名校励志英语演讲 20:失败的额外收益和想象力的重要性

 　　One of the greatest formative experiences of my life preceded Harry 1 Potter, though it informed much of what I subsequently wrote in those books. This revelation came in the form of one of my earliest day jobs. Though I was sloping off to write stories during my lunch hours, I paid the rent in my early 20s by working in the research department at Amnesty International’s headquarters in London.

　　想象力使我随后写书有了很多的想法，但对我印象最深远的经历发生在写《哈利·波特》之前。这种影响源于我早期的工作经历。在刚二十几岁的时候，为了付房租，我在伦敦大赦国际总部的调查部门工作，但我可以在午餐时间偷偷溜出去写小说。
　　There in my little office I read hastily scribbled 2 letters smuggled 4 out of totalitarian regimes by men and women who were risking imprisonment 5 to inform the outside world of what was happening to them. I saw photographs of those who had disappeared without trace, sent to Amnesty by their desperate families and friends. I read the testimony 6 of torture victims and saw pictures of their injuries. I opened handwritten, eye-witness accounts of summary trials and executions, of kidnappings and rapes 8.
　　在那儿，我在狭小的办公室里看着从集权主义政体偷运出来的信件。写这些信件的人，为了让外界知道他们那里所发生的事情，冒着被监禁的危险，用潦草的字迹匆匆写下他们的遭遇，然后再将信件寄给我们。我看过那些由绝望的家人和朋友寄来的无迹可寻的人的照片。我读过被严刑拷打的受害者的证词并看了他们遍体鳞伤的图片。我打开过目击者的手记，上面描述了对于绑架案和强奸案的审判和处决。
　　Many of my co-workers were ex-political prisoners, people who had been displaced from their homes, or fled into exile, because they had the temerity 9 to think independently of their government. Visitors to our offices included those who had come to give information, or to try and find out what had happened to those who they had left behind.
　　我的很多同事以前都是政治犯，因为他们敢于批判政府，有自己的想法，所以被赶出家门，或被放逐海外。来我们办公室的的访客，包括那些前来提供信息的，或想方设法知道那些留下的同志发生了什么事的人。
　　I shall never forget the African torture victim, a young man no older than I was at the time, who had become mentally ill after all he had endured in his homeland. He trembled uncontrollably as he spoke 10 into a video camera about the brutality 11 inflicted 12 upon him.
　　我永远不会忘记那个非籍酷刑受害者，一个当时还没我大的年轻男子，他因在故乡的经历而精神错乱。在摄像机前讲述被残暴地摧残的经历时，他的身体止不住地颤抖。
　　precede
　　vt. 在aa......之前
　　eg. The eldest 13 prince precedes all men except the king.
　　大太子位于皇上之下万人之上。
　　subsequently
　　adv. 随后
　　eg. Subsequently I form a very bad impression of them.
　　后来，他们给了我很不好的印象。
　　hastily
　　adv. 匆忙地
　　eg. The child was hastily dispatched out to school.
　　这孩子被匆忙打发到学校去了。
　　scribbled
　　adj. 潦草写成的
　　eg. For this act of insolence 14, he was sent to the stands, symbolically 15 imprisoned 16 behind bars, as he scribbled notes to his bench.
　　因为这次无礼的举动，他被送上了看台，象征性地被“监禁”了，他草草地写了几张纸条给替补队员。
　　smuggle 3
　　vt. 偷运
　　eg. Bolivia has arrested three other police officers suspected of helping 17 him smuggle cocaine 18 to the US.
　　玻利维亚还逮捕了其他三名涉嫌帮助他向美国走私可卡因的警察。
　　totalitarian
　　adj. 极权主义的
　　eg. Almost all government adopt totalitarian measures in time of war.
　　几乎所有的政府在战时都采取极权主义的措施。
　　regime
　　n. 政权
　　eg. The dictator banned all newspapers and books that criticized his regime.
　　独裁者取缔批评他政权的报刊书籍。
　　testimony
　　n. 证词，证据
　　eg. The witness disaffirmed her former testimony.
　　证人推翻了她原来的证词。
　　torture
　　n. 折磨；拷问
　　eg. The secret police tortured him to obtain information.
　　秘密警察拷问他以获取情报。
　　execution
　　n. 处决；死刑
　　eg. Then three were tied to the pillar for execution.
　　接着有三个人被捆在刑柱上准备行刑。
　　kidnapping
　　n. 绑架
　　eg. The kidnapping caused an international incident.
　　这一绑架事件引起了国际纠纷。
　　rape 7
　　n. 强奸
　　eg. There is mention of capital penalties for rape.
　　对强奸有死刑的规定。
　　displace
　　vt. 使背井离乡；取代
　　eg. Those resources can displace nuclear power.
　　那些能源能取代核能。
　　exile
　　n. 流放
　　eg. Disagreements exiled her from her family.
　　意见分歧使她离家出走了。
　　temerity
　　n. 冒失；蛮勇
　　eg. Age looks with anger on the temerity of youth, and youth with contempt on the scrupulosity 19 of age.
　　老年人对年青人的鲁莽十分气恼， 年轻人瞧不起老年人的顾虑重重。
　　brutality
　　n. 暴行
　　eg. The hostages were subjected to extreme brutality.
　　那些人质遭受惨无人道的对待。