【免费泛听材料】Fall Forward主题毕业演讲(附文本+翻译）

I found that nothing in life is worthwhile unless you take risks. Nothing. Nelson Mandela said, “There is no passion to be found, playing small and settling for a life that’s less than the one you’re capable of living.”

我觉得在人生中，没有任何事值得你去做，除非你愿意去冒险，没有任何事！尼尔森曼德拉曾经说过，生命将失去应有的热情，如果你只做平凡的小事，而妥协于没有把你的潜能发挥到极致的人生。

Now, I’m sure in your experiences in school and applying to college and picking your major and deciding what you want to do with life, I’m sure people have told you to make sure you have something to fall back on. Make sure you got something to fall back on, honey. But I never understood that concept, having something to fall back on. If I’m going to fall, I don’t want to fall back on anything except my faith. I want to fall forward. I figure at least this way, I’ll see what I’m going to hit.

我相信，在你们的人生旅程中，无论是申请大学，选择主修专业，还是选择人生方向时，一定总会有人提醒你，确保给自己留后路，确保给自己留条后路亲爱的。但我从来不理解这个想法，与留后路给自己。就算我终将失败，我也不想依赖自己给自己留的任何后路，除了我的信念。就选跌倒，也要向前跌倒。我认为这样，至少能让我看清我前面的障碍。

Every failed experiment is one step closer to success. You’ve got to take risks, and I’m sure you’ve probably heard that before, but I want to talk to you about why that’s so important. I got three reasons, and then you can pick up your iPhones.

每一次失败的实验意味着你离成功更进一步。你必须要冒险，我相信你们早已听过这些，但是我想告诉你们为什么这一点如此重要。我有3个原因，等我说完，你们就可以拿出手机了。

First, you will fail at some point in your life. Accept it. You will lose. You will embarrass yourself. You will suck at something. There’s no doubt about it. And I know that’s probably not a traditional message for a graduation ceremony, but hey, I’m telling you embrace it because it’s inevitable. And I should know. In the acting business, you fail all the time.

第一，你在人生路上总会遭遇失败，接受这一点吧。你会失去所有，你会为自己感到羞愧，你做某件事情会很差劲。你一定会有不擅长的事情，这是毫无疑问的。我知道，这或许不是一般毕业典礼上会听到的说辞。但是各位，我想个你们说，接受吧，因为这是不可避免的事。我很清楚这一点。在演艺圈，失败是家常便饭。

Early on in my career, I auditioned for a part in a Broadway musical. Perfect role for me, I thought, except for the fact that I can’t sing. I didn’t get the job. But here’s the thing. I didn’t quit. I didn’t fall back. I walked out of there to prepare for the next audition and the next audition and the next audition. I prayed. I prayed and I prayed. But I continued to fail and fail and fail. But it didn’t matter because you know what? There’s an old saying, you hang around the barbershop long enough, sooner or later, you’re going to get a haircut. So you will catch a break. And I did catch a break.

我刚出道时，参加一部百老汇音乐剧的试镜，我想，这真是为我量身打造的角色，除了有一点。我不会唱歌。我没得到那份工作。但重点是，我没有放弃。我没有退缩，我离开那然后准备下一次试镜，然后又一次试镜，然后再一次试镜。我想上帝祈祷，不断的祈祷，一再的祈祷。但是我还是继续失败，不断的失败，一再的失败。但无所谓，你们知道为什么吗？有句老话是这么说的，只要你在理发店附近晃悠的够久，迟早能剪上头发。机会总是回来的。而我终于等到了我的机会。 

Last year, I did a play called Fences on Broadway. Someone talked about it. Won the Tony Award. And I didn’t have to sing, by the way. But here’s the kicker. It was at the Cort Theatre. It was at the same theater that I failed that first audition, 30 years prior.The point is, and I’ll pick up the pace, the point is every graduate here today has the training and the talent to succeed. But do you have the guts to fail?

去年，我在百老汇演了一场叫《Fences》的戏剧，之前有人提到过这事，赢得了Tony Award（音乐剧奥斯卡奖）。顺带提一句，在这个剧中，我不需要唱歌。意外的是，这部剧在The Court 剧院上映，那正是30年前，我第一次试镜失败的那家剧院。重点是，我会将快一点，重点是，今天在做的所有毕业生，都具备走向成功的训练和才能。但是你是否有接受失败的勇气？

Here’s my second point about failure. If you don’t fail, you’re not even trying. I’ll say it again. If you don’t fail, you’re not even trying. My wife told me this great expression. To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did. Les Brown’s a motivational speaker. He made an analogy about this. He says, “Imagine you’re on your deathbed, and standing around your deathbed are the ghosts representing your unfulfilled potential, the ghost of the ideas you never acted on, the ghost of the talents you didn’t use. And they’re standing around your bed, angry, disappointed, and upset. They say, ‘We came to you because you could have brought us to life,’ they say. ‘And now we have to go to the grave together.’ ”So I ask you today, how many ghosts are going to be around your bed when your time comes?

