Dr. Wong, Dr. Keough, Mrs. Novogroski, Ms. Curran, members of the board of education, family and friends of the graduates, ladies and gentlemen of the Wellesley High School class of 2012, for the privilege of speaking to you this afternoon, I am honored and grateful. Thank you.
Wong博士、Keogh博士、Novogroski太太、Curran小姐，教育委員會的委員們，畢業生家屬和朋友們，Wellesley高中2012年畢業班級的女士先生們，我很榮幸也很感激地有機會在今天下午對你們發表演說。謝謝。
So here we are...commencement, life's great forward-looking ceremony. And don't say, "What about weddings?" Weddings are one-sided and insufficiently effective. Weddings are bride-centric pageantry. Other than conceding to a list of unreasonable demands, the groom just stands there. No stately, hey-everybody-look-at-me procession. No being given away. No identity-changing pronouncement.
所以，現在是畢業典禮...生命中偉大前瞻性的儀式。而別說：「那婚禮呢？」婚禮既是單方面又不夠實在。婚禮是個以新娘為中心的盛會。除了對一大串的無理要求點頭之外，新郎只要站在那裡就好。沒有莊嚴的，「嘿，大家看看我!」的程序。沒有被在婚禮上交給新郎。沒有改變身份的宣告。
And can you imagine a television show dedicated to watching guys try on tuxedos? Their fathers sitting there misty-eyed with joy and disbelief; their brothers lurking in the corner muttering with envy. Left to men, weddings would be, after limits-testing procrastination, spontaneous, almost inadvertent...during halftime...on the way to the refrigerator. And then there's the frequency of failure: statistics tell us half of you will get divorced. A winning percentage like that'll get you last place in the American League East. The Baltimore Orioles do better than weddings.
而你可以想像一個專門讓大家看男士們試穿晚禮服的電視節目嗎？他們父親的眼睛滿溢着喜悅又難以置信地淚光閃閃著；他們的弟弟忌妒地躲在牆角喃喃自語著。在挑戰極限的拖時間之外，婚禮對男士來說會和在球賽中場休息時間自動自發、幾乎是不經意地去冰箱拿飲料這件事情差不多。接著是婚姻失敗的頻率：統計資料顯示你們裡面有一半會離婚。像這樣的勝率只能讓你呆在美聯東區墊底的位置，巴爾的摩金鶯隊都幹得比婚姻好。
But this ceremony...commencement, a commencement works every time. From this day forward, truly, in sickness and in health, through financial fiascos, through midlife crises and passably attractive sales reps at trade shows in Cincinnati, (parents get that), through diminishing tolerance for annoyingness, through every difference, irreconcilable and otherwise, you will stay forever graduated from high school, you and your diploma as one, till death do you part.
但是這畢業典禮...畢業典禮總是好的。從這天以後，真的，不論生病或健康，經過了財務困境，經過了中年危機和Cinninnati商展上還算有吸引力的業務代表，(父母親瞭解我的意思)，經過了逐漸減少對惱人事物的耐性，經過了每個爭論、無法化解的對立以及其它種種，你將永遠都從高中畢業了，你和你的文憑合而為一，至死不渝。
No, commencement is life's great ceremonial beginning, with its own attendant and highly appropriate symbolism. Fitting, for example, for this auspicious rite of passage, is where we find ourselves this afternoon, the venue. Normally, I avoid cliches like the plague, wouldn't touch them with a ten-foot pole, but here we are on a literal level playing field. That matters. That says something. And your ceremonial costume: shapeless, uniform, one-size-fits-all. Whether male or female, tall or short, scholar or slacker, spray-tanned prom queen or intergalactic X-Box assassin, each of you is dressed, you'll notice, exactly the same. And your diploma, but for your name, exactly the same.
不，畢業典禮是生命中偉大的一個開端，它有其本身的意義和非常相稱的象徵。舉例來說，適合在這個喜氣洋洋的下午儀式上，讓我們找到自己的立場。通常我像躲瘟疫般的避免陳腔濫調像，我完全不會去接觸它，但現在我們在一個實質公平競爭的賽場上。陳腔濫調就非常重要了。那表達了某些重要的事情。而你的畢業禮服：沒有造型、完全一致、單一尺碼地。不論男性或女性、高或矮、認真學習或偷懶的學生、人工噴曬成棕色皮膚的舞會皇后或銀河系的X-Box殺手，你們會注意到，每個人都穿的一模一樣。而除了名字，你的文憑也都完全一樣。
All of this is as it should be, because none of you is special.
