大學畢業典禮演講稿3篇

本文目錄大學畢業典禮演講稿比爾蓋茨夫婦在斯坦福大學畢業典禮勵志演講稿比爾蓋茨在哈佛大學畢業典禮上的演講稿

奧普拉哈佛大學XX畢業典禮演講

oprah winfrey harvard commencement speech

奧普拉XX哈佛畢業勵志演講視頻：失敗只是一個新的開始(演講稿)

奧普拉.温弗瑞在哈佛大學XX屆畢業典禮上的演講，温弗瑞用了許多勵志的話語鼓勵這批XX年畢業的學生，她希望能帶給大學生鼓舞，鼓舞所有曾感到卑微、弱勢或生活一片狼藉的人。人生唯一目標就是做真實的自己，失敗只是一個新的開始。

編者按：當地時間5月31日，脱口秀女王奧普拉·温弗瑞(oprah winfrey) 在哈佛的畢業典禮上為畢業生們獻上了一場精彩勵志演講。

"there is no such thing as failure. failure is just life trying to move us in another direction."

oprah winfrey, talk show host and media entrepreneur, addresses graduates at harvard's 362nd commencement on may 30, XX.

oh my goodness! i'm at harvard! wow! to president faust, my fellow honorands, carl that was so beautiful, thank you so much, and james rothenberg, stephanie wilson, harvard faculty with a special bow to my friend dr. henry lewis gates.

all of you alumni with a special bow to the class of '88, your hundred fifteen million dollars.

and to you, members of the harvard class of XX! hello!

i thank you for allowing me to be a part of the conclusion of this chapter of your lives and the commencement of your next chapter. to say that i'm honored doesn't even begin to quantify the depth of gratitude that really accompanies an honorary doctorate from harvard. not too many little girls from rural mississippi have made it all the way here to cambridge. and i can tell you that i consider today as i sat on the stage this morning getting teary for you all and then teary for myself, i consider today a defining milestone in a very long and a blessed journey. my one hope today is that i can be a source of some inspiration. i'm going to address my remarks to anybody who has ever felt inferior or felt disadvantaged, felt screwed by life, this is a speech for the quad.

actually i was so honored i wanted to do something really special for you. i wanted to be able to have you look under your seats and there would be free master and doctor degrees but i see you got that covered already. i will be honest with you. i felt a lot of pressure over the past few weeks to come up with something that i could share with you that you hadn't heard before because after all you all went to harvard, i did not. but then i realized that you don't have to necessarily go to harvard to have a driven obsessive type a personality. but it helps. and while i may not have graduated from here i admit that my personality is about as harvard as they come. you know my television career began unexpectedly. as you heard this morning i was in the miss fire prevention contest. that was when i was 16 years old in nashville, tennessee and you had the requirement of having to have red hair in order to win up until the year that i entered. so they were doing the question and answer period because i knew i wasn't going to win under the swimsuit competition. so during the question and answer period the question came "why, young lady, what would you like to be when you grow up?" and by the time they got to me all the good answers were gone. so i had seen barbara walters on the today show that morning so i answered "i would like to be a journalist. i would like to tell other people's stories in a way that makes a difference in their lives and the world." and as those words were coming out of my mouth i went whoa! this is pretty good! i would like to be a journalist. i want to make a difference. well i was on television by the time i was 19 years old. and in 1986 i launched my own television show with a relentless determination to succeed at first. i was nervous about the competition and then i became my own competition raising the bar every year, pushing, pushing, pushing myself as hard as i knew. sound familiar to anybody here? eventually we did make it to the top and we stayed there for 25 years.

