你有没有想过如果从你出生那天起

Do you realize that if you had started

就开始兴建帕特农神庙

building the Parthenon on the day you were born,

那么只要再有一年就可以竣工？

you would be all done in only one more year?

当然，这不可能由你一个人来完成，

Of course, you couldn’t have done it alone,

所以，算了，你这样就很好。

so never mind, you’re fine just as you are.

我们都爱你，就因为是你。

You’re loved for just being yourself.

但你有没有听说在你这个年纪

But did you know that at your age Judy Garland

朱迪·嘉兰已经是一部片子挣十五万，

was pulling down $150,000 a picture,

贞德带领着法国军队走向胜利，

Joan of Arc was leading the French army to victory,

而布莱士·帕斯卡尔已经整理好他的房间？

and Blaise Pascal had cleaned up his room?

呃，且慢，我是说他发明了计算器。

No wait, I mean he had invented the calculator.

当然，往后的日子里你会有时间来做这些

Of course, there will be time for all that later in your life,

在你从自己的房间里出来

after you come out of your room

开始舒枝展叶，起码是拾起你遍地的袜子之后。

and begin to blossom, or at least pick up all your socks.

不知为什么，我总是想起简·格雷

For some reason, I keep remembering that Lady Jane Grey

年仅十五岁时就已经是英国女王，

was Queen of England when she was only fifteen,

但她后来被砍头，所以千万别把她当作学习榜样。

but then she was beheaded, so never mind her as a role model.

几个世纪之后，也是在你这个年纪，

A few centuries later, when he was yourage,

弗朗茨·舒伯特就已经在替全家人洗碗

Franz Schubert was doing the dishes for his family

但这并没有妨碍这个少年写下两部交响乐、

but that did not keep him from composing two symphonies,

四部歌剧，还有两部完整的弥撒曲。

four operas, and two complete Masses as a youngster.

当然这是在奥地利，浪漫抒情时代

But of course that was in Austria at the height

的鼎盛期，而不是我们所在的克利夫兰郊区。

of romantic lyricism, not here in the suburbs of Cleveland.

说实在的，谁会在乎安妮欧克利十五岁时就是个神枪手

Frankly, who cares if Annie Oakley was a crack shot at 15

而玛利亚·卡拉斯十七岁就首次出演托斯嘉？

or if Maria Callas debuted as Tosca at 17?

我们觉得你做你自己就已经很特别，

We think you are special just being you,

一边拨弄食物一边望着天空发呆。

playing with your food and staring into space.

顺便提一下，舒伯特洗碗那段是我瞎编的，

By the way, I lied about Schubert doing the dishes,

但这并不意味着他从来就不帮着做家务。

but that doesn’t mean he never helped out around the house.