二十一世纪大学英语读写教程（第四册）学习笔记（原文）——10 - My Graduation Speech（毕业演说）_my graduation speech课件

Unit 10 - My Graduation Speech（毕业演说）

My Graduation Speech

Neil Postman

Author's Note: Having sat through two dozen or so graduation speeches, I have naturally wondered why they are so often so bad. One reason, of course, is that the speakers are chosen for their eminence in some field, and not because they are either competent speakers or gifted writers. Another reason is that the audience is eager to be done with all the ceremony so that it can proceed to some serious reveling. Thus any speech longer than, say, fifteen minutes will seem tedious, if not entirely pointless. There are other reasons as well, including the difficulty of saying something inspirational without being banal. Here I try my hand at writing a graduation speech, and not merely to discover if I can conquer the form. This is precisely what I would like to say to young people if I had their attention for a few minutes.

If you think my graduation speech is good, I hereby grant you permission to use it, without further approval from or credit to me, should you be in an appropriate situation.

Members of the faculty, parents, guests and graduates, have no fear. I am well aware that on a day of such high excitement, what you require, first and foremost, of any speaker is brevity. I shall not fail you in this respect. There are exactly eighty-five sentences in my speech, four of which you have just heard. It will take me about twelve minutes to speak all of them and I must tell you that such economy was not easy for me to arrange, because I have chosen as my topic the complex subject of your ancestors. Not, of course, your biological ancestors, about whom I know nothing, but your spiritual ancestors, about whom I know a little. To be specific, I want to tell you about two groups of people whose influence is still with us. They were very different from each other, representing opposite values and traditions. I think it is appropriate for you to be reminded of them on this day because, sooner than you know, you must align yourself with the spirit of one or the other.

The first group lived about 2,500 years ago in the place we now call Greece, in a city they called Athens. We do not know as much about their origins as we would like. But we do know a great deal about their accomplishments. They were, for example, the first people to develop a complete alphabet, and therefore they became the first truly literate population on earth. They invented the idea of political democracy, which they practiced with a vigor that puts us to shame. They invented what we call philosophy. And they also invented what we call science, and one of them—Democritus by name—conceived of the atomic theory of matter 2,300 years before it occurred to any modern scientist. They composed and sang epic poems of unsurpassed beauty and insight. And they wrote and performed plays that, almost three millennia later, still have the power to make audiences laugh and weep. They even invented what, today, we call the Olympics, and among their values none stood higher than that in all things one should strive for excellence. They believed in reason. They believed in beauty. They believed in moderation. And they invented the word and idea which we know today as ecology.

About 2,000 years ago, the vitality of their culture declined and these people began to disappear. But not what they had created. Their imagination, art, politics, literature, and language spread all over the world so that, today, it is hardly possible to speak on any subject without repeating what some Athenian said on the matter 2,500 years ago.

The second group of people lived in the place we now call Germany, and flourished about 1,700 years ago. We call them the Visigoths, and you may remember that your sixth-or seventh-grade teacher mentioned them. They were spectacularly good horsemen, which is about the only pleasant thing history can say of them. They were marauders—ruthless and brutal. Their language lacked subtlety and depth. Their art was crude and even grotesque. They swept down through Europe destroying everything in their path, and they overran the Roman Empire. There was nothing a Visigoth like better than to burn a book, desecrate a building, or smash a work of art. From the Visigoths, we have no poetry, no theater, no logic, no science, no humane politics.

Like the Athenians, the Visigoths also disappeared, but not before they had ushered in the period known as the Dark Ages. It took Europe almost a thousand years to recover from the Visigoths.

Now, the point I want to make is that the Athenians and the Visigoths still survive, and they do so through us and the ways in which we conduct our lives. All around us—in this hall, in this community, in our city—there are people whose way of looking at the world reflects the way of the Athenians, and there are people whose way is the way of the Visigoths. I do not mean, of course, that our modern—day Athenians roam abstractly through the streets reciting poetry and philosophy, or that the modern-day Visigoths are killers. I mean that to be an Athenian or a Visigoth is to organize your life around a set of values. An Athenian is an idea. And a Visigoth is an idea. Let me tell you briefly what these ideas consist of.

To be an Athenian is to hold knowledge and, especially, the quest for knowledge in high esteem. To contemplate, to reason, to experiment, to question—these are, to an Athenian, the most exalted activities a person can perform. To a Visigoth, the quest for knowledge is useless unless it can help you to earn money or to gain power over other people.

To be an Athenian is to cherish language because you believe it to be humankind's most precious gift. In their use of language, Athenians strive for grace, precision, and variety. And they admire those who can achieve such skill. To a Visigoth, one word is as good as another, one sentence indistinguishable from another. A Visigoth's language aspires to nothing higher than the cliche.

To be an Athenian is to understand that the thread which hold civilized society together is thin and vulnerable; therefore, Athenians place great value on tradition, social restraint, and continuity. To an Athenian, bad manners are acts of violence against the social order. The modern Visigoth cares very little about any of this. The Visigoths think of themselves as the center of the universe. Tradition exists for their own convenience, good manners are an affectation and a burden, and history is merely what is in yesterday's paper.

