[转]John Roberts: I wish you bad luck

*本文转自：http://www.myreading.cn/index.php/post/714.html

2017年6月3日，美国第17任最高法院首席大法官John Roberts应邀参加他儿子就读中学(Cardigan Mountain School)的毕业典礼并致辞。这篇精彩的演讲被华盛顿邮报报道后迅速红遍全美。

全文如下（以下文字摘自TIME – http://time.com/4845150/chief-justice-john-roberts-commencement-speech-transcript/）：

*（下为靖博原创译文）

Thank you very much.

非常感谢大家。

Rain, somebody said, is like confetti from heaven. So
even the heavens are celebrating this morning, joining the rest of us
at this wonderful commencement ceremony. Before we go any further,
graduates, you have an important task to perform because behind you are
your parents and guardians.

有人说，雨是从天而降的五彩纸屑。连天空都加入了我们，庆祝今天上午这个精彩的毕业典礼。在我开始致辞之前，同学们，你们还有一项重要的工作要做，因为你们身后站着你们的父母亲和监护人。

Two or three or four years ago, they drove
into Cardigan, dropped you off, helped you get settled and then turned
around and drove back out the gates. It was an extraordinary sacrifice
for them. They drove down the trail of tears back to an emptier and
lonelier house. They did that because the decision about your education,
they knew, was about you. It was not about them.

两三年前或四年前，他们开车把你们送来Cardigan，帮你们安顿停当，又开车离去。对他们而言，那是一个重大的牺牲。他们一路流着泪开车回到空空落落孤零零的家中。他们这样做，只为他们知道接受教育，乃是为了你们，不是他们。

That sacrifice and
others they made have brought you to this point. But this morning is not
just about you. It is also about them, so I hope you will stand up and
turn around and give them a great round of applause. Please.

正是他们的这种牺牲和在其他方面的付出，诸君今日才得以站在这里。但今天上午并非只关乎你，更与他们相关。由此我希望诸君起立，转过身去，给所有父母亲以热烈的掌声。

Now when somebody asks me how the remarks at Cardigan went, I will be
able to say they were interrupted by applause. Congratulations, class
of 2017. You’ve reached an important milestone. An important stage of
your life is behind you. I’m sorry to be the one to tell you it is the
easiest stage of your life, but it is in the books. While you’ve been at
Cardigan, you have all been a part of an important international
community as well. And I think that needs to be particularly recognized.

如果有人问我在Cardigan的讲话效果如何，我会说我的讲话不断被掌声打断。祝贺你们，2017届毕业生们。你们到达了一个重要的人生里程碑。你们已经走过了人生中一个重要的阶段。但我很抱歉地告诉你们，这只是你们人生中最容易的阶段，这个阶段全在书本里。在Cardigan中学的几年里，你们也担当了一个重要的国际社区中的一分子。我想这一点格外值得肯定。

Now around the country today at colleges, high
schools, middle schools, commencement speakers are standing before
impatient graduates. And they are almost always saying the same things.
They will say that today is a commencement exercise. ‘It is a beginning,
not an end. You should look forward.’ And I think that is true enough,
however, I think if you’re going to look forward to figure out where
you’re going, it’s good to know where you’ve been and to look back as
well.

今天在全国各地的大学、高中、初中毕业典礼上，演讲者面对的都是不耐烦的毕业生们。大家说的话也都一样。他们会说今天是人生崭新篇章的一次练习。“今天是一个起点，不是终点。你们要向前看。”我认为这说法没有错。但我想如果大家要向前看，要知道自己未来将去向何处，那么也不妨对过往几年作一回望。

And I think if you look back to your first afternoon here at
Cardigan, perhaps you will recall that you were lonely. Perhaps you will
recall that you were a little scared, a little anxious. And now look at
you. You are surrounded by friends that you call brothers, and you are
confident in facing the next step in your education.

我想如果回望你来到Cardigan的第一个下午，也许你仍记得当时的孤独。也许你会忆起当时的一丝害怕，一点焦虑。但看看你们现在，身边有你称兄道弟的朋友，诸君已踌躇满志准备迎接下一段教育的历程。

It is worth trying to think why that is so. And when
you do, I think you may appreciate that it was because of the support of
your classmates in the classroom, on the athletic field and in the
dorms.

我们值得思考一番何能如此。当你如此思考时，我想诸君应当感谢你的同学们在教室、在竞技场上、在宿舍里给予你的诸般支持。

And as far as the confidence goes, I think you will appreciate
that it is not because you succeeded at everything you did, but because
with the help of your friends, you were not afraid to fail. And if you
did fail, you got up and tried again. And if you failed again, you got
up and tried again. And if you failed again, it might be time to think
about doing something else. But it was not just success, but not being
afraid to fail that brought you to this point.

说到自信，我想诸君理当感激你的朋友们，是他们的帮助，令你不惧失败，使你的一切努力得以成功。即令你失败了，你也站起再次尝试。又失败，你又站起再尝试。若再失败，或许需要考虑另寻他事。但令诸君抵达今日者，非唯成功，乃因不惧失败者也。

Now the commencement speakers will typically also
wish you good luck and extend good wishes to you. I will not do that,
and I’ll tell you why. From time to time in the years to come, I hope
you will be treated unfairly, so that you will come to know the value of
justice. I hope that you will suffer betrayal because that will teach
you the importance of loyalty.

