety, performing freely on the Northeast Gaomi Township stage.
自己的故事總是有限的，講完了自己的故事，就必須講他人的故事。於是，我的親人們的故事，我的村人們的故事，以及我從老人們口中聽到過的祖先們的故事，就像聽到集合令的士兵一樣，從我的記憶深處湧出來。他們用期盼的目光看著我，等待著我去寫他們。我的爺爺、奶奶、父親、母親、哥哥、姐姐、姑姑、叔叔、妻子、女兒，都在我的作品裡出現過，還有很多的我們高密東北鄉的鄉親，也都在我的小說裡露過面。當然，我對他們，都進行了文學化的處理，使他們超越了他們自身，成為文學中的人物。
A person can experience only so much, and once you have exhausted your own stories, you must tell the stories of others. And so, out of the depths of my memories, like conscripted soldiers, rose stories of family members, of fellow villagers, and of long-dead ancestors I learned of from the mouths of old-timers. They waited expectantly for me to tell their stories. My grandfather and grandmother, my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, my aunts and uncles, my wife and my daughter have all appeared in my stories. Even unrelated residents of Northeast Gaomi Township have made cameo appearances. Of course they have undergone literary modification to transform them into larger-than-life fictional characters.
我最新的小說《蛙》中，就出現了我姑姑的形象。因為我獲得諾貝爾獎，許多記者到她家採訪，起初她還很耐心地回答提問，但很快便不勝其煩，跑到縣城裡她兒子家躲起來了。姑姑確實是我寫《蛙》時的模特，但小說中的姑姑，與現實生活中的姑姑有著天壤之別。小說中的姑姑專橫跋扈，有時簡直像個女匪，現實中的姑姑和善開朗，是一個標準的賢妻良母。現實中的姑姑晚年生活幸福美滿，小說中的姑姑到了晚年卻因為心靈的巨大痛苦患上了失眠症，身披黑袍，像個幽靈一樣在暗夜中游蕩。我感謝姑姑的寬容，她沒有因為我在小說中把她寫成那樣而生氣;我也十分敬佩我姑姑的明智，她正確地理解了小說中人物與現實中人物的複雜關係。
An aunt of mine is the central character of my latest novel, Frogs. The announcement of the Nobel Prize sent journalists swarming to her home with interview requests. At first, she was patiently accommodating, but she soon had to escape their attentions by fleeing to her son’s home in the provincial capital. I don’t deny that she was my model in writing Frogs, but the differences between her and the fictional aunt are extensive. The fictional aunt is arrogant and domineering, in places virtually thuggish, while my real aunt is kind and gentle, the classic caring wife and loving mother. My real aunt’s golden years have been happy and fulfilling; her fictional counterpart suffers insomnia in her late years as a result of spiritual torment, and walks the nights like a specter, wearing a dark robe. I am grateful to my real aunt for not being angry with me for how I changed her in the novel. I also greatly respect her wisdom in comprehending the complex relationship between fictional characters and real people.
母親去世後，我悲痛萬分，決定寫一部書獻給她。這就是那本《豐乳肥臀》。因為胸有成竹，因為情感充盈，僅用了83 天，我便寫出了這部長達50 萬字的小說的初稿。
After my mother died, in the midst of almost crippling grief, I decided to write a novel for her. Big Breasts and Wide Hips is that novel. Once my plan took shape, I was burning with such emotion that I completed a draft of half a million words in only eighty-three days.
在《豐乳肥臀》這本書裡，我肆無忌憚地使用了與我母親的親身經歷有關的素材，但書中的母親情感方面的經歷，則是虛構或取材於高密東北鄉諸多母親的經歷。在這本書的卷前語上，我寫下了“獻給母親在天之靈”的話，但這本書，實際上是獻給天下母親的，這是我狂妄的野心，就像我希望把小小的“高密東北鄉”寫成中國乃至世界的縮影一樣。
In Big Breasts and Wide Hips I shamelessly used material associated with my mother’s actual experience, but the fictional mother’s emotional state is either a total fabrication or a composite of many of Northeast Gaomi Township’s mothers. Though I wrote “To the spirit of my mother” on the dedication page, the novel was really written for all mothers everywhere, evidence, perhaps, of my overweening ambition, in much the same way as I hope to make tiny Northeast Gaomi Township a microcosm of China, even of the whole world.
