英语视频听力：比尔·盖茨在哈佛大学毕业典礼上的演讲

英语自学网

       
       
                　　President Bok, former President Rudenstine, incoming President Faust,
members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, members of the
faculty, parents, and especially, the graduates: I've been waiting more than 30
years to say this: “Dad, I always told you I’d come back and get my degree.”
       
       
                　　尊敬的博克校长，前校长鲁登斯坦，即将上任的佛斯特校长，哈佛集团和监察理事会的各位成员。各位老师，各位家长，各位同学：有句话我憋了30年，今天终于能一吐为快了：““爸
我没骗你吧，文凭到手了!”
       
       
                　　I want to thank Harvard for this timely honor. I’ll be changing my job next
year …and it will be nice to finally have a college degree on my rsum.
       
       
                　　我由衷地感谢哈佛这个时候给我这个荣誉。明年我要换工作(退休)。 我终于能在简历里注明自己有大学学历了。
       
       
                　　I applaudthe graduates today for taking a much more direct route to your
degrees. For my part, I’m just happy that the Crimson has called me “Harvard’s
most successful dropout.” I guess that makes me valedictorian of my own special
class …I did the best of everyone who failed.
       
       
                　　我要恭喜今年的毕业生们，因为你们毕业比我顺利多了。其实我倒是很乐意克莱姆森把我唤作“哈佛大学最成功的辍学生”。这大概是我脱颖而出的法宝……我是辍学生中的领头羊。
       
       
                　　But I also want to be recognized as the guy who got Steve Ballmer to drop
out of business school. I’m a bad influence. That’s why I was invited to speak
at your graduation. If I had spoken at your orientation, fewer of you might be
here today.
       
       
                　　我还要检讨一下史蒂夫-鲍尔默也是受我蛊惑从商学院退学。我劣迹斑斑。这就是为什么我会受邀参加毕业演讲。如果是开学典礼，恐怕今天的人会少很多。
       
       
                　　Harvard was just a phenomenal experience for me. Academic life was
fascinating. I used to sit in on lots of classes I hadn’t even signed up for.
And dorm life was terrific. I lived up at Radcliffe, in Currier House. There
were always lots of people in my dorm room late at night discussing things,
because everyone knew I didn’t worry about getting up in the morning. That’s how
I came to be the leader of the antisocial group. We clung to each other as a way
of validating our rejection of all those social people.
       
       
                　　哈佛是我生命里的一段非凡经历。校园生活格外充实，我旁听过很多没有选过的课程。住宿的日子也很爽我当时住在拉德克利夫的柯里尔宿舍，总是很多人在我的寝室讨论到深夜。
大家知道我属于夜行动物。就这样，我成为了这堆人的头目。我们粘在一起，摆出拒绝社交的姿态。
       
       
                　　Radcliffe was a great place to live. There were more women up there, and
most of the guys were science-math types. That combination offered me the best
odds, if you know what I mean. This is where I learned the sad lesson that
improving your odds doesn’t guarantee success.
       
       
                　　拉德克利夫是个好地方。那里的女生比男生多，男生们大多都是科学怪人。所以我的机会来了，你懂的。可同时我也明白了一个道理——机会大也不能保证成功。
       
       
                　　One of my biggest memories of Harvard came in January 1975, When I made a
call from Currier House to a company in Albuquerque that had begun making the
world’s first personal computers. I offered to sell them software.
       
       
                　　1975年1月在哈佛打出的一通电话让我毕生难忘。我打给位于阿尔伯克基的一个公司，那家公司当时着手制造世界上第一台个人电脑。我说我想出售软件给他们。
       
       
                　　I worried that they would realize I was just a student in a dorm and hang
up on me. Instead they said: “We’re not quite ready, come see us in a month,”
which was a good thing, because we hadn’t written the software yet. From that
moment, I worked day and night on this little extra credit project that marked
the end of my college education and the beginning of a remarkable journey with
Microsoft.
       
