「You want my advice？Don’t think twice.」
——Prince Ea
Sep.12th 2017
歡迎大家閱讀本期的七點課堂。
本期包含1個視頻和32個實用英語知識點：)
即日起，我們將連續五期為大家解讀美國饒舌詩人Prince Ea火遍網絡的新式饒舌勵志視頻，為大家扒一扒視頻中蘊含的地道美語和職場生活中能夠用到的高頻語法點。相信大家有一定喜歡。
如果你喜歡去油管YouTube看視頻，如果你喜歡閒來無事逛逛臉書Facebook，那你一定早就看過Prince Ea的視頻。
他之所以能火遍大半個地球（2014年起，僅Facebook臉書就擁有10億次觀看量），Prince Ea靠的是真功夫，他開創了饒舌式、黑人英語為導向的說理式激勵視頻——運用了嘻哈式的押運與修辭，因此聽起來非常抓耳。
美國一票脫口秀頂級大師也紛紛為Prince打call站隊，比如脫口秀女王——奧普拉就說Prince Ea傳達出了「充滿力量的話語」，讚嘆他是「飽有遠見的影片製作人。」
"Powerful Message,Visionary Filmmaker." -OPRAH WINFREY要記得，Prince Ea的作品表達的不是國內常見Low到尷尬的職場心術或情感勵志雞湯，而是實打實又容易被我們忽略的真理。打動人心的是他弘大熱情的心胸、客觀分析的角度與平和的Universal Values（普世價值觀）。
首先，為大家獻上這一個讓人震撼、熱淚盈眶的視頻：
It is not death most people are afraid of. It is getting to the end of life, only to realize that you never truly lived.There was a study done, a hospital study, on 100 elderly people facing death close to their last breath. They were asked to refelct about their life’s biggest regret. Nearly all of them said they regretted not the things they did but the things they didn’t do.The risks they never took，the dreams they didn’t pursue. I ask you would your last words be; if only I had – hey, you wake up.
大部分人的恐懼不是死亡，而是在走到生命盡頭時，驀然回首才發現，你從未真正活過。根據某家醫院的研究，訪問了一百名臨終前的老人，要他們回想，他們人生中最大的遺憾是什麼？幾乎所有人的回答，都不是關於他們做過的事，而是他們沒做過的事。比如沒冒過的險，沒追過的夢…我問你，你人生的遺言會是——如果我曾……嘿，兄弟，醒醒吧。
Why do you exist? Life is not meant to simply work, wait for the weekend and pay rent. No, no I don’t know much. But I know this, every person on this earth has a gift.
你存在的理由是什麼？人生不只是工作，然後等待周末和繳房租而已！不，不是的。雖然我知道的不多，但是有件事我懂，那就是「天生我材必有用」。
And I apologized to the black community but I can no longer pretend Martin Luther King. That man never had a dream, that dream had him. See, people don’t choose dreams, dreams choose them. So the question I’m getting to is, do you have the courage to grab the dream that picked you? That befits you and grips you; or will you let it get away and slip through?
而且我要向所有的黑人朋友們說一聲，偉大的民權運動領袖馬丁·路德·金，那個「我有一個夢想」的男人，不是他有一個夢，而是那個夢擁有了他。不是人們選擇夢想，而是夢想選擇人們。所以我的問題是——你是否有勇氣抓住那個選中你的夢想？那個屬於你、撼動你的夢想！還是你會選擇眼睜睜地看著它溜走？
Notes:
a study done 落實的一項研究（同 implemed research）
facing death close to their last breath 臨終前，奄奄一息之時
every person on this earth has a gift 天生我才必有用
black community 黑人群體
befits 使適合，迎合；對...而言適當
grips 抓住，攢住 （近 grasp/clutch/seize）
You know I learned a fact about airplanes the other day. This was – this was so surprising to see, I was talking to a pilot and he told me that many of his passengers think planes are dangerous to fly in. But he said actually, it is a lot more dangerous for a plane to stay on the ground. I say what? Like how does that sound what he said, he said because on the ground. The plane starts to rust, malfunction and wear, much faster than it ever would if it was in the air.
