演講MP3+雙語文稿:歷屆總統(tǒng)的教訓(xùn)

聽力課堂TED音頻欄目主要包括TED演講的音頻MP3及中英雙語文稿，供各位英語愛好者學(xué)習(xí)使用。本文主要內(nèi)容為演講MP3+雙語文稿:歷屆總統(tǒng)的教訓(xùn)，希望你會喜歡！

【演講者及介紹】Doris Kearns Goodwin 史學(xué)家

DorisKainGoodwin 撰寫了關(guān)于美國總統(tǒng)任期的見解深刻的著作(JFK、LBJ、FDR和Lincoln，迄今為止)，在歷史背景下講述了每一位總統(tǒng)的個人故事。

【演講主題】歷屆總統(tǒng)的教訓(xùn)

【中英文字幕】

翻譯者 文娟 呂 校對者 tian zeng

00:00

So, indeed, I have spent my life looking into the lives of presidents who are no longer alive. Waking up with Abraham Lincoln in the morning, thinking of Franklin Roosevelt when I went to bed at night. But when I try and think about what I've learned about the meaning in life, my mind keeps wandering back to a seminar that I took when I was a graduate student at Harvard with the great psychologist Erik Erikson.

嗯，實際上，我用了畢生的精力 來研究那些已經(jīng)離我們遠(yuǎn)去的總統(tǒng)們的生活 早晨起來，我會想到亞伯拉罕·林肯 晚上睡覺還會想到富蘭克林·羅斯福 但每當(dāng)我盡力去思考生命的意義時 我的思緒又總會回到 曾經(jīng)在哈弗大學(xué)做本科生時參加的一次研討會 那時我還和著名的心理學(xué)家埃里克·埃里克森一起

00:22

He taught us that the richest and fullest lives attempt to achieve an inner balance between three realms: work, love and play. And that to pursue one realm to the disregard of the other, is to open oneself to ultimate sadness in older age. Whereas to pursue all three with equal dedication, is to make possible a life filled not only with achievement, but with serenity.

他教育我們說最豐富而又充實的生命 在于達(dá)到3個方面的平衡 工作，愛情和娛樂 若只追求一方面而無視其它 會讓人們年老時感到無比的悲傷 然而，若能達(dá)到三者間的平衡 就會讓生命充實，而你得到的將不僅僅是成就 還有內(nèi)心祥和、安寧

00:45

So since I tell stories, let me look back on the lives of two of the presidents I've studied to illustrate this point -- Abraham Lincoln and Lyndon Johnson. As for that first sphere of work, I think what Abraham Lincoln's life suggests is that fierce ambition is a good thing. He had a huge ambition. But it wasn't simply for office or power or celebrity or fame -- what it was for was to accomplish something worthy enough in life so that he could make the world a little better place for his having lived in it.

既然是講故事，我們先來回顧一下 兩位總統(tǒng)的生命歷程，來證明我的觀點 他們是亞伯拉罕·林肯和林登·約翰遜 那么第一方面--工作 林肯的生活告訴我們 人要有大志向 林肯志向遠(yuǎn)大 但并不僅僅為了獲取權(quán)力、地位或名譽 他追求的是給生命帶來意義的東西 使周圍的世界更加美好

01:17

Even as a child, it seemed, Lincoln dreamed heroic dreams. He somehow had to escape that hard-scrabble farm from which he was born. No schooling was possible for him, except a few weeks here, a few weeks there. But he read books in every spare moment he could find. It was said when he got a copy of the King James Bible or "Aesop's Fables," he was so excited he couldn't sleep. He couldn't eat. The great poet Emily Dickinson once said, "There is no frigate like a book to take us lands away." How true for Lincoln.

