– 英语/中文 双语歌词

歌词与翻译

[中文]

转录：To Kiet Tuong B - 审阅：Phan Thi Dan Nhi B

那是1988年。我当时在纽约一家顶尖的公关公司担任高级客户主管。

我坐在洛克菲勒中心的办公室里，佩戴着珍珠项链，

I'm sitting in my office in Rockefeller Center wearing pearls

穿着舒适的低跟鞋。我有一个可以看到曼哈顿中城的小窗户。

这让我感觉自己挺重要的。

当时我正在和Z100的市场总监通电话，

那是当时纽约最大的广播电台。

我正热情洋溢地向他推销我某位客户的宣传活动。

总监打断了我，他说：“翠西，

我对那个宣传活动一点兴趣都没有。”

“但是，你的声音非常有广播天赋。”

“如果你到电台来，我可以免费为你录制一份个人试音带。”

“你真的应该从事广播行业。”

要知道，在那之前，我这辈子从没见过这个人。

他不知道我是谁，也不知道我长什么样，

但他生活在声音的世界里，他听出了我声音中的潜能。

而我却回答说：“不，谢谢。”

我拒绝了一位很有影响力的广播高管，

仅仅因为听过我的声音，他就认可了我的能力，

并主动提出为我免费制作试音带。

在接下来的35年里，

我常常在想，如果当初我答应了，会发生什么。

因为说实话，我当时是想答应的。

一想到成千上万，甚至数百万人能听到我的声音，我就感到兴奋。

但我从小接受的教育是走“平坦的大道”，

而广播并不在那条路上。

那条路上是那些能提供稳定性的职业。

比如商人、家庭主妇。

如果你胆子够大，那就是律师。

逻辑、实用和安全，是我被教导做决策时所依据的标准。

我周围的人都不是冒险家——他们都是可爱的人，但绝非冒险者。

I wasn't surrounded by risk takers, lovely people, not risk takers.

所以，当我面对新鲜或意想不到的事物时，

我没有那种想象力、勇气，

或者鼓励去偏离那条安全路径。

在接下来的七年里，

我依然留在公关行业，原地踏步，

按15分钟为一个计费单位计算时间，

为零售银行、交通广播、

危险废物回收等客户工作，

我成了替别人发声的工具，而不是为自己发声。

表面上看，一切都很棒。

我薪水优渥，受人尊敬，但我非常痛苦。

我记得我当时想，如果我再做这份工作久一点，

我会慢慢枯萎，我最终会死在平庸里。

大约在那个时候，我正在和教会的一位牧师交谈。

他看出我对自己目前的生活状态感到挣扎，

并考虑去寻求一些改变。

他说：“翠西，你要知道，每个人都会告诉你离开的代价。”

“但没有人会告诉你留下的代价。”

那一句话，彻底震碎了我的世界，

因为我意识到，我生命中有多少部分是被这种“规避风险”所左右，

却从未计算过这种规避让我付出了什么代价。

就像在大学的时候，

我拒绝了学习录像带编辑的机会，尽管我很想学，

因为我害怕犯错。

谁知道呢，说不定我现在已经是一名电影制作人了。

又或者，我曾将近十年时间，痛苦地维持着一段错误的婚姻，

因为我害怕单身，害怕去等待那个对的人出现。

and waiting for the right person to come along.

