名校励志英语演讲 19:失败的额外收益和想象力的重要性

 　　The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more to me than any qualification I ever earned.

　　经历了挫折，你变得更加智慧，更加坚强，这意味着你有独立生存的能力。只有经过了逆境的考验，你才能真正了解自己，才能真正知道周围的人所赋予你的力量。这种认识是真正的财富，虽然历经千辛万苦，但这比我以前获得的任何资格证书都有价值。
　　So given a Time Turner, I would tell my 21-year-old self that personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a check-list of acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two. Life is difficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone’s total control, and the humility 1 to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes 3.
　　如果我有一台时光转换器，我会告诉21岁的自己，一个人的幸福在于知道人生不只是一份只有收获和成就的表单。资格证书和个人简历不是你们的生活，虽然你们将会遇到很多与我同龄或年龄比我大的人将二者混为一谈，生活艰辛而复杂，是任何人都无法完全掌控 的。谦恭地了解了这一点，你才能从容面对人生的变迁。
　　You might think I chose my second theme, the importance of imagination, because of the part it played in rebuilding my life, but that is not wholly so. Though I personally will defend the value of bedtime stories to my last gasp 4, I have learned to value imagination in a much broader sense. Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation. In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathise with humans whose experiences we have never shared.
　　至于为什么选择第二个主题——想象力的重要性，你们可能会认为是因为它对我重建生活所起的作用，但事实并非完全如此。虽然我坚持睡前故事对孩子的想象力有很大的价值，但我学会了在更广泛的意义上去理解想象力。想象力不仅仅是人类特有的设想不存在的事物的能力，还是所有发明和创新的源泉。毋庸置疑，想象力是最富转换性和启发性的力量，这种力量能使我们与有着不同经历的人们产生共鸣。
　　attain 5
　　vt. 达到，获得
　　eg. Whenever you have an aim you must sacrifice something of freedom to attain it.
　　无论何时，只要有目标，你就要牺牲一定的自由以达到它。
　　ruby 6
　　n. 红宝石
　　eg. She reset 7 a ruby in her necklace.
　　她在她的项链上重新镶上一块红宝石。
　　adversity
　　n. 逆境，不幸
　　eg. Adversity makes a man wise, not rich.
　　逆境不使人富裕，可使人聪明。
　　qualification
　　n. 资格证书
　　eg. She passed her qualification for the Olympic gymnastic competition.
　　她获得了奥林匹克体操比赛的资格。
　　acquisition
　　n. 获得
　　eg. In fact you could consider the nurturing 8 of this awareness 9 as fundamental to skills acquisition.
　　事实上你可以把这种对认知的培养作为获得技能的基本法则。
　　vicissitude 2
　　n. 变迁；盛衰
　　eg. So great a vicissitude in his life could not at once be received as real.
　　他的生活中发生了如此巨大的变迁，他一时还无法相信是真的。
　　gasp
　　n. 喘气
　　eg. After running such a long way, the messenger was gasping 10 for breath.
　　传令兵在跑了这么长一段路后，直喘粗气。
　　envision
　　vt. 想象；预想
　　eg. With God's help, we envision a bright and prosperous future for the nation we love.
　　藉著上帝的恩助，为我们心爱的家园，我们展望我们的国家朝向一个光明的前途和兴盛的未来。
　　innovation
　　n. 创新
　　eg. Continuous innovation is also necessary for success.
　　不断的技术革新也是成功的必要条件。
　　transformative
　　adj. 变化的，起改造作用的
　　eg. It could be a transformative deal whose full implications will take years to emerge.
　　然而，这会是一笔不易把握的交易，它的全部含意要几年后才能显露出来。
　　revelatory
　　adj. 启示的
　　eg. These are platitudes 11, but the effect on the spot is revelatory.
　　有些文字纯属陈词滥调，但置身当场却能给人以启示。
　　empathize
　　vi. 神会，表同情
　　eg. His ability to empathize with people made him an excellent marriage counsellor.
　　他与人能引发心灵上的共鸣使他成为一名优秀的婚姻问题咨询指导。