毕业典礼演讲者通常会祝你们好运，并向你们致以美好的希冀。我不想这样做，理由如下。在未来的岁月中，我希望你们得到不公正的对待，因此你才能了解正义的价值。我希望你们遭遇背叛，因而你才明白忠诚的可贵。

Sorry to say, but I hope you will be
lonely from time to time so that you don’t take friends for granted. I
wish you bad luck, again, from time to time so that you will be
conscious of the role of chance in life and understand that your success
is not completely deserved and that the failure of others is not
completely deserved either.

恕我直言，但我希望你们时而孤独，因此你才不会以为朋友得来全是天经地义。我还希望你们时而交厄运，因而你才明白机遇在生命中所扮的角色，你的成功并非理所应当，而他人之失败亦非活该如此。

And when you lose, as you will from time to
time, I hope every now and then, your opponent will gloat over your
failure. It is a way for you to understand the importance of
sportsmanship. I hope you’ll be ignored so you know the importance of
listening to others, and I hope you will have just enough pain to learn
compassion.

当你时而失败时，我希望这失败更多些，你的敌人会幸灾乐祸。这正是你理解运动家精神之良机。我希望你被忽视，因而你将明白聆听他人之宝贵。我希望你遭受足够痛苦而终能学会同情。

Whether I wish these things or not, they’re going to happen.
And whether you benefit from them or not will depend upon your ability
to see the message in your misfortunes.

不论我这般祝愿与否，这些事终将发生。从中能否有所裨益全赖诸君对不幸之洞见。

Now commencement speakers are also expected to give
some advice. They give grand advice, and they give some useful tips. The
most common grand advice they give is for you to be yourself. It is an
odd piece of advice to give people dressed identically, but you should —
you should be yourself.

毕业典礼演讲者还将给些忠告。他们提出宏大的建议和实用的诀窍。最常见的忠告是做真实的自己。尽管这个忠告对身着统一校服的诸君而言略显奇怪，但诸君的确应当——应当作真实的自己。

But you should understand what that means.
Unless you are perfect, it does not mean don’t make any changes. In a
certain sense, you should not be yourself. You should try to become
something better. People say ‘be yourself’ because they want you to
resist the impulse to conform to what others want you to be. But you
can’t be yourself if you don’t learn who are, and you can’t learn who
you are unless you think about it.

但你当明白这则忠告的涵义。人非完人，则人皆图变。某种意义而言，你不应当仅是你自己。而应当努力做得更好。所谓“做你自己”者，实乃期望诸君抵制随波逐流人云亦云之冲动也。但不先了解你是谁，则不能做好自己。而不作如是思考，则不知你是谁也。

The Greek philosopher Socrates said, ‘The unexamined
life is not worth living.’ And while ‘just do it’ might be a good motto
for some things, it’s not a good motto when it’s trying to figure out
how to live your life that is before you. And one important clue to
living a good life is to not to try to live the good life. The best way to lose the values that are central to who you are is frankly not to think about them at all.

希腊先哲苏格拉底曰：“未经审视之人生不值得活。“对某些事情而言，”做便做了“或许可称为座右铭，但若用来指导你计划未来之生活，则不算好信条。彻底放弃思考，乃是最易丧失生命本真之路径。

So that’s the deep advice. Now some tips as you get
ready to go to your new school. Other the last couple of years, I have
gotten to know many of you young men pretty well, and I know you are
good guys. But you are also privileged young men. And if you weren’t
privileged when you came here, you are privileged now because you have
been here. My advice is: Don’t act like it.

因此这实在是一个深邃的忠告。在你们将去新学校时，还有一些建议给你们。过去几年中，我与诸君中的多位已颇熟知，我深知诸君皆良善、优秀之青年。即便你初来时并无特权，今日亦大不同，因你今日已获得某种特权。但我的建议乃是：不要以为自己有特权。

When you get to your new school, walk up and
introduce yourself to the person who is raking the leaves, shoveling the
snow or emptying the trash. Learn their name and call them by their
name during your time at the school. Another piece of advice: When you
pass by people you don’t recognize on the walks, smile, look them in the
eye and say hello. The worst thing that will happen is that you will
become known as the young man who smiles and says hello, and that is not
a bad thing to start with.

当你到了新学校，看见清理树叶、扫雪、倒垃圾的工人，请走上前，向他们介绍你自己。请教他们的名字，并始终用名字称呼他们。另一项忠告是：当你与不熟知的人擦身而过，注目他们，向他们问好。这样做最坏的结果无非是人们记住了你是一位会微笑会问好的年轻人，而这对新人又不能算得什么坏事。

You’ve
been at a school with just boys. Most of you will be going to a school
with girls. I have no advice for you.The last bit of advice I’ll give
you is very simple,
but I think it could make a big difference in your life.

