第一篇：JK羅琳 - 2008哈佛大學畢業典禮上的演講(

JK羅琳-2008哈佛大學畢業典禮上的演講（視頻+中英對照文稿）

The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination

Harvard University Commencement Address

J.K.Rowling

Copyright June 2008

As prepared for delivery

President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the 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've experienced 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 fool myself into believing I am at the world's best-educated Harry Potter convention.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, law or politics for the giddy delights of becoming a gay wizard.You see? If all you remember in years to come is the 'gay wizard' joke, I've still come out ahead of Baroness Mary Warnock.Achievable goals: the first step towards personal improvement.Actually, I have wracked my mind and heart for what I ought to say 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 has expired between that 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 imagination.These might 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 those 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 could never pay a mortgage, or secure a pension.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.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 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 executive 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 entails fear, 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 measure 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 unruffled 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 the average person's idea of success, so high have you already flown academically.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 my parents had had for me, and that I had had for myself, had both come to pass, and by every 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 how far the tunnel extended, and for a long time, any light at 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 the only 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 already 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 the 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 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 is painfully won, and it has been worth more to me than any qualification I ever earned.Given a time machine or 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.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 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 my earliest day jobs.Though I was sloping off to write stories during my lunch hours, I paid the rent in my early 20s by working in the 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 and saw pictures of their injuries.I opened handwritten, eye-witness accounts of summary trials and executions, of kidnappings and rapes.Many of my co-workers were ex-political prisoners, people who had been displaced from their homes, or fled into exile, because they had the temerity to think independently of their government.Visitors to our office included those who had come to give information, or to try and find out what had happened to those they had been forced to leave behind.I shall never forget the African torture victim, a young man no older than I was at the time, who had become mentally ill after all he had endured in his homeland.He trembled uncontrollably as he spoke into a video camera about the brutality inflicted upon him.He was a foot taller than I was, and seemed as fragile as a child.I was given the job of escorting him to the Underground Station afterwards, and this man whose life had been shattered by cruelty took my hand with exquisite courtesy, and wished me future happiness.And as long as I live I shall remember walking along an empty corridor and suddenly hearing, from behind a closed door, a scream of pain and horror such as I have never heard since.The door opened, and the researcher poked out her head and told me to run and make a hot drink for the young man sitting with her.She had just given him the news that in retaliation for his own outspokenness against his country's regime, his mother had been seized and executed.Every day of my working week in my early 20s I was reminded how incredibly fortunate I was, to live in a country with a democratically elected government, where legal representation and a public trial were the rights of everyone.Every day, I saw more evidence about the evils humankind will inflict on their fellow humans, to gain or maintain power.I began to have nightmares, literal nightmares, about some of the things I saw, heard and read.And yet I also learned more about human goodness at Amnesty International than I had ever known before.Amnesty mobilises thousands of people who have never been tortured or imprisoned for their beliefs to act on behalf of those who have.The power of human empathy, leading to collective action, saves lives, and frees prisoners.Ordinary people, whose personal well-being and security are assured, join together in huge numbers to save people they do not know, and will never meet.My small participation in that process was one of the most humbling and inspiring experiences of my life.Unlike any other creature on this planet, humans can learn and understand, without having experienced.They can think themselves into other people's minds, imagine themselves into other people's places.Of course, this is a power, like my brand of fictional magic, that is morally neutral.One might use such an ability to manipulate, or control, just as much as to understand or sympathise.And many prefer not to exercise their imaginations at all.They choose to remain comfortably within the bounds of their own experience, never troubling to wonder how it would feel to have been born other than they are.They can refuse to hear screams or to peer inside cages;they can close their minds and hearts to any suffering that does not touch them personally;they can refuse to know.I might be tempted to envy people who can live that way, except that I do not think they have any fewer nightmares than I do.Choosing to live in narrow spaces can lead to a form of mental agoraphobia, and that brings its own terrors.I think the wilfully unimaginative see more monsters.They are often more afraid.What is more, those who choose not to empathise may enable real monsters.For without ever committing an act of outright evil ourselves, we collude with it, through our own apathy.One of the many things I learned at the end of that Classics corridor down which I ventured at the age of 18, in search of something I could not then define, was this, written by the Greek author Plutarch: What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.That is an astonishing statement and yet proven a thousand times every day of our lives.It expresses, in part, our inescapable connection with the outside world, the fact that we touch other people's lives simply by existing.But how much more are you, Harvard graduates of 2008, likely to touch other people's lives? Your intelligence, your capacity for hard work, the education you have earned and received, give you unique status, and unique responsibilities.Even your nationality sets you apart.The great majority of you belong to the world's only remaining superpower.The way you vote, the way you live, the way you protest, the pressure you bring to bear on your government, has an impact way beyond your borders.That is your privilege, and your burden.If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice;if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless;if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped transform for the better.We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.I am nearly finished.I have one last hope for you, which is something that I already had at 21.The friends with whom I sat on graduation day have been my friends for life.They are my children's godparents, the people to whom I've been able to turn in times of trouble, friends who have been kind enough not to sue me when I've used their names for Death Eaters.At our graduation we were bound by enormous affection, by our shared experience of a time that could never come again, and, of course, by the knowledge that we held certain photographic evidence that would be exceptionally valuable if any of us ran for Prime Minister.So today, I can wish you nothing better than similar friendships.And tomorrow, I hope that even if you remember not a single word of mine, you remember those of Seneca, another of those old Romans I met when I fled down the Classics corridor, in retreat from career ladders, in search of ancient wisdom:

As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.I wish you all very good lives.Thank you very much.失敗帶來的好處，以及想象力的重要意義

在哈佛大學畢業典禮上的講話

J.K.Rowling

致Faust校長，哈佛集團以及哈佛監事委員會的各位成員，各位教職員工，眾多自豪的家長，以及最為重要的——各位畢業生們：

我想要說的第一句話是“謝謝你們”。這份感謝不僅來自于哈佛賦予我如此非同尋常的榮譽，更是由于幾個星期以來每當我想到今天的致詞就會覺得頭暈惡心，因而終于成功的減肥了。這就是“雙贏”啊！現在，我只需要深呼吸幾次，瞄幾眼紅色的橫幅，然后裝模作樣的讓自己相信，我正身處世界上受過最好教育的哈里波特迷的盛大集會之中。

在畢業典禮上致詞意味著極大的責任——我這樣想著，直到我開始回想我自己的畢業典禮。那天致詞的是著名的英國哲學家 Baroness Mary Warnock。對于她的演講的回憶也極大地幫助了我完成現在這份，因為，我完全想不起來她說了什么。這個具有解放意義的重大發現讓我無所畏懼的寫下自己的致詞，因為我再也不必擔心會在不經意間對你們造成影響，以至于讓你們為了成為一個快樂巫師的虛幻憧憬，就放棄自己在商業、法律界或政界的遠大前程。

看到了吧？就算若干年后你們對我的演講的印象只剩下這個“快樂的巫師”的笑話，那我還是領先了Baroness Mary Warnock一步的。能夠達成的目標是自我改善的第一步。

事實上，為了確定今天應該對你們說些什么，我真是絞盡了腦汁。我問自己，在我自己的畢業典禮上，我曾期待知道什么？而自那天開始到現在的21年間，我又學到了那些教訓？

我想到了兩個答案。在今天這個美妙的時刻，當我們齊聚一堂慶祝你們取得學業成功的時候，我決定跟你們談談失敗帶來的好處。另外，在你們正要一腳踏入所謂“真實的生活”的時候，我還要高聲贊頌想象力的重大意義。

這些決定看起來頗為荒誕而矛盾，但是啊，請聽我慢慢道來。

對于一個已經42歲的婦人來說，回顧21歲畢業典禮的時刻并不是一件十分舒服的事情。在前半生中我一直奮力掙扎，為了在自己的雄心壯志與親人對我的期盼之間取得一個平衡。

我自己認定今生唯一想做的事情就是寫小說。然而，我的出身貧寒、從未受過大學教育的父母卻認為，我那過于活躍的想象力只不過是個人的怪癖而已，永遠也不能幫我償還貸款，也不能幫我弄到養老金。

他們希望我取得一個職業技能學位；而我卻向往在英國文學方面深造。最后我們互有妥協并達成一致，讓我去學習現代語言；而事后想來，這份妥協其實沒有讓任何一方滿意。于是，沒等父母的車繞過路盡頭的拐角從視野里消失，我就丟下了德語，轉而沿著古典文學的道路快步走下去。

我記不得是否有告訴父母我其實在學習古典文學；他們也可能在出席畢業典禮的時候終于覺察了事實真相。在地球上所有的學科當中，當涉及到“獲得使用正式員工專用洗手間的權利”的時候，我估計他們很難想到比希臘神話更沒用的學科了。

