名人励志英语演讲 第122期:追随你的幸福 倾听你的心声(1)

 　　Members of the Class of 2006, friends, faculty¹, parents, members of the Taliban: Thank you very much. What? What? Oh, come on. Come on. What are you going to do, bury me up to my head in the sand? Something, come on. Hey, I've been there. I've been there.

　　2006届的毕业生，各位朋友，全体教职员工，各位家长以及塔利班分子，非常感谢你们！什么？你说什么？哦，你们打算做什么？活埋了我？来吧，来吧！嘿，我去过那儿，我亲身经历过塔利班的统治。

　　I have to be honest, I was a bit nervous to come back to Yale. I graduated with the Class of 1989, 17 years ago, and I still have this recurring² nightmare. I still have this recurring nightmare. Trumbull, yes, thank you. Trumbull. Sure, why not? I still have this recurring nightmare that there's some exam I haven't completed in one of those throwaway science courses like you know Intro. to Psych or something. Oh, come on. I love Intro. to Psych. I just really didn't want to take a science course. And actually last night I literally³ had a dream that the campus police had an outstanding warrant for my arrest if I returned to Yale. So I was a little bit nervous.

　　坦白说，重返耶鲁我确实有点紧张。17年前，也就是1989年，我从这里毕业，但是噩梦至今仍没有结束。噩梦仍纠缠不休。特兰布尔，没错，这当然得感谢特兰布尔学院，为什么不呢？我至今仍会做这样的噩梦，梦到自己还有某一科考试没有完成，都是一些垃圾学科的考试，比如《心理学入门》。事实上，我挺喜欢《心理学入门》，只是很不愿意学习理科。昨天晚上我确实做了一个梦，梦见我一旦回到耶鲁大学，校警卫将有充分的理由将我逮捕。所以我确实有点儿紧张。

　　And the other reason I was reluctant to return to campus is that being here actually allows the Yale Alumni Association to get a pinpoint⁴ on me. Because you don't know this about the Yale Alumni Association yet, but let me just warn you: for the rest of your life, they will hunt you down. No matter where you go, no matter what country you live in, they will find you, and they will write you letters and they will squeeze you for every cent you make. Seriously, enjoy the next 24 hours because right now you are still students. Tuesday morning they will have all your numbers, all your address in the database and they will start tracking you. If Osama bin⁵ Laden⁶ was a Yale graduate they would know what cave he was in, exactly. It's true. President Bush should get the Yale Alumni Association on the case.

　　我不愿重返耶鲁还有另外一个原因，那就是，一旦我回到这里，耶鲁校友会就能精确把握我的动向。你们也许还不太了解耶鲁校友会吧，那我就给你们提个醒吧，在你们毕业之后，耶鲁校友会将会一直追踪你。不管你走到哪里，不管你生活在哪个国家，他们都会找到你，给你写信，会榨干你挣到的每一分钱。严肃点说，尽情享受这最后24小时的学生时光吧！星期二早上，他们将会把你们所有人的电话号码和地址存入数据库，并开始追踪你们。如果奥萨马·本·拉登是耶鲁毕业的，那么他们将会知道他藏在哪一个山洞里。这是真的。布什总统应该请耶鲁校友会来协助处理本·拉登一案。

　　重点讲解：

　　1. be reluctant to do sth.

　　勉强的；不情愿的做某事；

　　eg. Mr Spero was reluctant to ask for help.

　　斯佩罗先生不愿意寻求帮助。

　　eg. The police are very reluctant to get involved in this sort of thing.

　　警方很不愿意卷入这类事情。

　　2. hunt down

　　追捕到，穷追直至找到（罪犯、敌人等）；

　　eg. Last December they hunted down and killed one of the gangsters⁷.

　　去年12月他们追捕到其中一名匪徒并将其击毙。

　　eg. It took her four months to hunt him down.

　　她花了4个月才把他找出来。

　　3. no matter+疑问词

　　常用结构，表示不管…；无论…；

　　eg. No matter how often they were urged, they could not bring themselves to join in.

　　就算别人说破了嘴皮，他们就是不加入。

　　eg. Jenkins would reward all investors⁸, no matter when they made their investment.

　　无论投资人何时投资，詹金斯都会让他们得到回报。

　　背景资料：

　　本篇是安德森·库珀于2006年5月21日在耶鲁大学毕业典礼上的演讲。库珀讲述了他在美国广播公司求职未果、之后为了实现梦想独自潜入索马里、波斯尼亚和卢旺达等地从事战地新闻报道的经历，勉励毕业生们要倾听内心的呼声、创造机会改变境遇，谱写美好的人生篇章。

1 faculty   

n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员

参考例句：

• He has a great faculty for learning foreign languages.他有学习外语的天赋。
• He has the faculty of saying the right thing at the right time.他有在恰当的时候说恰当的话的才智。

2 recurring   

adj.往复的，再次发生的

参考例句：

• This kind of problem is recurring often. 这类问题经常发生。
• For our own country, it has been a time for recurring trial. 就我们国家而言，它经过了一个反复考验的时期。

3 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

4 pinpoint   

vt.准确地确定；用针标出…的精确位置

参考例句：

• It is difficult to pinpoint when water problems of the modern age began.很难准确地指出，现代用水的问题是什么时候出现的。
• I could pinpoint his precise location on a map.我能在地图上指明他的准确位置。

5 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

6 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

7 gangsters   

匪徒，歹徒( gangster的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gangsters offered him a sum equivalent to a whole year's earnings. 歹徒提出要给他一笔相当于他一年收入的钱。
• One of the gangsters was caught by the police. 歹徒之一被警察逮捕。

8 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会