演讲原文

The walls of Oxford have not only housed the greatest philosophical and scientific geniuses—they have also ushered forth some of the most cherished creators of children's literature, from J.R.R. Tolkien to C.S. Lewis. Today I was allowed to hobble into the dining hall in Christ Church to see Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland immortalized in the stained glass windows. And even one of my own fellow Americans, the beloved Dr Seuss graced these halls and then went on to leave his mark on the imaginations of millions of children throughout the world.
牛津不仅荟萃了最伟大的哲学家和科学家，还蕴育了一些最出色的儿童文学创作家，从J.R.R.托尔金到C.S.刘易斯。刘易斯·卡罗尔的《爱丽丝漫游仙境》在基督教堂的彩色玻璃窗里被永久保存。同时，我还发现我的一位美国同胞，亲爱的苏斯博士也为此增色，在这项伟大的事业上留下了他的印记，启发了全世界上千万儿童的想象力。

I suppose I should start by listing my qualifications to speak before you this evening. Friends, I do not claim to have the academic expertise of other speakers who have addressed this hall, just as they could lay little claim at being adept at the moonwalk—and you know, Einstein in particular was really TERRIBLE at that.
今晚，我想先讲讲我为何有幸能在这里演讲。朋友们，我不具备那些来此地的演讲者所拥有的学术专业知识，正如他们不善于“太空步”一样——而且，大家都知道，爱因斯坦尤其不擅长。

But I do have a claim to having experienced more places and cultures than most people will ever see. Human knowledge consists not only of libraries of parchment and ink—it is also comprised of the volumes of knowledge that are written on the human heart, chiseled on the human soul, and engraved on the human psyche. And friends, I have encountered so much in this relatively short life of mine that I still cannot believe I am chiseled only 42.
但是我可以说，和大多数人相比，我游历了更多地方，也体验了更多不同的文化。人类文明不仅仅是图书馆纸墨所记载的——还包括那些书写在人们内心的，凿刻在人们灵魂里和精神中的知识。而且，朋友们，在我短暂的生命力，我经历了这么多，以至于现在我都难以相信自己只有42岁。

热词空间

philosophical
adj. 哲学的
eg. Wilbur says he's not a coward, but that he's philosophically opposed to war.
威尔伯说他不是个懦夫，但他在哲学观念上反对战争。

genius
n. 天才，天赋
eg. He is endowed with genius.
他有天才。

stained
n. 染色的
eg. He stained his military record by going AWOL [a.w.o.l.=absent without official leave].
他因擅离职守而玷污了军绩。

expertise
n. 专门知识
eg. His field of expertise was steroids.
他的专业领域是甾族化合物。

adept
adj. 熟练的；擅长......的
eg. The author is adept in depicting vast scenes.
作者很善于描写大的场面。

parchment
n. 羊皮纸；羊皮纸文稿
eg. The writing on the parchment had faded until it was almost illegible.
羊皮纸上的字迹已褪色，到了差不多让人认不清的地步。

comprise
vt. 包含；由......组成
eg. Their country is comprised of 50 states.
他们的国家是由50个州组成的。

chisel
vt. 欺骗；凿刻
eg. He chiseled the figure of a girl out of a block of white marble.
他把一块汉白玉雕成一个女孩的石像。

engrave
vt.雕刻；铭记
eg. That image is engraved on my mind.
那个形象铭记在我脑海里。