长大这么多年，你的梦想还在吗？
逐梦演艺圈：梦想与现实
作者：Mariella Frostrup
译者：刘 蕊
校对：武守晗
编辑：倪凌晖
I want to be an actor, but am afraid to follow my dream
我的梦想是成为一名演员，但我害怕追逐自己的梦想
本文选自 The Guardian
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The dilemma Hey! This is my dilemma. I’ve always wanted to be an actress, since I was very little. My passion is to act. Still, it’s a secret and only my best friend knows it because I could never tell my parents. I can’t bring myself to do it. They want me to study a traditional career, so I thought of architecture, which would be an interesting choice even if it’s not my passion. Also, I’ve thought of acting parallel as I study architecture. But, I have many doubts in my mind... I’m afraid that the career will take up a lot of my time and I will never fulfil my dream. What should I do? Thank you very much!
困惑：嘿，这是我的困惑！从小时候起，我就一直梦想成为一名演员。我热爱表演，但这是个秘密，只有我最亲近的朋友才知道，我不会和父母说，也不敢跟他们提起。他们希望我从事传统行业，我有考虑建筑行业，即使我对建筑不怎么感兴趣，这也是个不错的选择。当然，我也有想过一边从事表演一边学习建筑。但我心里还是很担心……我害怕从事建筑会占据我的大部分时间，以至于没办法实现我的梦想。我该怎么办？非常感谢！
Mariella replies Interesting. I’m not a career advice expert, having stumbled along myself grasping opportunity where it presented itself. But we’re at the beginning of movie award season so it’s as good a time as any to be thinking about the acting profession.
玛莉耶拉的答复：这个问题真有趣。我并不怎么擅长提供职业方面的建议，机会来临之时也曾犹豫不决。现在正是各大电影奖项铺天盖地的好时节，也算是考虑开启演艺生涯的好时候。
First, let me say I have enormous respect for those who choose an age-old profession so frequently paved with poverty and despair. Acting counts as a zero-hours contract and must rank among the least reliable career paths to be stuck on. Do you know what the ratio of success to failure is? Last I heard it was somewhere around 90% of actors who are not actually acting. So your combination proposal sounds like you may have the right idea.
首先，我想说，有的职业虽然历史悠久，却常常意味着低薪和绝望，对于那些选择以这种职业为生的人，我可是相当敬佩的。演员这个职业，没有合同保障，可以说是最不可靠的了。你知道这个行业的成功率是多少吗？之前我听说约90%的演员并未真正从事表演。你想要一边表演一边从事建筑行业，这个想法似乎不错。
I’m certainly not going to advise you against pursuing your heart’s desire – to even have such a compulsion puts you in a small minority and makes you lucky indeed. For the vast majority, work is just about the money. I count myself lucky that I’ve managed to turn my favourite hobbies into paid employment, but opportunism isn’t particularly fulfilling and I am always enormously jealous of those whose jobs consume them entirely.
我绝不会劝说你放弃追逐心之所向——毕竟光是有梦想这一点就已足够幸运，让你脱颖而出了。对大多数人而言，工作仅仅是为了赚钱。我自认为是很幸运的，从事的是自己喜欢的工作。但是“投机取巧”的结果并非总叫人满意，我就常常羡慕那些工作占据了他们全部时间的人。
Twenty years ago I might have advised against choosing such an insecure profession, but in the 21st century workplace, following your heart has much to recommend it. It doesn’t mean you’ll get to fulfill your dreams, but at least you’ll have something to sustain and drive you forward when all around you the weary and uninspired have long given up hope.
如果是二十年前的话，我可能会建议你不要选择如此高风险的行业，但在21世纪的今天，跟随自己的内心才是主流。跟随内心并不等同于能够实现梦想，但至少当身边人因疲惫不堪、因碌碌无为而早已选择放弃之时，你还有继续坚持下去的动力。
Nowadays there’s no such thing as a job for life and the cradle-to-grave career progression we once took for granted harks back to an altogether more innocent age. In these demanding days we all need to be thinking on our feet, batting off
pesky
robots offering cheap alternatives to a human workforce, and displaying versatility, creativity and an open mind about our career journeys.