順便提一句，我必須聲明自己并沒有為父母的觀點而責怪他們的意思。你不能總是責怪父母指錯了方向；當你長大成人、可以獨立掌舵的時候，這份責任就應該由你獨立承擔了。況且，父母希望我永遠都不要經受貧窮，而我不能譴責這一期望。他們自己飽受貧寒之苦，而我也曾經是個窮人，我十分贊同他們的想法——貧窮決不是什么高貴的經歷。伴隨貧窮而來的是恐懼和緊張，有時還會陷入憂傷沮喪之中；這些都意味著無盡的卑微和艱難。憑借自己的力量掙脫貧困境地，這的確是值得自豪的事情，但是只有愚蠢的人才會一廂情愿的為貧窮本身涂抹浪漫的色彩。當我像你們這么大的時候，我最害怕的甚至還不是貧窮，而是失敗。

當我像你們這么大的時候，我對大學里的課程沒什么動力，總是在咖啡館里花上大把的時間寫小說，而用于聽課的時間則寥寥無幾。盡管如此，我卻有些讓自己能通過考試的竅門；而考試，在若干年中，就成了衡量我和我同齡人的成敗的標準。

我不會笨到認為你們這些年輕、有天賦、受過良好教育的孩子就從來不知道困難和心碎的滋味。天賦和智力并不能讓人免受命運的捉弄；我也從不認為在這里的所有人都享有不可破壞的特權與滿足。

然而，畢業于哈佛大學這一事實暗示著你們并不十分熟悉失敗。驅動你們前行的對于失敗的恐懼可能更為接近對于成功的渴望。事實上，你們心目中的失敗很可能與普通人設想的成功相差無幾，畢竟你們在學業上的成功已經高到遙不可及。

最終，我們都要按自己的想法給失敗下一個定義；但是如果你允許的話，這個世界會迫不及待的為你設定一套標準。因此我覺得，不管按照什么慣行標準，僅僅在畢業七年之后，我都確確實實的失敗了，而且敗得徹徹底底。我那罕見的短暫婚姻走到了盡頭，自己又失業了。一個單身母親，淪落到當代英國最為貧困的境地，只不過還沒到無家可歸的程度而已。我父母害怕發生在我身上的事情，我害怕發生在自己身上的事情，都降臨了。無論按照什么標準來看，我都是我所知道的最大的失敗。

現在，我站在這里，告訴你們失敗可是件一點也不好玩的事情。那個時候我的人生被黑暗籠罩，根本想不到在未來的時光里這段經歷竟會被報道為神話般的堅定意志。那時候我不知道黑暗的隧道何時才是盡頭，而盡頭的任何光亮都像是渺茫的希望而非穩固的現實。

為什么我還要談起失敗的好處呢？簡單的說，是因為失敗會為我們揭去表面那些無關緊要的東西。我不再裝模作樣，終于重新做回自己，開始將所有的精力投入到自己在意的唯一作品。如果我此前在其它的任何什么方面有所成功，我恐怕都會失去在自己真正歸屬的舞臺上獲得成功的決心。我最大的恐懼終于成為現實，而我卻因此獲得了自由，我還活著，還有我深愛的女兒，我還有一架老式打字機和一個宏大的夢想。這片頑固的低谷成為我腳下堅定的基石，在此之上，我重筑了自己的人生。

你們也許不會像我摔得這樣慘，但是人生路上總會有些失敗。你也許可以毫無失敗的度過一生，但你將活得如此小心翼翼，就好像你幾乎沒有活過——不管從什么意義上講，你都注定要失敗的。

失敗賦予我內心的安全感，而這是考試及格也不能讓我感受到的。失敗讓我明白關于自己的一些東西，這是除了失敗以外我決不可能獲得的認知。我意識到自己擁有堅強的意志，而且比我以前設想的還要自律；我還發現我擁有的朋友們是如此寶貴，其價值連寶石也不能媲美。

你在挫折中成長，更聰明，更強壯，這意味著從此以后你已擁有了牢不可催的生存能力。直到通過逆境的考驗，你才會真正了解自己，以及你周圍的人賦予你的力量。這些認知都是寶貴的財富，我歷經艱辛才獲得的財富，這比我得到的任何資格證書都更有價值。如果能夠讓時光倒流，我會告訴21歲的自己，幸福在于懂得人生不是收獲和成就的清單。你的資格證書或你的簡歷，并不是你的生活；盡管你將遇到很多我這樣年紀、甚至比我更老的人，他們卻還分不清楚兩者間的區別。生活是嚴酷的，也是復雜的，更不處于任何人的掌控；謙遜的懂得并接受這一點，會幫助安然你度過生活中的風浪。

也許你們會以為，我之所以選擇第二個主題——想象力的重要性，是因為想象力在我重筑人生時發揮了巨大作用。但這并不是全部的原因。我固然到死也會捍衛睡前故事的價值，但我還認識到要在更為廣闊的范圍內珍視想象力。想象力是人類獨有的預見未知的能力，它還是所有發明創造的源泉。它具有已被證實的最富變革性和啟示性的力量，而正是想象力讓我們能夠切身體會他人的經驗——雖然我們自己并未身臨其境。

對我影響最為深遠的經歷發生在哈里波特之前，而這一經歷為我后來完成著作提供了很多信息。我在最早的全日制工作中獲得了啟示。在二十幾歲的時候，我在位于倫敦的國際特赦組織總部的研究部門工作，以獲得付房租的錢，而午餐的時候我就溜掉去寫小說。

在那里，我坐在小小的辦公室里閱讀來自集權統治下的地區的信件。男人和女人們急切的寫下潦草的文字，將信偷偷寄出來，冒著坐牢的風險告訴外界自己遭受了怎樣的對待。我看到那些無聲無息地失蹤了的人的照片，是由他們的絕望的親人和朋友寄到特赦組織來的。我讀著被嚴刑拷打的受害人的證詞，看著記錄他們的慘狀的照片。我打開手寫的親眼見證的記錄，記載著對于綁架和強奸案件的簡單審訊和執行。

我的很多同事以前都是政治犯。他們被迫離開家庭或流亡國外，因為他們有勇氣以獨立意志評判他們的政府。我們的辦公室的訪客有些是來提供信息的，也有人前來了解他們被迫放棄的同伴的情況。

我永遠也無法忘記一個來自非洲的經受嚴刑拷打的受害者。他是個年輕人，不會比那時的我年紀更大，在自己的祖國遭受的一切已經使他有些精神失常。對著攝影機講述自己遭受的痛苦的時候，他無法抑制的戰栗著。他比我高一英尺，看上去卻像孩子一樣脆弱無助。隨后，在我按照吩咐護送他去地鐵的路上，這個人生已被殘暴摧毀的男人卻優雅有禮的拉著我的手，祝我未來幸?？鞓贰?/p>

在我有生之年，我都會記得自己走過一條空曠的走廊的時候，從身后一扇緊閉的門內傳出的尖叫。其中包含的痛苦和恐懼是如此強烈，我以后再沒聽過那樣的聲音。門打開了，一個工作人員探出頭，告訴我趕快跑去，給坐在她身邊的青年男子拿一杯熱飲。她剛剛告訴那位年青人，由于他本人公開反對自己國家的專制，他的母親已被抓走并處決了。

在我二十幾歲的時候，工作中的每一天，我都不斷被提醒著自己是多么的幸運，能夠生活在一個民選政府管理的國家，人人都享有法律代理和公開審判的權利。

每天我都看見更多的人類的邪惡加諸于同胞的證據，這樣的罪惡僅僅是為了獲得或者維持權力。我開始做惡夢，徹頭徹尾的惡夢，夢到那些我看到、聽到和讀到的事情。

然而，在國際特赦組織里我還了解了很多關于人類的好的一面，有些是我從不知道的。國際特赦組織調動了幾千人，他們從未因自己的信念而被折磨或監禁，他們代表那些飽受折磨的人并為之行事。人類的同情心的力量引導了集體行動，拯救生命，釋放被關押的人們。那些個人幸福和安全已經得到保證的普通人，為了拯救他們并不認識、甚至再也不會見面的陌生人而集結起來，匯聚成強大的群體。我個人在其中的參與，是我今生最為卑微、卻最為振奮的經歷。

