演讲文本

The pain of the circuses built inner strength and physical resiliency

痛苦的"马戏"培养了他们内心的强大和身体的韧性

Life is filled with circuses

生活中也充满了这种"马戏"

You will fail. You will likely fail often

你可能会失败 失败是经常发生的事

It will be painful

这会很痛苦

It will be discouraging

会很令人沮丧

At times it will test you to your very core

有时 这是对你最本质的检验

But if you want to change the world, don't be afraid of the circuses

如果你想改变世界 别害怕"马戏"

At least twice a week, the trainees were required to run the obstacle course

至少两周一次 学员需要跨障碍训练

The obstacle course contained 25 obstacles including a 10-foot wall, a 30-foot cargo net

跨障碍训练包含25个障碍 包括一堵10英尺高的墙和一面30英尺高的吊网

and a barbed wire crawl to name a few

你还要爬过铁丝网 等等

But the most challenging obstacle was the slide for life

但最具挑战性的跨障碍训练是爬绳索

It had a three level 30-foot tower at one end and a one level tower at the other

一端是三层30英尺高的塔 另一端是一层塔

In between was a 200-foot long rope

中间连着200英尺长的绳索

You had to climb the three tiered tower and once at the top, you grabbed the rope

你需要爬上三层塔 到顶后抓住绳索

swung underneath the rope and pulled yourself hand over hand until you got to the other end

在绳索下端晃动着双手交换 挪往前方 直到到达另一端

The record for the obstacle course had stood for years when my class began training in 1977

我们班1977年进行跨障碍训练以来 该记录保持了很久

The record seemed unbeatable, until one day

记录看起来无法打破 直到有一天

a student decided to go down the slide for life, head first

一个学员决定冒险使用另一种方式爬绳索

Instead of swinging his body underneath the rope and inching his way down

他不再在绳索下方晃动 然后往前慢慢移动

he bravely mounted the top of the rope and thrust himself forward

他勇敢地爬到绳索的上方 往前冲了出去

It was a dangerous move, seemingly foolish, and fraught with risk

这很危险 看起来甚至有些愚蠢

Failure could mean injury and being dropped from the course

失败可能意味着受伤和失格

Without hesitation, the student slid down the rope

但他毫不迟疑地像这样爬往前方

perilously fast, instead of several minutes, it only took him half that time

他的动作非常快 他将时间缩短了一半 没用几分钟

and by the end of the course he had broken the record

在完成之后 他打破了记录

人物简介和演讲视频

人物简介

威廉·麦克雷文，1977年加入海豹突击队，四星级上将，曾指挥猎杀伊拉克高级将领和击毙本拉登行动，2011年8月，就任美国特种作战司令部总司令。麦克雷文是德克萨斯大学的校友，此番重回校园发表毕业典礼演讲，他将自己最初在海豹突击队训练时的经历分享给毕业生，并从中抽出哲理，作为对毕业生的建议。