TED学院 | 来自职业摔跤手的信心指南
提示：点击↑上方"小芳老师"免费关注哦
关注回复关键字“福利”，免费送你优质英文有声读物！
演讲者：Mike Kinney
语言：英语
简介：前职业摔跤手麦克·金尼认为“你比自己想象得更强大”——你只要找到自身的特点然后发扬光大。多年来，金尼发掘自身特质并创造出一个完美的摔跤人物，牛仔“鳄鱼”麦格劳。在这场有趣睿智的谈话中，他将擂台的智慧运用到日常生活中，向我们分享如何更自信地生活以及如何发挥潜能。
Picture it: a big, sweaty, tattooed man ina cowboy hat and chaps, is in the ring as the arena full of fans cheer him on.Their hero: "Cowboy" Gator Magraw. Gator bounces off the ropes and is quickly body-slammed to the mat. His wild opponent leaps into the air, crashing down onto Gator's rib cage. Gator struggles to breathe, wondering: "Is this really what my father wanted for me?"
想象一下，一个有刺青、满身大汗的壮汉，戴着一顶牛仔帽，穿着一条皮裤，站在擂台上，赛场上充满了粉丝的欢呼。他们的英雄：“牛仔”——鳄鱼麦格劳。盖特从绳子上跳下，然后快速地摔在垫子上。他狂野的对手一跃而起，撞向盖特的肋骨。盖特挣扎着呼吸，然后想：“这真的是我父亲想要我做的吗？”
That wild man in the chaps ... was me.
那个穿着皮裤的狂野男人……是我。
And the answer to the question,surprisingly, is yes.
出乎意料地，刚刚那个答案，是肯定的。
I grew up watching professional wrestling with my dad. And like him, I loved everything about it: the show manship, the athletic skill, the drama. I'd be this little boy, bouncing all over our living room, pretending to be my favorite wrestlers from TV.
我是和我父亲一起看着职业摔跤比赛长大的。和他一样，我钟爱摔跤的一切：表现力，运动技巧，紧张刺激的比赛气氛。我还是小男孩时，就喜欢在客厅里蹦来蹦去，假装我是自己最喜欢的摔跤手。
My dad actually reminded me a little bit of Hulk Hogan, but I was Hulk Hogan and he was Andre the Giant.I'd get all serious on him and say things like, "Dad ... someday I am going to be world heavy weight champion." And he would usually smile and very calmly say, "OK, then I guess I can count on you to be my retirement fund."
我父亲有点儿像浩克霍根但我是浩克霍根，他是巨人安德烈。我会认真地对他说，“爸爸，总有一天我会成为世界重量级冠军。”他通常会微笑然后平静地说，“好啊，那我退休后就靠你赚钱养我了。”
When I was 16, a small wrestling show came to my little town in Minnesota. I couldn't believe it. Nothing like that had ever come to my town before. So I got to the arena early in the morning the day of the show, waiting out in the parking lot to see if I could spot some wrestlers pulling up in their cars. It wasn't as creepy as it sounds. But I could definitely tell who the wrestlers were, just the way they walked. They were tall and confident and intimidating, with their tank tops and Zubaz andfanny packs. Why wouldn't I want to be them?
16岁那年，在明尼苏达州，家乡小镇上迎来了一场小型摔跤秀。我简直不敢相信。那样的事情在之前从未发生过。表演当天的清晨我就到了竞技场，在停车场外等着，看能否发现一些摔跤手来停车场停车。实际上没有听起来的这么怪异。但我可以认出谁是摔跤手，看看他们走路的方式就知道了。他们高大自信，气场强大，穿着背心和花裤子，还戴着腰包。我难道不想成为他们的一员吗？
All I could think about was who are these people, and what are they like? How did they become wrestlers? So before the show started, I walked into this tiny arena -- more like a gym nasium -- and Iasked them if I could help set up the wrestling ring. "Sure, kid. Noproblem."
