牛津演讲稿(5篇)
第1篇 迈克尔·杰克逊2022年牛津英语演讲稿
heal the kids – o_ford speech
o_ford university, march 2022 by michael jackson
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 your kind invitation to me which i am so honored to accept. i also want to e_press a special thanks to you shmuley, who for 11 years served as rabbi here at o_ford. 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.
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 _. 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!
as i looked around o_ford 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 o_ford 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 j.r.r. 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.
i suppose i should start by listing my qualifications to speak before you this evening. friends, i do not claim to have the academic e_pertise 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 e_perienced 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 chiseled 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! so please harken to my message, because what i have to tell you tonight can bring healing to humanity and healing to our planet.
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.
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. 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. 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. 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 know.
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 non-e_istent childhood. 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 e_perts.
ours is a generation that has witnessed the abrogation of the parent-child covenant. 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 _. 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 centre 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 child-like qualities, and there is so much about being a child that is worth retaining in adult life.
love, ladies and gentlemen, is the human family's most precious legacy, its richest bequest, its golden inheritance. and it is a treasure that is handed down from one generation to another. previous ages may not have had the wealth we enjoy. their houses may have lacked electricity, and they squeezed their many kids into small homes without central heating. but those homes had no darkness, nor were they cold. they were lit bright with the glow of love and they were warmed snugly by the very heat of the human heart. parents, undistracted by the lust for lu_ury and status, accorded their children primacy in their lives.
as you all know, our two countries broke from each other over what thomas jefferson referred to as 'certain inalienable rights'. and while we americans and british might dispute the justice of his claims, what has never been in dispute is that children have certain inalienable rights, and the gradual erosion of those rights has led to scores of children worldwide being denied the joys and security of childhood.
i would therefore like to propose tonight that we install in every home a children's universal bill of rights, the tenets of which are:
1. the right to be loved without having to earn it
2. the right to be protected, without having to deserve it
3. the right to feel valuable, even if you came into the world with nothing
4. the right to be listened to without having to be interesting
5. the right to be read a bedtime story, without having to compete with the evening news
6. the right to an education without having to dodge bullets at schools
7. the right to be thought of as adorable – (even if you have a face that only a mother could love).
friends, the foundation of all human knowledge, the beginning of human consciousness, must be that each and every one of us is an object of love. before you know if you have red hair or brown, before you know if you are black or white, before you know of what religion you are a part, you have to know that you are loved.
about twelve years ago, when i was just about to start my bad tour, a little boy came with his parents to visit me at home in california. he was dying of cancer and he told me how much he loved my music and me. his parents told me that he wasn't going to live, that any day he could just go, and i said to him: 'look, i am going to be coming to your town in kansas to open my tour in three months. i want you to come to the show. i am going to give you this jacket that i wore in one of my videos.' his eyes lit up and he said: 'you are gonna give it to me?' i said 'yeah, but you have to promise that you will wear it to the show.' i was trying to make him hold on. i said: 'when you come to the show i want to see you in this jacket and in this glove' and i gave him one of my rhinestone gloves – and i never usually give the rhinestone gloves away. and he was just in heaven.
but maybe he was too close to heaven, because when i came to his town, he had already died, and they had buried him in the glove and jacket. he was just 10 years old. god knows, i know, that he tried his best to hold on. but at least when he died, he knew that he was loved, not only by his parents, but even by me, a near stranger, i also loved him. and with all of that love he knew that he didn't come into this world alone, and he certainly didn't leave it alone.
if you enter this world knowing you are loved and you leave this world knowing the same, then everything that happens in between can he dealt with. a professor may degrade you, but you will not feel degraded, a boss may crush you, but you will not be crushed, a corporate gladiator might vanquish you, but you will still triumph. how could any of them truly prevail in pulling you down? for you know that you are an object worthy of love. the rest is just packaging.
but if you don't have that memory of being loved, you are condemned to search the world for something to fill you up. but no matter how much money you make or how famous you become, you will still fell empty. what you are really searching for is unconditional love, unqualified acceptance. and that was the one thing that was denied to you at birth.
friends, let me paint a picture for you. here is a typical day in america – si_ youths under the age of 20 will commit suicide, 12 children under the age of 20 will die from firearms – remember this is a day, not a year – 399 kids will be arrested for drug abuse, 1,352 babies will be born to teen mothers. this is happening in one of the richest, most developed countries in the history of the world.
yes, in my country there is an epidemic of violence that parallels no other industrialized nation. these are the ways young people in america e_press their hurt and their anger. but don't think that there is not the same pain and anguish among their counterparts in the united kingdom. studies in this country show that every single hour, three teenagers in the uk inflict harm upon themselves, often by cutting or burning their bodies or taking an overdose. this is how they have chosen to cope with the pain of neglect and emotional agony.
in britain, as many as 20% of families will only sit down and have dinner together once a year. once a year! and what about the time-honored tradition of reading your kid a bedtime story? research from the 1980s showed that children who are read to, had far greater literacy and significantly outperformed their peers at school. and yet, less than 33% of british children ages two to eight have a regular bedtime story read to them. you may not think much of that until you take into account that 75% of their parents did have that bedtime story when they were that age.
clearly, we do not have to ask ourselves where all of this pain, anger and violent behavior comes from. it is self-evident that children are thundering against the neglect, quaking against the indifference and crying out just to be noticed. the various child protection agencies in the us say that millions of children are victims of maltreatment in the form of neglect, in the average year. yes, neglect. in rich homes, privileged homes, wired to the hilt with every electronic gadget. homes where parents come home, but they're not really home, because their heads are still at the office. and their kids? well, their kids just make do with whatever emotional crumbs they get. and you don't get much from endless tv, computer games and videos.
these hard, cold numbers which for me, wrench the soul and shake the spirit, should indicate to you why i have devoted so much of my time and resources into making our new heal the kids initiative a colossal success.
our goal is simple – to recreate the parent/child bond, renew its promise and light the way forward for all the beautiful children who are destined one day to walk this earth.
but since this is my first public lecture, and you have so warmly welcomed me into your hearts, i feel that i want to tell you more. we each have our own story, and in that sense statistics can become personal.
they say that parenting is like dancing. you take one step, your child takes another. i have discovered that getting parents to re-dedicate themselves to their children is only half the story. the other half is preparing the children to re-accept their parents.
when i was very young i remember that we had this crazy mutt of a dog named 'black girl,' a mi_ of wolf and retriever. not only wasn't she much of a guard dog, she was such a scared and nervous thing that it is a wonder she did not pass out every time a truck rumbled by, or a thunderstorm swept through indiana. my sister janet and i gave that dog so much love, but we never really won back the sense of trust that had been stolen from her by her previous owner. we knew he used to beat her. we didn't know with what. but whatever it was, it was enough to suck the spirit right out of that dog.
a lot of kids today are hurt puppies who have weaned themselves off the need for love. they couldn't care less about their parents. left to their own devices, they cherish their independence. they have moved on and have left their parents behind.
then there are the far worse cases of children who harbor animosity and resentment toward their parents, so that any overture that their parents might undertake would be thrown forcefully back in their face.
tonight, i don't want any of us to make this mistake. that's why i'm calling upon all the world's children – beginning with all of us here tonight – to forgive our parents, if we felt neglected. forgive them and teach them how to love again.
you probably weren't surprised to hear that i did not have an idyllic childhood. the strain and tension that e_ists in my relationship with my own father is well documented. my father is a tough man and he pushed my brothers and me hard, from the earliest age, to be the best performers we could be.
he had great difficulty showing affection. he never really told me he loved me. and he never really complimented me either. if i did a great show, he would tell me it was a good show. and if i did an ok show, he told me it was a lousy show.
he seemed intent, above all else, on making us a commercial success. and at that he was more than adept. my father was a managerial genius and my brothers and i owe our professional success, in no small measure, to the forceful way that he pushed us. he trained me as a showman and under his guidance i couldn't miss a step.
but what i really wanted was a dad. i wanted a father who showed me love. and my father never did that. he never said i love you while looking me straight in the eye, he never played a game with me. he never gave me a piggyback ride, he never threw a pillow at me, or a water balloon.
but i remember once when i was about four years old, there was a little carnival and he picked me up and put me on a pony. it was a tiny gesture, probably something he forgot five minutes later. but because of that moment i have this special place in my heart for him. because that's how kids are, the little things mean so much to them and for me, that one moment meant everything. i only e_perienced it that one time, but it made me feel really good, about him and the world.
but now i am a father myself, and one day i was thinking about my own children, prince and paris and how i wanted them to think of me when they grow up. to be sure, i would like them to remember how i always wanted them with me wherever i went, how i always tried to put them before everything else. but there are also challenges in their lives. because my kids are stalked by paparazzi, they can't always go to a park or a movie with me.
so what if they grow older and resent me, and how my choices impacted their youth? why weren't we given an average childhood like all the other kids, they might ask? and at that moment i pray that my children will give me the benefit of the doubt. that they will say to themselves: 'our daddy did the best he could, given the unique circumstances that he faced. he may not have been perfect, but he was a warm and decent man, who tried to give us all the love in the world.'
i hope that they will always focus on the positive things, on the sacrifices i willingly made for them, and not criticize the things they had to give up, or the errors i've made, and will certainly continue to make, in raising them. for we have all been someone's child, and we know that despite the very best of plans and efforts, mistakes will always occur. that's just being human.
and when i think about this, of how i hope that my children will not judge me unkindly, and will forgive my shortcomings, i am forced to think of my own father and despite my earlier denials, i am forced to admit that me must have loved me. he did love me, and i know that.
there were little things that showed it. when i was a kid i had a real sweet tooth – we all did. my favorite food was glazed doughnuts and my father knew that. so every few weeks i would come downstairs in the morning and there on the kitchen counter was a bag of glazed doughnuts – no note, no e_planation – just the doughnuts. it was like santa claus.
sometimes i would think about staying up late at night, so i could see him leave them there, but just like with santa claus, i didn't want to ruin the magic for fear that he would never do it again. my father had to leave them secretly at night, so as no one might catch him with his guard down. he was scared of human emotion, he didn't understand it or know how to deal with it. but he did know doughnuts.
and when i allow the floodgates to open up, there are other memories that come rushing back, memories of other tiny gestures, however imperfect, that showed that he did what he could. so tonight, rather than focusing on what my father didn't do, i want to focus on all the things he did do and on his own personal challenges. i want to stop judging him.
i have started reflecting on the fact that my father grew up in the south, in a very poor family. he came of age during the depression and his own father, who struggled to feed his children, showed little affection towards his family and raised my father and his siblings with an iron fist. who could have imagined what it was like to grow up a poor black man in the south, robbed of dignity, bereft of hope, struggling to become a man in a world that saw my father as subordinate. i was the first black artist to be played on mtv and i remember how big a deal it was even then. and that was in the 80s!
my father moved to indiana and had a large family of his own, working long hours in the steel mills, work that kills the lungs and humbles the spirit, all to support his family. is it any wonder that he found it difficult to e_pose his feelings? is it any mystery that he hardened his heart, that he raised the emotional ramparts? and most of all, is it any wonder why he pushed his sons so hard to succeed as performers, so that they could be saved from what he knew to be a life of indignity and poverty?
i have begun to see that even my father's harshness was a kind of love, an imperfect love, to be sure, but love nonetheless. he pushed me because he loved me. because he wanted no man ever to look down at his offspring.
and now with time, rather than bitterness, i feel blessing. in the place of anger, i have found absolution. and in the place of revenge i have found reconciliation. and my initial fury has slowly given way to forgiveness.
almost a decade ago, i founded a charity called heal the world. the title was something i felt inside me. little did i know, as shmuley later pointed out, that those two words form the cornerstone of old testament prophecy. do i really believe that we can heal this world, that is riddled with war and genocide, even today? and do i really think that we can heal our children, the same children who can enter their schools with guns and hatred and shoot down their classmates, like they did at columbine? or children who can beat a defenseless toddler to death, like the tragic story of jamie bulger? of course i do, or i wouldn't be here tonight.
but it all begins with forgiveness, because to heal the world, we first have to heal ourselves. and to heal the kids, we first have to heal the child within, each and every one of us. as an adult, and as a parent, i realize that i cannot be a whole human being, nor a parent capable of unconditional love, until i put to rest the ghosts of my own childhood.
and that's what i'm asking all of us to do tonight. live up to the fifth of the ten commandments. honor your parents by not judging them. give them the benefit of the doubt.
that is why i want to forgive my father and to stop judging him. i want to forgive my father, because i want a father, and this is the only one that i've got. i want the weight of my past lifted from my shoulders and i want to be free to step into a new relationship with my father, for the rest of my life, unhindered by the goblins of the past.
in a world filled with hate, we must still dare to hope. in a world filled with anger, we must still dare to comfort. in a world filled with despair, we must still dare to dream. and in a world filled with distrust, we must still dare to believe.
to all of you tonight who feel let down by your parents, i ask you to let down your disappointment. to all of you tonight who feel cheated by your fathers or mothers, i ask you not to cheat yourself further. and to all of you who wish to push your parents away, i ask you to e_tend you hand to them instead. i am asking you, i am asking myself, to give our parents the gift of unconditional love, so that they too may learn how to love from us, their children. so that love will finally be restored to a desolate and lonely world.
shmuley once mentioned to me an ancient biblical prophecy which says that a new world and a new time would come, when 'the hearts of the parents would be restored through the hearts of their children.' my friends, we are that world, we are those children.
mahatma gandhi said: 'the weak can never forgive. forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.' tonight, be strong. beyond being strong, rise to the greatest challenge of all – to restore that broken covenant. we must all overcome whatever crippling effects our childhoods may have had on our lives and in the words of jesse jackson, forgive each other, redeem each other and move on.
this call for forgiveness may not result in oprah moments the world over, with thousands of children making up with their parents, but it will at least be a start, and we'll all be so much happier as a result.
and so ladies and gentlemen, i conclude my remarks tonight with faith, joy and e_citement.
from this day forward, may a new song be heard.
let that new song be the sound of children laughing.
let that new song be the sound of children playing.
let that new song be the sound of children singing.
and let that new song be the sound of parents listening.
together, let us create a symphony of hearts, marveling at the miracle of our children and basking in the beauty of love.
let us heal the world and blight its pain.
and may we all make beautiful music together.
god bless you, and i love you.
