名人励志英语演讲 第114期:人类的精神(1)
日期:2013-09-30 17:04

(单词翻译:单击)

演讲稿

I feel that this award was not made to me as a man, but to my work--a life's work in the agony and sweat of the human spirit, not for glory and least of all for profit, but to create out of the materials of the human spirit something which did not exist before. So this award is only mine in trust. It will not be difficult to find a dedication for the money part of it commensurate with the purpose and significace of its origin. But I would like to do the same with the acclaim too, by using this moment as a pinnacle from which I might be listened to by the yound men and women already dedicated to the same anguish and travail, among whom is already that one who will some day stand where I am standing.
我觉得这份奖赏不是授予我个人的。而是授予我的工作的——授予我一生从事关于人类精神的呕心沥血的工作。我从事这项工作,不是为名,更不是为利,而是为了从人的精神原料中创造出一些从前不曾有过的东西。所以,这份奖金只不过是托我保管而已。做出符合这份奖赏的原意与目的,与其奖金部分有相等价值的献词并不难,但我还愿意利用这个时刻,利用这个举世瞩目的讲坛,向那些可能听到我说话并已献身于同一艰苦劳动的男、女青年致敬。他们中肯定有人有一天也会站在我现在站着的地方。
Our tragedy today is a general and universal physical fear so long sustained by now that we can even bear it. There are no longer problems of the spirit. There is only the question: When will I be blown up? Because of this, the young man or woman writing today has forgotten the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself which alone can make good writing because only that is worth writing about, worth the agony and the sweat.
我们今天的悲剧是人们普遍存在一种生理上的恐惧,这种恐惧存在已久,以致我们已经习惯了。现在不存在精神上的问题,唯一的问题是:我什么时候会被炸得粉身碎骨?正因为如此,今天从事写作的男女青年已经忘记了人类内心的冲突。然而,只有接触到这种内心冲突才能产生出好作品,因为这是唯一值得写、值得呕心沥血去写的题材。
He must learn them again. He must teach himself that the basest of all things is to be afraid; and, teaching himself that, forget it forever, leaving no room in his workshop for anything but the old verities and truths of the heart, the universal truths lacking which any story is ephemeral and doomed--love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice.
他一定要重新认识这些问题。他必须使自己明白世间最可鄙的事情莫过于恐惧。他必须使自己永远忘却恐惧,在他的工作室里除了心底古老的真理之外,不允许任何别的东西有容身之地。没有这古老的普遍真理,任何小说都只能昙花一现,不会成功——这些真理就是爱、荣誉、怜悯、自尊、同情和牺牲等感情。

重点讲解+名人简历

重点讲解:
1. least of all
(用于否定句后)(多者之中)尤其,尤数;
eg. No one ever reads these articles, least of all me.
从没有人读这些文章,我就更不用说了。
eg. Such a speech should never have been made, least of all by a so-called responsible politician.
这种话本来就不应该说,尤其是不应出自一个所谓负责任的政客之口。
2. in trust
受托管;被托管;
eg. The British Library holds its collection in trust for the nation.
大不列颠图书馆为国家保存被托管藏书。
eg. Works of art are in trust to us during our lifetime.
艺术品交由我们托管一生。
3. blow up
引爆;(使)炸毁;(使)爆炸;爆发;
eg. He was jailed for 45 years for trying to blow up a plane.
他因为企图炸毁一架飞机而被判入狱 45年。
eg. Their boat blew up as they slept.
他们睡觉的时候船爆炸了。
4. be worth doing sth.
值得;
eg. He's decided to get a look at the house and see if it might be worth buying.
他决定去瞧瞧那座房子,看是否值得买下。
eg. Most things worth having never come easy.
大部分值得拥有的东西都来之不易。

背景资料:
威廉·福克纳一生先后创作了十几篇长篇小说和几十篇短篇小说,描述了以美国南方200年来南北战争为中心事件的社会变迁,各种家族的兴衰,各种人物的沉浮。1949年,“因为他对当代美国小说做出了强有力的和艺术上无与伦比的贡献”,福克纳获得了诺贝尔文学奖。虽然是1949年获得,但颁奖仪式直到1950年才举行。这篇演讲就是福克纳在接受该奖时所发表的演讲,文中勉励作家必须提升自己的心灵,时时以爱、怜悯与牺牲来唤醒人类亘古的真理。

名人经典:
He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance.
人之不朽不是因为在动物中唯独他永远能发言,而是因为他有灵魂、有同情心、牺牲和忍耐精神。

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重点单词
  • dedicatedadj. 专注的,献身的,专用的
  • conflictn. 冲突,矛盾,斗争,战斗 vi. 冲突,争执,抵触
  • pityn. 同情,怜悯,遗憾,可惜 v. 同情,怜悯
  • agonyn. 极度的痛苦,挣扎
  • endurancen. 忍耐,忍耐力,耐性
  • politiciann. 政治家,政客
  • dedicationn. 奉献,献词,献堂礼
  • universaladj. 普遍的,通用的,宇宙的,全体的,全世界的 n.
  • ephemeraladj. 朝生暮死的,生命短暂的 n. 生存极短时间的事
  • priden. 自豪,骄傲,引以自豪的东西,自尊心 vt. 以 .