《Find the Promised Land》歌词

[00:00:01] Find the Promised Land - 英语演讲

[00:00:05] Tony Blair Delivers Yale Class Day Speech

[00:00:10] So: after over 100 years of Class Days,

[00:00:14] finally you get a British speaker.

[00:00:16] What took you so long? Did that little disagreement

[00:00:22] of 1776 really rankle so much?

[00:00:25] And why now? Is it because British election

[00:00:29] campaigns only last four weeks?

[00:00:31] For whatever reason,

[00:00:35] it is an honour to be here

[00:00:37] and to say to the Yale College Class of 2008:

[00:00:40] you did it; you came through;

[00:00:42] from all of us to you: congratulations.

[00:00:46] The invitation to a former British Prime Minister

[00:00:50] to address a college which boasts five former Presidents,

[00:00:53] many former Vice Presidents and Senators too numerous to mention,

[00:00:58] is either to give me an exaggerated

[00:01:00] sense of my own importance or you a reduced sense of yours.

[00:01:04] It was Churchill or Oscar Wilde -

[00:01:07] and there is a difference -

[00:01:09] who called us two nations divided

[00:01:13] by a common language and so we are.

[00:01:16] Here I am at Yale and set to come back

[00:01:20] for the fall semester. My old Oxford tutor was,

[00:01:24] I'm afraid, horrified to hear I had been taken on by Yale.

[00:01:28] His worries were all for Yale I may say.

[00:01:32] He said: "I only hope for their sake you

[00:01:35] are going there to learn rather than teach."

[00:01:38] Now I know you Yale guys are smart.

[00:01:42] So what can I tell you

[00:01:45] that you don't already think you know?

[00:01:46] I can tell you something of the world as I see it.

[00:01:51] Three days ago, in my role as Middle East envoy,

[00:01:55] I stood in the heart of Bethlehem.

[00:01:57] On one side of me, lay the concrete barrier

[00:02:01] which now separates Israel and Palestine.

[00:02:04] On the other, the historic birthplace

[00:02:07] of Jesus and the land of Palestine beyond.

[00:02:10] A few days before that, I was in Jericho.

[00:02:15] If you look up from the town centre,

[00:02:18] to the left is the Mount of Temptation,

[00:02:20] where Jesus stayed 40 days and nights.

[00:02:23] To the right, you can see Mount Nebo

[00:02:26] where Moses looked down on the Promised Land.

[00:02:29] And right in front of you is the Valley of Jordan.

[00:02:32] My guide, a Muslim, turned to me and said:

[00:02:38] "Moses, Jesus, Mohammed -

[00:02:41] why in God's name did they all have to come here?"

[00:02:44] But in God's name they came and for centuries

[00:02:49] their followers have waged war in the name of prophets

[00:02:52] whose life's work was in pursuit of peace.

[00:02:54] Today, though the land that encompasses Israel

[00:02:59] and Palestine is small, the conflict symbolises

[00:03:03] the wider prospects of the entire vast region

[00:03:06] of the Middle East and beyond.

[00:03:08] There, the forces of modernisation and moderation battle

[00:03:13] with those of reaction and extremism.

[00:03:16] The shadow of Iran looms large.

[00:03:19] What is at stake is immense.

[00:03:23] Will those who believe in peaceful co-existence triumph,

[00:03:27] matching the growing economic power

[00:03:34] and wealth with a politics and culture at ease

[00:03:35] with the 21st Century? Or will the victors be those

[00:03:37] that seek to use that economic wealth to create a politics

[00:03:40] and culture more relevant to the feudal Middle Ages?

[00:03:43] Thousands of miles from here,

[00:03:47] this struggle is being played out in the suburbs

[00:03:50] of Baghdad and Beirut and the Gaza strip.

[00:03:53] But the impact of its outcome on our security

[00:03:57] and way of life will register in the core of our well-being.

[00:04:00] In fact, if I had to sum up my view of the world,

[00:04:05] I would say to you: turn your thoughts to the East.

[00:04:08] Not just to the Middle East.

[00:04:10] But to the Far East.

[00:04:12] China and India each have populations roughly

[00:04:17] double those of America and Europe combined.

[00:04:20] In the next two decades, these two countries together

[00:04:25] will undergo industrialisation four times

[00:04:27] the size of the USA's and at five times the speed.

[00:04:31] We must be mindful that as these ancient civilisations

[00:04:36] become somehow younger and more vibrant,

[00:04:39] our young civilisation does not grow old.

