Dr. Wong, Dr. Keough, Mrs. Novogroski, Ms. Curran, members of the board of education, family and friends of the graduates, ladies and gentlemen of the Wellesley High School class of 2012, for the privilege of speaking to you this afternoon, I am honored and grateful. Thank you。
王博士、Keough博士、Novogroski女士和Curran小姐;教育委员会委员和毕业生的亲朋好友;韦斯利高中2012年毕业班的女士先生们;有机会能在这个下午对你们演讲令我感到十分荣幸与感激，谢谢。好，进入主题吧!
So here we are… commencement… life’s great forward-looking ceremony. (And don’t say, “What about weddings?” Weddings are one-sided and insufficiently effective. Weddings are bride-centric pageantry. Other than conceding to a list of unreasonable demands, the groom just stands there. No stately, hey-everybody-look-at-me procession. No being given away. No identity-changing pronouncement. And can you imagine a television show dedicated to watching guys try on tuxedos? Their fathers sitting there misty-eyed with joy and disbelief, their brothers lurking in the corner muttering with envy. Left to men, weddings would be, after limits-testing procrastination, spontaneous, almost inadvertent… during halftime… on the way to the refrigerator. And then there’s the frequency of failure: statistics tell us half of you will get divorced. A winning percentage like that’ll get you last place in the American League East. The Baltimore Orioles do better than weddings。)
毕业典礼-生命中重要的前瞻性仪式。别问说，“那婚礼呢?”婚礼是单方面的，而且效率不高。婚礼是以新娘为中心的盛会，除了同意一长串无理的要求外，新郎只能呆站在一旁。没有庄严的、“大家看着我”的过程;没有像新娘被长辈送出的仪式;没有改变身份的宣告。你们能想象一个专门看男人试穿燕尾服的电视节目吗?他们的父亲坐在那里，泪汪汪的眼中透着喜悦和不可置信的神情;他们的兄弟躲在角落，羡慕地喃喃自语。对男人来说，在挑战极限的拖延后，婚礼就像自发性地，几乎是无意识地，在球赛中场休息时间去冰箱拿饮料。然而，婚姻的失败率如下：统计数据显示，现场观众有一半会离婚;这样的胜率会让你荣登美国联盟东区的炉主。巴尔的摩金莺队的胜率都比婚姻成功率来得高。