耶鲁大学校长2019年毕业典礼演讲：你们的追求是什么?

2019年5月17日，耶鲁大学（Yale University）校长苏必德（Peter Salovey）在2018届毕业典礼上发表了题为「What are You For?」的演讲。

Event: Baccalaureate Address, Yale College Class of 2019

baccalaureate

表示“（在美国）对毕业班的致辞；宗教讲道”，英文解释为“In the United States, a baccalaureate is a sermon given to a graduating class, or the religious service in which that sermon is given.”以及有“学士学位”（a bachelor's degree）的意思。

毕业典礼讲话常见的另一个词：Commencement

commencement表示“毕业典礼”（Commencement is a ceremony at a university, college, or high school at which students formally receive their degrees or diplomas.）

演讲全文如下：

Graduates of the Class of 2019, family members, and friends:

诸位2019届的毕业生们、家长们和朋友们：

It is a privilege to be here with you today. Commencement is a time of beginnings and endings; of looking to the future with hope while saying farewell with both joy and, perhaps, nostalgia. It is a jumble of emotions for all of us—and a field-day for a psychologist! Enjoy all those feelings: it is hard to imagine you’ll have an experience quite like this again. 

今天大家在这里共聚一堂，我感到十分荣幸。每年的毕业典礼既是起点也是尾声，既可以满怀希望地憧憬未来，也难免悲喜交加地依依惜别。对我们所有人而言，此时此刻百感交集；而对于像我这样的心理学家来说，这绝对是一个值得研究考察的日子。好好享受此刻的心情吧，因为这样的日子一生中很难再有一次了。

nostalgia

表示“（尤指对幸福时光的）怀旧”，英文解释为“Nostalgia is an affectionate feeling you have for the past, especially for a particularly happy time.”举个🌰：

He might be influenced by nostalgia for the surroundings of his happy youth. 

他也许被他对快乐青年时代的环境的怀念影响了。

a jumble of

表示“杂乱的一堆”，英文解释为“A jumble of things is a lot of different things that are all mixed together in a disorganized or confused way.”举个🌰：

Inside, she was a jumble of emotions.

她心中百感交集。

a field-day

表示“户外活动日”，英文解释为“a day spent in some special outdoor activity, such as nature study or sport”。

***

So, there is a wonderful Yale tradition that I would like to honor right now:

下面请允许我先按例进行耶鲁的宝贵传统：

May I ask all of the families and friends here today to rise and recognize the outstanding—and graduating—members of the Class of 2019?

请今天在座的所有毕业生家属和朋友们起立，向2019届杰出的毕业生们表示祝贺。

And now, may I ask the Class of 2019 to consider all those who have supported your arrival at this milestone, and to please rise and recognize them?

现在，请2019届的全体毕业生们感念所有曾支持你们走到今天的人们，请你们起立向他们致敬。

Thank you!

谢谢各位！

In September 1974, Kingman Brewster, Jr., then president of Yale, spoke to members of the Class of 1978, seated right where you are now. He told them, “Many of us have just been on a ten-year trip of moral outrage: anti-Wallace, anti-War, anti-Watergate. We have been so sure about what we were against that we have almost forgotten how difficult it is to know what we are for and how to achieve it.”

1974年9月，时任耶鲁大学校长的Kingman Brewster, Jr.在开学典礼上对1978届学生发表演讲，他们就坐在你们现在的位置上。校长对他们说：“在座的许多人刚刚经历了道义上极其不满的十年：反华莱士、反战、反水门事件。我们对所反对的事物深信不疑，几乎忘记了我们要支持什么，以及如何实现。”

Does this sound familiar? Today, perhaps more than ever, it is easy to know what you’re against. Far more difficult to say what you’re for.

这话听起来是否感到熟悉？今天，可能比以往任何时代，都更容易知道你反对什么，也比任何时代都更难以说出你追求什么。

What we’re against is going to be different for each of us. Maybe you’re against border walls and I’m against guns; your neighbor is against trade wars and your cousin is against abortion. For some, capitalism is the problem, while others fear the specter of socialism. By this point, I bet all of you are against sitting in old buildings with no air conditioning, listening to a long speech! So, I’ll get to the point…

每个人反对的事物并不相同。也许你反对边境筑墙，而我反对枪支；你的邻居可能反对贸易战，而你的堂兄反对堕胎。有些人认为资本主义才是问题所在，而另一些人担心的则是社会主义。但此刻，我敢肯定，你们所有人都反对坐在这个没有空调的旧礼堂里听我的长篇大论！所以，我打算开门见山……

specter

表示“引起恐惧的事物”，英文解释为“something that people are afraid of because it may affect them badly”举个🌰：

The recession is again raising the spectre of unemployment.

