Do you realize that if you had started

你有没有想过如果从你出生那天起

building the Parthenon on the day you were born,

就开始兴建帕特农神庙

you would be all done in only one more year?

那么只要再有一年就可以竣工？

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

当然，这不可能由你一个人来完成，

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

所以，算了，你这样就很好。

You’re loved for just being yourself.

我们都爱你，就因为是你。

But did you know that at your age Judy Garland

但你有没有听说在你这个年纪

was pulling down $150,000 a picture,

朱迪·嘉兰已经是一部片子挣十五万，

Joan of Arc was leading the French army to victory,

贞德带领着法国军队走向胜利，

and Blaise Pascal had cleaned up his room?

而布莱士·帕斯卡尔已经整理好他的房间？

No wait, I mean he had invented the calculator.

呃，且慢，我是说他发明了计算器。

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

当然，往后的日子里你会有时间来做这些

after you come out of your room

在你从自己的房间里出来

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

开始舒枝展叶，起码是拾起你遍地的袜子之后。

For some reason, I keep remembering that Lady Jane Grey

不知为什么，我总是想起简·格雷

was Queen of England when she was only fifteen,

年仅十五岁时就已经是英国女王，

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

但她后来被砍头，所以千万别把她当作学习榜样。

A few centuries later, when he was yourage,

几个世纪之后，也是在你这个年纪，

Franz Schubert was doing the dishes for his family

弗朗茨·舒伯特就已经在替全家人洗碗

but that did not keep him from composing two symphonies,

但这并没有妨碍这个少年写下两部交响乐、

four operas, and two complete Masses as a youngster.

四部歌剧，还有两部完整的弥撒曲。

But of course that was in Austria at the height

当然这是在奥地利，浪漫抒情时代

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

的鼎盛期，而不是我们所在的克利夫兰郊区。

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

说实在的，谁会在乎安妮欧克利十五岁时就是个神枪手

or if Maria Callas debuted as Tosca at 17?

而玛利亚·卡拉斯十七岁就首次出演托斯嘉？

We think you are special just being you,

我们觉得你做你自己就已经很特别，

playing with your food and staring into space.

一边拨弄食物一边望着天空发呆。

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

顺便提一下，舒伯特洗碗那段是我瞎编的，

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

但这并不意味着他从来就不帮着做家务。