回首那个更为纯真的年代，“铁饭碗”随处可见，理所当然。但在今天，根本就没有什么“铁饭碗”可言。在要求严苛的现代，我们都要脚踏实地，同
叫人心生厌恶的
机器人相竞争，这些机器人为人类劳动力提供了更为廉价的选择。同时,我们应当在职业生涯中展现出自己的才艺、创造和开放。
pesky
/'peski,ˋpɛskɪ/ annoying令人讨厌的，恼人的
Being an actor can be all consuming when you’re in work, but when you are not it offers only empty hours and months when the phone doesn’t ring. Such circumstances are now the reality for a far wider range of workers, who are finding their skill-sets rendered obsolete faster than they can acquire new ones. I certainly wouldn’t have had the resilience or self-confidence to embark on acting as a full-time job and I can only assume that a trust fund sustains those unprepared to take on alternative work.
演员这个职业意味着工作找上门时要任劳任怨，没有工作找上门的时候则是大段大段的空白时间。如今，大多数工作的人都面临这类现状，他们发现本职业所招致的困难实在是太频繁了，频繁到根本来不及学习新的技能。我定不会以演戏为生的，我没有那个能力，也没有那个自信。只能说，如果你“手无寸铁”，又想要从事如此灵活的工作的话，那就只有信托基金能够帮到你了。
I’ve seen first hand how passion can insulate you from a reality which so often destroys self-confidence, so you are off to a good start. It may be parental pressure rather than forward thinking that’s encouraging you to consider a dual approach to gainful employment, but for all the reasons I’ve outlined I’m all for it. Architecture, marine biology, entertainment – we’re going to need all manner of skills to take us into the next century. Having said that other skills are likely to become dispensable as global warming, population growth and food shortages loom. So the more strings to your bow the more likely you are to remain in the orchestra.
现实总是处处充斥着打击，但我曾亲眼见证热情的奇效，保护人们不受现实的干扰，有一个好的开端。你之所以考虑从事两份工作，或许并非是因为你的“高瞻远瞩”，而是源于父母的施压。建筑学、海洋生物学、娱乐——我们需要具备各式各样的技能以迎接下个世纪的到来。话虽如此，但全球变暖、人口增加和粮食短缺等问题日益严峻，使得其它技能变得可有可无。“机会总是垂涎有准备的人”，你准备得越多，就越有可能“屹立不倒”。
As an architecture student you are likely to find plenty of opportunities to practise acting since, with the demise of repertory theatre, colleges and universities remain solid training grounds for aspiring actors. I’d nurse your ambition, tell your parents it’s a passion that you’re prepared to be practical about and be prepared for a long and rocky road. It might lead to a Bafta – or a job in your local Co-op. And if your architecture skills bear fruit you could find yourself with a part to play not on a stage but in designing how we live in an uncertain future.
剧院日益减少的今天，大学和学院对于有抱负的演员们而言仍是培训的好场所。作为一名建筑学专业的学生，很可能学校为你提供了大量的练习机会。我很欣赏你的“雄心壮志”，请告诉你的父母，演戏是你的热情所在，为此你已踏过漫漫长路，并准备将其付诸于实践。或许你成功获得英国电影学院奖，又或许你“沦落”到在当地的超市里工作。如果你在建筑学方面学有所成的话，你会发现自己的角色并不局限于舞台之上，而是整个未来——如何在不确定的未来中扮演好自己。
My advice is to nurture your ambition and grab opportunities where you can, but remain open to alternatives and be light-footed so you don’t get stuck in a rut. The rewards can be immense but, as we roll towards an
orgy
of red-carpet celebration, remember not only the great performers of the past year but also the vast majority of frustrated actors wishing they could have landed just a single role in those same 12 months.
我的建议是，认真对待你的野心，尽可能抓住一起机会，同时以开放的心态面对眼前的机遇，但不要钻牛角尖。成功的回报或许是巨大的，但在红毯上
狂欢
时，不单单要庆祝自己过去一年里的优秀表现，也请记住大多数未能得奖的演员们，他们也曾希望在过去的这一年出演一个角色。
