哈佛首位女校长在08届毕业典礼的演讲_德鲁·吉尔平·福斯特

JK罗琳 - 2008哈佛大学毕业典礼上的演讲2010-06-13 21:55/space-3594406-do-blog-id-1007584.htmlJK罗琳2008哈佛大学毕业典礼上的演讲译文(2009-10-24 18:47:39)转载标签：杂谈福斯特主席、哈佛同仁和监察委员会的各位员工，各位老师，家长、同学们: 首先请允许我说一声谢谢。

哈佛给予我的不仅仅是无上的荣誉，还有连日来因为一想到这个演讲，带来的恐惧以及恐惧导致的阵阵恶心让我减肥成功。

这真是一个双赢的局面。

现在我要做的就是深呼吸，眯着眼睛看着眼前的大红横幅，安慰自己只是在世界上最大的矮人大会上。

发表毕业演说是一个巨大的责任，我的思绪一下子回到自己的毕业典礼上。

那天做报告的是英国著名的哲学家Baroness Mary Warnock，通过对她的演讲的回忆对我写今天的演讲稿给予了极大地帮助。

因为我不记得她说过的任何一句话了，这个发现让我释然，让我不再有任何恐惧。

我可能会无意中影响你，放弃在商业、法律或政治等有前途的职业而为眩晕的愉悦成为一个快乐的魔法师。

你们都明白，如果在若干年后您还记得'快乐的魔法师'这个笑话，说明我已经超越了Baroness Mary Warnock。

可实现的目标：个人提高的第一步。

其实，我为今天应该告诉你们什么已经殚精竭虑了。

我曾问自己：我从毕业到现在的这些年里，学到和了解了什么重要的教训。

我已想出了两个答案。

在这个美好的一天，当我们正聚集在一起庆祝您毕业的时刻，我已决定与你们谈谈失败的好处；另一方面，你们站在'现实生活'的门槛上，我要歌颂至关重要的想象力。

这些似乎是不切实际或似是而非的选择，但请原谅我。

让一个已经42岁的人回顾在她21岁毕业时情景，是个让人有点不舒服的经历。

可以说，我人生的前一部分，一直挣扎在自己的雄心和身边的人对我的期望两者之间取得平衡。

我一直深信我唯一想做的事----写小说。

T h e F r i n g e B e n e f i t s o f F a i l u r e,a n d t h e I m p o r t a n c e o f I m a g i n a t i o n H a r v a r d U n i v e r s i t y C o m m e n c e m e n t A d d r e s s J.K.R o w l i n g T e r c e n t e n a r y T h e a t r e,J u n e5,2008 失败的好处和想象力的重要性哈佛大学毕业典礼J.K.罗琳2008年6月5日President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers,members of the faculty, proud parents, and, above all, graduates,福斯特主席，哈佛公司和监察委员会的各位成员，各位老师、家长、全体毕业生们：The first thing I would like to say is "thank you." Not only has Harvard given me an extraordinary honour, but the weeks of fear and nausea I’ve endured at the thought of giving this commencement address have made me lose weight. A win-win situation! Now all I have to do is take deep breaths, squint at the red banners and convince myself that I am at the world’s largest Gryffindors' reunion.首先请允许我说一声谢谢。

哈佛校长毕业典礼演讲不论是绘画、生物还是金融，如果你不去尝试做你喜欢的事，不去追求你认为最有意义的东西，你会后悔的。

人生之路很长，总有时间去实施备选方案，但不要一开始就退而求其次。

找个你喜欢的工作吧，要是你在醒着的时间里超过一半都在做不喜欢的事，你很难会感到幸福!不论是绘画、生物还是金融，如果你不去尝试做你喜欢的事，如果你不去追求你认为最有意义的东西，你会后悔的。

人生之路很长，总有时间去实施备选方案，但不要一开始就退而求其次。

找个你喜欢的工作吧，要是你在醒着的时间里超过一半都在做你不喜欢的事，你很难会感到幸福!(本文为哈佛校长Drew Gilpin Faust给XX届本科毕业生的演讲) In the curious custom of this venerable institution, I find myself standing before you expected to impart words of lasting wisdom. Here I am in a pulpit, dressed like a Puritan minister — an apparition that would have horrified many of my distinguished forebears and perhaps rededicated some of them to the extirpation of witches. This moment would have propelled Increase and Cotton into a true “Mather lather.” But here I am and there you are and it is the moment of and for Veritas.这所备受尊崇的学校历来好学求知，所以你们期待我的演讲能传授永恒的智慧。

