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13岁女生灵魂发问引70万人怒赞:Why Am I Not Good Enough?

Flora 英语相伴 2022-10-12


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今天给大家分享一段视频,视频里的演讲者是当时仅13岁的美国七年级学生Olivia Vella,她在写作课的结业课上发表了自己写的一首诗——《Why Am I Not Good Enough》,结果被老师盛赞,也让同学泪目。


班里一位同学将Olivia的演讲过程录制下来并发布到了网上,很快就引起了全网轰动,时至今日这段视频已经超过一千万次播放量,超70万人点赞


Olivia的诗之所以能够引起如此轰动,是因为这首诗反映的不仅是她作为一名初中女生的生活体验,更是无数不同年龄、不同身份和社会地位的女性经历过的心路历程


社会给女性施加了太多压力,很多女性在社会偏见下一次次自我怀疑、一次次拼命挣扎,她们的内心极度缺乏安全感。一般来讲,女性若想被别人喜爱、被社会接纳,只能不断以别人眼中的标准来约束自己,但又有多少人能成为所谓的完美的女性呢。

当觉得自己怎么做都做不好时,心中也许就会浮现出作者Olivia反问自己的话——Why am I not good enough? 但是,真的是你不够好吗?还是社会出了问题?



▼点击收看视频▼



 △演讲者:Olivia Vella | 翻译&字幕:Flora



Why Am I Not Good Enough?

为什么我总是做得不够好


© Olivia Vella




Great, you woke up. Well;
起床了,本该美好的一天开始了,然而你这一天的心理活动却是:


1. Take a shower, you don't want to smell.
洗个澡吧,你不想别人闻到你身上的汗臭。


2. Pick out an outfit that will fit in with the latest trends and won't make you the laughing stock of the school more than you already are.
要认真挑选一套紧跟时尚潮流的衣服,毕竟你已经是别人的笑柄了,别再让别人嘲笑自己土得掉渣。


3. Put on some makeup so you actually look pretty and you can show your face in public.
化个妆吧,毕竟还要出去见人,还是得漂亮一点。


You can't even recognize yourself, and your face tingles with an itch you can't relieve, otherwise you will have ruined the meticulous painting you applied to your hideous face.
化完妆,你觉得镜子里的自己如此陌生,你的脸被化妆品刺激得又痒又痛可你不敢抓痒,不然精心画上去的妆容就会被毁掉。


4. Don't forget to style your hair in elegant curls; you can't let the people at school see how your hair frizzes up naturally like an electrocuted monkey.
别忘了把头发卷出优雅的弧度,你不想让别人看到你那自然卷翘得像炸了毛的猴子一样的头发。


5. Shove your fat feet into your toe-pinching, blood-blistering Converse shoes, because everyone at school is wearing them and you CAN'T be the odd one out.
把你死肥的大脚收进窄头又磨脚的匡威吧,因为别人都是这么穿的,你不能做另类的那一个。


As you gaze into your bathroom mirror, you see a stranger, that somehow stole your reflection, and replaced it with a completely different girl.
当你在浴室凝视着镜中的自己,你仿佛看到一个陌生人,她偷走了你所有真实的想法,把你变成一个完全不属于自己的人。

Every part of your outfit is uncomfortable. But even though you spent hours trying to look pretty, you'll never be as good as those other girls at school.
其实你的着装让你很不舒服,尽管你已经使出浑身解数让自己看起来“漂亮”,但是你总觉得无论自己怎么打扮,还是没有学校那些女生好看。


You are really holding back a few tears, but you feel like you are holding back a tsunami of emotions that you can't let anyone know that you feel because they may not respect you the same way–or did they ever?
你强忍住要掉下的那几滴泪,但你还得压抑住内心深处那如龙卷风一般的真实的情绪,你只能压抑住自己,你害怕当你做回真正的自己,会被别人看不起,可别人看得起过你吗?


Why am I not good enough?
为什么我总是不够好?


Beauty is pain.
所谓的“美”成为了一种折磨。
 
6. Get off the bus.
不要坐公交车。


7. Find a group of people you can walk with to class, because heaven knows you can't just walk alone.
找一群能和你一起走路去学校的同学,天知道,一个人走路去学校的都是“怪咖”。


But you don't even like these people. They make dirty jokes and cuss a lot. They laugh and joke about you.
但是你真的不喜欢这些人,他们开着有色笑话,他们粗口连天,他们还嘲笑你。


You know you shouldn't hang out with them, but hey, they are popular, and you just want people to like you like they like them.
你知道自己不该和他们在一起,但是,他们是学校的红人啊,你只是渴望别人能够像喜欢他们一样喜欢你。


You are in the stocks, as people throw judging tomatoes and hating heads of lettuce at your insecure little head.
当别人对你恶意中伤、将恨意发泄在你小小的心头,你的心仿佛被套上了枷锁。


You cannot stand up for yourself, because you are alone, trapped, and defenseless. And you cannot stand up for yourself, because these popular kids are the royalty of the school, and what they say and do goes.
你无力抵抗,因为你形单影只,你深陷沼泽,你无力抵抗。你无力抵抗,因为这些受欢迎的学生是学校里的霸王,他们说什么做什么都是对的。


You take each comment, each judgement, each assumption, each opinion, each strange look, each remark, each criticism, each review, each report, each assessment, and with it your self-esteem plummets like a sinking ship–down, down, down, to the dark and dreary depths below.
你只能吞下每一句中伤、每一次诽谤、猜忌、冷漠、妄评、批判、偏见、诬告、恶语,伴随着这些恶意,你的自尊仿佛沉没的巨轮一样不断沦陷,沦陷、沦陷,直到黑暗的深海。


You look at all of the other girls; your mind racing a mile a minute. I wish I had her hair. I wish I had her eyes. I wish I had her perfect teeth. I wish I was as skinny as her. I wish I had her social confidence. I wish that as many boys that like her liked me.
你看着所有其他的女孩,脑子在飞速运转:我想要她那样的头发、我想要她那样的眼睛、我想要她那样完美的牙齿、我希望和她一样苗条、我想拥有她那样的自信、我想要有喜欢她一样多的男生喜欢我。


Why am I not good enough?
为什么我总是不够好?


