David McCullough, Jr.为韦斯利高中毕业生演讲〈你并不特别〉

Dr. Wong, Dr. Keough, Mrs.Novogroski, Ms. Curran, members of the board of education, familyand friends of the graduates, ladies and gentlemen of the WellesleyHigh School class of 2012, for the privilege of speaking to youthis afternoon, I am honored and grateful.  Thankyou.

王博士、Keough博士、Novogroski女士和Curran小姐；教育委员会委员和毕业生的亲朋好友；韦斯利高中2012年毕业班的女士先生们；有机会能在这个下午对你们演讲令我感到十分荣幸与感激，谢谢。好，进入主题吧！

 So here we are… commencement… life’sgreat forward-looking ceremony.  (And don’t say,“What about weddings?”  Weddings are one-sided andinsufficiently effective.  Weddings arebride-centric pageantry.  Other than conceding toa list of unreasonable demands, the groom just standsthere.  No stately, hey-everybody-look-at-meprocession.  No being givenaway.  No identity-changingpronouncement.  And can you imagine a televisionshow dedicated to watching guys try on tuxedos? Their fathers sitting there misty-eyed with joy and disbelief,their brothers lurking in the corner muttering withenvy.  Left to men, weddings would be, afterlimits-testing procrastination, spontaneous, almost inadvertent…during halftime… on the way to the refrigerator. And then there’s the frequency of failure: statistics tell us halfof you will get divorced.  A winning percentagelike that’ll get you last place in the American LeagueEast.  The Baltimore Orioles do better thanweddings.)

毕业典礼－生命中重要的前瞻性仪式。别问说，「那婚礼呢？」婚礼是单方面的，而且效率不高。婚礼是以新娘为中心的盛会，除了同意一长串无理的要求外，新郎只能呆站在一旁。没有庄严的、「大家看着我」的过程；没有像新娘被长辈送出的仪式；没有改变身份的宣告。你们能想象一个专门看男人试穿燕尾服的电视节目吗？他们的父亲坐在那里，泪汪汪的眼中透着喜悦和不可置信的神情；他们的兄弟躲在角落，羡慕地喃喃自语。对男人来说，在挑战极限的拖延后，婚礼就像自发性地，几乎是无意识地，在球赛中场休息时间去冰箱拿饮料。然而，婚姻的失败率如下：统计数据显示，现场观众有一半会离婚；这样的胜率会让你荣登美国联盟东区的炉主。巴尔的摩金莺队的胜率都比婚姻成功率来得高。

 But this ceremony… commencement… acommencement works every time.  From this dayforward… truly… in sickness and in health, through financialfiascos, through midlife crises and passably attractive sales repsat trade shows in Cincinnati, through diminishing tolerance forannoyingness, through every difference, irreconcilable andotherwise, you will stay forever graduated from high school, youand your diploma as one, ‘til death do you part.

但这个仪式－毕业典礼，总是能圆满结束。从今天开始－确实如此；无论你生病或健康；经历过财务困境、中年危机；在辛辛那提贸易展遇见还算迷人的销售代表－家长了解我的意思；对恼人之事的容忍度越来越低；历经过每次的改变、自我矛盾和其他种种；你从高中毕业这个事实永远不会改变，你的文凭一生都会与你相伴。

 No, commencement is life’s greatceremonial beginning, with its own attendant and highly appropriatesymbolism.  Fitting, for example, for thisauspicious rite of passage, is where we find ourselves thisafternoon, the venue.  Normally, I avoid clichéslike the plague, wouldn’t touch them with a ten-foot pole, but herewe are on a literal level playing field.  Thatmatters.  That says something. And your ceremonial costume… shapeless, uniform,one-size-fits-all.  Whether male or female, tallor short, scholar or slacker, spray-tanned prom queen orintergalactic X-Box assassin, each of you is dressed, you’llnotice, exactly the same.  And your diploma… butfor your name, exactly the same.

不，毕业典礼代表生命中一个伟大仪式的开始，它有其本身的附加价值和高度的象征意义；例如象征让我们在这个下午找到自己定位的美妙仪式。通常我会像避瘟疫似地避免陈腔烂调，闪得远远的，但现在我们处于平等的竞技场上；这点很重要，它代表某些意义。你们的毕业礼服－毫无造型、外观统一、尺码相同；无论男女、高矮、会不会读书；无论是晒成一身古铜色的舞会皇后或Xbox的星际刺客；你会发现，每个人的穿著都一模一样。而你们的文凭…除了名字以外，其它完全一样。

 All of this is as it should be, because none ofyou is special.