哈佛大学校长德鲁·福斯特在哈佛大学2022年毕业典礼英语演讲稿哈佛大学校长德鲁·福斯特在哈佛大学20xx年毕业典礼英语演讲稿 Thank you all and good afternoon alumni, graduates, families, friends, honored guests. For seven years now, it has been my assignment and my privilege to deliver an annual report to our alumni, and to serve as the warm-up act for our distinguished speaker. Whether this is your first opportunity to be a part of these exercises or your fiftieth, it is worthtaking a minute to soak in this place—its sheltering trees, its familiar buildings, its enduringvoices. In 1936, this part of Harvard’s yard was named Tercentenary Theatre, in recognition ofHarvard’s three hundredth birthday. It is a place where giants have stood, and history has beenmade. We were reminded this morning of Gee Washington’s adventures here. And from this stagein 1943, Winston Churchill addressed an overflow crowd that included 6,000 uniformedHarvard students heading off to war. He said he hoped the young recruits would e toregard the British soldiers and sailors they would soon fight alongside as their “brothers inarms,” and he assured the audience that “we shall never tire, nor weaken, but march withyou … to establish the reign of justice and of law.” Four years later, from this same place, Gee Marshall introduced a plan that aidedreconstruction across war-stricken Europe, and ended his speech by asking: “What is needed?What can best be done? What must be done?” Here, in 1998, Nelson Mandela addressed an audience of 25,000 and spoke of our sharedfuture. “The greatest single challenge facing our globalized world,” he said, “is to bat anderadicate itsdisparities.” Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first female head of state in Africa, stoodhere 13 years later and encouraged graduates to resist cynicism and to be fearless. Here, on the terrible afternoon of September 11, 20xx, we gathered under a cloudless sky toshare our sadness, our horror, and our disbelief. And here, just three years ago, we marked Harvard’s 375th anniversary dancing in the mud of atorrential downpour. Here, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had celebrated Harvard’s threecenturies of acplishment in a parably soaking rain. Here, J.K. Rowling encouraged graduates to “think themselves into other people’s places.” AndConan O’Brien told them that “every failure was freeing.” Here, honorary degrees have been presented to Carl Jung and Jean Piaget, Ellsworth Kelly andGeia O’Keefe, Helen Keller and Martha Graham, Ravi Shankar and Leonard Bernstein, JoanDidion and Philip Roth, Eric Kandel and Elizabeth Blackburn, Bill Gates and Tim Berners-Lee. I remember feeling awed by that history when I spoke here at my installation as Harvard’s28th president, and when I reflected on what has always seemed to me the essence of auniversity: that among society’s institutions, it is uniquely accountable to the past and to thefuture. Our accountability to the past is all around us: Behind me stands Memorial Church, amonument to Harvardians who gave their lives at the Somme and Ypres and Verdun duringWorld War One. Dedicated on Armistice Day in 1932, it represents Harvard’s long tradition ofmitment to service. In front of me is Widener Library, a gift from a bereaved mother, named in honor of her sonHarry, who perished aboard the Titanic. A library built to advance the learning and discoveryenabled by one of the mostdiverse and broad collections in the world. Widener’s twelvemajestic columns safeguard texts and manuscripts—some centuries old—that are deployedevery day by scholars to help us interpret—and reinterpret—the past.。

做你喜欢做的事才会幸福—哈佛大学首任女校长福斯特给毕业生的演讲福斯特为什么我们很多人都去了华尔街？让我们把这个毕业典礼想象成一个问答式环节，你们是提问者：“福斯特校长，生活的意义是什么？我们在哈佛苦读四年是为了什么？”可以这么说，在过去的一年里，你们一直在提出问题让我回答，我也一直在思考应该怎样回答，还有你们提问的动机，这是我更感兴趣的。

