又是一年畢業季，讓畢業典禮上的睿言智語，來開啟你的成功人生吧

從政壇鐵腕到商界巨賈，從文學名家到娛樂新秀，年代變遷、行當不同、風格各異，卻都在畢業演說的講臺上道出了自己的人生真諦。對畢業生們來說，這是離開校園前的最後一次聽講，也是初涉社會的第一次受洗。來吧，聽一聽睿智多思的聲音，想一想充滿挑戰的未來，帶上智慧和自信——出發！

1.

David Foster Wallace, Kenyon, 2005

戴維·福斯特·華萊士，凱尼恩學院，2005

David Foster Wallace (1962~2008): an American author of novels, essays, and short stories

Words of Wisdom:

“Learning how to think” really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience. Because if you cannot exercise this kind of choice in adult life, you will be totally hosed(打垮).

戴維·福斯特·華萊士(1962～2008)：美國小說家、散文家

睿言智語：

“學會思考”的實際意義是學會控制自己思考的方式和內容。這就意味著要保持足夠清醒的頭腦來選擇自己關注的目標，並判斷如何從經驗中獲得教益。作為成年人，如果不能作出這種選擇，將會一事無成。

2.

Steve Jobs, Stanford, 2005

史蒂夫·喬布斯，斯坦福大學，2005

Steve Jobs (1955~2011): an American business magnate, the co-founder and chief executive officer of Apple

Words of Wisdom:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to Heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It is life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped bydogma(教條)—which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.... Stay hungry, Stay foolish.

史蒂夫·喬布斯(1955~2011)：美國商業巨頭，蘋果公司的創始人之一及首席執行官

睿言智語：

誰也不想死去。即使人們想上天堂，也不願為了上天堂而死去。然而死亡又是我們每個人共同的終點，誰也無法逃脫。這一切都是十分正常的，因為死亡也許是生命唯一最好的發明。它是生命變化的動因，最擅除舊迎新。現在的“新”就是你們，但在不久的將來，你們也會慢慢變成“舊”，然後被“除去”。很抱歉我說得有點過分，但事實確實如此。

既然生命如此短暫，那麼就不要去過別人的生活，而讓自己的生命被荒廢。不要為教條所左右——所謂教條，就是生活在他人的思想之中。不要讓他人喧囂的主張淹沒了自己內心的聲音。最重要的是，要有勇氣跟著自己的心靈和感覺走。永不滿足，保持謙遜。

3.

Conan O’Brien, Harvard, 2000

柯南·奧布賴恩，哈佛大學，2000

Conan O’Brien (1963~): an American television host and comedian

Words of Wisdom:

I’ve dwelled on my failures today because, as graduates of Harvard, your biggest liability is your need to succeed. You need to always find yourself on the sweet side of the bell curve(鐘形曲線). Because success is a lot like a bright, white tuxedo. You feel terrific when you get it, but then you’re desperately afraid of getting it dirty, of spoiling it in any way.

I left the cocoon of Harvard, I left the cocoon of Saturday Night Live(《週六夜現場》), I left the cocoon of The Simpsons(《辛普森一家》). And each time it was bruising andtumultuous(喧囂的). And yet, every failure was freeing, and today I’m as nostalgic for the bad as I am for the good.

So, that’s what I wish for all of you: the bad as well as the good. Fall down, make a mess, break something occasionally. And remember that the story is never over.

柯南·奧布賴恩(1963~)：美國電視節目主持人，喜劇演員

睿言智語：

今天我談了很多自己失敗的經歷，因為作為哈佛的畢業生，你們最大的責任就是要取得成功。你需要永遠佔據鐘形曲線的最佳位置。成功頗像是一件光彩照人的白色禮服。有了它，你會感到自己棒極了，但緊接著會提心吊膽，唯恐一不小心把它弄髒了，弄壞了。

我離開了哈佛，離開了《星期六夜現場》，離開了《辛普森一家》，離開了一切像繭一樣包裹著我的安樂窩。每一次蛻變都是傷痕累累，都引發了軒然大波。然而，每一次失敗都是解脫。今天，我懷念那些成功的日子，也同樣懷念那些失敗的日子。

因此，這就是我對你們所有人的希望：成功和失敗都各得其所。跌倒了，弄砸了，時不時地可能還會把東西打破。但是要記住，故事永遠沒有結束。

4.

Russell Baker, Connecticut College, 1995

拉塞爾·貝克，康乃迪克學院，1995

Russell Baker (1925~): an American Pulitzer Prize-winning writer known for his satirical commentary and self-critical prose, as well as for his autobiography, Growing Up.

Words of Wisdom:

Listen once in a while. It’s amazing what you can hear. On a hot summer day in the country you can hear the corn growing, the crack of a tin roof buckling(由於受壓或受熱而彎曲) under the power of the sun. In a real old-fashioned parlor silence so deep you can hear the dust settling on the velveteen settee, you might hear the footsteps of something sinister gaining on(逼近) you, or a heart-stoppingly beautiful phrase from Mozart you haven’t heard since childhood, or the voice of somebody—now gone—whom you loved. Or sometime when you’re talking up a storm(侃侃而談) so brilliant, so charming that you can hardly believe how wonderful you are, pause just a moment and listen to yourself. It’s good for the soul to hear yourself as others hear you, and next time maybe, just maybe, you will not talk so much, so loudly, so brilliantly, so charmingly, so utterly shamelessly foolishly.

