JK罗琳在2008哈佛大学毕业典礼上的演讲

2015-03-13 14:52:24来源：网络

　　One of the greatest formative experiences of my life preceded Harry Potter, though it informedmuch of what I subsequently wrote in those books. This revelation came in the form of one ofmy earliest day jobs. Though I was sloping off to write stories during my lunch hours, I paid therent in my early 20s by working at the African research department at Amnesty International'sheadquarters in London.

　　其中一个影响最大的经历发生在我写哈利波特之前，为我随后写书提供了很多想法。这些想法成形于我早期的工作经历，在20 多岁时，尽管我可以在午餐时间里悄悄写故事，可为了付房租，我做的主要工作是在伦敦总部的大赦国际研究部门。

　　There in my little office I read hastily scribbled letters smuggled out of totalitarian regimes bymen and women who were risking imprisonment to inform the outside world of what washappening to them. I saw photographs of those who had disappeared without trace, sent toAmnesty by their desperate families and friends. I read the testimony of torture victims andsaw pictures of their injuries. I opened handwritten, eye-witness accounts of summary trialsand executions, of kidnappings and rapes.

　　在我的小办公室，我看到了人们匆匆写的信件，它们是从极权主义政权被偷送出来的。那些人冒着被监禁的危险，告知外面的世界他们那里正在发生的事情。我看到了那些无迹可寻的人的照片，它们是被那些绝望的家人和朋友送来的。我看过拷问受害者的证词和被害的照片。我打开过手写的目击证词，描述绑架和强奸犯的审判和处决。

　　Many of my co-workers were ex-political prisoners, people who had been displaced from theirhomes, or fled into exile, because they had the temerity to think independently of theirgovernment. Visitors to our office included those who had come to give information, or to tryand find out what had happened to those who they had left behind.

　　我有很多的同事是前政治犯，他们已离开家园流离失所，或逃亡流放，因为他们敢于怀疑政府、独立思考。来我们办公室的访客，包括那些前来提供信息，或想设法知道那些被迫留下的同志发生了什么事的人。

　　I shall never forget the African torture victim, a young man no older than I was at the time,who had become mentally ill after all he had endured in his homeland. He trembleduncontrollably as he spoke into a video camera about the brutality inflicted upon him. He was afoot taller than I was, and seemed as fragile as a child. I was given the job of escorting him tothe Underground Station afterwards, and this man whose life had been shattered by crueltytook my hand with exquisite courtesy, and wished me future happiness.

　　我将永远不会忘记一个非洲酷刑的受害者，一名当时还没有我大的年轻男子，他因在故乡的经历而精神错乱。在摄像机前讲述被残暴地摧残的时候，他颤抖失控。他比我高一英尺，却看上去像一个脆弱的儿童。我被安排随后护送他到地铁站，这名生活已被残酷地打乱的男子，小心翼翼地握着我的手，祝我未来生活幸福。

　　And as long as I live I shall remember walking along an empty corridor and suddenly hearing,from behind a closed door, a scream of pain and horror such as I have never heard since. Thedoor opened, and the researcher poked out her head and told me to run and make a hot drinkfor the young man sitting with her. She had just given him the news that in retaliation for hisown outspokenness against his country's regime, his mother had been seized and executed.

　　只要我活着，我还会记得，在一个空荡荡的的走廊，突然从背后的门里，传来我从未听过的痛苦和恐惧的尖叫。门打开了，调查员探出头请求我，为坐在她旁边的青年男子，调一杯热饮料。她刚刚给他的消息是，为了报复他对国家政权的批评，他的母亲已经被捕并执行了枪决。

　　Every day of my working week in my early 20s I was reminded how incredibly fortunate I was,to live in a country with a democratically elected government, where legal representation anda public trial were the rights of everyone.

　　在我20多岁的那段日子，每一天的工作，都在提醒我自己是多么幸运。生活在一个民选政府的国家，依法申述与公开审理，是所有人的权利。

　　Every day, I saw more evidence about the evils humankind will inflict on their fellow humans,to gain or maintain power. I began to have nightmares, literal nightmares, about some of thethings I saw, heard and read.

　　每一天，我都能看到更多有关恶人的证据，他们为了获得或维持权力，对自己的同胞犯下暴行。我开始做噩梦，真正意义上的噩梦，全都和我所见所闻有关。

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