其实，从我与校委会见面时起，就一直被问到这些问题，当时是2007年冬天，我的任命才宣布不久，此后日渐频繁。

你们问我的第一件事不是问课程，不是教师辅导，不是教师的联系方式，也不是学生学习生活的空间。

你们反复问我的是：“为什么我们很多人都去了华尔街？为什么我们哈佛毕业生中，有那么多人进入金融、咨询行业和投资银行？”要思考并回答这个问题，有很多方式。

比如威利-萨顿(一个美国银行大盗) 式的。

当他被问及为什么要抢银行时，他回答：“因为那儿有钱。

”你们中很多人都在经济学课上见过戈尔丁和卡茨两位教授，根据他们从70年代以来对学生择业的研究，得出的结论大同小异。

他们发现，值得注意的是，虽然金融行业有极高的金钱回报，还是有很多学生选择了其它工作。

确实如此，你们中有37个人已经和“为美国而教”签约；有一个会去跳探戈，去阿根廷研究舞蹈疗法；还有一个将投身于肯尼亚的农业发展；一个拿了数学荣誉学位的人要去研究诗歌；另一个要去美国空军受训当飞行员。

你们中有很多人会去读法律、医学或其他研究生。

但是，绝大多数人选择了金融和咨询，这与戈尔丁和卡茨的调查结果不谋而合。

《克里姆森报》（哈佛的校报）对去年的毕业班作了调查，结果表明，参加工作的人中，58%的男生和43％的女生做出了上述选择。

高额的薪水、几乎难以拒绝的招聘方、能与朋友一起在纽约工作、享受生活，以及有趣的工作——有很多种理由可以解释这些选择。

你们中的一些人本来就决定过这样子的生活，至少在一两年之内是这样。

但是，你们还是问我，为什么要走这条路。

The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of ImaginationHarvard University Commencement AddressJ.K. RowlingTercentenary Theatre, June 5, 2008失败的好处和想象力的重要性President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers,members of the faculty, proud parents, and, above all, graduates,福斯特主席，哈佛公司和监察委员会的各位成员，各位老师、家长、全体毕业生们：The first thing I would like to say is "thank you." Not only has Harvard given me an extraordinary honour, but the weeks of fear and nausea I’ve endured at th e thought of giving this commencement address have made me lose weight. A win-win situation! Now all I have to do is take deep breaths, squint at the red banners and convince myself that I am at the world’s largest Gryffindors' reunion.首先请允许我说一声谢谢。

哈佛不仅给了我无上的荣誉，连日来为这个演讲经受的恐惧和紧张，更令我减肥成功。

这真是一个双赢的局面。

哈佛大学校长在毕业典礼上的讲话哈佛大学校长在毕业典礼上的讲话哈佛的校长福斯特（Drew Faust）上任刚刚一年，也是哈佛历史上第一任女校长。

她今年的讲演集中解释一个现象：很多哈佛毕业生都问她：为什么大约一半的哈佛本科毕业生去华尔街投资银行或名牌咨询公司工作？福斯特没有正面回答，转而思考学生为什么会问这个问题。

“丰厚的薪水和待遇无疑是吸引年轻人的一个重要原因，但如果你们很满意自己的选择的话，为什么还会问我这个问题呢？”她认识到，有些学生在选择投资银行或咨询公司时是被迫的，他们觉得不这样选择不行。

