偶像勵志英語演講14:教育的民主化:哥倫比亞女歌手夏奇拉在牛津大學的演講(1)

Thank you Oxford, and thank you Oxford Union.

感謝牛津大學，感謝牛津大學聯(lián)合會。

It is truly an honor and a privilege to be here today and that you have afforded me this opportunity to speak to you.

今天有機會到此為各位做演講，我感到無比榮幸。

I must confess, I am somewhat mystified as to why you are here. Because there won't be any singing, any hip-shaking. What so ever.

坦白地說，對于大家的到來我感到有些困惑，因為今天在此，我既不唱歌，而且這里也沒有熱舞。

So, how do I, a girl from Barranquilla, Colombia come to occupy the same stage as Newton and Churchill. Lord knows I'm no Mother Teresa, but here I am, nonetheless.

那么，我，一個來自哥倫比亞巴蘭基利亞小城的女孩兒，怎么會站到了牛頓和丘吉爾曾經(jīng)站過的講臺上?眾所周知，我不是特蕾莎修女，但是不管怎樣，我今天站在了這里。

I realize that one point of view from which I can depart is that of an artist. After all, it is who I am. We artists depend on our imaginations.

我知道我可以從藝人的視角來進行演講，畢竟我就是一個藝人。我們這些藝人靠的是想象力。

When I first learned I was coming, I thought about the past and I imagined the future. From your minds, ideas will sprout that will give new shape to the world. I cannot help but fast-forward to what the world will be like in 50 years. What will be happening? Who will we be? What challenges can we overcome? How will we live?

在我剛剛得知自己要來這里的時候，我追憶過去，暢想未來。你們的腦海中將迸出思想的火花，這些火花將給世界帶來新的變化。我不禁立刻想到半個世紀后這個世界的樣子。半個世紀后，會發(fā)生什么事情呢?我們會是誰呢?我們會戰(zhàn)勝哪些挑戰(zhàn)呢?我們怎么生活呢?

I have a fantasy about this future that I want to share with you today.

在此我想和在座的各位一起分享我對未來的幻想。

Let me put it this way, if civilization were a car, we would have been cruising at 20 miles per hour for millions of years only to hit light speed in the last hundred.

讓我這么說吧，如果把文明比作一輛汽車，那么數(shù)百萬年以來我們一直在以每小時20英里的速度平穩(wěn)行駛，但卻在最近的幾百年里達到了光速。

So I wonder what make us accelerate so quickly recently and how can we continue this pace? There is only one explanation to me, and that's the democratization of education.

是什么讓我們的文明在最近這些年迅猛發(fā)展，我們又該如何保持這個速度呢?在我看來答案只有一個：教育的民主化。

重點講解：

1. as to

關(guān)于…;

eg. They should make decisions as to whether the student needs more help.

他們應(yīng)該決定學生是否需要更多的幫助。

eg. Andy sat down at the table and inquired as to what the problem was.

安迪在桌邊落座，詢問出了什么問題。

2. Lord knows

(強調(diào)強烈的情感或信念)眾所周知;

eg. I've got to go home, but Lord knows I dread it.

我必須得回家了，不過是個人都知道我很怕回去。

eg. Lord knows dreams are hard to follow.

眾所周知，夢想難以追尋。

3. point of view

對事物的)觀點，見解，態(tài)度;考慮角度;判斷方法;

eg. Lennox has taken the point of view that money is not everything.

倫諾克斯形成了金錢不是一切的觀點。

eg. Try to look at this from my point of view.

試著從我的角度來看這件事。

4. can't help but do sth.

不得不做某事;不禁……;

eg. I could not help but think this is a very queer life.

我忍不住會認為這是一種非常怪異的生活。

eg. A writer can't help but reveal himself.

一個作家在作品中，總不免要顯露出一些自身的影子

5. fast forward

快進;快速前進;

eg. Fast forward one calendar year, and it's a different story.

時間快速的翻過一年，發(fā)生了很多故事。

eg. Why don`t we just fast forward all this weirdness?

為什么我們不讓尷尬快點過去?

6. let me put it this way

常用句型，表示“讓我們這么說吧，這么說吧”;

eg. Let me put it this way, you only have one choice.

我不妨這么說，你只有一個選擇的余地。

eg. Tony, let me put it this way, I just cann't stand your unpunctuality.

托尼，這么說吧，我不能再忍受你的不守時了。

背景資料：

北京時間2009年12月9日，哥倫比亞著名女歌星夏奇拉到達了英格蘭，造訪牛津大學，登上著名的牛津辯論會講壇，向師生發(fā)表演講，呼吁教育民主化，為世界和平作貢獻。

雖然夏奇拉的演講只有半個小時，但是為了一睹明星的風采，學生們不惜冒雨苦等。這位32歲的格萊美獲獎女歌手一上臺就表示，一個哥倫比亞的普通女孩做夢也沒有想到，竟然有一天能登上著名科學家牛頓和英國首相丘吉爾曾經(jīng)站過的講臺，為世界名校的師生做演講，她感到十分榮幸。

作為聯(lián)合國親善大使，這位拉丁流行天后在演講中一再強調(diào)教育的重要性。她呼吁學生們用自己的聰明才智和想法去改變世界，讓世界變得更加美好。在她18歲時，夏奇拉就成立了自己的慈善基金會“赤足基金”(The Pies descalzos Foundation)，旨在幫助哥倫比亞的孩子們。目前，該基金會已經(jīng)建立了五所學校。她還補充說，“為了世界和平，希望有朝一日我們派往阿富汗的是30,000名教師，而不是30,000士兵。”

名人經(jīng)典：

I realize that one point of view from which I can depart is that of an artist. After all, it is who I am. We artists depend on our imaginations.

我知道我可以從藝人的視角來進行演講，畢竟我就是一個藝人。我們這些藝人靠的是想象力。