我最近才知道一項關於飛機的事實——非常令人驚訝的事實——我跟一位駕駛員聊天，他告訴我有很多乘客覺得搭飛機很危險。他說事實上，飛機在地面上反而更危險。因為飛機在地面上，生鏽、故障、零件老化的速度，比在空中飛行時快很多。
As I walked away I thought, yeah, makes total sense because planes were built to live in the skies. And every person was built to live out the dream they have inside. So it is perhaps the saddest loss to live a life on the ground without ever taking off. See, most of us are afraid of the thief, they comes in the night to steal all of our things. But there is a thief in your mind who is after your dreams. His name is doubt.
我後來想想，對啊，很有道理。因為飛機正是為了在空中飛行而生的，就像人類是為了活出心中的夢想而生的。所以人生在世最悲哀的，也許就是一輩子在陸上行走，我們的心從未起飛過。大部分的人都會怕遭小偷，他們會在半夜潛入你的家裡偷東西。但你的心裡其實也有一位小偷，專偷你的夢想，他的名字就是「懷疑」！
If you see him call the cops and keep him away from the kids because he is wanted for murder. So he has killed more dreams than failure ever did. He wears many disguises and like a virus will leave you blinded, divided and turn you into a kinda.See kinda is lethal. You know what kinda is? There is a lot of kinda people, you kinda want a career change, you kinda want to get straight A’s, you kinda want to get in shape. Simple math, no numbers to crunch. If you kinda want something, then you will kinda get the results you want.
如果你看到他請馬上報警，別讓他接近孩子——因為他是通緝犯，他殺過的夢想比失敗還多！他戴著各種假面具，就像個病毒，會讓人盲目、分裂、讓人變成「有點哥」。「有點」是非常危險的，你知道什麼是「有點」吧，社會上不乏這種凡事都「有點」的人，有點想要轉換跑道，有點像要考一百分，有點想要好身材。這是很簡單的問題，如果你凡事都只是「有點」想，也許你想要的目標只會「有點」能達到。
Notes:
rust, malfunction and wear 生鏽、失靈、磨損
makes total sense 非常有道理（口語）
kinda 有點，有那麼些（口語，美語）
lethal 致命的、毀滅的（同 fatal, deadly）
get in shape 減肥，重塑身材（口語）
Simple math, no numbers to crunch 非常簡單的問題，不用想太多（俚語）
What is your dream? What ignites that spark. You can’t kinda want that, you got to want it with every part of your whole heart. Will you struggle? Yeah, yeah… you will struggle, no way around it. You will fall many times, but who’s counting? Just remember, there’s no such thing as a smooth mountain. If you want to make it to the top then, there are sharp ridges that have to be stepped over. There will be times you get stressed and things you get depressed over. But let me tell you something. Steven Spielberg was rejected from film school three times, three times but he kept going.
你的夢想是什麼？是什麼點燃了夢想的火花？你不能只是有點想，你「必須」用生命去追求！ 過程會很艱辛嗎？是的，會很艱辛，沒有捷徑，你會跌倒許多次，但是有誰回去在意幾次。你只要記得一件事，世界上沒有平滑的山，誰想要登上山頂，誰就必須先爬過陡峭的山脊。 有時你會倍感壓力，你會心灰意冷，但讓我告訴你，大導演史蒂芬·史匹柏曾三度被大學拒絕，三次，但他沒有放棄！
The television execs fired Oprah said she was unfit for TV but she kept going. Critics told Beyoncé that she couldn’t sing she went through depression. But she kept going.Struggle and criticisms are prerequisites for greatness. That is the law of this universe and no one escapes it. Because pain is life but you can choose what type? Either the pain on the road to success or the pain of being haunted with regret. You want my advice. Don’t think twice. We have been given a gift that we call—life.
著名主持人歐普拉被電視公司開除，說她不適合進入電視圈，但她沒有放棄！天后碧昂斯曾被評說不會唱歌，她還曾罹患憂鬱症，但她沒有放棄！ 煎熬與批評都是成就非凡的先決條件，這就是這個世界運行的法則，沒有一個人會不例外，因為有痛苦才是人生。但你可以選擇痛苦的種類，是邁向成功的痛苦，還是遺憾終生的痛苦。想聽聽我的建議嗎？做，就對了！人生就是上天賜予給我們的禮物，所以別搞砸了。
Notes:
ignite 點火，使燃燒；使激動
no way around it 並無它法（口語）
there`s no such thing as a smooth mountain 山無常平，事無常順（化用）
ridge 山脊（引申為挑戰之意）
prerequisite 先決條件
being haunted with 被困擾（固定搭配）
So don’t blow it. You’re not defined by your past instead you were born anew in each moment. So own it now. Sometimes you』ve got to leap. And grow your wings on the way down. You better get the shot off before the clock runs out because there is ain’t no over time in life, no do over. And I know what sound like I’m preaching on speaking with force but if you don’t use your gift then you sell not only yourself, but the whole world——short.