甚至在林肯還是個孩子的時候，就夢想成為英雄 他必須從那亂糟糟的農(nóng)場里逃脫出來 在那個地方 上學(xué)是不可能的 讀書也就是斷斷續(xù)續(xù)的旁聽而已 但是他一有時間就會讀書 據(jù)說，有次他拿到一本詹姆斯王圣經(jīng) 也就是人們說的“伊索寓言”的時候 興奮的廢寢忘食 偉大的詩人埃米莉·狄金森曾經(jīng)說過，沒有什么能像書一樣讓我們愛不釋手 林肯就是這樣的

01:45

Though he never would travel to Europe, he went with Shakespeare's kings to merry England, he went with Lord Byron's poetry to Spain and Portugal. Literature allowed him to transcend his surroundings. But there were so many losses in his early life that he was haunted by death. His mother died when he was only nine years old; his only sister, Sarah, in childbirth a few years later; and his first love, Ann Rutledge, at the age of 22. Moreover, when his mother lay dying, she did not hold out for him the hope that they would meet in an afterworld. She simply said to him, "Abraham, I'm going away from you now, and I shall never return." As a result he became obsessed with the thought that when we die our life is swept away -- dust to dust.

盡管他沒有去過歐洲 但是他可以和莎士比亞一起游歷英倫 還在拜倫的詩歌長河里穿越西班牙和葡萄牙 文學(xué)作品讓他超越了環(huán)境的束縛 林肯在早年經(jīng)歷了許多挫折 周圍的親人相繼死去 在他只有九歲的時候，母親去世了。他唯一的姐姐莎拉幾年后因難產(chǎn)死亡 還有他的初戀愛人安·拉特利奇22歲也死了 還有，他母親在垂死之時 她并沒有擁抱林肯說 希望他們來世可以再見面 她只是對他說 “亞伯拉罕，現(xiàn)在我要離你遠(yuǎn)去，再也不會回來了?！?從那時起，他開始執(zhí)迷地認(rèn)為 人們死后，生命就此消逝，無影無蹤

02:25

But only as he grew older did he develop a certain consolation from an ancient Greek notion -- but followed by other cultures as well -- that if you could accomplish something worthy in your life, you could live on in the memory of others. Your honor and your reputation would outlive your earthly existence. And that worthy ambition became his lodestar. It carried him through the one significant depression that he suffered when he was in his early 30s.

后來隨著慢慢長大，他才 在古希臘思想的影響下得到一些慰藉 當(dāng)然還受到其它文化影響 他意識到如果人們能夠追求到令生命意義的東西 你就可以被后人銘記 榮耀和名譽就也會比人的軀體更長久的留存 這一志向變成了林肯的座右銘 伴隨著他度過了生命中最艱難的時期 那是在他30出頭的時候

02:51

Three things had combined to lay him low. He had broken his engagement with Mary Todd, not certain he was ready to marry her, but knowing how devastating it was to her that he did that. His one intimate friend, Joshua Speed, was leaving Illinois to go back to Kentucky because Speed's father had died. And his political career in the state legislature was on a downward slide. He was so depressed that friends worried he was suicidal. They took all knives and razors and scissors from his room. And his great friend Speed went to his side and said, "Lincoln, you must rally or you will die." He said that, "I would just as soon die right now, but I've not yet done anything to make any human being remember that I have lived."

三件事讓他情緒低落 他和瑪莉·托德解除了婚約 因為不確定自己要娶她 但他明白他的行為對于她來說是多么的殘酷 還有就是他一個最好的朋友約書亞·斯皮得要離開伊利諾伊州 回到肯塔基州，因為斯皮得的父親去世了。還有他在州議會的政治前途 越走越黯淡 朋友們擔(dān)心他會自殺 把他房里所有的小刀，刮胡刀還有剪刀都拿走 后來他的好朋友斯皮得來到身邊對他說 "林肯，你要振作，不然你就是死路一條?！?他反說，“其實我現(xiàn)在就可以死 但是我還沒有做過什么事能讓人們 記得我存在過?！?/p>

03:29

So fueled by that ambition, he returned to the state legislature. He eventually won a seat in Congress. He then ran twice for the Senate, lost twice. "Everyone is broken by life," Ernest Hemingway once said, "but some people are stronger in the broken places." So then he surprised the nation with an upset victory for the presidency over three far more experienced, far more educated, far more celebrated rivals. And then when he won the general election, he stunned the nation even more by appointing each of these three rivals into his Cabinet. It was an unprecedented act at the time because everybody thought, "He'll look like a figurehead compared to these people." They said, "Why are you doing this, Lincoln?" He said, "Look, these are the strongest and most able men in the country. The country is in peril. I need them by my side." But perhaps my old friend Lyndon Johnson might have put it in less noble fashion: "Better to have your enemies inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in." (Laughter)