作家的創作過程各有特色，我每本書的構思與靈感觸發也都不盡相同。有的小說起源於夢境，譬如《透明的紅蘿蔔》，有的小說則發端於現實生活中發生的事件譬如《天堂蒜薹之歌》。但無論是起源於夢境還是發端於現實，最後都必須和個人的經驗相結合，才有可能變成一部具有鮮明個性的，用無數生動細節塑造出了典型人物的、語言豐富多彩、結構匠心獨運的文學作品。有必要特別提及的是，在《天堂蒜薹之歌》中，我讓一個真正的說書人登場，並在書中扮演了十分重要的角色。我十分抱歉地使用了這個說書人真實姓名，當然，他在書中的所有行為都是虛構。在我的寫作中，出現過多次這樣的現象，寫作之初，我使用他們的真實姓名，希望能借此獲得一種親近感，但作品完成之後，我想為他們改換姓名時卻感到已經不可能了，因此也發生過與我小說中人物同名者找到我父親發洩不滿的事情，我父親替我向他們道歉，但同時又開導他們不要當真。我父親說：“他在《紅高粱》中，第一句就說‘我父親這個土匪種’，我都不在意你們還在意什麼?”
The process of creation is unique to every writer. Each of my novels differs from the others in terms of plot and guiding inspiration. Some, such as “The Transparent Carrot,” were born in dreams, while others, like The Garlic Ballads have their origin in actual events. Whether the source of a work is a dream or real life, only if it is integrated with individual experience can it be imbued with individuality, be populated with typical characters molded by lively detail, employ richly evocative language, and boast a well crafted structure. Here I must point out that in The Garlic Ballads I introduced a real-life storyteller and singer in one of the novel’s most important roles. I wish I hadn’t used his real name, though his words and actions were made up. This is a recurring phenomenon with me. I’ll start out using characters’ real names in order to achieve a sense of intimacy, and after the work is finished, it will seem too late to change those names. This has led to people who see their names in my novels going to my father to vent their displeasure. He always apologizes in my place, but then urges them not to take such things so seriously. He’ll say: “The first sentence in Red Sorghum, ‘My father, a bandit’s offspring,’ didn’t upset me, so why should you be unhappy?”
我在寫作《天堂蒜薹之歌》這類逼近社會現實的小說時，面對著的最大問題，其實不是我敢不敢對社會上的黑暗現象進行批評，而是這燃燒的激情和憤怒會讓政治壓倒文學，使這部小說變成一個社會事件的紀實報告。小說家是社會中人，他自然有自己的立場和觀點，但小說家在寫作時，必須站在人的立場上，把所有的人都當作人來寫。只有這樣，文學才能發端事件但超越事件，關心政治但大於政治。
My greatest challenges come with writing novels that deal with social realities, such as The Garlic Ballads, not because I’m afraid of being openly critical of the darker aspects of society, but because heated emotions and anger allow politics to suppress literature and transform a novel into reportage of a social event. As a member of society, a novelist is entitled to his own stance and viewpoint; but when he is writing he must take a humanistic stance, and write accordingly. Only then can literature not just originate in events, but transcend them, not just show concern for politics but be greater than politics.
可能是因為我經歷過長期的艱難生活，使我對人性有較為深刻的瞭解。我知道真正的勇敢是什麼，也明白真正的悲憫是什麼。我知道，每個人心中都有一片難用是非善惡準確定性的朦朧地帶，而這片地帶，正是文學家施展才華的廣闊天地。只要是準確地、生動地描寫了這個充滿矛盾的朦朧地帶的作品，也就必然地超越了政治並具備了優秀文學的品質。
Possibly because I’ve lived so much of my life in difficult circumstances, I think I have a more profound understanding of life. I know what real courage is, and I understand true compassion. I know that nebulous terrain exists in the hearts and minds of every person, terrain that cannot be adequately characterized in simple terms of right and wrong or good and bad, and this vast territory is where a writer gives free rein to his talent. So long as the work correctly and vividly describes this nebulous, massively contradictory terrain, it will inevitably transcend politics and be endowed with literary excellence.
