大学英语演讲稿 man’s life is a process of growing up

man’s life is a process of growing up, actually i’m standing here is a growth. if a person’s life must constituted (组成）by various choices, then i grow up along with these choices. once i hope i can study in a college in future, however that’s passed, as you know i ***e here, now i wonder what the future holds for (= what will happen to) me.

when i ***e to this school, i told to myself: this my near future, all starts here. following i will learn to be***e a man, a integrated man, who has a fine body, can take on important task, has independent thought, an open mind, intensive thought, has the ability to judge right and wrong, has a perfect job.

once my teacher said :” you are not sewing, you are stylist; never f***et which you should lay out to people is your thought, not craft.” i will put my personality with my interest and ability into my study, during these process i will ***bine learning with doing.

if i can achieve this “future”, i think that i really grow up. and i deeply believe kindred, good-fellowship and love will perfection and happy in the future.

how to say future? maybe it’s a nice wish. lets make up our minds, stick to it and surely well enjoy our life.

friendship

every one of us, rich or poor, should at least have one or two good friends. my friends will listen to me when i want to speak, will wipe my eyes when i cry, will take care of me when i am sick, and my friends will go together with me side by side through this journey of life.

as students, we could share more time with our friends. the friendship in our young hearts is pure, fresh and ******. i often feel very lucky to have a lot of good friends.

especially when i had justin as one of my best friends. justin was my english teacher from the usa. i met him in 1996 when i was a student who could only speak very little english.

justin was a vivid young man with a bright **ile on his face, and he always had his special way to make the class active and attractive. he taught us english by telling stories, playing games, singing songs, and even dancing. i could still remember very clearly that one afternoon when we fin-ished our class, we went to some other classes to sing songs for them, just like what people do in the states on christmas eve.

it was so interesting and unf***ettable. justin was an excellent teacher, because he taught us not only how to study english well, but also the way to find out the beauty of the world and the way to be angels to others' lives. i know there was friendship and pure love in our hearts.

facing this valuable emotion neither nationality nor age was important, the real importance lay in faith, under-standing, and care. justin is the best friend i have ever had, and i know i will cherish those days of staying together with him as the best part of my memory.

friendship is a kind of treasure in our lives. it is actua

lly like a bottle of wine, the longer it is kept, the sweeter it will be. it is also like a cup of tea. when we are thirsty, it will be our best choice, but when we have enough time to enjoy ourselves, it is also the most fragrant drink.

however, in this fast-developing modern society, the reality is not that. more and more people f***et to enjoy the beauty of life and -the beauty of friendship. they work hard in order to gain a higher position, in the society and to earn more money for their work.

of course, we don't deny that it is important to find a bet-ter place in our lives, but we wish more and more people could pay a little more attention to themselves and their friends. all of us have to spare some time for personal lives. we have to find the chance to express our emotion and love.

when staying with our friends, we can release ourselves ***pletely. we can do whatever we want, we can laugh together, talk together, and even cry to-gether. i should say that being together with our best friends is the most wonderful moment of our lives.

as we know, we would feel lonely if we didn't even have a friend. but it doesn't mean we could depend on our friends all the time. there is a famous motto saying that “a friend is like a quilt with cotton wadding, but the real thing that keeps you warm is your own temperature.

” it is really true. we have to work hard together with our friends, encourage each other and help each other. when we receive love and friendship, we should repay as much as we can.

finally, let's pray together now that one day, all of us could find the person we want to find, and could enjoy a real beautiful friendship in our lives. let's pray the flower of friendship be-tween our friends and us would always bloom brightly in our heartsi have a dream

every one has his own dream.when i was a little kid ,my dream was even to have a candy shop of my own .but now ,when i am 16 years old ,standing here ,my dreams have already changed a lot.

i have got quite different experience from other girls.while they were playing toys at home,while they were dreaming to be the princesses in the story .i was running in the hard rain,jumping in the heavy snow,pitching in the strong wind.

nothing could stop me ,because of a wonderful call from my heart -- to be an athlete.yeah ,of course ,i'm an athlete,i'm so proud of that all the timewhen i was 10 years old ,i became a shot-put athlete.the training was really hard ,i couldn't bear the heavy shot in my hands .

but i always believe that "god only help those who help themselves".during those hard days,i find i was growing more quickly than others of the same age.to be an athlete is my most correct choice.

but,i quit my team after entering high school because of a silly excuse.i really didn't want to stop my sports career anywaytoday i say to you my friends that even though i must face the difficulties of yesterday ,today and tomorrow

ow .i still have a dream .it is a dream deeply rooted in my souli have a dream that one day ,i can run,jump and pitch just like i used to bei have a dream that one day , i can go back to my dream sports and join the national teami have a dream that one day ,i can stand on the highest place at the olympic games.

