偶像勵(lì)志英語演講15:教育的民主化:哥倫比亞女歌手夏奇拉在牛津大學(xué)的演講(2)

I strongly believe that the best is yet to come, with universal access to education to feed our collective intelligence, with our commitment to meet and organize in places like this, with students like you--we can be so close to create a network of intellects, an enormous think tank devoted to share the best ideas and inspiring each other to keep learning, keep informing, and keep advancing our world, and finding solutions to our common issues. Wouldn't that be great?

我深信最美好的日子還沒有來到。通過普及教育來豐富我們集體的知識(shí)寶庫，通過我們的努力把大家召集到類似今天這種地方，在像你們這樣的學(xué)生當(dāng)中——建立起一個(gè)知識(shí)網(wǎng)絡(luò)，一個(gè)巨大的思想庫就近在咫尺，通過知識(shí)網(wǎng)絡(luò)和思想庫來分享最好的思想，激勵(lì)彼此不斷學(xué)習(xí)，不斷增長知識(shí)，以及讓我們的世界不斷發(fā)展前進(jìn)，并為我們共同關(guān)心的問題找到解決方法。那樣該多好啊!

We have evolved so far in history with so many technological advances in just the past century, so, how will we evolve in the next ten years, or twenty years, or fifty years--now that we know that the world has shrunk and has become just one big neighborhood.

在人類歷史的長河中，我們繁衍生息，不斷發(fā)展進(jìn)步，走到今天。在過去一個(gè)世紀(jì)中我們?nèi)〉昧嗽S多科技進(jìn)步，那么在未來的十年，二十年，或五十年中我們又將如何發(fā)展呢?我們知道現(xiàn)在世界已經(jīng)變小了，演化成了一個(gè)大社區(qū)。

You are the architects of change. So tell me, how many things that seem inconceivable today will be obvious tomorrow? How long will man live? How will society be structured? Will we still be organized in couples, in communities with very nice governance? Sadly, at the current pace of change, we won't have universal access to education in a hundred years, let alone five. That is unacceptable.

你們是這些新變化的設(shè)計(jì)師。那么請(qǐng)告訴我，有多少在今天看來不可思議的事情會(huì)在明天成為現(xiàn)實(shí)?人類將會(huì)活多久?社會(huì)將會(huì)如何組成?我們還會(huì)實(shí)行夫妻制嗎?我們還會(huì)以社區(qū)為居住單位嗎?悲哀的是，按照目前的速度，我們?cè)儆?00年也無法普及教育，更別說5年了。這個(gè)事實(shí)讓人難以接受。

Especially, when the world has the resources to feed itself several times over, then, why are children starving? Latin America, alone has 3 times the necessary abundance to feed its entire population.

尤其是，當(dāng)這個(gè)世界有成倍的資源用來養(yǎng)活自己的時(shí)候，為什么孩子們還在挨餓?只拉丁美洲一個(gè)洲就擁有能夠供給其三倍人口的充裕食物。

These children can't wait, they can't wait a hundred more years.

這些孩子不能再等100年了。

重點(diǎn)講解：

1. inspire sb. to do sth.

激勵(lì);鼓舞;驅(qū)使某人做某事;

eg. These herbs will inspire you to try out all sorts of exotic-flavoured dishes!

這些香草會(huì)激發(fā)你去品嘗各種異國風(fēng)味的菜肴!

eg. Our challenge is to motivate those voters and inspire them to join our cause.

我們面臨的挑戰(zhàn)是如何調(diào)動(dòng)那些選民的積極性并鼓勵(lì)他們加入我們的事業(yè)。

eg. And what inspired you to change your name?

是什么促使你改名的?

2. have access to

進(jìn)入(權(quán));查閱(或使用)的機(jī)會(huì)(或權(quán)利);接近(或面見)的機(jī)會(huì)(或權(quán)利);

eg. Students must have access to good books.

學(xué)生必須有機(jī)會(huì)讀到好書。

eg. We have unrestricted access to all the facilities.

我們可隨意使用一切設(shè)施。

3. let alone

(通常用在否定句后)遑論，更別提，更不用說;

eg. It is incredible that the 12-year-old managed to even reach the pedals, let alone drive the car.

12歲的孩子能踩到踏板已經(jīng)是不可思議，就更不用說開車了。

eg. We can't afford a bicycle, let alone a car.

我們連自行車也買不起，更不用說汽車了。

名人簡介：

夏奇拉(Shakira)來自哥倫比亞，是歐美樂壇著名流行歌手、世界級(jí)拉丁天后、國際超級(jí)巨星。以演唱和創(chuàng)作拉丁風(fēng)格的歌曲著稱，擁有黎巴嫩、西班牙(加泰羅尼亞)和意大利血統(tǒng)。曾2次獲得格萊美獎(jiǎng)，八次獲得拉丁格萊美獎(jiǎng)。同時(shí)也是哥倫比亞籍唱片銷售量最多的藝人，根據(jù)BMI的調(diào)查數(shù)據(jù)顯示，她的專輯(包括單曲)的銷量已在全球超過7500萬張，她的知名度和熱心公益的善舉更令她被譽(yù)為“全球最成功的拉丁女歌手”、“全球最知名的哥倫比亞人”和“哥倫比亞的戴安娜王妃”。2010年為南非世界杯獻(xiàn)唱官方指定主題曲《Waka Waka》讓她再度紅遍全球。除了一再地獲得各種音樂獎(jiǎng)項(xiàng)的肯定外，Shakira更被美國《時(shí)代》雜志選為封面人物，被推舉為當(dāng)今拉丁藝人的代表人物。