President Gutmann, Provost Price, Board Chair Cohen, fellow honorees, beautiful honorees, and today’s graduates:
I’m honored and grateful for the invitation today. It's always been great to be on the Penn campus. I've been here before a lot of times for basketball games. My son played at the Palestra, played on the basketball team. Yeah, that's right, play on the basketball team. Coach didn't give him enough playing time, but we'll talk about that later. No, I’m really plead with the progress that Coach Allen has made. No I did, I really am. And I hope them the best success in the future.
Still, I’ll be honest with you: I’m a little nervous. I am not ud to speaking at a graduation of this magnitude. It is a little overwhelming. It's out of my comfort zone. You dress me up in army fatigues. Throw me on top of a moving train. Someone said "Unstoppable". Or ask me to play Malcolm X, Rubin Hurricane Carter, Alonzo from Training Day: I can do that. But a commencement speech? It’s a very rious affair. It's a very different ballgame. There’s literally thousands and thousands of people here. And for tho who say—you're a movie star, millions of people watch you speak all the time…That's true. Yes, that’s technically true. But I’m not actually in the theater—watching them watching me. I think that makes n.狮子与老鼠 I mean I'm not there when they cough… or fidget around… or pull out their iPhone and text their boyfriend… or scratch their behinds. Whatever they are known to be doing in a movie theater. But from up here: I can e every single one of you. And that makes me uncomfortable. So plea, don’t pull out your iPhone and don't text your boyfriend until after I’m done. But if you need to scratch your behinds, I understand. Go ahead. I was thinking about the speech, what should I say. I figured the best way to keep your attention, would be to talk about some really juicy Hollywood stuff. Like I thought about, me and Rusll Crowe getting into some arguments on the t of American Gangster…but no. You’re a group of high-minded intellectuals. You’re not interested in that. Oh, maybe not. I thought about that “private” moment. I had backstage with Angelina Jolie in the dressing room at the Oscars? But I say no. I don’t think so. This is an Ivy League school. Angelina Jolie half-naked in her dressing room…? Who wants to hear about that? No one, no one, no one, no one, this is Penn. That stuff would never go over well here. Maybe at Drexel—but not over here. I’m in trouble now. I was back to square one—and feeling the pressure. So now you're probably thinking. If it was gonna be this difficult, this much pressure. Why’d I even accept today’s invitation? In the first place? Well, you know my son goes here. That’s No.1. That’s a good reason. And I always like to check to e how my money’s being spent. And I’m sure there's some parents out there who can relate to what I'm talking about! There everybody upstairs. And there were some other good reasons for me to show up. Sure, I got an Academy Award, but I never had something called “Magic Meatballs” after waiting in line for half an hour at a food truck. Yes, I talked face-to-face with President Obama, but I never talked face-to-face with a guy named “Kweeder”, who sings bad songs at Smokes on a Tuesday night. I've never been a buis, I've never been a himos. Yes, I've played a detective battling demons, but I’ve never been to a school in my life. Where the squirrel population has gone bananas, breaking into the dorm rooms and taking over campus. I think I saw some carrying books on the way to class! So I had to be here. I had to come… even though I was afraid I might make a fool of mylf. In fact… if you really want to know the truth: I had to come… exactly becau, I had to come exactly becau I might make a fool of mylf. What am I talking about? Here it is: I’ve found that nothing in life is worthwhile unless you take risks. Nothing. Nelson Mandela said: “There is no passion to be found playing small in ttling for a life that's less than the one you're capable of living.” I’m sure in your experiences—in school, in applying to college… in picking your major in deciding what you want to do w
