第82期：I Will Define My Name

想成为我们的主播，欢迎加微信 xdfbook 投稿，一段美文，一首英文歌，或是一点生活感想，全由你做主。 获取听力中英文原文，欢迎关注新东方英语荔枝社区。 《我的名字我定义》 My name hasn't been a rarity1) to this world since the Hanoverians2) took over the British some few hundred years ago. Now, I'm nothing more than number twenty-one on the most common names list. I am fabricated3) from decades of repetition and commonality. 自从几百年前汉诺威王室统治英国以来，我的名字在这个世界上就不稀罕了。如今，我的名字只不过是最常见人名榜上排在第21位的那个。几十年的重复和共用造就了我的名字。 My mother thought she was being poetic. Instead, she was being generic4). I am no Emily Dickinson5) and I will not grow up to become an old woman with a rose6). Emily is defined as a rival, one who is up for the challenge and always intimidating7). Perhaps that is what my mother was setting me up for: a life of fighting. 妈妈以为她当年给我取了个充满诗意的名字。可相反，她取的这个名字非常普通。我不是埃米莉•狄更生，我长大以后也不会成为一个手拿玫瑰的老女人。埃米莉被定义为一个斗士，一个准备接受挑战而且总是令人生畏的人。或许这就是妈妈当初给我规划好的：一个战斗的人生。 I am the one who always questions authority and puts up the most resistance. I am the one in the family who is bold and brave. No acceptance for defeat, always walking on thin ice8). I have found the rival within but that's not what she wanted. 我总是质疑权威并用尽全力反抗。我就是家里面那个无畏的勇士。我不接受失败，总是如履薄冰地前行。我已经找到了内心的那个斗士，但那不是妈妈想要的。 The irony of it all is that I'm not as generic as the meaning of my name. My name is breaking away before I'm broken, an uncontrollable love in a world of insecurities9). My name is the burst of color hidden in the black and white. It is the fiery10) spirit that melts away the cold. The rock and roll in a sea of silent decay. My name is the independence which sets me free. 最为讽刺的是，我并不像我名字的含义那般普通。我的名字在我崩溃前就开始离经叛道，是那在毫无安全感的世界中萌生的无法控制的爱。我的名字是隐藏在黑色与白色中迸发出的色彩。我的名字是融化严寒的如火热情，是一片寂静凋零中的摇滚乐。我的名字赐予了我独立和自由。 I'm the one who's got vibrant11) colored hair and is far too in love with horses for anyone in this world to believe. I am meant to break away from the things that society is conformed to. 我染了鲜艳的头发，而且非常喜欢马，喜欢到这世界上没有人会相信的地步。凡是迎合社会的东西我都会刻意远离。 It may be the most common name for an American girl but I will not let my name define me. Instead, I will define my name—Emily. 也许我的名字对一个美国女孩来说是再普通不过的名字，但我不会让它决定我是谁。相反，我要定义我的名字——埃米莉。