喋喋不休地講述自己的作品是令人厭煩的，但我的人生是與我的作品緊密相連的，不講作品，我感到無從下嘴，所以還得請各位原諒。
Prattling on and on about my own work must be annoying, but my life and works are inextricably linked, so if I don’t talk about my work, I don’t know what else to say. I hope you are in a forgiving mood.
在我的早期作品中，我作為一個現代的說書人，是隱藏在文字背後的，但從《檀香刑》這部小說開始，我終於從後臺跳到了前臺。如果說我早期的作品是自言自語，目無讀者，從這本書開始，我感覺到自己是站在一個廣場上，面對著許多聽眾，繪聲繪色地講述。這是世界小說的傳統，更是中國小說的傳統。我也曾積極地向西方的現代派小說學習，也曾經玩弄過形形色色的敘事花樣，但我最終迴歸了傳統。當然，這種迴歸，不是一成不變的迴歸，《檀香刑》和之後的小說，是繼承了中國古典小說傳統又借鑑了西方小說技術的混合文字。小說領域的所謂創新，基本上都是這種混合的產物。不僅僅是本國文學傳統與外國小說技巧的混合，也是小說與其他的藝術門類的混合，就像《檀香刑》是與民間戲曲的混合，就像我早期的一些小說從美術、音樂、甚至雜技中汲取了營養一樣。
I was a modern-day storyteller who hid in the background of his early work; but with the novel Sandalwood Death I jumped out of the shadows. My early work can be characterized as a series of soliloquies, with no reader in mind; starting with this novel, however, I visualized myself standing in a public square spiritedly telling my story to a crowd of listeners. This tradition is a worldwide phenomenon in fiction, but is especially so in China. At one time, I was a diligent student of Western modernist fiction, and I experimented with all sorts of narrative styles. But in the end I came back to my traditions. To be sure, this return was not without its modifications. Sandalwood Death and the novels that followed are inheritors of the Chinese classical novel tradition but enhanced by Western literary techniques. What is known as innovative fiction is, for the most part, a result of this mixture, which is not limited to domestic traditions with foreign techniques, but can include mixing fiction with art from other realms. Sandalwood Death, for instance, mixes fiction with local opera, while some of my early work was partly nurtured by fine art, music, even acrobatics.
最後，請允許我再講一下我的《生死疲勞》。這個書名來自佛教經典，據我所知，為翻譯這個書名，各國的翻譯家都很頭痛。我對佛教經典並沒有深入研究，對佛教的理解自然十分膚淺，之所以以此為題，是因為我覺得佛教的許多基本思想，是真正的宇宙意識，人世中許多紛爭，在佛家的眼裡，是毫無意義的。這樣一種至高眼界下的人世，顯得十分可悲。當然，我沒有把這本書寫成佈道詞，我寫的還是人的命運與人的情感，人的侷限與人的寬容，以及人為追求幸福、堅持自己的信念所做出的努力與犧牲。小說中那位以一己之身與時代潮流對抗的藍臉，在我心目中是一位真正的英雄。這個人物的原型，是我們鄰村的一位農民，我童年時，經常看到他推著一輛吱吱作響的木輪車，從我家門前的道路上通過。給他拉車的，是一頭瘸腿的毛驢，為他牽驢的，是他小腳的妻子。這個奇怪的勞動組合，在當時的集體化社會裡，顯得那麼古怪和不合時宜，在我們這些孩子的眼裡，也把他們看成是逆歷史潮流而動的小丑，以至於當他們從街上經過時，我們會充滿義憤地朝他們投擲石塊。事過多年，當我拿起筆來寫作時，這個人物，這個畫面，便浮現在我的腦海中。我知道，我總有一天會為他寫一本書，我遲早要把他的故事講給天下人聽，但一直到了2005年，當我在一座廟宇裡看到“六道輪迴”的壁畫時，才明白了講述這個故事的正確方法。
Finally, I ask your indulgence to talk about my novel Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out. The Chinese title comes from Buddhist scripture, and I’ve been told that my translators have had fits trying to render it into their languages. I am not especially well versed in Buddhist scripture and have but a superficial understanding of the religion. I chose this title because I believe that the basic tenets of the Buddhist faith represent universal knowledge, and that mankind’s many disputes are utterly without meaning in the Buddhist realm. In that lofty view of the universe, the world of man is to be pitied. My novel is not a religious tract; in it I wrote of man’s fate and human emotions, of man’s limitations and human generosity, and of people’s search for happiness and the lengths to which they will go, the sacrifices they will make, to uphold their beliefs. Lan Lian, a character who takes a stand against contemporary trends, is, in my view, a true hero. A peasant in a neighboring village was the model for this character. As a youngster I often saw him pass by our door pushing a creaky, wooden-wheeled cart, with a lame donkey up front, led by his bound-foot wife. Given the collective nature of society back then, this strange labor group presented a bizarre sight that kept them out of step with the times. In the eyes of us children, they were clowns marching against historical trends, provoking in us such indignation that we threw stones at them as they passed us on the street. Years later, after I had begun writing, that peasant and the tableau he presented floated into my mind, and I knew that one day I would write a novel about him, that sooner or later I would tell his story to the world. But it wasn’t until the year 2005, when I viewed the Buddhist mural “The Six Stages of Samsara” on a temple wall that I knew exactly how to go about telling his story.
