2017英语四六级备考小憩:美文鉴赏之拯救人类，拯救地球(2)

英语自学网

　　2017年6月英语四六级考试报名已结束，文都四六级小编希望各位考生在报名备考的同时，也不要忘记英语自身的魅力。现下就为大家奉上美文鉴赏之迈克尔杰克逊牛津大学的演讲——拯救人类，拯救地球(第二篇)。

2017041703393054152.jpg

　　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 Wtnesses 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 mails，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.
　　但是命中注定我只能羡慕那些笑声，那些从我身边溜走的欢乐时光，因为我 的职业生活不容停歇。不过，作为耶和华见证人，每个礼拜天我都要去参加教会工 作，那时我就能看到别人的童年是怎样的充满魔力。而自从我成名以后，我就不得 不用肥大的衣服、假发、胡须和眼镜把自己伪装起来。我们在加州南部的郊区度过一整天，挨家挨户串门，或者在购物中心闲逛，发放我们的《守望台》杂志。我也 喜欢在普通人家前驻足，看那些粗毛地毯，看那些小家伙们过家家，看所有的精彩 的、普通的、闪亮的日常生活情景。我知道很多人会认为这没什么大不了，可对我 却充满了诱惑。我常常想，自己应该是唯一没有体验过童年的人，我想能和我分享 这种感觉的人更是少之又少。
　　When I recently met with Shirley Temple Black, the great child star of the 1930s and 40s，we said nothing to each other at first. We simply cried together, for she could share a pain with me that only others like my close friends Elizabeth Taylor and McCauley Culkin knew. I do not tell you this to gain your sympathy but to impress upon you my first important point—it is not just Hollywood child stars that have suffered from a nonexistent childhood.
　　前些时候，我有幸遇到了三四十年代的一位童星秀兰邓波儿，一见面我们什 么都不说，只是一起哭，因为她能分担我的痛苦，这种痛苦只有我的一些密友,伊 丽莎白泰勒和麦考利库尔金他们才知道。我说这些并不是要博得大家的同情， 只是想让大家牢记一点这种失去童年的痛苦不仅仅属于好莱坞的童星。现在，这已经成为全世界的灾难。童年成了当代生活的牺牲品。我们使很多 孩子失去欢乐，失去自由，失去相应的权利，而且还认为一个孩子就该是这样的。
　　Today, it’s a universal calamity, a global catastrophe. Childhood has become the great casualty of modern-day living. All around us we are producing scores of kids who have not had the joy, who have not been accorded the right, who have not been allowed the freedom, or knowing what it’s like to be a kid. Today children are constantly encouraged to grow up faster, as if this period known as childhood is a burdensome stage, to be endured and ushered through, as swiftly as possible. And on that subject, I am certainly one of the world’s greatest experts. Ours is a generation that has witnessed the abrogation of the parent-child covenant.
　　现在，孩子们经常被鼓励长大得快一些，好像这个叫做童年的时期是一个累赘的阶 段，大人们很不耐烦地想着法儿让它尽可能地快些结束。在这个问题上，我无疑是 世界上最专业的人士之一了。我正是见证亲子盟约废除的一代人。