【正文】 of JK Rowling at Harvard ：失敗的好處和想象Video of J K Rowling39。s Commencement Address, 力的重要性“The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and theImportance of Imagination,” at the Annual The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and theMeeting of the Harvard Alumni Association on Importance of Imagination Harvard University Commencement Address June 5th this powerful, moving, yet alsofunny speech Jo talks about her time working for Amnesty International, her personal experiences Tercentenary Theatre, June 5, 2008 失敗的好處和想象力的重要性 with failure and the power of the imagination to 哈佛大學(xué)畢業(yè)典禮 allow us to empathize with 2008年6月5日President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers，members of the faculty, proud parents, and, above all, graduates，福斯特主席，哈佛公司和監(jiān)察委員會(huì)的各位成員，各位老師、家長、全體畢業(yè)生們：The first thing I would like to say is “thank you.” Not only has Harvard given me an extraordinary honour, but the weeks of fear and nausea I’ve endured at the thought of giving this mencement address have made me lose winwin situation!Now all I have to do is take deep breaths, squint at the red banners and convince myself that I am at the world’s largest Gryffindors39。 。哈佛不僅給了我無上的榮譽(yù)，連日來為這個(gè)演講經(jīng)受的恐懼和緊張，更令我減肥成功。這真是一個(gè)雙贏的局面。現(xiàn)在我要做的就是深呼吸幾下，瞇著眼睛看看前面的大紅橫幅，安慰自己正在世界上最大的魔法學(xué)院聚會(huì)上。Delivering a mencement address is a great responsibility。or so I thought until I cast my mind back to my own mencement speaker that day was the distinguished British philosopher Baroness Mary on her speech has helped me enormously in writing this one, because it turns out that I can39。t remember a single word she liberating discovery enables me to proceed without any fear that I might inadvertently influence you to abandon promising careers in business, law or politics for the giddy delights of being a gay ，至少在我回憶自己當(dāng)年的畢業(yè)典禮前是這么認(rèn)為的。那天做演講的是英國著名的哲學(xué)家Baroness Mary Warnock，對(duì)她演講的回憶，對(duì)我寫今天的演講稿，產(chǎn)生了極大的幫助，因?yàn)槲也挥浀盟f過的任何一句話了。這個(gè)發(fā)現(xiàn)讓我釋然，讓我不再擔(dān)心我可能會(huì)無意中影響你放棄在商業(yè)，法律或政治上的大好前途，轉(zhuǎn)而醉心于成為一個(gè)快樂的魔法師。You see? If all you remember in years to e is the 39。gay wizard39。 joke, I39。ve still e out ahead of Baroness Mary goalsthe first step to ，如果在若干年后你們還記得“快樂的魔法師”這個(gè)笑話，那就證明我已經(jīng)超越了Baroness Mary Warnock。建立可實(shí)現(xiàn)的目標(biāo)——這是提高自我的第一步。Actually, I have wracked my mind and heart for what I ought to say to you have asked myself what I wish I had known at my own graduation, and what important lessons I have learned in the 21 years that has expired between that day and ，我為今天應(yīng)該和大家談些什么絞盡了腦汁。我問自己什么是我希望早在畢業(yè)典禮上就該了解的，而從那時(shí)起到現(xiàn)在的21年間，我又得到了什么重要的啟示。I have e up with two this wonderful day when we are gathered together to celebrate your academic success, I have decided to talk to you about the benefits of as you stand on the threshold of what is sometimes called 39。real life39。, I want to extol the crucial importance of 。在這美好的一天，當(dāng)我們一起慶祝你們?nèi)〉脤W(xué)業(yè)成就的時(shí)刻，我希望告訴你們失敗有什么樣的益處；在你們即將邁向“現(xiàn)實(shí)生活”的道路之際，我還要褒揚(yáng)想象力的重要性。These may seem quixotic or paradoxical choices, but bear with ，但請(qǐng)先容我講完。