书城外语在哈佛听演讲
47176100000054

第54章 故事永远不会结束(1)

Remember That the Story Is Never Over

演讲人:Conan O"Brien柯南·欧布莱恩

I"d like to thank the Class Marshals for inviting me here today.The last time I was invited to Harvard it cost me 110,000,so you"ll forgive me if I"m a bit suspicious.I"d like to announce up front that I have one goal this afternoon:to be half as funny a s t o m or r ow"s C o m menc e ment S p e a ker,Mor a l Philosopher and Economist,Amartya Sen.Must get more laughs than seminal wage/price theoretician.

Students of the Harvard Class of 2000,fifteen years ago I sat where you sit now and I thought exactly what you are now thinking:What"s going to happen to me?Will I find my place in the world?Am I really graduating a virgin?I still have 24hours and my roommate"s Mom is hot.I swear she was checking me out.

Being here today is very special for me.I miss this place.I especially miss Harvard Square-it"s so unique.No where else in the world will you find a manwith a turban wearing a Red Sox jacket and working in a lesbian bookstore.Hey,I"m just glad my dad"s working.

It"s particularly sweet for me to be here today because when I graduated,I wanted very badly to be a Class Day Speaker.Unfortunately,my speech was rejected.So,if you"ll indulge me,I"d like to read a portion of that speech from fifteen years ago:

"Fellow students,as we sit here today listening to that classic Ah-ha tune which will definitely stand the test of time,I would like to make several predictions about what the future will hold:

I believe that one day a simple Governor from a small Southern state will rise to the highest office in the land.He will lack political skill,but will lead on the sheer strength of his moral authority.

I believe that Justice will prevail and,one day,the Berlin Wall will crumble,uniting East and West Berlin forever under Communist rule.

I believe that one day,a high speed network of interconnected computers will spring up world-wide,so enriching people that they will lose their interest in idle chit chat and pornography.

And finally,I believe that one day I will have a television show on a major network,seen by millions of people a night,which I will use to re-enact crimes and help catch at-large criminals."

And then there"s some stuff about the death of Wall Street which I don"t think we need to get into….

T he point is that,a lthough you see me as a celebrity,a member of the cultural elite,a kind of demigod,I was actually a student here once much like you.I came here in the fall of 1981and lived in Holworthy.I was,without exaggeration,the ugliest picture in the Freshman Face book.When Harvard asked me for a picture the previous summer,I thought it was just for their records,so I literally jogged in the August heat to a passport photo office and sat for a morgue photo.To make matters worse,when the Face Book came out they put my picture next to Catherine Oxenberg,a stunning blonde actress who was accepted to the class of 85s,but decided to defer admission so she could join the cast of"Dynasty."My photo would have looked bad on any page,but next to Catherine Oxenberg,I looked like a mackerel that had been in a car accident.

You see,in those days I was six feet four inches t a l l a nd I weig hed 150pounds.Recent ly,I had some structural engineers run those numbers into a computer model and,according the computer,I collapsed in 1987,killing hundreds in Taiwan.

After freshman year I moved to Mather House.Mather House,incidentally,was designed by the same firm that built Hitler"s bunker.In fact,if Hitler had conducted the war from Mather House,he"d have shot himself a year earlier.

A lot has happened in fifteen years.When you think about it,we come from completely differentworlds.When I graduated,we watched movies starring Tom Cruise and listened to music by Madonna.I come from a time when we huddled around our TV sets and watched"The Cosby Show"on NBC,never imagining that there would one day be a show called"Cosby"on CBS.In 1985we drove cars with driver"s side airbags,but if you told us that one day there"d be passenger side airbags,we"d have burned you for witchcraft.

But of course,I think there is some common ground between us.I remember well the great uncertainty of this day.Many of you are justifiably nervous about leaving the safe,comfortable world of Harvard Yard and hurling yourself headlong into the cold,harsh world of Harvard Grad School,a plum job at your father"s firm,or a year abroad with a gold Amex card and then a plum job in your father"s firm.

But let me assure you that the knowledge you"ve gained here at Harvard is a precious gift that will never leave you.Take if from me,your education is yours to keep forever.Why,many of you have read the Merchant of Florence,and that will inspire you when you travel to the island of Spain.Your knowledge of that problem they had with those people in Russia,or that guy in South America-you know,that guy-will enrich you for the rest of your life.

There is also sadness today,a feeling of loss that you"re leaving Harvard forever.Well,let me assure you that you never really leave Harvard.The Harvard Fundraising Committee will be on your ass until the day you die.Right now,a member of the Alumni Association is at the Mt.Auburn Cemeter y sha king dow n t he cor pse of Henry Adams.They heard he had a brass toe ring and they aims to get it.