the oprah winfrey show was number one in our time slot for 21 years and i have to tell you i became pretty comfortable with that level of success. but a few years ago i decided as you will at some point, that it was time to recalculate, find new territory, break new ground. so i ended the show and launched own, the oprah winfrey network. the initials just worked out for me. so one year later after launching own nearly every media outlet had proclaimed that my new venture was a flop. not just a flop but a big bold flop they call it. i can still remember the day i opened up usa today and read the headline "oprah, not quite standing on her own." i mean really, usa today? now that's the nice newspaper! it really was this time last year the worst period in my professional life. i was stressed and i was frustrated and quite frankly i was actually i was embarrassed. it was right around that time that president faust called and asked me to speak here and i thought you want me to speak to harvard graduates? what could i possibly say to harvard graduates, some of the most successful graduates in the world in the very moment when i had stopped succeeding? so i got off the phone with president faust and i went to the shower. it was either that or a bag of oreos. so i chose the shower. and i was in the shower a long time and as i was in the shower the words of an old hymn came to me. you may not know it. it's "by and by, when the morning comes." and i started thinking about when the morning might come because at the time i thought i was stuck in a hole. and the words came to me "trouble don't last always" from that hymn, "this too shall pass." and i thought as i got out of the shower i am going to turn this thing around and i will be better for it. and when i do, i'm going to go to harvard and i'm going to speak the truth of it! so i'm here today to tell you i have turned that network around!

and it was all because i wanted to do it by the time i got to speak to you all so thank you so much. you don't know what motivation you were for me, thank you. i'm even prouder to share a fundamental truth that you might not have learned even as graduates of harvard unless you studied the ancient greek hero with professor nagy. professor nagy as we were coming in this morning said "please ms. winfrey, walk decisively."

i shall walk decisively. this is what i want to share. it doesn't matter how far you might rise. at some point you are bound to stumble because if you're constantly doing what we do, raising the bar. if you're constantly pushing yourself higher, higher the law of averages not to mention the myth of icarus predicts that you will at some point fall. and when you do i want you to know this, remember this: there is no such thing as failure. failure is just life trying to move us in another direction. now when you're down there in the hole, it looks like failure. so this past year i had to spoon feed those words to myself. and when you're down in the hole, when that moment comes, it's really okay to feel bad for a little while. give yourself time to mourn what you think you may have lost but then here's the key, learn from every mistake because every experience, encounter, and particularly your mistakes are there to teach you and force you into being more who you are. and then figure out what is the next right move. and the key to life is to develop an internal moral emotional g.p.s. that can tell you which way to go. because now and forever more when you google yourself your search results will read "harvard, XX". and in a very competitive world that really is a calling card because i can tell you as one who employs a lot of people when i see "harvard" i sit up a little straighter and say "where is he or she? bring them in." it's an impressive calling card that can lead to even more impressive bullets in the years ahead: lawyer, senator, c.e.o., scientist, physicist, winners of nobel and pulitzer prizes or late night talk show host. but the challenge of life i have found is to build a resume that doesn't simply tell a story about what you want to be but it's a story about who you want to be. it's a resume that doesn't just tell a story about what you want to accomplish but why. a story that's not just a collection of titles and positions but a story that's really about your purpose. because when you inevitably stumble and find yourself stuck in a hole that is the story that will get you out. what is your true calling? what is your dharma? what is your purpose? for me that discovery came in 1994 when i interviewed a little girl who had decided to collect pocket change in order to help other people in need. she raised a thousand dollars all by herself and i thought well if that little 9 year old girl with a bucket and big heart could do that i wonder what i could do? so i asked for our viewers to take up their own change collection and in one month just from pennies and nickels and dimes we raised more than three million dollars that we used to send one student from every state in the united states to college. that was the beginning of the angel network.

and so what i did was i simply asked our viewers "do what you can wherever you are, from wherever you sit in life. give me your time or your talent your money if you have it." and they did. extend yourself in kindness to other human beings wherever you can. and together we built 55 schools in 12 different countries and restored nearly 300 homes that were devastated by hurricanes rita and katrina. so the angel network i have been on the air for a long time, but it was the angel network that actually focused my internal g.p.s. it helped me to decide that i wasn't going to just be on tv every day but that the goal of my shows, my interviews, my business, my philanthropy all of it, whatever ventures i might pursue would be to make clear that what unites us is ultimately far more redeeming and compelling than anything that separates me. because what had become clear to me and i want you to know it isn't always clear in the beginning because as i said i had been on television since i was 19 years old. but around '94 i got really clear. so don't expect the clarity to come all at once to know your purpose right away, but what became clear to me was that i was here on earth to use television and not be used by it; to use television to illuminate the transcendent power of our better angels. so this angel network, it didn't just change the lives of those who were helped, but the lives of those who also did the helping. it reminded us that no matter who we are or what we look like or what we may believe it is both possible and more importantly it becomes powerful to come together in common purpose and common effort. i saw something on the bill moore show recently that so reminded me of this point. it was an interview with david and francine wheeler. they lost their 7 year old son, ben in the sandy hook tragedy. and even though gun safety legislation to strengthen background checks had just been voted down in congress at the time that they were doing this interview they talked about how they refused to be discouraged. francine said this, she said "our hearts are broken but our spirits are not. i'm going to tell them what it's like to find a conversation about change that is love, and i'm going to do that without fighting them." and then her husband david added this, "you simply cannot demonize or vilify someone who doesn't agree with you, because the minute you do that, your discussion is over. and we cannot do that any longer. the problem is too enormous. there has to be some way that this darkness can be banished with light." in our political system and in the media we often see the reflection of a country that is polarized, that is paralyzed and is self-interested. and yet, i know you know the truth. we all know that we are better than the cynicism and the pessimism that is regurgitated throughout washington and the 24-hour cable news cycle. not my channel, by the way. we understand that the vast majority of people in this country believe in stronger background checks because they realize that we can uphold the second amendment and also reduce the violence that is robbing us of our children. they don't have to be incompatible.