with all the cameras pointing at me.i will tell everyone that i'm so proud to be a chinese athletethis is my hope .this is the faith that i continue my steps withwith this faith ,i will live though the strong wind and heavy rain ,never give upso let victory ring from my heart,from all of you.

when we allow victory to ring .i must be the onein my imagination,i'm a bird ,a magical bird.i carry my dreams all with me by my big wings.

i fly though the mountains ,though the forests ,over the sea,to the sun ,the warmest place in the aerospaceevery night ,i have a dream ,i see a girl ---**iling

love english--英语演讲稿 as everyone knows,english is very important today.it has been used everywhere in the world.it has be***e the most ***mon language on inter*** and for international trade.

if we can speak english well,we will have more chance to succeed.because more and more people have taken notice of it,the number of the people who go to learn english has increased at a high speed.

but for myself,i learn english not only because of its importance and its usefulness,but also because of my love for it.when i learn english, i can feel a different way of thinking which gives me more room to touch the world.when i read english novels,i can feel the pleasure from the book which is different from reading the translation.

when i speak english, i can feel the confident from my words.when i write english,i can see the beauty which is not the same as our chinese...

i love english,it gives me a colorful dream.i hope i can travel around the world one day. with my good english, i can make friends with many people from different contries.

i can see many places of great intrests.i dream that i can go to london,because it is the birth place of english.

i also want to use my good english to introduce our great places to the english spoken people,i hope that they can love our country like us.

i know, rome was not built in a day. i believe that after continuous hard study, one day i can speak english very well.

if you want to be loved, you should learn to love and be lovable. so i believe as i love english everyday , it will love me too.

i am sure that i will realize my dream one day!

thank you!

亲爱的老师，同学们：

我很高兴在这个班上做演讲。这一次，我想谈谈英语。我的话题是我爱英语。

众所周知，英语今天很重要。它已经应用到世界的每一个角落。它已成为商业中最常用的语言，在国际**中广泛使用

易。如果我们能讲好英语，我们将有更多的机会成功。由于越来越多的人关注这一点，英语学习者的数量正以高速增长。

但对我来说，我学习英语不仅因为它的重要性和实用性，而且因为我喜欢英语。当我学习英语的时候，我可以体验一种不同的思维方式，这可以给我更多的空间去接触世界。当我读英语时，我能感受到不同于阅读翻译的快乐。

当我说英语时，我能感到自信。当我写英语时，我能感受到不同于汉语的美

我喜欢英语，它给了我一个丰富多彩的梦想。我希望有一天我能环游世界。用我流利的英语，我可以和全世界的人交朋友。我能看到许多的名胜。我希望我能去伦敦，因为那里是英语的故乡。

我也希望用我流利的英语向讲英语的朋友介绍我们感兴趣的地方。我希望他们能像我们一样爱我们的国家。

我知道，罗马不是一天筑成的。（成功需要日积月累。)我相信只要不断努力，总有一天我会有一口流利的英语。

如果你想被爱，你应该学会爱别人。所以我相信我对英语的爱一定会回报它对我的爱。

我相信有一天我会实现我的梦想！

谢谢！讲稿-how to say future?man’s life is a process of growing up, actually i’m standing here is a growth.

if a person’s life must constituted by various choices, then i grow up along with these choices. once i hope i can study in a college in future, however that’s passed, as you know i ***e here, now i wonder what the future holds for (= what will happen to) me.

when i ***e to this school, i told to myself: this my near future, all starts here. following i will learn to be***e a man, a integrated man, who has a fine body, can take on important task, has independent thought, an open mind, intensive thought, has the ability to judge right and wrong, has a perfect job.

once my teacher said :” you are not sewing, you are stylist; never f***et which you should lay out to people is your thought, not craft.” i will put my personality with my interest and ability into my study, during these process i will ***bine learning with doing.

if i can achieve this “future”, i think that i really grow up. and i deeply believe kindred, good-fellowship and love will perfection and happy in the future.

how to say future? maybe it’s a nice wish. lets make up our minds, stick to it and surely well enjoy our life.

布什就职演说（英文版） chief justice rehnquist, president carter, president bush, president

clinton, distinguished guests and my fellow citizens, the peaceful

transfer of authority is rare in history, yet ***mon in our country. with

a ****** oath, we affirm old traditions and make new beginnings.

as i begin, i thank president clinton for his service to our n

ation.

and i thank vice president gore for a contest conducted with spirit and

ended with grace.

i am honored and humbled to stand here, where so many of america's leaders

have ***e before me, and so many will follow.

we have a place, all of us, in a long story -- a story we continue, but

whose end we will not see. it is the story of a new world that became a

friend and liberator of the old, a story of a slave-holding society that

became a servant of freedom, the story of a power that went into the world

to protect but not possess, to defend but not to conquer.

