奥普拉2008年斯坦福毕业典礼励志演讲：追随感觉，直面失败，寻找快乐（中英）
Thank you, President Hennessy, and to the trustees and the faculty, to all of the parents and grandparents, to you, the Stanford graduates. Thank you for letting me share this amazing day with you.
感谢亨尼斯校长，感谢校董事会、全体教师，感谢毕业生父母及祖父母，感谢斯坦 福的毕业生们，感谢你们与我一起分享这美好的一天。
Today, I just want to share a few lessons—meaning three~that I’ve learned in my journey so far. And aren’t you glad? Don't you hate it when somebody says, “I’m going to share a few,” and it’s 10 lessons later? And, you're like, “Listen，this is my graduation. This is not about you." So, it's only going to be three.
今天，我想与你们分享迄今为止在我生命旅程中学到的几个经验——确切地说 是三个。难道你们不感到高兴吗？难道你们不反感有些人说“我将与你们分享几个 经验教训”，结果唠唠叨叨说了十来个？你们肯定在想，“听好了，这是我的毕业 典礼，别只顾着讲你自己了”。因此，我只讲三条经验教训。
The three lessons that have had the greatest impact on my life have to do with feelings, with failure and with finding happiness.
这三个对我生活影响至深的经验关乎感情、失败和追求幸福。
A year after I left college, I was given the opportunity to co-anchor the 6 o'clock news in Baltimore, because the whole goal in the media at the time I was coming up was you try to move to larger markets. And Baltimore was a much larger market than Nashville. So，getting the 6 o’clock news co-anchor job at 22 was such a big deal. It felt like the biggest deal in the world at the time.
离开学校一年后，我有机会在巴尔的摩共同主持“6点新闻”。那时我在媒体界的最大目标是逐步扩大影响力，增加听众。当时巴尔的摩是一个比纳什维拉更大的 市场。因此，在22岁时得以共同主持“6点新闻”可是件了不起的事。我感觉那是当 时世界上最重要的事。
And I was so proud，because I was finally going to have my chance to be like Barbara Walters, which is who I had been trying to emulate since the start of my TV career. So，I was 22 years old, making $22,000 a year. And it’s where I met my best friend, Gayle, who was an intern at the same TV station. And once we became friends, we，d say, “Oh my god, I can’t believe it! You’re making $22,000 and you’re only 22. Imagine when you，re 40 and you’re making $40，000!” When I turned 40，I was so glad that didn’t happen.
当时我倍感骄傲和自豪，因为我终于有机会去效仿芭芭拉沃特斯，她可是我 自打进人电视广播行业便一直想模仿的偶像。当时我22岁，一年收入2.2万美金。在 那里，我遇到了当时在电视台实习的盖乐，我们一下子成为了最好的朋友。她惊叹 道：“上帝啊，我简直不敢相信！你才22岁就可以年收入2.2万美金，想象你到40岁， 年收入会达到4万美金！ ”后来真到了40岁，我很高兴这没有成真。
So, here I am, 22，making $22,000 a year and, yet, it didn’t feel right. It didn’t feel right. The first sign，as President Hennessy was saying, was when they tried to change my name. The news director said to me at the time, “Nobody’s going to remember Oprah. So, we want to change your name. We’ve come up with a name we think that people will remember and people will like. It’s a friendly name: Suzie.”
这就是我22岁时每年挣2.2美金，但是总感觉不对。正如亨尼斯校长所说的，第 一个迹象就是电视台的工作人员试图帮我改名字。那时，新闻导演对我说“没有人 记住奥普拉这样的名字，所以我们要给你换个名字。我们想了一个人们既容易记又 讨人喜欢的名字，一个很友好的名字“苏茜”。
So, I grew up not loving the name，but once I was asked to change it, I thought, well, it is my name and do I look like a Suzie to you?
没错，我自小到大都没喜欢过我的名字，但一旦叫我换个名字，我就觉得，这 就是我的名字，在你们看来我长得像苏茜吗？
So，I thought, no, it doesn’t feel right. I'm not going to change my name. And if people remember it or not, that’s OK.