第2篇 王力宏牛津大学励志演讲稿
以下内容是王力宏受邀在牛津大学以“认识华流”为主题的演讲稿，他在现场也跟大家分享了不少生活轶事，其中不乏切身感受。谈到中西方融合时，他也深感自己肩负的使命。在演讲最后，王力宏还不忘将优秀的华人音乐带给大家。
谢谢波琳娜，谢谢君，谢谢珮姗帮我组织这一切。
谢谢在座的各位，谢谢晚来的同学，也谢谢你们悄悄的进来。
今天开始之前，我想要先为四川地震的灾民们以及波士顿马拉松爆炸事件的受害者们默哀。让我们用一分钟时间，为他们祈福。
谢谢你们。
尊敬的各位牛津大学辩论会和牛津大学亚太学生会的同学们，万万想不到会以这样的方式跟你们相聚。没有吉他和二胡，没有夸张的舞台装也没有“火力全开”头。不过上周确实在伦敦的o2体育馆表演过了。不知道大家有没有去看呢。 但是，从各方面来说，这些跟我们今天的话题都有密切的关联。那就是-介绍华流音乐。
其实无论我喜不喜欢，我都被认为在代表者华流音乐以及电影。那么今天，我就要来做一次“国情咨文”报告了。但是，这个“国”不是牛津，而是东西方的一个联合体。我想跟你们聊一聊，我们在将华语音乐引入西方社会方面所做的事情，无论是成就，还是不足。我都会坦诚布公。同时，我也想借此机会给你们留下这样一个印记：软实力交流的重要性以及它同我们每个人的相关程度。
软实力这个词我相信大家都不陌生。这个概念是由rhodes scholar 和牛津校友joseph nye 提出的。
被定义为一种“吸引”和“说服”的能力。
shashi tharoor 在最近的一次ted演讲中把它定义为“一种文化让其他文化在听了他动人的故事之后受到影响并爱上这种文化”的能力。
我很喜欢这个定义。
但是我想用贴近你们在做大学生们的方式来解释这个词。在我看来，东方跟西方在某种程度上，像是两个大一刚入学的新生舍友。
两个几乎陌生的人，突然来到同一个屋檐下，其中一个总是怕另一个会跟他抢洗澡的时间，或者在他想要学习的时候大开趴体。
这种关系很可能就变成跟地狱一样了，不是么?“我的室友是极品”的故事大家都讲得出来。这些事我都有耳闻。还有我知道牛津这儿的很多同学都一人一间的对吧，但是，在我刚上威廉姆斯学院的时候，我并不幸运，而且人身安全堪忧。
哇，你还真的是我们学校的!好吧，好棒!
我当时就有一个这样的极品舍友，让我们暂且叫他frank。这个frank 就是那种好像除了抽没有别的爱好的人。而且他每天都抽。
他床底下有一个两英尺长的烟斗，持续不断的得点着。给在做讲中文的同学们形容下，就是他每天会对着那个烟斗火力全开好吧。
我可能在这点上算是跟bill clinton 相反吧。bill clinton 是那种“我试过，但我不上瘾。”我不抽，但是我每天都在吸啊吸，而且还是二手的。奇怪的是，只要我在我们的卧室里，我最后都会稀里糊涂地上课迟到。我也不知道怎么回事。我当时就是那副吸了的样子，嘿，已经十点了吗?
你们中有多少人有过frank那样的舍友呢?或者，你们也像他一样。所以有一个室友可能是一场灾难的开始。但也可能会酿造一段非凡的友谊。frank第二年就辍学了。于是我换了两个新的舍友，stefan 和 jason。如今，我们三个是铁哥们。
回过头来看我的那个类比，我们东方和西方的舍友。是应该成为frank那样的存在，还是想像stefan 和 jason那样呢?我认为在当时当下，在2022，我们应该努力成为后者。我们应该， 我是说，我想在这一目标上我们是可以达成共识的，对吧?
那么，回过头来，正视我们在现实中的处境。看看最近的新闻头条：《外交政策》杂志上的，“中国的受害者情节：为何中国领导人如此猜忌美国”或者法新社的财经杂志《彭博商业周刊》上说，“没错，中国军队正在测探你。”
这个特别逗，我来给你们展示一下这封面。是的，特别恐慌有木有!方向那对的吧，嗯，对的。当今对于中国有太多的负面东西。恐华情绪很严重。我觉得这种现象不仅是一种误传同时也是一种误导。这是很可怕的，超级可怕。
那么，中国人又是如何看待西方的呢?我们对西方人的称呼五花八门。大家熟知的有：香港人叫他们“鬼佬”，字面上就是“老妖”。大陆人叫他们老外，字面上就是“蛮夷”。还有台湾人叫他们“红毛”。还真说不完呢。这看上去像是能发展成一段最佳友谊的舍友关系吗?我认为我们得治治病。随着中国实力不断强大，看清楚应该相信什么这一点空前重要。因为，归根结底，这就是高等教育的目的。
这就是我们坐在这里的原因：有能力独立思考，自主选择。中国当然不能通过那些新闻头条来定义。也不只是所谓的特殊政策下快速增长的经济。中国不仅仅是一个世界工厂，也不仅仅是未来超级大国。中国的意义价值远大于此。一个拥有十几亿人口，丰富悠久的历史文化与传奇故事的民族。作为中西两种文化的共同产物，我特别想要帮忙在两种文化之间培养起一种互相的理解，建立起一种很美好的情谊。
但凡事都有两面，所以我认为这背后蕴含着一个亟待讲述的爱情故事。我说“爱情故事”不完全在说笑。因为我相信，这些关于爱的故事能够拯救我们，把我们凝聚在一起。我今天讲的主题就是，通过流行文化修复东西方世界的关系。好宏伟的计划有木有啊!我会想办法讲明白的。
联合国秘书长潘基文说过，在音乐的世界里，沟通时无需语言的。这就是音乐的力量。这就是人心的力量。通过发扬艺术，我们才能够更好的了解其他民族的文明与文化。在这个动荡不安，人与人之间不甚宽容的年代，我们需要利用音乐的力量来更好的了解彼此。
联合国秘书长认为我们需要更多的音乐。这一点我很赞同。音乐和艺术一直在我的生命中占据着很重要的地位。音乐和艺术的力量能够帮助建立人与人之间的关系，用包容，友谊和爱来驱逐因为无知的仇恨而产生的恐惧。在不同文化之间推广音乐这一点上，我自己的童年时期的经历是一个最好的例证。
我在纽约的罗切斯特长大，几乎不会说中文。我连“台湾”和“泰国”这两个词都分不清楚。那是真的!我那时是个地地道道的美国人。直到我上了三年级，有一天在操场上，不可避免的事情终于发生了。因为中国人的血统，我第一次被人嘲笑了。当然一起玩的小孩都会互相戏弄开玩笑，但这次绝对不同。这点当时我立马就感觉到了。我们暂且管那个孩子叫bryan m吧。它开始嘲笑我说，中国人，日本人，脏膝盖，快来看。(英文还押韵)你们居然还笑，我太受伤了!好吧，我只是开个玩笑。我依然能够记得我当时的感觉。我感觉特别丢脸，特别尴尬。
但是我当时跟着所有其他人一直在笑。年幼的我并不知道该怎么办。当时感觉好像灵魂出窍一样。好像我能够和操场上其他美国孩子一起嘲笑中国人，我就是他们当中一员了。这种想法可取吗?当然不可取，而且是大错特错。
那是我第一次感受到一件残酷而现实的事实。我属于一个少数群体，但那绝不是最后一次。在那个时代的罗切斯特，亚洲人口特别少，几乎之占当地人口的百分之一。
我当时心里很乱，我很想把bryan 打一顿。他让我陷入那种窘境，因此我也要让他难过。但是他身材比我壮，出手也比我快。如果和他打架，我一定会被揍得更惨。这一点我们都知道。所以我就忍了下来。我从来没有告诉过别人。也没发泄什么感受。一直自己忍着，想让他们烂在心底就好了。后来慢慢地，这些感受在音乐里竟然十分巧妙地把我治愈了。我那个时候对小提琴，吉他，鼓都越来越得心应手，当然不是巧合。我渐渐发现，当我演奏或者唱歌的时候，其他孩子便会忘记我的种族或我的肤色。而真正接受我，了解真正的我，哪怕只是一小会。每当这个时候，他们就会发现，我跟他们都是一样的人。我也对世界充满感性的好奇和想象，我也需要爱。
到了六年级的时候，猜猜谁拉我加入他的乐队当鼓手?对，就是bryan，我答应了。于是bryan跟我一起，组成了我们小学的摇滚乐队：涅槃乐队。是真的我没开玩笑。我们的乐队在科特柯本的涅槃乐队之前就有了。所以后来涅槃乐队出道的时候，我跟bryan还嚷嚷，嘿，他盗用我们的名字!所以在那么小的时候，我就发现了音乐的迷人之处。当然这迷人之处也是我至今热爱音乐的原因之一。那就是，音乐能打破人与人之间的隔阂，能让我们那么快就看到彼此的相似点，而不是那些不同之处。后来上了高中，我学到了更多，音乐不仅仅能够沟通彼此，就像我跟bryan通过音乐结缘一样。它同时也是一股强大的影响他人，激励他人的力量。
sam wayne是我们学校的门卫。他是越南侨民。几乎从来不说英语。sam在我们学校做了二十几年的清洁工，擦地板，扫厕所。却从来没跟学生们说过话。学生们也从不跟他说话。但是一天，我们学校一年一度的音乐节前夕，sam找到我，手里拿着一封信。我吓坏了，心里琢磨，门卫sam找我会有什么事?于是他递给了我那封我至今保存的信。一看就是用颤抖的手写下的潦草字迹。全都是大写字母，信上写着，我在这个学校当了那么多年门卫，你是我见过的第一个担纲主唱的亚洲男孩。我今晚要带我六岁的女儿来看你的演出。因为我想要她看到，我们亚洲人也可以带给人好多正能量。我真的被那封信震惊了。十五岁的我当时就惊呆了。我第一次意识到，原来音乐如此重要。
在bryan那儿，他让两个本来是敌人的孩子成为了朋友，然而在sam这里，音乐的意义超过了个体的范畴，达到了一个更好的层次。音乐以我想不到的方式影响到我甚至完全不认识的人。我从头至尾对门卫sam的感激是无法用语言来形容的。他真的算是帮助我发掘人生目标的人之一。我从来不知道我的一个小小的行为，能够对这样一位甚至从来不说英文的越南侨民产生如此大的影响。流行文化，音乐以及任何一种讲述故事的方式包括电影，电视剧，他们都是如此的重要，连接着我们。比如bryan和我，又真的在影响着我们，激励着我们。
回过头来再看看这个东西方的联合体，是存在一种软实力偏向的。东方和西方这两个“舍友”之间的软实力交流会是什么样子的呢?有没有在中国很红的英文歌呢?当然有。英文电影呢?那就太多了。多到中国不得不限制好莱坞电影的引入，来给本土电影制造些成功的机会。那么反过来，又在西方很红的华语歌曲吗?
观众：江南style!王：哈哈，没错，还有电影。比如卧虎藏龙，那也是十三年前的事了。我觉得这当中有一种不平衡存在。我认为这是一种软实力赤字，就这么叫吧。当我们放眼这个方向的时候，也就是说，西方对东方的影响远远大于东方对西方的。原谅我这里把东方和西方这两个词用的这么随意。因为这比说，以英语为第一语言的国家，讲中文或讲粤语的地区，这样的话方便点。我在使用一种概况化的表达方式。希望你们能理解。
这种在流行文化影响方面的不平衡其实是个很有趣的问题。试想在任何一段健康的关系中，无论是友谊还是婚姻，双方彼此努力去了解对方都再重要不过了，对吗? 这种软实力交换需要一种平衡。
那么如何做到这一点呢?作为中国流行文化大使，我必须问自己这样一个问题，为什么会存在这种软实力赤字?是因为华语音乐真的很烂吗?求你们了别回答这个问题。我看得出你们当中肯定有人在嘀咕：别发牢骚了!写首劲歌吧!鸟叔不就做到了吗?事实上这背后是有点道理的。
一种说法是，我们所创作的内容，没有足够的国际竞争力。为什么就没有呢?那么，我们以韩流音乐为例。韩国的经济是以出口为导向的。他们的眼光是面向世界的。
事实上他们也必须面向世界。而华语流行音乐，仅凭借在中国国内发展以及在华语国家和地区举办巡演，就能够坚挺下去。而中国，正是由于是一个泱泱大国，市场潜力巨大，又有着160万个人口超过百万的城市，华语音乐确实有内化和固步自封的倾向。
所以华语流行音乐缺乏在国际市场竞争的敏感性这一观点是成立的。不过我认为这一议题的另一方面，更为有趣，更发人深省也更为真实。那就是西方听众并不熟悉华语音乐。因此并不懂得如何去欣赏华语音乐。哦好伤人啊!
我之所以认为这种论调其实站得住脚，是因为我本人恰巧有过这般经历。因此我对“西方人如何学着欣赏华语流行音乐”这个问题还是要一定发言权的。在17岁之前，我是一个身处美国的亚洲小孩。17岁之后，我变成了一个身处亚洲的美国孩子。情况完全颠倒了过来。
以前我是听着beatie boyz, led zeppelin，枪花长大的。但是到了台湾之后，我常边听音乐边想， 这音乐怎么一点节奏感没有!华丽的吉他独奏在哪里!所以，作为一个在亚洲的美国孩子，我刚开始接触到华语音乐的时候心里的想法是，这音乐太逊了，我不喜欢。我觉得这些歌都太不给力了。制作价值太低。这些歌手就是没有a_l rose (枪花主唱)或者mariah carey 那么会飙高音。直到有一天，我听了人生中第一场华流演唱会。是庾澄庆，哈林。在台北音乐中心的那场。
当他表演时，我看到台下观众脸上的表情，眼神 和他们对音乐的那种热烈响应。我总算知道问题出在哪里了。并不是华语音乐缺少什么，而是我不能够正确的聆听和欣赏它。看到台下的人群跟着哈林一起唱并且完全沉浸在他的音乐里的时候，我顿悟到，我起初没有很好的理解。我现在应该开始学着如何领悟它们。
如何用“当地的”耳朵去听音乐。我开始解构，分析，是什么让华语听众对某种旋律，歌曲的结构或者歌词产生共鸣。在过去二十年我一直在做这样的工作。真是路漫漫，至今我还在学习中。
而从某刻开始，我不仅能欣赏华语音乐了，而且能够开始做出自己的贡献。开始尝试和创造自己的风格。作为外观者，每个人都会这样。如果仅从自己的角度出发看问题，你总是会觉得外面的世界很奇怪。你总会觉得别人是异类。他们是怎么了?怎么会听这些东西?而我想说的是，只要你跨出去一步，就会有收获。并且我用自己的亲身经历证明，这是能够做到了。作为华语音乐大使，我一直在努力让人们开放接受，那些也许最初听上去并不喜欢的音乐，那么我们还能做些什么，来减少这种流行文化中的不平衡呢?