這一切本來就應該如此，因為你們一點都不特別。
You're not special. You are not exceptional.
你們不特別，你們沒有特別優秀。
Contrary to what your U9 soccer trophy suggests, your glowing seventh grade report card, despite every assurance of a certain corpulent purple dinosaur, that nice Mister Rogers and your batty Aunt Sylvia, no matter how often your maternal caped crusader has swooped in to save you, you're nothing special.
相對於你九歲以下的足球獎杯所暗示的、你閃閃發亮的七年級成績單、不管某隻紫色肥胖恐龍、親切的Rogers先生和你古怪的Sylvia大嬸對你的每一句肯定、不論你的蝙蝠俠女多常俯衝而下來救你，你一點都不特別。
Yes, you've been pampered, cosseted, doted upon, helmeted, bubble-wrapped. Yes, capable adults with other things to do have held you, kissed you, fed you, wiped your mouth, wiped your bottom, trained you, taught you, tutored you, coached you, listened to you, counseled you, encouraged you, consoled you and encouraged you again. You've been nudged, cajoled, wheedled and implored. You've been feted and fawned over and called sweetie pie.
是的，你一直被驕縱、寵愛、溺愛、防護、溫柔地保護著。是的，有能力又得忙於其他事務的成人們一直抱著、吻著、餵養著你、替你擦嘴、擦屁股、訓練你、教導你、輔導你、指引你、傾聽你、勸你、鼓勵你、撫慰你並再次鼓勵你。你一直被輕輕推動、被循循善誘、被甜言蜜語哄騙又被苦苦哀求。你一直被稱讚又被奉承討好還被稱做甜心。
Yes, you have. And, certainly, we've been to your games, your plays, your recitals, your science fairs. Absolutely, smiles ignite when you walk into a room, and hundreds gasp with delight at your every tweet. Why, maybe you've even had your picture in the Townsman. And now you've conquered high school, and, indisputably, here we all have gathered for you, the pride and joy of this fine community, the first to emerge from that magnificent new building.
的確，你有被這樣叫過。而事實上，我們去參加了你的運動會、你的比賽、你的演奏會、你的科展。一定的，當你走進房間時我們臉上都綻放笑容，又在你發每篇推特時高興地發出數百聲驚呼。為什麼？也許你的照片還登上了Townsman。而現在你已經征服了高中生活，毫無疑問地，我們大家都為了你們相聚於此，你們是這個優良社區的榮耀與喜悅，是第一群走出那棟宏偉嶄新的大樓的人們。
But do not get the idea you're anything special. Because you're not.
但別以為你們有任何特別。因為你們並沒有。
The empirical evidence is everywhere, numbers even an English teacher can't ignore. Newton, Natick, Nee... I am allowed to say Needham, yes? That has to be two thousand high school graduates right there, give or take, and that's just the neighborhood N's. Across the country no fewer than 3.2 million seniors are graduating about now from more than thirty-seven thousand high schools.
到處都有實際的證明，連英文老師都無法忽略這些數字。Newton、Natick、Nee... 我可以說出Needham(註一)，對吧？這裡一定或多或少有兩千名高中畢業生，而這只是鄰近區域的數目。現在整個國家有超過三百二十萬的高年級學生正從約超過三萬七千所高中畢業。
That's thirty-seven thousand valedictorians; that's thirty-seven thousand class presidents, ninety-two thousand harmonizing altos, three hundred and forty thousand swaggering jocks, 2,185,967 pairs of Uggs. But why limit ourselves to high school? After all, you're leaving it. So think about this: even if you're one in a million, on a planet of 6.8 billion that means there are nearly seven thousand people just like you. Imagine standing somewhere over there on Washington Street on Marathon Monday and watching sixty-eight hundred "yous" go running by. And consider for a moment the bigger picture: your planet, I'll remind you, is not the center of its solar system, your solar system is not the center of its galaxy, your galaxy is not the center of the universe. In fact, astrophysicists assure us the universe has no center; therefore, you cannot be it. Neither can Donald Trump, which someone should tell him, although the hair is quite a phenomenon.
