American Rhetoric: David McCullough -- Wellesley High School Commencement Address (transcript-audio-video) | davidmcculloughwellesleyhighschoolcommencement

美国修辞：大卫·麦卡洛——韦尔斯利高中毕业典礼演讲（文字记录-音频-视频）|大卫麦卡洛韦尔斯利高中毕业典礼

· American Rhetoric · 原文

Wellesley High School Commencement Address

韦尔斯利高中毕业典礼致辞

delivered 1 June 2012, Wellesley, Massachusetts

2012 年 6 月 1 日交付，马萨诸塞州韦尔斯利

[AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED: Text version below transcribed directly from audio]

[真实性认证：以下文本版本直接从音频转录]

Dr. Wong, Dr. Keough, Mrs. Novogroski, Ms. Curran, members of the board of education, family and friends of the graduates, ladies and gentlemen of the Wellesley High School class of 2012, for the privilege of speaking to you this afternoon, I'm honored and grateful.

黄博士、Keough 博士、Novogroski 女士、Curran 女士、教育委员会成员、毕业生的家人和朋友、韦尔斯利高中 2012 届的女士们、先生们，今天下午有幸与你们讲话，我感到荣幸和感激。

Thank you.

谢谢。

So here we are, commencement, life�s great forward-looking ceremony.

所以我们在这里，毕业典礼，人生伟大的前瞻性仪式。

And don�t say, "What about weddings?" Weddings are one-sided and insufficiently effective.

不要说：“婚礼怎么样？” Weddings are one-sided and insufficiently effective.

Weddings are bride-centric pageantry.

婚礼是以新娘为中心的盛大场面。

Other than conceding to a list of unreasonable demands, the groom just stands there -- no stately, hey-everybody-look-at-me procession; no being given away; no identity-changing pronouncement.

Other than conceding to a list of unreasonable demands, the groom just stands there -- no stately, hey-everybody-look-at-me procession;没有被放弃；没有改变身份的声明。

And can you imagine a television show dedicated to watching guys try on tuxedos?

你能想象一个专门观看男士试穿燕尾服的电视节目吗？

Their fathers sitting there misty-eyed with joy and disbelief; their brothers lurking in the corner muttering with envy.

他们的父亲坐在那里，眼含泪水，充满喜悦和难以置信； their brothers lurking in the corner muttering with envy.

Left to men, weddings would be, after limits-testing procrastination, spontaneous, almost inadvertent -- during halftime, on the way to the refrigerator.

留给男人的婚礼，在经过极限测试的拖延之后，会是自发的，几乎是无意的——在中场休息时，在去冰箱的路上。

And then there�s the frequency of failure: statistics tell us half of you will get divorced.

A winning percentage like that�ll get you last place in the American League East.

The Baltimore Orioles do better than weddings.

巴尔的摩金莺队的表现比婚礼还要好。

But this ceremony, commencement, a commencement works every time.

From this day forward, truly, in sickness and in health, through financial fiascos, through midlife crises and passably attractive sales reps at trade shows in Cincinnati (parents get that), through diminishing tolerance for annoyingness, through every difference, irreconcilable and otherwise, you will stay forever graduated from high school, you and your diploma as one, �til death do you part.

确实，从今天开始，无论疾病还是健康，通过财务惨败，通过中年危机和辛辛那提贸易展览会上还算有吸引力的销售代表（父母都明白这一点），通过对烦人的容忍度逐渐降低，通过每一个差异，不可调和的或其他的，你将永远从高中毕业，你和你的文凭合二为一，直到死亡将你们分开。

No, commencement is life�s great ceremonial beginning, with its own attendant and highly appropriate symbolism.

Fitting, for example, this -- for this auspicious rite of passage, is where we find ourselves this afternoon, the venue.

Normally, I avoid clich�s like the plague, wouldn�t touch them with a ten-foot pole, but here we are on a literal level playing field.

That matters.

这很重要。

That says something.

这说明了一些事情。

And your ceremonial costume -- shapeless, uniform, one-size-fits-all.

还有你的礼仪服装——无形的、统一的、一刀切的。

Whether male or female, tall or short, scholar or slacker, spray-tanned prom queen or intergalactic X-Box assassin, each of you is dressed, you�ll notice, exactly the same; and your diploma, but for your name, exactly the same.

