Susan著 小哭译
奥普拉.温弗里真的是一个很令人称奇的女人！读这本书之前，我只是知道她非常地有名，并且与一个读书俱乐部有关。但是读完此书后，我知道了一个人可以从最卑微最底层奋斗至成为上流社会中的精英。以前，我根本不知道一个那么贫穷的人要怎么样才能变得那么富有，现在通过奥普拉的故事，我明白了。这需要同时拥有本事、智慧和运气。所谓的“天时、地利、人和”。
奥普拉出生时，她的父母根本没有打算管她叫她奥普拉。他们想给她起一个圣经人物的名字奥帕。但是，出生证明上的一个书写错误导致了她的名字永久地成为了奥普拉（我内心一直奇怪，奥普拉怎么有一个这么类似于奥帕的名字，等我读了这本书才知道这并非巧合，这其实是个错误）。奥普拉的父母没有结婚，生她时她的妈妈只有十八岁。几年后，奥普拉的妈妈因为实在照顾不了奥普拉，就把她送去跟外婆一起生活。
关于奥普拉是怎么来到这个世界上的实在是够复杂的了。一个拼错的名字，一个少女妈妈，一对未婚的父母，这些都是给她的童年生活投下了阴影。与外婆一起生活的日子，她受到了良好的教育，学会了坚强、理性。但是在她六岁的时候，因为外婆生病了，她被送回了妈妈身边。和妈妈在一起的生活太可怕了。弗尼塔（她妈妈的名字）虽然仍然未婚（虽然她打算结婚，可是她一直没有），但奥普拉却有了一个同母异父的妹妹。奥普拉与妹妹相处得很不好。即使是在这样的情况下，即使弗尼塔根本不像外婆那样重视奥普拉的教育，在短短两年的时间里，奥普拉还是从幼儿园大班跳到了二年级。两年后，弗尼塔意识到自己没有办法照顾奥普拉。于是，奥普拉被送到了父亲那里。
当我读到这里时，我开始不喜欢弗尼塔，不过仅仅是一点点儿。但是读到奥普拉与父亲在一起的生活时，我感到非常欣慰。她的父亲此时已经和一个叫做孜尔玛的女人结了婚。当意识到奥普拉热爱阅读并且非常聪明以后，孜尔玛开始在家里教奥普拉学习，并且鼓励她去学习更多的知识。然而，好景不长，奥普拉的生活又陷入了深渊。她在母亲那过了一个暑假之后，本该再回到父亲那里，进入一个好学校上学。可是她的母亲却不放她走。弗尼塔再次打算结婚，她想让她所有的孩子呆在一起。她“打算”结婚，但是最后，她并没有真正结婚。而她真正做了的，是又生了一个孩子，这次是一个男孩。奥普拉接下来和她的母亲一起生活了五年，这五年绝对如同在地狱一般。
奥普拉经常与她的妹妹争斗，她的妈妈总是去走亲戚，根本不关注奥普拉。所以奥普拉觉得没人喜欢她并为此很生气。她不只一次离家出走。她比所去的这个差学校的任何一个孩子都聪明，在学校不仅学不到什么，还总是被排挤。更糟糕的是，在她九岁时，她十九岁的表哥强奸了她，还威胁她不准告诉任何人。读到这儿，我对奥普拉的母亲震怒了。她怎么能看不到奥普拉是多么地值得她为其付出呢？也许弗尼塔给不了奥普拉更多的什么，但那也不是她不去付出的借口，也不是她不关心奥普拉的借口！弗尼塔应该尽她最大的努力给奥普拉一个更好的教育，一个更好的家庭。如果因为她没有结婚就不能提供的话，那她应该让奥普拉回到父亲身边！说到那儿，我对弗尼塔的品德与评低真是低极了。她有三个孩子，却没有结婚。我开始想，就算是弗尼塔知道她的侄子强奸了她的女儿，她也不会介意的。我知道我不应该去说人坏话或做这类事情，我也的确有很多理由去可怜弗尼塔，但是我还是忍不住地憎恶她。
当奥普拉的一个老师推荐她去一个更好的学校后，她的生活开始有了转机。然而，那也只是指她的学校生活开始好转了，而她的家庭生活还是跟从前一样地糟糕。我们完全可以设想一下：她那个可恨的表哥会放过她吗？当奥普拉进入青春期后，她变成了一个问题女孩——偷窃、撒谎、在外留宿（我无法想像她在做啥），总是离家出走。如果弗尼塔没有试着把她从专为问题少女而设的学校里送走，我确信当奥普拉长大后，她会跟她的母亲一样！谢天谢地，那个学校没有学位了，所以她又被送到了父亲那里。
和父亲在一起的生活，就像从地狱升到天堂般美好。父亲和孜尔玛帮助奥普拉远离麻烦，确保她得到良好的教育，将她的生活整个翻了个个儿。奥普拉在高中非常受欢迎。她赢得了许多奖项，轻松地得到了很多A，被选为学生会主席，为她的学校赢得了大把的演讲比赛，应很多教会的要求去讲演……她甚至交了一个男朋友，两个人分别被选为他们学校最受欢迎的男生和女生！她甚至受邀参加了白宫青年会议（译者注：网上百科解释说这个会议是美国总统主持的一系列会议之一，已经有了七十多年的历史）并且入选进了一个全国性的讲演比赛！多么神奇啊！她整个人生都开始翻转了！