過去無法定義你這個人，因為未來的每一刻你都是全新的自己，所以請把握當下。有時你必須先試著跳躍，才能在墜下的過程中羽翼漸豐。你必須在時間結束前出手，因為人生沒有加時賽，也無法重來。 我知道我聽起來像是在嘮叨說教，如果你不善用這份禮物，那麼你不僅對不起你自己，也是對不起全世界。
So what invention that you have buried in your mind? What idea?What cure? What skill did you have inside to bring out to this universe? Uni meaning one, verse meaning song, you have a part to play in this song. So grab that microphone and be brave. Sing your heart out on life’s stage. You cannot go back and make a brand new beginning. But you can start now and make a brand new ending.
所以，你的心中埋藏著什麼新發明、新點子、新技能，你能夠帶給這個世界。世界也是一首歌曲，在這首歌裡每個人都是歌手，所以請在人生長河中肆意綻放吧。你或許無法回到過去重新開始，但你可以從現在開始書寫嶄新的結局。
Notes:
anew 重新、再次
get the shot off before the click runs out 未雨綢繆，抓緊時機（俚語）
preaching 勸誡
sell...short... 低估（口語）、賣低、賣空（財經）
Sing your heart out on life`s stage 恣意地綻放人生
Richard Williams, better known by his stage name Prince Ea, is an American spoken-word-artist, poet, rapper and filmmaker. After graduating from the University of Missouri–St. Louis with a degree in anthropology, he initially pursued a career as a hip hop artist and started to promote values like intelligence, free thought, unity, and creativity in hip hop music and culture.
理察·威廉士，藝名普林斯·埃亞（Prince Ea），是一位美國的口語語言藝術家、詩人、說唱歌手和電影製作人。畢業於美國密蘇裡州聖路易大學人類學專業之後，Prince Ea最初決定成為一名嘻哈藝術家，並透過嘻哈音樂與文化逐漸開始宣揚例如：智慧、自由思考、團結、創造力等理念。
Notes:
spoken-word-artist 口語語言藝術家
with a degree in+學科 (同 holding a degree of + 學科) 持有...的學歷
anthropology (易混 archaeologist考古學家)
initially（近 primarily, firstly, originally）起初地，最初
pursue a career as/in 從事...職業/行業 (常有主動追求之意）
In 2014, Prince Ea shifted his focus from music to creating motivational and inspirational spoken word films and content. His YouTube videos have received over half a billion views while another billion views on Facebook, and cover a wide range of topics such as environmentalism, race, work–life balance and spirituality. He credits his shift in perspective to the inspiration of ancient wisdom texts such as the Tao Te Ching and Bhagavad Gita.
自2014年起，Prince Ea就將主要的精力從嘻哈音樂轉移到了創作激勵人心、富含啟發的脫口影片與視頻中。他的話題多元，眼光弘大：從環保主義到種族觀念，從工作與生活的平衡到精神思考。很快，他的視頻在YouTube上的觀影量就超過了5億，在Facebook更是斬獲了10億瀏覽量。他將這一轉變（成功）歸因於對於古老智慧典籍——《道德經》、《薄伽梵歌》——的洞察與領悟。
Notes:
a wide range of 廣大的、眾多的、幅度廣闊的
spirituality 靈性，精神性
credits 作動詞，將...歸因於...
Tao Te Ching / Bhagavad Gita《道德經》、《薄伽梵歌》
Today, when he’s not creating, he speaks at conferences and gives lectures to high school/university students nationwide, on the topics of self-development and living your passion.
目前，除了創作時間之外，他經常出席各類大會擔任致辭嘉賓，並且在全美多所中學與高校就「自我提升」和「飽有熱情地生活」的主題開展演講。
感謝您的閱讀。
下周二晚7點，我們，不見不散。
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