比如说，为牛津亚太学生会做演讲，或者在中国以外的地方开演唱会?但说真的，其实我觉得这种不平衡的趋势，正在开始发生微妙的，缓慢的，小心的，谨慎的变化。你们能够看到目前中国有很多跨文化的交流，外商渐渐视中国为宝地，近年来不乏很多跨国公司和合作成果，钢铁侠3，无数部变形金刚，生化危机……真的已经形成一种世界流行文化了。这正是我期待看到的，也是我最近专注的内容。之前我们有日流，韩流，华流，现在这种世界流正在慢慢兴起。这就是世界流，我觉得。。。是的，我很喜欢这么个说法，就是世界流并不是世界音乐，不是像。。。hmv之前有一个类别叫世界音乐。有点像音乐学院的“民族音乐学”课程的分类方式。
但世界流不是这样的，这个概念打破了陈规旧俗，冲开了艺术上那些一直阻碍在我们之间的界限。这就像一个大熔炉，一个马赛克拼图。如果我们仔细看，是可以领略到每种文化的不同风格和特色的。那么我们通过什么途径可以听到“世界流”音乐呢?并不存在这样一本世界流音乐杂志或一个平台，很不幸，当然这些是应该有的。
不过还好，我们有互联网，比如油管就是一个推广世界流音乐的中坚力量。苏珊大妈是通过英国达人秀走红的，她的成功不是通过唱片公司或者音乐圈的网络，而是走的草根路线。江南style也是一个很棒的范例，能成为一种掀起全球狂潮的文化现象。所以世界流，意味着一种世界范围内的流行文化，能让全人类共享，给我们提供了一个共通点。
于是今天，我的号召是什么呢?我想要帮助推进东西方之间的多元文化交流。这一点我想我已经表达的很清楚了，但是如何做到呢?我觉着吧，你们都可以出道嘛，这样就好了。我开个玩笑。不过如果成为歌手真的是你想做的事情那就另当别论了。我在此，号召各位，请务必在东方与西方横亘的隔阂间，建立一种室友般的情谊。并且能尽所能及的保护这份情谊，珍惜它，拥有它。千万不要千里迢迢从台湾跑来牛津大学当交换生还一天到晚只和中国学生聚一块。你说你这是干嘛对吧?这些事你在武汉，在南京，在老家的时候都能做对吧。
那些标题党，那些陈词滥调，那些超民族主义，别买他们的账。你应当学会自己判断，这个原则同样适用于研究东西方。把一件件来龙去脉搞清楚，独立思考，对那些天花乱坠的东西不要偏听则信。要是哪一天，你能做到漠视政府的鼓吹，忽视媒体的通稿，据理力争只为真理，动用“批判思维”的武器，是不是就能建立起那份情谊了呢?到那时，每个人都是独立的个体，个人不再是隶属于某个种族或是国家的无脸人?我们当然能做到。这是目标，也是理想。这是浪漫艺术家和音乐人亘古不变的初心。也是我想要极力撮成的一种情谊。正因如此，音乐和艺术的力量才这样强大，这样真切。正是这些力量让横亘期间的壁垒土崩瓦解。那些我们在彼此之间人为制造的隔阂，政府或者国籍，肤色。黑色，棕色，黄色和白色，无论哪一种肤色。也是这些力量让我们能够单程我们的内心，我们的恐惧，我们的希望，我们的梦想。最终我们就会发现，“远东”也并没有那么遥远。西方也并非都是蛮荒一片。
通过了解彼此的流行文化，探到彼此的内心，触碰彼此的灵魂。如果你们正想踏上这条贯通东西的征途，我诚挚的邀请你们和我一起加入这场奇幻之旅。作为在这条联通东西方之间的路上还算有点经验的人，我为你们准备了一只合集的卡带，里面收录了十首我爱的华语流行音乐。看，你们感受一下。本来今天我是给你们每人准备了cd的，但是我的团队好心提醒我说，这么做是不合法的。作为专业的专辑制作人，我可不能做这种事。不过这里的链接还是很好用的，因为这样你们还能看到这些歌曲相应的mv。
这10首我最爱的歌曲，来自不同的很棒的中国音乐人。我们就从他们开始了解入手中国的流行音乐吧!我觉得这些音乐人都很棒，希望你们也能喜欢。最后的最后，我只想说，现在置身于牛津大学校园，真的让我不由的回忆起我在威廉姆斯大学的那段时光。当我回首那四年，我发现最值得回忆的，就是于室友stephan papiano和jason price共处的时光了。事实上呢，jason就在观众席中。他专程从伦敦赶来看我。我在想，刚开始大家还是陌生人，我们对彼此不了解，有时候我们还会抢淋浴，甚至互相侵犯别人的隐私。但是我一直喜欢听stephen讲他在一个希腊家庭里成长的故事。还有他眼里原汁原味的希腊菜应该长什么样子。或是jason的故事，说他渴望以做小提琴为生，生活在意大利的克雷默那，像安东尼奥特拉迪瓦那样，而他的梦想后来真的实现了。
多年之后，我都无法忘记，我第一次拉“jason price”手工制作的小提琴时的场景，还有当时我内心的触动。他们也总是那样聚精会神，十分尊重的倾听我的成长故事，如何在一个中国传统家庭里长大。我的父母很严格，一直逼我学习。我们会互相分享各自的故事但是我们之间的纽带系的最牢的时候却是当我们单纯的围坐在一起听音乐的时候，我真心觉得我们的例子，就是东西人互相理解并和谐共处的典范。因此，这就是为何我今天要与各位分享中国的音乐。因为据我所知，这是最好的一种方式，让友谊地久天长。而这份友谊超越了所有的界限，让我们真真切切的了解彼此，展现最真实的自己。
谢谢大家!
第3篇 迈克尔·杰克逊牛津英语励志演讲稿
heal the children, heal the world
拯救儿童，拯救世界——流行音乐之王迈克尔·杰克逊
in a world?lled with hate, we must still dare to hope. keep hope alive. in a world?lled with anger, we must still dare to comfort. in a world?lled with despair, we must still dare to dream. and in a world?lled with distrust, we must still dare to believe. 即使世界充满仇恨，我们也要勇于憧憬，让希望永存;即使世界充满愤怒，我们也要敢于安慰;即使世界充满绝望，我们也要勇于梦想;即使世界充满猜疑，我们仍然敢于信任。
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heal the kids – o_ford speech
o_ford university, march 2022 by michael jackson
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 your kind invitation to me which i am so honored to accept. i also want to e_press a special thanks to you shmuley, who for 11 years served as rabbi here at o_ford. 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.
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 _. 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!
as i looked around o_ford 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 o_ford 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 j.r.r. 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.
i suppose i should start by listing my qualifications to speak before you this evening. friends, i do not claim to have the academic e_pertise 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 e_perienced 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 chiseled 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! so please harken to my message, because what i have to tell you tonight can bring healing to humanity and healing to our planet.
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.
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. 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. 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. 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 know.
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 non-e_istent childhood. 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 e_perts.
ours is a generation that has witnessed the abrogation of the parent-child covenant. 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 _. 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 centre 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 child-like qualities, and there is so much about being a child that is worth retaining in adult life.
love, ladies and gentlemen, is the human family's most precious legacy, its richest bequest, its golden inheritance. and it is a treasure that is handed down from one generation to another. previous ages may not have had the wealth we enjoy. their houses may have lacked electricity, and they squeezed their many kids into small homes without central heating. but those homes had no darkness, nor were they cold. they were lit bright with the glow of love and they were warmed snugly by the very heat of the human heart. parents, undistracted by the lust for lu_ury and status, accorded their children primacy in their lives.
as you all know, our two countries broke from each other over what thomas jefferson referred to as 'certain inalienable rights'. and while we americans and british might dispute the justice of his claims, what has never been in dispute is that children have certain inalienable rights, and the gradual erosion of those rights has led to scores of children worldwide being denied the joys and security of childhood.
i would therefore like to propose tonight that we install in every home a children's universal bill of rights, the tenets of which are:
1. the right to be loved without having to earn it
2. the right to be protected, without having to deserve it
3. the right to feel valuable, even if you came into the world with nothing
4. the right to be listened to without having to be interesting
5. the right to be read a bedtime story, without having to compete with the evening news
6. the right to an education without having to dodge bullets at schools
7. the right to be thought of as adorable – (even if you have a face that only a mother could love).
friends, the foundation of all human knowledge, the beginning of human consciousness, must be that each and every one of us is an object of love. before you know if you have red hair or brown, before you know if you are black or white, before you know of what religion you are a part, you have to know that you are loved.
about twelve years ago, when i was just about to start my bad tour, a little boy came with his parents to visit me at home in california. he was dying of cancer and he told me how much he loved my music and me. his parents told me that he wasn't going to live, that any day he could just go, and i said to him: 'look, i am going to be coming to your town in kansas to open my tour in three months. i want you to come to the show. i am going to give you this jacket that i wore in one of my videos.' his eyes lit up and he said: 'you are gonna give it to me?' i said 'yeah, but you have to promise that you will wear it to the show.' i was trying to make him hold on. i said: 'when you come to the show i want to see you in this jacket and in this glove' and i gave him one of my rhinestone gloves – and i never usually give the rhinestone gloves away. and he was just in heaven.
but maybe he was too close to heaven, because when i came to his town, he had already died, and they had buried him in the glove and jacket. he was just 10 years old. god knows, i know, that he tried his best to hold on. but at least when he died, he knew that he was loved, not only by his parents, but even by me, a near stranger, i also loved him. and with all of that love he knew that he didn't come into this world alone, and he certainly didn't leave it alone.
if you enter this world knowing you are loved and you leave this world knowing the same, then everything that happens in between can he dealt with. a professor may degrade you, but you will not feel degraded, a boss may crush you, but you will not be crushed, a corporate gladiator might vanquish you, but you will still triumph. how could any of them truly prevail in pulling you down? for you know that you are an object worthy of love. the rest is just packaging.
but if you don't have that memory of being loved, you are condemned to search the world for something to fill you up. but no matter how much money you make or how famous you become, you will still fell empty. what you are really searching for is unconditional love, unqualified acceptance. and that was the one thing that was denied to you at birth.
friends, let me paint a picture for you. here is a typical day in america – si_ youths under the age of 20 will commit suicide, 12 children under the age of 20 will die from firearms – remember this is a day, not a year – 399 kids will be arrested for drug abuse, 1,352 babies will be born to teen mothers. this is happening in one of the richest, most developed countries in the history of the world.
yes, in my country there is an epidemic of violence that parallels no other industrialized nation. these are the ways young people in america e_press their hurt and their anger. but don't think that there is not the same pain and anguish among their counterparts in the united kingdom. studies in this country show that every single hour, three teenagers in the uk inflict harm upon themselves, often by cutting or burning their bodies or taking an overdose. this is how they have chosen to cope with the pain of neglect and emotional agony.
in britain, as many as 20% of families will only sit down and have dinner together once a year. once a year! and what about the time-honored tradition of reading your kid a bedtime story? research from the 1980s showed that children who are read to, had far greater literacy and significantly outperformed their peers at school. and yet, less than 33% of british children ages two to eight have a regular bedtime story read to them. you may not think much of that until you take into account that 75% of their parents did have that bedtime story when they were that age.
clearly, we do not have to ask ourselves where all of this pain, anger and violent behavior comes from. it is self-evident that children are thundering against the neglect, quaking against the indifference and crying out just to be noticed. the various child protection agencies in the us say that millions of children are victims of maltreatment in the form of neglect, in the average year. yes, neglect. in rich homes, privileged homes, wired to the hilt with every electronic gadget. homes where parents come home, but they're not really home, because their heads are still at the office. and their kids? well, their kids just make do with whatever emotional crumbs they get. and you don't get much from endless tv, computer games and videos.
these hard, cold numbers which for me, wrench the soul and shake the spirit, should indicate to you why i have devoted so much of my time and resources into making our new heal the kids initiative a colossal success.
our goal is simple – to recreate the parent/child bond, renew its promise and light the way forward for all the beautiful children who are destined one day to walk this earth.
but since this is my first public lecture, and you have so warmly welcomed me into your hearts, i feel that i want to tell you more. we each have our own story, and in that sense statistics can become personal.
they say that parenting is like dancing. you take one step, your child takes another. i have discovered that getting parents to re-dedicate themselves to their children is only half the story. the other half is preparing the children to re-accept their parents.
when i was very young i remember that we had this crazy mutt of a dog named 'black girl,' a mi_ of wolf and retriever. not only wasn't she much of a guard dog, she was such a scared and nervous thing that it is a wonder she did not pass out every time a truck rumbled by, or a thunderstorm swept through indiana. my sister janet and i gave that dog so much love, but we never really won back the sense of trust that had been stolen from her by her previous owner. we knew he used to beat her. we didn't know with what. but whatever it was, it was enough to suck the spirit right out of that dog.
a lot of kids today are hurt puppies who have weaned themselves off the need for love. they couldn't care less about their parents. left to their own devices, they cherish their independence. they have moved on and have left their parents behind.
then there are the far worse cases of children who harbor animosity and resentment toward their parents, so that any overture that their parents might undertake would be thrown forcefully back in their face.
tonight, i don't want any of us to make this mistake. that's why i'm calling upon all the world's children – beginning with all of us here tonight – to forgive our parents, if we felt neglected. forgive them and teach them how to love again.
you probably weren't surprised to hear that i did not have an idyllic childhood. the strain and tension that e_ists in my relationship with my own father is well documented. my father is a tough man and he pushed my brothers and me hard, from the earliest age, to be the best performers we could be.
he had great difficulty showing affection. he never really told me he loved me. and he never really complimented me either. if i did a great show, he would tell me it was a good show. and if i did an ok show, he told me it was a lousy show.
he seemed intent, above all else, on making us a commercial success. and at that he was more than adept. my father was a managerial genius and my brothers and i owe our professional success, in no small measure, to the forceful way that he pushed us. he trained me as a showman and under his guidance i couldn't miss a step.
but what i really wanted was a dad. i wanted a father who showed me love. and my father never did that. he never said i love you while looking me straight in the eye, he never played a game with me. he never gave me a piggyback ride, he never threw a pillow at me, or a water balloon.
but i remember once when i was about four years old, there was a little carnival and he picked me up and put me on a pony. it was a tiny gesture, probably something he forgot five minutes later. but because of that moment i have this special place in my heart for him. because that's how kids are, the little things mean so much to them and for me, that one moment meant everything. i only e_perienced it that one time, but it made me feel really good, about him and the world.
but now i am a father myself, and one day i was thinking about my own children, prince and paris and how i wanted them to think of me when they grow up. to be sure, i would like them to remember how i always wanted them with me wherever i went, how i always tried to put them before everything else. but there are also challenges in their lives. because my kids are stalked by paparazzi, they can't always go to a park or a movie with me.
so what if they grow older and resent me, and how my choices impacted their youth? why weren't we given an average childhood like all the other kids, they might ask? and at that moment i pray that my children will give me the benefit of the doubt. that they will say to themselves: 'our daddy did the best he could, given the unique circumstances that he faced. he may not have been perfect, but he was a warm and decent man, who tried to give us all the love in the world.'
i hope that they will always focus on the positive things, on the sacrifices i willingly made for them, and not criticize the things they had to give up, or the errors i've made, and will certainly continue to make, in raising them. for we have all been someone's child, and we know that despite the very best of plans and efforts, mistakes will always occur. that's just being human.
and when i think about this, of how i hope that my children will not judge me unkindly, and will forgive my shortcomings, i am forced to think of my own father and despite my earlier denials, i am forced to admit that me must have loved me. he did love me, and i know that.
there were little things that showed it. when i was a kid i had a real sweet tooth – we all did. my favorite food was glazed doughnuts and my father knew that. so every few weeks i would come downstairs in the morning and there on the kitchen counter was a bag of glazed doughnuts – no note, no e_planation – just the doughnuts. it was like santa claus.
sometimes i would think about staying up late at night, so i could see him leave them there, but just like with santa claus, i didn't want to ruin the magic for fear that he would never do it again. my father had to leave them secretly at night, so as no one might catch him with his guard down. he was scared of human emotion, he didn't understand it or know how to deal with it. but he did know doughnuts.
and when i allow the floodgates to open up, there are other memories that come rushing back, memories of other tiny gestures, however imperfect, that showed that he did what he could. so tonight, rather than focusing on what my father didn't do, i want to focus on all the things he did do and on his own personal challenges. i want to stop judging him.
i have started reflecting on the fact that my father grew up in the south, in a very poor family. he came of age during the depression and his own father, who struggled to feed his children, showed little affection towards his family and raised my father and his siblings with an iron fist. who could have imagined what it was like to grow up a poor black man in the south, robbed of dignity, bereft of hope, struggling to become a man in a world that saw my father as subordinate. i was the first black artist to be played on mtv and i remember how big a deal it was even then. and that was in the 80s!
my father moved to indiana and had a large family of his own, working long hours in the steel mills, work that kills the lungs and humbles the spirit, all to support his family. is it any wonder that he found it difficult to e_pose his feelings? is it any mystery that he hardened his heart, that he raised the emotional ramparts? and most of all, is it any wonder why he pushed his sons so hard to succeed as performers, so that they could be saved from what he knew to be a life of indignity and poverty?