她人生的下一个舞台始于获电台经理之邀在广播中讲演。她开始在课后播报新闻，每周工资100美元！太不可思议了！奥普拉还参加选美大赛。当她开始大学生活时，她已经变成了一个与同她母亲一起生活时完全不同的人。大学生活并不容易，但她顺利完成。在她19岁时，她得到了在电台工作的机会，成为一个新闻女主播。
当奥普拉的生活彻底地从黑暗转变到了光明之后，她又开始了另一段旅途。她从一个地方电台的新闻女主播变成了一个世界名人。太酷了！这两段旅途都有着完美的结局，但是当她身处其中时，她并不知道将会发生什么。在她童年的岁月里，她从来也没有梦想过她的生活将要发生这么快并这么大的改变。在她大学的时光中，她也不曾梦到过她未来的样子。
当奥普拉在一个大的电视台谋得一份工作后，她的生活又陷入了低谷，因为她和其它的新闻主播相处得不好。他们一起工作得并不太好，奥普拉意识到这是因为她的风格不是电台所需。她太感性了，她的头发不合适。三年后，局面对她更为不利。幸运的是，电视台新来了一个经理，那个经理看到了奥普拉的特殊天赋，认为让她代管一个早晨谈话节目会更好。奥普拉意识到那正是她生来就想做的事情，她做了六年，做得非常好。人们喜欢她，信任她。后来，她还是觉得她应该换个工作。“一旦你完成了一段时间或一个地点的成长，你知道，你的灵魂就会告诉你到了该离开的时候了。”她这样说。
奥普拉的这段话令我深思。是的，生活将我们带到很多不同的旅途，一旦一段结束了，我们必须得接受这一现实，并开始为下一段旅途做准备。我们必须得学会转换，学会接受生活中的风险，并且在事情看来似乎很糟时也要坚持。这些话是奥普拉说的。她开始在朋友的电视台承办自己的节目。在自己的节目中她只需要简单地做她自己，于是她获得了巨大的成功。三个月后，她赢得了地方观众；三年后，她的节目在全美国都有播放。奥普拉可以完全自由地掌控她的节目如何运作，并将这个节目更名为“奥普拉.温弗里脱口秀”。她有超过一千万的观众，不久，奥普拉成为一个富婆。
这一系列令人惊奇的机遇让奥普拉获得了一个人的注意，而这人将要制作一部获得巨大成功的电影。他在电视中看到了的奥普拉，立刻决定找她当演员。猜猜怎样？那个角色来自于奥普拉非常喜爱的一个故事！她获得了最佳配角的奥斯卡提名奖，成为了一个全国闻名的女演员。
书中接下来的六页谈到了她的职业生涯中做为一个演员、一个脱口秀主持人和一个大众喜爱的人所取得的成绩。接下来的五年里，在奥普拉37岁时，她几乎成为了世界上最受欢迎的人。至少，书中是这样描写的。她拥有一个叫做“哈波”的电视工作室（是她名字的倒写）、赢得了大量的奖项、买下了奥普拉.温弗里脱口秀、创作了几部电影、在芝加哥开了一个餐馆、减肥以及与其它大的电视台合作，成为一个闻名全国的名人。她甚至向华盛顿的立法委员会演讲，推动一个儿童保护法案！！法案被拒后，她帮助一个电影拍摄者制作了一个关于结束性侵儿童的片子。这个片子在ABC、CBS、NCS和PBS广播影视公司播放后，受到了许多关注。比尔.克林顿总统签署了“国家儿童保护法案”，将其立法。而那个时候，奥普拉就在白宫，专门等候这一时刻！
1996年，当奥普拉42岁时，她创建了一个奥普拉读书俱乐部。俱乐部在全国深受欢迎，人们如此看重奥普拉所选的书，以至于奥普拉选出来的书会成为卖得最好的书，因为每个人都会跑去买！接下来的一年里，她制做了一个减肥的节目。2000年，奥普拉甚至有了她自己的杂志！
读完所有的这一切，我深受感染。奥普拉着有令人称奇的一系列好运气。但是，她也有着令人称奇的本领。最能让我产生共鸣的是她的高中阶段。所有她赢得的荣誉、所有她做过的事情，真的是……太不可思议了！但是想想她十岁前的生活，绝对是一片恐怖！这让我觉得好像我能比现在做得更多，成就更多。只要我努力，只要我尽力，当然，这也真的是很难的一件事。不管怎样，在奥普拉14岁以前，她正在变成一个非常坏的孩子。然而当她开始和父亲一起生活后，她变成了一个少年的好榜样。如果我来评价自己，我会将自己放在好少年的一边，而不是坏孩子的一边。所以，我确信，如果我真的想做，那在上帝的帮助下，我也能学会努力工作。
知道了这么多关于奥普拉的故事之后，我意识到了我能够做什么。她真是我们这些淑女的一个好榜样（哈哈，淑女，这样来描述我自己，似乎有点可笑呢。我不觉得自己很淑女。我也不觉得奥普拉非常淑女，如果我们用过去的标准定义LADY这个词的话。）。我很高兴我读这本书的时间正正好。这正是我的一生中刚刚长大到能够看懂这书的时候，我没有太大 ，也没有读得太迟。奥普拉真是一个令人称奇的女人！