我獲得諾貝爾文學獎後，引發了一些爭議。起初，我還以為大家爭議的物件是我，漸漸的，我感到這個被爭議的物件，是一個與我毫不相關的人。我如同一個看戲人，看著眾人的表演。我看到那個得獎人身上落滿了花朵，也被擲上了石塊、潑上了汙水。我生怕他被打垮，但他微笑著從花朵和石塊中鑽出來，擦乾淨身上的髒水，坦然地站在一邊，對著眾人說：
The announcement of my Nobel Prize has led to controversy. At first I thought I was the target of the disputes, but over time I’ve come to realize that the real target was a person who had nothing to do with me. Like someone watching a play in a theater, I observed the performances around me. I saw the winner of the prize both garlanded with flowers and besieged by stone-throwers and mudslingers. I was afraid he would succumb to the assault, but he emerged from the garlands of flowers and the stones, a smile on his face; he wiped away mud and grime, stood calmly off to the side, and said to the crowd:
對一個作家來說，最好的說話方式是寫作。我該說的話都寫進了我的作品裡。用嘴說出的話隨風而散，用筆寫出的話永不磨滅。我希望你們能耐心地讀一下我的書，當然，我沒有資格強迫你們讀我的書。即便你們讀了我的書，我也不期望你們能改變對我的看法，世界上還沒有一個作家，能讓所有的讀者都喜歡他。在當今這樣的時代裡，更是如此。
For a writer, the best way to speak is by writing. You will find everything I need to say in my works. Speech is carried off by the wind; the written word can never be obliterated. I would like you to find the patience to read my books. I cannot force you to do that, and even if you do, I do not expect your opinion of me to change. No writer has yet appeared, anywhere in the world, who is liked by all his readers; that is especially true during times like these.
儘管我什麼都不想說，但在今天這樣的場合我必須說話，那我就簡單地再說幾句。
Even though I would prefer to say nothing, since it is something I must do on this occasion, let me just say this:
我是一個講故事的人，我還是要給你們講故事。
I am a storyteller, so I am going to tell you some stories.
上世紀六十年代，我上小學三年級的時候，學校裡組織我們去參觀一個苦難展覽，我們在老師的引領下放聲大哭。為了能讓老師看到我的表現，我捨不得擦去臉上的淚水。我看到有幾位同學悄悄地將唾沫抹到臉上冒充淚水。我還看到在一片真哭假哭的同學之間，有一位同學，臉上沒有一滴淚，嘴巴里沒有一點聲音，也沒有用手掩面。他睜著大眼看著我們，眼睛裡流露出驚訝或者是困惑的神情。事後，我向老師報告了這位同學的行為。為此，學校給了這位同學一個警告處分。多年之後，當我因自己的告密向老師懺悔時，老師說，那天來找他說這件事的，有十幾個同學。這位同學十幾年前就已去世，每當想起他，我就深感歉疚。這件事讓我悟到一個道理，那就是：當眾人都哭時，應該允許有的人不哭。當哭成為一種表演時，更應該允許有的人不哭。
When I was a third-grade student in the 1960s, my school organized a field trip to an exhibit of suffering, where, under the direction of our teacher, we cried bitter tears. I let my tears stay on my cheeks for the benefit of our teacher, and watched as some of my classmates spat in their hands and rubbed it on their faces as pretend tears. I saw one student among all those wailing children – some real, some phony – whose face was dry and who remained silent without covering his face with his hands. He just looked at us, eyes wide open in an expression of surprise or confusion. After the visit I reported him to the teacher, and he was given a disciplinary warning. Years later, when I expressed my remorse over informing on the boy, the teacher said that at least ten students had done what I did. The boy himself had died a decade or more earlier, and my conscience was deeply troubled when I thought of him. But I learned something important from this incident, and that is: When everyone around you is crying, you deserve to be allowed not to cry, and when the tears are all for show, your right not to cry is greater still.