it is the american story -- a story of flawed and fallible people, united

across the generations by grand and enduring ideals.

the grandest of these ideals is an unfolding american promise that

everyone be

longs, that everyone deserves a chance, that no insignificant person was

ever

born.

americans are called to enact this promise in our lives and in our laws.

and t

hough our nation has sometimes halted, and sometimes delayed, we must

follow n

o other course.

through much of the last century, america's faith in freedom and democracy

wasa rock in a raging sea. now it is a seed upon the wind, taking root in

many nations.

our democratic faith is more than the creed of our country, it is the

inborn h

ope of our humanity, an ideal we carry but do not own, a trust we bear and

pass along. and even after nearly 225 years, we have a long way yet to

travel.

while many of our citizens prosper, others doubt the promise, even the

justice, of our own country. the ambitions of some americans are limited

by failing schools and hidden prejudice and the circumstances of their

birth. and sometimes our differences run so deep, it seems we share a

continent, but not a country.

we do not accept this, and we will not allow it. our unity, our union, is

the serious work of leaders and citizens in every generation. and this is

my solemn pledge: i will work to build a single nation of justice and

opportunity.

i know this is in our reach because we are guided by a power larger than

ourselves who creates us equal in his image.

and we are confident in principles that unite and lead us onward.

america has never been united by blood or birth or soil. we are bound by

ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests

and teach us what it means to be citizens. every child must be taught

these principles. e

very citizen must uphold them. and every immigrant, by embracing these

ideals, makes our country more, not less, american.

today, we affirm a new ***mitment to live out our nation's promise through

civility, courage, ***passion and character.

america, at its best, matches a ***mitment to principle with a concern for

civility. a civil society demands from each of us good will and respect,

fair dealing and f***iveness.

some seem to believe that our politics can afford

o be petty because, in

a time of peace, the stakes of our debates appear **all.

but the stakes for america are never **all. if our country does not lead

the cause of freedom, it will not be led. if we do not turn the hearts of

children toward knowledge and character, we will lose their gifts and

undermine their ideali**. if we permit our economy to drift and decline,

the vulnerable will su

ffer most.

we must live up to the calling we share. civility is not a tactic or a

sentime nt. it is the determined choice of trust over cynici**, of

***munity over chaos. and this ***mitment, if we keep it, is a way to

shared ac***plishment.

america, at its best, is also courageous.

our national courage has been clear in times of depression and war, when

defending ***mon dangers defined our ***mon good. now we must choose if

the example of our fathers and mothers will inspire us or condemn us. we

must show courage in a time of blessing by confronting problems instead of

passing them on to

future generations.

together, we will reclaim america's schools, before ignorance and apathy

claim more young lives.

we will reform social security and medicare, sparing our children from

struggles we have the power to prevent. and we will reduce taxes, to

recover the momentum of our economy and reward the effort and enterprise

of working americans.

we will build our defenses beyond challenge, lest weakness invite

challenge.

we will confront weapons of mass destruction, so that a new century is

spared

new horrors.

the enemies of liberty and our country should make no mistake: america

remains engaged in the world by history and by choice, shaping a balance

of power tha

t favors freedom. we will defend our allies and our interests. we will

show purpose without arrogance. we will meet aggression and bad faith with

resolve and strength. and to all nations, we will speak for the values

that gave our nation birth.

america, at its best, is ***passionate. in the quiet of american

conscience, we know that deep, persistent poverty is unworthy of our

nation's promise.

and whatever our views of its cause, we can agree that children at risk

are not at fault. abandonment and abuse are not acts of god, they are

failures of lo

ve.and the proliferation of prisons, however necessary, is no substitute for

hope and order in our souls.

where there is suffering, there is duty. americans in need are not

strangers, they are citizens, not problems, but priorities. and all of us

are diminished when any are hopeless.

government has great responsibilities for public safety and public health,

for civil rights and ***mon schools. yet ***passion is the work of a

nation, not just a government.

and some needs and hurts are so deep they will only respond to a mentor's

touch or a pastor's prayer. church and charity, synagogue and mosque lend

our ***munities their humanity, a

and they will have an honored place in our

plans and in our laws.

many in our country do not know the pain of poverty, but we can listen to

those who do.

and i can pledge our nation to a goal: when we see that wounded traveler

on the road to jericho, we will not pass to the other side.

america, at its best, is a place where personal responsibility is valued

and expected.

encouraging responsibility is not a search for scapegoats, it is a call to

concience. and though it requires sacrifice, it brings a deeper

fulfillment. we find the fullness of life not only in options, but in

***mitments. and we find that children and ***munity are the ***mitments

that set us free.

our public interest depends on private character, on civic duty and family

bonds and basic fairness, on uncounted, unhonored acts of decency which

give direction to our freedom.