【小哭介绍背景】这篇读后感，早在外出旅游前就开始译了，差不多是两个月前吧。当时红花还没有说出“下半场”这个词儿呢。看来奥普拉说的“一旦你完成了一段时间或一个地点的成长，你知道，你的灵魂就会告诉你到了该离开的时候了。”这段令Susan深思的话，和红花的“下半场”也有类似之处。其实这话可能是每一个角色面临转换的人都会有的共鸣吧，否则怎么会有这么多的人有类似的感慨呢？不同的也许只是主动转换还是被动转换这一点吧。
初次听说奥普拉，比较晚。当时万维的昭君还在勤于写博，我还是她忠实的粉丝，所以当她发文介绍奥普拉的脱口秀、并提到奥普拉承认儿时曾被强奸时，我对这个人物便有了深刻的记忆。后来给中国交通报写“美国乡村廊村”专栏时，提到了《廊桥遗梦》这部畅销书的作者曾经在桥位处接受过奥普拉的访问，当年为了这个访问还专门在桥边搭了一段台阶，那台阶后来便得名“奥普拉台阶”。于是我开始觉得奥普拉跟自己的工作内容开始扯上了一点联系。再后来就是发现，原来奥普拉无处不在啊！！！竞选总统的新闻报道里也会提到她采访了谁、她支持了谁什么的。
当有一天在儿童阅览室帮Susan找传记类书时，突然发现了奥普拉的传记，于是觉得没有办法不借回来了，方方面面的原因都让我觉得至少得给女儿看看这个具有传奇色彩的女人的生活！！！我当时仅仅是觉得，这将会是一本励志书，Susan会看到一个从贫民窟长大的黑人女孩是如何奋斗的故事。我很喜欢这类书，喜欢看名人的奋斗史，看他们在没成名前有什么与众不同的地方。可是Susan特别地不爱看传记，还说每天生活在真实的生活中已经够久的了，看书还要看真实的生活，有什么意思啊？
所以，当最后我读到这篇读后感时，我是多么地欣慰。我没有想到Susan会喜欢上一本传记，还会说她在正确的时间读到了一本正确的书！尽管有的时候，我一想到回国前我帮她至少借了二、三十本非虚构类的书，可是差不多半年后她也只是看了不到一半儿，颇令我有点不满。但是，想想我收到的这篇读后感，想想至此她已经写了五篇非虚构书的读后感了，她已经非常地不错了，我得学会满意了。我知道，她的转变不会一蹴而就。如果她已经行在了正确的方向上，那我更需要的是拿出耐心去等待，而不是在旁边急巴巴地时时催促。想到了今天健身回来的路上，收音机里当时播放的一段话：希望能够改变一切(HOPE CAN CHANGE EVERYTHING.)
是的，我对Susan抱有希望，我对她的写作抱有希望，我对这段时间以来的翻译工作抱有希望。正是这一份希望，让我能够在小宝上学的第一个月里，完成了工作量并不算小的作文翻译和介绍背景的任务。
接下来我要再接再励，向着预定的目标去努力。也许奋斗的过程会很艰苦，但人生有希望就好！！！
附上英文原文：
Oprah Winfrey really is an amazing woman! All I knew about her before I read this book was that she’s pretty famous, and is involved in book clubs. That’s all I knew. After reading this book, I was given an inside view of just how a person can rise from the lowest of the lows to the highest of the highs. Before, I couldn’t understand at all how a person so poor could become a person so rich. Now, after reading the story of Oprah, I finally understand. It requires a combination of skill, smarts, and luck.
When Oprah was born, her parents didn’t intend to call her Oprah. They wanted to name her after a Bible character: Orpah. However, there was a spelling mistake in the birth record, and her name forever became Oprah (I’ve always been mildly amazed that Oprah had such a similar name as Orpah, until I read this and realized that it wasn’t a coincidence. It was a mistake). Oprah’s parents weren’t married, and her mother was only eighteen. After a few years, Oprah’s mom sent Oprah to live with her grandmother, because her mother couldn’t take care of her.