那是三萬七千位致詞代表；那是三萬七千位學生會長、九萬兩千位和聲男高音歌手、三十四萬名趾高氣昂的體育健將、2,185,967雙雪靴。但為什麼要把我們自己限制在高中呢？畢竟，你正要離開它了。所以想想看：即使你是百萬中選一的人才，這代表著在一個擁有六十八億人口的行星上，有將近七千人與你相像。想像一下星期一馬拉松大賽，站在華盛頓街上的某處，看著六千八百個「你」跑過去。再想像一下有幅更大張的圖，你所在的行星，我提醒你，它不是所屬太陽系的中心，你所在的太陽系也不是所屬銀河的中心，你所在的銀河系也不是宇宙的中心。實際上，天文物理學家向我們保證，宇宙並沒有中心；如此一來，你更不會是中心了。Donald Trump也不會是，應該有人告訴他這件事，雖然他的頭髮非常酷。
"But, Dave," you cry, "Walt Whitman tells me I'm my own version of perfect! Epictetus tells me I have the spark of Zeus!" And I don't disagree. So that makes 6.8 billion examples of perfection, 6.8 billion sparks of Zeus. You see, if everyone is special, then no one is. If everyone gets a trophy, trophies become meaningless.
「可是，Dave老師」你哭喊著，「美國詩人Walt Whitman告訴我，我就是自己的完美版本!古希臘哲學家Epictetus告訴我，我擁有宙斯的火花!」而我不反對。所以那樣便造就有六十八億個完美的範例，六十八億個宙斯的火花。你看看，假如每個人都是特別的，這樣就沒人特別了。如果每個人都獲得獎杯，獎杯們就變得毫無意義。
In our unspoken but not so subtle Darwinian competition with one another (which springs, I think, from our fear of our own insignificance, a subset of our dread of mortality), we have of late, we Americans, to our detriment, come to love accolades more than genuine achievement. We have come to see them as the point, and we're happy to compromise standards, or ignore reality, if we suspect that's the quickest way, or only way, to have something to put on the mantelpiece, something to pose with, crow about, something with which to leverage ourselves into a better spot on the social totem pole.
在我們不明說但很明顯的達爾文物競天擇相互競爭中(我認為，那是從我們對自身渺小的恐懼和某部分對死亡的畏懼中滋長)我們美國人，最近開始熱愛讚美而不是真實的成就，這對我們有害。我們已經看到了這一點，而我們樂於向標準妥協，或忽略事實，如果我們以為那是最快或唯一的方式，來把某些東西放在壁爐上炫耀，把某些事物拿來一起合照吹噓，拿某些事情來提高我們自己在社交圖騰柱上的位置。
No longer is it how you play the game, no longer is it even whether you win or lose, or learn or grow, or enjoy yourself doing it... Now it's "So what does this get me?" As a consequence, we cheapen worthy endeavors, and building a Guatemalan medical clinic becomes more about the application to Bowdoin than the well-being of Guatemalans.
不再只是你如何比賽，不再只是你勝利或失敗、或學習或成長、或享受其過程中的樂趣...現在它是：「所以這到底可以帶給我什麼？」結果，我們貶低了可敬的努力，而建造一所瓜地馬拉的醫療診所變成更著重於給予Bowdoin大學的應用價值而不是瓜地馬拉人的福祉。
It's an epidemic, and in its way, not even dear old Wellesley High is immune, one of the best of the thirty-seven thousand nationwide, Wellesley High School, where good is no longer good enough, where a B is the new C, and the mid-level curriculum is called Advanced College Placement. And I hope you caught me when I said "one of the best." I said "one of the best" so we can feel better about ourselves, so we can bask in a little easy distinction, however vague and unverifiable, and count ourselves among the elite, whoever they might be, and enjoy a perceived leg up on the perceived competition. But the phrase defies logic. By definition...by definition there can be only one best. You're it or you're not.