i have begun to see that even my father's harshness was a kind of love, an imperfect love, to be sure, but love nonetheless. he pushed me because he loved me. because he wanted no man ever to look down at his offspring.
and now with time, rather than bitterness, i feel blessing. in the place of anger, i have found absolution. and in the place of revenge i have found reconciliation. and my initial fury has slowly given way to forgiveness.
almost a decade ago, i founded a charity called heal the world. the title was something i felt inside me. little did i know, as shmuley later pointed out, that those two words form the cornerstone of old testament prophecy. do i really believe that we can heal this world, that is riddled with war and genocide, even today? and do i really think that we can heal our children, the same children who can enter their schools with guns and hatred and shoot down their classmates, like they did at columbine? or children who can beat a defenseless toddler to death, like the tragic story of jamie bulger? of course i do, or i wouldn't be here tonight.
but it all begins with forgiveness, because to heal the world, we first have to heal ourselves. and to heal the kids, we first have to heal the child within, each and every one of us. as an adult, and as a parent, i realize that i cannot be a whole human being, nor a parent capable of unconditional love, until i put to rest the ghosts of my own childhood.
and that's what i'm asking all of us to do tonight. live up to the fifth of the ten commandments. honor your parents by not judging them. give them the benefit of the doubt.
that is why i want to forgive my father and to stop judging him. i want to forgive my father, because i want a father, and this is the only one that i've got. i want the weight of my past lifted from my shoulders and i want to be free to step into a new relationship with my father, for the rest of my life, unhindered by the goblins of the past.
in a world filled with hate, we must still dare to hope. in a world filled with anger, we must still dare to comfort. in a world filled with despair, we must still dare to dream. and in a world filled with distrust, we must still dare to believe.
to all of you tonight who feel let down by your parents, i ask you to let down your disappointment. to all of you tonight who feel cheated by your fathers or mothers, i ask you not to cheat yourself further. and to all of you who wish to push your parents away, i ask you to e_tend you hand to them instead. i am asking you, i am asking myself, to give our parents the gift of unconditional love, so that they too may learn how to love from us, their children. so that love will finally be restored to a desolate and lonely world.
shmuley once mentioned to me an ancient biblical prophecy which says that a new world and a new time would come, when 'the hearts of the parents would be restored through the hearts of their children.' my friends, we are that world, we are those children.
mahatma gandhi said: 'the weak can never forgive. forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.' tonight, be strong. beyond being strong, rise to the greatest challenge of all – to restore that broken covenant. we must all overcome whatever crippling effects our childhoods may have had on our lives and in the words of jesse jackson, forgive each other, redeem each other and move on.
this call for forgiveness may not result in oprah moments the world over, with thousands of children making up with their parents, but it will at least be a start, and we'll all be so much happier as a result.
and so ladies and gentlemen, i conclude my remarks tonight with faith, joy and e_citement.
from this day forward, may a new song be heard.
let that new song be the sound of children laughing.
let that new song be the sound of children playing.
let that new song be the sound of children singing.
and let that new song be the sound of parents listening.
together, let us create a symphony of hearts, marveling at the miracle of our children and basking in the beauty of love.
let us heal the world and blight its pain.
and may we all make beautiful music together.
god bless you, and i love you.
第4篇 王力宏牛津大学英文演讲稿
以下是站为大家提供的王力宏在牛津大学的英文演讲稿原文(附中文翻译)：
thank you, plena. thank you, jun. thank you, peishan for helping this set up.
谢谢波琳娜，谢谢君，谢谢珮姗帮我组织这一切。
thank you all for being here today and the late comers as well. thank you for coming in quietly.
谢谢在座的各位，谢谢晚来的同学，也谢谢你们悄悄的进来。
i wanna start off today just to take a moment of silence for the victims of the sichuan earthquake and also for the victims of the boston marathon bombing. so let’s just take a minute to pay our respect to that.
今天开始之前，我想要先为四川地震的灾民们以及波士顿马拉松爆炸事件的受害者们默哀。让我们用一分钟时间，为他们祈福。
thank you.
谢谢你们。
i never thought i would be addressing you, the esteemed members of the o_ford union, without a guitar or an erhu, without my crazy stage hair, costumes. but i did perform in the o2 arena in london last week. i am not sure if any of you were able to make that. but in many ways, that was similar to what i’m talking about today, that is, introducing chinese pop music here.
尊敬的各位牛津大学辩论会和牛津大学亚太学生会的同学们，万万想不到会以这样的方式跟你们相聚。没有吉他和二胡，没有夸张的舞台装也没有“火力全开”头。不过上周确实在伦敦的o2体育馆表演过了。不知道大家有没有去看呢。 但是，从各方面来说，这些跟我们今天的话题都有密切的关联。那就是-介绍华流音乐。
see, i am actually an ambassador of chinese pop, whether i like it or not, both music and movies. and today i’m here to give you the state of union address. it’s not the o_ford union. it’s the union of east and west. i wanna frankly, openly and honestly talk about how we’ve done a good job or how we’ve done a bad job of bringing chinese pop to the west. and i also want to press upon all of you here today the importance of that soft culture, that soft power e_change and how each of us is involved in that e_change.
其实无论我喜不喜欢，我都被认为在代表者华流音乐以及电影。那么今天，我就要来做一次“国情咨文”报告了。但是，这个“国”不是牛津，而是东西方的一个联合体。我想跟你们聊一聊，我们在将华语音乐引入西方社会方面所做的事情，无论是成就，还是不足。我都会坦诚布公。同时，我也想借此机会给你们留下这样一个印记：软实力交流的重要性以及它同我们每个人的相关程度。
soft power, a term i am sure you are all familiar with this point
软实力这个词我相信大家都不陌生。这个概念是由rhodes scholar 和牛津校友joseph nye 提出的。
coined by rhodes scholar and o_ford alumnus joseph nye is defined as the ability to attract and persuade.
被定义为一种“吸引”和“说服”的能力。
shashi tharoor called it, in a recent ted talk, the ability for a culture to tell a compelling story and influence others to fall in love with it.
shashi tharoor 在最近的一次ted演讲中把它定义为“一种文化让其他文化在听了他动人的故事之后受到影响并爱上这种文化”的能力。
i like that definition.
我很喜欢这个定义。
but i want to put it in collegiate term for all you students in the audience: the way i see it, east and west are kinda like freshman roommates.
但是我想用贴近你们在做大学生们的方式来解释这个词。在我看来，东方跟西方在某种程度上，像是两个大一刚入学的新生舍友。
you don’t know a lot about each other but suddenly you are living together in the same room. and each one is scared that the other’s gonna steal his shower time or wants a party when the other wants to study.
两个几乎陌生的人，突然来到同一个屋檐下，其中一个总是怕另一个会跟他抢洗澡的时间，或者在他想要学习的时候大开趴体。
it has the potential to be absolute hell, doesn’t it? we all had horrible stories of that roommate. we’ve all heard about those stories. i know a lot of students here in o_ford have your own separate bedrooms. but when i was a freshman at williams college, i was not so safe and fortunate.
这种关系很可能就变成跟地狱一样了，不是么?“我的室友是极品”的故事大家都讲得出来。这些事我都有耳闻。还有我知道牛津这儿的很多同学都一人一间的对吧，但是，在我刚上威廉姆斯学院的时候，我并不幸运，而且人身安全堪忧。
(you are kidding me. woo-hoo! all right, all right!great. )
哇，你还真的是我们学校的!好吧，好棒!
and frank had a two-foot long bong under his bed that was constantly being fired up. for those chiese speakers in the audience. frank would “火力全开” on that bong every day.
他床底下有一个两英尺长的烟斗，持续不断的得点着。给在做讲中文的同学们形容下，就是他每天会对着那个烟斗火力全开
all right
好吧。
so, how many of you have lived with the frank, or could be a frank gat? having a roommate can be a recipe for disaster, but it also has the potential for being the greatest friendship you’ve ever had. see, frank, he didn’t make it the second year. and i got two new roommates second year, stephen and jason. and in this day, the three of us are the best friends.
你们中有多少人有过frank那样的舍友呢?或者，你们也像他一样。所以有一个室友可能是一场灾难的开始。但也可能会酿造一段非凡的友谊。frank第二年就辍学了。于是我换了两个新的舍友，stefan 和 jason。如今，我们三个是铁哥们。
so going back to my analogy, of east and west as roommates. do we want to be frank, or do we want to be stephen and jason? and i think, in this day and age of 2022, we should all be striving for the latter, should we…i mean i’m assuming that we all agree that this is the goal we should all be striving for.
回过头来看我的那个类比，我们东方和西方的舍友。是应该成为frank那样的存在，还是想像stefan 和 jason那样呢?我认为在当时当下，在2022，我们应该努力成为后者。我们应该， 我是说，我想在这一目标上我们是可以达成共识的，对吧?
let’s look at where we are in reality. recent headlines in the media include, foreign policy magazine: china’s victim comple_. why are chinese leaders so paranoid about the united states? or the afp, the agence france-presse, human rights in china worsening us finds. bloomberg says, on the cover of its magazine, “yes, the chinese army is spying on you.”
那么，回过头来，正视我们在现实中的处境。看看最近的新闻头条：《外交政策》杂志上的，“中国的受害者情节：为何中国领导人如此猜忌美国”或者法新社的财经杂志《彭博商业周刊》上说，“没错，中国军队正在测探你。”
and it’s such a great one that i just want to show you the cover of the magazine. yes. be very afraid! ok, is it shown to you right? ok. so there’s actually an e_tremely high amount of negativity and fear and an_iety about china, sinophobia, that i think is not just misinformed, but also misleading and ultimately dangerous, very dangerous.
这个特别逗，我来给你们展示一下这封面。是的，特别恐慌有木有!方向那对的吧，嗯，对的。当今对于中国有太多的负面东西。恐华情绪很严重。我觉得这种现象不仅是一种误传同时也是一种误导。这是很可怕的，超级可怕。
and what about how westerners are viewed by chinese? well, we have terms for westerners. the most common of which are gweilo in cantonese, which means “the old devil”, lao wai, meaning the old outsider in mandarin, ang moh, which means the “red hairy one” in taiwanese. the list goes on and on. so are these roommates headed for a best friend relationship? i think we need a little help. and as china rises to be global power, i think it is more important than ever for us to be discerning about what we believe, because after all, i think that’s the purpose of higher education.
那么，中国人又是如何看待西方的呢?我们对西方人的称呼五花八门。大家熟知的有：香港人叫他们“鬼佬”，字面上就是“老妖”。大陆人叫他们老外，字面上就是“蛮夷”。还有台湾人叫他们“红毛”。还真说不完呢。这看上去像是能发展成一段最佳友谊的舍友关系吗?我认为我们得治治病。随着中国实力不断强大，看清楚应该相信什么这一点空前重要。因为，归根结底，这就是高等教育的目的。
and that’s why we are all here: to be able to think for ourselves and make our own decisions. china’s not just those headlines, the burgeoning economy of the unique politics. it’s not just the world’s factory or the ne_t big superpower, it’s so much more. a billion people with rich culture, amazing stories and as a product of both of those cultures, i want to help foster understanding between the two, and help create that incredible relationship.
这就是我们坐在这里的原因：有能力独立思考，自主选择。中国当然不能通过那些新闻头条来定义。也不只是所谓的特殊政策下快速增长的经济。中国不仅仅是一个世界工厂，也不仅仅是未来超级大国。中国的意义价值远大于此。一个拥有十几亿人口，丰富悠久的历史文化与传奇故事的民族。作为中西两种文化的共同产物，我特别想要帮忙在两种文化之间培养起一种互相的理解，建立起一种很美好的情谊。
because knowing both sides of the coin, i really think that there is a love story waiting to be told, waiting to unfold. and i am only half-joking when i said love story because i believe it is, the stories that will save us, will bring us together. and my thesis statement for today’s talk is that, the relationship between the east and west needs to be and can be fi_ed via pop culture. that’s a big fat plan. and i am gotta trying to back it up!
但凡事都有两面，所以我认为这背后蕴含着一个亟待讲述的爱情故事。我说“爱情故事”不完全在说笑。因为我相信，这些关于爱的故事能够拯救我们，把我们凝聚在一起。我今天讲的主题就是，通过流行文化修复东西方世界的关系。好宏伟的计划有木有啊!我会想办法讲明白的。
the un secretary general bunki boo said: “there are no language required in musical world.” that is the power of music. that is the power of the heart. through this promotion of arts, we can better understand that the culture and civilizations of other people. in this era of instability and intolerance, we need to promote better understanding through the power of music.
联合国秘书长潘基文说过，在音乐的世界里，沟通时无需语言的。这就是音乐的力量。这就是人心的力量。通过发扬艺术，我们才能够更好的了解其他民族的文明与文化。在这个动荡不安，人与人之间不甚宽容的年代，我们需要利用音乐的力量来更好的了解彼此。
now the un secretary general thinks we need more music, and i think he is right. music and arts have always played the key role in my life in building relationships, replacing what once was the ignorance, fear and hatred with acceptance, friendships and even love. so i have a strong case for promoting music between cultures because it happened to me early in life.
联合国秘书长认为我们需要更多的音乐。这一点我很赞同。音乐和艺术一直在我的生命中占据着很重要的地位。音乐和艺术的力量能够帮助建立人与人之间的关系，用包容，友谊和爱来驱逐因为无知的仇恨而产生的恐惧。在不同文化之间推广音乐这一点上，我自己的童年时期的经历是一个最好的例证。
i was born and raised in rochester, new york. i barely spoke a word of chinese. i didn’t know the difference between taiwan or thailand. i was… that’s true. i was as american as apple pie. until one day, on a third grade playground, the inevitable finally happened. i got teased for being chinese. now every kid gets teased or made fun on the playground, but this was fundamentally different. and i knew it right then and there. this kid, let’s call him bryan m. he started making fun of me, saying “ chinese, japanese, dirty knees, look at these.” i can’t believe you are laughing at that and that hurts. ok, i am just kidding. i can still remember how i felt. i felt ashamed. i felt embarrassed.
我在纽约的罗切斯特长大，几乎不会说中文。我连“台湾”和“泰国”这两个词都分不清楚。那是真的!我那时是个地地道道的美国人。直到我上了三年级，有一天在操场上，不可避免的事情终于发生了。因为中国人的血统，我第一次被人嘲笑了。当然一起玩的小孩都会互相戏弄开玩笑，但这次绝对不同。这点当时我立马就感觉到了。我们暂且管那个孩子叫bryan m吧。它开始嘲笑我说，中国人，日本人，脏膝盖，快来看。(英文还押韵)你们居然还笑，我太受伤了!好吧，我只是开个玩笑。我依然能够记得我当时的感觉。我感觉特别丢脸，特别尴尬。
but i laughed along with him, with everyone. i didn’t know what else to do. it was like having a out-of-body e_perience, as if i could laugh at that chinese kid on the playground with all the other americans because i was one of them. right? wrong. on may levels.
但是我当时跟着所有其他人一直在笑。年幼的我并不知道该怎么办。当时感觉好像灵魂出窍一样。好像我能够和操场上其他美国孩子一起嘲笑中国人，我就是他们当中一员了。这种想法可取吗?当然不可取，而且是大错特错。
and i was facing in front of the first but definitely not the last time, the harsh reality that i was minority in rochester, which in those days had an asian population of one percent.
