书城英文图书人生处处充满选择
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第37章 关于信念(13)

Tonight we are going to listen to you. Documentary filmmaker Errol Morris crisscrossed America asking movie goers and culture-makers a question: "What do movies mean to you?” And you answered. So let,s expand this beautiful stage into every one of your homes. And maybe even some of you will answer this question as you stand on this stage tonight, "What do movies mean to you?" So pull up a sofa. It,s just us, talking. It,s Oscar night.

当人们问及伟大的导演比利·怀尔德,什么可以使一部电影令人难以忘怀时,他的回答非常的简单:“一点点魅力!”今天晚上,出席这个盛会的所有嘉宾或者家庭电视观众都在注视着,因为电影屏幕上曾出现过某些东西。那一点点魅力触动了我们的生命。当它上演的时候,你总会记着你身处何地:戏院,爆米花,还有你身旁的人。1968年,我们全家生活在加拿大的渥太华,那时候有一部斯坦利·库布里克的电影叫作《2001年太空漫游》,看过这部电影后,我忍不住问自己:生命、宇宙还有存在是什么?那时候我只有6岁,那时那地,我只想当一名宇航员。

我的家庭曾经历过数次搬迁,在肯塔基州的路易丝维尔给予我最强烈震撼的是《大白鲨》;年长一点后,在新泽西州和宾夕法尼亚州的弗吉谷,我又先后受到《现代启示录》和《愤怒的公牛》两部电影的感染。那时我又想成为一名演员。无论在顺境还是在逆境中,电影都是我的救生员。然而,去年9月发生的一件事情几乎改变了我们的想法。一位圈中的朋友,他对我说:“我们在干什么?我们究竟是在干什么?重要吗?我们所做的一切重要吗”今天晚上是一个多么美妙的夜晚,我们应不应该庆祝电影给我们带来的欢乐和魅力呢?嗯,难道我不敢这么说吗?我们要更加隆重地庆祝。电影里的一个小场景、一个姿势,甚至演员之间的一点眼神交流,都可以跨越我们彼此之间的界限,打破我们彼此之间的屏障,融化我们彼此之间的偏见,更坦白地说,它赋予我们欢笑,它把我们团结起来,这就是那一点点魅力。这就是我!

今天晚上,我们将听取各位的意见。纪录片制作人埃罗尔·莫里斯走遍美国各地,对所有的电影观众和文艺传播者,他提出了同一个问题:“电影对于您的意义是什么?”你们都已给出了答案。那么,现在,让我们把这个美丽的舞台延伸到每一个家庭,或许你们之中会有人在今晚的舞台上回答这个问题:“电影对于您的意义是什么?”现在,让我们站起来,就我们,来共同探讨这个问题!奥斯卡颁奖典礼,现在开始!

延伸阅读

汤姆·克鲁斯,1962年7月3日出生于美国纽约州锡拉丘兹,美国着名影星,1981年进入演艺圈。1983年,汤姆·克鲁斯凭借《乖仔也疯狂》的出色演出获得第41届金球奖喜剧/音乐类最佳男主角提名。1990年,汤姆·克鲁斯凭借《生于七月四日》中的演出获得第62届奥斯卡奖最佳男主角提名。1996年,汤姆·克鲁斯出演《碟中谍》系列电影男主角。1997年,汤姆·克鲁斯凭借《甜心先生》获得第69届奥斯卡奖最佳男主角提名。2000年,汤姆·克鲁斯凭借《木兰花》获得第72届奥斯卡奖最佳男配角提名。本文是2002年他在第74届奥斯卡颁奖典礼上的开幕词。

popcorn n.爆米花; 保护物品的小片;

prejudice n.成见,偏见,歧视; 侵害; 伤害;

vt.使有偏见; 不利于,损害

The Poet and Writer,s Duty

诗人和作家的职责

The poet,s voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of props , the pillars to help him endure and prevail.

诗人的声音不应只是人类的记录,而应是使人类永存并得到胜利的支柱和栋梁。

I feel that this award was not made to me as a man, but to my work-a life,s work in the agony and sweat of the human spirit, not for glory and least of all for profit, but to create out of the materials of the human spirit something which did not exist before. So this award is only mine in trust. It will not be difficult to find a dedication for the money part of it commensurate with the purpose and significance of its origin. But I would like to do the same with the acclaim too, by using this moment as a pinnacle from which I might be listened to by the young men and women already dedicated to the same anguish and travail, among whom is already that one who will some day stand here where I am standing.