人類與地球上的其它生物不同。就算沒有親身經歷，人類也可以學習和理解。人類可以將自己代入別人的思想之中，設想自己處于他人的境地。

當然，這也是力量，就好像我的小說中的魔法。這是在道德上中立的力量，可以被用于操縱和控制，也可以被用于理解和同情。

還有很多人寧愿不去使用他們的想象力。他們選擇舒舒服服的呆在自己的經歷之內，從不費事去想象如果他們生下來是別的人，那一切將會怎樣。他們可以拒絕傾聽叫喊聲，也不會窺視籠子內的情況；對于任何沒有降臨到自身的痛苦，他們都可以關閉自己的頭腦和心靈；他們可以拒絕知道。

也許我禁不住會想要嫉妒這樣生活的人，只可惜我不相信他們做的惡夢會比我少。選擇生活在狹窄的范圍里，會導致某種精神上的對于陌生環境的恐懼癥，并由此產生相應的害怕心理。我認為那些自己決定不去想象的人會看到更多的怪物。他們通常會更害怕。

另外，選擇不去同情的人會養育現實中的怪物。就算我們自己沒有親自作出邪惡的事情，我們對于邪惡的無動于衷就等同于和它同謀。

十八歲時，為了尋找那時我無法描述的目的，我踏上了古典文學的探險道路；當走到盡頭的時候，我學到了很多東西，其中之一就是希臘作家Plutarch的這句話：我們在內心的所得，將改變外界的現實。

這句驚人的宣言卻每天都被我們的生活證實無數次。在某種程度上，它表達了我們與外面世界的無法逃避的聯系；它道出這樣一個事實，僅僅是我們自身的存在，就已經觸碰到了他人的生活。

但是，哈佛大學2008屆的畢業生們，你們又將對他人的生活深入多少呢？你們的智慧、你們應對高難度工作的才能、你們謀求并接受到的教育，都賦予你們

獨一無二的身份，以及獨一無二的責任。即使你們的國籍將你們區隔開來。你們中的大多數，屬于這個世界目前僅存的超級大國。你們投票的方式，你們生活的方式，你們抗議的方式，你們對于政府施加的壓力，其影響都會遠遠超出你們自身的界限。那就是你們的特權，也是你們背負的重任。

如果你選擇了，用你的身份和影響力來提高你的聲音，為那些沒有聲音的人吶喊；如果你選擇了，不僅認同權勢群體，更要與弱勢群體為伍；如果你保留了想象的能力，能夠與不具備你的優勢的那些人感同身受。那么，不僅僅是你的家人會為你自豪，更有成千上萬的、因為你而生活得更好的人會為你歡呼。我們并不需要魔法來改造世界。我們在內心深處已經擁有了所需的所有力量：我們擁有想象更好的世界的力量。

我的話快要說完了。最后，我對你們還有一個期望，在我21歲的時候我就懷有這個期望。在畢業典禮上與我坐在一起的朋友們，后來成了我一生的朋友。他們是我的孩子們的教父和教母。他們是我陷入困境時可以尋求幫助的人。他們是如此寬容的朋友，就連名字被我用來命名食死徒的時候也沒有起訴我。在畢業典禮上，我們被心中澎湃的激情緊密聯結，被共同分享的寶貴時光緊密聯結，當然，也被某個共識緊密聯結——如果我們中的某人有朝一日當選為英國首相，那我們持有的合影照片肯定會價值不菲。

因此，今天，我能夠送給你們的最好的祝福，就是這樣的友誼。明天，我希望就算你記不起我說過的任何一個字，你還是能夠想起Seneca說過的話。那時我已遠離職業生涯的階梯，轉而尋找古代的智慧。我在沿著古典文學的走廊飛奔時遇到了這個古羅馬的家伙。

他說：

人生就像故事，不在于漫長，而在于精彩。

我祝你們所有人一生幸福。

非常感謝。

第二篇：JK羅琳哈佛大學演講

The Benefits of JK Rowling at Harvard 2008年J.K.羅琳在哈佛大學畢業典禮上的演講：失敗的好處和想象

Video of J K Rowling's Commencement Address, 力的重要性

“The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the

Importance of Imagination,” at the Annual The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the

Meeting of the Harvard Alumni Association on Importance of Imagination Harvard University Commencement Address June 5th 2008.In this powerful, moving, yet also

funny speech Jo talks about her time working for J.K.Rowling

Amnesty International, her personal experiences Tercentenary Theatre, June 5, 2008 失敗的好處和想象力的重要性 with failure and the power of the imagination to 哈佛大學畢業典禮 allow us to empathize with others.J.K.羅琳

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，哈佛公司和監察委員會的各位成員，各位老師、家長、全體畢業生們：

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.首先請允許我說一聲謝謝。哈佛不僅給了我無上的榮譽，連日來為這個演講經受的恐懼和緊張，更令我減肥成功。這真是一個雙贏的局面。現在我要做的就是深呼吸幾下，瞇著眼睛看看前面的大紅橫幅，安慰自己正在世界上最大的魔法學院聚會上。

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, law or politics for the giddy delights of becoming a gay wizard.發表畢業演說是一個巨大的責任，至少在我回憶自己當年的畢業典禮前是這么認為的。那天做演講的是英國著名的哲學家Baroness Mary Warnock，對她演講的回憶，對我寫今天的演講稿，產生了極大的幫助，因為我不記得她說過的任何一句話了。這個發現讓我釋然，讓我不再擔心我可能會無意中影響你放棄在商業，法律或政治上的大好前途，轉而醉心于成為一個快樂的魔法師。

You see? If all you remember in years to come is the 'gay wizard' joke, I've still come out ahead of Baroness Mary

Warnock.Achievable goals-the first step to self-improvement.你們看，如果在若干年后你們還記得“快樂的魔法師”這個笑話，那就證明我已經超越了Baroness Mary Warnock。建立可實現的目標——這是提高自我的第一步。

Actually, I have wracked my mind and heart for what I ought to say 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 has expired between that day and this.實際上，我為今天應該和大家談些什么絞盡了腦汁。我問自己什么是我希望早在畢業典禮上就該了解的，而從那時起到現在的21年間，我又得到了什么重要的啟示。

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 imagination.我想到了兩個答案。在這美好的一天，當我們一起慶祝你們取得學業成就的時刻，我希望告訴你們失敗有什么樣的益處；在你們即將邁向“現實生活”的道路之際，我還要褒揚想象力的重要性。

These may seem quixotic or paradoxical choices, but bear with me.這些似乎是不切實際或自相矛盾的選擇，但請先容我講完。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 those closest to me expected of me.回顧21歲剛剛畢業時的自己，對于今天42歲的我來說，是一個稍微不太舒服的經歷。可以說，我人生的前一部分，一直掙扎在自己的雄心和身邊的人對我的期望之間。

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

The Benefits of JK Rowling at Harvard 2 was an amusing personal quirk that could never pay a mortgage, or secure a pension.我一直深信，自己唯一想做的事情，就是寫小說。不過，我的父母，他們都來自貧窮的背景，沒有任何一人上過大學，堅持認為我過度的想象力是一個令人驚訝的個人怪癖，根本不足以讓我支付按揭，或者取得足夠的養老金。

I know the irony strikes like with the force of a cartoon anvil now, but…

我現在明白反諷就像用卡通鐵砧去打擊你，但...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.他們希望我去拿個職業學位，而我想去攻讀英國文學。最后，達成了一個雙方都不甚滿意的妥協：我改學現代語言?？墒堑鹊礁改敢蛔唛_，我立刻放棄了德語而報名學習古典文學。

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 executive bathroom.我不記得將這事告訴了父母，他們可能是在我畢業典禮那一天才發現的。我想，在全世界的所有專業中，他們也許認為，不會有比研究希臘神話更沒用的專業了，根本無法換來一間獨立寬敞的衛生間。

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 entails fear, 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.我想澄清一下：我不會因為父母的觀點，而責怪他們。埋怨父母給你指錯方向是有一個時間段的。當你成長到可以控制自我方向的時候，你就要自己承擔責任了。尤其是，我不會因為父母希望我不要過窮日子，而責怪他們。他們一直很貧窮，我后來也一度很窮，所以我很理解他們。貧窮并不是一種高貴的經歷，它帶來恐懼、壓力、有時還有絕望，它意味著許許多多的羞辱和艱辛。靠自己的努力擺

脫貧窮，確實可以引以自豪，但貧窮本身只有對傻瓜而言才是浪漫的。

What I feared most for myself at your age was not poverty, but failure.我在你們這個年齡，最害怕的不是貧窮，而是失敗。

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 measure of success in my life and that of my peers.我在您們這么大時，明顯缺乏在大學學習的動力，我花了太久時間在咖啡吧寫故事，而在課堂的時間卻很少。我有一個通過考試的訣竅，并且數年間一直讓我在大學生活和同齡人中不落人后。

