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You see? If all you remember in years to come is the "gay wizard" joke, I've still come out ahead of Baroness Mary Warnock. Achievable goals--the first step to self-improvement.
你们知道吗？如果在若干年后你们还仅仅记得“快乐的魔法师”这个笑话，那就证明我已经超越了男爵夫人玛丽·沃诺克。确定一个切实可行的目标——这是自我提升的第一步。
Actually, I have wracked my mind and heart for what I ought to say to you today. I have asked myself what I wish I had known at my own graduation, and what important lessons I have learned in the 21 years that has expired between that day and this.
实际上，我为今天应该给大家讲些什么绞尽了脑汁。我曾自问，在当初自己的毕业典礼上我想要知道些什么呢？从毕业典礼那天到现在的21年里我得到了什么重要的经验和教训呢？
I have come up with two answers. On this wonderful day when we are gathered together to celebrate your academic success, I have decided to talk to you about the benefits of failure. And as you stand on the threshold of what is sometimes called "real life", I want to extol the crucial importance of imagination.
我想到了两个答案。今天是个美好的日子，我们欢聚一堂一起庆祝你们在学业上取得的成就。然而我决定跟你们谈谈失败的收益；同时，你们即将迈入“现实生活”，所以我还要褒扬想象力的极度重要性。
These may seem quixotic or paradoxical choices, but hear with me.
这两点似乎是不切实际或自相矛盾的选择，但请先容我讲完。
Looking back at the 21-year-old that I was at graduation, is a slightly uncomfortable experience for the 42-year-old that she has become. Half my lifetime ago, I was striking an uneasy balance between the ambition I had for my self, and what those closest to me expected of me.
对于已经42岁的我来说，回忆21岁刚刚毕业时的情景并不是一件很舒服的事情。21年前，我一直都在自己的雄心和身边的人对我的期望之间寻求平衡。
I was convinced that the only thing I wanted to do, ever, was to write novels. However, my parents, both of whom came from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing personal quirk that could never pay a mortgage, or secure a pension.
我一直深信，自己唯一想做的事情就是写小说。然而，我的父母家境都很贫困，两个人都没上过大学，他们认为我过于丰富的想象力是令人惊讶的怪癖，根本不足以让我支付按揭，或者获得足够的养老金。