拉塞爾·貝克(1925~)：美國作家，普利策獎獲得者，以諷刺評論和自我批判的散文而著稱，著有自傳《成長》。

睿言智語：

有時注意傾聽一下，你會驚訝於自己聽到的聲音。在鄉下酷熱的夏日，你會聽到玉米生長的聲音，錫鐵屋頂在陽光暴晒的淫威下發出的破裂聲。在老式的客廳裡，萬籟俱寂之中，你會聽到灰塵落在棉絨沙發上的聲音，也可能會聽到某種邪惡的腳步聲在向你逼近，或者一節只是在小時候聽過的美得令人窒息的莫扎特的樂曲，或者某個已經逝去、但你卻深愛著的人的聲音。有時，當你口若懸河、滔滔不絕、自我感覺超好的時候，停下來片刻，聽聽你自己的聲音。聽聽自己的聲音，就像他人聽你說話時那樣，這對於心靈的修養是有好處的。這樣，你以後也許——只是也許——就不會這樣口若懸河、滔滔不絕、賣弄聰明、自以為美，就不會如此厚顏無恥、蠢不可及了。

5.

Winston Churchill, Harrow School, 1941

溫斯頓·丘吉爾，哈羅公學，1941

Winston Churchill (1874~1965): Prime Minister of Britain (1940~1945; 1951~1955)

Words of Wisdom:

Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense.

溫斯頓·丘吉爾(1874~1965)：英國首相(1940~1945；1951~1955)

睿言智語：

永遠不要放棄。永遠不要放棄。永遠、永遠、永遠、永遠——不放棄任何事情，不管大事還是小事，要事還是瑣事——永遠不要放棄，除非是向榮譽和理性低頭。

6.

John F. Kennedy, American University, 1963

約翰·F·肯尼迪，美國大學，1963

John F. Kennedy (1917~1963): the 35th President of the United States

Words of Wisdom:

Let us examine our attitude toward peace itself. Too many of us think it is impossible. Too many think it unreal. But that is a dangerous, defeatist belief. It leads to the conclusion that war is inevitable, that mankind is doomed, that we are gripped by forces we cannot control.

We need not accept that view. Our problems are man-made—therefore, they can be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings. Man’s reason and spirit have often solved the seemingly unsolvable—and we believe they can do it again.

約翰·F·肯尼迪(1917~1963)：美國第35任總統

睿言智語：

讓我們來審視一下我們對待和平本身的態度。我們中有太多的人認為和平是不可能的，太多的人認為和平是不切實際的。但這其實是一種危險的、失敗主義者的觀點。它會引導出這麼一種結論：戰爭是不可避免的，人類註定是要滅亡的，我們正在為自己無法左右的力量所控制。

我們無需接受這一觀點。問題都是人為的，因此也能夠由人來解決。心有多廣大，人就有多強大。沒有什麼有關人類命運的問題是人類無法解決的。人類的理性和精神已經解決了許多看似無法解決的問題——我們相信這一次也同樣能解決。

7.

Bradley Whitford, Wisconsin, 2006

布蘭德利·惠特福德，威斯康星大學，2006

Bradley Whitford (1959~): an American film and television actor. Best known for his role as Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman on the NBC television drama The West Wing.

Words of Wisdom:

Take action. Every story you’ve ever connected with, every leader you’ve ever admired, every puny little thing that you’ve ever accomplished is the result of taking action. You have a choice. You can either be a passive victim of circumstance or you can be the active hero of your own life. Action is the antidote(解毒劑，解藥) to apathy and cynicism and despair. You will inevitably make mistakes. Learn what you can and move on. At the end of your days, you will be judged by your gallop, not by your stumble.

布蘭德利·惠特福德(1959~)：美國影視劇演員，以扮演NBC電視劇《白宮風雲》中的副參謀長喬希·萊曼的角色而著稱。

睿言智語：

行動起來吧。和你有關的每一則故事，你所仰慕的每一位領袖，你所取得的每一個小小的成就，都是因為採取了行動。選擇權在於你自己。你可以做一個被動等待境遇安排的奴隸，也可以做一個主宰自己生活的英雄。行動是治癒生活冷漠、憤世嫉俗、悲觀絕望的一劑良藥。人不可避免要犯錯誤，但要吸取教訓，繼續前行。那麼，在你最後的日子裡，人們用以評價你的，將會是你邁出了多少步，而不是摔了多少跤。

8.

Barbara Kingsolver, Duke, 2008

芭芭拉·金索沃，杜克大學，2008

Barbara Kingsolver (1955~): an American novelist, essayist, poet and activist

Words of Wisdom:

If somebody says “Your money or your life,” you could say, “Life.” And mean it. You’ll see things collapse in your time, the big houses, the empires of glass. The new green things that sprout up through the wreck—those will be yours.

The arc of history is longer than human vision. It bends. We abolished slavery, we granted universal suffrage(普選權). We have done hard things before. And every time it took a terrible fight between people who could not imagine changing the rules, and those who said, “We already did. We have made the world new.” The hardest part will be to convince yourself of the possibilities, and hang on.

芭芭拉·金索沃(1955~)：美國小說家、散文家、詩人、社會活動家

睿言智語：

如果有人問你：“要錢還是要命？”你會回答：“要命。”這無疑是發自內心的回答。在你一生中，你會目睹許多事物的傾覆，高樓大廈、玻璃帝國都難逃此運。那從廢墟上生長出來的小小嫩芽，才是屬於你的東西。

歷史的脈絡遠遠超過人類的視線，它是曲折的。我們廢除奴隸制，給人民普選權。我們克服無數磨難，每一次都要掀起可怕的戰爭才能解決問題，因為一方無法接受規則的改變，另一方則說：“規則已經改變，我們創造了一個新世界。”最難的就是要讓自己堅信世界的無限可能，並且堅持下去。

（來自新東方英語雜誌）