那是我第一次感受到一件残酷而现实的事实。我属于一个少数群体，但那绝不是最后一次。在那个时代的罗切斯特，亚洲人口特别少，几乎之占当地人口的百分之一。
and i was confused. i wanted to punch brian. i wanted to hurt him for putting me in that situation. but he was faster than me and he was stronger than me. and he would kick my butt and we both knew that. so i just took it in. and i didn’t tell anyone or share with anyone these feelings. i just held them in and i let them fester. and those feelings would surface in a strangely therapeutic way for me through music. and it was no coincidence that around that time i started getting good with the violin, the guitar, and the drums. and i would soon discover that by playing music or singing, other kids would, for a brief moment, forget about my race or color and accept me and then be able to see me for who i truly am, a human being who’s emotional, spiritual, curious about the world and has a need for love, just like everyone else.
我当时心里很乱，我很想把bryan 打一顿。他让我陷入那种窘境，因此我也要让他难过。但是他身材比我壮，出手也比我快。如果和他打架，我一定会被揍得更惨。这一点我们都知道。所以我就忍了下来。我从来没有告诉过别人。也没发泄什么感受。一直自己忍着，想让他们烂在心底就好了。后来慢慢地，这些感受在音乐里竟然十分巧妙地把我治愈了。我那个时候对小提琴，吉他，鼓都越来越得心应手，当然不是巧合。我渐渐发现，当我演奏或者唱歌的时候，其他孩子便会忘记我的种族或我的肤色。而真正接受我，了解真正的我，哪怕只是一小会。每当这个时候，他们就会发现，我跟他们都是一样的人。我也对世界充满感性的好奇和想象，我也需要爱。
and by the si_ grade, guess who asked me if i would be the drummer for his band? brian. and i said yes. and that’s when we together formed the elementary school rock band called nirvana. i am not kidding. i wan in the rock band called nirvana before kurt cobain’s nirvana was ever known. so when nirvana came out, bryan and i were like “hey, he’s stealing our name.” but, really what attracted me to music at this young age was just this and it’s still what i love about music is that it breaks down the walls between us and shows us so quickly the truth that we are much more alike than we are different. then in high school, i learned that music wasn’t just about connecting with other, like bryan and i were connected through music. it was a powerful tool of influence and inspiration.
到了六年级的时候，猜猜谁拉我加入他的乐队当鼓手?对，就是bryan，我答应了。于是bryan跟我一起，组成了我们小学的摇滚乐队：涅槃乐队。是真的我没开玩笑。我们的乐队在科特柯本的涅槃乐队之前就有了。所以后来涅槃乐队出道的时候，我跟bryan还嚷嚷，嘿，他盗用我们的名字!所以在那么小的时候，我就发现了音乐的迷人之处。当然这迷人之处也是我至今热爱音乐的原因之一。那就是，音乐能打破人与人之间的隔阂，能让我们那么快就看到彼此的相似点，而不是那些不同之处。后来上了高中，我学到了更多，音乐不仅仅能够沟通彼此，就像我跟bryan通过音乐结缘一样。它同时也是一股强大的影响他人，激励他人的力量。
sam wayne was my high school janitor. he was an immigrant from vietnam who barely spoke a word of english. sam scrubbed the floors and cleaned the bathrooms in our school for twenty years. and he never talked to the kids and the kids never talked to sam. but one day, before the opening night of our school’s annual musical, he walked up to me, holding a letter. and i was taken aback. i was thinking, “why is sam the janitor approaching me? and he gave me this letter that i have kept to this day. it was scrawled in a shaky hand written in all in capitals. and i read: “in all my years of working as a genitor at sutherland, you are the first asian boy that played the lead role. i am gonna bring my si_-year-old daughter to watch you perform tonight because i want her to see that asians can be inspiring.” and that letter just floored me. i was fifteen years old and i was absolutely stunned. that’s the first time i realized how music was so important.
sam wayne是我们学校的门卫。他是越南侨民。几乎从来不说英语。sam在我们学校做了二十几年的清洁工，擦地板，扫厕所。却从来没跟学生们说过话。学生们也从不跟他说话。但是一天，我们学校一年一度的音乐节前夕，sam找到我，手里拿着一封信。我吓坏了，心里琢磨，门卫sam找我会有什么事?于是他递给了我那封我至今保存的信。一看就是用颤抖的手写下的潦草字迹。全都是大写字母，信上写着，我在这个学校当了那么多年门卫，你是我见过的第一个担纲主唱的亚洲男孩。我今晚要带我六岁的女儿来看你的演出。因为我想要她看到，我们亚洲人也可以带给人好多正能量。我真的被那封信震惊了。十五岁的我当时就惊呆了。我第一次意识到，原来音乐如此重要。
with bryan, music helped two kids who were initially enemies become friends. but with sam, music went beyond the one-on-one. it was even a higher level. it influenced others i didn’t even know in ways i can never imagine. i can’t tell you how grateful i am to sam, the janitor, to this day. he really is one of the people who helped me discover my life’s purpose. and i had no idea that something i did could mean more than ever imagined to an immigrant from vietnam who barely spoke english. pop culture, music, and the other methods of story telling, movies, tv dramas, they are so key and they do connect us like me and bryan and do influence us and inspire us.
在bryan那儿，他让两个本来是敌人的孩子成为了朋友，然而在sam这里，音乐的意义超过了个体的范畴，达到了一个更好的层次。音乐以我想不到的方式影响到我甚至完全不认识的人。我从头至尾对门卫sam的感激是无法用语言来形容的。他真的算是帮助我发掘人生目标的人之一。我从来不知道我的一个小小的行为，能够对这样一位甚至从来不说英文的越南侨民产生如此大的影响。流行文化，音乐以及任何一种讲述故事的方式包括电影，电视剧，他们都是如此的重要，连接着我们。比如bryan和我，又真的在影响着我们，激励着我们。
then let’s take another look at this state of union the east, west union, with this soft-power bias. how is the soft power e_change between these two roommates? are the songs in english that become hits in china? for sure. how about movies? well, there are so many…that china has had to limit the number hollywood movies imported into the country so that local films can even have a chance at success. what about the flip side of that? the chinese songs that have a hit in the west? well…(yes!)
回过头来再看看这个东西方的联合体，是存在一种软实力偏向的。东方和西方这两个“舍友”之间的软实力交流会是什么样子的呢?有没有在中国很红的英文歌呢?当然有。英文电影呢?那就太多了。多到中国不得不限制好莱坞电影的引入，来给本土电影制造些成功的机会。那么反过来，又在西方很红的华语歌曲吗?
heheha,yeah, and movies. well there was crouching tiger, that was thirteen years ago. and, well i think there is a bit of an imbalance here. and i think it’s a soft-power deficit, let’s call that. i mean look in this direction. that is to say, the west influences the east more than vice versa. and forgive me for using east and west kind of loosely but i think it’s a lot easier to state this than english-speaking language or the asian speaking language… chinese, or cantonese specifically, i think i’m making a generalization i hope you can go with me on this.
观众：江南style!王：哈哈，没错，还有电影。比如卧虎藏龙，那也是十三年前的事了。我觉得这当中有一种不平衡存在。我认为这是一种软实力赤字，就这么叫吧。当我们放眼这个方向的时候，也就是说，西方对东方的影响远远大于东方对西方的。原谅我这里把东方和西方这两个词用的这么随意。因为这比说，以英语为第一语言的国家，讲中文或讲粤语的地区，这样的话方便点。我在使用一种概况化的表达方式。希望你们能理解。
and it’s interestingly a problem with this imbalance in pop cultural influence. and i think so. i think in any healthy relationship or friendship or marriage, isn’t it important for both sides to make an effort to understand the other? and that this e_change needs to have a healthy balance.
这种在流行文化影响方面的不平衡其实是个很有趣的问题。试想在任何一段健康的关系中，无论是友谊还是婚姻，双方彼此努力去了解对方都再重要不过了，对吗? 这种软实力交换需要一种平衡。
and how do we address this? as an ambassador for chinese pop music and movies, i have to ask myself the question, why does this deficit e_ist? is it because chinese music just is lame? don’t answer that, please. yeah i can just see some of you are really like: “stop complaining! write a hit song! psy did!” you know.but actually there is truth in that.
那么如何做到这一点呢?作为中国流行文化大使，我必须问自己这样一个问题，为什么会存在这种软实力赤字?是因为华语音乐真的很烂吗?求你们了别回答这个问题。我看得出你们当中肯定有人在嘀咕：别发牢骚了!写首劲歌吧!鸟叔不就做到了吗?事实上这背后是有点道理的。
and the argument being that the content we’ve created just isn’t as internationally competitive. and why shouldn’t be? well, look at korean pop, look at k-pop for e_ample. korean is an e_port-based economy and they are outward looking.
一种说法是，我们所创作的内容，没有足够的国际竞争力。为什么就没有呢?那么，我们以韩流音乐为例。韩国的经济是以出口为导向的。他们的眼光是面向世界的。
and they must be outward looking. chinese pop, on the other hand, can just kind of stay domestic, tour all over chinese-speaking territories and comfortably sustained. so when we are, that big and powerful, there’re over 160 cities in china with a million or more people. you tend to kind of turn inward and be complacent(自满的).
事实上他们也必须面向世界。而华语流行音乐，仅凭借在中国国内发展以及在华语国家和地区举办巡演，就能够坚挺下去。而中国，正是由于是一个泱泱大国，市场潜力巨大，又有着160万个人口超过百万的城市，华语音乐确实有内化和固步自封的倾向。
so this certainly can be an argument made for chinese pop being not marked with international sensibilities in mind. but the other side of the argument, i think is more interesting and thought-provoking and even more true that western ears aren’t familiar with, and therefore don’t really understand how to appreciate chinese music. ouch!
所以华语流行音乐缺乏在国际市场竞争的敏感性这一观点是成立的。不过我认为这一议题的另一方面，更为有趣，更发人深省也更为真实。那就是西方听众并不熟悉华语音乐。因此并不懂得如何去欣赏华语音乐。哦好伤人啊!
ok, the reason i think that argument holds water though is because that’s e_actly what i went through. so i happen to know a thing or two about learning to appreciate chinese pop as a westerner. cause as i was 17 years old when i went from being the asian kid in america to being an american kid in china. and the entire paradigm suddenly got flipped on its head.
我之所以认为这种论调其实站得住脚，是因为我本人恰巧有过这般经历。因此我对“西方人如何学着欣赏华语流行音乐”这个问题还是要一定发言权的。在17岁之前，我是一个身处美国的亚洲小孩。17岁之后，我变成了一个身处亚洲的美国孩子。情况完全颠倒了过来。
i grow up listening to beatie boyz, led zeppelin, guns n’ roses. then i found myself in taiwan, listening to the radio and thinking, where’s the beat? where is the screeching(呼啸声) guitar solos? and here i am an american kid in asia, listening to chinese music for the first time and thinking “this stuff is lamb. i don’t like it.” i thought it was cheesy, production value was low. the singers couldn’t belt like a_l rose, or mariah carey. but then one day, i went to my first chinese pop concert and it was yu chengqing, harlem yu, performing in 台北社教馆the taibei music center.
以前我是听着beatie boyz, led zeppelin，枪花长大的。但是到了台湾之后，我常边听音乐边想， 这音乐怎么一点节奏感没有!华丽的吉他独奏在哪里!所以，作为一个在亚洲的美国孩子，我刚开始接触到华语音乐的时候心里的想法是，这音乐太逊了，我不喜欢。我觉得这些歌都太不给力了。制作价值太低。这些歌手就是没有a_l rose (枪花主唱)或者mariah carey 那么会飙高音。直到有一天，我听了人生中第一场华流演唱会。是庾澄庆，哈林。在台北音乐中心的那场。
and as he performed, i looked around the audience and i saw their faces and the look in their eyes, their responsiveness to his music. and it was clear to me, finally, where the problem lay. it wasn’t that the music was lacking. it was my ability to appreciate it and to hear it in the right way. the crowd, they would sing along and be totally emerged in his music and i had this epiphany(顿悟) that i was missing point. and from now on, i was going to, somehow, learn how to get it.
当他表演时，我看到台下观众脸上的表情，眼神 和他们对音乐的那种热烈响应。我总算知道问题出在哪里了。并不是华语音乐缺少什么，而是我不能够正确的聆听和欣赏它。看到台下的人群跟着哈林一起唱并且完全沉浸在他的音乐里的时候，我顿悟到，我起初没有很好的理解。我现在应该开始学着如何领悟它们。
i was going to learn how to hear with local ears and i deconstructed and analyzed what it was that made chinese audiences connect with certain types of melodies and rhythms and songs structures and lyrics. that’s what i’ve been doing for the past almost twenty years. and it took me a long time and i am still learning.
如何用“当地的”耳朵去听音乐。我开始解构，分析，是什么让华语听众对某种旋律，歌曲的结构或者歌词产生共鸣。在过去二十年我一直在做这样的工作。真是路漫漫，至今我还在学习中。
but at some point, i not only began to be able to appreciate the music, but i started being able to contribute to it. and i created my own fresh spins on the tried and true. and i think this happens to everyone, really, who is on the outside looking in, it always looks strange if you look at things from your perspective. you’re always gonna think that these people are weirdoes(古怪的人).what’s wrong with them? why are they listening to this stuff? and i am saying that you can make an effort and get it. it can be done and i am a living proof for that. and as an ambassador of chinese pop, i am trying to get people to open up to a sound that they may not feel as palatable(使人愉悦的，随人心愿的) at the first time listen. what else should we do to reduce imbalance in our popular cultures?
而从某刻开始，我不仅能欣赏华语音乐了，而且能够开始做出自己的贡献。开始尝试和创造自己的风格。作为外观者，每个人都会这样。如果仅从自己的角度出发看问题，你总是会觉得外面的世界很奇怪。你总会觉得别人是异类。他们是怎么了?怎么会听这些东西?而我想说的是，只要你跨出去一步，就会有收获。并且我用自己的亲身经历证明，这是能够做到了。作为华语音乐大使，我一直在努力让人们开放接受，那些也许最初听上去并不喜欢的音乐，那么我们还能做些什么，来减少这种流行文化中的不平衡呢?
well, maybe give a talk of the o_ford union, tour more outside of china? but seriously, actually i think the tides are already starting to change very slowly, very cautiously, almost calculatingly. you see more cross-cultural e_change now, more interest in china, definitely a lot of joint ventures, a lot of co-productions in recent years, iron man 3, transformers fifty three, resident evil… really it’s beginning to be kind of a world pop. and that’s what i am looking forward to, and that’s what i am focusing on these days. there was j-pop, there was k-pop, there‘sc-pop. and there’s like this w-pop, that’s kind of starting to emerge. this world pop. and i think. yeah, i love that idea. it’s not world music. it’s not. it’s world pop. and i think… yeah i love that idea that it’s not world music. it’s not like… there used to be section hmv called world music now it’s like ethnomusicology (人种音乐学) musical class in college.
比如说，为牛津亚太学生会做演讲，或者在中国以外的地方开演唱会?但说真的，其实我觉得这种不平衡的趋势，正在开始发生微妙的，缓慢的，小心的，谨慎的变化。你们能够看到目前中国有很多跨文化的交流，外商渐渐视中国为宝地，近年来不乏很多跨国公司和合作成果，钢铁侠3，无数部变形金刚，生化危机……真的已经形成一种世界流行文化了。这正是我期待看到的，也是我最近专注的内容。之前我们有日流，韩流，华流，现在这种世界流正在慢慢兴起。这就是世界流，我觉得。。。是的，我很喜欢这么个说法，就是世界流并不是世界音乐，不是像。。。hmv之前有一个类别叫世界音乐。有点像音乐学院的“民族音乐学”课程的分类方式。
no, but world pop is more about breaking and turning down age-old stereotypes, the artificial confines that have kept us apart for way too long. it’s a melting pot and it’s mosaic that even when we look up close, we’d still see the colors and flavors of each culture in detail. and where can we go to listen to world pop? i don’t think there is a world pop station or a magazine, unfortunately, there are none- there should be.