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 unruffled privilege and contentment.我不想愚蠢地假設，因為你們年輕、有天份，并且受過良好的教育，就從來沒有遇到困難或心碎的時刻。擁有才華和智慧，從來不會使人對命運的反復無常有所準備；我也不會假設大家坐在這里冷靜地滿足于自身的優越感。

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 the average person's idea of success, so high have you already flown academically.相反，你們是哈佛畢業生的這個事實，意味著你們并不很了解失敗。你們也許極其渴望成功，所以非常害怕失敗。說實話，你們眼中的失敗，很可能就是普通人眼中的成功，畢竟你們在學業上已經達到很高的高度了。

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 my parents had had for me, and that I had had for myself, had both come to pass, and by every usual standard, I was the biggest failure I knew.最終，我們所有人都必須自己決定什么算作失敗，但如果你愿意，世界是相當渴望給你一套標準的。所以我承認命運的公平，從任何傳統的標準看，在我畢業僅僅七年后的日子里，我的失敗達到了史詩般空前的規模：短命的婚姻閃電般地破裂，我又失業成了一個艱難的單身母親。除了流浪漢，我是當代英國最窮的人之一，真的一無所有。當

The Benefits of JK Rowling at Harvard 3 年父母和我自己對未來的擔憂，現在都變成了現實。按照慣常的標準來看，我也是我所知道的最失敗的人。

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 how far the tunnel extended, and for a long time, any light at the end of it was a hope rather than a reality.現在，我不打算站在這里告訴你們，失敗是有趣的。那段日子是我生命中的黑暗歲月，我不知道它是否代表童話故事里需要歷經的磨難，更不知道自己還要在黑暗中走多久。很長一段時間里，前面留給我的只是希望，而不是現實。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 the only 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 already 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 the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.那么為什么我要談論失敗的好處呢？因為失敗意味著剝離掉那些不必要的東西。我因此不再偽裝自己、遠離自我，而重新開始把所有精力放在對我最重要的事情上。如果不是沒有在其他領域成功過，我可能就不會找到，在一個我確信真正屬于的舞臺上取得成功的決心。我獲得了自由，因為最害怕的雖然已經發生了，但我還活著，我仍然有一個我深愛的女兒，我還有一個舊打字機和一個很大的想法。所以困境的谷底，成為我重建生活的堅實基礎。

第三篇：jk羅琳在哈佛大學畢業典禮上的演講

J·K·羅琳在哈佛大學畢業典禮上的演講

J·K·羅琳在哈佛大學畢業典禮上的演講

作者： 阮一峰

日期： 2008年6月17日

一、今年6月5日是哈佛大學的畢業典禮，請來的演講嘉賓是《哈利波特》的作者J.K.羅琳女士。她的演講題目是《失敗的好處和想象的重要性》（The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination）。我讀了一遍講稿，覺得很好，很感染人。

她幾乎沒有談到哈里波特，而是說了年輕時的一些經歷。雖然J·K·羅琳現在很有錢，是英國僅次于女皇的最富有的女人，但是她曾經有一段非常艱辛的日子，30歲了，還差點流落街頭。她主要談的是，自己從這段經歷中學到的東西。去年的演講嘉賓是比爾·蓋茨，我翻譯了他的演講，影響挺大。今年，我繼續翻譯，有興趣的朋友可以在網上找到原文和視頻。

二、她首先說了自己如何構思演講稿，以及選擇的兩個演講主題。President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, members of the faculty, proud parents, and, above all, graduates.福斯特校長，哈佛集團的各位成員，監管理事會的各位理事，各位老師，各位自豪的家長，以及最重要的各位畢業生同學，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 the world's largest Gryffindor reunion.我想說的第一句話，就是“謝謝”。不僅因為哈佛給了我這樣非同一般的榮譽，還因為為了構思今天的演講，我忍受了幾個星期的擔驚受怕、茶飯不思的生活，使得我體重減輕。這真可謂“雙贏”??！現在，我唯一要做的就是深呼吸，偷偷看一眼四周飄揚的紅色旗幟，讓自己相信真的來到了世界上最大的“格蘭芬多”聚會。

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 the giddy delights of becoming a gay wizard.在畢業典禮上發表演講，是一項巨大的責任，令我倍感壓力。直到我回憶起了自己的畢業典禮，才稍稍放松。那一次的演講嘉賓是杰出的英國哲學家瑪麗·沃諾克?；叵胨难葜v，極大地幫助我寫作自己的演講稿，因為我發現一點也不記得她的任何一句話了。這個發現讓我如釋重負，不再害怕自己在不經意間就對你們產生影響，讓你們放棄在商業、法律、政治方面的大好前途，去追求成為一個快樂巫師的那種令人眩暈的愉悅。

You see? If all you remember in years to come is the 'gay wizard' joke, I've come out ahead of Baroness Mary Warnock.Achievable goals: the first step to self improvement.你們明白嗎？如果多年以后，你們只記得我講的這個“快樂巫師”的笑話，我就已經超過瑪麗·沃諾克了。可以實現的目標，是自己改進的第一步。

Actually, I have wracked my mind and heart for what I ought to say 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 that day and this.實際上，我真的是絞盡腦汁，思索今天自己到底應該講什么。我問自己，當年我畢業的時候，希望知道哪些事情；以及21年后的今天，我又從人生中得到哪些重要的經驗教訓。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 imagination.我得到了兩個回答。這個美妙的日子，我們聚集一堂，慶祝你們在學業上的成功，但是我決定跟你們說說失敗的好處。以及當你們站在所謂“真實世界”的門檻之上的時候，我要頌揚想象力的重要性。

These may seem quixotic or paradoxical choices, but please bear with me.這樣的主題可能看上去有點異想天開和自相矛盾，但是請聽下去。

三、她開始回憶自己大學畢業時的情景：

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 those closest to me expected of me.對于一個42歲的婦女來說，回想自己21歲畢業時的情景，是一種稍稍令人不安的經歷?；氐?1年之前，我正遭受煎熬，不知道在自己內心的追求與父母對我的期望之間，應該如何平衡。

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, or secure a pension.I know that the irony strikes with the force of a cartoon anvil, now.當時，我確信自己一生中唯一想做的事情，就是去寫小說。但是，我的父母出身貧寒，沒有受過大學教育。他們認為，我那些不安分的想象力只是一種怪癖，根本不能用來還房貸，或者掙來養老金。我現在知道，這種人生的反諷，有著卡通片里大鐵砧般的巨大打擊力。

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.他們希望我再去讀個職業學位，而我想去研究英國文學。最后，達成了一個雙方都不甚滿意的妥協：我改學語言學。可是等到父母的車消失在公路的轉角，我就立刻拋掉了德語，奔向古典文學的道路。

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 executive bathroom.我不記得將這事告訴了父母。他們可能是在畢業典禮那一天才發現的。我想，在全世界的所有專業中，他們也許認為，不會有比研究希臘神話更沒用的專業了，根本無法換來一間獨立的寬敞衛生間。

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 entails fear, 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.我要申明，我并不責怪父母有這種看法。父母只在一段時間內，對你的人生方向負責；當你長大以后，你自己就控制了人生方向，必須自己承擔責任。而且，他們只是希望我不要過窮日子，我不能批評他們。他們自己很窮，我后來一度也很窮，所以我很理解他們，貧窮是一種悲慘的經歷。它帶來恐懼、壓力、有時還有抑郁。它意味著許許多多的羞辱和艱辛。靠自己的努力擺脫貧窮，確實讓人自豪，但是只有傻瓜才會將貧窮本身浪漫化。

接著，她談到了自己那些最悲慘的日子：

A mere seven years after my graduation day, I had failed on an epic scale.我畢業后只過了7年，就失敗得一塌糊涂。

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 my parents had had for me, and that I had had for myself, had both come to pass, and by every usual standard, I was the biggest failure I knew.短命的婚