[00:04:42] Most of all we should know that in this new world,

[00:04:46] we must clear a path to partnership,

[00:04:48] not stand off against each other,

[00:04:51] competing for power.

[00:04:52] The world in which you, in time to come,

[00:04:57] will take the reins, cannot afford a return

[00:05:00] to 20th century struggles for hegemony.

[00:05:02] The characteristic of this modern world is the pace,

[00:05:07] scope and scale of change.

[00:05:10] Globalisation is driving it and people

[00:05:14] are driving globalisation. The consequence is

[00:05:19] that the world opens up; its boundaries diminish;

[00:05:22] we are pushed closer together.

[00:05:25] The conclusion is that we make it work together

[00:05:29] or not at all.

[00:05:31] The issues you must wrestle with -

[00:05:35] the threat of climate change, food scarcity,

[00:05:39] and population growth, worldwide terror based on religion,

[00:05:43] the interdependence of the world economy -

[00:05:46] my student generation would barely recognise.

[00:05:49] But the difference today is they

[00:05:52] are all essentially global in nature.

[00:05:54] You understand this. Yale has become a melting pot

[00:06:01] of culture, language and civilisation.

[00:06:03] You are the global generation.

[00:06:06] So be global citizens.

[00:06:09] Each new generation finds the world they enter.

[00:06:15] But they fashion the world they leave.

[00:06:18] So: what do you inherit and what do you pass on?

[00:06:22] The history of humankind is marked

[00:06:26] by great events but written by great people.

[00:06:29] People like you.

[00:06:31] Given Yale's record of achievement, perhaps by you.

[00:06:37] So to you as individuals, what wisdom,

[00:06:43] if any, have I learnt?

[00:06:44] First, in fact, keep learning.

[00:06:48] Always be alive to the possibilities

[00:06:51] of the next experience, of thinking, doing and being.

[00:06:55] When Buddha was asked, near the end of his life,

[00:07:00] to describe his secret, he answered bluntly:

[00:07:04] "I'm awake". So be awake.

[00:07:07] Understand conventional wisdom,

[00:07:11] but be prepared to change it.

[00:07:13] Feel as well as analyse;

[00:07:17] use your instinct alongside your reason.

[00:07:21] Calculate too much and you will miscalculate.

[00:07:25] Be prepared to fail as well as to succeed,

[00:07:29] and realise it is failure not success

[00:07:32] that defines character.

[00:07:34] I spent years trying to be a politician failing

[00:07:39] at every attempt and nearly gave up.

[00:07:42] I know you're thinking: I should have.

[00:07:44] Sir Paul McCartney reminded me

[00:07:48] that the first record company the Beatles

[00:07:50] approached rejected them as a band no-one

[00:07:53] would want to listen to.

[00:07:54] Be good to people on your way up

[00:07:58] because you never know if you will meet them

[00:08:01] again on your way down.

[00:08:02] Judge someone by how they treat those below them

[00:08:06] not those above them.

[00:08:08] Be a firm friend not a fair-weather friend.

[00:08:13] It is your friendships, including those friends

[00:08:17] you made here at Yale, at this time,

[00:08:18] that sustain and enrich the human spirit.

[00:08:21] A good test of a person is who turns up

[00:08:27] at their funeral and with what sincerity.

[00:08:30] Try not to sit the test too early, of course.

[00:08:34] Recently, I attended a funeral and the speaker

[00:08:39] said he would like to begin by reading

[00:08:41] a list of all those whose funerals he would rather

[00:08:43] have been attending, but the list was too long.

[00:08:46] It was a sweet compliment to our friend.

[00:08:49] Alternatively there was Spike Milligan,

[00:08:53] the quintessential English comic who

[00:08:56] when he was asked what he would like

[00:08:58] as the epitaph on his tombstone,

[00:09:00] replied: "They should write: I told you I was ill."

[00:09:03] There was a colleague of mine in the British Parliament

[00:09:08] who once asked another:

[00:09:09] "Why do people take such an instant dislike to me?"

[00:09:12] and got the reply: "Because it saves time."

[00:09:15] So, when others think of you, let them think

[00:09:20] not with their lips but their hearts of a good friend

[00:09:23] and a gracious acquaintance.

[00:09:25] Above all, however, have a purpose in life.

[00:09:30] Life is not about living but about striving.

[00:09:33] When you get up, get up motivated.

[00:09:36] Live with a perpetual sense of urgency.

