Unit 9 Al Gore's Nobel Peace Prize Acceptable Speech ——Al Gore
第九单元 阿尔·戈尔诺贝尔和平奖获奖感言 ——阿尔·戈尔
Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Honorable members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen,
尊货的国王陛下，尊贵的各位殿下，尊敬的各位挪威诺贝尔学会的会员们，诸位阁下，女士们、先生们：
I have a purpose here today. It is a purpose I have tried to serve for many years. I have prayed that God would show me a way to accomplish it.
我怀着一个目的来到这里，为了这个目的我已经奋斗多年。我曾向上帝祈祷，希望他能为我指出一条实现这一目标的道路。
Sometimes, without warning, the future knocks on our door with a precious and painful vision of what might be. One hundred and nineteen years ago, a wealthy inventor read his own obituary, mistakenly published years before his death. Wrongly believing the inventor had just died, a newspaper printed a harsh judgment of his life's work, unfairly labeling him the "Merchant of Death" because of his invention, dynamite. Shaken by this condemnation, the inventor made a fateful choice to serve the cause of peace.
有时，在毫无警告的情况下，未来会突然叩响我们的房门，让我们看到宝贵而令人痛苦的未来景象。119年前，一位富有的发明家在自己去世数年前就在报上读到了自己的讣告，是一家报纸误登的。那家报纸误以为发明家刚刚离世，对他的一生进行了非常严厉的批评，将他称为“死亡商人”，因为他发明了炸药。这一评价有失公允，但发明家却因这指责而深受震动，做出了一个极为重要的决定——为和平而不懈努力。
Seven years later, Alfred Nobel created this prize and the others that bear his name.
七年之后，阿尔弗雷德·诺贝尔设立了诺贝尔和平奖，以及其他诸多以他的名字命名的奖项。
Seven years ago tomorrow, I read my own political obituary in a judgment that seemed to me harsh and mistaken, if not premature. But that unwelcome verdict also brought a precious, if painful gift: an opportunity to search for fresh, new ways to serve my purpose.
到明天就整整七年了，就在七年前，我在一则判决中读到了我的政治生涯讣告，这讣告是残忍和错误的，再说也为时过早。虽然令人痛苦，但这份不受欢迎的判决书也带给我一份珍贵的礼物：一个寻求全新途径来实现目标的机会。
Unexpectedly, that quest has brought me here. Even though I fear my words cannot match this moment, I pray that what I am feeling in my heart will be communicated clearly enough that those who hear me will say, "We must act."
出乎我的意料，这一新的追求将我带到了这里。尽管我此刻恐怕言不达意，但我祈求上帝将我心中所感清晰地传达给大家，每一位听众听完后都能说：“我们必须行动起来！”