and we understand that most americans believe in a clear path to citizenship for the 12,000,000 undocumented immigrants who reside in this country because it's possible to both enforce our laws and at the same time embrace the words on the statue of liberty that have welcomed generations of huddled masses to our shores. we can do both.

and we understand. i know you do because you went to harvard. there are people from both parties and no party believe that indigent mothers and families should have access to healthy food and a roof over their heads and a strong public education because here in the richest nation on earth we can afford a basic level of security and opportunity. so the question is what are we going to do about it? really what are you going to do about it? maybe you agree with these beliefs. maybe you don't. maybe you care about these issues and maybe there are other challenges that you, class of XX, are passionate about. maybe you want to make a difference by serving in government. maybe you want to launch your own television show. or maybe you simply want to collect some change. your parents would appreciate that about now. the point is your generation is charged with this task of breaking through what the body politic has thus far made impervious to change. each of you has been blessed with this enormous opportunity of attending this prestigious school. you now have a chance to better your life, the lives of your neighbors and also the life of our country. when you do that let me tell you what i know for sure. that's when your story gets really good. maya angelou always says "when you learn, teach. when you get, give. that my friends is what gives your story purpose and meaning." so you all have the power in your own way to develop your own angel network and in doing so your class will be armed with more tools of influence and empowerment than any other generation in history. i did it in an analog world. i was blessed with a platform that at its height reached nearly 20,000,000 viewers a day. now here in a world of twitter and facebook and youtube and tumbler, you can reach billions in just seconds. you're the generation that rejected predictions about your detachment and your disengagement by showing up to vote in record numbers in XX. and when the pundits said they said they talked about you, they said you'd be too disappointed, you'd be too dejected to repeat that same kind of turnout in XX election and you proved them wrong by showing up in even greater numbers. that's who you are.

this generation your generation i know has developed a finely honed radar for b.s. can you say "b.s." at harvard? the spin and phoniness and artificial nastiness that saturates so much of our national debate. i know you all understand better than most that real progress requires authentic- an authentic way of being, honesty, and above all empathy. i have to say that the single most important lesson i learned in 25 years talking every single day to people was that there is a common denominator in our human experience. most of us i tell you we don't want to be divided. what we want, the common denominator that i found in every single interview, is we want to be validated. we want to be understood. i have done over 35,000 interviews in my career and as soon as that camera shuts off everyone always turns to me and inevitably in their own way asks this question "was that okay?" i heard it from president bush, i heard it from president obama. i've heard it from heroes and from housewives. i've heard it from victims and perpetrators of crimes. i even heard it from beyonce and all of her beyonceness. she finishes performing, hands me the microphone and says "was that okay?" friends and family, yours, enemies, strangers in every argument in every encounter, every exchange i will tell you they all want to know one thing: was that okay? did you hear me? do you see me? did what i say mean anything to you? and even though this is a college where facebook was born my hope is that you would try to go out and have more face-to-face conversations with people you may disagree with.

