president Faust(浮士德) members of the Harvard(哈佛大学(美国))
corporation(公司) and the Board of Overseers
members of the faculty(能力) proud parents and
above all graduates(毕业) the first thing I
would like to say is thank you
not only has half had given me an
extraordinary honor but the weeks of
fear and nausea(恶心) I have endured(忍耐) at the
thought of giving this commencement(毕业典礼)
address have made me lose weight a
22
win-win situation now all I have to do
is take deep breaths squint(斜视) at the red
banners(旗帜) and convince(说服) myself than up that
I am at the world's largest(最大的) Gryffindor
reunion(团聚)
33
delivering(交付) a commencement(毕业典礼) address is a
great responsibility(责任) or so I thought
until I cast my mind back to my own
graduation(毕业) the commencement(毕业典礼) speaker(扬声器) that
day was the distinguished British
philosopher(哲学家) Baroness(男爵夫人) Mary Warnock
reflecting(反射的) on her speech has helped me
enormous Lee(背风处) in writing this one because
it turns out that I can't remember a
single word she said this liberating(解放)
discovery enables(使能够) me to proceed
without any fear that I might
inadvertently(不注意地) influence you to abandon(放弃)
promising(有前途的) careers(职业) in business the law or
politics for the giddy(轻浮的) delights(高兴) of
becoming a gay wizard(术士)
you see if all you remember in years to
come is the gay wizard(术士) joke(笑话) I've come
out ahead of Baroness(男爵夫人) marijuana
achieve(实现) Abul(abulia 意志力丧失) goals(目标) the first step to
self-improvement actually I have wrapped(有包装的)
my mind and heart for what I ought to
say to you today(今天) I have asked myself
what I wish I had known at my own
graduation(毕业) and what important lessons(教训) I
have learnt in the 21 years that have
expired(到期的) between that day and this I have
come up with two answers(回答) on this
wonderful day when we are gathered
together to celebrate your academic(学术的)
success I have decided to talk to you
about the benefits(利益) of failure and as you
stand on the threshold(门槛) of what is
sometimes called real life I want to
extol(颂扬) the crucial(关键的) importance of
imagination these may seem pricks(刺) otic
or paradoxical(似是而非的 矛盾的 诡论的) choices(选择) but bear with me
looking back at the 21 year old that I
was at graduation(毕业) is a slightly
uncomfortable(不舒服的) experience for the 42 year
old that she has become half my lifetime(一生)
ago I was striking an uneasy(不舒服的) balance(平衡)
between the ambition I had for myself
and what those closest(最靠近的) talk to me
expected of me I was convinced that the
only thing I wanted to do ever was write
novels(小说) however my parents both of whom
came from impoverished(贫困的) backgrounds(时代背景) and
neither of whom had been to college took
the view that my overactive imagination
was an amusing(有趣的) personal quirk that would
never pay a mortgage(抵押) or secure a pension(养老金)
I know the irony(反讽) strikes(罢工) with the force
of a cartoon(卡通) anvil(铁砧) now
so they hoped that I would take a
vocational(职业的) degree I wanted to study
English literature a compromise(妥协) was
reached that in retrospect(回顾) satisfied
nobody and I went up to study Modern
Languages(语言) hardly had my parents car
round at the corner at the end of the
road than I ditched German and scuttled(凿沉；急走；快跑（动词scuttle的过去式和过去分词）)
off down the classics(名词classic的复数形式.) corridor(走廊)
I cannot remember telling my parents
that I was studying(研究) classics(名词classic的复数形式.) they might
well have found out for the first time
on graduation(毕业) day of all the subjects on
this planet(行星) I think they would have been
hard put to name one less useful and
Greek mythology(神话) when it came to securing(固定)
the keys(键) to an executive(行政部门) bathroom(浴室) now I
would like to make it clear in
parentheses(parenthesis的复数，圆括号) that I do not blame my
parents for their point of view there is
an expiry date on blaming(归咎) your parents
for steering(指导) you in the wrong direction
the moment you are old enough to take
the wheel(车轮) responsibility(责任) lies with you
what is more I cannot criticize(批评) my
parents for hoping(希望) that I would never
experience poverty they had been poor
themselves and I have since been poor
and I quite agree with them that it is
not an ennobling(授予爵位) experience poverty
entails(带来) fear and stress(压力) and sometimes
depression(萧条) it means a thousand petty(小的)
humiliations and hardships(困难) climbing(爬山) out