这次经济衰退再次引起了人们对失业的恐惧。

***

How many of you have seen a Marx Brothers movie? Although I'm not mistaken for Groucho Marx as often since I shaved my moustache, I still have a weakness for his humor.

有多少人看过喜剧演员马克斯兄弟（Marx Brothers）的电影？自从我刮掉上唇的胡子后，虽不再像以前那样经常被误认为是格劳乔·马克斯（Groucho Marx），但我仍然对他的幽默风趣情有独钟。

mistake for

表示“把…错当成”，英文解释为“to wrongly think that one person or thing is someone or something else”举个🌰：

A woman mistook him for a well-known actor, and asked him for his autograph.

有位女士错把他当成是某个著名演员，要他签名。

have a weakness for

表示“癖好”，英文解释为“If you have a weakness for something, you like it very much, although this is perhaps surprising or undesirable.”举个🌰：

Tom himself had a weakness for cats. 

汤姆自己偏爱猫。

***

One of Groucho’s best performances, of course, is when he plays a college president. (Now that is a funny role!) In the opening scene of the movie Horse Feathers, Groucho, the new president of Huxley College, is told that the trustees have “a few suggestions” for him. Then he breaks into this song:

格劳乔最精彩的一段表演是扮演一位大学校长。在电影《趾高气扬》（Horse Feathers）的开场中，这位赫胥黎学院的新校长被告知学校的校董们对他有“一些建议”，于是他就唱起了这首歌曲：

“I don’t know what they have to say

It makes no difference anyway

Whatever it is, I’m against it

No matter what it is or who commenced it

I’m against it

Your proposition may be good

But let’s have one thing understood:

Whatever it is, I’m against it.”

我不知道他们要说些什么

但说什么也都无所谓

不管说什么，我都将反对

不管说什么，不管谁说的

我都将通通反对

你们的建议也或许不错

但让我们明确一点：

不管说什么，我都将反对。

trustee

表示“（公司、学院或其他机构的）理事，董事”，英文解释为“a member of a group that controls the money of a company, college, or other organization”。

***

I encourage you to look up the scene on YouTube—not right now, please—because it’s still a very funny piece. It’s funny because it’s ridiculous, but also because it contains a kernel of truth. And the truth applies not only to college presidents, but to all of us.

大家可以去Youtube上看一看这段视频——不是现在就看，谢谢——因为它仍然让人捧腹。它的好笑，不仅因为它很荒谬，也因为它有那么一点道理，而且不仅体现在这位大学校长身上，也表现在我们每一个人身上。

kernel

表示“一小部分”，英文解释为“A kernel of something is a small element of it.”举个🌰：For all I know, there may be a kernel of truth in what he says. 

据我所知，他的话可能有一点儿道理。

***

How many times have we decided we’re against an idea before we’ve even heard it? How guilty are we of deciding “I’m against it” without even knowing what “it” is?

有多少次我们尚未听到一个想法就已经决定反对它了？在我们还不清楚某件事之前，我们就已经决定反对这件事了，这样的错误我们是否犯过？

Many times we know what we’re against based on who is saying it. If an idea comes from a certain public figure, politician, or media outlet, we already know how we feel. Partly this is because our public discourse has become so predictable. We’ve lost the capacity for surprise, for revelation.

很多时候，我们反对什么取决于它是谁说出来的。如果出自某个公众人物或政治家之口，或某家媒体，那么我们已经对这个言论有想法了。其中部分缘由是今天的公开话语太可预测了，我们已经丧失了被震撼和被启示的能力。

Speaking of predictable, here is the moment when an ambassador of an older generation—that’s me—tells millennials—most of you—about the evils of social media! But please hear me out…

谈到可预测，这一刻我想代表老一代，向千禧一代的你们提一下社交媒体的“罪与恶”。请听我把话说完……

hear out

表示“听（某人）说完”，英文解释为“to listen to all of what someone wants to tell you without interrupting them”举个🌰：

Just hear me out, will you?

就听我说完，好吗？

***

Social media has transformed our lives and our relationships. It has many advantages, of course, allowing us to share news and information quickly with people around the world. But it also heightens our sense of outrage and speeds up arguments, depriving us of the time and space for careful reflection.

社交媒体彻底改变了我们的生活和人际关系。诚然，它有很多优点，它让我们可以和世界各地的人们快速分享新闻和信息；但它也剥夺了我们深思的时间与空间，导致我们的愤怒感加剧，争论加速发生。

Bombarded with notifications, pressured to respond before the media cycle turns over, we tap out our position—our opposition—in seconds. It is easy to be against something in fewer than 280 characters. It is far more difficult to articulate what you are for—and to do it at warp speed.