       
                　　我担心他们会因为我学生身份而挂掉电话。但他们只是说：“现在还没有准备好 请一个月后再联系我们。”我长舒一口气，压根我们就没开工。从那时起
我不分昼夜地赶工 它是我大学生活结束的标志，也是微软伟大旅程的开始。
       
       
                　　What I remember above all about Harvard was being in the midst of so much
energy and intelligence. It could be exhilarating, intimidating, sometimes even
discouraging, but always challenging. It was an amazing privilege and though I
left early, I was transformed by my years at Harvard, the friendships I made,
and the ideas I worked on.
       
       
                　　哈佛的独特氛围让我充满精力和智慧。这里的日子可能振奋快乐、也可能令人退缩沮丧，但永远充满了挑战，神奇的体验!虽然我提前离开了这里，但是这段经历对我影响重大。
       
       
                　　But taking a serious look back …I do have one big regret.
       
       
                　　不过说心里话……我确实有一点遗憾。
       
       
                　　I left Harvard with no real awareness of the awful inequities in the world
- the appalling disparities of health, and wealth, and opportunity that condemn
millions of people to lives of despair.
       
       
                　　我离开哈佛时，根本没有意识到这个世界是多么地不平等。健康、财富、机遇差异悬殊，数以百万计的人生活在绝望之中。
       
       
                　　I learned a lot here at Harvard about new ideas in economics and politics.
I got great exposure to the advances being made in the sciences.
       
       
                　　我在哈佛触摸着经济政治中的新思想，探索科学技术的未知前沿。
       
       
                　　But humanity’s greatest advances are not in its discoveries – but in how
those discoveries are applied to reduce inequity. Whether through democracy,
strong public education, quality health care, or broad economic opportunity –
reducing inequity is the highest human achievement.
       
       
                　　但是，人类的进步不在于这些新发现，而在于如何运用这些发现减少社会不公。不管是通过民主政策、健全的公共教育、高质量的医疗保健还是广泛的商机，消除不平等始终是人类最大的目标。
       
       
                　　I left campus knowing little about the millions of young people cheated out
of educational opportunities here in this country. And I knew nothing about the
millions of people living in unspeakable poverty and disease in developing
countries. It took me decades to find out.
       
       
                　　离开校园的时候，根本不知道在美国上百万年轻人没有接受教育的机会。也对发展中国家被贫困和病痛折磨的人们一无所知。我花了几十年才明白这些事情。
       
       
                　　You graduates came to Harvard at a different time. You know more about the
world’s inequities than the classes that came before. In your years here, I hope
you’ve had a chance to think about how – in this age of accelerating technology
– we can finally take on these inequities, and we can solve them.
       
       
                　　如今，在座的各位应该比我更了解世界上的这些不平等现象。在你们的求学之路上我希望你们已经思考过这个问题——如何在这个高速发展的时代解决不平等现象。
       
       
                　　Imagine, just for the sake of discussion, that you had a few hours a week
and a few dollars a month to donate to a cause and you wanted to spend that time
and money where it would have the greatest impact in saving and improving lives.
Where would you spend it?
       
            
            

enone

       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
                　　试想一下如果你每周捐出几个小时，几块钱，来参与一项能够拯救生命和提高生活品质的项目，你会如何选择?
       
       
                　　For Melinda and for me, the challenge is the same: how can we do the most
good for the greatest number with the resources we have.
       
       
                　　我和妻子梅琳达就面临着这样一个问题：怎样才能充分利用我们拥有的资源。
       
       
                　　During our discussions on this question, Melinda and I read an article
about the millions of children who were dying every year in poor countries from
diseases that we had long ago made harmless in this country. Measles, malaria,
pneumonia, hepatitis B, yellow fever. One disease I had never even heard of,
rotavirus, was killing half a million kids each year- none of them in the United
States.
       