但世界流不是这样的，这个概念打破了陈规旧俗，冲开了艺术上那些一直阻碍在我们之间的界限。这就像一个大熔炉，一个马赛克拼图。如果我们仔细看，是可以领略到每种文化的不同风格和特色的。那么我们通过什么途径可以听到“世界流”音乐呢?并不存在这样一本世界流音乐杂志或一个平台，很不幸，当然这些是应该有的。
but there is the internet and has proven to be a driving force for world pop. britain’s got talent made susan boyle the hottest act in the world. and she achieved that not through the record labels or the networks but through grassroots sharing. gangnam style is another great e_ample how that just took over and became a huge worldwide world pop phenomenon. so world pop also suggests a worldwide pop culture and something that can be shared by all of us and give us a lot of common ground.
不过还好，我们有互联网，比如油管就是一个推广世界流音乐的中坚力量。苏珊大妈是通过英国达人秀走红的，她的成功不是通过唱片公司或者音乐圈的网络，而是走的草根路线。江南style也是一个很棒的范例，能成为一种掀起全球狂潮的文化现象。所以世界流，意味着一种世界范围内的流行文化，能让全人类共享，给我们提供了一个共通点。
so today, what’s my called action? i wanna improve a multicultural e_change between the east and the west. i think i have made that clear, but how? i think… you can all become pop singers. really…i think that’s the answer. no, i am just kidding. unless that’s what you really wanna do. my called action is this: build and protect that roommate relationship between the east and the west. value this relationship and take ownership of it. don’t come to o_ford as an e_change student from taiwan and only hang out with other chinese students. why would you do that? you could do that back in wuhan or nanjing or wherever you came from.
于是今天，我的号召是什么呢?我想要帮助推进东西方之间的多元文化交流。这一点我想我已经表达的很清楚了，但是如何做到呢?我觉着吧，你们都可以出道嘛，这样就好了。我开个玩笑。不过如果成为歌手真的是你想做的事情那就另当别论了。我在此，号召各位，请务必在东方与西方横亘的隔阂间，建立一种室友般的情谊。并且能尽所能及的保护这份情谊，珍惜它，拥有它。千万不要千里迢迢从台湾跑来牛津大学当交换生还一天到晚只和中国学生聚一块。你说你这是干嘛对吧?这些事你在武汉，在南京，在老家的时候都能做对吧。
don’t buy into the headlines or the stereotypes or into the hyper nationalism. think for yourselves, and this goes for the east and west both. get to know one another and think for yourselves and don’t believe the hype. for a moment, if we could just disregard the governments, and what the media are saying, just for the sake of the argument, with our own tools of critical thinking, can we build relationships that actually see one another as individual human beings and not faceless members of a particular ethnicity or nationality? of course we can do that. and that’s the goal and dream, i think of the romantic artists and the musicians. i think it’s always been there. and that’s what i wish for, and that’s what makes music and art so powerful and so true, and breaks down instantly and disintegrates all the artificial barriers that we’ve created between each other, government, nationality, black, brown, yellow, white, whatever color you are, and shows each other our hearts, our fears, our hopes and our dreams. and it turns out in the end the east isn’t that far after all. and the west, well, ain’t so wild.
那些标题党，那些陈词滥调，那些超民族主义，别买他们的账。你应当学会自己判断，这个原则同样适用于研究东西方。把一件件来龙去脉搞清楚，独立思考，对那些天花乱坠的东西不要偏听则信。要是哪一天，你能做到漠视政府的鼓吹，忽视媒体的通稿，据理力争只为真理，动用“批判思维”的武器，是不是就能建立起那份情谊了呢?到那时，每个人都是独立的个体，个人不再是隶属于某个种族或是国家的无脸人?我们当然能做到。这是目标，也是理想。这是浪漫艺术家和音乐人亘古不变的初心。也是我想要极力撮成的一种情谊。正因如此，音乐和艺术的力量才这样强大，这样真切。正是这些力量让横亘期间的壁垒土崩瓦解。那些我们在彼此之间人为制造的隔阂，政府或者国籍，肤色。黑色，棕色，黄色和白色，无论哪一种肤色。也是这些力量让我们能够单程我们的内心，我们的恐惧，我们的希望，我们的梦想。最终我们就会发现，“远东”也并没有那么遥远。西方也并非都是蛮荒一片。
and through understanding each other’s popular cultures, we gain insight in each other’s hearts and true selves. for those of you who are just beginning that journey, the west and east, i want to invite you today on this amazing journey with me. and i, as an e_perienced traveler on this road, on the west and east road, i’ve prepared a mi_-tape for all of you today, of then songs that i love, there, that’s a c-pop mi_-tape. that you can check out. i was going to bring you all cds, but my publicist reminded me lovingly that would be illegal. so because i’m a professional recording artist, i shouldn’t do that. but actually the link works out nicely, because you get to see the music videos as well on a lot of these songs.
通过了解彼此的流行文化，探到彼此的内心，触碰彼此的灵魂。如果你们正想踏上这条贯通东西的征途，我诚挚的邀请你们和我一起加入这场奇幻之旅。作为在这条联通东西方之间的路上还算有点经验的人，我为你们准备了一只合集的卡带，里面收录了十首我爱的华语流行音乐。看，你们感受一下。本来今天我是给你们每人准备了cd的，但是我的团队好心提醒我说，这么做是不合法的。作为专业的专辑制作人，我可不能做这种事。不过这里的链接还是很好用的，因为这样你们还能看到这些歌曲相应的mv。
and these ten songs are songs that i love and ten different chinese artists to start you off on getting to know and love chinese pop. i think these guys are awesome and i hope you do too. i just wanna wrap up by saying that being here on the o_ford campus really makes me nostalgic for my days at williams. and when i look back on those four years, some of my fondest memories are spending time with my roommates stephan papiano and jason price. in fact, jason is here in the audience today and nake this special trip form london just to see me. and i suppose in the beginning we were strangers. we didn’t know much about each other and sometimes we die compete for the shower. there were time when we did intrude on each other’s privacy. but i always loved listening to stephen’s stories about growing up in a greek family and his opinions on what authentic greek food really was. or jason’s stories about wanting to make violins and to live in cremona, italy like antonio stradivari and he did do that.
这10首我最爱的歌曲，来自不同的很棒的中国音乐人。我们就从他们开始了解入手中国的流行音乐吧!我觉得这些音乐人都很棒，希望你们也能喜欢。最后的最后，我只想说，现在置身于牛津大学校园，真的让我不由的回忆起我在威廉姆斯大学的那段时光。当我回首那四年，我发现最值得回忆的，就是于室友stephan papiano和jason price共处的时光了。事实上呢，jason就在观众席中。他专程从伦敦赶来看我。我在想，刚开始大家还是陌生人，我们对彼此不了解，有时候我们还会抢淋浴，甚至互相侵犯别人的隐私。但是我一直喜欢听stephen讲他在一个希腊家庭里成长的故事。还有他眼里原汁原味的希腊菜应该长什么样子。或是jason的故事，说他渴望以做小提琴为生，生活在意大利的克雷默那，像安东尼奥特拉迪瓦那样，而他的梦想后来真的实现了。
and i will never forget many years later when i played a jason price handmade violin for the first time and how that felt. they were always attentive and respectful when i tell them about what it was like for me growing up in a chinese household with strict parents who made me study. so we shared stories, but the strongest bonds between us were formed just sitting around and listening to music together. and i really do see that as a model for east and west. so that’s why i want to share chinese music with you today because it’s the best way i know how to create the lasting friendships that transcend all barriers and allow us to know each other truly, authentically and just as we are.
多年之后，我都无法忘记，我第一次拉“jason price”手工制作的小提琴时的场景，还有当时我内心的触动。他们也总是那样聚精会神，十分尊重的倾听我的成长故事，如何在一个中国传统家庭里长大。我的父母很严格，一直逼我学习。我们会互相分享各自的故事但是我们之间的纽带系的最牢的时候却是当我们单纯的围坐在一起听音乐的时候，我真心觉得我们的例子，就是东西人互相理解并和谐共处的典范。因此，这就是为何我今天要与各位分享中国的音乐。因为据我所知，这是最好的一种方式，让友谊地久天长。而这份友谊超越了所有的界限，让我们真真切切的了解彼此，展现最真实的自己。
thank you!
谢谢大家!
第5篇 王力宏牛津大学英语演讲稿
thank you, plena. thank you, jun. thank you, peishan for helping this set up.
谢谢波琳娜，谢谢君，谢谢珮姗帮我组织这一切。
thank you all for being here today and the late comers as well. thank you for coming in quietly.
谢谢在座的各位，谢谢晚来的同学，也谢谢你们悄悄的进来。
i wanna start off today just to take a moment of silence for the victims of the sichuanearthquake and also for the victims of the boston marathon bombing. so let’s just take aminute to pay our respect to that.
今天开始之前，我想要先为四川地震的灾民们以及波士顿马拉松爆炸事件的受害者们默哀。让我们用一分钟时间，为他们祈福。
thank you.
谢谢你们。
i never thought i would be addressing you, the esteemed members of the o_ford union,without a guitar or an erhu, without my crazy stage hair, costumes. but i did perform in theo2 arena in london last week. i am not sure if any of you were able to make that. but in manyways, that was similar to what i’m talking about today, that is, introducing chinese pop musichere.
尊敬的各位牛津大学辩论会和牛津大学亚太学生会的同学们，万万想不到会以这样的方式跟你们相聚。没有吉他和二胡，没有夸张的舞台装也没有“火力全开”头。不过上周确实在伦敦的o2体育馆表演过了。不知道大家有没有去看呢。 但是，从各方面来说，这些跟我们今天的话题都有密切的关联。那就是-介绍华流音乐。
see, i am actually an ambassador of chinese pop, whether i like it or not, both music andmovies. and today i’m here to give you the state of union address. it’s not the o_ford union.it’s the union of east and west. i wanna frankly, openly and honestly talk about how we’ve donea good job or how we’ve done a bad job of bringing chinese pop to the west. and i also want topress upon all of you here today the importance of that soft culture, that soft power e_changeand how each of us is involved in that e_change.
其实无论我喜不喜欢，我都被认为在代表者华流音乐以及电影。那么今天，我就要来做一次“国情咨文”报告了。但是，这个“国”不是牛津，而是东西方的一个联合体。我想跟你们聊一聊，我们在将华语音乐引入西方社会方面所做的事情，无论是成就，还是不足。我都会坦诚布公。同时，我也想借此机会给你们留下这样一个印记：软实力交流的重要性以及它同我们每个人的相关程度。
soft power, a term i am sure you are all familiar with this point
软实力这个词我相信大家都不陌生。这个概念是由rhodes scholar 和牛津校友joseph nye 提出的。
coined by rhodes scholar and o_ford alumnus joseph nye is defined as the ability to attractand persuade.
被定义为一种“吸引”和“说服”的能力。
shashi tharoor called it, in a recent ted talk, the ability for a culture to tell a compellingstory and influence others to fall in love with it.
shashi tharoor 在最近的一次ted演讲中把它定义为“一种文化让其他文化在听了他动人的故事之后受到影响并爱上这种文化”的能力。
i like that definition.
我很喜欢这个定义。
but i want to put it in collegiate term for all you students in the audience: the way i see it,east and west are kinda like freshman roommates.
但是我想用贴近你们在做大学生们的方式来解释这个词。在我看来，东方跟西方在某种程度上，像是两个大一刚入学的新生舍友。
you don’t know a lot about each other but suddenly you are living together in the same room.and each one is scared that the other’s gonna steal his shower time or wants a party when theother wants to study.
两个几乎陌生的人，突然来到同一个屋檐下，其中一个总是怕另一个会跟他抢洗澡的时间，或者在他想要学习的时候大开趴体。
it has the potential to be absolute hell, doesn’t it? we all had horrible stories of thatroommate. we’ve all heard about those stories. i know a lot of students here in o_ford haveyour own separate bedrooms. but when i was a freshman at williams college, i was not so safeand fortunate.
这种关系很可能就变成跟地狱一样了，不是么?“我的室友是极品”的故事大家都讲得出来。这些事我都有耳闻。还有我知道牛津这儿的很多同学都一人一间的对吧，但是，在我刚上威廉姆斯学院的时候，我并不幸运，而且人身安全堪忧。
(you are kidding me. woo-hoo! all right, all right!great. )
哇，你还真的是我们学校的!好吧，好棒!
well, i had a roommate, and he was that roommate. let’s just call him frank. so frank wasmy roommate and frank liked nothing more than to smoke weed. and he did it every day.
我当时就有一个这样的极品舍友，让我们暂且叫他frank。这个frank 就是那种好像除了抽大的麻没有别的爱好的人。而且他每天都抽。
and frank had a two-foot long bong under his bed that was constantly being fired up. forthose chiese speakers in the audience. frank would “火力全开” on that bong every day.
他床底下有一个两英尺长的烟斗，持续不断的得点着。给在做讲中文的同学们形容下，就是他每天会对着那个烟斗火力全开
all right
好吧。
so, i guess i was kinda of the opposite of bill clinton who “tried marijuana but didn’t inhale”. ididn’t try marijuana but i did inhale, every single day, second hand. and strangely enoughevery time i dwelt into our bedroom, i mysteriously end up being late for class. i don’t knowhow it happened. it was like “dude, it is already ten o’clock?”.
我可能在这点上算是跟bill clinton 相反吧。bill clinton 是那种“我试过大的麻，但我不上瘾。”我不抽大的麻，但是我每天都在吸啊吸，而且还是二手的。奇怪的是，只要我在我们的卧室里，我最后都会稀里糊涂地上课迟到。我也不知道怎么回事。我当时就是那副吸了大的麻的样子，嘿，已经十点了吗?
so, how many of you have lived with the frank, or could be a frank gat? having a roommatecan be a recipe for disaster, but it also has the potential for being the greatest friendshipyou’ve ever had. see, frank, he didn’t make it the second year. and i got two new roommatessecond year, stephen and jason. and in this day, the three of us are the best friends.
你们中有多少人有过frank那样的舍友呢?或者，你们也像他一样。所以有一个室友可能是一场灾难的开始。但也可能会酿造一段非凡的友谊。frank第二年就辍学了。于是我换了两个新的舍友，stefan 和 jason。如今，我们三个是铁哥们。
so going back to my analogy, of east and west as roommates. do we want to be frank, or do wewant to be stephen and jason? and i think, in this day and age of 2022, we should all bestriving for the latter, should we…i mean i’m assuming that we all agree that this is the goalwe should all be striving for.
回过头来看我的那个类比，我们东方和西方的舍友。是应该成为frank那样的存在，还是想像stefan 和 jason那样呢?我认为在当时当下，在2022，我们应该努力成为后者。我们应该， 我是说，我想在这一目标上我们是可以达成共识的，对吧?
let’s look at where we are in reality. recent headlines in the media include, foreign policymagazine: china’s victim comple_. why are chinese leaders so paranoid about the unitedstates? or the afp, the agence france-presse, human rights in china worsening us finds.bloomberg says, on the cover of its magazine, “yes, the chinese army is spying on you.”