How Oprah came into the world was pretty messed up. A misspelled name, a teenage mom, and unmarried parents. That pretty much set the example for the rest of her childhood. Living with her grandmother, Oprah learned to have strength, a good sense of reasoning, and had a good education. However, when she was six, her grandmother got sick, and she was sent back to live with her mother. Life with her mother was horrible. Vernita (that’s her mom’s name) was still unmarried (though she was planning to, but she didn’t), Oprah had a half sister that did not get along with her, and even though during that two years, Oprah skipped from kindergarten to second grade, Vernita did not value her education like her grandmother did. Finally, after two years, Vernita realized she couldn’t take care of Oprah, and so she was sent to live with her father.
When I got to this part, I started disliking Vernita. Just a little bit. And after reading about Oprah’s life with her father, I was greatly relieved. Her father was already married to a woman named Zelma. After realizing Oprah loved to read and was very smart, she tutored Oprah at home and encouraged her to learn more and more. One of Oprah’s teachers also helped her, and Oprah got smarter and smarter. However…. Oprah’s life took a bad turn again. She spent summer vacation with her mother, but when it was time to go back to her father’s home and to the good school there, her mother didn’t let her go. Again, she planned to marry, and wanted all her children in one place. She planned to marry, but in the end, she didn’t. All she did was to give birth to another child, a boy this time. Oprah’s next five years living with her mother was absolute hell.