that you'll have the courage to look them in the eye and hear their point of view and help make sure that the speed and distance and anonymity of our world doesn't cause us to lose our ability to stand in somebody else's shoes and recognize all that we share as a people. this is imperative for you as an individual and for our success as a nation. "there has to be some way that this darkness can be banished with light," says the man whose little boy was massacred on just an ordinary friday in december. so whether you call it soul or spirit or higher self, intelligence, there is i know this, there is a light inside each of you all of us that illuminates your very human beingness if you let it. and as a young girl from rural mississippi i learned long ago that being myself was much easier than pretending to be barbara walters. although when i first started because i had barbara in my head i would try to sit like barbara, talk like barbara, move like barbara and then one night i was on the news reading the news and i called canada can-a-da, and that was the end of me being barbara. i cracked myself up on tv. couldn't stop laughing and my real personality came through and i figured out oh gee, i can be a much better oprah than i could be a pretend barbara.

i know that you all might have a little anxiety now and hesitation about leaving the comfort of college and putting those harvard credentials to the test. but no matter what challenges or setbacks or disappointments you may encounter along the way you will find true success and happiness if you have only one goal, there really is only one and that is this: to fulfill the highest most truthful expression of yourself as a human being. you want to max out your humanity by using your energy to lift yourself up, your family and the people around you. theologian howard thurman said it best. he said "don't ask yourself what the world needs. ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that because what the world needs is people who have come alive." the world needs-

people like michael stolzenberg from fort lauderdale. when michael was just 8 years old michael nearly died from a bacterial infection that cost him both of his hands and both of his feet. and in an instant this vibrant little boy became a quadruple amputee and his life was changed forever. but in losing who he once was michael discovered who he wanted to be. he refused to sit in that wheelchair all day and feel sorry for himself so with prosthetics he learned to walk and run and play again. he joined his middle school lacrosse team and last month when he learned that so many victims of the boston marathon bombing would become new amputees michael decided to banish that darkness with light. michael and his brother harris created to raise 1,000,000 dollars for other amputees. by the time harris runs the XX boston marathon. more than 1,000 miles away from here these two young brothers are bringing people together to support this boston community the way their community came together to support michael. and when this 13 year old man was asked about his fellow amputees he said this "first they will be sad. they're losing something they will never get back and that's scary. i was scared. but they'll be okay. they just don't know that yet." we might not always know it. we might not always see it, or hear it on the news or even feel it in our daily lives but i have faith that no matter what class of XX you will be okay and you will make sure our country is okay. i have faith because of that 9 year old girl who went out and collected the change. i have faith because of david and francine wheeler, i have faith because of michael and harris stolzenberg and i have faith because of you, the network of angeles sitting here today. one of them kadija williams who came to harvard four years ago. kadija had attended 12 schools in 12 years living out of garbage bags amongst pimps and prostitutes and drug dealers, homeless, going in to department stores, wal-mart in the morning to bathe herself so that she wouldn't smell in front of her classmates and today she graduates as a member of the harvard class of XX.

from time to time you may stumble fall, you will for sure count in this no doubt, you will have questions and you will have doubts about your path but i know this, if you're willing to listen to be guided by that still small voice that is the g.p.s. within yourself, to find out what makes you come alive you will be more than okay. you will be happy, you will be successful, and you will make a difference in the world. congratulations class of XX, congratulations to your family and friends, good luck and thank you for listening. was that okay?

比爾蓋茨夫婦在斯坦福大學畢業典禮勵志演講稿大學畢業典禮演講稿（2） | 返回目錄

XX屆畢業生，祝賀你們!能站在這裏，梅琳達和我都很興奮。每一個收到邀請，能夠在斯坦福大學畢業典禮上講話的人都會又緊張又興奮——但我們尤其高興。

長久以來，斯坦福都是最受微軟和我們的基金會青睞的大學之一，而現在它正迅速得到我們家族的喜愛。我們的原則是讓最聰明、最有創造力的人來解決最重要的問題。事實證明，有相當一部分這樣的人都出自斯坦福。

現在，有30多個我們基金會投資的研究項目都在斯坦福開展。當我們想更好地瞭解免疫系統從而幫助治癒絕症時，我們與斯坦福開展了合作;當我們想了解美國高等教育狀況的變化以便使更多來自低收入家庭的學生讀得起大學時，我們又一次與斯坦福展開了合作。

