By+Nora+Ephron

President Walsh， trustees， faculty， friends， noble parents...and dear class of 1996，2 I am so proud of you. Thank you for asking me to speak to you today.

I remember my own graduation from Wellesley very， very well. The speaker was Santha Rama Rau3 who was a woman writer.

I want to tell you a little bit about my class， the class of 1962. When we came to Wellesley in the fall of 1958， there was an article in the Harvard Crimson4 about the womens colleges. We were girls then， by the way， Wellesley girls. How long ago was it？ It was so long ago that while I was here， Wellesley actually threw six young women out for lesbianism5. It was so long ago that we had curfews6. It was so long ago that if you had a boy in your room， you had to leave the door open six inches， and if you closed the door you had to put a sock on the doorknob7. In my class， I dont know， maybe 375 young women， there were six Asians and five Blacks. There was a strict quota8 on the number of Jews.

My class went to college in the era when you got a masters degree in teaching because it was “something to fall back on” in the worst case scenario，9 the worst case scenario being that no one married you and you actually had to go to work. As one classmate said at our reunion， “Our education was a dress rehearsal for a life we never led.”10 Isnt that the saddest line？ We werent meant to have futures， we were meant to marry men. We werent meant to have politics， or careers that mattered， or opinions， or lives； we were meant to marry men. If you wanted to be an architect， you married an architect.

My mother was a career woman， and all of us， her four daughters， grew up understanding that the question， “What do you want to be when you grow up？” was as valid11 for girls as for boys.

Why am I telling you this？ Things have changed. Things are different for you than they were for us. Just the fact that you chose to come to a single-sex college makes you smarter than we were—we came because its what you did in those days—and the college you are graduating from is a very different place. All sorts of things caused Wellesley to change， it did change， and today its a place that understands its obligations to women in todays world. The womens movement has made a huge difference， too， particularly for young women like you. There are women doctors and women lawyers. There are anchorwomen， although most of them are blonde.12 But at the same time， the pay differential between men and women has barely changed. Dont underestimate how much antagonism there is toward women and how many people wish we could turn the clock back.13

Above all， be the heroine of your life， not the victim. Because you dont have the alibi my class had—this is one of the great achievements and mixed blessings you inherit：14 Unlike us， you cant say nobody told you there were other options. Your education is a dress rehearsal for a life that is yours to lead.

So what are you going to do？ Everything， is my guess. It will be a little messy， but embrace the mess. It will be complicated， but rejoice15 in the complications. It will not be anything like what you think it will be like， but surprises are good for you. And dont be frightened： you can always change your mind.

And this is something else I want to tell you， one of the hundreds of things I didnt know when I was sitting here so many years ago： you are not going to be you，fixed and immutable16 you， forever. We have a game we play when were waiting for tables in restaurants， where you have to write the five things that describe yourself on a piece of paper. When I was your age， I would have put： ambitious， Wellesley graduate， daughter， Democrat， single. Ten years later not one of those five things turned up17 on my list. I was： journalist， feminist18， New Yorker， divorced， funny. Today not one of those five things turns up in my list： writer， director， mother， sister， happy. Whatever those five things are for you today， they wont make the list in 10 years—not that you still wont be some of those things， but they wont be the five most important things about you. Which is one of the most delicious19 things available to women， and more particularly to women than to men？ I think. Its slightly easier for us to shift， to change our minds， to take another path. This is the life many women lead： Two paths diverge in a wood， and we get to take them both.20 Its another of the nicest things about being women； we can do that. Did I say it was hard？ Yes， but let me say it again so that none of you can ever say the words， nobody said it was so hard. But its also incredibly interesting. You are so lucky to have that life as an option.

Whatever you choose， however many roads you travel， I hope that you choose not to be a lady. I hope you will find some way to break the rules and make a little trouble out there.21 And I also hope that you will choose to make some of that trouble on behalf of women. Thank you. Good luck. The first act22 of your life is over. Welcome to the best years of your lives.

1. Nora Ephron： 諾拉·艾芙?。?941—2012），1962年畢業(yè)于威爾斯利學(xué)院，好萊塢著名導(dǎo)演和制片人，電影《當(dāng)哈利遇上莎莉》、《西雅圖夜未眠》和《電子情書》的編劇及導(dǎo)演，曾三次獲得奧斯卡最佳原創(chuàng)劇本獎提名；commencement： 畢業(yè)典禮；Wellesley： Wellesley College，威爾斯利學(xué)院，又名威爾斯利女子學(xué)院，建于1875年，位于波士頓郊區(qū)，五所常春藤女校之一（Girl Ivies）。

2. president： 校長；trustee： 理事（或董事）會成員；faculty： 全體教職員。

3. Santha Rama Rau： 印度裔美籍女作家（1923—2009），擅長寫游記，1944年畢業(yè)于威爾斯利，是該學(xué)院首位印度裔學(xué)生。

4. Harvard Crimson： 《哈佛深紅報(bào)》，哈佛大學(xué)日報(bào)，深紅色是哈佛的代名詞，哈佛的建筑是深紅色，哈佛的運(yùn)動隊(duì)也叫深紅。

5. lesbianism： 女同性戀。

6. curfew： 宵禁，（要求某類人）夜晚一定時間后不準(zhǔn)外出的規(guī)定。

7. doorknob： 門把手。

8. quota： 配額，定量。

9. fall back on： 依賴，依靠；scenario：（可能出現(xiàn)的）事態(tài)，局面。

10. 一次畢業(yè)后的聚會上，班里一個同學(xué)說：我們的教育所預(yù)演的生活永遠(yuǎn)無法在未來實(shí)現(xiàn)。dress rehearsal： 彩排。

11. valid： 有效的。

12. anchorwoman： 新聞節(jié)目女主持人；blonde： 白膚金發(fā)碧眼的女人。

13. underestimate： 低估；antagonism：敵意，對抗。

14. alibi： 托辭；inherit： 繼承。

15. rejoice： 歡喜 ，感到高興。

16. immutable： 不變的。

17. turn up： 出現(xiàn)。

18. feminist： 女權(quán)主義者。

19. delicious： 美妙的，令人愉悅的。

20. 兩條路在林中岔開，我們都要設(shè)法去走一走。這句巧妙借用詩人羅伯特·弗羅斯特的《未選的路》里的第一句：Two roads diverged in a yellow wood， And sorry I could not travel both.

21. 我希望你們能設(shè)法打破常規(guī)，在人生的路途上制造出那么一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)小波瀾。

22. act： （戲劇或歌劇的）一幕。