ith life people have told you to make sure you have something to “fall back on.” make sure you have something to “fall back on” honey. But I've never understood that concept, 辛亥革命影响having something to fall back on. If I'm going to fall, I don't want to fall back on anything, except my faith. I want to fall… forward. At least I figure that way I'll e what I'm about to hit. Fall forward. Here's what I mean: Reggie Jackson struck out twenty-six-hundred times in his career the most in the history of baball. But you don't hear about the strikeouts. People remember the home runs. Fall forward. Thomas Edison conducted 1,000 failed experiments. Did you know that? I didn't know that. Becau #1,001 was the light bulb. Fall forward. Every failed experiment is one step clor to success. 多地调公积金缴存You've got to take risks. And I'm sure you've probably heard that before. But I want to talk to you about why it’s so important. I’ve got three reasons—and then you can pick up your iPhones. First… you will fail at some point in your life. Accept it. You will lo. You will embarrass yourlf. You will suck at something. There is no doubt about it. That’s probably not a traditional message for a graduation ceremony. But, hey I’m telling you—embrace it. Becau it’s inevitable. And I should know: In the acting business, you fail all the time. 乡村大器Early on in my career, I auditioned for a part in a Broadway musical. A perfect role for me, I thought except for the fact that I can’t sing. So I'm in the wings, about to go on stage but the guy in front of me, he is singing&& like Pavarotti just go on and on and on and on. And I am just shrinking getting smaller and& so I said thank you, thank you very much, you'll be here from us. So I come out with my sheet music and it was “Just My Imagination” by the Temptations, that’s what I came up with. So I hand it to the accompanist, and she looks at it and looks at me and looks at the& so I start to sing and so they're not saying anything. I think I must be getting better, so I start getting into it. They said "thank you, thank you very much, Mr. Washington, thank you." So I assume I didn't get the job. But the next part of audition they call me back. The next part of the audition is the acting part of audition. I figure, I can’t sing, but I know I can act. So they paired me with this guy and again I didn't know about musical theatre. And musical theatre is big, so they can reach everyone all the way in the back of the stadium and I was more from a realistc naturlistic kind of acting way. You know you actually talk to the person next to you. So I don't know what my line was, my line was "hand me the cup" his line was,"Well, I will hand you the cup, my dear, my cup will be there to be handed to you." I said, OK, well, should I give you the cup back? Oh yeah, you should give it back to me, becau you know that is my cup. And that it should be given back to me. I didn't get the job. But here's the thing: I didn’t quit. I didn't fall back. I walked out of there to prepare for the next audition, and the next audition, and the next audition. I prayed and I prayed, and I prayed but I continued to fail, fail and fail. But it didn’t matter. Becau you know what? There is an old saying: you hang around a barbershop long enough, sooner or later you are gonna get a haircut. You will catch a break. And I did catch a break. Last year I did a play called Fences on Broadway someone talked about it and I won a Tony Award. And I didn’t have to sing, by the way. And here’s the kicker—it was at the Court Theater, it's the same theater that I failed that first audition 30 years prior. The point is, and I will pick up the page. The point is, every graduate here today has the training and the talent to succeed. But do you have the guts to fail? Here's my cond point about failure: If you don't fail… you’re not even trying. I'll say it again. If you don't fail… you're not even trying. My wife told me this great expression: “To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did.” Les Brown, a motivational speaker, made an analogy about this. Imagine you're on your deathbed 榜样作文and standing around your deathbed are the ghosts reprenting your unfulfilled potential. The ghosts of the ideas you never acted on. The ghosts of the talents you didn't u. And they're standing around your bed. Angry. Disappointed. And upt. “We came to you becau you could have brought us to life,” they say. “And now we have to go to the grave together.” So I ask you today: How many ghosts are gonna be around your bed when your time comes? You have invested a lot in your education. And people have invested in you. And let me tell you, the world needs your talents more than it does ever. I just got back from Africa two days ago.So I am rambling on becau I am jetlegged. I just got back from South Africa. It's a beautiful country, but there are places there with terrible poverty that needs help. And Africa is just the tip of the iceberg.
The Middle East needs your help.
Japan needs your help.
Alabama needes your help and Tenne needs your help.
Louisiana needs your help.
