Stay True to Yourlf
做真正的自己——美国著名脱口秀主持人艾伦·德詹尼丝
Thank you, President Cowan, Mrs. President Cowen; distinguished guests, undistinguished guests - you know who you are, honored faculty and creepy Spanish teacher.
两只老虎的故事谢谢,谢谢考恩校长,和有头有脸的来宾们,呃,有头有脸的来宾,你知道你是谁,不用介绍了(众人笑),诚心感谢大家……以及讨厌的西班牙语老师(众人大笑)合同编
And thank you to all the graduating class of 2009, I realize most of you are hungover and have splitting headaches and haven't slept since Fat Tuesday, but you can't graduate 'til I finish, so listen up.
感谢所有2009届的毕业生,我知道你们绝大多数人还因为宿醉头痛欲裂,狂欢到今天都还没睡,但是没听完我的演讲不能毕业,所以都听好了!(学生们欢呼)
When I was asked to make the commencement speech, I immediately said yes. Then I went to look up what commencement meant. Which would have been easy if I had a diction
ary, but most of the books in our hou are Portia's, and they're all written in Australian. So I had to break the word down mylf, to find out the meaning.
当我被问是否来参加毕业典礼演讲的时候,我立刻就回答了:国家的故事yes!……然后我才去查“毕业典礼”是什么意思(众人笑)。如果我有字典的话就轻松多了,但我家的书大多是portia的(九点的英文ellen的妻子,澳大利亚人)而且都是澳洲文(众人笑),所以……我得自己摸索,去找出这个词的意思。
Commencement: common, and cement. Common cement. You commonly e cement on sidewalks. Sidewalks have cracks, and if you step on a crack, you break your mother's back. So there's that. But I'm honored that you've asked me here to speak at your common cement.
“commencement毕业典礼”:commen常见的+cement水泥,常见的水泥(众人大笑)你常常见到水泥,在人行道上,人行道有裂缝,你要是踩到裂缝,就会撞伤你妈妈的背(大家笑),所以大概意思就是这样了(笑声)
I thought that you had to be a famous alumnus - alumini - aluminum - alumis - you had to
graduate from this school. And I didn't go to college here, and I don't know if President Cowan knows, I didn't go to any college at all. Any college. And I'm not saying you wasted your time, or money, but look at me, I"m a huge celebrity.
但我很荣幸被邀请来做你们的“南极洲板块常见的水泥”的演讲。我以为非得是又有名,又是你们学校的校友才能来……我没有在这里念过大学,我不知校长先生是否知道,我完全没上过大学…任何一间大学!我倒不是在说你们在浪费时间和金钱,不过看看我,我是个超级成功的大名人唉!(大家爆笑)
Although I did graduate from the school of hard knocks, our mascot was the knockers. I spent a lot of time here growing up. My mom worked at (? 估计是某家商店的名字) and I would go there every time I needed to steal something out of her pur. But why am I here today? Clearly not to steal, you're too far away and I'd never get away with it.
事实上我在这里度过许多成长的岁月,我妈妈在这里工作时,我常来找她……每当我要偷她钱包里的钱时(大家笑)。但我今天在这里的原因,显然不是要偷你们的钱……
厄贝沙坦说明书I'm here becau of you. Becau I can't think of a more tenacious, more courageous gra
duating class. I mean, look at you all, wearing your robes. Usually when you're wearing a robe at 10 in the morning, it means you've given up. I'm here becau I love New Orleans. I was born and raid here, I spent my formative years here, and like you, while I was living here I only did laundry six times.
我在这里是因为你们,因为没有比你们更优秀更勇敢的毕业生了。看看你们每一个人,身穿你们的袍子(学士袍),通常我们说在早上10点还穿着袍子(睡袍)代表你放弃人生了(大家大笑)。我在这里,因为我爱纽奥良,我在这里出生成长,在此度过少年时光,正如你们一样,当我住这里时,我只洗过6次衣服(众人笑)。建筑模数
When I finished school, I was completely lost. And by school, I mean middle school, but I went ahead and finished high school anyway. And I - I really, I had no ambition, I didn't know what I wanted to do. I did everything from - I shucked oysters, I was a hostess, I was a bartender, I was a waitress, I painted hous, I sold vaccuum cleaners, I had no idea. And I thought I'd just finally ttle in some job, and I would make enough money to pay my rent, maybe have basic cable, maybe not, I didn't really have a plan, my point is that, by the time I was your age, I really thought I knew who I was, but I had no idea. Like
for example, when I was your age, I was dating men. So what I'm saying is, when you're older, most of you will be gay. Anyone writing this stuff down? Parents?
当我从学校毕业的时候,我完完全全迷失了自我,学校我指的是初中(大家笑),后来我也继续念完了高中。我当时,没有任何的野心,不知道自己想做什么。我什么工作都做,我挖生蚝,当带位员,做酒保,当服务生,粉刷房子,卖吸尘器……完全不知道自己想做什么。我只想随便找个糊口的工作,过一辈子,能有钱负得起房租就行,我完全没有任何计划。我想说的是,当我像你们这么大的时候,我真的以为我了解自己,但其实我并不了解,举例来说,我像你们这么大的时候,还在和男人约会(大家大笑)。所以我的意思是:当你们再长大些后,大多数的人,都会是gay!(场内爆笑,ellen自己也笑了)
Anyway, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, and the way I ended up on this path was from a very tragic event. I was maybe 19, and my girlfriend at the time was killed in a car accident. And I pasd the accident, and I didn't know it was her and I kept going, and I found out shortly after that, it was her. And I was living in a bament apartment, I had no money, I had no heat, no air, I had a mattress on the floor and the apartment was infested with fleas. And I was soul-arching, I was like, why is she sudde
nly gone, and there are fleas here? I don't understand, there must be a purpo, and wouldn't it be so convenient if we could pick up the phone and call God, and ask the questions.
总之,当时我不知道我的人生要干嘛,而最后我找到了我人生目标,却是因为一件十分悲惨的事。我那时可能才19诺基亚6020岁,当时的女朋友因为车祸身亡了。我经过了事故现场,并不知道是她,还继续往前走。不久后,才知道那是她。我当时……住在地下室的公寓,没有钱,没有暖气,房子里都是跳蚤。我困惑不已,心想,为何她突然走了,而为何我又呆再这样一个境地里。我无法理解,但其中一定有什么理由。要是能直接拿起电话打给上帝问个清楚,不就太好了。