PresidentFaust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, membersof the faculty, proud parents, and, above all, graduates.

1. HarvardCorporation 是指哈佛大学校务委员会

2. Board ofOverseers 是指监察会

The firstthing I would like to say is ‘thank you.’ Not only has Harvard given me anextraordinary honour, but the weeks of fear and nausea I have endured at thethought of giving this commencement address have made me lose weight. A win-winsituation! Now all I have to do is take deep breaths, squint at the red bannersand convince myself that I am at the world’s largest Gryffindor reunion.

1. 幽他一默的方式在演讲中非常的常见，可以迅速拉近与听众的距离。

2. not onlybut (also)的句型在实际运用时往往把also省略

3. give me anextraordinary honour 在中高口翻译中十分常见哦

4. nausea作呕；恶心；反胃；晕船 

5. A win-winsituation 双赢

6.squint atthe red banners 眯着眼睛看着红色的横幅

Actually, Ihave wracked my mind and heart for what I ought to say to you today. I haveasked myself what I wish I had known at my own graduation, and what importantlessons I have learned in the 21 years that have expired between that day andthis.

1. wrackedmy mind and heart 绞尽脑汁

2. expire 在这里阿福觉得也有些许调侃自己的意味哦

On thiswonderful day when we are gathered together to celebrate your academic success,I have decided to talk to you about the benefits of failure. Half my lifetimeago, I was striking an uneasy balance between the ambition I had for myself,and what those closest to me expected of me. 

1. I wasstriking an uneasy balance between the ambition I had for myself, and whatthose closest to me expected of me. 原来中西方的年轻人都有这样的困扰啊！！

I wasconvinced that the only thing I wanted to do, ever, was to write novels.However, my parents, both of whom came from impoverished backgrounds and neitherof whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination wasan amusing personal quirk that would never pay a mortgage, or secure a pension.I cannot remember telling my parents that I was studying Classics; they mightwell have found out for the first time on graduation day.

1. impoverished穷困的；用尽了的

2. overactiveimagination 异常活跃的想象力

3. personalquirk 个人怪癖

4. However,my parents, both of whom came from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whomhad been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination was anamusing personal quirk that would never pay a mortgage, or secure a pension. 层次丰富的长句，可以背下来哦

I would liketo make it clear, in parenthesis, that I do not blame my parents for theirpoint of view. There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering youin the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel,responsibility lies with you. What is more, I cannot criticise my parents forhoping 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 anennobling experience. Climbing out of poverty by your own efforts, that isindeed something on which to pride yourself, but poverty itself is romanticisedonly by fools.

1. parenthesis,插入语，圆括号，间歇

2. There isan expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction;the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you. 又是一个很经典的长句！意义也很深刻~~特别是对于一些还深陷在其中的童鞋~~

3. What ismore, I cannot criticise my parents for hoping that I would never experiencepoverty. 就像我妈说的，爸妈的出发点还不是为你好吗！！

4. Climbingout of poverty by your own efforts, that is indeed something on which to prideyourself, but poverty itself is romanticised only by fools. 阿福并没有品尝过真正的贫穷，但这句话相信会给立志于climbing out的人很多激励与共鸣吧。

Now, I amnot going to stand here and tell you that failure is fun. That period of mylife was a dark one, and I had no idea that there was going to be what thepress has since represented as a kind of fairy tale resolution. So why do Italk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a strippingaway of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anythingother than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing theonly work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I mightnever have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed Itruly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realised, andI was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an oldtypewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation onwhich I rebuilt my life.

1. Thatperiod of my life was a dark one, and I had no idea that there was going to bewhat the press has since represented as a kind of fairy tale resolution. 这句话的翻译是：那段日子是我生命中的黑暗时期，我也不知道会出现后来被媒体称为童话般的美满结局。

2. Simplybecause failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. 因为失败意味着剥离一切多余的事物

3. I stoppedpretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began todirect all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. 

4. Had Ireally succeeded at anything else 要是我在其他事情上曾获成功

5. And sorock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life. 我的谷底成为了重建生活的坚实基础。

Failure gaveme an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failuretaught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. Idiscovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected;I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above the price ofrubies.The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacksmeans that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive.Life isdifficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone’s total control, and the humilityto know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes.