Being here in Edinburgh on the opening day of the International book Festival feels like the perfect place to celebrate words and stories, especially as we're about to turn the last page of the Olympic blockbuster which has had more thrills and spills and tears and triumphs than any bestseller. You know the way you inhabit a novel when it grips your imagination. Your mind is full of its scenes and characters. My Olympics story conjures up a horse dancing to music. Two brothers in black collapsing into each other's arms at the finish of the Triathlon. How utterly beautiful the rowers were at Eton Dorney when I was there a week ago. Standing beside the glittering water, they looked as tall as giraffes on their long, pale legs. And that extraordinarily moving moment, two weeks ago at the opening ceremony, when the torch was passed to the new generation, those young, committed men and women, who carried it around the stadium together, a symbolic rebirth of hope in dark times. Perhaps. Like so many scenes from Olympics, it was inspiring, and deeply emotional. And that's where words have often failed. In the midst of all the joy and heartache and tears, words have been overcome by feeling. I've lost count of the number of times the question was asked of jubilant or crushed athletes: " Describe your emotions at this moment ". And so often the answer was: " It's unbelievable. I can't believe it. " The moment, the present, is too immediate, too charged with joy or pain. Like the believer trying to put into words the reality of religious experience, or the mystery of faith, it's somehow too elusive to capture, too deeply felt to express. As with our Olympians, words come later, and then the stories of dedication and sacrifice and desire are written. The witnesses and believers come forward. And we listen to parents like Carol Hoy who played a far greater part in the story than they would ever admit. "I was proud of him when he won the egg and spoon race when he was a wee boy as well, " she said about Chris, "so I'm just a boring mum that loves her kids. " And so the unbelievable becomes the inspirational. If love, courage and sacrifice are at the heart of the best stories, that's a different kind of an Olympic legacy, because the stories will be retold and passed on, and they will inspire. We'll remember them, and be changed by them, because that's what the greatest stories do.
在国际图书节开幕的这天，在爱丁堡歌颂语言和小说是再适合不过的了，特别是当我们即将翻到奥林匹克这一轰动大作的最后一页时，它包含着比任何畅销书都要丰富的激动、泪水以及喜悦之情。你应该知道被一本小说深深吸引的感受。脑海中满是故事情节和人物。奥运会让我想起随着音乐起舞的马儿。两位黑人兄弟冲过铁人三项赛终点后相互拥抱。一星期前，我到伊顿-多尼水上中心观看比赛，划手们立在粼粼的水边，修长白皙的腿，像长颈鹿般高挑，十分美丽。还有两周前开幕式上将火炬传给年轻人的无比动人的时刻，那些年轻的男女一齐举着火炬，绕场一周，象征着在黑暗中重生的希望。也许如此。和奥运会中的许多场景一样，这一刻十分令人振奋、具有感染力又无法言表。欣喜、心痛和泪水，这些感触都无法用文字来形容。数不清人们有多少次向运动员说：“请描述一下你现在的心情。”不管是高兴还是沮丧，他们常常会说：“太不可思议了，我简直无法相信。”那一刻，那馈赠来得太快，带来太多喜悦或苦痛。正如信徒试图描述某次宗教经历或信仰的无法解释之处，有时这种感觉太难以捉摸，太深刻却无从描述。对我们的奥运选手来说，他们要过段时间才能想好如何表达，如何书写自己关于奉献、牺牲和渴望的故事。他们的见证人自告奋勇的站出来。于是我们听到像卡罗尔·霍伊这样的父母的心声，他们在整个故事中起到比他们自己认为的还要重要的作用。“我同样为他小时候赢得汤匙盛蛋赛跑而感到骄傲，”她谈到克里斯时说，“因此我只是一个爱着自己的孩子的乏味的母亲。”于是这难以置信的事实化作对孩子的激励。如果爱、勇气和牺牲是一篇佳作的主题，那么它将成为一份别样的奥林匹克遗产，因为这些故事将被流传下去，鼓舞更多的人。我们将铭记它们，被其改变，这正是最伟大的作品的力量。