sometimes in life we are called to do great things. but as a saint of our

times has said, every day we are called to do **all things with great

love. the most important tasks of a democracy are done by everyone.

i will live and lead by these principles: to advance my convictions with

civility, to pursue the public interest with courage, to speak for greater

justice and ***passion, to call for responsibility and try to live it as

well.

in all these ways, i will bring the values of our history to the care of

our times.

what you do is as important as anything government does. i ask you to seek

a ***mon good beyond your ***fort; to defend needed reforms against easy

attacks;

to serve your nation, beginning with your neighbor. i ask you to be

citizens:

citizens, not spectators; citizens, not subjects; responsible citizens,

building ***munities of service and a nation of character.

americans are generous and strong and decent, not because we believe in

ourselves, but because we hold beliefs beyond ourselves. when this spirit

of citizenship is missing, no government program can replace it. when this

spirit is pre

sent, no wrong can stand against it.

after the declaration of independence was signed, virginia state**an john

page wrote to thomas jefferson: "we know the race is not to the swift nor

the batt

le to the strong. do you not think an angel rides in the whirlwind and

directs this storm?"

much time has passed since jefferson arrived for his inauguration. the

years and changes accumulate. but the themes of this day he would know:

our nation's grand story of courage and its ****** dream of dignity.

we are not this story's author, who fills time and eternity with his

purpose.

yet his purpose is achieved in our duty, and our duty is fulfilled in

service to one another.

never tiring, never yielding, never finishing, we renew that purpose

today, to make our country more just and generous, to affirm the dignity

of our lives and every life.

this work continues. this story goes on. and an ange

l still rides in the

whirl wind and directs this storm.

god bless you all, and god bless america.

remember,i remember,

the house where i was born,

the little window where the sun

came peeping in at morn;

he never came a wink too soon,

nor brought too long a day,

but now ,i often wish the night

had borne my breath away.

我还记得，我还记得,

我诞生之地的房子，

那小窗，太阳在清晨悄悄地往里张望；

他从不早到瞬息，

也不让一天停留过长，

但现在，我常常希望夜晚能让我屏住呼吸！

i remember,i remember

the roses red and white,

the violets, and the lily-cups,

those flowers made of light!

the lilacs where the robin built,

and where my brother set

the laburnum on his birthday,—

the tree is living yet!

还记得，我还记得，

那些红色和白色的玫瑰，

那些紫罗兰和百合花，

都是用日光造成的花朵！

那些知更鸟筑巢的紫丁香，

我哥哥生日那天在那里种的一棵金链子树--

它依然生机勃勃！

i remember,i remember

where i was used to swing,

and thought the air must rush as fresh

to swallows on the wing;

my spirit flew in feathers then,

that is so heavy now,

and summer pools could hardly cool

the fever on my brow!

我还记得，我还记得，

当年我荡秋千的地方，

那时我以为空气也长了翅膀，

和飞翔的燕子一样飘荡；

那时我的心灵如鸿毛般轻盈，

如今心头却是如此沉重，

夏日的清凉池水也难把我额头的烧热减退！

i remember,i remember,

the fir trees dark and high;

i used to think their slender tops

were close against the sky:

it was a childish ignorance,

but now 'tis little joy

to know i'm farther off from heaven

than when i was a boy.

我还记得，我还记得，

那棵高大的枞树郁郁葱葱；

它的细长的树梢，我总是想靠近天空；

这是孩子的天真无知，

可如今我知道，

我离天堂越来越远，

童年已逝，欢乐已去。

two weeks ago was my 45th birthday, but i wasn'tfeeling too hot that morning anyway. i went to breakfast knowing my wife would be pleasant andsay "happy birthday" and probably have a presentfor me.

but, she didn't even say "good morning," let alone any "happy birthday."

i thought, well...that's a wife for you. i guess, the children will remember.

then, thechildren came into breakfast, but, they didn'tsay a word.

when i started to the office, i was feeling pretty low and despondent. as i walked into myoffice, my secretary ja*** said, "good morning,boss, happy birthday." and i felt a little better,someone had remembered.

i worked until noon. then, ja*** knocked on my door and said, "you know, it's such a beautifulday outside, and it's your birthday, let's goto lunch, just you and me."

i said, "that's the greatest thing i've heardall day. let's go."

so, we

went to lunch. we didn't go where wenormally go. we went out into the country toa little private place.

we had two martinis and enjoyed lunch tremendously.

on the way back to the office, ja*** said,"you know, it's such a beautiful day. we don't need to go back to the office, do we?"

i said, "no, i guess not."

she said, "let's go to my apartment."

after arriving at her apartment, she said,"boss, if you don't mind, i think i'll go in to the bedroom, and slip into something more ***fortable."