Philadelphia needs your help.
the&
手撕鸡
篮球进攻战术古特曼校长，派里斯教务长、科恩董事，尊敬的其他受勋者，和今天的毕业生们，我很荣幸今天能被邀请到此。
每次来宾夕法尼亚大学校园总是那么让人高兴。其实我来这里看过好多场篮球比赛了。我
儿子是PALESTRA的篮球队队员。对，他是篮球队的。不过教练给他的上场时间不够多，当然这个我们可以之后再好好谈。而且我对艾伦教练在这方面的“提高”还是满意的。真的，确实满意。我希望球队能在将来取得成功。不过，老实说：我有点紧张。我并不习惯在这么大场合的毕业典礼上讲话。这场面有点吓人。这场景我很难挥洒自如。让我穿上军装把我抛到火车车顶。画外音说“无人能敌”。又或是叫我演马尔科姆·艾克斯 （美国黑人领袖），或者外号「飓风」的拳击手鲁宾·卡特。或者《训练日》里的阿洛佐。我都可以！但是毕业典礼演讲？这是个很严肃的场合，完全不同的玩法。这里实打实地有成千上万人坐着。也许有人会说，你是电影明星，上百万人一直（在影院）看着你讲话。这话也没错。从某种角度说，这确实没错。但是（要知道）我本人可不在电影院，看着观众看着我，我想这话语法没错吧。要知道当观众咳嗽、左右挪动或者摸出他们的iPhone，给男朋友发短信，或者抓背挠痒，反正不管他们在影院做什么，我其实都看不到。但是从这里，我能看到你们每个人。这让我不知所措。所以在我讲完之前，请别拿出iPhone跟男朋友发短信。不过如果你要挠挠后背，没问题，我可以理解。
关于这个演讲，我一直在想我该讲些什么。我知道最能吸引你们注意力的方法就是爆些好莱坞的内幕。比如我想到（可以说），（有一次)我跟罗素·克洛是怎么在拍摄《美国黑帮》
的现场发生争吵的。不过我又想你们是高层次的“知识分子”，应该不会对这感兴趣。还是不是？我还想到可以说说，我和安吉丽娜·朱莉在幕后的那个“私人”时刻，在奥斯卡的化妆间里。不过我想这好像也不合适这可是所常春藤学校啊！安吉丽娜·朱莉半裸着在化妆间里，谁会想听这个？没人，没人想听。这可是宾夕法尼亚大学。这种八卦新闻在这里不会有销路。在（附近的）德雷克赛尔大学也许会，但这里不会。这下我（说错话）麻烦大了。所以我又回到原点，感到紧张了。
现在你们也许在想，既然这么难、压力这么大，你起先为什么要接受今天这个邀请呢？首先，我儿子在这里读书。这可以算一个理由。一个很好的理由。而且我总想看看我付的学费是花在哪里了。我很肯定这里也有些家长能理解我这个想法。在楼上坐着各位，你们说呢？当然还有些其他的理由让我决定过来。是，我拿过奥斯卡金像奖。但我可从没吃过这里的“神奇肉丸”。还是要在食品车那排半小时队之后是的我跟奥巴马面对面说过话。但我从没跟一个叫“KWEEDER”的家伙说过话。他星期二会在SMOKES唱“坏歌”。我从来不是"buis"或者"himos"。是，我扮演过与恶魔斗争的侦探。但是我从来没有去过一个学校，那里的松鼠群体已经完全失控。闯进学生宿舍，畅游于校园，我还看到有些松鼠拿着书本去上课了！所以我今天一定要来。我必须来，尽管我害怕我会出洋相。其实，如果你们真
的想知道真相，正是因为我有可能出洋相，所以我才一定要来。我这是什么意思呢？我是在说：我发现如果你不冒险，生活中的一切都会是毫无价值。所有一切。
曼德拉说过：“如果安于现状，生活就没有激情，尤其对于那些有能力过更精彩的人生的人来说。”我肯定在你们过去的经历中，无论是在学校，申请大学，挑选专业，还是在你们决定人生中要做些什么时，总会有人提醒你们要记着给自己“留后路”。记得给自己“留后路”，亲爱的。但我对此不理解。要“留后路”，如果我会跌倒失败，我不想留什么后路，除了留下我的信念，我想要“向前倒”。这样，至少我能看见我会栽在什么问题上。向前倒。我的意思就是：Reggie Jackson在他的职业生涯中曾被2600次三振出局。棒球历史上的最高纪录。但你不会听到这些三振出局的事。人们只记得他的全垒打。向前倒。爱迪生曾经有1000次试验失败。你知道么？我以前并不知道。而第1001次试验他发明了电灯泡。向前倒。每次失败都意味着你离成功靠近了一步。你必须去冒险。我想你们以前一定也听过这些。
