书城励志震撼世界的声音:名人励志演讲集萃
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第106章 Was That Okay?(1)

Oprah Winfrey,A famous host Harvard University,May 30th,2013

As you will at some point,that it was time to recalculate,find new territory,break new ground.

在人生的有些时刻,你必须重新开始,找到新的领域,实现新的突破。

Oprah Winfrey

背景故事

“OMG,我竟然在哈——佛!”奥普拉·温弗瑞以这样富有激情的标志性方式开始了自己在哈佛大学毕业典礼上的演讲。这位美国脱口秀天后,国际知名慈善家奥普拉·温弗瑞(Oprah Winfrey),应邀至哈佛大学获颁荣誉法学博士学位,并在毕业典礼发表演说。她在演讲中回顾了她从一位来自密西西比州贫困地区的女孩成为脱口秀明星,再到成功创办OWN电视台的经历,告诉毕业生生活的真谛在于内心道德和情感的修炼,鼓励毕业生们为社会带来变革。她敦促毕业生乐于接受挫折,并视之为成长的契机,并在生活与事业中追求为他人服务的机会。她告诉毕业生:“人生没有失败这档事,所谓失败只是让人生转个弯。有时难免会陷入挣扎或卡在困境中,不过你想创造的人生故事会引领你走出去。”“不要问自己,世界需要什么,而是问问是什么让你充满活力地活着,然后就去做,因为这个世界需要的就是一个个朝气蓬勃的人。”她说:“世界因你而不同。”如果你也想知道这位睿智女士的解答,那就请静心聆听吧。

名人简介

董事长、制片人、主持人、演员,这一系列称呼还不足以全面描述温弗瑞的身份。在美国,“奥普拉法案”(Oprah Bill)、“奥普拉读书俱乐部”(Oprah‘s Book Club)、“奥普拉杂志”(Oprah Winfrey Magazine)、“奥普拉天使网站”(Oprah’s Angel Network)等等无不显示这个黑人女子惊人的影响力。如今,温弗瑞的个人净资产达到10亿美元,这个年过50岁仍单身的女人会大踏步走向何方,无人知晓。

演讲赏析

Was That Okay?

Oprah Winfrey,A famous host Harvard University,May 30th,2013

Oh my goodness!I‘m at Harvard!Wow!To President Faust,my fellow honorans,Carl,that was so beautiful,thank you so much,and James Rothenberg,Stephanie Wilson,Harvard faculty,with a special bow to my friend Dr.Henry Lewis Gates.All of you alumni,with a special bow to the Class of’88,your hundred fifteen million dollars.And to you,members of the Harvard class of 2013!Hello!

I thank you for allowing me to be a part of the conclusion of this chapter of your lives and the commencement of your next chapter.To say that I‘m honored doesn’t even begin to quantify the depth of gratitude that really accompanies an honorary doctorate from Harvard.Not too many little girls from rural Mississippi have made it all the way here to Cambridge.And I can tell you that I consider today as I sat on the stage this morning getting teary for you all and then teary for myself,I consider today a defining milestone in a very long and a blessed journey.My one hope today is that I can be a source of some inspiration.I‘m going to address my remarks to anybody who has ever felt inferior or felt disadvantaged,felt screwed by life,this is a speech for the Quad.

Actually I was so honored I wanted to do something really special for you.I wanted to be able to have you look under your seats and there would be free master and doctor degrees but I see you got that covered already.I will be honest with you.I felt a lot of pressure over the past few weeks to come up with something that I could share with you that you hadn’t heard before because after all you all went to Harvard,I did not.But then I realized that you don‘t have to necessarily go to Harvard to have a driven obsessive Type A personality.But it helps.And while I may not have graduated from here,I admit that my personality is about as Harvard as they come.You know my television career began unexpectedly.As you heard this morning I was in the Miss Fire Prevention contest.That was when I was 16years old in Nashville,Tennessee,and you had the requirement of having to have red hair in order to win up until the year that I entered.So they were doing the question and answer period because I knew I wasn’t going to win under the swimsuit competition.So during the question and answer period the question came“Why,young lady,what would you like to be when you grow up?”And by the time they got to me all the good answers were gone.So I had seen Barbara Walters on the“Today Show”that morning,so I answered,“I would like to be a journalist.I would like to tell other people‘s stories in a way that makes a difference in their lives and the world.”And as those words were coming out of my mouth,I went whoa!This is pretty good!I would like to be a journalist.I want to make a difference.Well,I was on television by the time I was 19years old.And in 1986I launched my own television show with a relentless determination to succeed at first.I was nervous about the competition and then I became my own competition raising the bar every year,pushing,pushing,pushing myself as hard as I knew.Sound familiar to anybody here?Eventually we did make it to the top and we stayed there for 25years.