他的壯志讓他重燃激情，他回到了州議會 最終在國會贏得一張席位 后來他兩次競選議員，兩次都以失敗告終 海明威曾經(jīng)說過：“每個人都會經(jīng)歷生活磨練。有些人即使被折磨得體無完膚，也仍然堅強。” 他競選總統(tǒng)的成功震驚了整個國家 也戰(zhàn)勝了比他更有經(jīng)驗，更有教育背景和名望的對手 然而在他真正成為總統(tǒng)的時候 又給民眾更大的震驚 他分別任命了3位競選對手成為他的內(nèi)閣成員 在當(dāng)時這種做法是前無古人的，因為人人都認(rèn)為 “和其他人相比，林肯不過是有名無實之輩?！?他們說，“林肯，你為什么要這么做？” 他回答說，“這些人都是這個國家最強悍 最有能力的人。我們的國家處在危急之中，我需要他們在我身邊?！?但是，也許我的老朋友林登·約翰遜 用了一個更為通俗的方式來表達(dá)這個意思 讓敵人在你的帳篷里對外撒尿 總比他們站在帳篷外往里面尿好 （笑聲）

04:27

But it soon became clear that Abraham Lincoln would emerge as the undisputed captain of this unruly team. For each of them soon came to understand that he possessed an unparalleled array of emotional strengths and political skills that proved far more important than the thinness of his external résumé. For one thing, he possessed an uncanny ability to empathize with and to think about other peoples' point of view. He repaired injured feelings that might have escalated into permanent hostility. He shared credit with ease, assumed responsibility for the failure of his subordinates, constantly acknowledged his errors and learned from his mistakes. These are the qualities we should be looking for in our candidates in 2008. (Applause) He refused to be provoked by petty grievances. He never submitted to jealousy or brooded over perceived slights. And he expressed his unshakeable convictions in everyday language, in metaphors, in stories. And with a beauty of language -- almost as if the Shakespeare and the poetry he had so loved as a child had worked their way into his very soul.

但是事情很快變得明朗，林肯 不容置疑地出任了這個放縱不羈的團(tuán)隊的首領(lǐng) 因為每個人很快就意識到了 林肯身上很多無與倫比的 情感影響力和政治技巧 這些與他那薄薄的履歷相比更為重要 首先，他有一種不尋常的能力 設(shè)身處地的為他人考慮 他修復(fù)那些受傷的心靈。以防那些心靈發(fā)展成 永久的敵對心理。他把功勞與人分享，對下屬的錯誤勇于承擔(dān)責(zé)任，他總能承認(rèn)自己的錯誤并總結(jié)經(jīng)驗教訓(xùn) 這些都是我們希望在2008年的候選人身上找到的品質(zhì)。（鼓掌） 他從不因為微不足道的事情發(fā)怒。他從不嫉妒別人或者因小事計較。然而他那不可動搖的信仰 滲透在日常的言談，舉止和經(jīng)歷中。語言的魅力，讓他的表達(dá)幾乎如同 孩提時他鐘愛的莎士比亞的詩歌 一樣完美

05:32

In 1863, when the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, he brought his old friend, Joshua Speed, back to the White House, and remembered that conversation of decades before, when he was so sad. And he, pointing to the Proclamation, said, "I believe, in this measure, my fondest hopes will be realized." But as he was about to put his signature on the Proclamation his own hand was numb and shaking because he had shaken a thousand hands that morning at a New Year's reception. So he put the pen down. He said, "If ever my soul were in an act, it is in this act. But if I sign with a shaking hand, posterity will say, 'He hesitated.'" So he waited until he could take up the pen and sign with a bold and clear hand. But even in his wildest dreams, Lincoln could never have imagined how far his reputation would reach.

