J.K.Rowling，Famous Woman Writer
Harvard University，June5th，2008
We do not need magic to transform the world，we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already：we have the power to imagine better.
我们不需要改变世界的魔法，我们自己的内心就有这种力量：那就是我们一直在梦想让这个世界变得更美好。
J.K.Rowling
背景故事
你即使不知道J.K.罗琳是谁，恐怕也听过哈利·波特的名字。J.K.罗琳就是人称哈利·波特之母的人。2008年她来到了世界名校哈佛大学做了一次激动人心的人生演讲。J.K.罗琳分享了她从失败到成功的辛历路程，和她人生起起落落的经历，这都让人嗟叹不已。读过这篇演讲，或许你可以找到你自己的影子，或许你可以找到你想要的人生之路，更甚者你可以得到激励和启发。
名人简介
J.K.罗琳（J.K.Rowling），1965年7月31日出生于英国格温特郡，毕业于英国埃克塞特大学，英国作家。1989年，年仅24岁的罗琳有了创作哈利·波特的念头。1997年6月，她推出哈利·波特系列第一本《哈利·波特与魔法石》。随后，罗琳又陆续出版了哈利·波特系列的其他书，这个魔法小男孩成为世界家喻户晓的小英雄，也让罗琳名利双丰收。罗琳小时候是个戴眼镜的相貌平平的女孩，她热爱学习，有点害羞，从小喜欢写作和讲故事。作为一个单身母亲，刚开始哈利丛书的创作时，罗琳母女的生活极其艰辛，直到《哈利·波特与魔法石》的出版。该书一出版便备受瞩目，好评如潮，获得英国国家图书奖的儿童小说奖，以及斯马蒂图书金奖章奖。她的生活发生天翻地覆地变化。她被称为“哈利·波特之母”，以天才般的想象力孕育了风靡全球的小魔法师哈利·波特，她也从一个贫困潦倒、默默无闻的“灰姑娘”，一跃成为尽享尊荣、财产超过英国女王的作家首富。
演讲赏析
The Importance of Imagination
J.K.Rowling，Famous Woman Writer
Harvard University，June5th，2008
President Faust，members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers，members of the faculty，proud parents，and，above all，graduates，
The first thing I would like to say is“thank you.”Not only has Harvard given me an extraordinary honour，but the weeks of fear I’ve endured at the thought of giving this commencement address have made me lose weight.A win-win situation！Now all I have to do is to take deep breaths，squint at the red banners and convince myself that I am at the world‘s largest Gryffindors’reunion.
Delivering a commencement address is a great responsibility；or so I thought until I cast my mind back to my own graduation.The commencement speaker that day was the distinguished British philosopher Baroness Mary Warnock.Reflecting on her speech has helped me enormously in writing this one，because it turns out that I can‘t remember a single word she said.This liberating discovery enables me to proceed without any fear that I might inadvertently influence you to abandon promising careers in business，law or politics for the giddy delights of becoming a gay wizard.
You see？If all you remember in years to come is the’gay wizard‘joke，I’ve still come out ahead of Baroness Mary Warnock.Achievable goals-the first step to self-improvement.Actually，I have wracked my mind and heart for what I ought to say to you today.I have asked myself what I wish I had known at my own graduation，and what important lessons I have learned in the 21years that has expired between that day and this.
I have come up with two answers.On this wonderful day when we are gathered together to celebrate your academic success，I have decided to talk to you about the benefits of failure.And as you stand on the threshold of what is sometimes called‘real life’，I want to extol the crucial importance of imagination.These may seem quixotic or paradoxical choices，but bear with me.
Looking back at the 21-year-old that I was at graduation is a slightly uncomfortable experience for the 42-year-old that she has become.Half my lifetime ago，I was striking an uneasy balance between the ambition I had for myself and what those closest to me expected of me.I was convinced that the only thing I wanted to do，ever，was to write novels.However，my parents，both of whom came from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college，took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing personal quirk that could never pay a mortgage，or secure a pension.
I know the irony strikes like with the force of a cartoon anvil now，but……
They had hoped that I would take a vocational degree；I wanted to study English Literature.A compromise was reached that in retrospect satisfied nobody，and I went up to study Modern Languages.Hardly had my parents‘car rounded the corner at the end of the road than I ditched German and scuttled off down the Classics corridor.I cannot remember telling my parents that I was studying Classics；they might well have found out for the first time on graduation day.Of all the subjects on this planet，I think they would have been hard put to name one less useful than Greek mythology when it came to securing the keys to an executive bathroom.
I would like to make it clear，in parenthesis，that I do not blame my parents for their point of view.There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction；the moment you are old enough to take the wheel，responsibility lies with you.What is more，I cannot criticize my parents for hoping that I would never experience poverty.They had been poor themselves，and I have since been poor，and I quite agree with them that it is not an ennobling experience.Poverty entails fear，and stress，and sometimes depression；it means a thousand petty humiliations and hardships.Climbing out of poverty by your own efforts，that is indeed something on which to pride yourself，but poverty itself is romanticized only by fools.
What I feared most for myself at your age was not poverty，but failure.At your age，in spite of a distinct lack of motivation at university，where I had spent far too long in the coffee bar writing stories，and far too little time at lectures，I had a knack for passing examinations，and that，for years，had been the measure of success in my life and that of my peers.