因此我作决定：不换，因为这感觉不对。人们记得也好，不记得也罢，都无 所谓。
And then they said they didn’t like the way I looked. This was in 1976, when your boss could call you in and say, “I don’t like the way you look.” Now that would be called a lawsuit, but back then they could just say, “I don’t like the way you look”， which, in case some of you in the back, if you can’t tell, is nothing like Barbara Walters. So, they sent me to a salon where they gave me a perm, and after a few days all my hair fell out and I had to shave my head. And then they really didn’t like the way I looked. Because now I am black and bald and sitting on TV Not a pretty picture.
在这之后，他们又开始表示不满意我的长相。那件事发生在1976年。那时候老 板是可以把你叫到跟前然后说：“我不喜欢你这个样子。”要是在现在，你可以凭 这个把老板告上法庭，但在那个时候他们就是可以说“我不喜欢你这样的打扮”。 我当时那个样子，你们有所不知，除非是从后面看，不然没有一个地方长得像芭芭 拉沃特斯。于是，他们把我带到美发厅烫了个头发，没几天我的头发就掉得没剩 几根，最后只好剃了个光头。这时候，他们才是真正地看不惯我的样子了，因为电 视屏幕上的我既黑，又秃头，画面一点都不美。
But even worse than being bald, I really hated, hated, hated being sent to report on other people’s tragedies as a part of my daily duty, knowing that I was just expected to observe, when everything in my instinct told me that I should be doing something, I should be lending a hand.
但是比秃头更糟糕的是，我着实讨厌将播报别人的悲惨经历作为自己的日常工 作，我深知我期待去观察。但是我的直觉告诉我，我要为他人提供帮助。
And after eight months, I lost that job. They said I was too emotional. I was too much. But since they didn’t want to pay out the contract, they put me on a talk show in Baltimore. And the moment I sat down on that show，the moment I did, I felt like I’d come home. I realized that TV could be more than just a playground, but a platform for service, for helping other people lift their lives. And the moment I sat down, doing that talk show, it felt like breathing. It felt right. And that’s where everything that followed for me began.
8个月后，我失去了那份工作，因为他们认为我太过于情绪化。我确实十分情 绪化。但当时他们不想支付合同违约金，便把我安排到巴尔的摩主持一档脱口秀节 目。当我在节目中坐下的那一刻，我确确实实有种无拘无束的感觉。我意识到电视不仅仅是个表演的场所，还是一个提供服务的平台，可以帮助他人改善生活。在我 坐下来开始做节目的那一刻，我感到呼吸畅快，这次找对了感觉，这便是我之后生活的开始。
And I got that lesson. When you’re doing the work you，re meant to do, it feels right and every day is a bonus, regardless of what you’re getting paid.
我从中得到了这样一个经验：当你从事自己喜欢的工作时，那感觉很对，不管 你得到什么样的回报，你都会有很大收获。
It’s true. And how do you know when you’re doing something right? How do you know that? It feels so. What I know now is that feelings are really your GPS system for life. When you’re supposed to do something or not supposed to do something，your emotional guidance system lets you know. The trick is to learn to check your ego at the door and start checking your gut instead. Every right decision I‘ve made~every right decision I’ve ever made—has come from my gut. And every wrong decision Fve ever made was a result of me not listening to the greater voice of myself.
这是千真万确的。那么你如何知道自己是在做对的事情？你如何知道？要跟着 感觉走。我现在知道了，感觉就是你人生的导航系统。你的情感导航系统会告诉你 该做什么，不该做什么。关键是面对你自己，面对你自己的内心，我曾经所作的每 一个正确的决定，都听从自己的内心。而我所做的每一个错误的决定都是不听从内 心声音的结果。
If it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it. That’s the lesson. And that lesson alone will save you, my friends，a lot of grief. Even doubt means don’t. This is what Fve learned. There are many times when you don’t know what to do. When you don’t know what to do, get still, get very still, until you do know what to do. So，lesson one, follow your feelings. If it feels right, move forward. If it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it.
如果感觉不对就不要去做，这便是经验，我的朋友们，就这么一个经验便可以 帮你避免许多悲伤和痛苦。即便对这件事只是心生怀疑，那也不要去做，这便是我 学到的东西。很多时候，你们不知道该做什么，如果是这样，请站在原地不要动， 静下心来，直到想明白要做什么。以上便是我向大家传授的第一个经验——追随感 觉。感觉对了，就向前进；感觉不对了，就停下来。
Now I want to talk a little bit about failings, because nobody’s journey is seamless or smooth. We all stumble. We all have setbacks. If things go wrong，you hit a dead end—as you will~it’s just life’s way of saying time to change course. So, ask every failure—this is what I do with every failure, every crisis, every difficult time一I say, what is this here to teach me? And as soon as you get the lesson, you get to move on. If you really get the lesson, you pass and you don，t have to repeat the class. If you don’t get the lesson, it shows up wearing another pair of pants— or skirt~to give you some remedial work.
