2001年3月6日迈克尔·杰克逊在英国牛津大学的演讲
谢谢，谢谢各位亲爱的朋友，对大家如此热烈的欢迎，我由衷的表示感谢，谢谢主席，对您的盛意邀请，我感到万分荣幸。同时，我特别地感谢犹太教律法家 Shmuley，感谢您十一年来在牛津所做的工作。您和我一起努力建立“拯救儿童”，就如创作我们的直白书一样艰辛，但自始至终你都给予极大的支持和爱心。我还要感谢“拯救儿童”的理事Toba Friedman，她将于今晚返回母校，在此，她曾经作为一个Marshall学者工作过。当然还感谢我们“拯救儿童”组织的另一位中心成员 Marilyn Piels。
Thank you, thank you dear friends, from the bottom of my heart, for such a loving and spirited welcome, and thank you, Mr. President, for you kind invitation to me which I am so honored to accept. I also want to express a special thanks to you Shmuley, who for 11 years served as Rabbi here at Oxford. You and I have been working so hard to form Heal the Kids, as well as writing our book about childlike qualities, and in all of our efforts you have been such a supportive and loving friend. And I would also like to thank Toba Friedman, our director of operations at Heal the Kids, who is returning tonight to the alma mater where she served as a Marshall scholar, as well as Marilyn Piels, another central member of our Heal the Kids team.
能来到这样一个曾经汇集过特蕾莎修女、爱因斯坦、罗纳德·里根、罗伯特·肯尼迪和 Malcolm X等著名人物的地方演讲我感到受宠若惊。听说Kermit the Frog曾经来过这里，我也和他有同感就是，没有深厚阅历的人来这里可并不容易，但我相信他一定没有想到我竟会这么容易的做到。
I am humbled to be lecturing in a place that has previously been filled by such notable figures as Mother Theresa, Albert Einstein, Ronald Reagan, Robert Kennedy and Malcolm X. I've even heard that Kermit the Frog has made an appearance here, and I've always felt a kinship with Kermit's message that it's not easy being green. I'm sure he didn't find it any easier being up here than I do.
今天我参观牛津大学，真的忍不住被这一伟大建筑的宏伟壮观所吸引，更不必说这世纪之城才俊云集的绚烂了。牛津不仅荟萃了最出色沉着的科学英才，还引导出了从J.R.R.托尔金到C.S.刘易斯等不少极富爱心的儿童文学家。今天，我被允许在教堂餐厅里参观了雕刻在彩色玻璃窗里的Lewis Carroll的爱丽斯梦游仙境。同时发现还有我的一位美国同胞，亲爱的苏斯先生也为此增色，启发着全世界的千万儿童的想象力。
As I looked round Oxford today, I couldn't help but be aware of the majesty and grandeur of this great institution, not to mention the brilliance of the great and gifted minds that have roamed these streets for centuries. The walls of Oxford have not only housed the greatest philosophical and scientific geniuses -- they have also ushered forth some of the most cherished creators of children's literature, from JRR Tolkien to CS Lewis. Today I was allowed to hobble into the dining hall in Christ Church to see Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland immortalized in the stained glass windows. And even one of my own fellow Americans, the beloved Dr Seuss graced these halls and then went on to leave his mark on the imaginations of millions of children throughout the world.
今晚，我想先从我为何能有幸在这里讲话开始。
I suppose I should start by listing my qualifications to speak before you this evening.
