初中英语名人演讲稿珍惜现在,把握未来—托尼

珍惜现在，把握未来—托尼·布莱尔耶鲁演讲

It is an honor to be here and say to the Yale College Class of 2008: you did it; you came through; from all of us to you: congratulations.

The issues you must wrestle with-the threat of climate change, food scarcity, and population growth, worldwide terror based on religion, the interdependence of world economy-my student generation would barely recognize. But the difference today is they are essentially global in nature.

Your understand this. Yale has become a melting pot of culture, language and civilization. You are the global generation. So be global citizens.

Each new generation finds the world they enter. But they fasion the world they leave. So: what do you inherit and what do you pass on?

The history of humankind is marked by great events but written by great people.

People like you.

Given Yale’s record of achievement, perhaps by you.

So to you as individuals, what wisdom, if any, have I learnt?

First, in fact, keep learning. Always to be alive to the possibilities of the next experience, of thinking, doing and being.

When Buddha was asked, near the end of his life, to describe his secret, he answered bluntly: “I’m awake”.

So be awake.

Understand conventional wisdom, but be prepared to change it.

Feel as well as analyze; use you instinct alongside your reason. Calculate too much and you will miscalculate.

Be prepared to fail as well as to succeed, realist it is failure not success that defines character.

I spent years trying to be a politician failing at every attempt and nearly gave up. I know you’re thinking: I should have.

Sir Paul McCartney reminded me that the first record company the Beatles approached rejected them as a band no-one would want to listen to.

Be good to people on your way up because you never know if you will meet them again on your way down.

Judge someone by how they treat those below them not those above them.

Be a firm friend not a fair-weather friend. It is your friendships, including those friends you made here at Yale, at this time, that sustain and enrich the human spirit.

A good test of a person is who turns up at their funeral and with what sincerity. Try not to sit the test too early, of course.

Recently, I attended a funeral and the speaker said he would like to begin by reading a list of all those whose funerals he would rather have been attending, but the list was too long. It was a sweet compliment to our friend.

Alternatively there was Spike Milligan, the quintessential English comic who when he was asked what he would like as the epitaph on his tombstone replied : “They should write: I told you l was ill.”

There was a colleague of mine in the British Parliament who once asked another:” why do people take such an instant dislike to me?” and got the reply:” Because it saves time.”

So, when others think of you, let them think not with their lips but their hearts of a good friend and a gracious acquaintance.

Above all, however, have a purpose in life. Life is not about living but about striving. When you get up, get up motivated. Live with a perpetual sense of urgency. And make at least part of that purpose about something bigger than you.

There are great careers. There are also great causes.

Ht least let some of them into your Lives. Giving hefts the heart in a way that getting ne ver can. Maybe it really was Oscar Wilde who said: “No one ever died, saying if only l had one more day at the office.”

One small but shocking sentence: each year three million children die in Africa from preventable disease or conflict.

The key word? Preventable.

When all is said and done, there is usually more said than done.

Be a doer not a commentator. Seek responsibility rather than shirk it. People often ask me about leadership, l say: leadership is about wanting the responsibility to be on your shoulders, not ignoring its weight but knowing someone has to carry it and, reaching out for that person to be you. Leaders are heat-seekers not

heat-deflectors.

And luck?

You have all the luck you need. You are here, at Yale, and what-apart from the hats-could be better?

You have something else: your parents.

When you are your age, you can never imagine being our age. But believe me, when you’re our age we remember clearly being your age. That’s why I am so careful about young men and my daughter, “Don’t tell me what you’re thinking. I know what you’re thinking.”

But as a parent let me tell you something about parents. Despite all rational impulses, despite all evidence to the contrary, despite what we think you do to us and what you think we do to you-and yes, it is often hell on both sides-the plain, unvarnished truth is we love you. Simply, profoundly, utterly.

I remember, back in the mists of time, my Dad greeting me off the train at Durham railway station. I was a student at Oxford. Oxford and Cambridge are for Britain kind of like Yale and Harvard, only more so. It was a big deal. I had been away for my first year and was coming home.