 You are notspecial.  You are notexceptional.

 Contrary to whatyour u9 soccer trophy suggests, your glowing seventh grade reportcard, despite every assurance of a certain corpulent purpledinosaur, that nice Mister Rogers and your batty Aunt Sylvia, nomatter how often your maternal caped crusader has swooped in tosave you… you’re nothing special.

这一切本应如此，因为，你们没有任何人是特别的。

你并不特别，你并非与众不同；

尽管你有U9足球奖杯、辉煌的七年级成绩单；尽管你确信世上必定有肥胖的紫色恐龙、亲切的罗杰斯先生（著名儿童电视节目主持人）和古怪的Sylvia阿姨；无论女蝙蝠侠曾奋不顾身地救过你多少次；你依然没什么特别。

        

 Yes, you’ve been pampered, cosseted, doted upon,helmeted, bubble-wrapped.  Yes, capable adultswith other things to do have held you, kissed you, fed you, wipedyour mouth, wiped your bottom, trained you, taught you, tutoredyou, coached you, listened to you, counseled you, encouraged you,consoled you and encouraged you again.  You’vebeen nudged, cajoled, wheedled and implored. You’ve been feted and fawned over and called sweetiepie.  Yes, you have.  And,certainly, we’ve been to your games, your plays, your recitals,your science fairs.  Absolutely, smiles ignitewhen you walk into a room, and hundreds gasp with delight at yourevery tweet.  Why, maybe you’ve even had yourpicture in theTownsman! [Editor’s upgrade: Or The SwellesleyReport!]

 

是的，你被骄纵、溺爱、宠爱、保护、呵护；是的，忙碌不堪的大人抱着你、亲吻你、喂养你，替你擦嘴、擦屁股；训练你、教导你、指引你、辅导你、倾听你、规劝你、鼓励你、安慰你，并一再地鼓励你。你们被轻拥在怀里，好言哄诱和恳求；你们被赞美讨好，还被称为甜心派。是的，你确实有。当然，我们曾参加你的比赛、戏剧演出、演奏会、科学展览；当然，当你走进房里时，每个人都露出微笑；对你贴出的每一则twitter 讯息发出千百次兴奋的惊叹。为什么？也许你的照片曾登上Townsman（韦斯利高中校内刊物）。

 And now you’ve conquered high school…and, indisputably, here we all have gathered for you, the pride andjoy of this fine community, the first to emerge from thatmagnificent new building…

But do not get the idea you’reanything special.  Because you’renot.

现在你们已经征服了高中阶段，无疑地，我们全都是为了你们而聚在这里。你们是这个优秀小区的骄傲和喜悦，第一批从那栋宏伟新大楼里走出的人。

但不要认为你有什么特别，因为你并不特别。

  

The empirical evidence is everywhere,numbers even an English teacher can’t ignore. Newton, Natick, Nee… I am allowed to say Needham, yes? …that has tobe two thousand high school graduates right there, give or take,and that’s just the neighborhood Ns.  Across thecountry no fewer than 3.2 million seniors are graduating about nowfrom more than 37,000 high schools.  That’s 37,000valedictorians… 37,000 class presidents… 92,000 harmonizing altos…340,000 swaggering jocks… 2,185,967 pairs ofUggs.  But why limit ourselves to highschool?  After all, you’re leavingit.  So think about this: even if you’re one in amillion, on a planet of 6.8 billion that means there are nearly7,000 people just like you.  Imagine standingsomewhere over there on Washington Street on Marathon Monday andwatching sixty-eight hundred yous go running by. And consider for a moment the bigger picture: your planet, I’llremind you, is not the center of its solar system, your solarsystem is not the center of its galaxy, your galaxy is not thecenter of the universe.  In fact, astrophysicistsassure us the universe has no center; therefore, you cannot beit. 

