名校励志英语演讲 16:失败的额外收益和想象力的重要性

 　　What is more, I cannot criticise¹ my parents for hoping 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 experience. Poverty entails³ fear, and stress, and sometimes depression; it means a thousand petty humiliations and hardships. Climbing out of poverty by your own efforts, that is indeed something on which to pride yourself, but poverty itself is romanticised only by fools.

　　再者，父母这样做是希望我不会过穷日子，所以我不能责怪他们。他们经历了贫穷，我后来也一度贫穷，所以我很理解他们，因为贫穷并不是一种高贵的经历。贫穷会让人感觉恐惧、有压力，有时甚至让人感觉沮丧。贫穷意味着说不尽的羞辱和艰辛。靠自己的努力摆脱贫穷值得自豪，只有傻瓜才会将贫穷浪漫化。

　　What I feared most for myself at your age was not poverty, but failure.

　　像你们这么大时我最害怕的不是贫穷，而是失败。

　　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, I had a knack⁵ for passing examinations, and that, for years, had been the measure of success in my life and that of my peers.

　　像你们这么大时，尽管我明显缺乏在大学学习的动力，花大量时间在咖啡馆写小说，用于听课的时间很少，但我却有通过考试的本领。多年来，考试一直是衡量我和同龄人成功的标准。

　　I am not dull enough to suppose that because you are young, gifted and well-educated, you have never known hardship or heartbreak. Talent and intelligence never yet inoculated⁷ anyone against the caprice of the fates, and I do not for a moment suppose that everyone here has enjoyed an existence of unruffled privilege and contentment.

　　我不会笨到因为你们年轻、有才华并且受过良好的教育，就认为你们从来没有经受过困难或心碎的时刻。才华和指挥并不能使人摆脱命运的反复无常；我从来没有认为在座的每一个人一直以来都享有优越和满足。

　　However, the fact that you are graduating from Harvard suggests that you are not very well-acquainted with failure.

　　然而，即将从哈弗毕业这一事实就意味着你们很少会经历失败。

　　ennobling

　　adj. 高贵的

　　eg. In some ways it was an ennobling influence.

　　在某些方面，这起到了圣洁的作用。

　　entail²

　　vt. 引起

　　eg. Success entails hard work.

　　要成功，必须努力工作。

　　humiliation⁴

　　n. 耻辱

　　eg. We have suffered 30 years of humiliation and torture.

　　我们已经遭受了30年的羞辱和折磨。

　　romanticise

　　vt. 使浪漫化

　　eg. Unlike many in the development world, she does not romanticise poverty or patronise the poor.

　　不像发展界中的许多人，她从不把贫穷浪漫化，也不对穷人盛气凌人。

　　distinct

　　adj. 明显的

　　eg. Looking at a close-up of the temperature spike⁸, we see distinct troughs right next to the spike.

　　观察对温度尖峰的特写，我们可以看到恰好在尖峰附近有一个明显的波谷。

　　have a knack for

　　有......的诀窍

　　eg. You have a knack for doing the right thing at the right time.

　　你有种天分，让你在适当的时机，做适当的事情。

　　inoculate⁶

　　vt. 给......注射预防针

　　eg. The main cause of measles⁹ was failure to inoculate measles vaccine¹⁰ for children.

　　未接种麻疹疫苗是造成儿童发病的主要原因。

　　caprice

　　n. 反复无常

　　eg. Her decision to wear only black clothes was pure caprice.

　　她决定只穿黑衣服完全是忽发奇想。

　　unruffled

　　adj. 平静的

　　eg. He remained unruffled by the charges.

　　他受到这些指控仍处之泰然。

1 criticise   

v.批评，评论；非难

参考例句：

• Right and left have much cause to criticise government.左翼和右翼有很多理由批评政府。
• It is not your place to criticise or suggest improvements!提出批评或给予改进建议并不是你的责任！

2 entail   

vt.使承担，使成为必要，需要

参考例句：

• Such a decision would entail a huge political risk.这样的决定势必带来巨大的政治风险。
• This job would entail your learning how to use a computer.这工作将需要你学会怎样用计算机。

3 entails   

使…成为必要( entail的第三人称单数 )； 需要； 限定继承； 使必需

参考例句：

• The job entails a lot of hard work. 这工作需要十分艰苦的努力。
• This job entails a lot of hard work. 这项工作需要十分努力。

4 humiliation   

n.羞辱

参考例句：

• He suffered the humiliation of being forced to ask for his cards.他蒙受了被迫要求辞职的羞辱。
• He will wish to revenge his humiliation in last Season's Final.他会为在上个季度的决赛中所受的耻辱而报复的。

5 knack   

n.诀窍，做事情的灵巧的，便利的方法

参考例句：

• He has a knack of teaching arithmetic.他教算术有诀窍。
• Making omelettes isn't difficult,but there's a knack to it.做煎蛋饼并不难，但有窍门。

6 inoculate   

v.给...接种，给...注射疫苗

参考例句：

• A corps of doctors arrived to inoculate the recruits.一队医生来给新兵打防疫针。
• I was just meant to come out here and inoculate some wee babies.我是过来这边给小孩子们接种疫苗的。

7 inoculated   

v.给…做预防注射( inoculate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• A pedigree pup should have been inoculated against serious diseases before it's sold. 纯种狗应该在出售前注射预防严重疾病的针。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Disease can be spread by dirty tools, insects, inoculated soil. 疾病也能由不干净的工具，昆虫，接种的土壤传播。 来自辞典例句

8 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

9 measles   

n.麻疹，风疹，包虫病，痧子

参考例句：

• The doctor is quite definite about Tom having measles.医生十分肯定汤姆得了麻疹。
• The doctor told her to watch out for symptoms of measles.医生叫她注意麻疹出现的症状。

10 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。