翻了 3/4 才開始懷疑人生，又不是要出版為什麼要為了翻譯這篇搞得廢寢忘食⋯⋯但真的翻完又覺得好有成就感喔，我難道就是 Wallace 影射的自我崇拜的奴隸嗎😭 話說回來，直到去年我才領悟，我所喜愛的作品都隱含著對迷戀和崇拜的思辨，〈This Is Water〉亦如是。「除了神靈之外，你崇拜的其他事物都會將你吞噬殆盡。」不正是《進擊的巨人》那句經典台詞的對照——你我皆為某些事物的奴隸。除此之外，我也在讀 Wallace 的時候後知後覺地意識到，《馬男波傑克》（BoJack Horseman）的情節與台詞，也像極了 Wallace 的筆鋒，無論是對自我的探討或是對現實荒謬的描寫，都能在兩者之間找到相似與關聯之處。針對這點，不只有相關的 reddit 討論串、YouTube 影片，甚至還有論文的解析（主要是關於 Postmodernism），有興趣的人可以隨意查找參閱。

話不多說，演講下半部開始，敬請細品🥸

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And I submit that this is what the real, no bullshit value of your liberal arts education is supposed to be about: how to keep from going through your comfortable, prosperous, respectable adult life dead, unconscious, a slave to your head and to your natural default setting of being uniquely, completely, imperially alone day in and day out. That may sound like hyperbole, or abstract nonsense. Let's get concrete. The plain fact is that you graduating seniors do not yet have any clue what "day in day out" really means. There happen to be whole, large parts of adult American life that nobody talks about in commencement speeches. One such part involves boredom, routine and petty frustration. The parents and older folks here will know all too well what I'm talking about.

我認為，人文教育真正的價值，是讓我們學會不把舒適、富足又體面的生活，過得行屍走肉、麻木不仁，淪為大腦與內建思維的奴隸，日復一日陷入深不見底的孤獨。你可能覺得我言過其實，淨是些抽象的空談，那我們就來談點實際的。事實就是，才剛要畢業的你們，對於「日復一日」還沒有絲毫體會。美國成年人的生活，從沒有人會在畢業典禮上說破，畢竟那多半是些枯燥的日常、機械化的例行公事，還有一個個令人喪志的時刻。坐在這裡的爸媽跟長輩，對於我所說的這些，應該再清楚不過。

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最近剛開始利用零碎時間讀 Infinite Jest，適逢畢業季，我也正好有機會在課堂上帶到這篇畢業典禮致詞。想想我也太久沒翻工作以外的英文文章了就把這篇拿來當練習。有關這篇格式，因為採用中英對照，篇幅略長，我分為上下兩篇文章發布。希望大家也喜歡 David Foster Wallace 機智風趣的文字與發人深省的見解 📖

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Greetings parents and congratulations to Kenyon's graduating class of 2005. There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says "Morning, boys. How's the water?" And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes "What the hell is water?"

各位家長好，也恭喜各位凱尼恩學院 2005 年的畢業生。兩隻小魚一起游著，途中遇到一隻年長的魚迎面游來。老魚對著他們點點頭，說：「早安，年輕人。水還行嗎？」兩隻小魚繼續往前游了一下，其中一隻終於忍不住看向另一隻，問他：「水是什麼鬼？」

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걷다가 올려본 저 하늘에
오색 가지 수놓은 빛들이
일렁이다 수줍어하면서도
어딘갈 바라보고 있는 건가요

邊走邊仰望的那片天空
綴滿了五彩斑斕的光點
一面搖曳著一面靦腆地
彷彿正眺望著某個地方

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또 오지 않는 잠을 청해보시나요
두 눈만 깜빡인 채 이 밤을 지새겠죠
막 이제 잠이 돌아서 오려 하시나요
못 이루시는 밤을 지나고 오시겠지요

明知無果仍試圖喚來睡意嗎
看來只能雙眼一眨一眨地熬過今晚
此刻才想回過頭來入睡是嗎
恐怕只會是個無功而返的夜晚啊

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