现在我想略谈一下失败，因为没有人能够一帆风顺，能够生活完美无憾。我们 都会跌倒，都会遭遇失败。如果事情弄砸了，或是陷入僵局这正是生活在提醒你： 是改变方向的时候了。因此，我认为面对每一次失败都要扪心自问：这教会了我什 么？这也是我面对每一次失败、每一次危机、经历每一段困难时期所做的事情。只 要你汲取教训，你就可以继续向前迈进。如果你真的从中吸取教训，你就能顺利通 过考验。如果你没有得到教训，同样的失败还会以其他的形式出现，并对你进行一 些补救。
And what I‘ve found is that difficulties come when you don’t pay attention to life’s whisper, because life always whispers to you first. And if you ignore the whisper, sooner or later you’ll get a scream. Whatever you resist persists. But, if you ask the right question~not why is this happening, but what is this here to teach me?—it puts you in the place and space to get the lesson you need.
我发现，如果你无视生活的、细节，困难就会随之而来，因为生活总是会事先 轻声提醒。如果你对这种温柔提醒充耳不闻，你迟早将听到厉声警报。不管作何抵 抗，都徒劳无功。.但是如果你不去想为什么困难会发生，而去反思困难会教给我什 么时，你就会学到东西。
Not a small topic this is, finding happiness. But in some ways I think it，s the simplest of all. Gwendolyn Brooks wrote a poem for her children. It’s called Speech to the Young: Speech to the Progress-Toward. And she says at the end, “Live not for battles won. Live not for the end- of-the-song. Live in the along.M She’s saying，like Eckhart Tolle, that you have to live for the present. You have to be in the moment. Whatever has happened to you in your past has no power over this present moment, because life is now.
追求幸福，这可不是个小话题。但从某种程度上来说它又是最简单的问题。格 温多琳布鲁克斯为她的孩子们写过一首诗，叫做《致年轻人：致进步》。在诗的末尾，她这样写道，“生活不是为了贏得战斗，生活的意义不同于一曲终了，生活 在于过程。”正如埃克哈特托利一样，她想表达的意思是，你必须活在当下，你 必须活在现在。不管过去发生了什么，都不能影响现在，因为生活就是过好现在。
But I think she's also saying，be a part of something. Don’t live for yourself alone. This is what I know for sure: In order to be truly happy, you must live along with and you have to stand for something larger than yourself. Because life is a reciprocal exchange. To move forward you have to give back. And to me, that is the greatest lesson of life. To be happy, you have to give something back.
但我认为她也说过，去参与一些事。不要仅仅为自己而活，我十分确定的是:为 了真正快乐，你必须为了一些更有意义的事而活。因为生活是互动的，为了继续前 进，你得有所后退。对于我来说，这是我在生活中学到的最伟大的一课。要想得到 快乐，你得有所付出。
I know you know that, because that’s a lesson that’s woven into the very fabric of this university. It，s a lesson that Jane and Lei and Stanford got and one they’ve bequeathed to you. Because all of you know the story of how this great school came to be, how the Stanfords lost their only child to typhoid at the age of 15. They had every right and they had every reason to turn their backs against the world at that time, but instead，they channeled their grief and their pain into an act of grace. Within a year of their son’s death, they had made the founding grant for this great school, pledging to do for other people’s children what they were not able to do for their own boy.
我知道你们对此了然于心，因为这个经验巳经融入了斯坦福。简和利兰斯坦 福知道这一点，并将其作为宝贵的遗产赠予你们。因为你们都知道这所伟大的大学 建立背后的故事。斯坦福夫妇的独子15岁那年因感染伤寒而去世。那时，他们有足 够的理由选择抛弃这个世界，但恰恰相反，他们将悲痛化作崇高的举动。他们的儿 子去世不到一年，夫妻俩便为这所大学筹集了建校资金，并郑重承诺，为别人的孩 子做一些他们自己孩子不能得到的事。
The lesson here is clear, and that is，if you’re hurting, you need to help somebody ease their hurt. If you’re in pain, help somebody else，s pain. And when you，re in a mess, you get yourself out of the mess helping somebody out of theirs. And in the process, you get to become a member of what I call the greatest fellowship of all, the sorority of compassion and the fraternity of service.
