So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had already been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.

那么我為什么還要談?wù)撌〉氖找婺?？?jī)H僅是因?yàn)槭∫馕吨头俏业拿撾x，失敗后我找到了自我，不再裝成另外的形象，我開(kāi)始把我所有的精力僅僅放在我關(guān)心的工作上。如果我在其他方面成功過(guò)，我可能就不會(huì)具備要求在自己領(lǐng)域內(nèi)獲得成功的決心。我變得自在，因?yàn)槲乙呀?jīng)經(jīng)歷過(guò)最大的恐懼。而且我還活著，我有一個(gè)值得我自豪的女兒，我有一個(gè)陳舊的打字機(jī)和很不錯(cuò)的寫(xiě)作靈感。我在失敗堆積而成的硬石般的基礎(chǔ)上開(kāi)始重筑我的人生。

You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.

你們可能不會(huì)經(jīng)歷像我那么大的失敗，但生活中面臨失敗是不可避免的。永遠(yuǎn)不失敗是不可能，除非你活得過(guò)于謹(jǐn)慎，這樣倒還不如根本就沒(méi)有在世上生活過(guò)，因?yàn)槟銖囊婚_(kāi)始就失敗了。

Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above rubies.

失敗給了我內(nèi)心的安寧，這種安寧是順利通過(guò)測(cè)驗(yàn)考試獲得不了的。失敗讓我認(rèn)識(shí)自己，這些是沒(méi)法從其他地方學(xué)到的。我發(fā)現(xiàn)自己有堅(jiān)強(qiáng)的意志，而且，自我控制能力比自己猜想的還要強(qiáng)，我也發(fā)現(xiàn)自己擁有比紅寶石更真的朋友。

The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more to me than any qualification I ever earned.

從挫折中獲得的知識(shí)越充滿(mǎn)智慧、越有力，你在以后的生存中則越安全。除非遭受磨難，你們不會(huì)真正認(rèn)識(shí)自己，也沒(méi)法知道你們之間關(guān)系有多鐵。這些知識(shí)才是真正的禮物，他們比我曾經(jīng)獲得的任何資格證書(shū)更為珍貴，因?yàn)檫@些是我經(jīng)歷過(guò)痛苦后才獲得的。

Given a time machine or a Time Turner, I would tell my 21-year-old self that personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a check-list of acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two. Life is difficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone's total control, and the humility to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes.

如果給我一個(gè)時(shí)間機(jī)器，我會(huì)告訴21歲的自己，個(gè)人的幸福建立在自己能夠認(rèn)識(shí)到：生活不是擁有的物品與成就的清單。雖然你們會(huì)碰到很多和你們一樣大或年長(zhǎng)的人分不清楚生活與清單的區(qū)別，但你們的資格證書(shū)、簡(jiǎn)歷，都不能等價(jià)于你們的生活。生活是困難的，也是復(fù)雜的，它完全超出任何人的控制，謙虛的認(rèn)識(shí)到這些能使你們?cè)谏某粮≈械靡皂樌妗?/p>

You might think that I chose my second theme, the importance of imagination, because of the part it played in rebuilding my life, but that is not wholly so. Though I will defend the value of bedtime stories to my last gasp, I have learned to value imagination in a much broader sense. Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation. In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathise with humans whose experiences we have never shared.

你們可能認(rèn)為我選擇想象力作為第二個(gè)演講主題是因?yàn)樗谥刂胰松倪^(guò)程中起了作用，但這不是全部原因。雖然我會(huì)不遺余力地為床邊故事的價(jià)值做辯護(hù)，但我已學(xué)會(huì)從更廣泛的意義來(lái)評(píng)價(jià)想象力的價(jià)值。想象力不僅是一種能促使人類(lèi)預(yù)想不存在事物的獨(dú)特能力，從而成為所有發(fā)明和創(chuàng)新的源泉；從想象力或許是最具改革性和啟示作用的能力這點(diǎn)講，它更是一種能使我們同沒(méi)有分享過(guò)他們經(jīng)歷的人產(chǎn)生共鳴的力量。

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

我最偉大的生活經(jīng)歷之一發(fā)生在寫(xiě)《哈利波特》前，當(dāng)然我在后來(lái)書(shū)中寫(xiě)的很多東西與這個(gè)經(jīng)歷有關(guān)。這個(gè)啟示來(lái)源于我最早期工作之一。我在倫敦的大赦國(guó)際總部的研究部門(mén)工作，雖然我在中飯的時(shí)間逃出來(lái)寫(xiě)小說(shuō)，但我需要這份工作來(lái)支付我20多歲時(shí)的房租。(注：大赦國(guó)際是一個(gè)全球性的志愿組織，致力于為釋放由于信仰而被監(jiān)禁的人以及給他們的家庭發(fā)放救濟(jì)等方面的工作。)

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

在那兒我的狹小的工作室內(nèi)，我匆忙得讀著從各地集權(quán)政權(quán)內(nèi)傳出來(lái)的潦草信件，這些信件是那些冒著進(jìn)監(jiān)獄風(fēng)險(xiǎn)而向外傳播發(fā)生在他們身上慘劇的人偷運(yùn)出來(lái)。我看到了無(wú)影無(wú)蹤就消失的人的相片，這些相片是家里人或朋友送來(lái)的。我讀著被酷刑折磨的受害者的證據(jù)和他們受傷的照片；我打開(kāi)手寫(xiě)的目擊者對(duì)審訊和處決的摘要記錄，以及對(duì)綁架和強(qiáng)奸的敘述。

Many of my co-workers were ex-political prisoners, people who had been displaced from their homes, or fled into exile, because they had the temerity to think independently of their government. Visitors to our office included those who had come to give information, or to try and find out what had happened to those they had been forced to leave behind.

