評論
打印
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.
我可能會受到誘惑，去嫉妒那樣生活的人。但我不認為他們做的噩夢會比我更少。選擇生活在狹窄的空間會導致不敢面對開闊的視野，那種生活同樣會有恐懼。我認為不愿展開想象的人會看到更多的怪獸，他們往往更會感到害怕。而且，那些沒有同情心的人會激活真正的怪獸。因為盡管他們自身沒有作惡，但他們對于罪惡無動于衷，這已足以證明他們成為作惡者的共謀。
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.
18歲時，為了追尋我當時還無法解釋的東西，我踏上了學習古典文學的征途并汲取了許多知識，其中一點便是希臘作家普魯塔克所說：我們的內在修養將會改變外在的現實。
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.
那是一個驚人的論斷，在我們生活的每一天里被無數次證實。它在某種程度上說明了我們與外部世界有無法脫離的聯系，只要我們活著，就會對其他人的生活有影響。
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.
但是，哈弗大學2008屆的畢業生們，你們會對其他人的生活產生多大的影響呢？你們的智慧、你們應對高難度工作的能力以及你們所接受的教育賦予了你們獨特的地位和責任。甚至你們的國籍也讓你們與眾不同，你們中的絕大多數人都屬于這個世界上唯一的超級大國。你們投票的方式，你們抗議的方式，以及你們給政府帶來的壓力，都會產生超越國界的影響力。這是你們的特權，更是你們的責任。
