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，
[00:05.12]I've come out ahead of Baroness Mary Warnock.
那就证明我已经超越了男爵夫人玛丽·沃诺克。
[00:13.13]Achievable goals: the first step to self improvement.
确定一个切实可行的目标——这是自我提升的第一步。
[00:19.27]Actually, I have wracked my mind and heart for what I ought to say to you today.
实际上，我为今天应该给大家的讲些什么绞尽了脑汁。
[00:25.20]I have asked myself what I wish I had known at my own graduation,
我曾自问，在当初自己毕业典礼上我想要知道些什么呢?
[00:30.00]and what important lessons I have learned in the 21 years that have expired between that day and this.
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?
[00:37.39]I have come up with two answers.
我想到了两个答案。
[00:40.30]On this wonderful day when we are gathered together to celebrate your academic success,
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功。
[00:45.53]I have decided to talk to you about the benefits of failure.
然而我决定跟你们谈谈失败的收益;
[00:50.56]And as you stand on the threshold of what is sometimes called 'real life',
同时，你们将迈入“现实生活”，
[00:55.40]I want to extol the crucial importance of imagination.
所以我还要褒扬想象力的极度重要性。
[01:00.34]These may seem quixotic or paradoxical choices, but please bear with me.
这两点似乎是不切实际或自相矛盾的选择，但请先容许我讲完。
[01:06.26]Looking back at the 21-year-old that I was at graduation,
对于已经42岁的我来说，
[01:10.13]is a slightly uncomfortable experience for the 42-year-old that she has become.
回忆21岁刚刚毕业时的情景并不是一件很舒服的事情。
[01:15.41]Half my lifetime ago, I was striking an uneasy balance between the ambition I had for myself,
21年前，我一直都在自己的雄心
[01:22.27]and what those closest to me expected of me.
和身边的人对我的期望之间寻求平衡。
[01:26.32]I was convinced that the only thing I wanted to do, ever, was to write novels.
我一直深信，自己唯一想做的事情就是写小说。