我想，这些人是谁呢？他们是什么样的人？他们是如何成为摔跤手的？所以在表演开始前，我走进这个小型竞技场——更像是一个体育馆——我问他们我可以帮忙搭建擂台吗。“当然了孩子，没问题。”
And then I pleaded with them to show me some wrestling moves. "Sure,kid. No problem." Man, they would just punch and kick me -- hard! But Inever complained. They would come to my town for one night every couple ofmonths that year, and then -- poof! -- next day, they were gone.
然后我请求他们向我展示一些摔跤动作，“当然了孩子，没问题。”他们用拳击打我然后猛踢我，但我没有抱怨。那一年每隔几个月，他们就会到我们小镇住一晚，然后第二天就离开了。
By the next year, they finally told me about an actual wrestling training camp that one of the wrestlers was running,and I begged my parents to sign me up. Next thing I knew, I was a high school senior by day and wrestling in front of live audiences by night. I had this giant poster of an all igator hanging on my bedroom wall. So when I needed tocome up with a wrestling name at the last minute and Jesse "The Body"Ventura was already taken --
第二年的时候，他们终于告诉我，一个真正的摔跤训练营是其中一个摔跤手开的。我求父母让我报名，然后我就白天去读高三，晚上在观众面前摔跤。我卧室墙壁上贴了一张短吻鳄的巨型海报，所以当我急着想出一个摔跤名时，而“肌体”杰西·范图拉已经被占用了。
I went with "Gator." I also wrestled in a t-shirt and camouflage pants because that's what I had in my closet. I hadn't quite figured out how to develop my own persona yet, but I was learning. It was sort of like an apprenticeship. But I was a wrestler. And mydad would come to all my matches wearing a t-shirt that said, "PapaGator" across the front.
我选择了“鳄鱼”。我穿着T恤和迷彩裤摔跤因为我的衣橱里只有这些，我还没想好如何发展自己的风格，但我在学习。我那时有点儿像学徒，但我是一个摔跤手。我的每场比赛父亲都会来，穿着一件胸前印着“鳄鱼爸爸”的T恤。
And he'd brag to his friends about how hisson was going to pay for his retirement someday.And I would've.
他会和他的朋友吹牛，说我以后会为他养老。我本可以的
Not long after I started wrestling, my dad unexpectedly passed away. And as you can imagine, especially as a teenage boy,it destroyed me. If you've ever lost someone, you know what a difficult time that can be. Your mind -- it's not working right. The whole thing is just so surreal.
但我开始摔跤后的不久，父亲意外去世了。你们可以想象，我当时还是个青涩少年，丧父之痛击垮了我。如果你们曾经失去过亲人，就会知道那段时间有多难。你的大脑无法正常运转，整件事都是离奇的。
I wanted to feel normal again, even if it was for just a second, so Iwent back to wrestling almost immediately. Wrestling belonged to me and my dad,you know? So there I was, sitting in the locker room, getting ready for a match within days of my dad passing away. He was gone. And sitting there alone -- it felt like I was hiding. But it also felt like I needed to be there.
我想回归正常生活，哪怕只有一秒钟，所以我几乎是立刻重返擂台。你们知道吗？摔跤属于我和我父亲。所以我回到那里，坐在更衣室里准备比赛，而我父亲才去世没几天。他过世了。我一个人坐在那儿，好像在逃避什么，但我又感觉应该在那儿。
One of the wrestlers who'd been on the scene a long time knew what I was going through, and he came over to see how Iwas holding up. I couldn't get the words out. I just said, "I don't know what I'm doing." And then we just sat there in silence -- just ...silence.
一个久经赛场的摔跤手知道了我的遭遇，便来看看我是否还好。我说不出话，只说“我不知道我在做什么。”然后我们就静静地坐在那里，相对无言。
Before he got up to get ready for his own match, he gave me this pieceof advice that would change the entire direction of my life. He told me the best wrestlers are just themselves, but "turned up." He said successful wrestlers find the traits within themselves they're the strongest atand make those the focus of who they become in the ring.So there I sat -- a scared teenager who didn't know who he was or why he was even wrestling anymore.