我再講一個故事：三十多年前，我還在部隊工作。有一天晚上，我在辦公室看書，有一位老長官推門進來，一眼我對面的位置，自言自語道：“噢，沒有人?”我隨即站起來，高聲說：“難道我不是人嗎?”那位老長官被我頂得面紅耳赤，尷尬而退。為此事，我洋洋得意了許久，以為自己是個英勇的鬥士，但事過多年後，我卻為此深感內疚。
Here is another story: More than thirty years ago, when I was in the army, I was in my office reading one evening when an elderly officer opened the door and came in. He glanced down at the seat in front of me and muttered, “Hm, where is everyone?” I stood up and said in a loud voice, “Are you saying I’m no one?” The old fellow’s ears turned red from embarrassment, and he walked out. For a long time after that I was proud about what I consider a gutsy performance. Years later, that pride turned to intense qualms of conscience.
請允許我講最後一個故事，這是許多年前我爺爺講給我聽過的：有八個外出打工的泥瓦匠，為避一場暴風雨，躲進了一座破廟。外邊的雷聲一陣緊似一陣，一個個的火球，在廟門外滾來滾去，空中似乎還有吱吱的龍叫聲。眾人都膽戰心驚，面如土色。有一個人說：“我們八個人中，必定一個人幹過傷天害理的壞事，誰幹過壞事，就自己走出廟接受懲罰吧，免得讓好人受到牽連。”自然沒有人願意出去。又有人提議道：“既然大家都不想出去，那我們就將自己的草帽往外拋吧，誰的草帽被刮出廟門，就說明誰幹了壞事，那就請他出去接受懲罰。”於是大家就將自己的草帽往廟門外拋，七個人的草帽被刮回了廟內，只有一個人的草帽被捲了出去。大家就催這個人出去受罰，他自然不願出去，眾人便將他抬起來扔出了廟門。故事的結局我估計大家都猜到了那個人剛被扔出廟門，那座破廟轟然坍塌。
Bear with me, please, for one last story, one my grandfather told me many years ago: A group of eight out-of-town bricklayers took refuge from a storm in a rundown temple. Thunder rumbled outside, sending fireballs their way. They even heard what sounded like dragon shrieks. The men were terrified, their faces ashen. “Among the eight of us,” one of them said, “is someone who must have offended the heavens with a terrible deed. The guilty person ought to volunteer to step outside to accept his punishment and spare the innocent from suffering. Naturally, there were no volunteers. So one of the others came up with a proposal: Since no one is willing to go outside, let’s all fling our straw hats toward the door. Whoever’s hat flies out through the temple door is the guilty party, and we’ll ask him to go out and accept his punishment.” So they flung their hats toward the door. Seven hats were blown back inside; one went out the door. They pressured the eighth man to go out and accept his punishment, and when he balked, they picked him up and flung him out the door. I’ll bet you all know how the story ends: They had no sooner flung him out the door than the temple collapsed around them.
我是一個講故事的人。
I am a storyteller.
因為講故事我獲得了諾貝爾文學獎。
Telling stories earned me the Nobel Prize for Literature.
我獲獎後發生了很多精彩的故事，這些故事，讓我堅信真理和正義是存在的。
Many interesting things have happened to me in the wake of winning the prize, and they have convinced me that truth and justice are alive and well.
今後的歲月裡，我將繼續講我的故事。
So I will continue telling my stories in the days to come.
謝謝大家!
Thank you all.