1863年，解放黑人奴隸宣言頒布，他讓老朋友約書亞·斯皮得重回白宮。他想起了幾十年前最艱難時候他們之間的對話 林肯指著那個宣言說，“我通過它，我最熱切的希望就可以實現(xiàn)了。” 但是，當(dāng)他正要在宣言上簽字的時候，他的手麻木了，不停地顫抖 因為在那天早上的招待會上他已經(jīng)握了一千次手。于是他把筆放下。說： “如果說我的靈魂存在于某個法案中，那就是這個法案。但是如果我用顫抖的手在上面簽字的話，我們的后代會說：‘我猶豫了?！?所以，他一直等到手不再顫抖才拿起筆 簽上了堅定而清晰地一筆。但是即使是在他最大膽的夢想里，林肯也沒有想到過 他聲名遠(yuǎn)揚的程度。

06:15

I was so thrilled to find an interview with the great Russian writer, Leo Tolstoy, in a New York newspaper in the early 1900s. And in it, Tolstoy told of a trip that he'd recently made to a very remote area of the Caucasus, where there were only wild barbarians, who had never left this part of Russia. Knowing that Tolstoy was in their midst, they asked him to tell stories of the great men of history. So he said, "I told them about Napoleon and Alexander the Great and Frederick the Great and Julius Caesar, and they loved it. But before I finished, the chief of the barbarians stood up and said, 'But wait, you haven't told us about the greatest ruler of them all. We want to hear about that man who spoke with a voice of thunder, who laughed like the sunrise, who came from that place called America, which is so far from here, that if a young man should travel there, he would be an old man when he arrived. Tell us of that man. Tell us of Abraham Lincoln.'" He was stunned. He told them everything he could about Lincoln. And then in the interview he said, "What made Lincoln so great? Not as great a general as Napoleon, not as great a statesman as Frederick the Great." But his greatness consisted, and historians would roundly agree, in the integrity of his character and the moral fiber of his being.

我很驚訝地發(fā)現(xiàn)了一份20世紀(jì)早期，偉大的俄國作家 列夫托爾斯泰被紐約一份報紙采訪時的記錄。在采訪中，托爾斯泰提到了他最近一次 去高加索的一個非常偏遠(yuǎn)的地區(qū)的旅行 那里都全是些落后的村民，他們從來沒有離開過俄羅斯的這一地區(qū)。當(dāng)他們知道托爾斯泰來到那里后，就請他講述歷史上偉人的故事。托爾斯泰說：“我給他們講拿破侖，亞歷山大大帝和腓特烈大帝 還有凱撒的故事，他們非常喜歡。但是在我將要結(jié)束之前，村民的首領(lǐng)站起來說： “且慢，你還沒有給我們講最偉大的統(tǒng)治者。我們想聽那個人的故事，他講話聲音震耳欲聾； 笑起來如旭日東升； 他來自一個遙遠(yuǎn)的地方叫做美國。如果一個年輕人想要到達(dá)那里，要用一輩子的時間才能走到。給我們講這個人的故事。給我們講亞伯拉罕·林肯的故事?！?托爾斯泰震驚了 他把所有他知道的關(guān)于林肯的事都告訴了他們。之后在這次采訪中他說：“是什么讓林肯如此偉大？ （他的偉大）既不是拿破侖大將的軍式偉大，也不是政治家腓特烈大帝式的偉大。然而，所有的歷史學(xué)家都會肯定這一說法，他的偉大存在于 他性格中的真誠、正直 和他與生俱來的道德情操。

07:22

So in the end that powerful ambition that had carried Lincoln through his bleak childhood had been realized. That ambition that had allowed him to laboriously educate himself by himself, to go through that string of political failures and the darkest days of the war. His story would be told. So as for that second sphere, not of work, but of love -- encompassing family, friends and colleagues -- it, too, takes work and commitment. The Lyndon Johnson that I saw in the last years of his life, when I helped him on his memoirs, was a man who had spent so many years in the pursuit of work, power and individual success, that he had absolutely no psychic or emotional resources left to get him through the days once the presidency was gone.

