【Using English】10 - Bob Dylan - Banquet Speech

文章来源: https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2016/dylan-speech.html


Good evening, everyone. I extend my warmest greetings to the members of the Swedish Academy and to all of the other distinguished guests in attendance tonight.

各位晚上好。 我向瑞典学院的成员以及今晚出席的所有其他贵宾致以最热烈的问候。

I'm sorry I can't be with you in person, but please know that I am most definitely with you in spirit and honored to be receiving such a prestigious prize. Being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature is something I never could have imagined or seen coming. From an early age, I've been familiar with and reading and absorbing the works of those who were deemed worthy of such a distinction: Kipling, Shaw, Thomas Mann, Pearl Buck, Albert Camus, Hemingway. These giants of literature whose works are taught in the schoolroom, housed in libraries around the world and spoken of in reverent tones have always made a deep impression. That I now join the names on such a list is truly beyond words.

对不起,我不能亲自和你在一起,但请知道我绝对和你在一起,并且很荣幸能获得这样一个声望很高的奖品。 被授予诺贝尔文学奖是我从未想象或看到过的。 从很小的时候开始,我就熟悉并阅读和吸收那些被认为值得这样区分的人的作品:Kipling,Shaw,Thomas Mann,Pearl Buck,Albert Camus,Hemingway。 这些文学巨人的作品在教室里传授,安置在世界各地的图书馆,并以虔诚的语调讲述,总是给人留下深刻的印象。 我现在加入这样一个名单上的名字真是无法言喻。

I don't know if these men and women ever thought of the Nobel honor for themselves, but I suppose that anyone writing a book, or a poem, or a play anywhere in the world might harbor that secret dream deep down inside. It's probably buried so deep that they don't even know it's there.

我不知道这些男人和女人是否曾为自己想过诺贝尔荣誉,但我想任何人在世界任何地方写一本书,一首诗或一部戏剧都可能深藏在内心的秘密梦想中。 它可能埋藏得如此之深,以至于它们甚至都不知道它在那里。

If someone had ever told me that I had the slightest chance of winning the Nobel Prize, I would have to think that I'd have about the same odds as standing on the moon. In fact, during the year I was born and for a few years after, there wasn't anyone in the world who was considered good enough to win this Nobel Prize. So, I recognize that I am in very rare company, to say the least.

如果有人曾告诉我,我有机会获得诺贝尔奖,我将不得不认为我和站在月球上的几率相同。 事实上,在我出生的那一年和几年之后,世界上没有任何人被认为足以赢得这个诺贝尔奖。 所以,我认识到,至少可以说,我是一个非常罕见的公司。

I was out on the road when I received this surprising news, and it took me more than a few minutes to properly process it. I began to think about William Shakespeare, the great literary figure. I would reckon he thought of himself as a dramatist. The thought that he was writing literature couldn't have entered his head. His words were written for the stage. Meant to be spoken not read. When he was writing Hamlet, I'm sure he was thinking about a lot of different things: "Who're the right actors for these roles?" "How should this be staged?" "Do I really want to set this in Denmark?" His creative vision and ambitions were no doubt at the forefront of his mind, but there were also more mundane matters to consider and deal with. "Is the financing in place?" "Are there enough good seats for my patrons?" "Where am I going to get a human skull?" I would bet that the farthest thing from Shakespeare's mind was the question "Is this literature?”

当我收到这个令人惊讶的消息时,我出去了路,我需要花费几分钟才能正确处理它。 我开始思考威廉·莎士比亚这位伟大的文学人物。 我认为他认为自己是戏剧家。 他正在写文学的想法无法进入他的脑海。 他的话是为舞台写的。 意思是说不读。 当他写“哈姆雷特”时,我确信他正在考虑很多不同的事情:“谁是这些角色的合适角色?” “这应该如何上演?” “我真的想在丹麦设置这个吗?” 他的创造性愿景和雄心无疑是他心中的最前沿,但也有更多平凡的事情要考虑和处理。 “融资到位了吗?” “我的顾客有足够好的座位吗?” “我将在哪里获得人类头骨?” 我敢打赌,莎士比亚心中最远的一个问题是“这是文学吗?”

When I started writing songs as a teenager, and even as I started to achieve some renown for my abilities, my aspirations for these songs only went so far. I thought they could be heard in coffee houses or bars, maybe later in places like Carnegie Hall, the London Palladium. If I was really dreaming big, maybe I could imagine getting to make a record and then hearing my songs on the radio. That was really the big prize in my mind. Making records and hearing your songs on the radio meant that you were reaching a big audience and that you might get to keep doing what you had set out to do.

当我十几岁开始写歌时,即使我开始为自己的能力赢得一些声望,我对这些歌曲的渴望也只有这么远。 我以为他们可以在咖啡馆或酒吧里听到,也许后来在卡内基音乐厅,伦敦钯等地方。 如果我真的梦想成真,也许我可以想象得到一个唱片然后在收音机里听我的歌。 这真是我心目中的大奖。 在收音机上制作唱片和听你的歌曲意味着你要接触到大量的观众,并且你可以继续做你已经准备好的事情。

Well, I've been doing what I set out to do for a long time, now. I've made dozens of records and played thousands of concerts all around the world. But it's my songs that are at the vital center of almost everything I do. They seemed to have found a place in the lives of many people throughout many different cultures and I'm grateful for that.

好吧,我现在已经做了我打算做的很长一段时间了。 我已经制作了数十张唱片,并在世界各地演奏了数千场音乐会。 但这是我的歌曲,几乎是我所做的一切的重要中心。 他们似乎在许多不同文化中的许多人的生活中找到了一席之地,我很感激。

But there's one thing I must say. As a performer I've played for 50,000 people and I've played for 50 people and I can tell you that it is harder to play for 50 people. 50,000 people have a singular persona, not so with 50. Each person has an individual, separate identity, a world unto themselves. They can perceive things more clearly. Your honesty and how it relates to the depth of your talent is tried. The fact that the Nobel committee is so small is not lost on me.

但我必须说一件事。 作为一名表演者,我已经为50,000人玩过,我已经为50人玩过,我可以告诉你,50人玩起来更难。 5万人有一个单一的角色,而不是50人。每个人都有一个个体,独立的身份,一个自己的世界。 他们可以更清楚地感知事物。 你的诚实以及它与你的才能的深度有关。 诺贝尔委员会这么小的事实并没有让我失望。

But, like Shakespeare, I too am often occupied with the pursuit of my creative endeavors and dealing with all aspects of life's mundane matters. "Who are the best musicians for these songs?" "Am I recording in the right studio?" "Is this song in the right key?" Some things never change, even in 400 years.

但是,和莎士比亚一样,我也经常忙于追求创造性的努力,处理生活世俗事务的各个方面。 “谁是这些歌曲最好的音乐家?” “我在正确的工作室录音吗?” “这首歌是正确的键吗?” 即使在400年内,有些事情也永远不会改变。

Not once have I ever had the time to ask myself, "Are my songs literature?”

我曾经没有时间问自己,“我的歌曲是文学吗?”

So, I do thank the Swedish Academy, both for taking the time to consider that very question, and, ultimately, for providing such a wonderful answer.

所以,我感谢瑞典学院,既花时间考虑这个问题,也最终提供了这样一个美妙的答案。

My best wishes to you all,

我祝福你们所有人,

Bob Dylan

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