       
                　　举棋不定时我们读到一篇文章，文章里说在贫困的国家里，每年有数百万，儿童死于于美国早已战胜的疾病——麻疹、疟疾、肺炎、乙肝、黄热病，还有一种从未听说的轮状病毒每年会夺走五十万儿童的生命，而在美国没有一例死亡病例。
       
       
                　　We were shocked. We had just assumed that if millions of children were
dying and they could be saved, the world would make it a priority to discover
and deliver the medicines to save them. But it did not. For under a dollar,
there were interventions that could save lives that just weren’t being
delivered.
       
       
                　　当时我们就震惊了。我以为全世界会不遗余力地拯救这些在死亡线上挣扎的儿童们，然而这些不值钱的救命药却没有送到他们手中。
       
       
                　　If you believe that every life has equal value, it’s revoltingto learn that
some lives are seen as worth saving and others are not. We said to ourselves:
“This can’t be true. But if it is true, it deserves to be the priority of our
giving.”
       
       
                　　如果你坚信人生而平等，把生命分等级的做法简直令人发指。我们对自己说：“这绝不可能。但万一这是真的，那么这将成为我们慈善事业的首要任务。
       
       
                　　So we began our work in the same way anyone here would begin it. We asked:
“How could the world let these children die?”
       
       
                　　于是我们开始行动了 我相信这也会是你们的选择。我们疑惑：“这个世界怎么可以眼睁睁看着这些孩子死去?”
       
       
                　　The answer is simple, and harsh. The market did not reward saving the lives
of these children, and governments did not subsidize it. So the children died
because their mothers and their fathers had no power in the market and no voice
in the system. But you and I have both. We can make market forces work better
for the poor if we can develop a more creative capitalism.
       
       
                　　答案简单却残酷。市场经济中，拯救儿童没有利润，政府也不会给予补贴。父母无财无权
孩子们就死了。我们不一样，我们可以让市场更好地为穷人服务，如果我们可以改进现有资本主义制度。
       
       
                　　If we can stretch the reach of market forces so that more people can make a
profit, or at least make a living, serving people who are suffering from the
worst inequities. We also can press governments around the world to spend
taxpayer money in ways that better reflect the values of the people who pay the
taxes.
       
       
                　　改善市场环境，让更多的人赚到钱、维持生计，缓解苦难。给世界各地的政府施压
让他们把纳税人的钱花到最值得的地方。采取一些既满足满足穷人的需求，又能带来商业利润并为政治家带来选票的措施。
       
       
                　　If we can find approaches that meet the needs of the poor in ways that
generate profits for business and votes for politicians, we will have found a
sustainable way to reduce inequity in the world.This task is open-ended. It can
never be finished. But a conscious effort to answer this challenge will change
the world.
       
       
                　　采取一些既满足满足穷人的需求，又能带来商业利润并为政治家带来选票的措施，我们就摸索到了减少世界不平等的可持续发展道路。然而这项任务并没有终点，我们也许无法彻底解决。但只要不懈努力，就可以改变世界。
       
       
                　　I am optimistic that we can do this, but I talk to skeptics who claim there
is no hope. They say: “Inequity has been with us since the beginning, and will
be with us till the end – because people just …don’t …care.” I completely
disagree.
       
       
                　　我始终保持乐观。但也听到过消极的言论。他们认为：“这种不平等现象会伴随我们一生，因为人们漠视这一切。”但我不苟同。
       
       
                　　I believe we have more caring than we know what to do with. All of us here
in this Yard, at one time or another, have seen human tragedies that broke our
hearts, and yet we did nothing, not because we didn’t care, but because we
didn’t know what to do. If we had known how to help, we would have acted.
       
       
                　　虽然我们不知道该如何帮助他们，但我们绝对有这份心。我们都有过这样的经历，看到令人心碎的悲剧，却没有伸出援手。不是因为冷漠
而是我们不知道该怎么做。如果我们知道如何去帮，就一定会采取行动。
       
       
                　　The barrier to change is not too little caring; it is too much complexity.
To turn caring into action, we need to see a problem, see a solution, and see
the impact. But complexity blocks all three steps.
       
       
                　　阻碍援助步伐的并非冷漠，而是世界太复杂。要把爱心转变为行动，我们首先要发掘问题，然后寻找解决方案，并且监测效果。然而世界的复杂性阻碍着这些步骤的实施。
       
       
                　　Even with the advent of the Internet and 24-hour news, it is still a
complex enterprise to get people to truly see the problems. When an airplane
crashes, officials immediately call a press conference. They promise to
investigate, determine the cause, and prevent similar crashes in the future.
       
       
                　　即使有了互联网和24小时不间断的新闻，人们仍然很难看到真正的问题。一架飞机发生坠毁事故，官员们会立刻召开新闻发布会，承诺调查起因，以避免今后发生类似的事故。
       
       
                　　But if the officials were brutally honest, they would say: “Of all the
people in the world who died today from preventable causes, one half of one
percent of them were on this plane. We’re determined to do everything possible
to solve the problem that took the lives of the one half of one percent.” The
bigger problem is not the plane crash, but the millions of preventable
deaths.
       
       
                　　但如果那些官员敢讲真话，他们会说：“全世界每天会有好多人含恨而终，这起空难只是冰山一角。我们会不惜一切代价解决削平这一角冰山，此外的问题我们无力解决。”
可是与空难相比，那些夺走数百万生命的问题则更为严重。
       
       
                　　We don’t read much about these deaths. The media covers what’s new – and
millions of people dying is nothing new. So it stays in the background, where
it’s easier to ignore. But even when we do see it or read about it, it’s
difficult to keep our eyes on the problem. It’s hard to look at suffering if the
situation is so complex that we don’t know how to help. And so we look away.
       
       
                　　事实上那些人的死轻如鸿毛，司空见惯，连媒体都不屑于报道。更无法吸引我们的注意。即使我们知道了
它也很难刺痛我们的神经。世间最痛苦的事莫过于看着他人经受苦难的却无能为力，于是我们选择了逃避。
       
       
                　　If we can really see a problem, which is the first step, we come to the
second step: cutting through the complexity to find a solution.
       
       
                　　发现问题，只是迈出了第一步，接下来我们还要：寻找解决方案。
       
       
                　　Finding solutions is essential if we want to make the most of our caring.
If we have clear and proven answers anytime an organization or individual asks
“How can I help?,” then we can get action – and we can make sure that none of
the caring in the world is wasted. But complexity makes it hard to mark a path
of action for everyone who cares —and that makes it hard for their caring to
matter.
       
       
                　　如果不想让爱心变成空谈，就必须找到问题的解决方案。如果有清晰可靠的方案，那么政府或个人组织就能立刻采取行动，将爱心落实。但是世界的复杂性使找寻方案的过程无比艰难
于是爱心才沦为空谈。
       
       
                　　Cutting through complexity to find a solution runs through four predictable
stages: determine a goal, find the highest-leverageapproach, discover the ideal
technology for that approach, and in the meantime, make the smartest application
of the technology that you already have whether it’s something sophisticated,
like a drug, or something simpler, like a bednet.
       
       
                　　打破复杂性需要四个步骤：确定目标、找到最有效的途径、寻找最理想的技术，并合理利用现有技术。无论是制作复杂的药物，还是利用简单的蚊帐，都行。
       
       
                　　The AIDS epidemic offers an example. The broad goal, of course, is to end
the disease. The highest-leverage approach is prevention. The ideal technology
would be a vaccine that gives lifetime immunity with a single dose. So
governments, drug companies, and foundations fund vaccine research. But their
work is likely to take more than a decade, so in the meantime, we have to work
with what we have in hand – and the best prevention approach we have now is
getting people to avoid risky behavior.
       