所以最后他的雄心壯志 那些曾經(jīng)激勵他走過悲慘童年的夢想終于實現(xiàn)了。這一夢想讓他發(fā)奮圖強 并且鼓勵他在一連串的政治失敗 和戰(zhàn)爭的黑暗中振作起來。他的故事應(yīng)該被傳頌?，F(xiàn)在我們來講第二方面，感情生活 人們圍繞著家人，朋友和同事，也需要經(jīng)營和承諾 我看到晚年的林登·約翰遜，那時候我?guī)退麑懟貞涗?。他是多年來一直追?工作，權(quán)力和個人成功的人。他幾乎沒有留下任何心靈或者感情上的財富 來幫他度過 那段不再是總統(tǒng)的時光。

08:05

My relationship with him began on a rather curious level. I was selected as a White House Fellow when I was 24 years old. We had a big dance at the White House. President Johnson did dance with me that night. Not that peculiar -- there were only three women out of the 16 White House Fellows. But he did whisper in my ear that he wanted me to work directly for him in the White House. But it was not to be that simple. For in the months leading up to my selection, like many young people, I'd been active in the anti-Vietnam War movement, and had written an article against Lyndon Johnson, which unfortunately came out in The New Republic two days after the dance in the White House. (Laugher) And the theme of the article was how to remove Lyndon Johnson from power. (Laughter) So I was certain he would kick me out of the program. But instead, surprisingly, he said, "Oh, bring her down here for a year, and if I can't win her over, no one can." So I did end up working for him in the White House. Eventually accompanied him to his ranch to help him on those memoirs, never fully understanding why he'd chosen me to spend so many hours with.

我和他的關(guān)系開始于一段不尋常的經(jīng)歷。我24歲時被選為白宮學(xué)者。我們在白宮里舉行了一個大型舞會。約翰遜總統(tǒng)那天晚上的確和我跳舞了 其實沒有我想象的那么不尋常，那時白宮的16位學(xué)者中只有3位女士。但是他也的確在我的耳邊低語說，他希望我在白宮里直接為他工作。但是事情沒有那么簡單。因為在往后的選舉歲月里，我就像眾多的年輕人一樣，積極參與到了反對越南戰(zhàn)爭的運動中，并且還寫了一篇反對林登·約翰遜的文章，不幸的是，這篇文章出版在了《新共和》上，而這僅僅發(fā)生在白宮舞會的2天之后。（笑） 那篇文章的主題是講如何讓林登·約翰遜下臺。（笑） 所以當(dāng)時我堅信他會把我從白宮趕出來。但出乎意料的是，他說：“ 哦，讓她在這里工作一年，如果我不能令她信服，別人也不能?！?所以最后我還是在白宮里為他效力。最后我們一起去了他的農(nóng)場寫回憶錄 最終也沒能弄明白為什么他會選擇與我共度那么多的時光。

08:59

I like to believe it was because I was a good listener. He was a great storyteller. Fabulous, colorful, anecdotal stories. There was a problem with these stories, however, which I later discovered, which is that half of them weren't true. But they were great, nonetheless. (Laughter) So I think that part of his attraction for me was that I loved listening to his tall tales. But I also worried that part of it was that I was then a young woman. And he had somewhat of a minor league womanizing reputation. So I constantly chatted to him about boyfriends, even when I didn't have any at all.

我倒是愿意相信那是因為我善于傾聽。他是個講故事的高手。他會講很多非常有意思的奇聞軼事。當(dāng)然這些故事也存在一些瑕疵，我后來才發(fā)現(xiàn)，那些故事有一半的情節(jié)是虛構(gòu)的。但是不管怎么說，講的時候感覺很好。（笑） 因此我覺得他之所以能吸引我，部分原因是我喜歡聽他講故事。但是我也擔(dān)心另外的原因--那時候我還是一個女孩子。而且他似乎還有些沾花惹草的名聲。所以，我經(jīng)常跟他聊男朋友的事情，盡管那時候我還沒有男朋友。

09:27

Everything was working perfectly, until one day he said he wanted to discuss our relationship. Sounded very ominous when he took me nearby to the lake, conveniently called Lake Lyndon Baines Johnson. And there was wine and cheese and a red-checked tablecloth -- all the romantic trappings. And he started out, "Doris, more than any other woman I have ever known ... " And my heart sank. And then he said, "You remind me of my mother." (Laughter)

