沪江英乐讯 第26届MTV音乐录影带大奖（VMA）的开场永远是最值得人回味的时刻，而邀请VMA的老手麦当娜为开场致辞绝对不会令观众失望。麦当娜以一身黑色拉链夹克搭配黑色裙子的装扮走上没有灯光的舞台，做出了感人肺腑的发言--向已故流行之王迈克尔·杰克逊致敬。以下是她的致辞：
Michael Jackson was born in August 1958. So was I. Michael Jackson grew up in the suburbs of the Midwest. So did I. Michael Jackson had eight brothers and sisters. So do I. When Michael Jackson was six, he became a superstar, and was perhaps the world's most beloved child. When I was six, my mother died. I think he got the shorter end of the stick. I never had a mother, but he never had a childhood. And when you never get to have something, you become obsessed by it.
迈克尔·杰克逊出生于1958年8月。我也是。迈克尔·杰克逊是在美国中西部的郊区长大的，而我也是。迈克尔·杰克逊有八个兄弟姐妹，我也有。在迈克尔·杰克逊年仅6岁的时候，他便成为了一个超级巨星，或许更是世界上最多人钟爱的小孩。而我6岁的时候，母亲永远离开了我。我从没有拥有过母爱，而他却从来没有享受过童年。当一个人意识到永远得不到某种东西时，他就会对此念念不忘。我耗尽了童年寻找母亲的形象，有时我做到了。但当你的一生都被安置在放大镜下被人关注时，试问你又如何重新找回你的童年？
There is no question that Michael Jackson is one of the greatest talents the world has ever known. That when he sang a song at the ripe old age of eight he could make you feel like an experienced adult was squeezing your heart with his words. That when he moved he had the elegance of Fred Astaire and packed the punch of Muhammad Ali. That his music had an extra layer of inexplicable magic that didn’t just make you want to dance but actually made you believe you could fly, dare to dream, be anything that you wanted to be. Because that is what heroes do and Michael Jackson was a hero.
毫无疑问MJ是世界上最伟大的天才之一。当他还是个8岁的小孩时，他的歌声已经让人感觉像个饱经沧桑的成人在述说他的故事，也因此扣人心弦......他的舞台魅力，有着歌舞之王弗雷德·阿斯泰尔（Fred Astaire）的优雅又有着拳王阿里的震撼力。这使得他的音乐有一种难以言喻的魔力，让你不仅仅想随之而舞，更让你相信你可以飞翔，勇于面对自己的梦想，成为任何你想成为的人。因为这就是英雄的影响力！而迈克尔·杰克逊就是个英雄！
He performed in soccer stadiums around the world, and sold hundreds of millions of records and dined with prime ministers and presidents. Girls fell in love with him, boys fell in love with him, everyone wanted to dance like him. He seemed otherworldly — but he was a human being.
他在世界各地的足球场做过演出，他有着数亿张的全球专辑销量，他接受过许多国家首相和总统的宴请。女孩儿们迷上了他，男孩儿爱上了他，每个人都想和他一样跳舞，他是那么得超凡脱俗，但却同时是个凡人。
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Like most performers he was shy and plagued with insecurities. I can’t say we were great friends, but in 1991 I decided I wanted to try to get to know him better. I asked him out to dinner, I said “My treat, I’ll drive — just you and me.”
正如大部分歌手一样，他很腼腆，又深深为自身的不安全感而困扰。我无法说我们是很要好的朋友，但是在1991年我决定我要让自己更为深入地了解他。于是我邀请他共度晚餐，我说："我请客，我开车，就你和我。"
He agreed and showed up to my house without any bodyguards. We drove to the restaurant in my car. It was dark out, but he was still wearing sunglasses. I said, “Michael, I feel like I’m talking to a limousine. Do you think you can take off your glasses so I can see your eyes?”
他答应了，并只身一人不带任何保镖出现在我家中。我开车和他出去，天已经很黑的可他仍然戴着他的墨镜。我说："迈克尔，我觉得我是在跟这部车说话。你能把眼镜摘掉让我看见你的眼睛吗？"
Then he tossed the glasses out the window, looked at me with a wink and a smile and said, “Can you see me now? Is that better?”