“你们其实在问我生活的意义，什么样的生活是幸福的生活？那么让我们放下外表的伪装，回到这个问题最初的起因。

”福斯特说，“我想你们在担心传统上看起来‘成功’的生活和你们心里认为有意义的生活经常是不一致的。

你们在想，如何把这两个目标在下一步选择工作或研究生深造的过程中统一起来。

你们发现这两个目标不能统一，所以你们会困惑会提问。

”哈佛女校长的毕业演讲，是从学生个人的角度出发，回答一个时代的难题：即个人自由与世俗力量的矛盾中，个人应该如何选择。

精英群体的选择，往往决定一个时代的整体风气。

对哈佛毕业生普遍面临的困惑，她的建议是：“做你热爱的工作吧。

如果你一半以上清醒的时间都在做你不热爱的工作，就很难有幸福可言。

”她的答案实际是，服从本心与心灵的自由。

这让我想起北大一老校长，胡适的名言“争你们个人的自由就是争国家的自由。

”和胡适一样留学美国的林毅夫老师,也是我极为尊重的一位老师，一具有知识分子操守与情怀的人。

他在CCER2008毕业典礼上的演说里，没有从个人自由的角度，而是从个人对国家责任的角度，来谈北大学生的选择。

在眼说中，林老师高举了理想和道德的旗帜，可是，他所关注的是理想状态的“应然”，是我们个人对国家的责任。

他说“走出北大校园迎接我们的世界又是怎样的，我们应该以怎样的心态走出北大校门。

”他说：“在北大读书，不是为了追求个人名利，而是希望在北大读书期间充实自己，为国家，为民族的复兴，为人类美好的未来做出贡献。

哈佛大学校长德鲁·福斯特英文演讲稿：推动积极的变革和成长Ladies and gentlemen,It is a true honor to speak before you today as the President of Harvard University. As a renowned institution of higher learning, Harvard has always been at the forefront of making positive changes in the world. And I am proud to say that we continue to do so today.One of the things that has always set Harvard apart is our commitment to producing graduates who are not only academically brilliant, but who are also leaders in their communities. We believe that education is about more thanjust learning facts and figures; it is also about learning to think critically, to analyze complex problems, and to work collaboratively with others to find solutions.In order to achieve this goal, we are constantly striving to promote positive growth and change both inside and outside our classrooms. And we do this in a variety of ways.First, we encourage our faculty to stay up-to-date withthe latest research and teaching methodologies. By providing them with the tools and resources they need to succeed, we empower them to provide the best possible education to our students.Second, we promote a culture of innovation and creativity. We encourage our students to think outside the box and totake risks in pursuit of their goals. We want them to be bold, to be curious, and to embrace failure as an essential part of the learning process.Third, we place a strong emphasis on diversity and inclusion. We believe that having a diverse student body and faculty is essential to creating a stimulating andintellectually challenging learning environment. By fostering a culture of inclusivity, we encourage students from all backgrounds to thrive and succeed.But our commitment to positive change and growth extends beyond the walls of our campus. We are also deeply committedto making a positive impact on the world.For example, we have established a number of programs and initiatives that are designed to address some of the most pressing issues facing society today. These include programs to promote environmental sustainability, to improve access to healthcare in developing countries, and to promote peace and reconciliation in conflict zones around the world.In addition, we are constantly seeking to collaborate with other institutions and organizations to tackle these issues in a coordinated and effective way. We believe that by working together, we can achieve far more than we could ever hope to on our own.So as you can see, our commitment to positive change and growth extends far beyond our campus. We are constantly looking for ways to make a positive impact on the world, and to help our students become the leaders and innovators of tomorrow.Thank you.。

哈佛大学女校长毕业典礼的精彩致辞：我们欠世界些许答案哈佛大学女校长毕业典礼的精彩致辞：我们欠世界些许答案今天，无论你是第一次还是第五十次参加毕业典礼，此地此景都值得你全身心地感受，哪怕只用一分钟——感受这浓浓的绿荫，熟悉的砖瓦和回荡的音符。

同学们，今天的你们，即将从深大出发，走向不一样的未来。

希望大家从这所大学带走的，不仅仅是关于空调、荔枝和世界杯的记忆，希望大家能从深大的历史和文化中得到启示，带着“三自”精神，踏上人生旅途。

有了这样的精神，你将能够以积极的行动、平静的心态克服可能遭遇的冷漠、迷茫、失落和空虚，主动成为自己生活的英雄，而不是在环境中被动地随波逐流。

希望你们成为自立的一代、自律的一代、自强的一代，希望你们拥有更充实也更幸福的人生!1936年，为了纪念哈佛大学成立300周年，这里被命名为“三百年剧院”。

就在此地，伟人曾经驻足，历史曾被铭记。

此时此刻，让我们回想国父乔治•华盛顿在这片热土上的传奇经历;此时此刻，让我们回想1943年，英国首相温斯顿•丘吉尔动员美国人勇赴战场时的演讲。

请记住，在那挤挤挨挨的人群中，曾有6000名整装待发的哈佛学子。

听说有同学用感恩心语告别：“宿管阿姨，食堂阿姨，保安大叔，谢谢你们陪了我们四年，现在要走了，给你们个赞!”有同学用企盼心语告别：“要是再有个羽毛球馆就好了!”电机学院的发展征途上，记录着你们的付出收获，承载着你们的青春梦想，寄托着你们的未来创造。

彼时，丘吉尔说，希望年轻的美国士兵和英国战士、水手们尽快会合，希望两国年轻人能够像兄弟一样并肩战斗;他对美国人民承诺：“英国人不会感到厌倦，不会感到孱弱，我们唯一能做的就是和你们并肩战斗，共同前进……建立充满正义的法制政权。

