The walls of Oxford have not only housed the greatestphilosophical and scientific geniuses—they have alsoushered forth some of the most cherished creators ofchildren's literature, from J.R.R. Tolkien to C.S. Lewis.Today I was allowed to hobble into the dining hall inChrist Church to see Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderlandimmortalized in the stained glass windows. And evenone of my own fellow Americans, the beloved Dr Seussgraced these halls and then went on to leave his mark on the imaginations of millions of childrenthroughout the world.
牛津不仅荟萃了最伟大的哲学家和科学家，还蕴育了一些最出色的儿童文学创作家，从J.R.R.托尔金到C.S.刘易斯。刘易斯·卡罗尔的《爱丽丝漫游仙境》在基督教堂的彩色玻璃窗里被永久保存。同时，我还发现我的一位美国同胞，亲爱的苏斯博士也为此增色，在这项伟大的事业上留下了他的印记，启发了全世界上千万儿童的想象力。
I suppose I should start by listing my qualifications to speak before you this evening. Friends, I donot claim to have the academic expertise of other speakers who have addressed this hall, just asthey could lay little claim at being adept at the moonwalk—and you know, Einstein in particularwas really TERRIBLE at that.
今晚，我想先讲讲我为何有幸能在这里演讲。朋友们，我不具备那些来此地的演讲者所拥有的学术专业知识，正如他们不善于“太空步”一样——而且，大家都知道，爱因斯坦尤其不擅长。
But I do have a claim to having experienced more places and cultures than most people will eversee. Human knowledge consists not only of libraries of parchment and ink—it is also comprised ofthe volumes of knowledge that are written on the human heart, chiseled on the human soul, andengraved on the human psyche. And friends, I have encountered so much in this relatively short lifeof mine that I still cannot believe I am chiseled only 42.
但是我可以说，和大多数人相比，我游历了更多地方，也体验了更多不同的文化。人类文明不仅仅是图书馆纸墨所记载的——还包括那些书写在人们内心的，凿刻在人们灵魂里和精神中的知识。而且，朋友们，在我短暂的生命力，我经历了这么多，以至于现在我都难以相信自己只有42岁。