Oprah often fought with her sister. Her mother always had relatives visiting, and didn’t pay much attention to Oprah, so Oprah felt unloved and angry. She ran away from home more than once. She was smarter than any of the other students in the bad school she went to, and in addition to not learning much, she got picked on a lot. And, on top of all that, she got sexually abused by her nineteen-year-old cousin when she was nine, and was told not to tell anyone. By this point, I’m absolutely furious at Oprah’s mother. How can she not see that Oprah is talented, and deserves better? Maybe Vernita didn’t have the ability to give Oprah any more, but that’s no excuse not to try, or not to care! Vernita should be trying her hardest to give Oprah a better education, a better home. And if she can’t provide that because she was still unmarried, she should just let Oprah go back to her father! Speaking of that, my opinion on Vernita’s morals and judgements is very low. She’s had three kids, and she’s still unmarried. I’m starting to think that if Vernita found out that her nephew was raping her daughter, she wouldn’t even care. I know I’m not suppose to judge people and all that, and I’m sure I have a lot of reasons to pity Vernita, but I can’t help hating her at the same time.
Her life took another turn for the better when one of her teachers recommended her to go to a better school. However, though after that, her school life was way better, her home life was as bad as ever. I’ll give you one guess: you think that perverted cousin of hers left her alone after that first visit? As Oprah grew up and started entering teenagehood, she became increasingly troubled, stealing, lying, staying out late (I can’t imagine what she was doing), and running away all the time. If Vernita hadn’t try to send her off to a school for troubled girls, I’m sure that when Oprah grew up, she would’ve became just like her mother. Thankfully, that school was out of room for Oprah, and she got sent to her father again.
Life with her father was like rising from hell to heaven. He and Zelma helped Oprah stay out of trouble, made sure she got decent education, and turned her whole life over. Oprah became very popular in high school. She won many awards, got easy A’s, was elected president of the student council, won tons of speaking contests for her school, spoke in many churches upon request… she even got a boyfriend, and both of them were chosen as the “Most Popular Boy/Girl” in their school! She even got evited to a Whtie House Conference on Youth and entered a national speaking contest! It’s amazing how her whole life got turned around.
The next stage of her life came when she was invited to talk on the radio by the radio station’s manager. She started reading the news after school and getting paid $100 a week! That’s totally amazing! Oprah entered beauty contests, and by the time she moved on to college, she has became a totally different person than she was at her mother’s house. College was hard, but she pulled through. She got involved in working at the radio station, and when she was nineteen, got a job as an anchorwoman on the news.
I find it cool that after she finished journey from the dark side of life to the light, she began on another journey that would take her past just reading the news in her town and into becoming a worldwide celebrity. Both journeys had happy endings, but while she was on the roads of those journeys, she didn’t have any ideas of what was going to happen. During her childhood years, she never would’ve dreamed how fast and how much her life was going to change. And during her colllege years, she wouldn’t have dreamed what she would become.
Oprah took a fall in life when, after she got hired at a major TV station, she didn’t get along with the other new anchor. They didn’t work together very well, and Oprah realized that her style was different from what was required. She would get too emotional, her hair didn’t fit in, and after three years, things were looking pretty bad for her. Fortunately, the station hired a new manager after that, and that manager saw Oprah’s special talents, and decided that she would be better with co-hosting a morning talk show. Oprah realized that was what she was born to do, and she did the job very well for six years. People liked her and trusted her. After a while, though, she realized that it was time to move one. “Once you have finished gowing in one place or time, you know. Your soul tells you when it’s time to move on.” She had said.
That quote makes me think. It’s true. Life takes us on many different journeys, and once one is over, we have to accept it and be ready for the next. We have to learn to move on and take risks in life, and keep on going even when things look bad. That’s what Oprah did. She began hosting her own show at a TV station where her friend worked. By simply being herself on the show, her show became a huge hit. In just three months, she won over the local audience. In just three years, it was being broadcast all over America. Oprah was given free rein with the controls to how the show should work, and the show was renamed Oprah Winfrey Show. She had an audience of more than ten million viewers, and soon, Oprah became a multimillionaire.