”四年后，在同一个地方，美国陆军五星上将乔治•马歇尔介绍了他援助欧洲战后重建的“马歇尔计划”。

演讲结束之时，他问道：“我们需要做什么?我们能做什么?我们必须做什么?”此时此刻，让我们回想1998年，南非国父纳尔逊•曼德拉在这里的演讲：“对于一个全球化的世界，我们所面临的唯一，且最艰巨的挑战就是同歧视斗争，并将之消除。

哈佛校长的演讲-《人生的意义》哈佛校长对毕业生说：人生的意义2009-11-23 [美]Drew G.Faust 纪海涛译解放日报哈佛校长Drew G.Faust，是哈佛历史上第一位女校长，第一位非哈佛毕业的校长，杰出的历史学家。

这是她在哈佛大学2008届本科毕业生的毕业典礼上做的演讲，题为《人生的意义》。

根据这所古老学府的传统，我该慷慨激昂地传授你们一些终身受用的智慧。

而现在我站在讲坛上，这身打扮也许已经吓坏了那些声名显赫的祖先们，说不定某些先人还会因此得出巫婆灭绝的根源。

可我既然来了，你们也都在，那么我们还是来聊聊真理吧。

其实，早在2007年冬我刚上任那时，我就已经开始准备这次讲话了。

当时我在克兰学舍吃午饭、在莱弗里特吃晚饭时，当我在办公时间接见同学时，甚至当我在国外偶遇刚毕业不久的学生时，同学们都会问我一个问题：为什么我们哈佛的学生中，有那么多人会投身到金融、咨询和电子银行领域中去？我今天就引用威利·萨顿的话来回答你们。

当他被问到为什么抢银行时，他说：“银行里有很多钱。

”高薪,无可抗拒的盲从应聘心理，到纽约和众多朋友一起工作、生活，享受人生的那种踏实感，使大家奋不顾身地投入到那些领域。

比起回答你们的问题，我更有兴趣知道你们为什么会这么问，为什么这个问题会困扰这么多人？我想，你们之所以会忧心忡忡，是因为你们不想仅仅取得传统意义上的成功，还想让人生过得有意义，可你们不知道怎么把这两个目标结合起来。

你们不确定，是不是在一家大名鼎鼎的名牌企业中拥有一份起薪丰厚、前途光明的工作，就能得到精神上的满足。

其实你们一直在问的都是一些最基本的问题：关于价值、关于怎样去调和有可能存在竞争的事物之间的关系、关于鱼和熊掌不可兼得的领悟。

你们现在正处于一个需要作出选择的过渡阶段。

选择了其中任何一项———比如工作、事业或者读研究生———就意味着要舍弃其他的选择。

每一个决定都意味着取舍———拥抱一种可能性的同时也得放弃一种可能性。

哈佛大学校长德鲁·福斯特英语演讲稿：建立未来的意识和行动Drew Faust, the President of Harvard University, has long been a voice of leadership and inspiration within the academic world. Her speeches have often touched on topics related to the future of education and society, speaking to the importance of creating a sense of awareness and action in order to establish a better future for our world.In a recent English language speech, Faust spoke to the idea of creating a “consciousness of the future” in our everyday lives. This consciousness, she argued, was necessary in order to address the many challenges that face us as a society, from issues of inequality to environmental degradation and beyond.To build this consciousness, Faust discussed the importance of education in instilling an understanding of the interconnectedness of our world. By teaching students tothink beyond their own individual experiences and to examine the larger global context, she argued, we can inspire a sense of empathy and appreciation for the fragility of the world we inhabit.Beyond education, Faust also encouraged individuals to take action in their own lives. She spoke to the importance of small, everyday choices, from deciding to recycle to making more sustainable choices as consumers. Through these small acts of commitment, she argued, we can collectively begin to shift the trajectory of our society towards a more positive future.Faust also spoke to the importance of collective action, highlighting the power of movements such as the recent global climate strikes as evidence of the potential for widespread mobilization. When individuals come together with a shared vision for the future, she argued, they can act as a powerful force for positive change.Finally, Faust emphasized the need for leadership in establishing a consciousness of the future. She spoke to the importance of public figures and those in positions of power to use their platforms to promote awareness and action, highlighting the role of Harvard as a leading institution in shaping a more sustainable and progressive future for our world.In closing, Faust encouraged her audience to embrace the challenge of creating a consciousness of the future, recognizing that the path towards a better world is a collective and ongoing journey. Through education, individual action, collective mobilization, and leadership, she argued, we can build a brighter and more sustainable future for generations to come.。