第四篇：JK羅琳 - 2008哈佛大學畢業典禮上的演講

Text as delivered follows.Copyright of JK Rowling, June 2008

President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the 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 the 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 the giddy 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 Warnock.Achievable goals: the first step to self improvement.Actually, I have wracked my mind and heart for what I ought to say 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 that 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 imagination.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 those 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, or secure a pension.I know that the irony strikes with the 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 executive 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 entails fear, 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 measure 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 unruffled 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 the average person’s idea of success, so high have 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 by every 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 light at 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 the only 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 the 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 is painfully won, and it has been worth more than any qualification I 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 my earliest 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 and saw pictures of their injuries.I opened handwritten, eye-witness accounts of summary trials and executions, of kidnappings and rapes.Many of my co-workers were ex-political prisoners, people who had been displaced from their homes, or fled into exile, because they had the temerity to speak against their governments.Visitors to our offices included those who had come to give information, or to try and find out what had happened to those they had left behind.I shall never forget the African torture victim, a young man no older than I was at the time, who had become mentally ill after all he had endured in his homeland.He trembled uncontrollably as he spoke into a video camera about the brutality inflicted upon him.He was a foot taller than I was, and seemed as fragile as a child.I was given the job of escorting him back to the Underground Station afterwards, and this man whose life had been shattered by cruelty took my hand with exquisite courtesy, and wished me future happiness.And as long as I live I shall remember walking along an empty corridor and suddenly hearing, from behind a closed door, a scream of pain and horror such as I have never heard since.The door opened, and the researcher poked out her head and told me to run and make a hot drink for the young man sitting with her.She had just had to give him the news that in retaliation for his own outspokenness against his country’s regime, his mother had been seized and executed.Every day of my working week in my early 20s I was reminded how incredibly fortunate I was, to live in a country with a democratically elected government, where legal representation and a public trial were the rights of everyone.Every day, I saw more evidence about the evils humankind will inflict on their fellow humans, to gain or maintain power.I began to have nightmares, literal nightmares, about some of the things I saw, heard, and read.And yet I also learned more about human goodness at Amnesty International than I had ever known before.Amnesty mobilises thousands of people who have never been tortured or imprisoned for their beliefs to act on behalf of those who have.The power of human empathy, leading to collective action, saves lives, and frees prisoners.Ordinary people, whose personal well-being and security are assured, join together in huge numbers to save people they do not know, and will never meet.My small participation in that process was one of the most humbling and inspiring experiences of my life.Unlike any other creature on this planet, humans can learn and understand, without having experienced.They can think themselves into other people’s places.Of course, this is a power, like my brand of fictional magic, that is morally neutral.One might use such an ability to manipulate, or control, just as much as to understand or sympathise.And many prefer not to exercise their imaginations at all.They choose to remain comfortably within the bounds of their own experience, never troubling to wonder how it would feel to have been born other than they are.They can refuse to hear screams or to peer inside cages;they can close their minds and hearts to any suffering that does not touch them personally;they can refuse to know.I might be tempted to envy people who can live that way, except that I do not think they have any fewer nightmares than I do.Choosing to live in narrow spaces leads to a form of mental agoraphobia, and that brings its own terrors.I think the wilfully unimaginative see more monsters.They are often more afraid.What is more, those who choose not to empathise enable real monsters.For without ever committing an act of outright evil ourselves, we collude with it, through our own apathy.One of the many things I learned at the end of that Classics corridor down which I ventured at the age of 18, in search of something I could not then define, was this, written by the Greek author Plutarch: What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.That is an astonishing statement and yet proven a thousand times every day of our lives.It expresses, in part, our inescapable connection with the outside world, the fact that we touch other people’s lives simply by existing.But how much more are you, Harvard graduates of 2008, likely to touch other people’s lives? Your intelligence, your capacity for hard work, the education you have earned and received, give you unique status, and unique responsibilities.Even your nationality sets you apart.The great majority of you belong to the world’s only remaining superpower.The way you vote, the way you live, the way you protest, the pressure you bring to bear on your government, has an impact way beyond your borders.That is your privilege, and your burden.If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice;if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless;if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped change.We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.I am nearly finished.I have one last hope for you, which is something that I already had at 21.The friends with whom I sat on graduation day have been my friends for life.They are my children’s godparents, the people to whom I’ve been able to turn in times of trouble, people who have been kind enough not to sue me when I took their names for Death Eaters.At our graduation we were bound by enormous affection, by our shared experience of a time that could never come again, and, of course, by the knowledge that we held certain photographic evidence that would be exceptionally valuable if any of us ran for Prime Minister.So today, I wish you nothing better than similar friendships.And tomorrow, I hope that even if you remember not a single word of mine, you remember those of Seneca, another of those old Romans I met when I fled down the Classics corridor, in retreat from career ladders, in search of ancient wisdom: As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.I wish you all very good lives.Thank you very much.福斯特主席、哈佛同仁和監察委員會的各位員工，各位老師，家長、同學們: 首先請允許我說一聲謝謝。哈佛給予我的不僅僅是無上的榮譽，還有連日來因為一想到這個演講，帶來的恐懼以及恐懼導致的陣陣惡心讓我減肥成功。這真是一個雙贏的局面。現在我要做的就是深呼吸，瞇著眼睛看著眼前的大紅橫幅，安慰自己只是在世界上最大的矮人大會上。發表畢業演說是一個巨大的責任，我的思緒一下子回到自己的畢業典禮上。那天做報告的是英國著名的哲學家Baroness Mary Warnock，通過對她的演講的回憶對我寫今天的演講稿給予了極大地幫助。因為我不記得她說過的任何一句話了，這個發現讓我釋然，讓我不再有任何恐懼。我可能會無意中影響你，放棄在商業、法律或政治等有前途的職業而為眩暈的愉悅成為一個快樂的魔法師。你們都明白，如果在若干年后您還記得'快樂的魔法師'這個笑話，說明我已經超越了Baroness Mary Warnock。

可實現的目標：個人提高的第一步。其實，我為今天應該告訴你們什么已經殫精竭慮了。我曾問自己：我從畢業到現在的這些年里，學到和了解了什么重要的教訓。我已想出了兩個答案。在這個美好的一天，當我們正聚集在一起慶祝您畢業的時刻，我已決定與你們談談失敗的好處；另一方面，你們站在'現實生活'的門檻上，我要歌頌至關重要的想象力。這些似乎是不切實際或似是而非的選擇，但請原諒我。讓一個已經42歲的人回顧在她21歲畢業時情景，是個讓人有點不舒服的經歷。可以說，我人生的前一部分，一直掙扎在自己的雄心和身邊的人對我的期望兩者之間取得平衡。我一直深信我唯一想做的事----寫小說。不過，我的父母兩人都來自貧窮的背景，而且沒有任何一人上過大學。他們都堅持認為我過度的想象力是一個令人驚訝的個人怪癖，絕不可支付按揭或保證安穩的退休金。他們希望我拿到一個職業學位。可我想學習英語文學。最終達成了一個折衷的意見，現在想起來仍不令人滿意，最終，我去學習現代語言。幾乎剛把車停在路盡頭的墻角（譯者加指去校報道），我放棄了德語并逃到古典文學的殿堂。我不記得是否告訴我的父母我是學習古典文學的。也許他們很可能在我畢業那天才第一次發現我的專業是什么。在這個星球上的所有科目里，我想他們會認為再沒有比希臘神話學更糟糕的了。

我想澄清一下：我不會因為他們的觀點而責怪我的父母。埋怨父母給你指錯方向是有時間段的。當你長到自己可以掌握方向時，你就要自己承擔責任了。尤其是，我不會因為自己希望不要經歷貧窮而責怪我的父母。他們是貧窮的，我也一直很貧窮。貧困帶來的恐懼，壓力有時是絕望，這意味著屈辱和苦難。用您自己的努力擺脫貧困這確實是一件對自己而言驕傲的事情。但貧窮本身只有對傻瓜而言才是浪漫的。

我在你們這個年齡時，最害怕的不是貧窮，而是失敗。像你們這樣大時，我明顯缺乏在大學學習的動力。我花了太久在咖啡吧寫故事，而在課堂的時間就很少了。我有一個通過考試的訣竅，并且數年間一直認為我的生活在我的同齡人中是成功的現在。我不愚蠢假設因為你們的年輕，天才和受過良好教育就從來沒有困難或心碎的時刻。才華和智商從來不會對命運的反復無常有所準備。我也不會假設大家都坐這里冷靜地滿足于自身的優越感。但從哈佛畢業的事實表明，你們對失敗不熟悉。害怕失敗像渴望成功一樣強烈。事實上，您對失敗的理解可能和普通人對成功的看法不會太遠。因為你們已經站在如此之高的位置。最終，我們所有人都必須自己決定什么構成失敗，但如果你愿意，世界是相當渴望給你一套標準的。因而我可以公平地講，從任何傳統的標準看，在我畢業僅僅七年后的日子里，我的失敗就達到了空前的規模：一個異常短暫的破裂的婚姻、失業、一個單親家長，像在現代英國的窮人一樣，只是還沒有到無家可歸的地步罷了。眼前時刻浮現著父母和自己對未來的擔心。按照慣常的標準來看，我是我所見過的最大的失敗者?，F在，我不打算站在這里告訴你失敗是好玩的，我的那段生活經歷是困窘不堪的；我更不知道新聞媒體所說的童話故事般的革命；我也不知道那種困苦要持續多久；在相當長的一段時間里，任何盡頭的光明都只是一個希望而不是現實。