它是一傳染病，而正在傳染的過程中，即使是我們珍愛的老Wellesley高中也無可倖免，Wellesley高中，是全國三萬七千所高中裡最好的學校之一，在這裡「良好」已經不足以是優秀了，在這裡乙等現在被視為新丙等，而中階課程被稱為進階大學預修課程。而我希望你注意到我說「最好的之一」。如此我們可以對自己感覺更良好，我們可以在這渺小又容易獲得的榮譽中取暖，不管它有多模糊又無法驗證。無論這群菁英是誰，我們把自己算在菁英之中，並享受在自我意識中的競爭裡領先。但這話沒有邏輯性。從定義...從定義上來看，只能有一個最好的。你是最好的或你不是。
If you've learned anything in your four years here I hope it's that education be for, should be for, rather than material advantage, the exhilaration of learning. You've learned, too, I hope, as Sophocles assured us, that wisdom is the chief element of happiness. Second is ice cream, just a...just an FYI. I also hope you've learned enough to recognize how little you know...how little you know now, at the moment. For today is just the beginning. It's where you go from here that matters.
如果你在這裡的四年中有學到任何事情，我希望那就是教育本身的意義，教育就應該是這樣；不是物質上的優勢，而是學習的喜悅。我希望你也已經學習到，如古希臘悲劇詩人Sophocles斷然告訴我們的：智慧是幸福的主要元素。第二是冰淇淋，只是個...只是僅供參考。我還希望你們已學而足以認知自身的不足，認知到此刻你們所知的是多麼的稀少。因為今天只是個開端，重要的是你要從這兒往哪去。
As you commence, then, and before you scatter to the winds, I urge you to do whatever you do for no reason other than you love it and believe in its importance. Don't bother with work you don't believe in any more than you would a spouse you're not crazy about, lest you too find yourself on the wrong side of a Baltimore Orioles comparison. Resist the easy comforts of complacency, the specious glitter of materialism, the narcotic paralysis of self-satisfaction. Be worthy of your advantages.
當你們畢業時，然後在各奔東西之前，我勸你們做任何事都不要講緣由，只為了你喜愛它且相信它的重要性而做。別煩惱那你不相信的事，就像你不娶一位不為之瘋狂的配偶，以免發現自己也在巴爾的摩金鶯隊的比喻中站錯邊了。抗拒自滿的輕鬆舒適；抗拒物質主義華而不實的光彩；抗拒自鳴得意的迷幻麻醉效果。要配得上自己擁有的優勢。
And read, read all the time, read as a matter of principle, as a matter of self-respect. Read as a nourishing staple of life. Develop and protect a moral sensibility and demonstrate the character to apply it. Dream big. Work hard. Think for yourself. Love everything you love, everyone you love, with all your might. And do so, please, with a sense of urgency, for every tick of the clock subtracts from fewer and fewer; and as surely as there are commencements there are cessations, and you'll be in no condition to enjoy the ceremony attendant to that eventuality no matter how delightful the afternoon.
還要閱讀，永遠都要閱讀，把閱讀視為最重要的事，把閱讀視為自己的尊嚴。把閱讀視為滋養生命的主食。發展出道德感並保護它，還要展現出能讓它實現的本質。要有偉大的夢想。努力工作。思考自己的人生。全心全意去愛你所愛的每件事、每個人。這樣做時，請保持一份急迫感，因為時鐘上每一個滴答聲都讓時間越來越少；當然事情都有開端也有結束，而你將不適合永遠享受這個畢業典禮，不論今天下午結束時你有多麼愉快。
The fulfilling life, the distinctive life, the relevant life, is an achievement, not something that will fall into your lap because you're a nice person or mommy ordered it from the caterer. You'll note the founding fathers took pains to secure your inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness(quite an active verb, "pursuit"), which leaves, I should think, little time for lying around watching parrots roller skate on Youtube.
充實的人生、獨特的人生、充滿意義的人生是一種成就，不是因為你是個好人或媽咪跟承辦酒席的人預訂了就可以獲得的事物。你會注意到美國開國元勳們費盡苦心爭取保衛你不可剝奪的生存權利、自由和追尋幸福的權利(多麼積極的動詞「追尋」)，我想，這留給我們一點時間放鬆不做任何事只從Youtube上觀賞鸚鵡溜冰。
The first President Roosevelt, the old rough rider, advocated the strenuous life. Mr. Thoreau wanted to drive life into a corner, to live deep and suck out all the marrow. The poet Mary Oliver tells us to row, row into the swirl and roil. Locally, someone...I...I forget who...from time to time encourages young scholars to carpe the heck out of the diem. The point is the same: get busy, have at it.