Well, life isn't fair.
生活从来都是不公平的。
 
8. Get your work done.
赶紧完成作业。


The only part of your life that seems to be solvable is actual school work.
You take pride in your work, because it is possibly the only thing special about you.
如果生活中还有什么是你能够解决的,可能就是作业了。你为自己完成的作业感到骄傲,因为这仿佛是你唯一值得骄傲的东西。


You do it to see the radiant smiles on your teacher's faces as they applaud your work. Their joyful praise is the gentle rain that brings a magnificent rainbow, the sunshine that brings forth fields of sweet daisies, and one of the only things that brings you happiness.
你完成了作业,就能博得老师的赞许和温柔的笑容,他们的笑仿佛和风细雨后绚烂的彩虹、仿佛滋养雏菊的旭日暖阳,仿佛是你唯一的快乐的源泉。


But, it is not popular to be smart. In fact, you are seen as a nerd, too smart, human calculator, brainiac, robot, geek, computer girl, know-it-all, teacher's pet, suck up, and any other wonderful names you can think of.
Your peers' jealousy is the pollution that prevents a rainbow, and the bulldozer that plows through the once golden fields of daisies, the intangible object that crushes your happiness like a bug.
但是,聪明的学生不受同学的欢迎。事实上,你被当成个傻子,好学生头上被扣上的帽子数不胜数:自作聪明、人肉计算器、天才、机器人、闷蛋、电脑怪女、自以为是、老师的萌宠、马屁精,各种花名应有尽有。同龄人的嫉妒污染了绚烂的彩虹、将心头漫山遍野的雏菊连根拔起、将你唯一的快乐摧毁殆尽。


A's are getting you nothing but torment.
A+的好成绩,只是给你带来了痛苦。


Why am I not good enough?
为什么我总是不够好?


Just get over it.
过去的就让它过去吧。
 
9. It's the end of the day, get ready for bed.
这一天终于结束了,可以睡觉了。


10. Undress, get your pajamas on. “Wow, did I get fatter today?”
脱掉衣服,换上睡衣。你惊觉:“我是不是变胖了?”


11. Undo your hairdo. “Man, my hair looks like a mop.”
放下头发,你惊觉:“天,这发质简直就像一堆稻草。”


12. Wash off all of your makeup. “I can't even look at myself.”
卸完妆,你惊呼:“简直不敢直视素颜的自己。”


This is my life everyday. I can't control it.
这就是我每天的生活,我对此无能为力。


I've been told you can't compare apples and oranges.
有人告诉我:“你不能拿苹果去和橘子比较。”


I've been told that I am distorted.
有人告诉我:“你心理扭曲。”


I've been told that I need to be grateful for who I am.
有人告诉我:“你应该为自己拥有的感恩。”


But going through your middle school years, you are in charge of your own journey to find yourself on a small jet, and sometimes you can’t control what happens to you–the turbulence will throw you off-course.
但中学生活对我而言就像一次乘机旅行,你无法控制周围的环境,就像飞机无法抵抗气流的震荡而颠簸出既定航道一样。


“But, popular isn't always a good thing.” You tell yourself, “I just want people to like me; I just want to be accepted.”
“但是受欢迎也不一定是好事”,你这样告诉自己:“我只是想要别人喜欢我,我只是希望被人接纳。”


But skipping meals and marking up your wrist isn't going to fix that.
然而绝食和割腕似乎解决不了问题。


You look at other girls and wish you could be like them, but other girls are looking at you and wishing they were you.
你看着其他女孩,你渴望成为她们,其他女孩也看着你,她也渴望成为你。


Society infers that girls have to have skinny waists, tan skin, long silky hair, perfectly straight and white teeth, big butts, and etc.
潜规则要求女孩要有纤细的腰身、漂亮的肤色、柔顺的秀发、整齐洁白的牙齿、丰满的胸部等等等等。


Society claims that girls have to wear lots of makeup to be pretty.
潜规则要求女孩要在脸上堆满化妆品才叫漂亮。


Society claims that girls have to wear skanky clothing and do inappropriate things with boys to be happy as well as “cool.”
潜规则让女孩们为了“扮酷”和获得快乐,不得不穿出位的衣服、和男孩做出不符合年龄的事情。


But society is wrong. You are loved. 
但是社会的潜规则大错特错。

You are precious. You are beautiful. You are talented. You are capable. You are deserving of respect. You can eat that meal. You are 1 in 7 billion.
你有人爱,你无比珍贵,你天生美丽,你蕙质兰心,你刻苦能干,你值得被尊重、你值得三餐五谷,你是宝贵的70亿分之一


And most of all, you are good enough.
最重要的是,你已经足够好!

☆文本版权归原作者所有,翻译及字幕来自“英语相伴”公众号。




愿演讲的女生Olivia

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