Baccalaureate address to Class of 20082008届本科毕业典礼上的讲话The Memorial Church纪念教堂Cambridge, Mass.麻省剑桥市June 3, 20082008年6月3日凯瑟琳·德鲁·吉尔平·福斯特（Catharine Drew Gilpin Faust）As prepared for delivery准备稿In the curious custom of this venerable institution, I find myself standing before you expected to impart words of lasting wisdom. Here I am in a pulpit, dressed like a Puritan minister — an apparition that would have horrified many of my distinguished forebears and perhaps rededicated some of them to the extirpation of witches. This moment would have propelled Increase and Cotton into a true “Mather lather.” But here I am and there you are and it is the moment of and for Veritas.在这所久负盛名的大学的别具一格的仪式上，我站在了你们的面前，被期待着给予一些蕴含着恒久智慧的言论。

站在这个讲坛上，我穿得像个清教徒教长——一个可能会吓到我的杰出前辈们的怪物，或许使他们中的一些人重新致力于铲除巫婆的事业上。

这个时刻也许曾激励了很多清教徒成为教长。

热爱才会无悔--在哈佛大学2008年本科毕业典礼上的演讲
（节选）
德鲁·吉尔平·福斯特[美]
【期刊名称】《初中生世界(九年级中考版)》
【年(卷),期】2016(000)003
【总页数】3页(P4-6)
【作者】德鲁·吉尔平·福斯特[美]
【作者单位】
【正文语种】中文
【相关文献】
1.战胜恐惧再创辉煌——哈佛大学校长德鲁·福斯特在2015年毕业典礼上的演讲
2.失败的额外收益与想象力的重要性——在哈佛大学2008年毕业典礼上的演讲
3.比尔·盖茨在哈佛大学毕业典礼上的演讲(节选)
4.英语励志演讲语篇评价潜势研究——以奥普拉·温弗瑞在哈佛大学毕业典礼上的演讲为例
5.英语励志演讲语篇评价潜势研究--以奥普拉·温弗瑞在哈佛大学毕业典礼上的演讲为例
因版权原因，仅展示原文概要，查看原文内容请购买。

jk罗琳2008哈佛毕业典礼演讲稿篇一：2008年JK罗琳：哈佛毕业典礼演讲2008年JK罗琳哈佛毕业典礼演讲（中英文对照）默认分类2009-07-17 20:13阅读1281评论0字号：大中小“2008年6月5日是哈佛大学的毕业典礼，请来的演讲嘉宾是《哈利波特》的作者J.K.罗琳女士。

她的演讲题目是《失败的好处和想象的重要性》（The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination）。