I stepped off the train. My hair was roughly the length of Rumpelstiltskin’s and unwashed. I had no shoes and no shirt. My jeans were torn-and this was in the days before this became a fashion item. Worst of all, we had just moved house. Mum had thrown out the sitting room drapes. I had retrieved them and made a sleeveless long coat with them.

My Dad greeted me. There were all his friends at the station. Beside me, their kids looked paragons of responsibility.

He saw the drapes, and visibly winced. They did kind of stand out. I took pity on him.

“Dad”, I said. “There is good news. I don’t do drugs.”

He looked me in the eye and said: “Son, the bad news is if you’re looking like this and you’re not doing drugs we’ve got a real problem.”

Your parents look at you today with love. They know how hard it is to make the grade and they respect you for making it.

And tomorrow as I know, as a parent of one of this class, as you receive your graduation, their hearts will beat with the nature rhythm of pride. Pride in what you have achieved. Pride in who you are.

They will be nervous for you, as you stand on the threshold of a new adventure for they know the many obstacles that lie ahead.

But they will be confident that you can surmount them, for they know also the strength of character and of spirit that has taken you thus far.

To my fellow parents: I say, let us rejoice and be glad together.

To the Yale College Class of 2008, I say: well done; and may blessings and good fortune be yours in the years to come.

演讲稿中文：

珍惜现在，把握未来

——前英国首相安东尼·布莱尔2008年在耶鲁大学毕业典礼上的演讲

能够站在这里在耶鲁大学2008届毕业典礼发表演讲我深感荣幸。你们成功毕业了，你们走过来了：我们所有人向你们表示祝贺。

你们必须解决的问题包括气候变化带来的威胁、食品短缺、人口激增、由宗教引发的世界范围内的恐怖主义，以及世界经济的相互联系。这在我的学生时代几乎都没有被意识到。但与以往不同的是，今天这些问题在本质上都是全球性的。

你们了解这一点：耶鲁已经成为了文化、语言和文明的大熔炉。你们是全球性的一代。因此你们要成为世界公民。

每一代寻找他们要进入的世界，然后又离开他们塑造的世界。因此：你们继承什么，又将传递什么？

人类历史以大事件为标志，而大事件由伟人来谱写。

由你们这样的人来谱写。

鉴于耶鲁历来人才辈出，人类历史可能就是由你们来书写。

因此，从作为个体的你们，如果我学到了新的东西，那么这些新东西又是什么呢？

事实上，首先我学会了学无止境。时刻积极投入到可能出现的新经历、思考、行动和成长中。当佛祖生命快要终结时，有人问他成为圣人的秘诀，他坦诚相告：“常令省察，不令有失。”所以要保持清醒。

了解传统的智慧，但也要做好准备改变它。

既要会分析又要会感知。直觉与理性并存。过于斤斤计较只会打错算盘。

既要做好准备迎接成功也要做好准备迎接失败。要知道，是失败不是成功塑造人的性格。

多年来我尝试成为一个政治家，却总是失败，几近放弃。我知道你们怎么想的：我本来就应该放弃。

保罗·麦卡特尼让我想起，披头士联系的第一家唱片公司以他们的音乐没有人听为由将他们拒之门外。

当你青云直上时，要友善待人，因为你不知道在你走下坡路时会不会遇见他们。

评价一个人要看他怎样对待下属和上级。

要做一个忠诚坚定的朋友，而不是见风使舵的朋友。此时，正是你们的友谊，包括你们此时在耶鲁结交的朋友，维系并丰富着人类精神。

考验一个人的有效方法是看谁会出席他的葬礼以及他们是否虔诚。当然不要太早考验。

最近我出席了一个葬礼。发言人表示要以宣读一个名单来开始。名单上的人的葬礼他本该去但却没有去。这个名单很长。这对我们的朋友而言是一种甜蜜的赞美。

另外英国顶级戏剧大师斯派克·米利根在被问及希望在自己的墓碑上刻上什么样的墓志铭时说：“他们应该写：我告诉过你我病了。”