经验是显而易见的，即如果你受了伤，就要帮助他人减轻伤痛；如果你感到 痛苦；就要帮助别人缓解痛苦，如果你觉得生活乱成一团，就要从忙乱中抽身去帮 助他人走出糟糕的境地。在这个过程中，你将成为我所说的最伟大的协会中的一份 子一~加入到富有同情心的妇女联谊会或是乐于助人的互助会。
The Stanfords had suffered the worst thing any mom and dad can ever endure, yet they understood that helping others is the way we help ourselves. And this wisdom is increasingly supported by scientific and sociological research. It’s no longer just woo-woo soft-skills talk. There’s actually a helper’s high, a spiritual surge you gain from serving others. So, if you want to feel good, you have to go out and do some good.
斯坦福夫妇遭遇到了任何父母都无法承受的最大不幸，但他们深知，帮助他人 是帮助自己的另一种方式。这种智慧正越来越受到科学和社会学研究所证实。这不 再只是唏嘘不已、柔声细语的安慰。在帮助他人时，作为施助者其精神境界会大大 提升。因此，如果你想快乐，那就出去做些善举吧。
But when you do good, I hope you strive for more than just the good feeling that service provides, because I know this for sure, that doing good actually makes you better. So，whatever field you choose, if you operate from the paradigm of service, I know your life will have more value and you will be happy.
但是当你行善时，我希望你不仅仅是为了获得快乐，因为我确定，行善事实际 上更能提升你自己。因此，不管你选择什么样的领域，若能以服务他人为榜样，我 肯定，你的生活将更有意义，你也将为此感到怏乐。
I was always happy doing my talk show, but that happiness reached a depth of fulfillment, of joy, that I really can’t describe to you or measure when I stopped just being on TV and looking at TV as a job and decided to use television, to use it and not have it use me, to use it as a platform to serve my viewers. That alone changed the trajectory of my success.
我总是能其乐融融地制作我的脱口秀节目，那种快乐是一种更深层次的成就感。 我很难去表达和衡量，当我不再只是出现在电视屏幕上，我决定以电视为职业，我要用电视这个平台来服务我的观众，而不是为他所用。这改变了我成功的轨迹。
So, I know this—that whether you’re an actor, you offer your talent in the way that most inspires art. If you’re an anatomist, you look at your gift as knowledge and service to healing. Whether youVe been called, as so many of you here today getting doctorates and other degrees, to the professions of business, law, engineering, humanities, science, medicine, if you choose to offer your skills and talent in service, when you choose the paradigm of service，looking at life through that paradigm, it turns everything you do from a job into a gift. And I know you haven’t spent all this time at Stanford just to go out and get a job.
因此，我知道：如果你是一位演员，你将以最能激发艺术灵感的方式来贡献 你的才艺；如果你是一位解剖学家，就要把自己的聪明才智投人到医治病人当中。 今天，你们这么多人在这里接受博士学位和其他学位，专业涉及商务、法律、工程 学、人文学科、科学、医药学，不管你们是否被召唤，如果你选择贡献你的技能和 才华服务他人，选择为他人服务的典范，选择把服务他人作为榜样，你们在工作中 所做的一切将成为你们的礼物。我还知道你们在斯坦福这么多年可不仅仅是为了出 去找个工作而已。
In a few moments, you’ll all be officially Stanford’s ’08.
过不了多久，你们将正式成为斯坦福大学2008届毕业生了。
You have the heart and the smarts to go with it. And it’s up to you to decide, really, where will you now use those gifts? You’ve got the diploma, so go out and get the lessons，’cause I know great things are sure to come.
你们有聪明才智，你们会决定如何运用它。说真的，你们将会如何利用它呢？ 你们拿到了学位。走向社会吧，我坚信伟大的事情将会发生。
Congratulations, 08!
恭喜你们，2008届的毕业生们！
Thank you. Thank you.
谢谢你们！谢谢！
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