我读了一遍讲稿，觉得很好，很感染人。

她几乎没有谈到哈里波特，而是说了年轻时的一些经历。

虽然J·K·罗琳现在很有钱，是英国仅次于女皇的最富有的女人，但是她曾经有一段非常艰辛的日子，30岁了，还差点流落街头。

她主要谈的是，自己从这段经历中学到的东西。

”以下是英文文稿和中文翻译：Text as delivered follows.Copyright of JK Rowling, June 2008President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation andthe Board of Overseers, members of the faculty, proud parents, and, above all, graduates.The first thing I would like to say is ?thank you.? Not only has Harvard given me an extraordinary honour, but the weeks of fear and nausea I have endured at the thought of giving this commencement address have made me lose weight. A win-win situation! Now all I have to do is take deep breaths, squint at the red banners and convince myself that I am at t he world?s largest Gryffindor reunion.Delivering a commencement address is a great responsibility; or so I thought until I cast my mind back to my own graduation. The commencement speaker that day was the distinguished British philosopher Baroness Mary Warnock. Reflecting on her speech has helped me enormously in writing this one, because it turns out that I can?t remember a single word she said. This liberating discovery enables me to proceed without any fear that I might inadvertently influence you to abandon promising careers in business, the law or politics for thegiddy delights of becoming a gay wizard.You see? If all you remember in years to come is the ?gay wizard? joke, I?ve come out ahead of Baroness Mary Warnoc k. Achievable goals: the first step to self improvement. Actually, I have wracked my mind and heart for what I ought tosay to you today. I have asked myself what I wish I had known at my own graduation, and what important lessons I have learned in the 21 years that have expired between tha t day and this.I have come up with two answers. On this wonderful day when we are gathered together to celebrate your academic success, I have decided to talk to you about the benefits of failure. And as you stand on the threshold of what is sometimes called ?real life?, I want to extol the crucial importance of im agination.These may seem quixotic or paradoxical choices, but please bear with me.Looking back at the 21-year-old that I was at graduation, is a slightly uncomfortable experience for the 42-year-old that she has become. Half my lifetime ago, I was striking an uneasy balance between the ambition I had for myself, and what t hose closest to me expected of me.I was convinced that the only thing I wanted to do, ever, was to write novels. However, my parents, both of whom came from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing personal quirk that would never pay a mortgage, orsecure a pension. I know that the irony strikes with t he force of a cartoon anvil, now.So they hoped that I would take a vocational degree; I wanted to study English Literature. A compromise was reached that in retrospect satisfied nobody, and I went up to study Modern Languages. Hardly had my parents? car rounded the corner at the end of the road than I ditched German and scuttled off down the Classics corridor.I cannot remember telling my parents that I was studying Classics; they might well have found out for the first time on graduation day. Of all the subjects on this planet, I think they would have been hard put to name one less useful than Greek mythology when it came to securing the keys to an exec utive bathroom.I would like to make it clear, in parenthesis, that I do not blame my parents for their point of view. There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you. What is more, I cannot criticise my parents for hoping that I would never experience poverty. They had been poor themselves, and I have since been poor, and I quite agree with them that it is not an ennobling experience. Poverty entailsfear, and stress, and sometimes depression; it means a thousand petty humiliations and hardships. Climbing out of poverty by your own efforts, that is indeed something on which to pride yourself, but poverty itself is romanticised only by fools.What I feared most for myself at your age was not poverty, but failure.At your age, in spite of a distinct lack of motivation at university, where I had spent far too long in the coffee bar writing stories, and far too little time at lectures, I had a knack for passing examinations, and that, for years, had been the me asure of success in my life and that of my peers.I am not dull enough to suppose that because you are young, gifted and well-educated, you have never known hardship or heartbreak. Talent and intelligence never yet inoculated anyone against the caprice of the Fates, and I do not for a moment suppose that everyone here has enjoyed an existence of uuffled privilege and contentment.However, the fact that you are graduating from Harvard suggests that you are not very well-acquainted with failure. You might be driven by a fear of failure quite as much as a desire for success. Indeed, your conception of failure might not be too far from theaverage person?s idea of success, so highhave you already flown.Ultimately, we all have to decide for ourselves what constitutes failure, but the world is quite eager to give you a set of criteria if you let it. So I think it fair to say that by any conventional measure, a mere seven years after my graduation day, I had failed on an epic scale. An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless. The fears that my parents had had for me, and that I had had for myself, had both come to pass, and byevery usual standard, I was the biggest failure I knew. Now, I am not going to stand here and tell you that failure is fun. That period of my life was a dark one, and I had no idea that there was going to be what the press has since represented as a kind of fairy tale resolution. I had no idea then how far the tunnel extended, and for a long time, any lightat the end of it was a hope rather than a reality.So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing theonly work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became t he solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default. Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above the price of rubies.The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that it ispainfully won, and it has been worth more than any qualificationI ever earned.So given a Time Turner, I would tell my 21-year-old self that personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a check-list of acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two. Life is difficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone?s total control, and the humility to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes. Now you might think that I chose my second theme, the importance of imagination, because of the part it played in rebuilding my life, but that is not wholly so. Though I personally will defend the value of bedtime stories to my last gasp, I have learned to value imagination in a much broader sense. Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation. In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathise with humans whose experiences we have never shared. One of the greatest formative experiences of my life preceded Harry Potter, though it informed much of what I subsequently wrote in those books. This revelation came in the form of one of myearliest day jobs. Though I was sloping off to write stories during my lunch hours, I paid the rent in my early 20s by working at the African research department at Amnesty International?s headquarters in London.There in my little office I read hastily scribbled letters smuggled out of totalitarian regimes by men and women who were risking imprisonment to inform the outside world of what was happening to them. I saw photographs of those who had disappeared without trace, sent to Amnesty by their desperate families and friends. I read the testimony of torture victims 篇二：罗琳2008年哈佛大学毕业演讲The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance ofImaginationHarvard University Commencement AddressJ.K. RowlingTercentenary Theatre, June 5, 2008失败的好处和想象力的重要性哈佛大学毕业典礼J.K. 罗琳2008年6月5日President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, members of the faculty, proud parents,and, above all, graduates, 福斯特主席，哈佛公司和监察委员会的各位成员，各位老师、家长、全体毕业生们：The first thing I would like to say is thank you. Not only has Harvard given me an extraordinaryhonour, but the weeks of fear and nausea I’ve endured at the thought of giving thiscommencement address have made me lose weight. A win-win situation! Now all I have to do istake deep breaths, squint at the red banners and convince myself that I am at the world’s largestGryffindors reunion. 首先请允许我说一声谢谢。