"sure," i excitedly replied.

ja*** went into the bedroom and, in about sixminutes, she came out carrying a big birthdaycake, followed by my wife, children and dozensof my friends. all were singing "happy birthday".. and there i sat on the couch ...

naked.

⬒ 招标英文演讲稿 ⬒

What fear can teach us

恐惧可以教会我们什么

One day in 1819, 3,000 miles off the coast of Chile, in one of the most remote regions of the Pacific Ocean, 20 American sailors watched their ship flood with seawater.

1820xx年的某一天， 在距离智利海岸3000英里的地方， 有一个太平洋上的最偏远的水域， 20名美国船员目睹了他们的船只进水的场面。

They'd been struck by a sperm whale, which had ripped a catastrophic hole in the ship's hull. As their ship began to sink beneath the swells, the men huddled together in three small whaleboats.

他们和一头抹香鲸相撞，给船体撞了 一个毁灭性的大洞。 当船在巨浪中开始沉没时， 人们在三条救生小艇中抱作一团。

These men were 10,000 miles from home, more than 1,000 miles from the nearest scrap of land. In their small boats, they carried only rudimentary navigational equipment and limited supplies of food and water.

这些人在离家10000万英里的地方， 离最近的陆地也超过1000英里。 在他们的小艇中，他们只带了 落后的导航设备 和有限的食物和饮水。

These were the men of the whaleship Essex, whose story would later inspire parts of "Moby Dick."

他们就是捕鲸船ESSEX上的人们， 后来的他们的故事成为《白鲸记》的一部分。

Even in today's world, their situation would be really dire, but think about how much worse it would have been then.

即使在当今的世界，碰上这种情况也够杯具的，更不用说在当时的情况有多糟糕。

No one on land had any idea that anything had gone wrong. No search party was coming to look for these men. So most of us have never experienced a situation as frightening as the one in which these sailors found themselves, but we all know what it's like to be afraid.

岸上的人根本就还没意识到出了什么问题。 没有任何人来搜寻他们。 我们当中大部分人没有经历过 这些船员所处的可怕情景， 但我们都知道害怕是什么感觉。

We know how fear feels, but I'm not sure we spend enough time thinking about what our fears mean.

我们知道恐惧的感觉， 但是我不能肯定我们会花很多时间想过 我们的恐惧到底意味着什么。

As we grow up, we're often encouraged to think of fear as a weakness, just another childish thing to discard like baby teeth or roller skates.

我们长大以后，我们总是会被鼓励把恐惧 视为软弱，需要像乳牙或轮滑鞋一样 扔掉的幼稚的东西。

And I think it's no accident that we think this way. Neuroscientists have actually shown that human beings are hard-wired to be optimists.

我想意外事故并非我们所想的那样。 神经系统科学家已经知道人类 生来就是乐观主义者。

So maybe that's why we think of fear, sometimes, as a danger in and of itself. "Don't worry," we like to say to one another. "Don't panic." In English, fear is something we conquer. It's something we fight.

这也许就是为什么我们认为有时候恐惧， 本身就是一种危险或带来危险。 “不要愁。”我们总是对别人说。“不要慌”。 英语中，恐惧是我们需要征服的东西。 是我们必须对抗的东西，是我们必须克服的东西。

It's something we overcome. But what if we looked at fear in a fresh way? What if we thought of fear as an amazing act of the imagination, something that can be as profound and insightful as storytelling itself?

但是我们如果换个视角看恐惧会如何呢? 如果我们把恐惧当做是想象力的一个惊人成果， 是和我们讲故事一样 精妙而有见地的东西，又会如何呢?

It's easiest to see this link between fear and the imagination in young children, whose fears are often extraordinarily vivid.

在小孩子当中，我们最容易看到恐惧与想象之间的联系， 他们的恐惧经常是超级生动的。

When I was a child, I lived in California, which is, you know, mostly a very nice place to live, but for me as a child, California could also be a little scary.

我小时候住在加利福尼亚， 你们都知道，是非常适合居住的位置， 但是对一个小孩来说，加利福尼亚也会有点吓人。

I remember how frightening it was to see the chandelier that hung above our dining table swing back and forth during every minor earthquake, and I sometimes couldn't sleep at night, terrified that the Big One might strike while we were sleeping.

我记得每次小地震的时候 当我看到我们餐桌上的吊灯 晃来晃去的时候是多么的吓人， 我经常会彻夜难眠，担心大地震 会在我们睡觉的时候突然袭来。

And what we say about kids who have fears like that is that they have a vivid imagination. But at a certain point, most of us learn to leave these kinds of visions behind and grow up.

我们说小孩子感受到这种恐惧 是因为他们有生动的想象力。 但是在某个时候，我们大多数学会了 抛弃这种想法而变得成熟。

We learn that there are no monsters hiding under the bed, and not every earthquake brings buildings down. But maybe it's no coincidence that some of our most creative minds fail to leave these kinds of fears behind as adults.

