以简单的愉悦换取更复杂更有挑战性的快乐.docx

1、以简单的愉悦换取更复杂更有挑战性的快乐震撼人心的英语演讲以简单的愉悦换取更复杂、更有挑战性的快乐震撼人心的英语演讲以简单的愉悦换取更复杂、更有挑战性的快乐：德纳乔伊亚（Dana Gioia，1950.12.24 ），美国著名诗人、作家、评论家及商人。本科毕业于斯坦福大学，硕士毕业于哈佛大学。最初在通用食品公司任销售主管，1992年辞职专职写作。2003年至2009年，任职美国国家艺术基金会主席及美国政府艺术处处长。Dana Gioia: Trade Easy Pleasures for More Complex and Challenging Ones乔伊亚：以简单的愉悦换取更复杂、更有挑战性

2、的快乐演讲者：德纳乔伊亚地点：斯坦福大学时间：2007年6月17日【演讲者简介】德纳乔伊亚（Dana Gioia，1950.12.24 ），美国著名诗人、作家、评论家及商人。本科毕业于斯坦福大学，硕士毕业于哈佛大学。最初在通用食品公司任销售主管，1992年辞职专职写作。2003年至2009年，任职美国国家艺术基金会主席及美国政府艺术处处长。2005年，发起了一项“大阅读”（Big Read）活动，鼓励美国人阅读严肃文学，最终成为联邦政府史上最盛大的文学活动。2008年，乔治布什总统授予乔伊亚“总统公民奖章”。2011年，乔伊亚成为南加州大学诗歌和公共文化学系威德尼教授。We need to c

3、reate a new national consensus. The purpose of arts education is not to produce more artists, though that is a byproduct. The real purpose of arts education is to create complete human beings capable of leading successful and productive lives in a free society.This is not happening now in American s

4、chools. Even if you forget the larger catastrophe that only 70 percent of American kids now graduate from high school, what are we to make of a public education system whose highest goal seems to be producing minimally competent entry-level workers?The situation is a cultural and educational disaste

5、r, but it also has huge and alarming economic consequences. If the United States is to compete effectively with the rest of the world in the new global marketplace, it is not going to succeed through cheap labor or cheap raw materials, nor even the free flow of capital or a streamlined industrial ba

6、se. To compete successfully, this country needs continued creativity, ingenuity, and innovation.It is hard to see those qualities thriving in a nation whose educational system ranks at the bottom of the developed world and has mostly eliminated the arts from the curriculum.I have seen firsthand the

7、enormous transformative power of the artsin the lives of individuals, in communities, and even society at large.Marcus Aurelius believed that the course of wisdom consisted of learning to trade easy pleasures for more complex and challenging ones. I worry about a culture that bit by bit trades off t

8、he challenging pleasures of art for the easy comforts of entertainment. And that is exactly what is happeningnot just in the media, but in our schools and civic life.Entertainment promises us a predictable pleasurehumor, thrills, emotional titillation, or even the odd delight of being vicariously te

9、rrified. It exploits and manipulates who we are rather than challenges us with a vision of who we might become. A child who spends a month mastering Halo or NBA Live on Xbox has not been awakened and transformed the way that child would be spending the time rehearsing a play or learning to draw.If y

10、ou dont believe me, you should read the statistical studies that are now coming out about American civic participation. Our country is dividing into two distinct behavioral groups. One group spends most of its free time into two distinct behavioral groups. One group spends most of its free time sitt

11、ing at home as passive consumers of electronic entertainment. Even family communication is breaking down as members increasingly spend their time alone, staring at their individual screens.The other group also uses and enjoys the new technology, but these individuals balance it with a broader range

12、of activities. They go outto exercise, play sports, volunteer and do charity work at about three times the level of the first group. By every measure they are vastly more active and socially engaged than the first group.What is the defining difference between passive and active citizens? Curiously,

13、it isnt income, geography, or even education. It depends on whether or not they read for pleasure and participate in the arts. These cultural activities seem to awaken a heightened sense of individual awareness and so cial responsibility.Why do these issues matter to you? This is the culture you are

14、 about to enter. For the last few years you have had the privilege of being at one of the worlds greatest universitiesnot only studying, but being a part of a community that takes arts and ideas seriously. Even if you spent most of your free time watching Greys Anatomy, playing Guitar Hero, or Faceb

15、ooking your friends, those important endeavors were balanced by courses and conversations about literature, politics, technology, and ideas.Distinguished graduates, your support system is about to end. And you now face the choice of whether you want to be a passive consumer or an active citizen. Do

16、you want to watch the world on a screen or live in it so meaningfully that you change it?Thats no easy task, so dont forget what the arts provide.Art is an irreplaceable way of understanding and expressing the worldequal to but distinct from scientific and conceptual methods. Art addresses us in the

17、 fullness of our beingsimultaneously speaking to our intellect, emotions, intuition, imagination, memory, and physical senses. There are some truths about life that can be expressed only as stories, or songs, or images.Art delights, instructs, consoles. It educates our emotions. And it remembers. As

18、 Robert Frost once said about poetry, “It is a way of remembering that which it would impoverish us to forget.” Art awakens, enlarges, refines, and restores our humanity. You dont outgrow art. The same work can mean something different at each stage of your life. A good book changes as you change.My

19、 own art is poetry, though my current daily life sometimes makes me forget that. So let me end my remarks with a short poem appropriate to the occasion.PRAISE TO THE RITUALS THAT CELEBRATE CHANGEPraise to the rituals that celebrate change,old robes worn for new beginnings,solemn protocol where the m