 

实证无所不在，这个数字大到连一位英语老师都无法忽视。Newton、Natick、Nee…（均为邻近高中）；我可以提Needham，对吗？总共有两千名高中毕业生－大约这个数目，这只是邻近地区。现在，全国共有不止320万名高中生正从37000多所高中毕业，也就是说，有37000名毕业生代表、37000名学生会长、92000名合唱团团员、34万名趾高气扬的运动健将，和2,185,967双靴子。但为何要局限在高中？毕竟你们即将离开它。所以想想：即使你是百万中选一的菁英，以地球上68亿人口来说，这意味着有将近7000人跟你一样。想象一下，在星期一马拉松大赛时站在华盛顿街某处，观看6800个「你」跑过。再以更宏观的角度来想：我得提醒大家，你的星球不是太阳系的中心；你的太阳系不是银河的中心；你的银河不是宇宙的中心。事实上，天文物理学家肯定地说，宇宙没有中心。因此，你也不会是宇宙的中心。

 Neither can Donald Trump… whichsomeone should tell him… although that hair is quite aphenomenon.

即使唐纳．川普也不会是；应该有人告诉他这件事。

 

“But, Dave,” you cry, “Walt Whitmantells me I’m my own version of perfection! Epictetus tells me I have the spark of Zeus!”  AndI don’t disagree.  So that makes 6.8 billionexamples of perfection, 6.8 billion sparks ofZeus.  You see, if everyone is special, then noone is.  If everyone gets a trophy, trophiesbecome meaningless. 

虽然他的头发确实蔚为奇观。「但Dave，」你喊道，「惠特曼（美国诗人）告诉我，我是自己的完美版本！Epictetus（古希腊哲学家）告诉我，我有宙斯的火花！」我不反对这一点。因此，这代表68亿个完美的例子、68亿个宙斯的火花。你们知道，如果每个人都是特殊的，就没有任何人是特殊的；如果每个人都能拿到奖杯，奖杯就变得毫无意义。

 In our unspoken but not so subtleDarwinian competition with one another–which springs, I think, fromour fear of our own insignificance, a subset of our dread ofmortality — we have of late, we Americans, to our detriment, cometo love accolades more than genuine achievement. We have come to see them as the point — and we’re happy tocompromise standards, or ignore reality, if we suspect that’s thequickest way, or only way, to have something to put on themantelpiece, something to pose with, crow about, something withwhich to leverage ourselves into a better spot on the social totempole.  No longer is it how you play the game, nolonger is it even whether you win or lose, or learn or grow, orenjoy yourself doing it…  Now it’s “So what doesthis get me?”  As a consequence, we cheapen worthyendeavors, and building a Guatemalan medical clinic becomes moreabout the application to Bowdoin than the well-being ofGuatemalans.

虽然我们并未明说，但显而易见地，在达尔文的物竞天择理论中－我认为它源于我们对自身渺小的恐惧和对死亡的忧虑。最近我们美国人－这对我们造成很大的损害－对赞美的喜爱更胜于真正的成就；我们必须认真看待这一点。我们乐于向标准妥协，或忽略事实，如果我们认为这是最快或唯一的方式，让我们能得到某种放在壁炉上炫耀的东西；某种能让我们装腔作势、自吹自擂的东西；某种能让我们在社会图腾柱上爬到更佳位置的东西。我们不再在乎如何比赛、结果是赢是输；是否能藉此学习成长或乐在其中。现在我们在乎的是，「这能给我什么好处？」结果是，我们贬低了努力的价值。建立瓜地马拉医疗中心的目的更倾向于对鲍登学院的应用，而非危地马拉人的福祉。

 It’s an epidemic — and in its way,not even dear old Wellesley High is immune… one of the best of the37,000 nationwide, Wellesley High School… where good is no longergood enough, where a B is the new C, and the midlevel curriculum iscalled Advanced College Placement.  And I hope youcaught me when I said “one of the best.”  I said“one of the best” so we can feel better about ourselves, so we canbask in a little easy distinction, however vague and unverifiable,and count ourselves among the elite, whoever they might be, andenjoy a perceived leg up on the perceivedcompetition.  But the phrase defieslogic.  By definition there can be only onebest.  You’re it or you’re not.

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

If you’ve learned anything in youryears here I hope it’s that education should be for, rather thanmaterial advantage, the exhilaration of learning. You’ve learned, too, I hope, as Sophocles assured us, that wisdomis the chief element of happiness.  (Second is icecream…  just an fyi)  I also hopeyou’ve learned enough to recognize how little you know… how littleyou know now… at the moment… for today is just thebeginning.  It’s where you go from here thatmatters.