我们都知道床下没有魔鬼， 也不是每个地震都会震垮房子。但是我们当中最有想象力的人们 并没有因为成年而抛弃这种恐惧，这也许并不是巧合。

The same incredible imaginations that produced "The Origin of Species," "Jane Eyre" and "The Remembrance of Things Past," also generated intense worries that haunted the adult lives of Charles Darwin, Charlotte BrontĂŤ and Marcel Proust. So the question is, what can the rest of us learn about fear from visionaries and young children?

同样不可思议的想象力创造了《物种起源》， 《简·爱》和《追忆似水年华》， 也就是这种与生俱来的深深的担忧一直缠绕着成年的 查尔斯·达尔文， 夏洛特·勃朗特和马塞尔·普罗斯特。 问题就来了， 我们其他人如何能从这些 梦想家和小孩子身上学会恐惧?

Well let's return to the year 1819 for a moment, to the situation facing the crew of the whaleship Essex. Let's take a look at the fears that their imaginations were generating as they drifted in the middle of the Pacific.

让我们暂时回到1820xx年， 回到ESSEX捕鲸船的水手们面对的情况。 让我们看看他们漂流在太平洋中央时 他们的想象力给他们带来的恐惧感觉。

Twenty-four hours had now passed since the capsizing of the ship. The time had come for the men to make a plan, but they had very few options.

船倾覆后已经过了24个小时。 这时人们制定了一个计划， 但是其实他们没什么太多的选择。

In his fascinating account of the disaster, Nathaniel Philbrick wrote that these men were just about as far from land as it was possible to be anywhere on Earth.

在纳撒尼尔·菲尔布里克(Nathaniel Philbrick)描述这场灾难的 动人文章中，他写到“这些人离陆地如此之远， 似乎永远都不可能到达地球上的任何一块陆地。”

The men knew that the nearest islands they could reach were the Marquesas Islands, 1,200 miles away. But they'd heard some frightening rumors.

这些人知道离他们最近的岛 是1200英里以外的马克萨斯群岛(Marquesas Islands)。 但是他们听到了让人恐怖的谣言。

They'd been told that these islands, and several others nearby, were populated by cannibals. So the men pictured coming ashore only to be murdered and eaten for dinner. Another possible destination was Hawaii, but given the season, the captain was afraid they'd be struck by severe storms.

他们听说这些群岛， 以及附近的一些岛屿上都住着食人族。 所以他们脑中都是上岸以后就会被杀掉 被人当做盘中餐的画面。 另一个可行的目的地是夏威夷， 但是船长担心 他们会被困在风暴当中。

Now the last option was the longest, and the most difficult: to sail 1,500 miles due south in hopes of reaching a certain band of winds that could eventually push them toward the coast of South America.

所以最后的选择是到最远，也是最艰险的地方： 往南走1500英里希望某股风 能最终把他们 吹到南美洲的海岸。

But they knew that the sheer length of this journey would stretch their supplies of food and water. To be eaten by cannibals, to be battered by storms, to starve to death before reaching land.

但是他们知道这个行程中一旦偏航 将会耗尽他们食物和饮水的供给。 被食人族吃掉，被风暴掀翻， 在登陆前饿死。

These were the fears that danced in the imaginations of these poor men, and as it turned out, the fear they chose to listen to would govern whether they lived or died.

这就是萦绕在这群可怜的人想象中的恐惧， 事实证明，他们选择听从的恐惧 将决定他们的生死。

Now we might just as easily call these fears by a different name. What if instead of calling them fears, we called them stories?

也许我们可以很容易的用别的名称来称呼这些恐惧。 我们不称之为恐惧， 而是称它们为故事如何?

Because that's really what fear is, if you think about it. It's a kind of unintentional storytelling that we are all born knowing how to do. And fears and storytelling have the same components.

如果你仔细想想，这是恐惧真正的意义。 这是一种与生俱来的， 无意识的讲故事的能力。 恐惧和讲故事有着同样的构成。

They have the same architecture. Like all stories, fears have characters. In our fears, the characters are us. Fears also have plots. They have beginnings and middles and ends. You board the plane.

他们有同样的结构。 如同所有的故事，恐惧中有角色。 在恐惧中，角色就是我们自己。 恐惧也有情节。他们有开头，有中间，有结尾。 你登上飞机。

The plane takes off. The engine fails. Our fears also tend to contain imagery that can be every bit as vivid as what you might find in the pages of a novel. Picture a cannibal, human teeth sinking into human skin, human flesh roasting over a fire.