社交媒体的信息接连不断，你必须在某个热点过气前发表言论，于是我们用几秒钟就打出了自己支持（或反对）的立场。用280个字的推文来反对一件事是容易的，相反要快速讲出你支持什么则要困难得多。

Make no mistake: There are plenty of reasons to be outraged. My generation, your generation—we face not only grave moral challenges but existential threats: rising ocean levels globally and rising inequality in America; violence around the world and in our own backyards; the fraying of the social fabric. “The falcon cannot hear the falconer,” and we wonder if the center can hold.

请大家不要误会：愤怒的理由当然有很多，无论是我们这一代，还是在座的诸位这一代——不仅面临着严峻的道德挑战，更有生存威胁，比如全球海平面上升，美国不平等加剧，世界各地的暴力冲突，以及社会组织涣散等等。正如叶芝的诗句“猎鹰再听不见驯鹰人的呼声”，我们想知道中心是否还能维系得住。

existential

表示“人类存在的”，英文解释为“Existential means relating to human existence and experience.”举个🌰：

Existential questions requiring religious answers still persist. 

需要宗教解答的生命问题持续存在着。

fraying

名词，英文解释为“something rubbed or worn off by fraying”。

fray作动词，表示“磨损”（If something such as cloth or rope frays, or if something frays it, its threads or fibres start to come apart from each other and spoil its appearance.）以及“烦躁”（If your nerves or your temper fray, or if something frays them, you become nervous or easily annoyed because of mental strain and anxiety.）举个🌰：

Tempers began to fray as the two teams failed to score.

两队都没有得分，人们开始烦躁起来/火气开始上来了。

***

I understand the impulse toward negativity. Like many of you, I sometimes feel overwhelmed by the challenges we face, by the injustices that call out for our condemnation. Yet it is precisely because our challenges are so great that outrage is not enough. Pointing out what is wrong is merely the beginning, not the end, of our work.

我理解奔向否定的冲动。和你们中的许多人一样，我有时也会对我们面临的挑战和需要谴责的不义感到应接不暇。然而，正是因为我们面临的挑战如此艰巨，只有愤怒是远远不够的。指出错误只是我们工作的开始，而不是结束。

The Czech author Ivan Klima wrote, “To destroy is easier than to create, and that is why so many people are ready to demonstrate against what they reject. But what would they say if one asked them what they wanted instead?”

捷克作家伊凡·克里玛（Ivan Klima）曾写道，“破坏比创造更容易，所以才有那么多人公然表示自己反对某一件事。如果你问他们想要什么，他们又会怎样作答呢？”

What would you say? What would I say? What are you for?

你们会怎么回答？我会怎么回答？你追求什么？

Klima’s life story is one of both criticism and creation. Born in Prague in 1931, he was sent to a Nazi concentration camp as a child. He survived and became an outspoken voice for democracy in Czechoslovakia.

克里玛自己的一生既有批判也有创造。1931年出生于布拉格，童年时被关进纳粹集中营，他有幸存活下来，后来成为捷克斯洛伐克的一位敢于直言的民主倡导者。

But in 1968, with the Soviet invasion and crackdown, Klima’s ideas became dangerous. He could have fled, but he chose to return home and continue his work in defiance of the Communist regime. He organized an underground meeting of writers who circulated manuscripts in secret. Over the course of 18 years, those writers produced three hundred different works of art. They were critics, of course: critics of tyranny, critics of violence. But they were creators, too, of plays, novels, and poetry. They imagined, and helped create, a new and better world.

但在1968年，随着苏联的入侵和镇压，克里玛的言论被当局视为危险思想。本可以逃出来的他，却选择返回家乡继续工作。他成立地下作家组织，秘密传阅彼此的手稿。在18年的时间里，他们创作出300件不同的文艺作品。他们是批评者，没错，他们痛批专制、暴力，但他们也是戏剧、小说和诗歌的创作者。他们想象并帮助创造了一个新的、更加美好的世界。

defiance

表示“违抗，拒绝服从；蔑视”，英文解释为“behaviour that shows you refuse to do what someone tells you to do, especially because you do not respect them”举个🌰：

Many people were drinking in the streets, in flagrant defiance of the ban.

许多人在街上喝酒，公然违抗禁令。

tyranny

tyranny /ˈtɪrənɪ/表示“暴政，苛政，专制统治”，英文解释为“cruel and unfair government”。

***

What will you imagine? A better business, a smarter school, a stronger community? Whatever you are against, it is time to create something you are for.