在准备起身去比赛之前，他给了我一条建议，完全改变了我的人生方向：他说最好的摔跤手展现真我。成功的摔跤手能发掘自身最强的特质，并使他们成为擂台的焦点。我坐在那儿，一个彷徨的青年，迷失了自我，忘记了摔跤的意义。
I looked around the locker room at some of the other wrestlers, and I thought, "I look so different. How can I ever be like them?" And then it hit me. That's the moment I realized I didn't have to be like them. What I did have to do was find out: What did it mean to be me? What made me unique, and how could I use it tomy advantage?
我环顾着更衣室的其它摔跤手，然后想，“我看上去像个异类我怎么做才能像他们一样？”然后我突然想到。那一刻我意识到我没必要成为他们。我只需要知道做我自己意味着什么，是什么使我与众不同？
I knew I wasn't a chiseled athlete like some of these guys, but Ireally didn't care. So the first thing I thought was, "How can I am plify something as simple as: comfortable with my own body?" I didn't know. And then I thought: Speedo.
我如何让我的特质成为我的优势。我知道自己不像其他运动员那样肌肉健硕，但我也不在乎这个。我想到的第一件事是，“我如何加强一些简单的事物比如令我的身体舒适？”我不知道。然后我想到：泳裤。
Or "trunks," as we call them in wrestling. Yeah, trunks. I could be this big guy who was comfortable wearing these little trunks in front of a bunch of strangers. So I ditched the t-shirtand camouflage pants, and Gator's new wardrobe was born.
或者“紧身短裤”，我们在摔跤中这么称呼它们。紧身短裤，我可能是这个大家伙，舒服地穿着这一小条紧身短裤在一群陌生人面前。所以我放弃了T恤和迷彩裤。于是鳄鱼的新衣橱诞生了。
I was also pretty good at drawing cartoons,so I wondered if I could turn that up. I could design my own wrestling costumes, so each pair of trunks would have its own unique design and color,all of them completely different -- and extremely comfortable, by the way.
我擅长画卡通画，我想我能否把这点展现出来。我可以设计自己的摔跤服，这样每条短裤上都会有独特的设计和颜色。每条都不一样——同时非常舒适。
And I was also the funny kid in school,believe it or not. So I thought maybe I could turn that up. Maybe I could gofrom the boy who made his buddies laugh to the man who could rally hundreds or thousands. So I committed to the idea that my character wasn't going to be asscary as some of the others. I'd be hilarious from the moment I walked into the arena. With every wrestling match, I dug deeper. I found out that I could laughat myself. So this guy would dance and sing his entrance music all the way tothe ring. That was dancing, by the way.
我在学校也很有趣，信不信由你们。我想也许我可以把这一点展现出来。或许我能从一个令人发笑的男孩，变成能振奋上万人的人。所以我坚定了这个想法，我没必要令人胆寒，像某些选手那样。我以搞笑的方式走入竞技场。经历了更多的摔跤赛，我更加了解自己。我发现我可以自嘲，在出场音乐响起时可以载歌载舞，一路来到擂台，顺便说一下，那是跳舞。
I found out that I was an OK wrestler, butI was an even better entertainer. And turning myself up made me unforgettable to the fans. I was trying to find those things about me -- the simple things that were special, and then ask, "How can I turn them up?"
我发现我是一个还不错的摔跤手，但更是一个搞笑的人。展现自我使我的粉丝对我印象深刻。我尝试着去发掘自我——那些简单的特质，然后问自己，我可以把它们展现出来吗？
Now, I knew I wanted my character to be a man's man like my dad was. I thought, "What's more of a man's man than a cowboy?" And that's when Gator became "Cowboy" ... Gator ...Yeah, I needed a last name. I thought about it until my head hurt. I couldn't come up with anything. I'm sitting there watching TV one night, flippingthrough the channels, and this commercial comes on about a country singer who had just won an Entertainer of the Year award. Tim McGraw. He's a cool cowboy with a great last name. And I liked his music.
如今我明白，我想成为像父亲一样的男中豪杰。我想，“要做一个男中豪杰，比牛仔更重要的是什么？”那是鳄鱼成为“牛仔”的时候。是的，我需要一个姓。我想到头疼也想不出结果。有一天晚上我坐着看电视，切换着频道，看到了一则广告，关于一个刚刚赢得年度最佳艺人奖的乡村歌手。蒂姆·麦格罗。他是一个有着很棒姓氏的帅气牛仔，我喜欢他的歌。
It was just all part of my process. But I just kept turning myself up until I became Cowboy Gator Magraw!