飞机起飞。结果引擎故障。 我们的恐惧会包括各种生动的想象， 不比你看到的任何一个小说逊色。 想象食人族，人类牙齿 咬在人类皮肤上， 人肉在火上烤。

Fears also have suspense. If I've done my job as a storyteller today, you should be wondering what happened to the men of the whaleship Essex. Our fears provoke in us a very similar form of suspense.

恐惧中也有悬念。 如果我今天像讲故事一样，留个悬念不说了， 你们也许会很想知道 ESSEX捕鲸船上，人们到底怎么样了。 我们的恐惧用悬念一样的方式刺激我们。

Just like all great stories, our fears focus our attention on a question that is as important in life as it is in literature: What will happen next?

就像一个很好的故事，我们的恐惧也如同一部好的文学作品一样， 将我们的注意力集中在对我们生命至关重要的问题上： 后来发生了什么?

In other words, our fears make us think about the future. And humans, by the way, are the only creatures capable of thinking about the future in this way, of projecting ourselves forward in time, and this mental time travel is just one more thing that fears have in common with storytelling.

换而言之，我们的恐惧让我们想到未来。 另外，人来是唯一有能力 通过这种方式想到未来的生物， 就是预测时间推移后我们的状况， 这种精神上的时间旅行是恐惧 与讲故事的另一个共同点。

As a writer, I can tell you that a big part of writing fiction is learning to predict how one event in a story will affect all the other events, and fear works in that same way.

我是一个作家，我要告诉你们写小说一个很重要的部分 就是学会预测故事中一件 事情如何影响另一件事情， 恐惧也是同样这么做的。

In fear, just like in fiction, one thing always leads to another. When I was writing my first novel, "The Age Of Miracles," I spent months trying to figure out what would happen if the rotation of the Earth suddenly began to slow down. What would happen to our days?

恐惧中，如同小说一样，一件事情总是导致另一件事情。 我写我的第一部小说《奇迹时代》的时候， 我花了数月的时间想象如果地球旋转突然变慢了之后 会发生什么。 我们的一天变得如何?

What would happen to our crops? What would happen to our minds? And then it was only later that I realized how very similar these questions were to the ones I used to ask myself as a child frightened in the night.

我们身体会怎样? 我们的思想会有什么变化? 也就是在那之后，我意识到 我过去总是问自己的那些些问题 和孩子们在夜里害怕是多么的相像。

If an earthquake strikes tonight, I used to worry, what will happen to our house? What will happen to my family? And the answer to those questions always took the form of a story.

要是在过去，如果今晚发生地震，我会很担心， 我的房子会怎么样啊?家里人会怎样啊? 这类问题的答案通常都会和故事一样。

So if we think of our fears as more than just fears but as stories, we should think of ourselves as the authors of those stories. But just as importantly, we need to think of ourselves as the readers of our fears, and how we choose to read our fears can have a profound effect on our lives.

所以我们认为我们的恐惧不仅仅是恐惧 还是故事，我们应该把自己当作 这些故事的作者。 但是同样重要的是，我们需要想象我们自己 是我们恐惧的解读者，我们选择如何 去解读这些恐惧会对我们的生活产生深远的影响。

Now, some of us naturally read our fears more closely than others. I read about a study recently of successful entrepreneurs, and the author found that these people shared a habit that he called "productive paranoia," which meant that these people, instead of dismissing their fears, these people read them closely, they studied them, and then they translated that fear into preparation and action.

现在，我们中有些人比其他人更自然的解读自己的恐惧。 最近我看过一个关于成功的企业家的研究， 作者发现这些人都有个习惯 叫做“未雨绸缪“， 意思是，这些人，不回避自己的恐惧， 而是认真解读并研究恐惧， 然后把恐惧转换成准备和行动。

So that way, if their worst fears came true, their businesses were ready.

这样，如果最坏的事情发生了， 他们的企业也有所准备。

And sometimes, of course, our worst fears do come true. That's one of the things that is so extraordinary about fear. Once in a while, our fears can predict the future.

当然，很多时候，最坏的事情确实发生了。 这是恐惧非凡的一面。 曾几何时，我们的恐惧预测将来。

But we can't possibly prepare for all of the fears that our imaginations concoct. So how can we tell the difference between the fears worth listening to and all the others? I think the end of the story of the whaleship Essex offers an illuminating, if tragic, example.

但是我们不可能为我们想象力构建的所有 恐惧来做准备。 所以，如何区分值得听从的恐惧 和不值得的呢? 我想捕鲸船ESSEX的故事结局 提供了一个有启发性，同时又悲惨的例子。

After much deliberation, the men finally made a decision. Terrified of cannibals, they decided to forgo the closest islands and instead embarked on the longer and much more difficult route to South America.

经过数次权衡，他们最终做出了决定。 由于害怕食人族，他们决定放弃最近的群岛 而是开始更长 更艰难的南美洲之旅。

After more than two months at sea, the men ran out of food as they knew they might, and they were still quite far from land. When the last of the survivors were finally picked up by two passing ships, less than half of the men were left alive, and some of them had resorted to their own form of cannibalism.