那么，為什么我要談論失敗的好處呢？只是因為失敗意味著剝離你不必需的東西。我不是在偽裝自己，我只是直接把所有精力放在最重要的工作上。如果我不是沒有在其他領域成功過，我可能絕不會有在真正屬于自己的舞臺上取得成功的決心。我獲得了自由，因為我最害怕的已經發生了，但是我還活著，我還有一個我深愛著的女兒，還有一個舊打字機和一個大創意（指寫哈利波特）。所以困境的谷底成為我重建生活的堅實基礎。你可能永遠不會有我這種失敗的經歷，但有些失敗，在生活中是不可避免的。毫無挫折的生活是不存在，除非你生活的萬般小心，可有些失敗還是會發生。失敗讓我內心安全，是我從通過考試中沒有得到過的。失敗教會我一些不能用其他方法獲得的東西，我發現自己有堅強的意志，比想象中還多的原則，我也發現我擁有朋友----他們的價值遠在紅寶石之上。從挫折中得到知識將使你更加明智和堅強，也就是說您比以往任何時候更有能力生存。你從來沒有真正認識自己，或通過逆境的檢驗認識到您的朋友的力量，直到兩者經受逆境的考驗。對所有人而言，這種認知是一個真正的禮物。這是痛苦的勝利比我取得的任何資格有著更高的價值。

給我一部時間機器，我會告訴21歲的自己：個人的幸福在于知道生命是不是一個獲得或取得的核對清單。你的資歷、簡歷，都不是你的生活，雖然你會遇到很多人和我同齡或者更老一點的人依然混淆兩者。生活是困難的，復雜的，超出任何人的控制。謙恭地認識到這一點將使你歷經滄桑后能夠更好的生存。

你可能會認為我選擇了我的第二個主題：想象力的重要性因為這是重建我生活的一部分。但事實并非完全如此，雖然我永遠捍衛睡前故事的價值，我已經學會了想象擁有的更廣泛的意義。想象力不僅是人類獨具能力：設想還不存在的事物是所有發明和創新的源泉。這種改造和揭露的能力，使我們能夠對自己未經歷的苦難者產生同理心。其中一個影響最大的經歷在我寫哈利波特的生活之前，但大部分是在我隨后寫的那些書里。這個想法成形于我早期的工作經歷。在20多歲時，盡管我可以在午餐時間里悄悄寫故事，可為了付房租，我做的主要工作是在倫敦總部的大赦國際研究部門。在我的小辦公室，我看到了人們在匆忙中寫的信，這些信是從極權主義政權那里偷運出來的。那些人冒著被監禁的危險，告知外面的世界他們那里正在發生的事情。我看到那些無跡可尋的人的照片-----由他們的家人和朋友鋌而走險地送到大赦國際來的。我看過拷問受害者的證詞和被害的照片，我也讀過筆跡、目擊證人的供詞以及即決審判和處決的綁架和*犯的檔案。我有很多的合作者是前政治犯，他們已離開家園流離失所，或逃亡流放，因為他們大膽地懷疑政府的民主問題。來我們辦公室的訪客有告密者以及想了解迫害真相的人。

我將永遠不會忘記：一個非洲酷刑的受害者-----一名當時比我還小的年輕男子，他因在故鄉的悲慘經歷導致精神錯亂。當他在攝像機前講述被殘暴的摧殘的時候，他顫抖失控。他比我稍高一點，但當時看來卻像個脆弱的孩童。后來，我被安排護送他到地鐵站，這名生活已被殘酷地打亂的男子，小心翼翼地握著我的手,祝我未來生活幸福!

并且只要我還活著，我就會記得走過一個空蕩蕩的的走廊。突然從背后的門里傳來我從未聽過的尖叫的痛苦和恐懼，門打開了，研究員探出她的頭告訴我為坐在她旁邊的青年男子，調一杯熱飲料。他剛被告知消息：為了報復他對國家政權的批評，他母親已被捕并執行了槍決。在我20多歲的時候，我工作的每一天，都在提醒我是多么的幸運。生活在一個民選政府的國家，律師和公開審理，是每個人的權利。每天我都能看到很多有關惡人的證據，他們為了獲得或維持權力而對自己的同胞所犯下的暴行。我開始做噩夢，都和我的所見所聞有關，并且我也了解到更多關于人類的善良。在國際特赦組織學到的比以前多得多。大赦動員成千上萬有自由信仰的人，去為那些因信仰而遭遇不幸的人奔走抗爭。人類同理心的力量，引發的集體拯救生命的行動，釋放囚犯。眾多幸福安康的普通百姓，攜手合作挽救那些素不相識或再也不能相逢的人。這在道德上是中立的，是我生命中一段最謙恭和發人深省的生活經歷。

不同于這個星球上的任何其他生物，人類可以學習理解未經歷過的東西。他們可以設身處地為別人著想當然，這是一種能力就像我虛構的魔法世界一樣。這在道德上也是中立的。一個人可能會利用這種能力去操縱、或控制，但也有很多人選擇去了解或同情。很多人一點也不喜歡鍛煉自己的想象力，他們選擇待在舒適的生活范圍內，從來不麻煩地去想想如果自己出生在別處一切會怎么樣。他們拒絕聽到尖叫聲或向籠子里窺視，他們可以封閉自己的內心。只要痛苦不觸及他們個人，他們可以拒絕去了解。我可能會因誘惑而嫉妒那樣生活的人，除了我不認為他們會比我少做噩夢。選擇住在狹窄的空間可導致某種形式的精神廣場恐懼癥，并給自己帶來恐懼感。我認為不想看到更多怪物的人，他們常常更害怕。更甚的是，那些選擇不同情的人可能激活真正的怪獸，因為我們自己沒有嚴懲邪惡，冷漠與無視卻讓我們犯下了邪惡的共謀罪。

在21歲時，我從古典文學中學到很多知識。其中之一我所不明白的是，希臘作家普魯塔克所說的：我們內心的實現將改變外在現實。那是一個多么驚人的論斷，并在我們生活的每天被無數次論證。這在某種程度上表明，我們與外部世界有逃不掉的瓜葛。事實上，我們以自己的存在來接觸其他人的生命。但哈佛大學的級的畢業生們，你們中的多少人會去觸及他人的生命呢？

你們的智慧、努力工作的能力以及所受的教育將給予你們獨特的地位和責任。即使您的國籍把你與別人分開了，你們絕大部份仍屬于世界上僅存的超級大國。你們表決的方式，你們生活的方式，你們抗議的方式，你們給自己的政府帶來的壓力，其影響力將超越你們的國界，這是你們的特權，也是你們的負擔。

如果您選擇使用您的地位和影響力去代表那些沒有發言權的人，發出聲音；如果您不僅去幫助強者，而且還會同情并幫扶弱者；

如果你會設身處地為不如你的人著想；

那么，您的存在將不僅是你家族的驕傲，也是無數因你幫助而過上幸福生活的人的驕傲。我們不需要魔法來改變世界，我們已經擁有了需要的所有的力量。我們有能力想象會更好。

我的演講也接近尾聲了。對你們，我有最后一個希望，也是我在21歲時就一直在思考的。畢業那天坐在我身邊的朋友將是我終身的朋友。他們是我的孩子的教父母，是我在遇到麻煩是可以求助的人，是當我用他們的姓名作為食死徒的名字而不會起訴我的朋友（譯者注：食死徒是哈利波特中人物在此指羅琳的朋友不會因為她用他們的名字而遭起訴）。

在我們畢業的時候，我們因無盡的愛而在此相聚。我們有共同的永不再有的經歷。當然，如果我們中的任何人競選首相，那么今天的照片將是極為寶貴的證明。所以，今天我可以給你們的，沒有比同伴的友誼更好的祝福了。

明天，我希望你們即使記不得我的名字，你還記得那些塞內加，他是我在羅馬文學著作中結識的另一位哲學家。在我退出職業生涯后，尋找古老的生活智慧：

生活就像故事一樣，不在乎長度，而在于質量。這才是問題的關鍵。

我在此祝大家生活愉快！非常感謝Thank you!