of poverty by your own efforts that is
something on which to pride yourself but
poverty itself is romanticized only by
fools(傻瓜) what I feared most for myself at
your age was not poverty but failure at
your age in spite of a distinct lack of
motivation at University where I had
spent far too long in the coffee bar
writing stories and far too little time
at lectures(演讲) I had a knack(诀窍) for passing
examinations(检查) and that for years had been
the measure of success in my life and
that of my peers(平辈) now I am not done
enough to suppose that because you are
young gifted(有天赋的) and well-educated you have
never known heartbreak hardship(艰难) or
heartache(心痛) talent(人才) and intelligence never
yet inoculated(灌输) anyone against the
Caprice(任性) of the fates(命运) and I do not for a
moment suppose that everyone(人人) here has
enjoyed an existence of unruffled(沉着的)
privilege(特权) and contentment(满足) however the
fact that you are graduating(毕业) from
Harvard(哈佛大学(美国)) suggests(建议) that you are not very
well acquainted with failure
you might be driven by a fear of failure
quite as much as a desire for success
indeed your conception of failure might
not be too far removed from the average
person's idea of success so high
have you already flown(动词fly的过去分词) ultimately(最后) we all
have to decide for ourselves what
constitutes failure but the world is
quite eager to give you a set of
criteria(标准) if you let it so I think it
fair to say that by any conventional(传统的)
measure a mere seven years after my
graduation(毕业) day I had failed on an epic(史诗)
scale(刻度) an exceptionally(特别地) short lived
marriage had imploded and I was jobless
a lone(唯一的) parent(父母) and as poor as it is
possible to be in modern Britain without
being homeless(无家可归的) the fears that my parents
had had for me and that I had had for
myself had both come to pass and by
every usual standard I was the biggest
failure I knew now I'm not going to
stand here and tell you that failure is
fun(乐趣) that period of my life is a dark one
and I had no idea that there was going
to be what the press has since
represented as a kind of fairytale
resolution I had no idea then how far
the tunnel(隧道) extended and for a long time
any light at the end of it was a hope
rather than a reality so why do I talk
about the benefits(利益) of failure simply
because failure meant us stripping(脱模) away
of the inessential I stopped pretending(假装的)
to myself that I was anything other than
what I was and began to direct all my
energy into finishing(最后的) the only work that
mattered(问题) to me had I really succeeded at
anything else I might never have found
the determination(决心) to succeed in the one
arena(竞技场) where I believed I truly belonged
I was set free because my greatest fear
had been realized and I was still alive
and I still had a daughter whom I adored(崇拜)
and I had an old typewriter(打字机) and a big
idea
and so rock-bottom became the solid
foundation on which I rebuilt(动词rebuild的过去式和过去分词) my life
you might never fail on the scale(刻度) I did
but some failure in life is inevitable(不可避免的)
it is impossible to live without failing(失败)
at something unless you live so
cautiously(慎重地) that you might as well not
have lived at all in which case you fail
by default(默认) failure gave me an inner
security that I had never attained(达到) by
passing examinations(检查) failure taught me
things about myself that I could have
learned no other way I discovered that I
had a strong will and more discipline(纪律)
than I had suspected I also found out
that I had friends whose value was truly
above the price of rubies(红宝石) the knowledge
that you have emerged(浮现) wiser(聪明的) and stronger
from setbacks means that you are ever
after secure in your ability to survive(存活)
you will never truly know yourself or
the strength of your relationships(关系[式) until
both have been tested(测试的) by adversity(逆境) such
knowledge is a true gift for all that it
is painfully(痛苦地) one and it has been worth
more than any qualification(资格) I ever
earned(挣得的) so given a time Turner(铁匠) I would
tell my twenty-one year old self that
personal happiness lies in knowing that
life is not a checklist of acquisition(采集)
or achievement(成就) your qualifications(资格，条件；合格证书（名词qualification的复数形式）) your
CV are not your life though you will
meet many people of my age and older who
confuse(混淆) the two life is difficult and