如果你在高中岁月里有学到任何东西，我希望是教育的本质－乐在学习，而不是物质上的优势。我也希望你们学习到，如Sophocles（古希腊悲剧作家）所说的，智能是快乐的首要元素；第二个是冰淇淋－仅供参考。我也希望你所学的足以使你体认到自己的不足，了解自己目前所知的是多么地少。因为今天只是一个开始，重要的是今后的学习。

 As you commence, then, and before youscatter to the winds, I urge you to do whatever you do for noreason other than you love it and believe in itsimportance.  Don’t bother with work you don’tbelieve 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 Oriolescomparison.  Resist the easy comforts ofcomplacency, the specious glitter of materialism, the narcoticparalysis of self-satisfaction.  Be worthy of youradvantages.  And read… read all the time… read asa matter of principle, as a matter ofself-respect.  Read as a nourishing staple oflife.  Develop and protect a moral sensibility anddemonstrate the character to apply it.  Dreambig.  Work hard.  Think foryourself.  Love everything you love, everyone youlove, with all your might.  And do so, please,with a sense of urgency, for every tick of the clock subtracts fromfewer and fewer; and as surely as there are commencements there arecessations, and you’ll be in no condition to enjoy the ceremonyattendant to that eventuality no matter how delightful theafternoon.

当你们毕业后，准备大展鸿图之前，我建议你们，不管做任何事，都应基于热爱和相信它的重要性。别费心理会你根本不相信的事，就像你不会跟一位你并未疯狂爱上的伴侣结婚；也避免让自己在巴尔的摩金莺队的比赛中站错边。别志得意满；别被物质主义华而不实的光芒蒙蔽；别被自我满足麻痹；别愧对自己的优势。并阅读…养成阅读习惯；阅读跟原则和自重有关，把阅读当成生活中的精神食粮。培养及保持道德感，并展现道德品格；拥有远大梦想，并努力实现；进行独立思考；全心全意地爱你所爱的一切人事物。请一定要把握时间，及时行动，因为时间正一分一秒地流逝。

凡事有开始必有结束；无论你们这个下午过得多么愉快，这场典礼终究会结束。

The fulfilling life, the distinctivelife, the relevant life, is an achievement, not something that willfall into your lap because you’re a nice person or mommy ordered itfrom the caterer.  You’ll note the foundingfathers 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 lyingaround watching parrots rollerskate onYoutube.

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

 The first President Roosevelt, theold rough rider, advocated the strenuous life. Mr. Thoreau wanted to drive life into a corner, to live deep andsuck out all the marrow.  The poet Mary Olivertells us to row, row into the swirl and roil. Locally, someone… I forget who… from time to time encourages youngscholars to carpe the heck out of the diem.  Thepoint is the same: get busy, have at it.  Don’twait for inspiration or passion to find you.  Getup, get out, explore, find it yourself, and grab hold with bothhands.

老罗斯福总统－一位老练的骑士，提倡艰苦的生活；梭罗先生尽力简化生活，希望活得深刻并吸取生命的精髓；诗人Mary Oliver告诉我们向前划，划进漩涡和湍流中；本校有个人－我忘了是谁，不时鼓励年轻学子们把握当下。这些话的重点都相同：动起来，付诸行动；别枯等灵感或热情来找你。站起来、走出门外、进行探索、靠自己的力量寻找，并好好把握。

 Now, before you dash off and get yourYOLO tattoo, let me point out the illogic of that trendy littleexpression–because you can and should live not merely once, butevery day of your life.  Rather than You Only LiveOnce, it should be You Live Only Once… but because YLOO doesn’thave the same ring, we shrug and decide it doesn’tmatter. None of this day-seizing, though,this YLOOing, should be interpreted as license forself-indulgence.  Like accolades ought to be, thefulfilled life is a consequence, a gratifyingbyproduct.  It’s what happens when you’re thinkingabout more important things.

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

Climb the mountain not to plant your flag, but to embrace thechallenge, enjoy the air and behold the view. Climb it so you can see the world, not so the world can seeyou.  Go to Paris to be in Paris, not to cross itoff your list and congratulate yourself for beingworldly.  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 6.8billion–and those who will follow them.  And thenyou too will discover the great and curious truth of the humanexperience is that selflessness is the best thing you can do foryourself.

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

 The sweetest joys of life, then, come only with the recognitionthat you’re not special.

 Because everyoneis.

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