他犹豫了一会儿然后把眼镜扔出窗外，用闪烁的眼睛直视着我，笑着说："现在你能看见我了没？有没有好点？"
In that moment, I could see both his vulnerability and his charm. The rest of the dinner, I was hellbent on getting him to eat French fries, drink wine, have dessert and say bad words. Things he never seemed to allow himself to do. Later we went back to my house to watch a movie and sat on the couch like two kids, and somewhere in the middle of the movie, his hand snuck over and held mine.
在这时我终于感受到他的脆弱和他的魅力。在接下来的晚餐时间里，我尽我所能地让他和我一起吃法式炸薯条、一起喝红酒吃甜点，甚至讲粗口，让他做一些他似乎从来不允许自己做的事。后来，我们又开车回到我的家，一起像小孩儿一样坐在长沙发上看电影。看着看着，他悄悄地把手搭过来搂住了我。It felt like he was looking for more of a friend than a romance, and I was happy to oblige. In that moment, he didn’t feel like a superstar. He felt like a human being.那种感觉，就像他正试图抱他的朋友而非恋人，而我非常高兴地接受了他。就是这样的时刻，让我觉得他不再是一个超级巨星，他只是一个平凡的人。We went out a few more times together, and then for one reason or another we fell out of touch. Then the witch hunt began, and it seemed like one negative story after another was coming out about Michael. I felt his pain, I know what it’s like to walk down the street and feel like the whole world is turned against you. I know what it’s like to feel helpless and unable to defend yourself because the roar of the lynch mob is so loud you feel like your voice can never be heard.在那之后，我们又一起出去过几次，但后来因为某些原因我们失去了联系。紧接着，巫婆的诅咒似乎就开始了，关于迈克尔的坏消息一个接着一个不断地传出。我可以体会他的痛苦。我很清楚当一个人走在街上而全世界似乎都与你为敌的感觉，我也很清楚那种无助和无法为自己辩护的痛苦，因为那些嘶吼着要将你处死的声音实在太大，以至于无论你如何大声否认也没人听见。But I had a childhood, and I was allowed to make mistakes and find my own way in the world without the glare of the spotlight.
我是有童年的，而我也允许在镁光灯照不到的属于我的世界里犯错和做我自己。When I first heard that Michael had died, I was in London, days away from the start of my tour. Michael was going to perform in the same venue as me a week later. All I could think about in this moment was, “I had abandoned him.” That we had abandoned him. That we had allowed this magnificent creature who had once set the world on fire to somehow slip through the cracks. While he was trying to build a family and rebuild his career, we were all passing judgement. Most of us had turned our backs on him. 当我第一次听到MJ去世的消息时，我人在伦敦，巡回演唱会刚开始了几天。而迈克尔原本也计划在一周之后来这里演出。当时我的感觉便是我遗弃了他，我们都遗弃了他！因为我们竟然默许这位曾给世界带来巨大影响的俊杰遭受各种流言的折磨。当他试图建立自己的家庭和重拾他的事业时，我们都忙于对他做出评定。我们中的大部分人都拒绝了他。
In a desperate attempt to hold onto his memory, I went on the internet to watch old clips of him dancing and singing on TV and on stage and I thought, “my God, he was so unique, so original, so rare, and there will never be anyone like him again. He was a king.”
在我伤心欲绝的时候，我不断上网重温他以前在电视或演唱会上的表演片段，以凭吊我对他的思念。而每每这个时刻，我便会觉得："老天！他真的是独一无二，极其大胆又极具独创性。毫无疑问永远都不会有另一个人能像他那样。他就是一个王者。"But he was also a human being, and alas we are all human beings and sometimes we have to lose things before we can appreciate them. I want to end this on a positive note and say that my sons, age nine and four, are obsessed with Michael Jackson. There’s a whole lot of crotch grabbing and moon walking going on in my house. And, it seems like a whole new generation of kids have discovered his genius and are bringing him to life again. I hope that wherever Michael is right now he is smiling about this.但同时他又是个凡人。唉，我们都是凡人，以至于有时总要失去之后才懂得珍惜。最后，我想以一个积极乐观的方式结束我的发言。我的两个儿子，9岁和4岁，都非常痴迷于MJ，成天都在家里跳月球步，就好像全世界新一代的小孩儿们发现了杰克逊的天赋，并将他重新复活一样。无论迈克尔现在身在何处，我都希望他看到这一些时都是面带微笑的。Yes, Michael Jackson was a human being but he was a king. Long live the king.
是的，迈克尔·杰克逊是一个人类，但该死的，他就是一个王者！一个永世长存的王者！
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