我曾把逻辑、实用主义，

以及某种扭曲的安全观作为我做决定的唯一准则，

突然之间，我看到了自己的盲点。

这些准则在保障安全方面确实很有用，

但它们也滋生了遗憾。

也许你也曾为了寻求安全感，

而拒绝了那些能让你走出舒适区的决定。

也许你也有一些遗憾。

我曾一次又一次地那样做，而我再也不想那样了。

所以我为自己设定了一条新规则：

我能做的最冒险的事，就是安于现状。

我全力以赴，在随后的几十年里，我验证了这条准则。

无论是在小事还是大事上。

小事上，我把头发染成了红色；30多岁时，我做了一件大事：

我辞去了工作，取出了退休金，

搬到爱尔兰成为了一名艺术家。

当然，我不是建议每个人都采取那种激进的行动，

但这在当时对我来说是有意义的。

对你而言，走出舒适区可能意味着时隔多年重新拿起吉他，

或者开启一项副业，

又或者去竞选学校董事会成员。

拒绝安于现状，对每个人来说都有不同的表现形式。

随着时间推移，我学会了去创造而非顺从。

我开始尝试以那些让我恐惧，但也让我兴奋的方式表达自我。

40多岁时，我编写并表演了一部独角戏。

50多岁时，我登上了The Moth的舞台，

这是一个现场故事讲述组织。

但在这一切经历中，一个遗憾始终伴随着我：

那就是我20多岁时，有人曾从我的声音中听到了天赋，

而我却因为胆怯，错过了看看它能带我走多远的机会。

后来，我60多岁了，The Moth打来电话，

他们说想在广播里播出我的一段故事。

我心想：“广播？太棒了！”我激动不已。

他们问：“你知道我们在每个故事结束时都会播一段人物简介吗？”

我说：“知道。”他们问：“你想让我们怎么介绍你？”

突然间，我没经过思考，

脱口而出了一句话，那在当时完全不是事实：

“翠西·罗斯·伯特是一档热门新播客的主持人。”

挂断电话后，我心想：“你都干了些什么？”

我连麦克风都没有，

也从未上过课，

更不知道如何制作一档播客，

但我绝不会错过这个机会去弥补

那个因恐惧而做出的决定，

那个让我后悔了整整35年的错误。

我绝不会错过让超过200万人

听到我播客的机会，哪怕它当时还不存在。

我为自己创造了一个必须去应承的机会。

那段简介三个月后就要播出，为了制作出我的试音带，

我买了一个麦克风，

我去上了课，买了一本关于如何制作播客的书。

我尽我所能去学习，投入到一个我一无所知的领域。

每当我心想：“你在干什么？这不合逻辑。”

“这不实际。”

“这没有任何安全保障，人们会嘲笑你的。”我就反问自己：

People are going to laugh at you, I think.

“你是想在接下来的35年里，继续为拒绝而后悔吗？”

“还是你想踏入未知，看看会发生什么？”

很高兴告诉大家，今年我正在推出播客的第五季。

season of my podcast.

一路走来，我还获得了一个行业奖项。

但制作播客的过程非常艰辛。

这让人精疲力竭，有时感觉就像对着空气说话，

除非你能收到听众的回馈，

否则你根本不知道自己是否产生了影响。

在第四季结束时，我对丈夫说：“太难了，

我太累了，我不确定这一切努力是否值得。”

就在那次谈话后，

我查看邮件，收到了一位听众的来信，她写道：

“感谢你的播客对我产生的影响。”

“每一集都给了我创意上的启发和鼓励。”

“我终于觉得自己在发挥才华和热情了。”

“谢谢你，翠西，感谢你拥有制作这个播客的勇气。”

这些话非常动听，

但那位听众也给我上了一堂重要的人生课。

当我们固守在舒适区时，

当我们只把逻辑、实用主义

和安全感作为做决策的唯一准则时，

我们不仅剥夺了自己成长的机会，

剥夺了冒险的可能，往往还要付出遗憾的代价。

我们还剥夺了自己为他人提供价值的机会，

无法在这个痛苦的世界里做出改变，哪怕只是影响到一个人。

even if it matters to just one person.

仅凭这一点，

我们任何一个人能做的最冒险的事，就是安于现状。谢谢大家。

[英语]

Transcriber: To Kiet Tuong B Reviewer: Phan Thi Dan Nhi B

It's 1988. I'm working as a senior account executive

in one of New York's top PR firms.

I'm sitting in my office in Rockefeller Center wearing pearls

and sensible pumps. I have a small window that overlooks midtown Manhattan.

Makes me feel kind of important.

And I'm on the phone with the director of marketing for Z100,

the largest radio station in New York at the time.

And I'm enthusiastically pitching him a promotion for one of my clients.

And the director stops me and he says, Tricia,

I am not remotely interested in that promotion.

But you have an amazing voice for radio.

If you come down to the station, will make you a demo reel for free.

You really ought to be on the radio.

Now, this man, I've never met him before in my life.