       
                　　以艾滋病为例。我们的目标是消灭它。最有效的途径是预防，最理想的技术是注射一剂疫苗实现终身免疫。所以现在政府、制药公司、基金会都在资助疫苗的研究。但可能要十几年才能研究出来，所以目前的最好的预防措施就是避开那些可能传播艾滋病的行为。
       
       
                　　Pursuing that goal starts the four-step cycle again. This is the pattern.
The crucial thing is to never stop thinking and working – and never do what we
did with malaria and tuberculosis in the 20th century – which is to surrender to
complexity and quit.
       
       
                　　四步循环直达目标。记住永远不要停止思考和行动——永远不要像人们在20世纪对待疟疾和肺结核那样，向疾病投降。
       
       
                　　The final step – after seeing the problem and finding an approach – is to
measure the impact of your work and share your successes and failures so that
others learn from your efforts.
       
       
                　　在发现问题并找到解决方法后，还需监测结果，并与他人分享成功的经验和失败的教训，让别人也能从中受益。
       
            
            

entwo

       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
               
       
       
                　　You have to have the statistics, of course. You have to be able to show
that a program is vaccinating millions more children. You have to be able to
show a decline in the number of children dying from these diseases. This is
essential not just to improve the program, but also to help draw more investment
from business and government.
       
       
                　　当然，你还得有统计数据。用来证明你的项目为上百万儿童接种了疫苗，证明这些孩子的死亡率降低了。这不仅有利于项目的改进，也有助于吸引更多的企业和政府投资。
       
       
                　　But if you want to inspire people to participate, you have to show more
than numbers. You have to convey the human impact of the work – so people can
feel what saving a life means to the families affected.
       
       
                　　但如果想吸引更多的人参与进来，光靠数字还远远不够。你需要展示出项目承载的价值，让他们明白挽救一个生命对其家庭的意义。
       
       
                　　Remember going to Davos some years back and sitting on a global health
panel that was discussing ways to save millions of lives. Millions! Think of the
thrill of saving just one person’s life – then multiply that by millions. Yet
this was the most boring panel I’ve ever been on – ever. So boring even I
couldn’t bear it.
       
       
                　　我记得几年前去达沃斯参加全球健康讨论会，关于如何挽救数百万人的生命。数百万人!只要想想挽救一条生命带来的震撼，再把这种震撼乘上几百万倍是什么感觉!然而，那是我见过的最无聊的讨论会。
       
       
                　　What made that experience especially striking was that I had just come from
an event where we were introducing version 13 of some piece of software, and we
had people jumping and shouting with excitement. I love getting people excited
about software – but why can’t we generate even more excitement for saving
lives?
       
       
                　　之所以铭记在心是因为我最近参加的一款软件发布会的现场氛围异常火爆。人们激动地欢呼雀跃。看到人们因为软件兴奋，我也很开心——但我们为什么无法对挽救生命更感兴趣呢?
       
       
                　　You can’t get people excited unless you can help them see and feel the
impact. And how you do that – is a complex question.
       
       
                　　除非人们能感知到行动的影响力，否则人们就不会动心。如何做到这一点并不简单。
       
       
                　　Still, I’m optimistic. Yes, inequity has been with us forever, but the new
tools we have to cut through complexity have not been with us forever. They are
new – they can help us make the most of our caring – and that’s why the future
can be different from the past.
       
       
                　　尽管如此，我还是很乐观。是的，不平等现象一直存在，但我们总会想出新的解决办法。新技术可以帮助我们传播爱心，我对未来充满信心。
       
       
                　　The defining and ongoing innovations of this age – biotechnology, the
computer, the Internet--give us a chance we’ve never had before to end extreme
poverty and end death from preventable disease.
       
       
                　　创新技术不断涌现，比如生物技术、计算机、互联网。让我们有机会终结救极度贫困和非恶性死亡。
       
       
                　　Sixty years ago, George Marshall came to this commencement and announced a
plan to assist the nations of post-war Europe. He said: “I think one difficulty
is that the problem is one of such enormous complexity that the very mass of
facts presented to the public by press and radio make it exceedingly difficult
for the man in the street to reach a clear appraisement of the situation. It is
virtually impossible at this distance to grasp at all the real significance of
the situation.”
       
       
                　　六十年前，乔治-马歇尔在哈佛的毕业典礼上宣布了一项协助战后欧洲的计划。他说：“我认为推动这项计划的困难在于，报纸和广播源源不断地提供各种事实，使得公众难以清晰地判断形势。事实上，经过层层传播，想要真正地把握形势，是根本不可能的。
       
       
                　　Thirty years after Marshall made his address, as my class graduated without
me, technology was emerging that would make the world smaller, more open, more
visible, less distant.
       
       
                　　马歇尔发表演讲三十年后，我的同学毕业了，科技开始发展，这个世界变得更小、更开放、更透明、人们之间的关系拉得更近。
       
       
                　　The emergence of low-cost personal computers gave rise to a powerful
network that has transformed opportunities for learning and communicating.
       
       
                　　低成本个人电脑和互联网为人们提供了更多学习和交流的机会。
       
       
                　　The magical thing about this network is not just that it collapsesdistance
and makes everyone your neighbor. It also dramatically increases the number of
brilliant minds we can have working together on the same problem and that scales
up the rate of innovation to a staggering degree.
       
       
                　　神奇的是，网络不仅缩短了人与人之间的距离，也增加了精英们集思广益共同解决难题的机会。加快了创新的规模和速度。
       
       
                　　At the same time, for every person in the world who has access to this
technology, five people don’t. That means many creative minds are left out of
this discussion smart people with practical intelligence and relevant experience
who don’t have the technology to hone their talents or contribute their ideas to
the world.
       
       
                　　然而世界上只有六分之一的人能够接触互联网，很多精英不能参与我们的讨论，很多人无法把它们解决问题的智慧和经验分享出 来。
       
       
                　　We need as many people as possible to have access to this technology,
because these advances are triggering a revolution in what human beings can do
for one another.They are making it possible not just for national governments,
but for universities, corporations, smaller organizations, and even
individualsto see problems, see approaches, and measure the impact of their
efforts to address the hunger, poverty, and desperation George Marshall spoke of
60 years ago.
       
       
                　　如今，新技术将引发一场革命，让尽可能多的人与世界接轨，科技不仅为政府，也为大学、企业、小团体甚至个人带来了机会，而今这些机构和个人能够运用科技找到有效的解决60年前乔治·马歇尔谈到的饥荒、贫困和绝望。
       
       
                　　Members of the Harvard Family: Here in the Yard is one of the great
collections of intellectual talent in the world. What for?
       
       
                　　各位哈佛大家庭的成员，你们是世界上少有的精英。我们为什么要上哈佛?
       
       
                　　There is no question that the faculty, the alumni, the students, and the
benefactors of Harvard have used their power to improve the lives of people here
and around the world. But can we do more? Can Harvard dedicate its intellect to
improving the lives of people who will never even hear its name?
       
       
                　　毫无疑问，我们的教员、学生、校友都曾尽其所能改善全球人类的生活。我们还能更进一步吗?哈佛能够为不知道哈佛名气的陌生人奉献智慧，伸出援助之手吗?
       
       
                　　Let me make a request of the deans and the professors the intellectual
leaders here at Harvard: As you hire new faculty, award tenure, review
curriculum, and determine degree requirements, please ask yourselves: Should our
best minds be dedicated to solving our biggest problems?
       
       
                　　请院长和教授接受我的不情之请，各位哈佛大学的精英领导者们，在你们雇用新教员、授予教授终身教职、评估课程安排和决定学位要求时，请问自己一个问题：最优秀的人才是否应该致力于解决人类的困境?
       