Looking back at the 21yearold that I was at graduation, is a slightly unfortable experience for the 42yearold that she has my lifetime ago, I was striking an uneasy balance between the ambition I had for myself, and what those closest to me expected of ，對(duì)于今天42歲的我來說，是一個(gè)稍微不太舒服的經(jīng)歷?？梢哉f，我人生的前一部分，一直掙扎在自己的雄心和身邊的人對(duì)我的期望之間。I was convinced that the only thing I wanted to do, ever, was to write , my parents, both of whom came from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imaginationThe Benefits of JK Rowling at Harvard 2 was an amusing personal quirk that could never pay a mortgage, or secure a ，自己唯一想做的事情，就是寫小說。不過，我的父母，他們都來自貧窮的背景，沒有任何一人上過大學(xué)，堅(jiān)持認(rèn)為我過度的想象力是一個(gè)令人驚訝的個(gè)人怪癖，根本不足以讓我支付按揭，或者取得足夠的養(yǎng)老金。I know the irony strikes like with the force of a cartoon anvil now, but…我現(xiàn)在明白反諷就像用卡通鐵砧去打擊你，但...They had hoped that I would take a vocational degree。I wanted to study English promise was reached that in retrospect satisfied nobody, and I went up to study Modern had my parents39。 car rounded the corner at the end of the road than I ditched German and scuttled off down the Classics ，而我想去攻讀英國文學(xué)。最后，達(dá)成了一個(gè)雙方都不甚滿意的妥協(xié)：我改學(xué)現(xiàn)代語言。可是等到父母一走開，我立刻放棄了德語而報(bào)名學(xué)習(xí)古典文學(xué)。I cannot remember telling my parents that I was studying Classics。they might well have found out for the first time on graduation all the 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 ，他們可能是在我畢業(yè)典禮那一天才發(fā)現(xiàn)的。我想，在全世界的所有專業(yè)中，他們也許認(rèn)為，不會(huì)有比研究希臘神話更沒用的專業(yè)了，根本無法換來一間獨(dú)立寬敞的衛(wèi)生間。I would like to make it clear, in parenthesis, that I do not blame my parents for their point of 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 is more, I cannot criticise my parents for hoping that I would never experience had been poor themselves, and I have since been poor, and I quite agree with them that it is not an ennobling entails fear, and stress, and sometimes depression。it means a thousand petty humiliations and out of poverty by your own efforts, that is indeed something on which to pride yourself, but poverty itself is romanticised only by ：我不會(huì)因?yàn)楦改傅挠^點(diǎn)，而責(zé)怪他們。埋怨父母給你指錯(cuò)方向是有一個(gè)時(shí)間段的。當(dāng)你成長到可以控制自我方向的時(shí)候，你就要自己承擔(dān)責(zé)任了。尤其是，我不會(huì)因?yàn)楦改赶Ｍ也灰^窮日子，而責(zé)怪他們。他們一直很貧窮，我后來也一度很窮，所以我很理解他們。貧窮并不是一種高貴的經(jīng)歷，它帶來恐懼、壓力、有時(shí)還有絕望，它意味著許許多多的羞辱和艱辛?？孔约旱呐[脫貧窮，確實(shí)可以引以自豪，但貧窮本身只有對(duì)傻瓜而言才是浪漫的。What I feared most for myself at your age was not poverty, but ，最害怕的不是貧窮，而是失敗。At your age, in spite of a distinct lack of motivation at university, where I had spent far too long in the coffee bar writing stories, and far too little time at lectures, I had a knack for passing examinations, and that, for years, had been the measure of success in my life and that of my ，明顯缺乏在大學(xué)學(xué)習(xí)的動(dòng)力，我花了太久時(shí)間在咖啡吧寫故事，而在課堂的時(shí)間卻很少。我有一個(gè)通過考試的訣竅，并且數(shù)年間一直讓我在大學(xué)生活和同齡人中不落人后。I am not dull enough to suppose that because you are young, gifted and welleducated, you have never known hardship or and intelligence never yet inoculated anyone against the caprice of the