Why I Don't Wish You Good Luck

演讲: John Roberts

来源: John Roberts卡迪根山中学毕业典礼致辞

Now the commencement speakers will typically also wish you good luck and extend good wishes to you.

通常，毕业典礼的演讲嘉宾都会祝你好运并送上祝福。

I will not do that, and I'll tell you why.

但我不会这样做，让我来告诉你为什么。

From time to time in the years to come, I hope you will be treated unfairly, so that you will come to know the value of justice.

在未来的岁月里，我希望你会不时地受到不公正的对待，这样你才会明白公正的价值。

I hope that you will suffer betrayal because that will teach you the importance of loyalty.

我希望你会遭受背叛，因为这会教会你忠诚的重要性。

Sorry to say, but I hope you will be lonely from time to time so that you don't take friends for granted.

很抱歉我这么说，我希望你偶尔会感到孤独，这样你就不会把朋友视作理所当然。

I wish you bad luck, again, from time to time so that you will be conscious of the role of chance in life and understand that your success is not completely deserved and that the failure of others is not completely deserved either.

我祝福你人生旅途中时常运气不佳，唯有如此，你才意识到概率和机遇在人生中扮演的角色，进而理解你的成功并不完全是命中注定，而别人的失败也不是天经地义。

And when you lose, as you will from time to time, I hope every now and then, your opponent will gloat over your failure. It is a way for you to understand the importance of sportsmanship.

当你失败的时候，时不时地，我希望你的对手会因为你的失败而幸灾乐祸，唯有如此，才能让你意识到有风度的竞争精神之重要。

I hope you'll be ignored so you know the importance of listening to others, and I hope you will have just enough pain to learn compassion.

我祝福你会被忽视，唯有如此，你才会意识到倾听他人的重要性，我祝福你遭受足够的伤痛，唯有如此，才能让你感同身受，学会怜悯。

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

不管我怎么想，这些都迟早会发生。而你能否从中获益，取决于你能否参透这些人生苦难传递的信息。

Now commencement speakers are also expected to give some advice. They give grand advice, and they give some useful tips.

毕业典礼的演讲者一般也得给你一些建议。他们会给你笼统的建议，以及一些有用的小技巧。

The most common grand advice they give is for you to be yourself.

而最多见的一种笼统的建议就是做你自己。

It is an odd piece of advice to give people dressed identically, but you should — you should be yourself.

对于一群着装完全相同（校服）的人来说，这个意见显得很奇怪。但你的确应该——的确应该做你自己。

But you should understand what that means. Unless you are perfect, it does not mean don't make any changes.

不过你得理解那意味着什么。除非你是个完美的人，这对你来说都不意味着不做出任何改变。

In a certain sense, you should not be yourself. You should try to become something better.

在某种意义上，你不应该做你自己。你应该努力变得更好。

People say "be yourself" because they want you to resist the impulse to conform to what others want you to be.

人们说“做你自己”，是因为他们希望你能克制住随波逐流的冲动。

But you can't be yourself if you don't learn who you are, and you can't learn who you are unless you think about it.

但如果你不去了解你是谁，你就没法做你自己；如果你不去思考，你也就没法了解你是谁。

The Greek philosopher Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living."

希腊哲学家苏格拉底说过：“未经自省的人生不值得活。”

And while "just do it" might be a good motto for some things, it's not a good motto when it's trying to figure out how to live your life that is before you.

虽然“只管去做”对某些事情来说可能是一句很好的箴言，但当你试着想出你要如何生活的时候，它就不是一句很好的箴言。

And one important clue to living a good life is to not to try to live the good life.

而让你生活得更好的重要线索之一，就是不要试图去那样活着。

The best way to lose the values that are central to who you are is frankly not to think about them at all. So that's the deep advice.

如果你真的不去思考那些关于你的最核心的价值，你就一定会丢失它们。这就是比较深刻的建议了。

Now some tips as you get ready to go to your new school.

那么再给你们一些到新学校之后的建议吧。

Over the last couple of years, I have gotten to know many of you young men pretty well, and I know you are good guys.

在这几年里，我已经相当了解你们当中的许多人了，我知道你们都是很好的孩子。

But you are also privileged young men. And if you weren't privileged when you came here, you are privileged now because you have been here.

但你们同时也是拥有特权的年轻人。如果你以前来到这里的时候没有特权，那么现在你有了，因为你来到了这里。

My advice is: Don't act like it.

对此我的建议是：不要显得你有特权。

When you get to your new school, walk up and introduce yourself to the person who is raking the leaves, shoveling the snow or emptying the trash.

当你到了新的学校，看到那些扫落叶的，铲雪的，倒垃圾的人时，走上前去给他们介绍一下自己吧。

Learn their name and call them by their name during your time at the school.

问问他们的名字，当你在学校里时，用他们的名字来称呼他们。

Another piece of advice: When you pass by people you don't recognize on the walks, smile, look them in the eye and say hello.

另一条建议是：当你在路上遇到你不认识的人时，微笑着看着他们的眼睛，跟他们打招呼。

The worst thing that will happen is that you will become known as the young man who smiles and says hello, and that is not a bad thing to start with.

这样做所能带来的最差的结果，也不过是你成为了那个老是跟人微笑问好的年轻人，而这并不是一个糟糕的开始。

这篇文章节选自美国最高法院首席大法官John Roberts在卡迪根山中学的演讲。他另类的演讲风格刷屏了美国社交圈。听完他的演讲，小编不得不感慨：有些话虽然逆耳，但的确是忠言。