我的許多同事以前是政治犯人，他們因?yàn)橛掠诓桓胶驼?dú)立思考，以致被趕出自己的家，或者被放逐。來(lái)拜訪我們辦公室的人包括那些傳遞消息的，或者嘗試弄清楚那些被迫離開(kāi)的人身后的真相。

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 trembled uncontrollably as he spoke into a video camera about the brutality inflicted upon him. He was a foot taller than I was, and seemed as fragile as a child. I was given the job of escorting him to the Underground Station afterwards, and this man whose life had been shattered by cruelty took my hand with exquisite courtesy, and wished me future happiness.

我永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)忘記那個(gè)非洲來(lái)的被酷刑折磨的受害者，他是一個(gè)和我那時(shí)候年齡相仿的年輕男子，但在他家鄉(xiāng)經(jīng)受過(guò)的拷打后，他已經(jīng)有了精神病。當(dāng)他向錄像機(jī)講述強(qiáng)加在他身上的暴行時(shí)，他無(wú)法控制地發(fā)抖。他比我高一英尺，但像一個(gè)小孩一樣脆弱。后來(lái)我的工作是護(hù)送他去地下站，這個(gè)整個(gè)生活被野蠻摧毀的男子禮貌地握著我的手，祝福我一生幸福。

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. The door opened, and the researcher poked out her head and told me to run and make a hot drink for the young man sitting with her. She had just given him the news that in retaliation for his own outspokenness against his country's regime, his mother had been seized and executed.

只要我活著，我就能記住我沿著一個(gè)空曠的走廊走，突然從后面關(guān)閉的一扇門(mén)傳來(lái)我從沒(méi)聽(tīng)到過(guò)的充滿(mǎn)痛苦和恐怖的尖叫。門(mén)打開(kāi)了，有個(gè)研究人員探出頭，讓我快點(diǎn)跑去弄點(diǎn)熱飲料給坐在她旁邊的那個(gè)年輕男子。原來(lái)，她剛告訴那個(gè)男子，為了報(bào)復(fù)他對(duì)他國(guó)家的政權(quán)做了公開(kāi)的反對(duì)演講，他的媽媽被抓住、處決了。

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 and a public trial were the rights of everyone.

在我20多歲時(shí)工作的每一天，我提醒我自己我是多么的幸運(yùn)啊，能生活在一個(gè)民主選舉產(chǎn)生的政府的國(guó)家，在這里合法的陳述和公共審判是每一個(gè)人的權(quán)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 the things I saw, heard and read.

每一天，我看到更多的證據(jù)，證明邪惡的人類(lèi)為了獲得、維持權(quán)力而加害與他們同樣的人類(lèi)。我開(kāi)始為這些我看到的、聽(tīng)到的、讀到的東西做惡夢(mèng)，是文字惡夢(mèng)。

And yet I also learned more about human goodness at Amnesty International than I had ever known before.

然而，我也在大赦國(guó)際學(xué)到了比我以前知道的更多的人類(lèi)善良的一面。

Amnesty mobilises thousands of people who have never been tortured or imprisoned for their beliefs to act on behalf of those who have. The power of human empathy, leading to collective action, saves lives, and frees prisoners. Ordinary people, whose personal well-being and security are assured, join together in huge numbers to save people they do not know, and will never meet. My small participation in that process was one of the most humbling and inspiring experiences of my life.

大赦國(guó)際動(dòng)員了數(shù)千位沒(méi)有因?yàn)樾叛鰡?wèn)題而被拷問(wèn)或入獄的人，讓他們來(lái)代表那些經(jīng)歷過(guò)這些的人行動(dòng)起來(lái)。人類(lèi)的同理心具有能引導(dǎo)集體行動(dòng)的力量，這種力量能拯救生命，讓囚徒獲得自由。在這種活動(dòng)中，那些擁有受到保護(hù)的個(gè)人福址和安全的普通人聚在了一起，來(lái)拯救他們不認(rèn)識(shí)、也永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)見(jiàn)面的人。我在這個(gè)過(guò)程中小小的參與是我生命中最卑微，也是最令人振奮的經(jīng)歷之一。

Unlike any other creature on this planet, humans can learn and understand, without having experienced. They can think themselves into other people's minds, imagine themselves into other people's places.

人類(lèi)和在這個(gè)星球上的其他生物不同，人類(lèi)能夠在沒(méi)有自我經(jīng)歷的情況下學(xué)習(xí)和理解。他們可以設(shè)身處地的思他人所思，想他人所想。

Of course, this is a power, like my brand of fictional magic, that is morally neutral. One might use such an ability to manipulate, or control, just as much as to understand or sympathise.

當(dāng)然，這是一種力量，如同我虛構(gòu)的魔法，這種力量是道德中立的。有人可能常運(yùn)用這種能力去操作和控制，就像用于理解和同情一樣。