complicated(结构复杂的) and beyond anyone's total
control and the humility(谦卑) to know that
will enable you to survive(存活) its
vicissitudes(变迁) now you might think that I
chose my second theme(主题) the importance of
imagination because of the part it
played in rebuilding(改建) my life but that is
not wholly so though I personally(就个人而言) will
defend the value of bedtime(就寝时间) stories to
my last gasp(喘气) I have learned to value
imagination in a much broader(更宽广的，更广阔的，更广泛的（形容词broad的比较级）) sense
imagination is not only the uniquely
human capacity
envision that which is not and therefore
the fount(泉) of all invention(发明) and
innovation(创新) in its arguably most
transformative and revelatory capacity
it is the power that enables(使能够) us to
empathize with humans(人类) whose experiences(经验)
we have never shared one of the greatest
formative(形成的) experiences(经验) of my life
preceded(先于) Harry Potter(陶工) though it informed
much of what I subsequently(随后) wrote in
those books this revelation(启示) came in the
form of one of my earliest(最早) day jobs(工作（名词job的复数形式）; Jobs：乔布斯（人名）)
though I was sloping(倾斜的) off to write
stories during my lunch(午餐) hours I paid the
rent(租金) in my early twenties(二十几岁) by working at
the African(非洲人) research(研究) department(部门) of
Amnesty(特赦) International's headquarters(总部) in
London there in my little office
I read hastily scribbled(乱写) letters
smuggled(走私) out of totalitarian regimes by
men and women who were risking(风险)
imprisonment(关押) to inform(通知) the outside world
of what was happening(偶然发生的事) to them I saw
photographs(照片) of those who had disappeared
without trace sent to amnesty(特赦) by their
desperate families and friends I read
the testimony of torture(拷问) victims(受害者) and saw
pictures of their injuries(伤害)
I opened handwritten eyewitness(目击者) accounts
of summary(摘要) trials and executions(实行) of
kidnappings and rapes many of my
co-workers were ex political prisoners
people who had been displaced(已位移的) from their
homes(家) or fled into exile(流放) because they
had the temerity(鲁莽) to speak against their
governments(政府) visitors(游客) to our offices(办公室)
included those who had come to give
information or to try and find out what
had happened to those who had left
behind I shall never forget the African(非洲人)
torture(拷问) victim(受害者) a young man no older than
I was at the time who had become
mentally(智力上) ill after all he had endured(忍耐) in
his homeland he trembled(颤抖) uncontrollably
as he spoke into a video(视频) camera(照相机) about
the brutality(残忍) inflicted(使遭受) upon him he was
a foot taller(高的) than I was and seemed as
fragile(易碎的) as a child I was given the job(工作)
of in scoring(得分) him back to the
underground(地下) station afterwards
and this man whose life had been
shattered(砸碎的) by cruelty(残酷) took my hand with
exquisite(精致的) courtesy(礼貌) and wished me future
happiness and as long as I live I shall
remember walking along an empty corridor(走廊)
and suddenly hearing from behind a
closed door a scream(尖叫) of pain and horror
such as I have never heard since the
door opened and the researcher poked(戳) out
her out her head and told me to run and
make a hot drink for the young man
sitting with her she had just had to
give him the news that in retaliation(报复)
for his outspokenness against his
country's regime(政权) his mother had been
seized and executed(执行) every day of my
working week in my early twenties(二十几岁) I was
reminded(提醒) how incredibly(难以置信地) fortunate I was
to live in a country with a
democratically elected(当选的) government where
legal representation(表现) and a public trial
were the rights of everyone(人人) everyday(日常的) I
saw more evidence about the evils
humankind((总称)人类) would inflict(使遭受) on their fellow
humans(人类) to gain or maintain power I began
to have nightmares(噩梦) literal(文字的) nightmares(噩梦)
about some of the things I saw heard and
read and yet I also learned more about
human goodness at Amnesty(特赦) International(国际的)
than I had ever known before
amnesty(特赦) mobilizes thousands of people
who have never been tortured(拷问) or
imprisoned(监禁) for their beliefs(相信) to act on
behalf(代表) of those who have the power of
human empathy leading to collective(集体)
action saves(救) lives and frees(解放) prisoners
ordinary people whose personal
well-being and security are assured join
together in huge numbers to save people
they do not know and will never meet my