朋友们，正如其他一些来此的演讲者不善于月球漫步一样，我也并不具备他们所拥有的学术专业知识--而且，大家都知道，爱因斯坦在这方面尤其让人敬畏。但是我可以说，比起大多数人，在其他文化方面我拥有更丰富的经验。人类文明不仅仅包括图书馆中纸墨记载的，还包括那些记在人们内心的，刻进人们灵魂的，印入人类精神的。而且朋友们，在我相对短暂的生命里我经历了这么多，以至于我真的难以相信自己只有42岁。我经常对Shmuley说我的心理年龄肯定至少有80了，今晚我甚至象个80岁老人一样走路。
Friends, I do not claim to have the academic expertise of other speakers who have addressed this hall, just as they could lay little claim at being adept at the moonwalk -- and you know, Einstein in particular was really terrible at that. But I do have a claim to having experienced more places and cultures than most people will ever see. Human knowledge consists not only of libraries of parchment and ink -- it is also comprised of the volumes of knowledge that are written on the human heart, chiseled on the human soul, and engraved on the human psyche. And friends, I have encountered so much in this relatively short life of mine that I still cannot believe I am only 42. I often tell Shmuley that in soul years I'm sure that I'm at least 80 - and tonight I even walk like I'm 80.
那么就请大家听我说，因为今天我一定要对大家讲的或许会让大家一起来治愈人道，拯救地球！
So please harken to my message, because what I have to tell you tonight can bring healing to humanity and healing to our planet.
多亏上帝的恩典，我很幸运地提前实现了自己一生的艺术和职业抱负。但这些成绩和我是谁，完全不同性质。事实上，在崇拜者面前活泼快乐地表演Rocking Robin和Ben的五岁小男孩并不意味笑容背后的他也同样快乐。
Through the grace of God, I have been fortunate to have achieved many of my artistic and professional aspirations realized early in my lifetime. But these, friends are accomplishments, and accomplishments alone are not synonymous with who I am. Indeed, the cheery five-year-old who belted out Rockin' Robin and Ben to adoring crowds was not indicative of the boy behind the smile.
今晚，我不想以一个流行偶像的身份出现在大家面前，我更愿意作一代人的见证，一代不再了解作为孩子有什么意义的人。大家都有过童年，可我却缺少它，缺少那些宝贵的美妙的无忧无虑嬉戏玩耍的时光，而那些日子我们本该惬意地沉浸在父母亲人的疼爱中，为星期一重要的拼写考试下功夫做准备。熟悉The Jackson 5的朋友都知道我5岁时就开始表演，从那以后，就再也没有停止过跳舞唱歌。
Tonight, I come before you less as an icon of pop (whatever that means anyway), and more as an icon of a generation, a generation that no longer knows what it means to be children. All of us are products of our childhood. But I am the product of a lack of a childhood, an absence of that precious and wondrous age when we frolic playfully without a care in the world, basking in the adoration of parents and relatives, where our biggest concern is studying for that big spelling test come Monday morning. Those of you who are familiar with the Jackson Five know that I began performing at the tender age of five and that ever since then, I haven't stopped dancing or singing.
虽然音乐表演的确是我最大的乐趣，可是小的时候我更想和其他的男孩子一样，搭树巢，打水仗，捉迷藏。但是命中注定我只能羡慕那些笑声和欢乐，我的职业生活不容停歇。
But while performing and making music undoubtedly remain as some of my greatest joys, when I was young I wanted more than anything else to be a typical little boy. I wanted to build tree houses, have water balloon fights, and play hide and seek with my friends.
不过，作为耶和华见证人，每个礼拜天我都要去参加教会工作，那时，我就会设想自己的童年和别人的一样充满魔力。而自从我成名以后，我就不得不用肥大的衣服，假发，胡须和眼镜把自己伪装起来。我们在加州南部的郊区度过一整天，挨家挨户串门，或者在购物中心闲逛，发放我们的了望台杂志。我也喜欢到普通的家庭里去，看那些粗毛地毯，看那些小家伙们过家家，看所有的精彩普通闪亮的日常生活情景。我知道很多人会认为这没什么大不了，可对我却充满了诱惑。我常常想自己这种没有童年的感觉是独一无二的，我想能和我分享这种感觉的人更是少之又少。
But fate had it otherwise and all I could do was envy the laughter and playtime that seemed to be going on all around me. There was no respite from my professional life. But on Sundays I would go Pioneering, the term used for the missionary work that Jehovah's Witnesses do. And it was then that I was able to see the magic of other people's childhood. Since I was already a celebrity, I would have to don a disguise of fat suit, wig, beard and glasses and we would spend the day in the suburbs of Southern California, going door-to-door or making the rounds of shopping malls, distributing our Watchtower magazine. I loved to set foot in all those regular suburban houses and catch sight of the shag rugs and La-Z-Boy armchairs with kids playing Monopoly and grandmas baby-sitting and all those wonderful, ordinary and starry scenes of everyday life. Many, I know, would argue that these things seem like no big deal. But to me they were mesmerizing. I used to think that I was unique in feeling that I was without a childhood. I believed that indeed there were only a handful with whom I could share those feelings.