这是我关于失败的第二个观点。如果你不失败，代表你就没有拼尽全力。我再说一遍，如果你不失败，代表你就没有拼尽全力。我老婆告诉我的这句金玉良言：你想要获得不曾有过的东西，你必须要做你从未做过的事。励志演说家Les Brown他曾经这样比喻，想象你即将离世，围绕在你床边的鬼魂，有些代表你为发挥的潜力，有些代表你曾未付诸行动的想法，有些代表你未好好利用的才能，这些鬼魂围绕在你床边，满怀愤怒、失望和沮丧。它们说，我们来找你，因为你本来有机会赋予我们生命。如今我们只能和你一起埋入坟墓了。所以今天我想问大家，当你临终时，床边围绕着多少遗憾的鬼魂？

All right. Now, here’s my last point about failure. Sometimes it’s the best way to figure out where you’re going. Your life will never be a straight path. I began at Fordham University as a pre-med student. I took a course called cardiac… I still can’t say it. It’s cardiac morphogenesis. I couldn’t read it. I couldn’t say it. I sure couldn’t pass it.

接下来要将的是我对失败的最后观点。有时候，失败是寻找人生方向的最好方法。人生不可能是一帆风顺的直线，我一开始是在福坦莫大学当医学预科生，我上过一个课叫心脏形….我到现在还不会念这个名字，心脏形态发生学，我不会读，名字也不会说，这门课我肯定也过不了。

So then I decided to go into pre-law, then journalism. And with no academic focus, my grades took off in their own direction. Yeah, down. I was a 1.8 GPA one semester. And the university very politely suggested that it might be better to take some time off. I was 20 years old. I was at my lowest point.

所以然后我决定去念法律预科，之后是新闻学，由于我的专注力不再学业上，结果忠实的反应在我的成绩上，没错，每况愈下。有一个学期，我的平均绩点只有1.8，我的学校很委婉的建议我休学一阵子。当时我20岁，身处人生最低潮。

And then one day, and I remember the exact day, March 27, 1975, I was helping my mother in her beauty shop. My mother owned a beauty shop up in Mount Vernon. And there was this older woman who was considered one of the elders in the town. And I didn’t know her personally, but I was looking in a mirror and every time I looked at the mirror, I could see her behind me. And she was staring at me. She just kept looking at me. Every time I looked at it, she kept giving me these strange looks. So she finally took the dryer off her head, and she said something I’ll never forget.

然后有一天，我记得清清楚楚那个日子1975年3月27日，当时我在我妈的美容院帮忙，我妈在Mount Bernon有家美容院，有一个老妇人来到店里，她是全城最老的一位妇女，我跟她不熟，但是我面对镜子，每次我看镜子时，总是发现她一直在我身后盯着我看，她一直凝视我，每当她看向我时，她总是用那奇怪的目光盯着我。最后，他把头上的烘干机掀开，然后说了一段让我毕生难忘的话。

First of all, she said, “Somebody give me a piece of paper. Give me a piece of paper.” She said, “Young boy, I have a prophecy, a spiritual prophecy.” She said, “You are going to travel the world and speak to millions of people.” Now mind you, I’m 20 years old. I’m flunked out of school. In fact, like a wise ass, I’m thinking to myself, maybe she’s got something in that crystal ball about me getting back into school next fall.

最开始她说，给我一张纸，给我一张纸。然后她说，小伙子，我有个预感，一个心灵的预感。她说：“你将周游世界，将你的声音传递给成千上万的人.” 提醒一下大家，我21岁，刚刚学校退学，事实上我自作聪明的想，也许她从水晶球看到我将在秋季复学。

So when I got back to Fordham that fall, I got in and I changed my major once again, for the last time. And in the years that followed, just as that woman prophesied, I have traveled the world, and I have spoken to millions of people through my movies.

所以那年秋天我返回福坦莫大学，我一复学，就再次改了我的专业，也是最后一次。之后的人生旅程中，就像那位老妇人预言一样，我周游世界，我透过电影把我的声音传递给成千上万的人。