參考鏈接： 英文原稿和視頻on http://harvardmagazine.com/commencement/the-fringe-benefits-failure-the-importance-imaginati大意翻譯全文翻譯中文視頻

http://sl.iciba.com/viewthread-58-463494-1.shtml

http://v.blog.sohu.com/u/vw/1398971

第五篇：jk羅琳哈佛大學演講及其翻譯

President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the 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 the 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 the giddy 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 Warnock.Achievable goals: the first step to self improvement.Actually, I have wracked my mind and heart for what I ought to say 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 that 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 imagination.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 those 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, or secure a pension.I know that the irony strikes with the 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 executive 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 entails fear, 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 measure 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 unruffled 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 the average person’s idea of success, so high have 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 by every 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 light at 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 the only 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 the 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 is painfully won, and it has been worth more than any qualification I 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 my earliest 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 and saw pictures of their injuries.I opened handwritten, eye-witness accounts of summary trials and executions, of kidnappings and rapes.Many of my co-workers were ex-political prisoners, people who had been displaced from their homes, or fled into exile, because they had the temerity to speak against their governments.Visitors to our offices included those who had come to give information, or to try and find out what had happened to those they had left behind.I shall never forget the African torture victim, a young man no older than I was at the time, who had become mentally ill after all he had endured in his homeland.He trembled uncontrollably as he spoke into a video camera about the brutality inflicted upon him.He was a foot taller than I was, and seemed as fragile as a child.I was given the job of escorting him back to the Underground Station afterwards, and this man whose life had been shattered by cruelty took my hand with exquisite courtesy, and wished me future happiness.And as long as I live I shall remember walking along an empty corridor and suddenly hearing, from behind a closed door, a scream of pain and horror such as I have never heard since.The door opened, and the researcher poked out her head and told me to run and make a hot drink for the young man sitting with her.She had just had to give him the news that in retaliation for his own outspokenness against his country’s regime, his mother had been seized and executed.Every day of my working week in my early 20s I was reminded how incredibly fortunate I was, to live in a country with a democratically elected government, where legal representation and a public trial were the rights of everyone.Every day, I saw more evidence about the evils humankind will inflict on their fellow humans, to gain or maintain power.I began to have nightmares, literal nightmares, about some of the things I saw, heard, and read.And yet I also learned more about human goodness at Amnesty International than I had ever known before.Amnesty mobilises thousands of people who have never been tortured or imprisoned for their beliefs to act on behalf of those who have.The power of human empathy, leading to collective action, saves lives, and frees prisoners.Ordinary people, whose personal well-being and security are assured, join together in huge numbers to save people they do not know, and will never meet.My small participation in that process was one of the most humbling and inspiring experiences of my life.Unlike any other creature on this planet, humans can learn and understand, without having experienced.They can think themselves into other people’s places.Of course, this is a power, like my brand of fictional magic, that is morally neutral.One might use such an ability to manipulate, or control, just as much as to understand or sympathise.And many prefer not to exercise their imaginations at all.They choose to remain comfortably within the bounds of their own experience, never troubling to wonder how it would feel to have been born other than they are.They can refuse to hear screams or to peer inside cages;they can close their minds and hearts to any suffering that does not touch them personally;they can refuse to know.I might be tempted to envy people who can live that way, except that I do not think they have any fewer nightmares than I do.Choosing to live in narrow spaces leads to a form of mental agoraphobia, and that brings its own terrors.I think the wilfully unimaginative see more monsters.They are often more afraid.What is more, those who choose not to empathise enable real monsters.For without ever committing an act of outright evil ourselves, we collude with it, through our own apathy.One of the many things I learned at the end of that Classics corridor down which I ventured at the age of 18, in search of something I could not then define, was this, written by the Greek author Plutarch: What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.That is an astonishing statement and yet proven a thousand times every day of our lives.It expresses, in part, our inescapable connection with the outside world, the fact that we touch other people’s lives simply by existing.But how much more are you, Harvard graduates of 2008, likely to touch other people’s lives? Your intelligence, your capacity for hard work, the education you have earned and received, give you unique status, and unique responsibilities.Even your nationality sets you apart.The great majority of you belong to the world’s only remaining superpower.The way you vote, the way you live, the way you protest, the pressure you bring to bear on your government, has an impact way beyond your borders.That is your privilege, and your burden.If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice;if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless;if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped change.We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.I am nearly finished.I have one last hope for you, which is something that I already had at 21.The friends with whom I sat on graduation day have been my friends for life.They are my children’s godparents, the people to whom I’ve been able to turn in times of trouble, people who have been kind enough not to sue me when I took their names for Death Eaters.At our graduation we were bound by enormous affection, by our shared experience of a time that could never come again, and, of course, by the knowledge that we held certain photographic evidence that would be exceptionally valuable if any of us ran for Prime Minister.So today, I wish you nothing better than similar friendships.And tomorrow, I hope that even if you remember not a single word of mine, you remember those of Seneca, another of those old Romans I met when I fled down the Classics corridor, in retreat from career ladders, in search of ancient wisdom:

As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.I wish you all very good lives.Thank you very much.福斯特主席、哈佛同仁和監察委員會的各位員工，各位老師，家長、同學們:

首先請允許我說一聲謝謝。哈佛給予我的不僅僅是無上的榮譽，還有連日來因為一想到這個演講，帶來的恐懼以及恐懼導致的陣陣惡心讓我減肥成功。這真是一個 雙贏的局面。現在我要做的就是深呼吸，瞇著眼睛看著眼前的大紅橫幅，安慰自己只是在世界上最大的矮人大會上。發表畢業演說是一個巨大的責任，我的思緒一下 子回到自己的畢業典禮上。那天做報告的是英國著名的哲學家Baroness Mary Warnock，通過對她的演講的回憶對我寫今天的演講稿給予了極大地幫助。因為我不記得她說過的任何一句話了，這個發現讓我釋然，讓我不再有任何恐懼。我可能會無意中影響你，放棄在商業、法律或政治等有前途的職業而為眩暈的愉悅成為一個快樂的魔法師。你們都明白，如果在若干年后您還記得'快樂的魔法師' 這個笑話，說明我已經超越了Baroness Mary Warnock。

可實現的目標：個人提高的第一步。其實，我為今天應該告訴你們什么已經殫精竭慮了。我曾問自己：我從畢業到現在的這些年里，學到和了解了什么重要的教訓。我已想出了兩個答案。在這個美好的一天，當我們正聚集在一起慶祝您畢業的時刻，我已決定與你們談談失敗的好處；另一方面，你們站在'現實生活'的門檻上，我要歌頌至關重要的想象力。這些似乎是不切實際或似是而非的選擇，但請原諒我。讓一個已經42歲的人回顧在她21歲畢業時情景，是個讓人有點不舒服的經歷?？梢哉f，我人生的前一部 分，一直掙扎在自己的雄心和身邊的人對我的期望兩者之間取得平衡。我一直深信我唯一想做的事----寫小說。不過，我的父母兩人都來自貧窮的背景，而且沒 有任何一人上過大學。他們都堅持認為我過度的想象力是一個令人驚訝的個人怪癖，絕不可支付按揭或保證安穩的退休金。他們希望我拿到一個職業學位?？晌蚁雽W習英語文學。最終達成了一個折衷的意見，現在想起來仍不令人滿意，最終，我去學習現代語言。幾乎剛把車停在路盡頭的墻角（譯者加指去校報道），我放棄了德 語并逃到古典文學的殿堂。我不記得是否告訴我的父母我是學習古典文學的。也許他們很可能在我畢業那天才第一次發現我的專業是什么。在這個星球上的所有科目 里，我想他們會認為再沒有比希臘神話學更糟糕的了。

我想澄清一下：我不會因為他們的觀點而責怪我的父母。埋怨父母給你指錯方向是有時間段的。當你長到自己可以掌握方向時，你就要自己承擔責任了。尤其是，我不會因為自己希望不要經歷貧窮而責怪我的父母。他們是貧窮的，我也一直很貧窮。貧困帶來的恐懼，壓力有時是絕望，這意味著屈辱和苦難。用您自己的努力擺 脫貧困這確實是一件對自己而言驕傲的事情。但貧窮本身只有對傻瓜而言才是浪漫的。

我在你們這個年齡時，最害怕的不是貧窮，而是失敗。像你們這樣大時，我明顯缺乏在大學學習的動力。我花了太久在咖啡吧寫故事，而在課堂的時間就很少了。我 有一個通過考試的訣竅，并且數年間一直認為我的生活在我的同齡人中是成功的現在。我不愚蠢假設因為你們的年輕，天才和受過良好教育就從來沒有困難或心碎的 時刻。才華和智商從來不會對命運的反復無常有所準備。我也不會假設大家都坐這里冷靜地滿足于自身的優越感。但從哈佛畢業的事實表明，你們對失敗不熟悉。害 怕失敗像渴望成功一樣強烈。事實上，您對失敗的理解可能和普通人對成功的看法不會太遠。因為你們已經站在如此之高的位置。最終，我們所有人都必須自己決定 什么構成失敗，但如果你愿意，世界是相當渴望給你一套標準的。因而我可以公平地講，從任何傳統的標準看，在我畢業僅僅七年后的日子里，我的失敗就達到了空 前的規模：一個異常短暫的破裂的婚姻、失業、一個單親家長，像在現代英國的窮人一樣，只是還沒有到無家可歸的地步罷了。眼前時刻浮現著父母和自己對未來的 擔心。按照慣常的標準來看，我是我所見過的最大的失敗者?，F在，我不打算站在這里告訴你失敗是好玩的，我的那段生活經歷是困窘不堪的；我更不知道新聞媒體 所說的童話故事般的革命；我也不知道那種困苦要持續多久；在相當長的一段時間里，任何盡頭的光明都只是一個希望而不是現實。