To be an Athenian is to take interest in public affairs and the improvement of public behavior. Indeed, the ancient Athenians had a word for people who did not. The word was idiotes, from which we get our word idiot. A modern Visigoth is interested only in his own affairs and has no sense of the meaning of community.

And, finally, to be an Athenian is to esteem the discipline, skill, and taste that are required to produce enduring art. Therefore, in approaching a work of art, Athenians prepare their imagination through learning and experience. To a Visigoth, there is no measure of artistic excellence except popularity. What catches the fancy of the multitude is good. No other standard is respected or even acknowledged by the Visigoth.

Now, it must be obvious what all this has to do with you. Eventually, like the rest of us, you must be on one side or the other. You must be an Athenian or a Visigoth. Of course, it is much harder to be an Athenian, for you must learn how to be one, you must work at being one, whereas we are all, in a way, natural-born Visigoths. That is why there are so many more Visigoths than Athenians. And I must tell you that you do not become an Athenian merely by attending school or accumulating degrees. My father-in-law was one of the most committed Athenians I have ever known, and he spent his entire adult life as a dress cutter on Seventh Avenue in New York City. On the other hand, I have known physicians, lawyers, and engineers who are Visigoths of unmistakable persuasion. And I must also tell you, as much in sorrow as in shame, that at some of our great universities, perhaps even this one, there are professors of whom we may fairly say they are closet Visigoths. And yet, you must not doubt for a moment that a school, after all, is essentially an Athenian idea. There is a direct link between the cultural achievements of Athens and what the faculty of this university is all about. I have no difficulty imagining that Plato, Aristotle, or Democritus would be quite at home in our classrooms. A Visigoth would merely scrawl obscenities on the wall.

And so, whether you were aware of it or not, the purpose of your having been at this university was to give you a glimpse of the Athenian way, to interest you in the Athenian way. We cannot know on this day how many of you will choose the way and how many will not. You are young and it is not given to us to see your future. But I will tell you this, with which I will close: I can wish for you no higher compliment than that in the future it will be reported that among your graduating class the Athenians mightily outnumbered the Visigoths.

Thank you, and congratulations.

New Words

eminence

n. superiority in rank, position, achievement, etc. 出众，卓越

revel

vi. make merry; celebrate noisily 作乐；狂欢

tedious

a. long and boring; uninteresting 冗长的；乏味的

pointless

a. without meaning or purpose 无意义的；无目的的

inspirational

a. of or giving inspiration 有灵感的；给予灵感的；鼓舞人心的

inspiration

n. 灵感；鼓舞人心的人（或事物）

banal

a. dull or unoriginal 陈腐的，老一套的

hereby

ad. by doing or saying this; as a result of this 据此；因此

permission

n. consent; authorization 同意；许可

permissable

a. 可允许的，许可的

foremost

ad. in the first place; before all else 首先；首要地

ancestor

n. any (esp. remote) person from whom one is descended 祖先，祖宗

spiritual

a. of or concerning the spirit as opposed to matter 精神上的

align

v. come, bring or arrange into a line （使）成一直线

literate

a. able to read and write; having studied or read a great deal 有读写能力的；有文化修养的

vigor

n. great physical or mental strength 精力，活力

vigorous

a. full of vigor; showing physical strength or activity 精力旺盛的；充满活力的

epic

n. a long poem about the deeds of gods and great men, or the early history of a nation 叙事长诗；史诗

unsurpassed

a. unexcelled, not capable of being improved on 未被超越的；超群的，卓绝的

moderation

n. avoidance of excesses or extremes; the ability or quality of keeping one's desires within reasonable limits 适度；节制

ecology

n. the branch of biology dealing with the relations of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings 生态学

flourish

vi. grow vigorously; prosper; be in one's prime 繁荣；兴旺；处于旺盛时期

spectacularly

ad. in a spectacular manner, stunningly 引人注目地；令人吃惊地

spectacular

a. grandly out of the ordinary; striking or amazing 壮观的；令人称奇的

horseman

n. a rider on horseback; a skilled rider 骑马的人；骑手

marauder

n. a person or animal that goes about searching for things to steal, people to attack, etc. （尤指流动作案的）强盗，抢劫者；攫食的动物

ruthless

a. having no pity or compassion 无情的；残忍的

brutal

a. having or showing no tender human feeling; cruel 残忍的；野蛮的；残酷的

subtlety

n. the quality or condition of being subtle; the ability or tendency to make fine distinctions 微妙；细微；细致；精细

crude

a. rough, unpolished; not skillfully done or finished 粗糙的；不精细的

grotesque

a. strange and unnatural so as to arouse fear or laughter 奇形怪状的；怪诞的；可笑的

overrun

vt. spread over; conquer (territory) by force 蔓延；侵占

desecrate

vt. violate (a sacred place or thing) with violence; treat as not sacred 玷辱（神明）；亵渎

usher

vt. bring, esp. by showing the way 引，领

roam

v. wander with no special plan or purpose 漫游；闲逛

abstractly

ad. in an abstract state or manner; without any particular aim or purpose 抽象地；无明确目的地