在海上呆了两个多月后，他们 的食物如预料之中消耗殆尽， 而且他们仍然离陆地那么远。 当最后的幸存者最终被过往船只救起时， 只有一小半的人还活着， 实际上他们中的一些人自己变成了食人族。

Herman Melville, who used this story as research for "Moby Dick," wrote years later, and from dry land, quote, "All the sufferings of these miserable men of the Essex might in all human probability have been avoided had they, immediately after leaving the wreck, steered straight for Tahiti.

赫尔曼·梅尔维尔(Herman Melville)将这个故事作为 《白鲸记》的素材，在数年后写到： ESSEX船上遇难者的悲惨结局 或许是可以通过人为的努力避免的， 如果他们当机立断地离开沉船， 直奔塔西提群岛。

But," as Melville put it, "they dreaded cannibals." So the question is, why did these men dread cannibals so much more than the extreme likelihood of starvation?

“但是”，梅尔维尔说道：“他们害怕食人族” 问题是，为什么这些人对于食人族的恐惧 超过了更有可能的饥饿威胁呢?

Why were they swayed by one story so much more than the other? Looked at from this angle, theirs becomes a story about reading. The novelist Vladimir Nabokov said that the best reader has a combination of two very different temperaments, the artistic and the scientific.

为什么他们会被一个故事 影响如此之大呢? 从另一个角度来看， 这是一个关于解读的故事。 小说家弗拉基米尔·纳博科夫(Vladimir Nabokov)说 最好的读者能把两种截然不同的性格结合起来， 一个是艺术气质，一个是科学精神。

A good reader has an artist's passion, a willingness to get caught up in the story, but just as importantly, the readers also needs the coolness of judgment of a scientist, which acts to temper and complicate the reader's intuitive reactions to the story. As we've seen, the men of the Essex had no trouble with the artistic part.

好的读者有艺术家的热情， 愿意融入故事当中， 但是同样重要的是，这些读者还要 有科学家的冷静判断， 这能帮助他们稳定情绪并分析 其对故事的直觉反应。 我们可以看出来，ESSEX上的人在艺术部分一点问题都没有。

They dreamed up a variety of horrifying scenarios. The problem was that they listened to the wrong story. Of all the narratives their fears wrote, they responded only to the most lurid, the most vivid, the one that was easiest for their imaginations to picture: cannibals.

他们梦想到一系列恐怖的场景。 问题在于他们听从了一个错误的故事。 所有他们恐惧中 他们只对其中最耸人听闻，最生动的故事， 也是他们想象中最早出现的场景： 食人族。

But perhaps if they'd been able to read their fears more like a scientist, with more coolness of judgment, they would have listened instead to the less violent but the more likely tale, the story of starvation, and headed for Tahiti, just as Melville's sad commentary suggests.

也许，如果他们能像科学家那样 稍微冷静一点解读这个故事， 如果他们能听从不太惊悚但是更可能发生的 半路饿死的故事，他们可能就会直奔塔西提群岛， 如梅尔维尔充满惋惜的评论所建议的那样。

And maybe if we all tried to read our fears, we too would be less often swayed by the most salacious among them.

也许如果我们都试着解读自己的恐惧， 我们就能少被 其中的一些幻象所迷惑。

Maybe then we'd spend less time worrying about serial killers and plane crashes, and more time concerned with the subtler and slower disasters we face: the silent buildup of plaque in our arteries, the gradual changes in our climate.

我们也就能少花一点时间在 为系列杀手或者飞机失事方面的担忧， 而是更多的关心那些悄然而至 的灾难： 动脉血小板的逐渐堆积， 气候的逐渐变迁。

Just as the most nuanced stories in literature are often the richest, so too might our subtlest fears be the truest. Read in the right way, our fears are an amazing gift of the imagination, a kind of everyday clairvoyance, a way of glimpsing what might be the future when there's still time to influence how that future will play out.

如同文学中最精妙的故事通常是最丰富的故事， 我们最细微的恐惧才是最真实的恐惧。 用正确的方法的解读，我们的恐惧就是我们想象力 赐给我们的礼物，借此一双慧眼， 让我们能管窥未来 甚至影响未来。

Properly read, our fears can offer us something as precious as our favorite works of literature: a little wisdom, a bit of insight and a version of that most elusive thing -- the truth. Thank you.

如果能得到正确的解读，我们的恐惧能 和我们最喜欢的文学作品一样给我们珍贵的东西： 一点点智慧，一点点洞悉 以及对最玄妙东西—— 真相的诠释。 谢谢。

(Applause)

(掌声)

⬒ 招标英文演讲稿 ⬒