這裏天才匯聚，思想靈活——人們對變化持開放態度，對新鮮事物充滿了渴望。人們在這裏可以饒有興味地一窺未來。

梅琳達：

有些人叫你們“呆子”——而你們則自豪地接受了這一綽號。

比爾·蓋茨：

我們也是如此。

在這所斯坦福的校園裏發生着許多非凡的事情。但如果非要梅琳達和我用一個詞來説明我們對這裏的熱愛，那麼這個詞是“樂觀”。在這裏有一種極富感染力的氛圍，即創新幾乎可以解決一切問題。

正是在這種信念的激勵下，我於1975年離開了這所位於波士頓郊區的學校，並從此一去不回頭。我相信，計算機和軟件的魔力能夠使世界上所有的人都變得更強大，並使世界變得越來越美好。

自那時起已經過了將近40年，而梅琳達和我也已經結婚20年。如今我們比以往更加樂觀。但在我們共同的旅程中，樂觀精神是逐漸延續的。今天，我們希望將自己學到的傳授給你們——並且告訴你們，我們大家的樂觀精神將會如何為更多人做更多事。

在保羅·艾倫和我初創微軟時，我們想讓人們獲得計算機和軟件的力量——這是我們使用的一種比喻性説法。在這個領域中的一本開創性書籍的封面上有一隻舉起的拳頭，書名叫做《計算機的解放》。在那時，只有大公司才能買得起計算機。我們想使普通人也也能買得起——並且使電腦操作普遍化。

到20世紀90年代，我們見證了個人計算機使人們獲得的深遠力量。但這種成功又帶來了新的困境：如果富人家的孩子擁有了計算機，而窮人家的孩子無法擁有，那麼技術反而會使不公平的狀況加劇。這種狀況違背了我們的核心信念——技術應當使所有人受益。因此我們致力於縮小這種“數鴻溝”。我將它作為微軟發展的重中之重，梅琳達和我將它作為基金會早期發展的重點——向公共圖書館捐獻個人電腦並保證所有人都能使用。

在我1997年第一次造訪非洲時，“數鴻溝”是我關注的一個重點問題。我是因公務去的那裏，因此大部分時間我都在約翰內斯堡的市中心開會。期間，我居住在南非最富的一户人家裏。那時距納爾遜·曼德拉被選舉為南非總統從而標誌着種族隔離的結束僅僅過去了三年時間。當我坐下來，與那户人家的主人們一起用餐時，他們就搖鈴，將管家喚過來為他們服務。用餐結束後，男女賓客會分開，男士們聚在一起抽雪茄。那時我想， “還好我讀過簡·奧斯汀的書，否則根本弄不明白這是怎麼回事”。

第二天我去了索維託，這是一個位於約翰內斯堡西南方向的貧窮小鎮，這裏曾經是一個反種族隔離運動的中心。

從市區到這個小鎮只有很短一段距離，但進入小鎮的那一刻我非常震驚，一切都是那麼不和諧。我進入了一個與我的國家截然不同的世界。

索維託之行早早地就為我上了一課，讓我明白了自己有多麼天真。

微軟向那裏的一個社區中心捐贈了計算機和軟件——這些事是我們在美國就曾做過的。但我很快明白過來，這裏並不是美國。

我曾閲讀過有關貧困的數據，但我從未真正見過貧窮。那裏的人們住在皺巴巴的鐵皮棚子裏，裏面不通電、不通水，也沒有廁所。大多數人都不穿鞋，赤着腳走在街上——只不過那裏也沒有街——只有在泥土上軋出的一條條車轍。

社區中心沒有接入穩定的電源，因此人們裝配了一條長達200英尺的延長電纜，從外面的一個柴油發動機接入到社區中心。看着這堆裝備，我知道，現場的記者們和我一離開，發電機就會被挪走，去解決其他更緊迫的問題，社區中心的使用者們也會回去，繼續為生活的挑戰而憂心忡忡，因為個人計算機並不能為他們解決這些挑戰。

當我對媒體發表已經準備好的評論時，我説：“我們在索維託所做的是一個里程碑。以後我們就會知道，先進技術是否會將發展中國家拋在後面。我們所做的將會縮小發達國家與發展中國家的差距”。

讀出這些句子時，我明白它們都是些不相干的話。我沒有説出的是：“順便提一下，我們並沒有關注這樣一個事實——這片大陸上每年有50萬人死於瘧疾。但是我們非常確定，將會為你們帶去計算機”。

去索維託之前，我以為自己理解這世上的問題，但我卻對那些最重要的問題視而不見。我所見到的讓我大為吃驚，因此我必須問自己，“我還相信創新能夠解決這世界上最棘手的那些問題嗎”?