在座诸位会有怎样的想象呢？一个更好的企业，一所更优质的学校，还是一个更强大的社区？无论你反对什么，现在是时候创造你所追求的事物了。

At Yale you have learned to do both: to imagine and create. You have studied and explored new ideas; made art and music; excelled in athletics; launched companies; and served your neighbors and the world. You have created a vibrant, diverse, and exciting community.

在耶鲁，你们既学想象又学创造；你们研思想，创文艺，竞体育，办公司，近则服务邻里，远则奉献世界。你们创造了一个活泼、多元、精彩的社区。

Take these experiences with you and draw on them when you need encouragement. Remember a class that surprised you; a conversation that inspired you; a professor who believed in you. And take care to avoid what Toni Morrison calls “second-rate goals and secondhand ideas.”

请把这些经历装入行囊，当你们需要鼓励的时候，可以从中汲取力量。记住在耶鲁的点点滴滴，哪怕是一堂让你惊奇的课，一次有启发的谈话，或者一位信任你的教授。要留心避免作家托妮·莫里森（Toni Morrison）所说的“二流目标和二手思想”。

“Our past is bleak. Our future dim,” Morrison writes. “But if we see the world as one long brutal game, then we bump into another mystery, the mystery of beauty, of light, of the canary that sings on the skulls.”

“我们的过去黯然惨淡，我们的未来阴暗朦胧，” 莫里森曾写道。“但如果我们把这个世界看作一场漫长而残酷的游戏，我们就会碰到另一个谜，那是美和光的谜，是在骷髅（skull）上歌唱的金丝雀（canary ）的谜。”

bump into

表示“巧遇，邂逅，碰见”，英文解释为“If you bump into someone you know, you meet them unexpectedly.”举个🌰：

I happened to bump into Tom in the hallway.

我碰巧在走廊里撞见了汤姆。

bump作动词本身表示“猛碰，撞”（to hit or knock against something）举个🌰：

Tom was a clumsy boy, always bumping into the furniture.

汤姆是个笨手笨脚的孩子，老是撞到家具上。

***

Being for something is a search for those mysteries, for that light: it is an act of radical optimism, a belief that a more perfect world is within reach and that we can help build it.

追求一件事便是寻找这谜和光：这是一种激进的乐观主义行为，是一种信念——坚信一个更完美的世界触手可及，坚信我们能够努力建成它。

What are you for?

那么，在座诸位都追求什么呢？

You may well turn that question back to me. What are you for, Peter Salovey?

你们也可能会反问我：苏必德校长，你追求什么呢？

I am for the transformative power of a liberal education—one that asks you to think broadly, question everything, and embrace the joy of learning.

我追求博雅教育的重塑力量——它要求你高瞻远瞩、质疑一切，且拥抱学习的快乐。

I am for the American Dream in all its rich promise—the idea that opportunities are shared widely and that access to education is within reach for the many, not the few.

我追求真正意义上的“美国梦”——机会广泛共享，接受教育是多数人的权利，而不是少数人的专利。

I am for the robust and free exchange of ideas, as essential to the mission of a great university as it is to the health of our democracy.

我追求活跃且自由的思想交锋，因为一所伟大学府的核心使命和我们的民主政体的良性运转都需要它。

I am for a world where we welcome the immigrant, the poor, and the forgotten; we do not shut them out or silence them; a world where showing empathy and understanding is considered the true hallmark of success, of a life well-lived.

我追求这样一个世界，那里欢迎移民、穷人和被遗忘的人，而不是把他们拒之门外或封住他们的口；在那里，表现出同理心和理解才是成功和美好生活的真正标志 。

That is what I am for.

这些都是我所追求的。

Yale’s mission says, in part, that we are “committed to improving the world today and for future generations.” That commitment does not end at graduation.

耶鲁的使命包含这样一句话：“致力于改善世界，为今天也为后人”。这个承诺不应在毕业时终止。

Soon you will leave Yale and, as Robert Penn Warren, who studied and taught at Yale, wrote, “Go into the convulsion of the world, out of history and into history.”

诸位即将离开耶鲁，正如曾在耶鲁学习和授课的文学家罗伯特·佩恩·沃伦（Robert Penn Warren）所说，“进入这个痉挛中的世界，走出历史，又走进了历史。”

convulsion

1) 表示“痉挛；抽搐”，英文解释为“a sudden shaking movement of the body that cannot be controlled”举个🌰：

The child went into convulsions.

那孩子全身抽搐起来。

2) 表示“动乱；骚动”，英文解释为“a sudden important change that happens to a country or an organization”。

***

Indeed, you will go into history and make history.