老羅斯福總統，這位老練的騎士，提倡勤奮的人生。作家Mr. Thoreau要把生命逼到困境、活得深刻並汲取所有的精髓。詩人Mary Oliver告訴我們划船，划進漩渦中並享受其擺動。在本地，某人...我...我忘了是誰...總是鼓勵年輕學子盡力把握人生。重點都一樣：動起來，開始做。
Don't wait for inspiration or passion to find you. Get up, get out, explore, find it yourself, and grab hold with both hands. Now, before you dash off and get your YOLO tattoo, ah let me point out the illogic of that trendy little expression, because you can and should live not merely once, but every day of your life.
別等著靈感或熱情自己來找你，站起來、踏出門、去探索、自己去尋找，並用雙手牢牢抓緊。現在，在你匆匆離去並刺上YOLO刺青以前，呃，我來點出那流行短句不合邏輯處，因為你不可以也不應該僅僅活一次，而是活過你每天的生命。
Rather than You Only Live Once, it should be You Live Only Once, but because YLOO doesn't have the same ring, we shrug and decide it doesn't matter. None of this day-seizing, though, this YLOOing, should be interpreted as license for self-indulgence. Like accolades ought to be, the fulfilled life is a consequence, a gratifying byproduct. It's what happens when you're thinking about more important things.
不是「你只能活一次」，它應該是「人生不能重新來過」，但因為YLOO沒有同樣聲調，我們聳聳肩，決定那無所謂。然而這把握當下的YLOOing不應該被詮釋為自我放縱的許可。如同稱讚應該是令人愉悅的副產品，充實的生活才是結果。那就是當你思考更多重要的事物時，會發生的結果。
Climb the mountain not to plant your flag, but to embrace the challenge, enjoy the air and behold the view. Climb it so you can see the world, not so the world can see you. Go to Paris to be in Paris, not to cross it off your list and congratulate yourself for being worldly.
爬山不是為了插旗而爬，而是為了擁抱挑戰，享受空氣和欣賞風景。爬上去你就可以看見世界，而不是世界可以看見你。去巴黎是為了實際待在巴黎，而不是為了把它從你的清單上劃去再恭喜自己有世界觀。
Exercise free will and creative, independent thought not for the satisfactions they will bring you, but for the good they will do others, the rest of the 6.8 billion and those who will follow them. And then you too will discover the great and curious truth of the human experience is that selflessness is the best thing you can do for yourself. The sweetest joys of life, then, come only with the recognition that you're not special.
行使自由意志、創造力和獨立思考，不要為了它們將帶給你的滿足感，而是為了它們將帶給世界上其他六十八億人和他們下一代子孫的福祉。然後你也會發現人們體驗到的那既偉大又稀奇古怪的事實：無私是你能為自己所做最棒的事情。而後，生命中最甜蜜的喜悅會隨著你認知道自己並不特別而來。
Because everyone is.
因為每個人都特別。
Congratulations.
恭喜。
Good luck.
祝你們幸運。
Make for yourselves, please, for your sake and for ours, extraordinary lives.
請為了你們自己及也為了我們的緣故，活出一個不凡的人生。
註一：知名生物學家，同城市敵對高中以他命名
- 「至死不渝、直到死亡將你們分離」- Till Death Do You Part
You will stay forever graduated from high school, you and your diploma as one, till death do you part.
你將永遠都從高中畢業了，你和你的文憑合而為一，至死不渝。 - 「完全不接觸、完全不想介入」- Not Touch...With A Ten-foot Pole
Normally, I avoid cliches like the plague, wouldn't touch them with a ten-foot pole, but here we are on a literal level playing field.
通常我像躲瘟疫般的避免陳腔濫調，我完全不會去接觸它，但現在我們在一個實質公平競爭的賽場上。 - 「根據定義、當然」- By Definition
By definition...by definition there can be only one best. You're it or you're not.
從定義上來看，只能有一個最好的。你是最好的或你不是。 - 「把握光陰、及時行樂」- Carpe Diem
Locally, someone...I...I forget who...from time to time encourages young scholars to carpe the heck out of the diem.
在本地，某人...我忘了是誰...總是鼓勵年輕學子盡力把握人生。