small participation(参与) in that process was
one of the most humbling(令人羞辱的) and inspiring(鼓舞人心的)
experiences(经验) of my life unlike(与 ... 平时不同) any other
creature on this planet(行星) human beings can
learn and understand without having
experienced they can think themselves
into other people's places of course
this is a power like my brand(牌子) of
fictional magic that is morally(道义上地) neutral(中性的)
one might use such an ability to
manipulate(操作) or control just as much as to
understand or sympathise(同情) and many prefer
not to exercise their imaginations at
all they choose to remain comfortably(舒服地)
within the bounds(界限) of their own
experience never troubling(令人不安的) to wonder how
it would feel to have been born other
than they are they can refuse to hear
screams(尖叫) or peer(贵族) inside cages(笼子) they can
close their minds and hearts to any
suffering that does not touch them
personally(就个人而言) they can refuse to know I
might be tempted(引诱) to envy(羡慕) people who can
live that way except that I do not think
they have any fewer(少的) nightmares(噩梦) than I do
choosing(选择) to live in narrow spaces(空间) leads
to a form of mental Agra(阿格拉(印度北部一城市)) phobia and that
brings its own terrors(惊)
I think the willfully(任性固执地) unimaginative(无趣的) see
more monsters(怪物) they are often more afraid
what is more those who choose not to
empathize enable real monsters(怪物) for
without ever committing an act of
outright(彻底的) evil ourselves we collude with
it through our own apathy(冷漠) one of the
many things I learned at the end of that
classics(名词classic的复数形式.) corridor(走廊) down which I ventured(企业)
at the age of eighteen in search of
something I could not then define(定义) was
this written by the Greek author
Plutarch(希腊的历史家) what we achieve(实现) inwardly(在内部) will
change outer reality that is an
astonishing(惊人的) statement and get proven(证明的) a
thousand times every day of our lives it
expresses(表达) in part our inescapable
connection with the outside world the
fact that we touch other people's lives
simply by existing but how much more are
you Harvard(哈佛大学(美国)) graduates(毕业) of 2008 lightly to
touch other people's lives your
intelligence
your capacity for hard work the
education you have earned(挣得的) and received
give you unique(独特的) unique(独特的) status and unique(独特的)
responsibilities(责任) even your nationality(民族)
sets(设置) you apart the great majority of you
belong to the world's only remaining
superpower the way you vote the way you
live the way you protest(抗议) the pressure
you bring to bear on your government has
an impact(影响) way beyond your borders(边界) that
is your privilege(特权) and your burden if you
choose to use your status and influence
to raise your voice on behalf(代表) of those
who have no voice if you choose to
identify(认同) not only with the powerful but
with the powerless(无力的) if you retain(保留) the
ability to imagine yourself into the
lives of those who do not have your
advantages then it will not only be your
proud families who celebrate your
existence but thousands and millions of
people whose reality you have helped
change we do not need magic to transform(转换)
our world we carry all the power we need
inside ourselves already we have the
power to imagine better I'm nearly
finished I have one last hope for you
which is something that I already had at
21 the friends with whom i sat on
graduation(毕业) day have been my friends for
life they are my children's godparents
the people to whom I've been able to
turn in times of real trouble people who
have been kind enough not to sue(起诉) me when
I took their names for Death Eaters
at our graduation(毕业) we were bound by
enormous affection by our shared
experience of a time that could never
come again
and of course by the knowledge that we
held certain photographic(摄影的) evidence that
would be exceptionally(特别地) valuable if any
of us ran for prime(最好的) minister
so today(今天) I wish you nothing better and
similar friendships(友谊（名词friendship的复数形式）) and tomorrow(明天) I hope
that even if you remember not a single
word of mine
you remember those of Seneca(塞内卡语) another of
those old Romans I met when I fled down
the classics(名词classic的复数形式.) corridor(走廊) in retreat from
from career ladders(梯子) in search of ancient
wisdom as is a tale so is life not how
long it is but how good it is is what
matters I wish you all very good lives
thank you very much 841