《英语散文》The four marks of leadership

The four marks of leadership

领袖的四种品质

Address by John Engler, Governor of Michigan Delivered to Stephen F. Austin State University, Commencement Address, Nacogdoches, Texas, May 15, 1999.

密歇根州州长约翰.恩格勒1999年5月15日在得克萨斯州纳科多契斯市斯蒂芬.F.奥斯汀州立大学毕业典礼上的演说。

When I first received the invitation to speak at your commencement ceremony, I thought back to my own graduation many, many years ago and you know what? I can remember neither the speaker nor what he or she said. The only thing I remember is that we all wanted it to be short. So I will try to keep my message short, recalling from my own days at Michigan State University that the person who lectures is sometimes the one who talks in other people's sleep.

当我最初接到在贵校毕业典礼上讲话的邀请时，我回想起了许多年前自己毕业时的情景。你们知道吗？我既记不得是谁作的演讲，也记不得讲了些什么。我惟一能记起的是我们都希望听到简短的演讲。回想起我在密歇根州立大学的日子里，有时候演讲者的长篇大论竟成为许多人的催眠曲。因此我将尽量缩短我的讲话。

What I'd like to do this morning is say a few words about leadership. Here's why. Each one of you, by choosing to come to college and sticking it out and earning a degree, is saying something important to society. You are saying that you want to lead.

You want to be leaders in the workforce, in your profession, and in your communities.

今天上午，我想就领导才能说几句。为什么呢？你们中的每一个人，既然选择上大学而且坚持到底获得学位，你们其实是在向社会宣布某种重要的事--你们想成为领袖。

你们想成为雇员职工的领袖，想成为专业中的佼佼者，想成为自己社区中的领导人物。

An admirable goal. But how does one learn to lead? The Greek philosopher Aristotle told us that we learn to lead by leading, by practicing the skills that are required to move men and women in concert toward a common goal. The ancient historian Plutarch taught us that we also learn to lead by reading---reading about great leaders from the past, as he showed in his Parallel Lives.

这是令人钦佩的目标。但一个人如何学会领导艺术呢？古希腊大哲学家亚里士多德告诉我们应该通过领导学会领导，即在实践中培养自己具有让不同的人朝同一目标合作的才能。古历史学家普鲁塔克则教导我们通过阅读来学会领导，正如他在《比较列传》中描述的那样，去阅读历代伟大领袖的生平和领导才能。

As I was preparing these remarks and thinking about the topic, an obvious leader come to mind---the namesake of this school, a great American hero---Stephen Fuller Austin. To my delight, I discovered that Professor Gregg Cantrell at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene has just finished a superb biography of the Father of Texas. Titled Stephen F. Austin: Empresario of Texas, it will be released this October by Yale University Press. I had the opportunity to see the page proofs.

当我在准备这些讲话酝酿主题时，我的脑海中立即浮现出一个大家公认的领袖。他就是与贵校同名的人，一个伟大的美国英雄--斯蒂芬·富勒·奥斯汀。让我高兴的是，我发现哈丁--西蒙斯大学阿比林分院的格雷格·坎特雷尔教授新近完成了一本这位得克萨斯之父的绝妙传记。这本传记的书名为《斯蒂芬·F·奥斯订：得克萨斯州的创业者》。这本书将于今年10月由耶鲁大学出版社出版。我有幸先睹了此书的校样。