你会注意到，无论是男性还是女性、高个子还是矮个子、学者还是懒鬼、晒黑的舞会女王还是星际 X-Box 刺客，你们每个人的穿着都一模一样； and your diploma, but for your name, exactly the same.

All of this is as it should be -- because none of you is special.

You�re not special.

你并不特别。

You're not exceptional.

你并不例外。

Contrary to what your U9 soccer trophy suggests, your -- your glowing 7th grade report card, despite every assurance of a certain corpulent purple dinosaur , that nice Mister Rogers and your batty Aunt Sylvia, no matter how often your maternal caped crusader has swooped in to save you -- you�re nothing special.

与你的 U9 足球奖杯所暗示的相反，你的——你那闪闪发光的七年级成绩单，尽管你保证有某种肥胖的紫色恐龙，那个好心的罗杰斯先生和你的疯狂的西尔维娅阿姨，无论你的母亲披着斗篷的十字军多久一次突袭来拯救你——你没什么特别的。

Yes, you�ve been pampered, cosseted, doted upon, helmeted, bubble-wrapped.

Yes, capable adults with other things to do have held you, kissed you, fed you, wiped your mouth, wiped your bottom, trained you, taught you, tutored you, coached you, listened to you, counseled you, encouraged you, consoled you, and encouraged you again.

是的，有其他事情要做的有能力的成年人抱过你，亲吻过你，喂过你，擦过你的嘴，擦过你的屁股，训练过你，教导过你，辅导过你，辅导过你，听过你说过的话，劝过你，鼓励过你，安慰过你，再一次鼓励过你。

You have been nudged, cajoled, wheedled, and implored.

你被催促、被哄骗、被哄骗、被恳求。

You�ve been feted and fawned over and called "sweetie pie." Yes, you have.

You�ve been feted and fawned over and called "sweetie pie."是的，你有。

And certainly, we�ve been to your games, your plays, your recitals, your science fairs.

Absolutely, smiles ignite when you walk into a room, and hundreds gasp with delight at your every tweet.

当然，当你走进一个房间时，笑容会被点燃，数百人会因你的每一条推文而欣喜若狂。

Why, maybe you�ve even had your picture in the Townsman .

哎呀，也许你的照片还刊登在《城镇居民》上。

And now you�ve conquered high school; and, indisputably, here we all have gathered for you, the pride and joy of this fine community, the first to emerge from that magnificent new building.

现在你已经征服了高中；毫无疑问，我们大家都聚集在这里，这是这个优秀社区的骄傲和喜悦，也是第一个从这座宏伟的新建筑中走出来的人。

But do not get the idea you�re anything special -- because you�re not.

The empirical evidence is everywhere, numbers even an English teacher can�t ignore.

Newton, Natick -- I'm allowed to say Needham, yes?

牛顿、内蒂克——我可以说李约瑟，是吗？

-- that has to be 2000 high school graduates right there, give or take, and that�s just the neighborhood N�s.

- 那里必须有 2000 名高中毕业生，无论给予还是接受，而这只是 N 区的邻居。

Across the country no fewer than 3.2 million seniors are graduating about now from more than 37,000 high schools.

目前，全国 37,000 多所高中中约有 320 万名老年人即将毕业。

That�s 37,000 valedictorians; that�s 37,000 class presidents, 92,000 harmonizing altos, 340,000 swaggering jocks, 2,185,967 pairs of Uggs .

共有 37,000 名告别演说者；那是37,000名班级主席，92,000名和谐的女低音，340,000名大摇大摆的运动员，2,185,967双Uggs。

But why limit ourselves to high school?

但为什么要把我们限制在高中呢？

After all, you�re leaving it.

毕竟，你要离开它了。

So think about this: Even if you�re one in a million, on a planet of 6.8 billion that means there are nearly 7,000 people just like you.

所以想一想：即使你是百万分之一，在一个拥有 68 亿人口的星球上，也意味着有近 7,000 个人像你一样。

Imagine standing somewhere over there on Washington Street on Marathon Monday watching 6800 "yous" go running by.

想象一下周一马拉松比赛时，站在华盛顿街的某个地方，看着 6800 个“你”奔跑而过。

And consider for a moment the bigger picture: Your planet, I�ll remind you, is not the center of its solar system; your solar system is not the center of its galaxy; your galaxy is not the center of the universe.