He doesn't know who I am or what I look like,

but he lives in the world of voices, and he hears potential in mine.

And I say, no, thank you.

I say no thank you to a powerful radio executive

who believed in my abilities enough just by hearing my voice that he offers

to make me a demo reel for free.

And for the next 35 years,

I wonder what would have happened if I had said yes to that offer.

Because the truth is, I wanted to say yes.

The idea of thousands, if not millions of people hearing my voice thrilled me.

But I had been raised to follow the well-worn path,

and radio was not on that path.

What was on that path were careers that provided stability.

Business person, homemaker.

If you were really frisky, lawyer,

logic, practicality, and security were the criteria that I was taught to use

when making decisions.

I wasn't surrounded by risk takers, lovely people, not risk takers.

So when I was presented with something new or unexpected,

I didn't have the imagination or the courage

or the encouragement to veer off the safe path

and to step into the unknown for the next seven years,

I stay exactly where I am in public relations,

billing my time in 15 minute increments,

working for clients like retail banking, traffic reporting,

hazardous waste recycling,

being a voice for other people instead of being a voice for myself.

And on the surface it looked great.

I was well paid. I was respected, and I was miserable.

I can remember thinking, if I do this work for much longer,

I'm going to die slowly, but I'm going to die.

And around about that time, I was talking with a priest at my church.

He could see that I was struggling with where I was in my life

and was thinking about going someplace different.

And he said, well, you know, Tricia, everyone will tell you the cost of going.

No one will tell you the cost of staying.

And that sentence cracked my world wide open,

because I realized how much of my life had been shaped by

avoiding risk without ever calculating what that avoidance was costing me.

Like the time in college

when I said no to learning how to edit videotape even though I really wanted to

because I was afraid of making a mistake.

I mean, who knows, I could be a filmmaker now

or the time I spent nearly a decade unhappily married to the wrong man

because I was afraid of staying single

and waiting for the right person to come along.

I had used logic and practicality

and some distorted view of security as my only criteria for decision making,

and suddenly I could see the blind spots.

Those criteria were very good at keeping me safe,

but they also fueled regret.

Maybe you've tried to keep yourself safe

and said no to decisions that would push you out of your comfort zone.

And maybe you have some regrets, too.

I had done that over and over again, and I didn't want to do it anymore.

So I adopted a new rule for myself.

The riskiest thing I can do is play it safe.

And I went all in. And over the next few decades, I tested that rule.

And small and big ways.

Small way. I dyed my hair red bigger way in my 30s.

I quit my job, cashed out my retirement savings,

and moved to Ireland to become an artist.

Now, I'm not suggesting everyone take that kind of radical action.

Made sense for me at the time.

For you, moving out of your comfort zone might mean picking up that guitar

after all these years, or starting a side hustle,

or maybe running for the school board.

Not playing it safe looks different for everybody.

Over time, I learned to create instead of comply.

Putting my voice out there in ways that scared me, but exhilarated me too.

In my 40s, I wrote and performed a one woman show.

In my 50s, I appeared on stage with The Moth,

the live storytelling organization,

and through it all, one regret followed me.

That time in my 20s, when somebody had heard something in my voice

and I was too timid to see where it might take me a few years ago.

And at this point, I'm in my 60s, the moth calls,

and they tell me they want to run one of my stories on the radio.

I'm like the radio. I was thrilled,

and they said, you know how we run a bio at the end of each story?

And I said, yeah. And they said, what do you want us to say about you?

And suddenly, without thinking,

a sentence flew out of my mouth that absolutely was not true yet.

Tricia Rose. Burt is the host of a popular new podcast.

And I hung up the phone and I thought, what have you done?

I didn't own a microphone.

I never taken a class.

I didn't have the first idea about how to produce a podcast,

but I was not going to miss the opportunity to redeem myself

for a decision I had made out of fear

and I had regretted for the past 35 years.

And I was going to miss the opportunity for more than 2 million people

to hear about my podcast, even if it didn't exist yet.

I had created an opportunity for myself that I had to say yes to.

That bio was going on air in three months time to make my own demo reel,

so I buy a microphone.

I take a class. I buy a book about how to produce a podcast.