       
                　　Should Harvard encourage its faculty to take on the world’s worst
inequities? Should Harvard students learn about the depth of global poverty …the
prevalence of world hunger …the scarcity of clean water …the girls kept out of
school the children who die from diseases we can cure?
       
       
                　　哈佛是否应该鼓励教授解决世界上存在的严重不平等?哈佛的学生是不是应该多关注一些全球贫富不均、粮食短缺、水资源稀缺、女童辍学的问题?以及那些因无法接受有效治疗而死亡的孩子?
       
       
                　　Should the world’s most privileged people learn about the lives of the
world’s least privileged?
       
       
                　　世界上最衣食无忧的人是否应该了解那些挣扎在死亡边缘的人们的生活?
       
       
                　　These are not rhetorical questions – you will answer with your
policies.
       
       
                　　这并非言语修辞，这些问题只能用行动回答。
       
       
                　　My mother, who was filled with pride the day I was admitted here – never
stopped pressing me to do more for others. A few days before my wedding, she
hosted a bridal event, at which she read aloud a letter about marriage that she
had written to Melinda. My mother was very ill with cancer at the time, but she
saw one more opportunity to deliver her message, and at the close of the letter
she said: “From those to whom much is given, much is expected.”
       
       
                　　我的母亲一直为我考上哈佛而自豪，也一直督促我回报社会。我结婚的前几天的仪式上，她高声朗读自己写给我妻子的信。当时我母亲已经是癌症晚期，但她坚持要用这个机会表达自己的观点。信的最后
她念道：“获益越多，责任越大。”
       
       
                　　When you consider what those of us here in this Yard have been given – in
talent, privilege, and opportunity – there is almost no limit to what the world
has a right to expect from us.
       
       
                　　想想我们获得了什么——天赋，特权，机遇——世界寄予殷切的期望。
       
       
                　　In line with the promise of this age, I want to exhort each of the
graduates here to take on an issue –a complex problem, a deep inequity, and
become a specialist on it.If you make it the focus of your career, that would be
phenomenal.But you don’t have to do that to make an impact. For a few hours
every week, you can use the growing power of the Internet to get informed, find
others with the same interests, see the barriers, and find ways to cut through
them.
       
       
                　　我希望每位毕业生承担起这样一种责任——
参与解决人类不平等的问题，如果你献身这项事业，你的影响力将会是惊人的。既便不打算以此为业，你一样可以有所作为。每周只需要花几个小时，就可以利用互联网获取信息、找到志同道合的朋友、设法解决一两个问题。
       
       
                　　Don't let complexity stop you. Be activists. Take on the big inequities. It
will be one of the great experiences of your lives.
       
       
                　　不要畏难，尽管放手去做。它将是你生命中最宝贵经历。
       
       
                　　You graduates are coming of age in an amazing time.As you leave Harvard,
you have technology that members of my class never had. You have awareness of
global inequity, which we did not have. And with that awareness, you likely also
have an informed conscience that will torment you if you abandon these people
whose lives you could change with very little effort. You have more than we had;
you must start sooner, and carry on longer.
       
       
                　　这是一个神奇的时代。今天的科技是我年轻时不曾体验的。你们对不平等现象的认识远远超过我们这代人。面对这种不平等，你们更容易受良心的谴责。行动起来，时不我待。
       
       
                　　And I hope you will come back here to Harvard 30 years from now and reflect
on what you have done with your talent and your energy. I hope you will judge
yourselves not on your professional accomplishments alone, but also on how well
you have addressed the world’s deepest inequities …on how well you treated
people a world away who have nothing in common with you but their humanity.
       
       
                　　30年后当你再次回到哈佛的时候，我希望看到你用自己的天赋和精力做了哪些事。不仅用专业成就来衡量成功，还要看你是如何解决人类根深蒂固的不平等问题。你是怎样对待那些与你相隔万里、迥然不同的人的。
       
       
                　　Good luck.
       
       
                　　同学们，祝你们好运!
       
       
                　　(编辑：何莹莹)