Charlene

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2008/06/text-of-j-k-rowling-speech/
本文內文擷取自以上網站 , 網站演講實況及演講內文

我在雜誌上看到這篇文章
於是特別去找到了原文

發現有很多句子及用字是落網之魚
所以也順便翻譯了原文文句
即使有部分重複擷取的原文,
也是完全用我自己的方式去翻譯出來
並非從任何地方擷取翻譯

(本文翻譯皆為我自翻)
這場演講的主題叫'The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination'
"失敗的附加益處及想像力的重要性"
看到這主題, 我就覺得不怎麼感興趣
因為我不認同想像力能當飯吃...

但事實上, 這則演講讓我感覺到共鳴

這則演講在J.K.羅琳的演說下
給人一種溫暖與關心的感受
所以我想寫下來並且分享給大家
以下內容只擷取部分原文做翻譯

我想先談談她演講前段的"失敗的益處"

起先, 她提到她小時候的家庭環境貧困
以及她自己的興趣

Climbing out of poverty by your own efforts, that is indeed something on which to pride yourself, but poverty itself is romanticised only by fools.

What I feared most for myself at your age was not poverty, but failure.
用自己的力量擺脫貧困, 確實是件讓人自豪的事
但只有傻子才會將貧困視為一件浪漫的事
事實上我最害怕的並非貧困, 而是失敗

So I think it fair to say that by any conventional measure, a mere seven years after my graduation day, I had failed on an epic scale. An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless. The fears that my parents had had for me, and that I had had for myself, had both come to pass, and by every usual standard, I was the biggest failure I knew.

我這麼說是相當公平的, 用常規的標準來看, 在我畢業後的第七年, 我的人生遇到了嚴重慘敗
一段非常短命的婚姻結束, 我沒有了工作, 成為單親媽媽, 已經成為英國最窮困的人之一, 只差沒有流離失所
我父母親從小帶給我的恐懼, 以及我一直以來給我自己的恐懼都湧現上來
從任何標準來看,這是我所知最大的失敗

I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.
最大的恐懼已是現實, 於是我反而自由了
至少我還活著, 我有我最愛的女兒, 還擁有一台打字機和很多的想法
於是我從這個低谷上重建了我的人生

You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.
你可能從不會經歷我這種程度的失敗, 但人生中的失敗是難以避免的
人不可能活著而不會有任何大小的失敗,
除非你活得極度謹慎像沒有真正活過一般-這種情況下, 也是人生的一種失敗

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 than any qualification I ever earned.
你永遠不會真的了解你自己, 或者了解你人際的重量, 直到這一切被逆境試驗
這段時間我所學到的一切是個很棒的禮物, 雖然得來痛苦, 但卻比任何學到的東西都還要有用


這段演講"失敗的附加價值"其實是很貼近人心的
看著J.K.羅琳的演講過程
覺得是個讓人感動並且激勵人心的演講
歡迎對英文有興趣的人,
跟我一起分享閱讀心得!