这是我经历的所有内容。我不断展现自我，直到我成为了牛仔“鳄鱼”麦格劳。
And I knew that if I kept turning myself upand pushing myself harder, the opportunities would come. And then it finally happened. In the middle of the night, I got a phone call. It was the call Iwish my dad was around to hear. The WWE, the biggest wrestling organization inthe world, wanted me to come and be a part of Monday Night Raw.
我知道如果我不断展现自我，不断自我鞭策，机会自会降临，结果确实如此。一天午夜，我接到一个电话。一个我希望父亲能听到的电话。WWE，世界上最大的摔跤组织，邀请我周一晚上出演。
Yes -- all ofmy hard work and miles on the road were finally paying off. I got to walk downthe WWE Raw entrance ramp on live television --dressed up as a fake security guard --to escort another wrestler to the ring.
是的——我的所有努力终于有所回报。我从WWE的入口匝道走到电视直播的舞台上——（笑声）装扮成一名保安——护送另一位摔跤手到擂台上。
Sure, I was disappointed I didn't get to wrestle, but very few wrestlers get any kind of call from the WWE. Maybe one ina few hundred. And becoming Cowboy Gator Magraw is what got me there. Soinstead of walking away that day, I decided to turn myself up again and becomethe best security guard I could. In fact, I did it so well, I was the onlyguard to get a close-up on TV that night. That's a big deal, you know?
当然，我为自己没能登台感到失望，但是鲜有摔跤手得到WWE的邀请，大概几百人中才有一个。而我来到WWE，就是因为牛仔“鳄鱼”麦格劳。所以那天我没有选择离开，而是选择展现自我，尽最大的努力当好一个安保人员。事实上我做到了，我是那天唯一一个获得特写镜头的保安。那也很了不起了，好吗？
And I got to sit backstage that entire day with some of the most famous pro wrestlers in the world, some of which were heroes of mine as a kid. And I got to listen to them and learn from them, andfor that day, I was accepted as one of them.
那一整天我坐在后台，身边是一些世界顶级摔跤手，有的是我童年的偶像，我有机会听取他们的建议并学习。那天，我和他们打成一片。
Maybe my experience with the WWE wasn't ideal. I mean, I didn't get to wrestle. But it made me work harder, turning myself up louder year after year. I was becoming the biggest version of myself in the ring, and other people took notice. Before I knew it, I'd gone from wrestling maybe once a month in Minnesota to as often as four times a week allover the United States on the independent wrestling circuit. I was literally living my dream.
也许我的WWE经历不是那么美好，我的意思是我没有登上擂台，但那使我更努力地工作。年复一年，我愈发强大，我在擂台上的表现胜过以往，而且其他人注意到了。在我意识到之前，我从明尼苏达每月一次的摔跤，进展到在全美范围内每周四次在独立摔跤巡回中比赛。我在实现我的梦想。
While wrestling over the next few years, Isuffered a pretty bad shoulder injury right around the same time my wife and I found out that we were expecting our first child. I know what you're thinking,but believe me when I say those two events are completely unrelated.
在经历了几年的摔跤生涯之后，我肩膀受了很严重的伤。那时我和妻子，正好迎来了我们第一个孩子。我知道你们在想什么，但是这两件事没有关联。
But I needed shoulder surgery, and I wanted to be home with my family. It was my turn to be a dad.So on July 27, 2007, I wrestled my final match, and walked away from professional wrestling to pursue the next chapter of my life. And as time passed, the strangest thing started to happen.
我需要进行肩部手术，我想回家和家人待在一起。现在轮到我当父亲了。于是2007年7月27日，我最后一次比赛，然后退役，开启了人生的下一个篇章。随着时光的流逝，最奇异的事情发生了。
I found out that once someone has been turned up, it's pretty hard to turn them down. I left the ring but Gator stayed with me, and I use the turned-up version of myself every day. My beautiful wife has been with me through this entirejourney. And by the way -- she does not like pro wrestling.Like, at all.