我在英国议会的一个同僚曾经问过一个问题：“为什么人们这么快就不喜欢我了？”得到的回答是：“为了节省时间。”

因此当别人想起你时，要由衷地感到你是一个好朋友和亲切的熟人，而不仅仅是用嘴说说。

但是，最重要的是生活要有目标。生活不仅仅是活着，而是奋力拼搏。当你开始行动时，必须具有目的性。生活中时刻要有紧迫感。要把目标定得高出当前水平。

有伟大的职业，也有伟大的事业。

至少让其中一部分融入你的生活。给予可以在某种程度上提升人的心灵，这是索取永远也不能做到的。也许正如奥斯卡·瓦尔德所说的那样：“渴望再多工作一天的人，不会死去。”

有一句话，短小但震撼人心：每年，在非洲有300万的儿童死于可预防的疾病或是冲突。

关键词是什么？“可预防的”。

当我们该说的说了，该做的做了，但通常说的比做的多。

要做一个行动者而非评论家。承担责任而非逃避责任。人们经常问我关于领导力的问题，我的回答是：领导能力是指希望能肩负责任，而不是忽略责任之重，是知道必须有人站出来承担责任，然后努力成为那个人。领导人是用于承担责任而非逃避责任的人。

那么运气呢？

你们拥有所需要的所有运气。你们现在在这儿，在耶鲁学习，还有什么比拥有耶鲁大学的桂冠更好的呢？

你们还拥有其他东西：你们的父母。

在你们现在这个年纪，你们无法想象我们这个年纪的样子。但是相信我，当你们步入我们这个年纪，你们能够清楚地记得你们现在的事情。这就是为什么我如此关心年轻人以及我的女儿，“不要告诉我你们在想什么。我知道你们在想什么。”

作为一个父亲，让我告诉你们一些家长的事。尽管我们会有一些理性的冲动，尽管所有证据都表明这样是不对的，尽管我们对彼此的所作所为不满意，但是显而易见的事实是我们爱你们，一种简单、深沉而绝对的爱。

回顾往事，我想起我的父亲在达勒姆火车站接我时的情景。我当时是牛津大学的学生。英国的牛津和剑桥就相当于美国的耶鲁和哈佛，或者比它们更好。这可是件大事。我当时已离家在校学习了一年，准备回家。

从火车上下来，我拖着一头长度犹如侏儒般的脏兮兮的头发。光着脚，也没穿衬衣，牛仔裤破旧不堪——这在那个时候是一种时尚。最糟糕的是，我们刚刚搬了家。母亲丢掉了客厅的窗帘。我给捡了回来做了一件无袖长外套。

父亲迎了上来。车站里都是父亲的朋友。除了我，他们的孩子看起来都很体面。

父亲看着我披个窗帘布显然愣住了。这衣服确实很引人注目。我开始怜惜我的父亲了。

“爸爸，”我说到：“我有个好消息告诉你，我不吸毒。”

他看着我的眼睛说：“儿子，糟糕的是，如果你穿成这样还不吸毒，那我们就真有问题了。”

今天，你们的父母满怀爱意地望着你们。他们知道你们的成绩得来不易，你们做到了，他们为你们骄傲。

作为这届毕业生的一名家长，我知道，明天当你们接过毕业证书，你们的父母心底将涌起一股骄傲之情，为你们取得的成就而骄傲，为你们而骄傲。

当你们开始一段新的探险时，你们的父母为你们担忧，因为他们知道前方有许多艰难险阻。

但是他们相信你们能够征服这些困难，因为他们知道，你们所具有的性格和精神的力量已经帮助你们获得了今天的成就。

我想对家长们说：让我们相聚一堂，共同庆祝。

我想对耶鲁大学2008届毕业生说：你们很优秀，希望在未来的日子里幸福和好运常伴你们左右