Our tragedy today is a general and universal physical fear so long sustained by now that we can even bear it. There are no longer problems of the spirit. There is only the question: When will I be blown up? Because of this, the young man or woman writing today has forgotten the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself which alone can make good writing because only that is worth writing about, worth the agony and the sweat.

He must learn them again. He must teach himself that the basest of all things is to be afraid; and, teaching himself that, forget it forever, leaving no room in his workshop for anything but the old verities and truths of the heart, the old universal truths lacking which any story is ephemeral and doomed —— love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice. Until he does so, he labors under a curse. He writes not of love but of lust, of defeats in which nobody loses anything of value, of victories without hope and, worst of all, without pity or compassion. His grieve on no universal bones, leaving no scars. He writes not of the heart but of the glands.

Until he relearns these things, he will write as though he stood among and watched the end of man. I decline to accept the end of man. It is easy enough to say that man is immortal simply because he will endure: that when the last ding-dong of doom has clanged and faded from the last worthless rock hanging tideless in the last red and dying evening, that even then there will still be one more sound: that of his puny inexhaustible voice, still talking. I refuse to accept this. I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance.

The poet,s, the writer,s, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet,s voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.

我认为这个奖项不是授给我个人而是授给我的工作——一项艰辛而痛苦的毕生投入的人类精神的工作,既不为名也不为利,而是要从人类的精神原材料中创造一些前所未有的东西。因此这个奖项我只是代为保管。要该奖项的款项按照最初的目的和意义并不难。但我更欢迎这样做,利用这一时机,把它作为一个顶点,向听我讲话的有志于此的年轻人发出号召,他们中必定有人会站在我今天的位置上。

我们的悲剧在于,长期以来我们一直承受着肉体上的恐惧,不再有任何精神方面的问题。有的只是一个问题,我什么时候会被炸得粉身碎骨?因此,如今年轻人的作品已经忘记了处于矛盾冲突中的人类心灵的问题,而这本身就能够创造出好作品,因为这值得去写,值得为此辛劳。

人们一定要了解这些,一定要叫自己认识到最可鄙莫过于害怕,一定告诫自己永远不要忘记,工作中,除了心灵的正直与诚实外,不要给任何东西留有空间,过去的那些正直诚实的普遍品质包括爱情、荣誉、怜悯、尊严、同情和牺牲,缺乏了它们,任何作品都是短暂的,注定要失败的。把情欲而不是把爱情当作写作题材,把失败当作写作题材,描写的是没有任何人损失任何价值东西的微不足道的失败,把胜利当作题材时,描写的是没有任何希望的胜利,而最糟糕的是没有怜悯和同情。悲伤不是刻骨铭心的,而是清淡描写。写的不是心灵,而是分泌腺体的器官。

在人们重新了解这些之前,他们的写作态度就像无可奈何地看着世界末日的到来。我拒绝接受世界末日的观点。不是简单地说人类能够持续就说人类是永恒的;当命运最后的钟声敲响,当傍晚的最后一抹红色从平静无浪的礁石退去,甚至不再有其他声音,人无尽的不知疲倦的声音还在争鸣,我不认输。我认为人类不仅会延续,还会胜利。他是永生的,不是因为只有他在万物生灵中拥有不倦的还会胜利。他是永生的,不是因为只有他在万物生灵中拥有不倦的声音,而在于他有灵魂,能够同情、牺牲和忍受的灵魂。

诗人和作家的职责就是歌颂这些。通过提升人类的心灵,提醒他们牢记勇敢、荣誉、希望、尊严和同情这些昔日的光荣,来帮助人类生存下去,这是作家的荣幸。诗人的声音不仅是人类的简单记录,而且还是能够帮助人类持续和获胜的支柱之一。

延伸阅读

威廉·福克纳(1897-1962),美国文学史上最具影响力的作家之一,意识流文学在美国的代表人物,1949年诺贝尔文学奖得主,作品有《喧哗与骚动》等。本文是他获诺贝尔文学奖时的演讲。

dedicate vt.奉献,献身;

tragedy n.悲剧,惨剧; 悲剧文学;

compassion n.怜悯,同情; 恻隐之心;

sacrifice n.牺牲; 献祭,供奉; vt.献祭; 奉献; 牺牲; 亏本出售;