我发现人的开关一旦被打开后，就很难再被关上。虽然我离开了擂台，但是“鳄鱼”与我同在，我将自我展现运用到日常生活中去。这个过程中我的娇妻一直陪伴着我，尽管她不喜欢职业摔跤手，一点也不。
But she was always my biggest fan. She still is. She knows there's always going to be some part of Gator Magraw in here, and she wants our daughter and twin sons to discover themselves the way that I did, but probably with fewer body slams and steel chair shots to thehead. I mean, do you know how many times she's had to remind me not to clothesline the referees at my kid's soccer games?
但她是我的头号粉丝，现在也是。她知道鳄鱼麦格劳不会消失，她希望我们的女儿和双胞胎儿子也能发现自我，就像我一样，但是少挨几次泰山压顶或者钢椅砸头。你们知道有多少次她不得不提醒我不要在孩子的足球比赛上对裁判动粗？
I mean, it was just the one time, and my daughter was clearly fouled!
其实只有过一次，但那是有人对我女儿恶意犯规！
As a parent now, I've begun to realize that my dad wanted something much more valuable than a retirement fund. Like mostparents, he just wanted his kids to reach their fullest potential. I'm tryingto teach my children that turning yourself up is just not some perfect idea ofhow to be great, it's a way of living -- constantly looking for what makes you different and how you can amplify it for the world to see. And by the way, mykids don't like wrestling, either.
如今作为一位父亲，我逐渐明白我父亲想要的远不是退休金。就像大部分的父母一样，他只希望我能发挥最大的潜能。我想告诉我的孩子们，展现自我不仅是成就伟大的秘诀，更是一种生活方式。时刻发掘你的特质，并发扬光大，让世人看到。顺便提一句，我的孩子们也不喜欢摔跤。
But that's OK with me, because they eachhave their own unique talents that can be turned up just like the rest of us.My one son -- he's a whiz at electronics. So maybe helping him turn up makeshim become the next Steve Jobs. My other son and my daughter -- they're greatat art, so maybe helping them turn up their gifts helps them become the nextPablo Picasso.
但我觉得没什么问题，因为他们有自己的特质，就像我们所有人一样。我的一个儿子热爱电子元件，也许帮助他展现自我，可以成就下一个史蒂夫·乔布斯。另一个儿子还有我的女儿他们擅长艺术，也许帮助他们提升才能，可以成就下一个毕加索。
You never know what you have the ability to do until you dig. And don't be afraid to put yourself out there. I mean, lookaround. They say that if you get nervous in front of an audience, just imaginethem in their underwear. But then I think, "Hey, I've wrestled inless."
你永远不知道自己的潜力，直到你去挖掘。不要害怕那么做，看看四周，有人说如果你在观众面前感到紧张，就想象他们只穿着内衣。但我转念一想，“嘿，我摔跤的时候穿的更少。”
Look, the wrestling circus doesn't need to come to your town before you get an invitation to be the real you -- thebigger, more stunning version of yourself. It doesn't even necessarily come from our parents. Turning yourself up means looking inward toward our trueselves and harnessing the voice that says, "Maybe, just maybe, I am morethan I thought I was."
你看，你不需要等到摔跤巡回来到你家镇上就能得到展现真我的机会。成为一个更强大，更耀眼的自己。它未必来自我们的父母。发掘自我意味着你要找到真我，然后对自己说，“或许，仅是或许，我比自己想象得更强大。”
Thank you.(Applause)
谢谢。（掌声）
声明：除特别注明原创授权转载文章外，其他文章均为转载，版权归原作者或平台所有。如有侵权，请后台联系，告知删除，谢谢
合集收藏
备考专辑：英专听力50篇 & 20天四级单词 & 60篇高分范文
新闻英语：VOA标准 & VOA慢速 & BBC新闻 & 18BBC地道英语
歌曲TED: 听歌学英语 & TED合集 & 18年歌曲合集 & 19年歌单
美文故事: 双语美文30篇 & 有声双语48篇 & 听名著学英语
名字外教：男生版 & 女生版 & 搞笑版 & 命运版 & 外教课310合集
看见这个好看了吗☺你懂我意思☟☟☟