[00:09:40] And make at least part of that purpose

[00:09:43] about something bigger than you.

[00:09:45] There are great careers.

[00:09:49] There are also great causes.

[00:09:51] At least let some of them into your lives.

[00:09:55] Giving lifts the heart in a way that getting never can.

[00:10:00] Maybe it really was Oscar Wilde who said:

[00:10:03] "No one ever died, saying if only I had one more day at the office."

[00:10:08] One small but shocking sentence:

[00:10:12] each year three million children die

[00:10:14] in Africa from preventable disease or conflict.

[00:10:18] The key word? Preventable.

[00:10:23] When all is said and done,

[00:10:27] there is usually more said than done.

[00:10:28] Be a doer not a commentator.

[00:10:32] Seek responsibility rather than shirk it.

[00:10:37] People often ask me about leadership,

[00:10:40] I say: leadership is about wanting the responsibility

[00:10:44] to be on your shoulders,

[00:10:45] not ignoring its weight but knowing someone

[00:10:47] has to carry it and, reaching out for

[00:10:51] that person to be you. Leaders are heat-seekers not heat-deflectors.

[00:10:57] And luck?

[00:11:01] You have all the luck you need.

[00:11:03] You are here, at Yale, and what -

[00:11:06] apart from the hats - could be better?

[00:11:09] You have something else: your parents.

[00:11:13] When you are your age,

[00:11:16] you can never imagine being our age.

[00:11:18] But believe me, when you're our age

[00:11:21] we remember clearly being your age.

[00:11:24] That's why I am so careful about young men and my daughter,

[00:11:28] "Don't tell me what you're thinking.

[00:11:31] I know what you're thinking."

[00:11:33] But as a parent let me tell you something about parents.

[00:11:38] Despite all rational impulses,

[00:11:41] despite all evidence to the contrary,

[00:11:44] despite what we think you do to us

[00:11:46] and what you think we do to you -

[00:11:48] and yes, it is often hell on both sides -

[00:11:51] the plain, unvarnished truth is we love you.

[00:11:55] Simply, profoundly, utterly.

[00:11:58] I remember, back in the mists of time,

[00:12:02] my Dad greeting me off the train

[00:12:05] at Durham railway station.

[00:12:06] I was a student at Oxford.

[00:12:08] Oxford and Cambridge are for Britain

[00:12:11] kind of like Yale and Harvard,

[00:12:14] only more so. It was a big deal.

[00:12:16] I had been away for my first year

[00:12:19] and was coming home.

[00:12:21] I stepped off the train.

[00:12:25] My hair was roughly the length of Rumpelstiltskin's

[00:12:29] and unwashed. I had no shoes and no shirt.

[00:12:32] My jeans were torn - and this was in the days

[00:12:36] before this became a fashion item.

[00:12:40] Worst of all, we had just moved house.

[00:12:41] Mum had thrown out the sitting room drapes.

[00:12:44] I had retrieved them and made a sleeveless long coat with them.

[00:12:48] My Dad greeted me. There were all his friends at the station.

[00:12:54] Beside me, their kids looked paragons of respectability.

[00:12:58] He saw the drapes, and visibly winced.

[00:13:01] They did kind of stand out.

[00:13:06] I took pity on him.

[00:13:07] "Dad", I said. "There is good news.

[00:13:11] I don't do drugs." He looked me in the eye and said:

[00:13:15] "Son, the bad news is if you're looking like this

[00:13:19] and you're not doing drugs we've got a real problem."

[00:13:22] Your parents look at you today with love.

[00:13:26] They know how hard it is to make the grade

[00:13:29] and they respect you for making it.

[00:13:32] And tomorrow as I know,

[00:13:35] as a parent of one of this class,

[00:13:38] as you receive your graduation,

[00:13:40] their hearts will beat with the natural rhythm of pride.

[00:13:44] Pride in what you have achieved.

[00:13:46] Pride in who you are.

[00:13:48] They will be nervous for you,

[00:13:53] as you stand on the threshold of a new adventure

[00:13:55] for they know the many obstacles that lie ahead.

[00:13:58] But they will be confident

[00:14:02] that you can surmount them,

[00:14:03] for they know also the strength of character

[00:14:06] and of spirit that has taken you thus far.

[00:14:08] To my fellow parents:

[00:14:12] I say, let us rejoice and be glad together.

[00:14:15] To the Yale College Class of 2008,

[00:14:20] I say: well done; and may blessings and good fortune be yours in the years to come.