And amazing array of luck brough Oprah to the attention of a guy that was going to make a movie that was going to become a huge hit. He saw Oprah on TV, and decided right away she would be one of the actresses. And guess what? It was a role that Oprah she could actually relate to, from a story that Oprah loved! She won an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in the movie, and got national attention as an actress.
The next six long pages of the book about Oprah talked about her advance in her carreers as an actress, a talk show host, and just a popular person in general. In the next five years, at age thirty-seven, Oprah became probably the most popular person in the world. At least, the book painted her like that. She opened her own TV studio, called Harpo (Oprah spelled backwards), won tons of awards, bought The Oprah Winfrey Show, created a few movies, opened up a resturant in Chicago, lost weight, worked with other major TV stations, became a national celebrity, and even spoke to lawmakers in Washington D.C. to pass a Child Protection Law!! After the law got rejected, she helped a filmmaker make a movie about ending Child Abuse, and after the film was shown on ABC, CBS, NCS, and PBS and received lots of attention, Bill Clinton signed the National Child Protection Act into a law. Oprah was at the White House while it happened!
In 1996, when Oprah was forty-two, she started Oprah’s Book Club. It was popular all over the country, and people respected Oprah’s book choices so much, the books Oprah chose became bestsellers becae every rushes out to buy them! In the next year, she made a video about dealing with weight. In 2000, Oprah even had her own magazine!
After reading about all that, I’m very, very, impressed. Oprah had an amazing amount of luck. Yet she also had an amazing amount of skill also. The part I could connect to the most was her high school years. All the awards she won, all the things she did. It’s… amazing. And to think, her first ten years of life was absolutely horrible! This makes me feel like I can do much more, be much more, than I am now. As long as I work hard and try my best, which is a really difficult thing to do. However, before Oprah was fourteen, she was starting to become a pretty bad kid. Yet when she started living with her father, she became a star model for a “good teenager”. And if I were to judge myself, I would place myself closer to the “good teenager” side than the “bad kid”. So, I’m sure if I really want to, with help from God, I would be able to learn to work hard also!
After learning so much about Oprah, I realized just what I can be. She’s a really good example for young ladies (Haha. Lady. That’s a funny way to describe myself. I don’t feel very ladylike. I don’t think Oprah is very “ladylike” either, if we’re defining that word in the old-fashioned way.) like me. I’m glad I read this at the time I did. This is just the time of my life where I’m old enough to undertand, yet not too old to be too late. Oprah truly is an amazing woman!
| 司马冰 (2013-09-26 19:14:43) |
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看完susan的读后感我感动了，一个小女孩能有这样的感想与思考，真令人喜欢。 |
| 周小哭 (2013-09-26 19:37:19) |
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谢谢同感！！我想不到她会如此地憎恨那个不负责的妈妈，还会设想那个可恶的表哥不会轻易地放过奥普拉，她已经可以想像出来，她自己现在的生活远比奥普拉小时候幸福，所以，她给自己设定了目标，认为她没有理由不去努力。 我正在翻译另一篇她目前最喜欢作者尼尔.沙斯特曼的书（不是最喜欢的书，是作者）的读后感，里面也有她不少的思考。本来我只想翻译个头尾就结束这个读后感部分，结果却是，我上网不停地查看这个作者的信息和录像，最后我决定翻译完这篇读后感再上传。我觉得里面有Susan的哲学思维和她的信仰在，哪怕译出来只是为她的成长留个纪念而已，我也愿意花点时间。而万一能够对他人还有用的话，那就更好了。 |
| 刘瑛依旧 (2013-09-26 22:37:58) |
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能否告诉，奥普拉这本书的书名？我也想推荐给我女儿读读。 |
| 周小哭 (2013-09-26 23:10:56) |
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我当时借了几本有关奥普拉的书。刚才在网上查了一下，Susan写的应该是这本：Oprah Winfrey: Success with an Open Heart |