高中时诸君仅与男生同校。但大多数人即将进入男女同校。对此我并无忠告。若说一点点忠言，我的建议非常简单，但我想这点小建议或可对你人生产生不小的影响。。

Once a week,
you should write a note to someone. Not an email. A note on a piece of
paper. It will take you exactly 10 minutes. Talk to an adult, let them
tell you what a stamp is. You can put the stamp on the envelope. Again,
10 minutes, once a week. I will help you, right now. I will dictate to
you the first note you should write.

每周给某人写张便笺。不是电子邮件。是写在一张纸上的便笺。正好花费10分钟时间。请教一个成年人，让他告诉你邮票是什么。把邮票贴在信封上。注意，每周10分钟。现在请注意。我来读你应该写的第一张便笺。

It will say, ‘Dear [fill in the
name of a teacher at Cardigan Mountain School].’ Say: ‘I have started at
this new school. We are reading [blank] in English. Football or soccer
practice is hard, but I’m enjoying it. Thank you for teaching me.’ Put
it in an envelope, put a stamp on it and send it. It will mean a great
deal to people who — for reasons most of us cannot contemplate — have
dedicated themselves to teaching middle school boys.

便笺写道：“亲爱的[填入Cardigan山地中学一位老师的名字]。我已在新学校开课。我们用英文读[空白]。橄榄球或足球练习很辛苦，但我颇为喜欢。谢谢您教了我。“将便笺装入信封，贴上邮票，寄出去。这便笺对那些我们并不完全理解的中学教师们意义非常。

As I said, that
will take you exactly 10 minutes a week. By the end of the school year,
you will have sent notes to 40 people. Forty people will feel a little
more special because you did, and they will think you are very special
because of what you did. No one else is going to carry that dividend
during your time at school.

如我之前所说，只需花费每周10分钟的时间。到学年结束时，你已给40个人寄出了便笺。40个人因你的便笺而感到不同，感到你的不寻常。在你读书期间，你得的这份礼物旁人没有。

Enough advice. I would like to end by reading some
important lyrics. I cited the Greek philosopher Socrates earlier. These
lyrics are from the great American philosopher, Bob Dylan. They’re
almost 50 years old. He wrote them for his son, Jesse, who he was
missing while he was on tour. It lists the hopes that a parent might
have for a son and for a daughter. They’re also good goals for a son and
a daughter. The wishes are beautiful, they’re timeless. They’re
universal. They’re good and true, except for one: It is the wish that
gives the song its title and its refrain. That wish is a parent’s
lament. It’s not a good wish.

忠告就这么多了。我想读一段重要的歌词来结束我的讲话。之前我引用过苏格拉底。下面的歌词出自伟大的美国哲学家鲍勃迪伦。歌词已有50年历史。迪伦是写给他的儿子杰西的。当时他在巡演途中，思念儿子。歌词列举了一个父亲对儿女的期望。也是为儿女建议的人生目标。这些祝愿美好且不过时，适用于所有人。歌词优美而真实，仅有一点例外：成为歌名和副歌的那个祝愿，是一个父亲的挽歌，那个祝愿不好。

So these are the lyrics from Forever Young
by Bob Dylan:

下面是鲍勃迪伦写的歌《永远年轻》：

May God bless you and keep you always 愿主永远保佑你
May your wishes all come true 愿你梦想都成真
May you always do for others 愿你对他人奉献
And let others do for you 也愿他人为你付出
May you build a ladder to the stars 愿你造一架摘星的梯
And climb on every rung 攀爬梯上的每一阶
And may you stay forever young 也愿你永远年轻

May you grow up to be righteous 愿你长大成人
May you grow up to be true 愿你善良纯真
May you always know the truth 愿你坚守真理，不放弃。
And see the lights surrounding you 也愿光明环绕你，灯火满地。
May you always be courageous 愿你常葆勇气
Stand upright and be strong 诚实坚强地站立
And may you stay forever young 也愿你永远年轻

May your hands always be busy 愿你手中总在忙碌
May your feet always be swift 愿你脚步如飞不停息
May you have a strong foundation 当遭遇风云变幻
When the winds of changes shift 愿你岿然不动如磐石
May your heart always be joyful 愿你内心时常喜乐
May your song always be sung 愿你总能随心歌唱
And may you stay forever young 也愿你永远年轻

Thank you. 谢谢。

*翻译后记

昨晚读到这篇演讲稿时被震撼了一下，于是上google查到原文，读了一遍，决定自己翻译。不参考已有的译文，不查网络注释。这样搞到午夜，仍未完成，但心里残留的兴奋影响了昨晚的睡眠。

一开始我完全按照当下的白话口气来翻译，但后来决定加入一些半文半白的“民国”语言。尽管John Roberts先生刚六十出头，但考虑到其深厚的教育背景和职业的庄严特性，我刻意在其演讲中的某些地方插入了文邹邹的口语，料想这样方能配合主人公的气质。

最后翻译鲍勃迪伦的歌词时一气呵成，中间做了一两处细小的发挥，大体有韵有辙，读上去有点歌词的味道了吧。

文中尚有一处没能翻译出合适的汉语。请读者高手不吝指教。*后经美国大律师胖鹿指点，补充了那句的翻译。(Don’t act like it.)