I try to get as smart as I can, diving into a medium I know nothing about.

And every time I think, what are you doing? This isn't logical.

This isn't practical.

There's no security guaranteed.

People are going to laugh at you, I think.

Do you want to regret saying no for the next 35 years?

Or do you want to step into the unknown and see what happens?

I'm happy to report that this year I'm launching the fifth

season of my podcast.

And I even won an industry award along the way.

But producing a podcast can be a grind.

It's exhausting. Sometimes it feels like you're just putting stuff out

into the air Unless you hear from a listener,

you don't know if you're making an impact.

And at the end of season four, I said to my husband, it's too hard,

I'm too tired, and I'm not sure it's worth all the effort.

And right after that conversation,

I checked my emails and I got one from a listener and she wrote.

Thank you for the impact that your podcast has had on me.

Each episode has given me some form of creative input and encouragement.

I finally feel like I'm wielding my talent and passion.

Thank you, Tricia, for having the audacity to do this podcast.

Now, those were lovely words to hear,

but that listener also taught me an important lesson.

When we stay in our comfort zones,

when we use logic and practicality

and security as our only criteria for decision making.

We not only rob ourselves the opportunity to grow

and have adventure more often than not paying the price of regret.

We also rob ourselves of the opportunity to be of service to other people,

to make a difference in this aching world,

even if it matters to just one person.

And for that reason alone,

the riskiest thing any of us can do is play it safe. Thank you.

重点词汇

词汇	含义
executive /ɪɡˈzɛkjətɪv/ B2	noun - 主管
enthusiastically /ɪnˌθjuːziˈæstɪkli/ B2	adjective - 热情地
potential /pəˈtɛnʃəl/ B2	noun - 潜能
stability /stəˈbɪləti/ B2	noun - 稳定性
practicality /ˌpræktɪˈkæləti/ C1	noun - 实用性
hazardous /ˈhæzərdəs/ B2	adjective - 危险的
miserable /ˈmɪzərəbəl/ B1	adjective - 悲惨的
avoidance /əˈvɔɪdəns/ C1	noun - 避免
distorted /dɪˈstɔːrtɪd/ C1	adjective - 扭曲的
regret /rɪˈɡrɛt/ B1	noun - 后悔
exhilarated /ɪɡˈzɪləreɪtɪd/ C2	adjective - 兴高采烈的
timid /ˈtɪmɪd/ B2	adjective - 胆怯的
redeem /rɪˈdiːm/ C2	verb - 补救
audacity /ɔːˈdæsɪti/ C2	noun - 胆量
wielding /ˈwiːldɪŋ/ C2	verb - 行使

重点语法结构

• I wonder what would have happened if I had said yes to that offer.

  ➔ 第三条件句（过去虚拟语气）

  ➔ 使用 "would have happened" 和 "had said" 来谈论过去情况的虚拟结果。

• For the next 35 years, I wonder what would have happened if I had said yes to that offer.

  ➔ 间接疑问句

  ➔ 从句 "what would have happened" 跟在 "I wonder" 后面，构成嵌入式疑问句。

• If I do this work for much longer, I'm going to die slowly.

  ➔ 第一条件句（现实的可能性）

  ➔ 使用 "If + 现在时" (do) 来表达一个可能发生的未来结果 (going to die)。

• I had been raised to follow the well-worn path.

  ➔ 过去完成被动语态

  ➔ 结构 "had been" + 过去分词 "raised" 表示在过去另一个参考点之前完成的动作。

• I was talking with a priest at my church.

  ➔ 过去进行时

  ➔ 使用 "was talking" 来描述过去一段时间内正在进行的背景动作。

• Everyone will tell you the cost of going. No one will tell you the cost of staying.

  ➔ 一般将来时（预测/普遍真理）

  ➔ 使用 "will tell" 来陈述关于人们未来反应的一般性观点。

• I had been billing my time in 15 minute increments.

  ➔ 过去完成进行时

  ➔ 使用 "had been billing" 来强调过去某一点之前重复动作的持续时间。

• I am not remotely interested in that promotion.

  ➔ 形容词加强修饰语

  ➔ 使用 "remotely" 作为副词来加强形容词 "interested" 的否定语气。