的确，你们即将走进历史，并创造历史。

Looking around me today, I think of the generations of Yale graduates who have come before you. Individuals who have been for something.

今天，环顾四周，让我想起那些在诸位之前的耶鲁毕业生们，一个个有所追求的人。

There are many names we know and others that would be less familiar—presidents and world leaders, artists and business executives, scholars and scientists.

许多名字我们都知道，有总统和世界领袖，有艺术家和企业高管，有学者和科学家，还有很多我们不那么熟知的名字。

Like them, I know you will heed the call to leadership and service and leave your mark on every realm of human endeavor.

和他们一样，我知道诸位也将听从召唤成为领导者和服务者，在人类开拓的每一处疆域，留下你们的印迹。

That is Yale’s mission—that is what Yale is for.

而这正是耶鲁的使命——正是耶鲁所追求的。

As members of the Yale community, what do we believe?

作为耶鲁的成员，我们相信什么呢？

We believe that facts and expertise, applied with creativity and wisdom, can transform the world.

我们相信，事实和专业，再加上创造力和智慧，可以改变世界。

We believe that education and research save lives and make life more meaningful.

我们相信，教育和研究可以拯救生命，让生活更有意义。

We believe that diversity of thought and diversity in deed are essential to human progress.

我们相信，思想和行为的多样性对人类的进步至关重要。

We believe, most of all, in the boundless potential of human ingenuity; that together, we can solve great challenges and bring light and truth to a world in great need of it.

最重要的是，我们相信人类无限的创造潜力；我们相信，只要我们齐心协力，就能解决那些巨大的挑战，把光明和真理带到一个亟需它们的世界。

On Monday during your commencement ceremonies, I will confer on you all the “rights and responsibilities” of a Yale degree. Yours is a great responsibility. You will have to know what you are for.

在星期一的学位授予典礼上，我会授予诸位耶鲁学位所承载的“权利和责任”。诸位任重道远，因此必须清楚你们所追求的是什么。

confer

表示“授予（奖项、学位、荣誉或权利）”，英文解释为“to give sb an award, a university degree or a particular honour or right”举个🌰：

An honorary degree was conferred on him by Yale University in 2019.

耶鲁大学于2019年授予他荣誉学位。

***

What are you for?

你们的追求是什么？

“Surely in the light of history,” Eleanor Roosevelt said, “it is more intelligent to hope rather than to fear, to try rather than not to try.”

埃莉诺·罗斯福（Eleanor Roosevelt，罗斯福总统夫人）曾说过：“从历史的角度来看，明智者总是怀抱希望而非心存恐惧，勇于尝试而非望而却步。”

Yale has prepared you, as a scholar and a human being, to try; to face challenges with courage and determination. And I trust you are leaving Yale with a sense of your own responsibilities to one another, to the planet, and to our shared future.

耶鲁已经为诸位努力成为学者那样的人做了准备；拿出勇气和决心去面对挑战吧。我相信，在座诸位离开耶鲁时，一定怀着一份对彼此、对世界、对人类共同未来的责任感。

By serving others and our communities with the many gifts you have been given, you will live a life that is for something, a life of meaning and purpose.

运用你们被馈赠的天赋和才能，去服务他人和社会，你们的人生必将有所为、有意义、有目标。

There is no time to waste; there are no words to waste: As a young Bob Dylan sang in 1965, “He not busy being born is busy dying.” We must give life to new ideas, imagine new ways of being in the world, new answers to the problems that vex us and our neighbors.

没有时间可以浪费；也没有语言可以浪费：正如1965年青春年少的鲍勃•迪伦（Bob Dylan）所唱的那样：“不忙于生，必忙于死。”我们必须给予生命以新思想，想象生存在这个世界的新方式，寻找恼人问题的新答案。

Now is the time.

现在时机已到。

Members of the Class of 2019 (please rise):

2019届毕业生们（请起立）：

We are delighted to salute your accomplishments, and we are proud of your achievements. Remember to give thanks for all that has brought you to this day. And go forth from this place with grateful hearts, paying back the gifts you have received here by using your minds, voices, and hands to imagine and create the new worlds you wish to see.

我们心怀喜悦为你们所取得的成就致敬，也为你们感到自豪。请记得感谢所有帮你们走到今天的人们。请带着感恩的心离开这里，用你们的思想、声音和双手去想象、去创造你们希望看到的新世界，以此来回报你们在这里所得到的馈赠。

What are you for?

请问你们的追求是什么？

Congratulations, Class of 2019!

祝贺你们，2019届的毕业生们！

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