考虑一下更大的图景：我会提醒你，你的星球不是太阳系的中心；它是太阳系的中心。 your solar system is not the center of its galaxy;你们的星系不是宇宙的中心。

In fact, astrophysicists assure us the universe has no center; therefore, you cannot be "it." Neither can Donald Trump, which someone should tell him, although the hair is quite a phenomenon.

In fact, astrophysicists assure us the universe has no center;因此，你不可能是“它”。 Neither can Donald Trump, which someone should tell him, although the hair is quite a phenomenon.

"But Dave," you cry, " Walt Whitman tells me...I�m my own version of perfect ." " Epictetus tells me I have the spark of Zeus." And I don�t disagree.

“但是戴夫，”你哭着说，“沃尔特·惠特曼告诉我……我是我自己版本的完美。” “爱比克泰德告诉我，我拥有宙斯的火花。”我并不反对。

So that makes 6.8 billion examples of perfection, 6.8 billion sparks of Zeus.

这样就形成了 68 亿个完美的例子，68 亿个宙斯的火花。

You see, if everyone is special, then no one is.

你看，如果每个人都是特别的，那么就没有人是特别的。

If everyone gets a trophy, trophies become meaningless.

In our unspoken but not-so-subtle Darwinian competition with one another -- which springs, I think, from our fear of our own insignificance, a subset of our dread of mortality -- we have of late, we Americans, to our detriment, come to love accolades more than genuine achievement.

在我们之间不言而喻但不那么微妙的达尔文式竞争中——我认为，这种竞争源于我们对自己微不足道的恐惧，这是我们对死亡的恐惧的一部分——近来，我们美国人，对我们不利的是，越来越喜欢荣誉而不是真正的成就。

We have come to see them as the point, and we�re happy to compromise standards, or ignore reality, if we suspect that�s the quickest way, or only way, to have something to put on the mantelpiece, something to pose with, crow about, something with which to leverage ourselves into a better spot on the social totem pole.

我们已经开始将它们视为重点，如果我们怀疑这是最快或唯一的方法，可以将一些东西放在壁炉架上，一些可以摆姿势，吹嘘的东西，一些可以使我们自己在社会图腾柱上占据更好位置的最快方法或唯一方法，我们很乐意妥协标准或忽视现实。

No longer is it how you play the game, no longer is it even whether you win or lose, or learn or grow, or enjoy yourself doing it.

不再是你玩游戏的方式，甚至不再是你输赢、学习或成长、或享受游戏的乐趣。

Now it�s "So what does this get me?" As a -- As a consequence, we cheapen worthy endeavors, and building a Guatemalan medical clinic becomes more about the application to Bowdoin than the well-being of Guatemalans.

现在是“这对我有什么好处？”因此，我们贬低了值得付出的努力，建立危地马拉医疗诊所更多地是为了鲍登学院的申请，而不是危地马拉人的福祉。

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 mid-level curriculum is called Advanced College Placement.

这是一种流行病——就连亲爱的老韦尔斯利高中也不能幸免——韦尔斯利高中是全国 37,000 所高中中最好的一所——在那里，好已经不够好，B 变成了新的 C，中级课程被称为大学高级分班。

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.

And I hope you caught me when I said "one of the best."我说“最好的之一”，这样我们就能对自己感觉更好，这样我们就可以享受一点简单的区别，无论多么模糊和无法验证，并将自己视为精英，无论他们是谁，并在感知的竞争中享有明显的优势。

But the phrase defies logic.

但这句话不符合逻辑。

By -- By definition there can be only one best.

根据——根据定义，只能有一个最好的。

You�re it or you�re not.

你要么是，要么不是。

If you�ve learned anything in your four years I hope it�s that education be for -- should be for, rather than material advantage, the exhilaration of learning.

如果你在四年里学到了什么，我希望教育是为了——应该是为了学习的乐趣，而不是物质利益。

You�ve learned, too, I hope, as Sophocles assured us, that wisdom is the chief element of happiness.

Second is ice cream -- just a -- just an FYI.

第二个是冰淇淋——仅供参考。

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.

我也希望你已经学到了足够多的知识，认识到你知道的东西是多么的少——现在，此刻，你知道的东西是多么的少，因为今天只是一个开始。

It�s where you go from here that matters.