前些时候，我有幸遇到了三，四十年代的一位童星秀兰·邓波儿，一见面我们什么都不说，只是一起哭，因为她能分担我的痛苦，这种痛苦只有我的一些密友，伊丽莎白·泰勒和麦考利·库尔金他们才能体会到。我说这些并不是要博得大家的同情，只是想让大家牢记一点——这种失去童年的痛苦不仅仅属于好莱坞的童星。
When I recently met with Shirley Temple Black, the great child star of the 1930s and 40s, we said nothing to each other at first. We simply cried together, for she could share a pain with me that only others like my close friends Elizabeth Taylor and McCauley Culkin knew. I do not tell you this to gain your sympathy but to impress upon you my first important point -- it is not just Hollywood child stars that have suffered from a nonexistent childhood.
现在，这已经成为全世界的灾难。童年成了当代生活的牺牲品。我们使很多孩子不曾拥有欢乐，不曾得到相应的权利，不曾获得自由，而且还认为一个孩子就该是这样的。现在，孩子们经常被鼓励长大得快一些，好象这个叫做童年的时期是一个累赘的阶段，大人们很不耐烦地想着法儿让它尽可能地快些结束。在这个问题上，我无疑是世界上最专业的人士之一了。我这一代正是废除亲子盟约必要性的见证。
Today, it's a universal calamity, a global catastrophe. Childhood has become the great casualty of modern-day living. All around us we are producing scores of kids who have not had the joy, who have not been accorded the right, who have not been allowed the freedom, or knowing what it's like to be a kid. Today children are constantly encouraged to grow up faster, as if this period known as childhood is a burdensome stage, to be endured and ushered through, as swiftly as possible. And on that subject, I am certainly one of the world's greatest experts. Ours is a generation that has witnessed the abrogation of the parent-child covenant.
心理学家在书中详述了不给予孩子绝对的爱而导致的毁灭性影响，这种无条件的爱对他们精神和人格的健康发展是极其必要的。因为被忽视，很多孩子就封闭自己。他们渐渐疏远自己的父母亲，祖父母以及其他的家庭成员，我们身边那种曾经团结过一代人的不灭的凝集力就这样散开了。这种违背常理的行为造就了一代新人，他们拥有所有外在的东西--财富，成功，时装和跑车，但他们的内心却是痛苦和空虚。胸口的空洞，心灵的荒芜，那些空白的地方曾经搏动着我们的心脏，曾经被爱占据。其实，不仅孩子们痛苦，父母亲也同样受煎熬。我们越是让孩子们早熟，我们就越来越远离了天真，而这种天真就算成年人也值得拥有。
Psychologists are publishing libraries of books detailing the destructive effects of denying one's children the unconditional love that is so necessary to the healthy development of their minds and character. And because of all the neglect, too many of our kids have, essentially, to raise themselves. They are growing more distant from their parents, grandparents and other family members, as all around us the indestructible bond that once glued together the generations, unravels. This violation has bred a new generation, Generation O let us call it, that has now picked up the torch from Generation X. The O stands for a generation that has everything on the outside -- wealth, success, fancy clothing and fancy cars, but an aching emptiness on the inside. That cavity in our chests, that barrenness at our core, that void in our center is the place where the heart once beat and which love once occupied. And it's not just the kids who are suffering. It's the parents as well. For the more we cultivate little adults in kids' bodies, the more removed we ourselves become from our own childlike qualities, and there is so much about being a child that is worth retaining in adult life.
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