她的演讲题目是《失败的好处和想象的重要性》(The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and theImportance of Imagination)。

她几乎没有谈到哈里波特,而是说了年轻时的一些经历。

虽然J·K·罗琳现在很有钱,是英国仅次于女皇的最富有的女人,但是她曾经有一段非常艰辛的日子,30岁了,还差点流落街头。

她主要谈的是,自己从这段经历中学到的东西。

我只找到了一部分中文翻译,有兴趣的朋友可以看下面的原文和视频。

二、她首先回忆了自己大学毕业的情景:I was convinced that the only thing I wanted to do, ever, was to write novels. However, my parents, both of whom came from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing personal quirk that could never pay a mortgage, or secure a pension.当时,我只想去写小说。

但是,我的父母出身贫寒,没有受过大学教育。

他们认为,我那些不安分的想象力只是一种怪癖,根本不能用来还房贷,或者挣来养老金。

They had hoped that I would take a vocational degree; I wanted to study English Literature. A compromise was reached that in retrospect satisfied nobody, and I went up to study Modern Languages. Hardly had my parents’ car rounded the corner at the end of the road than I ditched German and scuttled off down the Classics corridor.他们希望我再去读个专业学位,而我想去攻读英国文学。

哈佛大学校长德鲁?福斯特在哈佛毕业典礼上的演讲再见，敬爱的母校!再见，敬爱的老师!再见，亲爱的同学们!是你们让我学到了知识，教会了我做人。

母校在我们的心里播下了友谊的种子，这些种子永远开放在我们的心田。

我希望把母校编写成一曲动听的歌谣来伴随我们一生的风雨路;把老师誉为一支永放光芒的蜡烛，照亮我们的前方;把同学之谊架成一座永远的桥梁，让我们的心永远连在一起。

由此走向社会，我们仍然要面对复杂的人生。

我想在座的上千名毕业生能上北大国发院并且顺利毕业，堪称天之骄子、命运的宠儿。

每个人手上都拿着一个满意的offer，天高海阔，你们必然是踌躇满志。

不过特别需要理解，中国处在一个前所未有的大时代。

之所以大是因为机会巨大、前景巨大、空间巨大，又面对无比复杂的问题。

有很多阴暗面，它们重重叠叠，利益纠葛相互缠绕，牵一发而动全身。

这个大时代将持续很长时间，将是大家参与社会的时代背景。

今天小编推荐给大家的文章是哈佛大学校长德鲁·福斯特在哈佛毕业典礼上的演讲，欢迎大家一起浏览，阅读。

「这是一个自拍——还有自拍杆的时代。

仔细想想，如果社会里的每个人都开始过上整天自拍的生活，这会是怎样一个社会呢?对于我来说，那也许是“利己主义”最真实的写照了。

我们无休止地关注我们自己、我们的形象、我们得到的“赞”，不停地进行“自我放大”。

我也知道，你们这几年也有许多美好的记忆：信息院里，有你们又怕又爱、面冷心慈、批评起人来连男生也会哭的“吴奶奶”——吴同茂老师;湘雅医学院里，有熟悉临床八年制学生各种详细信息、生病也要为同学们办好毕业庆祝晚会的辅导员——丁红珊“老大姐”;铁道校区学生3舍里，有同学们遇到困难就愿意和他聊一聊的宿管员李发强师傅;升华公寓25栋里，有被同学们称为知心朋友、贴心哥哥的85后楼管“杨帅哥”;机电院里，有傲立风雨中，直言“我的课讲得好”，“我不服”的汤老师，等等。

这些普通的老师和职工一直关心着你们、爱着你们!最后，我们在抓好期末复习的同时，每一位同学应一如既往地遵守好学校的课堂常规，做到上课不说话，不做小动作。