重要的是你从这里到哪里去。

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.

那么，当你开始时，在你四散而去之前，我敦促你做任何你所做的事情，除了你热爱它并相信它的重要性之外，没有任何理由。

Don�t bother with work you -- 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.

不要为你不相信的工作而烦恼，就像你不为自己不喜欢的配偶烦恼一样，以免你也发现自己在巴尔的摩金莺队的比较中处于错误的一边。

Resist the easy comforts of complacency, the specious glitter of -- of materialism, the narcotic paralysis of self-satisfaction.

Be worthy of your advantages.

对得起你的优势。

And read.

并阅读。

Read all the time.

一直阅读。

Read as a matter of principle, as a matter of self-respect.

Read as a nourishing staple of life.

阅读作为生活的滋养主食。

Develop and protect a moral sensibility and demonstrate the character to apply it.

Dream big.

梦想远大。

Work hard.

努力工作。

Think for yourself.

你自己想想吧。

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 -- no matter how delightful the afternoon.

请带着紧迫感这样做，因为时钟的每一声滴答声都会让事情越来越少——有开始就有结束，你将无法享受伴随着这种可能性的仪式——无论这个下午多么令人愉快。

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.

充实的生活、独特的生活、相关的生活，是一种成就，而不是因为你是个好人或妈妈从餐饮承办人那里订购的东西而落在你腿上的东西。

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 roller skate on YouTube.

你会注意到，开国元勋们煞费苦心地保护你不可剥夺的生命权、自由权和追求幸福的权利——“追求”是一个相当活跃的动词——我想，这让你几乎没有时间躺在 YouTube 上观看鹦鹉滑旱冰。

The first President Roosevelt , the old rough rider, advocated the strenuous life.

首任总统罗斯福，这位老粗暴的骑手，提倡艰苦的生活。

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.

要点是一样的：忙起来；已经做到了。

Don�t wait for inspiration or passion to find you.

不要等待灵感或激情来找你。

Get up; get out.

起床;出去。

Explore.

探索。

Find it yourself and grab hold with both hands.

自己找到并用双手抓住。

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.

现在，在你急忙去纹身“YOLO”之前，让我指出这个时髦的小表达的不合逻辑，因为你可以而且应该活得不仅仅是一次，而是生命中的每一天。

Rather than "You Only Live Once," it should be "You Live Only Once" -- but because "[Y]LOO" doesn�t have the same ring, we shrug and decide it doesn�t matter.

而不是“You Only Live Once”，它应该是“You Live Only Once”——但因为“[Y]LOO”没有相同的戒指，我们耸耸肩并认为这并不重要。

None of this day-seizing, though, this [Y]LOO-ing, should be interpreted as license for self-indulgence.

然而，这种抓紧日子的行为，这种[Y]LOO-ing，不应被解释为自我放纵的许可。

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.

当你思考更重要的事情时就会发生这种情况。

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.

攀登它是为了让你看到世界，而不是为了让世界看到你。

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.

行使自由意志和创造性、独立的思想，不是为了它们能给你带来满足，而是为了它们能给其他人、68亿其他人以及那些追随他们的人带来好处。

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: The sweetest joys of life, them -- then, come only with the recognition that you�re not special -- because everyone is.

然后你也会发现人类经验中伟大而令人好奇的事实是，无私是你能为自己做的最好的事情：生活中最甜蜜的快乐，然后，只有认识到你并不特别，因为每个人都是特别的。

Congratulations.

恭喜。

Good luck.

祝你好运。

Make for yourselves, please, for your sake and for ours, extraordinary lives.

请为你们自己，为了你们，也为了我们，创造非凡的生活。

Book/CDs by Michael E.

Michael E. 的书籍/CD

Eidenmuller, Published by McGraw-Hill (2008) Audio Source : Wellesley Media Corporation Page Updated : 1/23/22 U.S. Copyright Status : Text and Audio = Used with permission.

Eidenmuller，由 McGraw-Hill 出版 (2008) 音频来源：Wellesley Media Corporation 页面更新日期：22 年 1 月 23 日美国版权状态：文本和音频 = 经许可使用。

American Rhetoric.

美国修辞学。

HTML transcription by Michael E.

HTML 转录由 Michael E.

Eidenmuller.

艾登米勒。

中文为机器翻译，仅供参考。