Han Kang's Nobel Prize Banquet Speech (2024)

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

陛下、殿下，各位获奖者，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建筑物的屋檐下避雨。

Across the street was a similar building, and under those eaves, I could see another small crowd.

街对面有一座类似的建筑，在那屋檐下，我看到另一小群人。

If I could see another small crowd, it was almost like looking into a mirror.

既然我能看到另一群小人物，这简直就像照镜子一样。

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

看着那连绵不断的雨水，感受着浸透我手臂和袖口的湿气，我突然明白了。

All these people standing with me, shoulder to shoulder, and all those people across the way were living as an 'I' in their own right.

所有这些与我肩并肩站着的人，以及对面那些人都作为独立的个体在各自生活着。

Each one was seeing this rain just as I was; this damp on my face, they felt it as well.

每个人都像我一样看着这场雨；我脸上的湿气，他们也感同身受。

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——体验如此众多的第一人称视角。

Looking back over the time I have spent reading and writing, I have relived this moment of wonder again and again, following the thread of language into the depth of another heart.

回顾我阅读和写作的时光，我一次次重温这个奇迹时刻，沿着语言的线索深入他人的内心。