我的工作進(jìn)展得很順利，直到有一天，他說他想跟我聊聊我們之間的關(guān)系。他帶我去了湖邊，我感覺有些不妙，那個湖叫做林登·貝恩斯·約翰遜湖。還有紅酒，奶酪和紅格子桌布，都是些很有浪漫情調(diào)飾品。他開始對我說 “多麗絲，你比我所認(rèn)識的所有女人都......” 我的心沉了下來。然后他接著說： “你讓我想起了我的媽媽?！?（笑）

09:49

It was pretty embarrassing, given what was going on in my mind. But I must say, the older I've gotten, the more I realize what an incredible privilege it was to have spent so many hours with this aging lion of a man. A victor in a thousand contests, three great civil rights laws, Medicare, aid to education. And yet, roundly defeated in the end by the war in Vietnam. And because he was so sad and so vulnerable, he opened up to me in ways he never would have had I known him at the height of his power -- sharing his fears, his sorrows and his worries. And I'd like to believe that the privilege fired within me the drive to understand the inner person behind the public figure, that I've tried to bring to each of my books since then.

想到當(dāng)時我腦子里想的東西，是在是太難為情了。但是我要說，隨著年齡的增長，我更加識到這是一個怎樣的榮幸，我有幸和這個男人中的王者共度了那么多時光。他在上千次的競爭中取勝，成功頒布三個偉大的民權(quán)法案，保健醫(yī)療法案，教育支援法案。最后卻因越南戰(zhàn)爭被打得一派涂地。他為此非常悲傷并變得脆弱，他以從來不曾有過的方式向我傾訴 一個如此官高權(quán)重的人 和我分享他的恐懼、悲傷和憂慮 我相信是這份榮幸讓我欲罷不能。促使我去了解公眾人物背后的內(nèi)心世界，把我的感受寫進(jìn)書里。

10:31

But it also brought home to me the lessons which Erik Erikson had tried to instill in all of us about the importance of finding balance in life. For on the surface, Lyndon Johnson should have had everything in the world to feel good about in those last years, in the sense that he had been elected to the presidency; he had all the money he needed to pursue any leisure activity he wanted; he owned a spacious ranch in the countryside, a penthouse in the city, sailboats, speedboats. He had servants to answer any whim, and he had a family who loved him deeply.

它也讓我清楚地明白 艾瑞克·?？松噲D向我們講述的道理，--在生命中尋找平衡的重要性。因為，在表面上，林登·約翰遜本應(yīng)該 在他最后幾年里擁有世間一切可以讓他感覺良好的東西。他曾經(jīng)被選舉為總統(tǒng)。他有足夠的金錢去揮霍 他想要的任何東西。他在鄉(xiāng)村擁有一塊廣闊的農(nóng)場，在城市還有一棟閣樓，有很多帆船及快艇。有侍者對他言聽計從，還有非常愛他的家人。

11:02

And yet, years of concentration solely on work and individual success meant that in his retirement he could find no solace in family, in recreation, in sports or in hobbies. It was almost as if the hole in his heart was so large that even the love of a family, without work, could not fill it. As his spirits sagged, his body deteriorated until, I believe, he slowly brought about his own death. In those last years, he said he was so sad watching the American people look toward a new president and forgetting him. He spoke with immense sadness in his voice, saying maybe he should have spent more time with his children, and their children in turn. But it was too late. Despite all that power, all that wealth, he was alone when he finally died -- his ultimate terror realized.

但是，幾多年的專心于工作和追求個人成功 意味著當(dāng)他退休之后，他就不能在 家庭，娛樂，體育和興趣方面找到安慰。就像在他的心里有個很大的洞 以至于沒有了工作的充實，即使家人的愛也不能將它填滿。他的精神變得無比空虛，身體狀況也每況愈下 直到后來慢慢死去 在后來的這些年里，他說他很悲傷 因為看到那么多的美國人滿心期待新總統(tǒng)的出現(xiàn)而將他遺忘。他說話時聲音里滿是悲傷，說也許他本應(yīng)該花更多的時間跟孩子們一起，和孩子的孩子們在一起。但這一切都已經(jīng)晚了。盡管他獲得了那么大的權(quán)力，那么多的財富，到最后還是孤獨地死去 他最害怕的事情還是出現(xiàn)了。

【由于字?jǐn)?shù)限制，更多內(nèi)容請點擊“詞”按鈕】