briefly

ad. in a concise manner; for a short time 简要地；短暂地

esteem

n. high regard; favorable opinion 尊重；好评

vt. have a high regard for; greatly respect; think favorably of 尊重；敬重；赞成

exalted

a. elevated in rank, position, etc.; noble, lofty （地位等）高的，崇高的；尊贵的，高尚的

exalt

vt. raise in status or power, etc.; praise highly 提升；晋升；赞扬

humankind

n. human beings collectively 人类

precision

n. the quality of being precise; exactness 精确；准确

precise

a. exact in form, detail, measurements, time, etc. 精确的，准确的

indistinguishable

a. that cannot be distinguished as being different or separate 难以分辩的; 难以区别的

aspire

vi. desire strongly to achieve sth.; have ambition for sth. 渴望；追求；有雄心

aspiration

n. (a) strong desire to do sth. or have sth., esp. sth. great or important 强烈愿望，热望；志向，抱负

cliche

n. a familiar phrase or expression used so often that it has lost much of its expressive force 陈词滥调；老生常谈

vulnerable

a. weak; easily hurt or attacked 脆弱的；易受伤的；易受攻击的

restraint

n. controls or limitations; things that prevent one from doing sth. 克制；约束2

continuity

n. the state of being continuous 连续性；连贯性

continual

a. going on without stopping; happening over and over again 持续不断的；频繁的

affectation

n. artificial behavior meant to impress others; a feeling or manner that is pretended 不自然的行为；矫揉造作

idiotes

n. (Gk) a person who is not in the public eye; an ignorant person 平庸的人；无知的人

idiot

n. a foolish or stupid person 白痴；傻瓜

popularity

n. the state or quality of being well liked, favored, or admired 普遍；流行；受欢迎

natural-born

a. 天生的

cutter

n. a worker whose job is cutting cloth, glass, stone, etc. （服装）剪裁师；玻璃切割工；凿石工

avenue

n. a road or way bordered with trees; a street, esp. a wide, principal one that runs at right angles to others called streets 林阴道；大街

persuasion

n. the act of persuading; the state of being persuaded; a group of people holding a particular belief 劝说；说服；持有某种信仰的宗派

closet

a. private; secret 私下的；秘密的

n. a small room or cupboard for clothes, etc.; a small, private room for reading, meditation, etc. 壁橱；储藏室；小房间（阅读、沉思用）

scrawl

vt. write, draw or mark hastily or carelessly 乱写；乱画；乱涂

obscenity

n. the state of being obscene; obscene word or act 淫秽，猥亵；猥亵淫秽的话（或行为）

obscene

a. indecent, disgusting (usu. about sex) 淫秽的，猥亵的

glimpse

n. & v. (have) a brief, quick look (at) 一瞥，一看

mightily

ad. with power or strength; greatly 有力地；强烈地；大大地

outnumber

vt. exceed in number 数目超过；比…多

Phrases and Expressions

sit through

remain seated until the end of; be present at 一直坐到…结束；出席

be/have done with

have finished with; be finished with 结束；完毕

first and foremost

most importantly; above all else 最重要的；首先

align oneself with sb.

join sb. as an ally; come into agreement with sb. 与某人结盟；与某人一致

put...to shame

cause shame to (sb./sth.); show (sb./sth.) to be inferior by comparison 使（某人/某事）蒙羞；使（某人/某事）相形见绌

sweep down

move steadily with great force or speed 席卷；突袭

usher in

introduce or mark the beginning of a new period, fashion, generation, etc. 引进（新时期、新一代等）；标志着（新时期、新时尚、新一代）的开始

known as

generally recognized as; called or labeled as 公认为；被称为

hold...in high esteem

have a very favorable opinion of; show great respect to 给…以好评；对…非常尊敬

aspire to

desire strongly to achieve (sth.); have ambition for (sth.) 渴望取得；对…抱有雄心

take interest in

be keen to know more about (sth.) or be involved in (it) 对…感兴趣

catch the fancy of sb./sb.'s fancy

please sb.; appeal to sb. 合某人的心意；吸引某人

have to do with

be connected with; be related to 与…有联系；与…有关

at home

at ease as if in one's own home; familiar 自在；无拘无束；熟悉

Proper Names

Neil Postman

尼尔·波斯特曼

Greece

希腊（欧洲巴尔干半岛南部国家）

Athens

雅典（希腊首都）

Democritus

德谟克利特（460—370 BC，古希腊唯物主义哲学家，原子论创始人之一）

Athenian

雅典人

Visigoth

西哥特人（公元5世纪后入侵罗马帝国并在法国和西班牙建立王国的条顿族人）

the Dark Ages

黑暗时代（公元5世纪至11世纪，欧洲中世纪的早期）

Plato

柏拉图（427—347 BC，古希腊哲学家）

Aristotle

亚里士多德（384—322 BC，古希腊哲学家和科学家，柏拉图的学生）

参考资料：

1. 21世纪大学英语读写教程第四册 Unit10_大学教材听力 - 可可英语