20、utable soul,surrounded by ancient experience, growsyoung in the imaginations white dress.Because it is not the rituals we honorbut our trust in what they signify, these ritesthat honor us as witnesseswhether to watchlovers swear loyalty in a careless worldor a newborn washed with water and oil.So pr

21、aise to innocenceimpulsive and evergreenand let the old be touched by youthswayward astonishment at learning something new,and dream of a future so fitting and so justthat our desire will bring it into being.Congratulations to the Class of 2007.我们需要确定一个新的国民共识。艺术教育的目的不是培养更多的艺术家，这最多只是一个副产品。艺术教育的真正目的是培

22、养完整的人，能在自由社会中拥有成功、丰富人生的人。但在美国的学校里，完全不是这么回事。即使你忘了还有更大的灾难，就是只有70%的美国孩子能高中毕业，如果一个公共教育系统的最高目标就是培养能力刚达标的工人，我们还有什么好期待的？这种情形就是文化和教育的灾难，但它也有着巨大的令人警醒的经济后果。如果美国要有效地与世界其他国家在新的全球化市场中竞争，它就不会靠廉价劳动力或低价原材料取胜，也不会靠资本的自由流动或增产节能型工业基地。为了竞争成功，这个国家需要持久的创造能力、创新思维和创意产品。对于一个教育系统在发达国家中垫底的国家，这些品质很难幸存，就连艺术课，大部分也都从课表上去掉了。我曾亲眼见证艺

23、术巨大的改变力量在个体、团体甚至是整个社会的生命中。马库斯奥里利乌斯认为，智慧之课包含学习用简单的愉悦交换更复杂、更富有挑战性的快乐。我担心文化会逐渐丧失艺术富有挑战性的愉悦，而只剩下娱乐的简单舒适。现在的情况就是这样不仅在媒体，在我们的学校和老百姓的生活中都是这样。娱乐承诺给我一个可预见的快乐幽默、激动、情感骚动，或者间接被恐吓的诡异高兴。它利用并操纵我们本身，而不是用我们可能实现的愿景来挑战我们自己。一个花一个月才在Xbox上练熟Halo（一种游戏，中文名为“光环”）或NBA在线游戏的孩子，是不会突然醒悟并改变习惯，并把时间用到排演戏剧或学习画画上的。如果你们不相信我，你们应该看一下最新发

24、布的美国公民参与活动的统计研究报告。我国分为行为迥异的两个群体。其中一群人将大部分业余时间用来宅在家里，成为电子娱乐产品的被动消费者。就连家人间的交流，也随着家庭成员独自对着各自的电脑所度过时间的增加而几乎不复存在。另一群人也使用、也享受新科技，但他们会将之与更广泛的各项活动相平衡。他们走出去活动、锻炼、做志愿者以及参与慈善工作，次数大约是第一群人的三倍。无论如何，他们都比第一群人更活跃、更多地融入社会中。被动民众和主动民众在定义上有何区别呢？奇怪的是，区别不在收入、地域或教育，而在于他们是否为愉悦而阅读并参与到艺术活动中。看起来，这些文化活动唤醒了一定高度的个人意识和社会责任感。这些事情为什

25、么对你们很重要呢？因为这是你们要涉足的文化领域。过去的几年里，你们有幸进入世界顶尖学府不仅是来学习的，还是来成为团体成员之一的，要认真对待艺术和思想。即使你们会花掉大部分业余时间看实习医生格蕾，玩“吉他英雄”游戏，或者在“脸谱网”上交友，但你们要把握好这些重要活动与文学、政治、科技、思想相关课程和对话之间的平衡。优秀的毕业生们，你们的支持系统即将瓦解。你们现在面临的选择是，做一个被动的消费者还是主动的民众。你们想要在电脑屏幕上走世界，还是进入这个世界过有意义的人生并改变这个世界？那不是容易的事情，所以不要忘记艺术所能给我们的一切。艺术是了解并表达这个世界所不可替代的方式和科学的、概念的方式相当

26、又有所不同。在我们全然的生命里，艺术与我们对话同时也是与我们的智力、情感、直觉、想象、记忆和生理感觉说话。有些生命的真相，仅能用故事、歌曲和图像来表达。艺术能愉悦人、指导人前进的方向，还能给人以慰藉。艺术教导我们的情感。艺术拥有记忆。诚如罗伯特弗罗斯特曾作的关于诗歌的评论：“这是让我们记住那些迫使我们忘记的事物的方法。”艺术唤醒、放大、提炼、还原我们的人性。你不可过分夸大艺术。同样的艺术品在生命的不同阶段，其意味也不同。一本好书能随你的改变而改变。我自己从事的艺术是诗歌，尽管目前每天的日常生活有时会让我忘了这个本职。因此请允许我用一首应景的短诗来结束自己的演讲。【颂庆祝改变之典礼】颂庆祝改变之典礼，身着旧服迎新，郑重协议中，摇摆灵魂,被古老经验环绕，在想象的白衣中不老。因为这不是我们敬重的仪式，而是我们对仪式含义的信任，这些庆祝我们成为证人的仪式无论是旁观爱人发誓在危险的世界里保持忠贞，还是用水和油为新生儿沐浴。因此，歌颂那些无辜者冲动且永远年轻的学习新事物时，用青春碰撞陈暮任性的惊讶，寻一个梦想，合情合理，来实现我们的愿望。祝贺2007届毕业生。