那么，為什么我要談論失敗的好處呢？只是因為失敗意味著剝離你不必需的東西。我不是在偽裝自己，我只是直接把所有精力放在最重要的工作上。如果我不是沒 有在其他領域成功過，我可能絕不會有在真正屬于自己的舞臺上取得成功的決心。我獲得了自由，因為我最害怕的已經發生了，但是我還活著，我還有一個我深愛著 的女兒，還有一個舊打字機和一個大創意（指寫哈利波特）。所以困境的谷底成為我重建生活的堅實基礎。你可能永遠不會有我這種失敗的經歷，但有些失敗，在生 活中是不可避免的。毫無挫折的生活是不存在，除非你生活的萬般小心，可有些失敗還是會發生。失敗讓我內心安全，是我從通過考試中沒有得到過的。失敗教會我 一些不能用其他方法獲得的東西，我發現自己有堅強的意志，比想象中還多的原則，我也發現我擁有朋友----他們的價值遠在紅寶石之上。從挫折中得到知識將 使你更加明智和堅強，也就是說您比以往任何時候更有能力生存。你從來沒有真正認識自己，或通過逆境的檢驗認識到您的朋友的力量，直到兩者經受逆境的考驗。對所有人而言，這種認知是一個真正的禮物。這是痛苦的勝利比我取得的任何資格有著更高的價值。給我一部時間機器，我會告訴21歲的自己：個人的幸福在于知道生命是不是一個獲得或取得的核對清單。你的資歷、簡歷，都不 是你的生活，雖然你會遇到很多人和我同齡或者更老一點的人依然混淆兩者。生活是困難的，復雜的，超出任何人的控制。謙恭地認識到這一點將使你歷經滄桑后能 夠更好的生存。

你可能會認為我選擇了我的第二個主題：想象力的重要性因為這是重建我生活的一部分。但事實并非完全如此，雖然我永遠捍衛睡前故事的價值，我已經學會了想 象擁有的更廣泛的意義。想象力不僅是人類獨具能力：設想還不存在的事物是所有發明和創新的源泉。這種改造和揭露的能力，使我們能夠對自己未經歷的苦難者產 生同理心。其中一個影響最大的經歷在我寫哈利波特的生活之前，但大部分是在我隨后寫的那些書里。這個想法成形于我早期的工作經歷。在20多歲時，盡管我可 以在午餐時間里悄悄寫故事，可為了付房租，我做的主要工作是在倫敦總部的大赦國際研究部門。在我的小辦公室，我看到了人們在匆忙中寫的信，這些信是從極權 主義政權那里偷運出來的。那些人冒著被監禁的危險，告知外面的世界他們那里正在發生的事情。我看到那些無跡可尋的人的照片-----由他們的家人和朋友鋌 而走險地送到大赦國際來的。我看過拷問受害者的證詞和被害的照片，我也讀過筆跡、目擊證人的供詞以及即決審判和處決的綁架和*犯的檔案。我有很多的合作者 是前政治犯，他們已離開家園流離失所，或逃亡流放，因為他們大膽地懷疑政府的民主問題。來我們辦公室的訪客有告密者以及想了解迫害真相的人。

我將永遠不會忘記：一個非洲酷刑的受害者-----一名當時比我還小的年輕男子，他因在故鄉的悲慘經歷導致精神錯亂。當他 在攝像機前講述被殘暴的摧殘的時候，他顫抖失控。他比我稍高一點，但當時看來卻像個脆弱的孩童。后來，我被安排護送他到地鐵站，這名生活已被殘酷地打亂的 男子，小心翼翼地握著我的手,祝我未來生活幸福!

并且只要我還活著，我就會記得走過一個空蕩蕩的的走廊。突然從背后的門里傳來我從未聽過的尖叫的痛苦和恐懼，門打開了，研究員探出她的頭告訴我為坐在她 旁邊的青年男子，調一杯熱飲料。他剛被告知消息：為了報復他對國家政權的批評，他母親已被捕并執行了槍決。在我20多歲的時候，我工作的每一天，都在提醒 我是多么的幸運。生活在一個民選政府的國家，律師和公開審理，是每個人的權利。每天我都能看到很多有關惡人的證據，他們為了獲得或維持權力而對自己的同胞 所犯下的暴行。我開始做噩夢，都和我的所見所聞有關，并且我也了解到更多關于人類的善良。在國際特赦組織學到的比以前多得多。大赦動員成千上萬有自由信仰 的人，去為那些因信仰而遭遇不幸的人奔走抗爭。人類同理心的力量，引發的集體拯救生命的行動，釋放囚犯。眾多幸福安康的普通百姓，攜手合作挽救那些素不相 識或再也不能相逢的人。這在道德上是中立的，是我生命中一段最謙恭和發人深省的生活經歷。

不同于這個星球上的任何其他生物，人類可以學習理解未經歷過的 東西。他們可以設身處地為別人著想當然，這是一種能力就像我虛構的魔法世界一樣。這在道德上也是中立的。一個人可能會利用這種能力去操縱、或控制，但也有 很多人選擇去了解或同情。很多人一點也不喜歡鍛煉自己的想象力，他們選擇待在舒適的生活范圍內，從來不麻煩地去想想如果自己出生在別處一切會怎么樣。他們 拒絕聽到尖叫聲或向籠子里窺視，他們可以封閉自己的內心。只要痛苦不觸及他們個人，他們可以拒絕去了解。我可能會因誘惑而嫉妒那樣生活的人，除了我不認為 他們會比我少做噩夢。選擇住在狹窄的空間可導致某種形式的精神廣場恐懼癥，并給自己帶來恐懼感。我認為不想看到更多怪物的人，他們常常更害怕。更甚的是，那些選擇不同情的人可能激活真正的怪獸，因為我們自己沒有嚴懲邪惡，冷漠與無視卻讓我們犯下了邪惡的共謀罪。

在21歲時，我從古典文學中學到很多知識。其中之一我所不明白的是，希臘作家普魯塔克所說的：我們內心的實現將改變外在現實。那是一個多么驚人的論斷，并在我們生活的每天被無數次論證。這在某種程度上表明，我們與外部世界有逃不掉的瓜葛。事實上，我們以自己的存在來接觸其他人的生命。但哈佛大學的級的畢 業生們，你們中的多少人會去觸及他人的生命呢？

你們的智慧、努力工作的能力以及所受的教育將給予你們獨特的地位和責任。即使您的國籍把你與別人分開了，你們絕大部份仍屬 于世界上僅存的超級大國。你們表決的方式，你們生活的方式，你們抗議的方式，你們給自己的政府帶來的壓力，其影響力將超越你們的國界，這是你們的特權，也 是你們的負擔。

如果您選擇使用您的地位和影響力去代表那些沒有發言權的人，發出聲音；

如果您不僅去幫助強者，而且還會同情并幫扶弱者； 如果你會設身處地為不如你的人著想；

那么，您的存在將不僅是你家族的驕傲，也是無數因你幫助而過上幸福生活的人的驕傲。我們不需要魔法來改變世界，我們已經擁有了需要的所有的力量。我們有能力想象會更好。

我的演講也接近尾聲了。對你們，我有最后一個希望，也是我在21歲時就一直在思考的。畢業那天坐在我身邊的朋友將是我終身的朋友。他們是我的孩子的教父 母，是我在遇到麻煩是可以求助的人，是當我用他們的姓名作為食死徒的名字而不會起訴我的朋友（譯者注：食死徒是哈利波特中人物在此指羅琳的朋友不會因為她 用他們的名字而遭起訴）。

在我們畢業的時候，我們因無盡的愛而在此相聚。我們有共同的永不再有的經歷。當然，如果我們中的任何人競選首相，那么今天的照片將是極為寶貴的證明。所以，今天我可以給你們的，沒有比同伴的友誼更好的祝福了。

明天，我希望你們即使記不得我的名字，你還記得那些塞內加，他是我在羅馬文學著作中結識的另一位哲學家。在我退出職業生涯后，尋找古老的生活智慧： 生活就像故事一樣，不在乎長度，而在于質量。這才是問題的關鍵。我在此祝大家生活愉快！非常感謝Thank you!