Han Kang's Nobel Prize Banquet Speech (2024)

Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Dear Loris, Ladies and Gentlemen, I remember the day when I was eight years old.

陛下、殿下，亲爱的洛里斯，女士们、先生们，我记得我八岁那年的一天。

As I was leaving my afternoon abacus lesson, the skies opened in a sudden downpour.

当我结束下午的珠算课时，天空突然下起了倾盆大雨。

This rain was so fierce that two dozen children wound up huddled under the eaves of the building.

雨势如此猛烈，二十多个孩子不得不挤在屋檐下避雨。

Across the street was a similar building, and under those eaves I could see another small crowd, almost like looking into a mirror.

街对面有一座相似的建筑，在那屋檐下，我看到另一小群人，简直就像照镜子一样。

Watching that streaming rain, the damp soaking my arms and cuffs, I suddenly understood.

看着这连绵的雨，雨水浸湿了我的手臂和袖口，我突然明白了。

All these people standing with me, shoulder to shoulder,

所有这些与我肩并肩站着的人，

and all those people across the way were living as an I in their own right.

以及对面那些人都作为独立的个体在生活着。

Each one was seeing this rain just as I was.

每个人都像我一样感受着这场雨。

This damp on my face they felt it as well.

我脸上的潮湿感，他们也同样感受到了。

It was a moment of wonder, this experience of so many first-person perspectives.

这是一个充满奇迹的时刻，一种体验众多第一人称视角的经历。