那么，回过头来，正视我们在现实中的处境。看看最近的新闻头条：《外交政策》杂志上的，“中国的受害者情节：为何中国领导人如此猜忌美国”或者法新社的财经杂志《彭博商业周刊》上说，“没错，中国军队正在测探你。”
and it’s such a great one that i just want to show you the cover of the magazine. yes. be veryafraid! ok, is it shown to you right? ok. so there’s actually an e_tremely high amount ofnegativity and fear and an_iety about china, sinophobia, that i think is not just misinformed,but also misleading and ultimately dangerous, very dangerous.
这个特别逗，我来给你们展示一下这封面。是的，特别恐慌有木有!方向那对的吧，嗯，对的。当今对于中国有太多的负面东西。恐华情绪很严重。我觉得这种现象不仅是一种误传同时也是一种误导。这是很可怕的，超级可怕。
and what about how westerners are viewed by chinese? well, we have terms for westerners.the most common of which are gweilo in cantonese, which means “the old devil”, lao wai,meaning the old outsider in mandarin, ang moh, which means the “red hairy one” in taiwanese.the list goes on and on. so are these roommates headed for a best friend relationship? i thinkwe need a little help. and as china rises to be global power, i think it is more important thanever for us to be discerning about what we believe, because after all, i think that’s the purposeof higher education.
那么，中国人又是如何看待西方的呢?我们对西方人的称呼五花八门。大家熟知的有：香港人叫他们“鬼佬”，字面上就是“老妖”。大陆人叫他们老外，字面上就是“蛮夷”。还有台湾人叫他们“红毛”。还真说不完呢。这看上去像是能发展成一段最佳友谊的舍友关系吗?我认为我们得治治病。随着中国实力不断强大，看清楚应该相信什么这一点空前重要。因为，归根结底，这就是高等教育的目的。
and that’s why we are all here: to be able to think for ourselves and make our own decisions.china’s not just those headlines, the burgeoning economy of the unique politics. it’s not justthe world’s factory or the ne_t big superpower, it’s so much more. a billion people with richculture, amazing stories and as a product of both of those cultures, i want to help fosterunderstanding between the two, and help create that incredible relationship.
这就是我们坐在这里的原因：有能力独立思考，自主选择。中国当然不能通过那些新闻头条来定义。也不只是所谓的特殊政策下快速增长的经济。中国不仅仅是一个世界工厂，也不仅仅是未来超级大国。中国的意义价值远大于此。一个拥有十几亿人口，丰富悠久的历史文化与传奇故事的民族。作为中西两种文化的共同产物，我特别想要帮忙在两种文化之间培养起一种互相的理解，建立起一种很美好的情谊。
because knowing both sides of the coin, i really think that there is a love story waiting to betold, waiting to unfold. and i am only half-joking when i said love story because i believe it is,the stories that will save us, will bring us together. and my thesis statement for today’s talk isthat, the relationship between the east and west needs to be and can be fi_ed via pop culture.that’s a big fat plan. and i am gotta trying to back it up!
但凡事都有两面，所以我认为这背后蕴含着一个亟待讲述的爱情故事。我说“爱情故事”不完全在说笑。因为我相信，这些关于爱的故事能够拯救我们，把我们凝聚在一起。我今天讲的主题就是，通过流行文化修复东西方世界的关系。好宏伟的计划有木有啊!我会想办法讲明白的。
the un secretary general bunki boo said: “there are no language required in musical world.”that is the power of music. that is the power of the heart. through this promotion of arts, wecan better understand that the culture and civilizations of other people. in this era ofinstability and intolerance, we need to promote better understanding through the power ofmusic.
联合国秘书长潘基文说过，在音乐的世界里，沟通时无需语言的。这就是音乐的力量。这就是人心的力量。通过发扬艺术，我们才能够更好的了解其他民族的文明与文化。在这个动荡不安，人与人之间不甚宽容的年代，我们需要利用音乐的力量来更好的了解彼此。
now the un secretary general thinks we need more music, and i think he is right. music andarts have always played the key role in my life in building relationships, replacing what once wasthe ignorance, fear and hatred with acceptance, friendships and even love. so i have astrong case for promoting music between cultures because it happened to me early in life.
联合国秘书长认为我们需要更多的音乐。这一点我很赞同。音乐和艺术一直在我的生命中占据着很重要的地位。音乐和艺术的力量能够帮助建立人与人之间的关系，用包容，友谊和爱来驱逐因为无知的仇恨而产生的恐惧。在不同文化之间推广音乐这一点上，我自己的童年时期的经历是一个最好的例证。
i was born and raised in rochester, new york. i barely spoke a word of chinese. i didn’t knowthe difference between taiwan or thailand. i was… that’s true. i was as american as apple pie.until one day, on a third grade playground, the inevitable finally happened. i got teased forbeing chinese. now every kid gets teased or made fun on the playground, but this wasfundamentally different. and i knew it right then and there. this kid, let’s call him bryan m. hestarted making fun of me, saying “ chinese, japanese, dirty knees, look at these.” i can’tbelieve you are laughing at that and that hurts. ok, i am just kidding. i can still remember howi felt. i felt ashamed. i felt embarrassed.
我在纽约的罗切斯特长大，几乎不会说中文。我连“台湾”和“泰国”这两个词都分不清楚。那是真的!我那时是个地地道道的美国人。直到我上了三年级，有一天在操场上，不可避免的事情终于发生了。因为中国人的血统，我第一次被人嘲笑了。当然一起玩的小孩都会互相戏弄开玩笑，但这次绝对不同。这点当时我立马就感觉到了。我们暂且管那个孩子叫bryan m吧。它开始嘲笑我说，中国人，日本人，脏膝盖，快来看。(英文还押韵)你们居然还笑，我太受伤了!好吧，我只是开个玩笑。我依然能够记得我当时的感觉。我感觉特别丢脸，特别尴尬。
but i laughed along with him, with everyone. i didn’t know what else to do. it was like having aout-of-body e_perience, as if i could laugh at that chinese kid on the playground with all theother americans because i was one of them. right? wrong. on may levels.
但是我当时跟着所有其他人一直在笑。年幼的我并不知道该怎么办。当时感觉好像灵魂出窍一样。好像我能够和操场上其他美国孩子一起嘲笑中国人，我就是他们当中一员了。这种想法可取吗?当然不可取，而且是大错特错。
and i was facing in front of the first but definitely not the last time, the harsh reality that iwas minority in rochester, which in those days had an asian population of one percent.
那是我第一次感受到一件残酷而现实的事实。我属于一个少数群体，但那绝不是最后一次。在那个时代的罗切斯特，亚洲人口特别少，几乎之占当地人口的百分之一。
and i was confused. i wanted to punch brian. i wanted to hurt him for putting me in thatsituation. but he was faster than me and he was stronger than me. and he would kick my buttand we both knew that. so i just took it in. and i didn’t tell anyone or share with anyone thesefeelings. i just held them in and i let them fester. and those feelings would surface in astrangely therapeutic way for me through music. and it was no coincidence that around thattime i started getting good with the violin, the guitar, and the drums. and i would soondiscover that by playing music or singing, other kids would, for a brief moment, forget aboutmy race or color and accept me and then be able to see me for who i truly am, a human beingwho’s emotional, spiritual, curious about the world and has a need for love, just likeeveryone else.
我当时心里很乱，我很想把bryan 打一顿。他让我陷入那种窘境，因此我也要让他难过。但是他身材比我壮，出手也比我快。如果和他打架，我一定会被揍得更惨。这一点我们都知道。所以我就忍了下来。我从来没有告诉过别人。也没发泄什么感受。一直自己忍着，想让他们烂在心底就好了。后来慢慢地，这些感受在音乐里竟然十分巧妙地把我治愈了。我那个时候对小提琴，吉他，鼓都越来越得心应手，当然不是巧合。我渐渐发现，当我演奏或者唱歌的时候，其他孩子便会忘记我的种族或我的肤色。而真正接受我，了解真正的我，哪怕只是一小会。每当这个时候，他们就会发现，我跟他们都是一样的人。我也对世界充满感性的好奇和想象，我也需要爱。
and by the si_ grade, guess who asked me if i would be the drummer for his band? brian.and i said yes. and that’s when we together formed the elementary school rock band callednirvana. i am not kidding. i wan in the rock band called nirvana before kurt cobain’s nirvanawas ever known. so when nirvana came out, bryan and i were like “hey, he’s stealing ourname.” but, really what attracted me to music at this young age was just this and it’s still whati love about music is that it breaks down the walls between us and shows us so quickly thetruth that we are much more alike than we are different. then in high school, i learned thatmusic wasn’t just about connecting with other, like bryan and i were connected through music.it was a powerful tool of influence and inspiration.
到了六年级的时候，猜猜谁拉我加入他的乐队当鼓手?对，就是bryan，我答应了。于是bryan跟我一起，组成了我们小学的摇滚乐队：涅槃乐队。是真的我没开玩笑。我们的乐队在科特柯本的涅槃乐队之前就有了。所以后来涅槃乐队出道的时候，我跟bryan还嚷嚷，嘿，他盗用我们的名字!所以在那么小的时候，我就发现了音乐的迷人之处。当然这迷人之处也是我至今热爱音乐的原因之一。那就是，音乐能打破人与人之间的隔阂，能让我们那么快就看到彼此的相似点，而不是那些不同之处。后来上了高中，我学到了更多，音乐不仅仅能够沟通彼此，就像我跟bryan通过音乐结缘一样。它同时也是一股强大的影响他人，激励他人的力量。
sam wayne was my high school janitor. he was an immigrant from vietnam who barely spokea word of english. sam scrubbed the floors and cleaned the bathrooms in our school for twentyyears. and he never talked to the kids and the kids never talked to sam. but one day, beforethe opening night of our school’s annual musical, he walked up to me, holding a letter. and iwas taken aback. i was thinking, “why is sam the janitor approaching me? and he gave me thisletter that i have kept to this day. it was scrawled in a shaky hand written in all in capitals. andi read: “in all my years of working as a genitor at sutherland, you are the first asian boy thatplayed the lead role. i am gonna bring my si_-year-old daughter to watch you perform tonightbecause i want her to see that asians can be inspiring.” and that letter just floored me. i wasfifteen years old and i was absolutely stunned. that’s the first time i realized how music wasso important.
sam wayne是我们学校的门卫。他是越南侨民。几乎从来不说英语。sam在我们学校做了二十几年的清洁工，擦地板，扫厕所。却从来没跟学生们说过话。学生们也从不跟他说话。但是一天，我们学校一年一度的音乐节前夕，sam找到我，手里拿着一封信。我吓坏了，心里琢磨，门卫sam找我会有什么事?于是他递给了我那封我至今保存的信。一看就是用颤抖的手写下的潦草字迹。全都是大写字母，信上写着，我在这个学校当了那么多年门卫，你是我见过的第一个担纲主唱的亚洲男孩。我今晚要带我六岁的女儿来看你的演出。因为我想要她看到，我们亚洲人也可以带给人好多正能量。我真的被那封信震惊了。十五岁的我当时就惊呆了。我第一次意识到，原来音乐如此重要。
with bryan, music helped two kids who were initially enemies become friends. but with sam,music went beyond the one-on-one. it was even a higher level. it influenced others i didn’teven know in ways i can never imagine. i can’t tell you how grateful i am to sam, the janitor,to this day. he really is one of the people who helped me discover my life’s purpose. and i hadno idea that something i did could mean more than ever imagined to an immigrant fromvietnam who barely spoke english. pop culture, music, and the other methods of story telling,movies, tv dramas, they are so key and they do connect us like me and bryan and do influenceus and inspire us.
在bryan那儿，他让两个本来是敌人的孩子成为了朋友，然而在sam这里，音乐的意义超过了个体的范畴，达到了一个更好的层次。音乐以我想不到的方式影响到我甚至完全不认识的人。我从头至尾对门卫sam的感激是无法用语言来形容的。他真的算是帮助我发掘人生目标的人之一。我从来不知道我的一个小小的行为，能够对这样一位甚至从来不说英文的越南侨民产生如此大的影响。流行文化，音乐以及任何一种讲述故事的方式包括电影，电视剧，他们都是如此的重要，连接着我们。比如bryan和我，又真的在影响着我们，激励着我们。
then let’s take another look at this state of union the east, west union, with this soft-powerbias. how is the soft power e_change between these two roommates? are the songs in englishthat become hits in china? for sure. how about movies? well, there are so many…that chinahas had to limit the number hollywood movies imported into the country so that local films caneven have a chance at success. what about the flip side of that? the chinese songs that have ahit in the west? well…(yes!)
回过头来再看看这个东西方的联合体，是存在一种软实力偏向的。东方和西方这两个“舍友”之间的软实力交流会是什么样子的呢?有没有在中国很红的英文歌呢?当然有。英文电影呢?那就太多了。多到中国不得不限制好莱坞电影的引入，来给本土电影制造些成功的机会。那么反过来，又在西方很红的华语歌曲吗?
heheha,yeah, and movies. well there was crouching tiger, that was thirteen years ago. and,well i think there is a bit of an imbalance here. and i think it’s a soft-power deficit, let’s callthat. i mean look in this direction. that is to say, the west influences the east more than viceversa. and forgive me for using east and west kind of loosely but i think it’s a lot easier to statethis than english-speaking language or the asian speaking language… chinese, or cantonesespecifically, i think i’m making a generalization i hope you can go with me on this.
观众：江南style!王：哈哈，没错，还有电影。比如卧虎藏龙，那也是十三年前的事了。我觉得这当中有一种不平衡存在。我认为这是一种软实力赤字，就这么叫吧。当我们放眼这个方向的时候，也就是说，西方对东方的影响远远大于东方对西方的。原谅我这里把东方和西方这两个词用的这么随意。因为这比说，以英语为第一语言的国家，讲中文或讲粤语的地区，这样的话方便点。我在使用一种概况化的表达方式。希望你们能理解。
and it’s interestingly a problem with this imbalance in pop cultural influence. and i think so. ithink in any healthy relationship or friendship or marriage, isn’t it important for both sides tomake an effort to understand the other? and that this e_change needs to have a healthybalance.
这种在流行文化影响方面的不平衡其实是个很有趣的问题。试想在任何一段健康的关系中，无论是友谊还是婚姻，双方彼此努力去了解对方都再重要不过了，对吗? 这种软实力交换需要一种平衡。
and how do we address this? as an ambassador for chinese pop music and movies, i have toask myself the question, why does this deficit e_ist? is it because chinese music just is lame?don’t answer that, please. yeah i can just see some of you are really like: “stop complaining!write a hit song! psy did!” you know.but actually there is truth in that.
那么如何做到这一点呢?作为中国流行文化大使，我必须问自己这样一个问题，为什么会存在这种软实力赤字?是因为华语音乐真的很烂吗?求你们了别回答这个问题。我看得出你们当中肯定有人在嘀咕：别发牢骚了!写首劲歌吧!鸟叔不就做到了吗?事实上这背后是有点道理的。
and the argument being that the content we’ve created just isn’t as internationallycompetitive. and why shouldn’t be? well, look at korean pop, look at k-pop for e_ample.korean is an e_port-based economy and they are outward looking.
一种说法是，我们所创作的内容，没有足够的国际竞争力。为什么就没有呢?那么，我们以韩流音乐为例。韩国的经济是以出口为导向的。他们的眼光是面向世界的。
and they must be outward looking. chinese pop, on the other hand, can just kind of staydomestic, tour all over chinese-speaking territories and comfortably sustained. so when weare, that big and powerful, there’re over 160 cities in china with a million or more people. youtend to kind of turn inward and be complacent(自满的).
