名人演讲:J.K. Rowling2008年在哈佛大学毕业典礼上的演讲part2
^-^:官方文本和实际演讲可能有出入，但影响不大。
Looking back at the 21-year-old that I was at graduation, is a slightly uncomfortable experience for the 42-year-old that she has become. Half my lifetime ago, I was striking an uneasy balance between the ambition I had for myself, and what those closest to me expected of me.
I was convinced that the only thing I wanted to do, ever, was to write novels. However, my parents, both of whom came from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing personal quirk that could never pay a mortgage, or secure a pension.
They had hoped that I would take a vocational degree; I wanted to study English Literature. A compromise was reached that in retrospect satisfied nobody, and I went up to study Modern Languages. Hardly had my parents’ car rounded the corner at the end of the road than I ditched German and scuttled off down the Classics corridor.
I cannot remember telling my parents that I was studying Classics; they might well have found out for the first time on graduation day. Of all subjects on this planet, I think they would have been hard put to name one less useful than Greek mythology when it came to securing the keys to an executive bathroom.
I would like to make it clear, in parenthesis, that I do not blame my parents for their point of view. There is an 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. What is more, I cannot criticize 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 entails 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 romanticized only by fools.
What I feared most for myself at your age was not poverty, but failure.
我现在已经42岁了，回忆21岁毕业时的情景，多少有些不自在。在我生命的前半段，我一直在自己的理想和亲人的期望间苦苦挣扎，寻求平衡。
我很清楚，自己唯一想做的事就是写小说——这想法从来没变过。但是，我的父母出身贫寒，又没受过大学教育，他们觉得我不安份的想象力不过是种可笑的怪癖，换不来抵押贷款，也挣不来养老金。
他们曾希望我攻读专业学位，我却想学英国文学。最后，我们达成了一个事后双方都觉得不甚满意的妥协：我去学现代外语。可还没等他们的车驶过街角，我就放弃了德语，改朝古典文学的长廊跑去。
我不记得曾告诉过他们我在学古典文学，可能他们是在我毕业典礼那天知道的。在全世界的所有专业中，他们也许找不到比希腊神话更没用的学科了——连一间独立卫生间都挣不来。
补充一句，我想申明，我不责备父母。自己走错了路，还怪父母导错了航，总不能一辈子做这样的事。你长大了，开始自己掌舵了，就必须自己承担责任。我的父母只是希望我不再过苦日子，我不能批评他们。他们生活很贫困，我也一度很穷，这不是什么光彩的经历，这点我完全同意。贫穷意味着你将躲不开恐惧、压力、还有时时围绕你的绝望；贫穷使人频频遭受羞辱，历经艰难。如果能凭自己的努力爬出贫穷的泥沼，无疑是一件值得骄傲的事情。只有傻瓜才会为贫穷抹上浪漫色彩。
在你们这个年纪，我最害怕的不是穷，而是失败。
Strike a balance between: 在..和…之间找到平衡
Impoverished: 穷困的;赤贫的
an impoverished student
穷学生
Mortgage: 抵押借款[C]
He has paid off the mortgage.
他已归还抵押借款
Vocational: 职业的
We’ll provide you with vocational training.
我们将为你提供职业培训。
In retrospect: 回顾,回想起
One’s school life seems happier in retrospect than in reality.
学校生活回忆起来显得比实际上要快乐。
steer
及物动词 vt.
1. 掌(船)舵,驾驶[O]
He steered his boat into the harbor.
他将船驶进港内。
2. 指导;带领;操纵[O]
She steered the conversation away from the unpleasant subject.
她设法摆脱这一不愉快的话题。
3. 沿着…前进,遵循
The country steered a middle course.
那个国家走了一条中间道路。
不及物动词 vi.
1. 驾驶,掌舵[Q]
He steered into the parking area.
他把车子开进了停车区。
2. 行驶,行进Steer away from trouble.
避开麻烦吧。
The freighter steered out of Santiago Bay that evening.
货轮那天晚上驶出了圣地亚哥湾。
3. 被驾驶,驾驶起来[Q]
My car steers easily.
我的汽车很容易驾驶。
Entail: 必需;使承担[+v-ing]
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。
That plan entails work.
那项计划需要工作。
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