事实上他们也必须面向世界。而华语流行音乐，仅凭借在中国国内发展以及在华语国家和地区举办巡演，就能够坚挺下去。而中国，正是由于是一个泱泱大国，市场潜力巨大，又有着160万个人口超过百万的城市，华语音乐确实有内化和固步自封的倾向。
so this certainly can be an argument made for chinese pop being not marked with internationalsensibilities in mind. but the other side of the argument, i think is more interesting andthought-provoking and even more true that western ears aren’t familiar with, and thereforedon’t really understand how to appreciate chinese music. ouch!
所以华语流行音乐缺乏在国际市场竞争的敏感性这一观点是成立的。不过我认为这一议题的另一方面，更为有趣，更发人深省也更为真实。那就是西方听众并不熟悉华语音乐。因此并不懂得如何去欣赏华语音乐。哦好伤人啊!
ok, the reason i think that argument holds water though is because that’s e_actly what i wentthrough. so i happen to know a thing or two about learning to appreciate chinese pop as awesterner. cause as i was 17 years old when i went from being the asian kid in america tobeing an american kid in china. and the entire paradigm suddenly got flipped on its head.
我之所以认为这种论调其实站得住脚，是因为我本人恰巧有过这般经历。因此我对“西方人如何学着欣赏华语流行音乐”这个问题还是要一定发言权的。在17岁之前，我是一个身处美国的亚洲小孩。17岁之后，我变成了一个身处亚洲的美国孩子。情况完全颠倒了过来。
i grow up listening to beatie boyz, led zeppelin, guns n’ roses. then i found myself in taiwan,listening to the radio and thinking, where’s the beat? where is the screeching(呼啸声) guitarsolos? and here i am an american kid in asia, listening to chinese music for the first time andthinking “this stuff is lamb. i don’t like it.” i thought it was cheesy, production value was low.the singers couldn’t belt like a_l rose, or mariah carey. but then one day, i went to my firstchinese pop concert and it was yu chengqing, harlem yu, performing in 台北社教馆the taibeimusic center.
以前我是听着beatie boyz, led zeppelin，枪花长大的。但是到了台湾之后，我常边听音乐边想， 这音乐怎么一点节奏感没有!华丽的吉他独奏在哪里!所以，作为一个在亚洲的美国孩子，我刚开始接触到华语音乐的时候心里的想法是，这音乐太逊了，我不喜欢。我觉得这些歌都太不给力了。制作价值太低。这些歌手就是没有a_l rose (枪花主唱)或者mariah carey 那么会飙高音。直到有一天，我听了人生中第一场华流演唱会。是庾澄庆，哈林。在台北音乐中心的那场。
and as he performed, i looked around the audience and i saw their faces and the look in theireyes, their responsiveness to his music. and it was clear to me, finally, where the problem lay.it wasn’t that the music was lacking. it was my ability to appreciate it and to hear it in theright way. the crowd, they would sing along and be totally emerged in his music and i had thisepiphany(顿悟) that i was missing point. and from now on, i was going to, somehow, learnhow to get it.
当他表演时，我看到台下观众脸上的表情，眼神 和他们对音乐的那种热烈响应。我总算知道问题出在哪里了。并不是华语音乐缺少什么，而是我不能够正确的聆听和欣赏它。看到台下的人群跟着哈林一起唱并且完全沉浸在他的音乐里的时候，我顿悟到，我起初没有很好的理解。我现在应该开始学着如何领悟它们。
i was going to learn how to hear with local ears and i deconstructed and analyzed what it wasthat made chinese audiences connect with certain types of melodies and rhythms and songsstructures and lyrics. that’s what i’ve been doing for the past almost twenty years. and it tookme a long time and i am still learning.
如何用“当地的”耳朵去听音乐。我开始解构，分析，是什么让华语听众对某种旋律，歌曲的结构或者歌词产生共鸣。在过去二十年我一直在做这样的工作。真是路漫漫，至今我还在学习中。
but at some point, i not only began to be able to appreciate the music, but i started beingable to contribute to it. and i created my own fresh spins on the tried and true. and i thinkthis happens to everyone, really, who is on the outside looking in, it always looks strange if youlook at things from your perspective. you’re always gonna think that these people areweirdoes(古怪的人).what’s wrong with them? why are they listening to this stuff? and i amsaying that you can make an effort and get it. it can be done and i am a living proof for that.and as an ambassador of chinese pop, i am trying to get people to open up to a sound thatthey may not feel as palatable(使人愉悦的，随人心愿的) at the first time listen. what elseshould we do to reduce imbalance in our popular cultures?
而从某刻开始，我不仅能欣赏华语音乐了，而且能够开始做出自己的贡献。开始尝试和创造自己的风格。作为外观者，每个人都会这样。如果仅从自己的角度出发看问题，你总是会觉得外面的世界很奇怪。你总会觉得别人是异类。他们是怎么了?怎么会听这些东西?而我想说的是，只要你跨出去一步，就会有收获。并且我用自己的亲身经历证明，这是能够做到了。作为华语音乐大使，我一直在努力让人们开放接受，那些也许最初听上去并不喜欢的音乐，那么我们还能做些什么，来减少这种流行文化中的不平衡呢?
well, maybe give a talk of the o_ford union, tour more outside of china? but seriously, actuallyi think the tides are already starting to change very slowly, very cautiously, almostcalculatingly. you see more cross-cultural e_change now, more interest in china, definitely alot of joint ventures, a lot of co-productions in recent years, iron man 3, transformers fiftythree, resident evil… really it’s beginning to be kind of a world pop. and that’s what i amlooking forward to, and that’s what i am focusing on these days. there was j-pop, there was k-pop, there‘sc-pop. and there’s like this w-pop, that’s kind of starting to emerge. this worldpop. and i think. yeah, i love that idea. it’s not world music. it’s not. it’s world pop. and ithink… yeah i love that idea that it’s not world music. it’s not like… there used to be sectionhmv called world music now it’s like ethnomusicology (人种音乐学) musical class in college.
比如说，为牛津亚太学生会做演讲，或者在中国以外的地方开演唱会?但说真的，其实我觉得这种不平衡的趋势，正在开始发生微妙的，缓慢的，小心的，谨慎的变化。你们能够看到目前中国有很多跨文化的交流，外商渐渐视中国为宝地，近年来不乏很多跨国公司和合作成果，钢铁侠3，无数部变形金刚，生化危机……真的已经形成一种世界流行文化了。这正是我期待看到的，也是我最近专注的内容。之前我们有日流，韩流，华流，现在这种世界流正在慢慢兴起。这就是世界流，我觉得。。。是的，我很喜欢这么个说法，就是世界流并不是世界音乐，不是像。。。hmv之前有一个类别叫世界音乐。有点像音乐学院的“民族音乐学”课程的分类方式。
no, but world pop is more about breaking and turning down age-old stereotypes, the artificialconfines that have kept us apart for way too long. it’s a melting pot and it’s mosaic that evenwhen we look up close, we’d still see the colors and flavors of each culture in detail. and wherecan we go to listen to world pop? i don’t think there is a world pop station or a magazine,unfortunately, there are none- there should be.
但世界流不是这样的，这个概念打破了陈规旧俗，冲开了艺术上那些一直阻碍在我们之间的界限。这就像一个大熔炉，一个马赛克拼图。如果我们仔细看，是可以领略到每种文化的不同风格和特色的。那么我们通过什么途径可以听到“世界流”音乐呢?并不存在这样一本世界流音乐杂志或一个平台，很不幸，当然这些是应该有的。
but there is the internet and has proven to be a driving force for world pop. britain’sgot talent made susan boyle the hottest act in the world. and she achieved that not throughthe record labels or the networks but through grassroots sharing. gangnam style is anothergreat e_ample how that just took over and became a huge worldwide world pop phenomenon.so world pop also suggests a worldwide pop culture and something that can be shared by all ofus and give us a lot of common ground.
不过还好，我们有互联网，比如油管就是一个推广世界流音乐的中坚力量。苏珊大妈是通过英国达人秀走红的，她的成功不是通过唱片公司或者音乐圈的网络，而是走的草根路线。江南style也是一个很棒的范例，能成为一种掀起全球狂潮的文化现象。所以世界流，意味着一种世界范围内的流行文化，能让全人类共享，给我们提供了一个共通点。
so today, what’s my called action? i wanna improve a multicultural e_change between the eastand the west. i think i have made that clear, but how? i think… you can all become pop singers.really…i think that’s the answer. no, i am just kidding. unless that’s what you really wanna do.my called action is this: build and protect that roommate relationship between the east and thewest. value this relationship and take ownership of it. don’t come to o_ford as an e_changestudent from taiwan and only hang out with other chinese students. why would you do that?you could do that back in wuhan or nanjing or wherever you came from.
于是今天，我的号召是什么呢?我想要帮助推进东西方之间的多元文化交流。这一点我想我已经表达的很清楚了，但是如何做到呢?我觉着吧，你们都可以出道嘛，这样就好了。我开个玩笑。不过如果成为歌手真的是你想做的事情那就另当别论了。我在此，号召各位，请务必在东方与西方横亘的隔阂间，建立一种室友般的情谊。并且能尽所能及的保护这份情谊，珍惜它，拥有它。千万不要千里迢迢从台湾跑来牛津大学当交换生还一天到晚只和中国学生聚一块。你说你这是干嘛对吧?这些事你在武汉，在南京，在老家的时候都能做对吧。
don’t buy into the headlines or the stereotypes or into the hyper nationalism. think foryourselves, and this goes for the east and west both. get to know one another and think foryourselves and don’t believe the hype. for a moment, if we could just disregard thegovernments, and what the media are saying, just for the sake of the argument, with our owntools of critical thinking, can we build relationships that actually see one another as individualhuman beings and not faceless members of a particular ethnicity or nationality? of course wecan do that. and that’s the goal and dream, i think of the romantic artists and the musicians.i think it’s always been there. and that’s what i wish for, and that’s what makes music and artso powerful and so true, and breaks down instantly and disintegrates all the artificial barriersthat we’ve created between each other, government, nationality, black, brown, yellow, white,whatever color you are, and shows each other our hearts, our fears, our hopes and our dreams.and it turns out in the end the east isn’t that far after all. and the west, well, ain’t so wild.
那些标题党，那些陈词滥调，那些超民族主义，别买他们的账。你应当学会自己判断，这个原则同样适用于研究东西方。把一件件来龙去脉搞清楚，独立思考，对那些天花乱坠的东西不要偏听则信。要是哪一天，你能做到漠视政府的鼓吹，忽视媒体的通稿，据理力争只为真理，动用“批判思维”的武器，是不是就能建立起那份情谊了呢?到那时，每个人都是独立的个体，个人不再是隶属于某个种族或是国家的无脸人?我们当然能做到。这是目标，也是理想。这是浪漫艺术家和音乐人亘古不变的初心。也是我想要极力撮成的一种情谊。正因如此，音乐和艺术的力量才这样强大，这样真切。正是这些力量让横亘期间的壁垒土崩瓦解。那些我们在彼此之间人为制造的隔阂，政府或者国籍，肤色。黑色，棕色，黄色和白色，无论哪一种肤色。也是这些力量让我们能够单程我们的内心，我们的恐惧，我们的希望，我们的梦想。最终我们就会发现，“远东”也并没有那么遥远。西方也并非都是蛮荒一片。
and through understanding each other’s popular cultures, we gain insight in each other’shearts and true selves. for those of you who are just beginning that journey, the west andeast, i want to invite you today on this amazing journey with me. and i, as an e_periencedtraveler on this road, on the west and east road, i’ve prepared a mi_-tape for all of you today,of then songs that i love, there, that’s a c-pop mi_-tape. that you can check out. i was goingto bring you all cds, but my publicist reminded me lovingly that would be illegal. so becausei’m a professional recording artist, i shouldn’t do that. but actually the link works out nicely,because you get to see the music videos as well on a lot of these songs.
通过了解彼此的流行文化，探到彼此的内心，触碰彼此的灵魂。如果你们正想踏上这条贯通东西的征途，我诚挚的邀请你们和我一起加入这场奇幻之旅。作为在这条联通东西方之间的路上还算有点经验的人，我为你们准备了一只合集的卡带，里面收录了十首我爱的华语流行音乐。看，你们感受一下。本来今天我是给你们每人准备了cd的，但是我的团队好心提醒我说，这么做是不合法的。作为专业的专辑制作人，我可不能做这种事。不过这里的链接还是很好用的，因为这样你们还能看到这些歌曲相应的mv。
and these ten songs are songs that i love and ten different chinese artists to start you off ongetting to know and love chinese pop. i think these guys are awesome and i hope you do too. ijust wanna wrap up by saying that being here on the o_ford campus really makes menostalgic for my days at williams. and when i look back on those four years, some of myfondest memories are spending time with my roommates stephan papiano and jason price. infact, jason is here in the audience today and nake this special trip form london just to see me.and i suppose in the beginning we were strangers. we didn’t know much about each other andsometimes we die compete for the shower. there were time when we did intrude on eachother’s privacy. but i always loved listening to stephen’s stories about growing up in a greekfamily and his opinions on what authentic greek food really was. or jason’s stories aboutwanting to make violins and to live in cremona, italy like antonio stradivari and he did do that.
这10首我最爱的歌曲，来自不同的很棒的中国音乐人。我们就从他们开始了解入手中国的流行音乐吧!我觉得这些音乐人都很棒，希望你们也能喜欢。最后的最后，我只想说，现在置身于牛津大学校园，真的让我不由的回忆起我在威廉姆斯大学的那段时光。当我回首那四年，我发现最值得回忆的，就是于室友stephan papiano和jason price共处的时光了。事实上呢，jason就在观众席中。他专程从伦敦赶来看我。我在想，刚开始大家还是陌生人，我们对彼此不了解，有时候我们还会抢淋浴，甚至互相侵犯别人的隐私。但是我一直喜欢听stephen讲他在一个希腊家庭里成长的故事。还有他眼里原汁原味的希腊菜应该长什么样子。或是jason的故事，说他渴望以做小提琴为生，生活在意大利的克雷默那，像安东尼奥特拉迪瓦那样，而他的梦想后来真的实现了。
and i will never forget many years later when i played a jason price handmade violin for thefirst time and how that felt. they were always attentive and respectful when i tell them aboutwhat it was like for me growing up in a chinese household with strict parents who made mestudy. so we shared stories, but the strongest bonds between us were formed just sittingaround and listening to music together. and i really do see that as a model for east and west.so that’s why i want to share chinese music with you today because it’s the best way i knowhow to create the lasting friendships that transcend all barriers and allow us to know eachother truly, authentically and just as we are.
多年之后，我都无法忘记，我第一次拉“jason price”手工制作的小提琴时的场景，还有当时我内心的触动。他们也总是那样聚精会神，十分尊重的倾听我的成长故事，如何在一个中国传统家庭里长大。我的父母很严格，一直逼我学习。我们会互相分享各自的故事但是我们之间的纽带系的最牢的时候却是当我们单纯的围坐在一起听音乐的时候，我真心觉得我们的例子，就是东西人互相理解并和谐共处的典范。因此，这就是为何我今天要与各位分享中国的音乐。因为据我所知，这是最好的一种方式，让友谊地久天长。而这份友谊超越了所有的界限，让我们真真切切的了解彼此，展现最真实的自己。
thank you!
谢谢大家!
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