我對自己承諾，在返回非洲之前，我要找到更多導致人們貧窮的原因。

多年以來，梅琳達和我的確越來越多地瞭解了貧窮的人們最迫切的需求。後來有一次去南非時，我探訪了一家治療耐多藥肺結核(mdr-tb)的醫院，這種病的治癒率不足50%。

我記得那家醫院，那裏充斥着絕望。那裏有着巨大而開闊的病房，許多病人穿着睡衣，戴着口罩，腳步沉重地走來走去。

醫院裏有一層是兒童病區，其中有一些仍在襁褓中的嬰兒。這裏有一個小小的學校，身體狀況足夠好的孩子可以在這裏學習，但是許多孩子的病情都不見好轉，院方似乎也不知道是否值得開着學校。

我與這裏一位30出頭的女病人聊了聊。在一家肺結核醫院工作的時候，她開始咳嗽。然後她去看了醫生，醫生告訴她，她感染了抗藥性肺結核。後來，她又被診斷出患有艾滋病。她的生命沒有多少時間了，但還是有許多mdr患者等着在她騰出牀位之後佔據她的牀。

那是一個地獄，那裏的人們都在死亡名單上等候着。

但是面對地獄，我的樂觀精神並沒有減退，反而使我變得更加樂觀。我上了車，對與我們共事的醫生説：“是的，我知道mdr-tb很難治癒。但我們應該能為這些人做一些事”。我們在今年進入了一項新的肺結核藥物療法的第三階段。根據參與療法的病人的反饋，以前18個月的治療費用為XX美元，治癒率只有 50%，而如今六個月的治療費用在100美元以下，治癒率能達到80%到90%。失敗率能降到百分之一就更好了。

人們經常會把樂觀當作虛假的希望加以摒棄，但同樣存在着虛假的絕望。

正是這種態度宣稱，我們無法打敗貧窮和疾病。

但我們一定可以。

梅琳達：比爾在參觀完那個肺結核醫院之後就給我打了電話。通常我們在旅行期間通話時，只是回顧一下一天中的行程：“這些是我今天做的事;這些是我今天去的地方;這些是我今天見的人”。但那天的電話很不一樣。他説：“梅琳達，我去了一個以前從沒去過的地方”，然後他哽咽得説不出話來。最後他只説了句：“回家後我會告訴你一切”。

我知道他都經歷了些什麼。看到生活在絕望中的人們，你也會心碎的。但要儘可能多地幫助他們的話，你就必須看到最壞的情況。那就是比爾在那天所做的，我同樣經歷過那樣的日子。

十年前，我曾與朋友們一同到印度旅行。在離開印度的前一天，我抽出了一些時間見了幾個性工作者。我本來希望跟她們談一談，她們可能會染上艾滋病，但她們卻想説從事這一行業的恥辱。大多數女性都是因為被丈夫拋棄才開始做妓女的。她們要努力掙到足夠的錢，才能養活孩子。在社會上的其他人看來，她們的地位非常卑微，因此任何人——包括警察——都可以搶劫、毆打甚至凌辱她們，而沒有任何人關心她們。

與她們一起談論生活對我的觸動很大。但我印象最深的是，她們非常渴望與我接觸，似乎肢體接觸能夠在某種程度上證明她們的價值。在我要走的時候，我們所有人胳膊挽在一起，照了一張像。

後來我又花了些時間拜訪一個絕症患者之家。走進一個大廳，我看到了成排的簡易牀。每張牀前都有人照料着，除了遠離角落的一張牀無人走近，因此我走了過去。這張牀上躺着一個看上去三十多歲的女性。我到現在還記得她那悲傷的棕色大眼睛。她骨瘦如柴，快要死去了。她的腸胃裏無法儲存任何食物，因此人們只能讓她躺到一張簡易牀上，在牀的底部挖出一個洞，她可以通過這個洞將一切排泄到牀下放着的一個便盆裏。

從她的樣子，以及她被單獨放置在角落這一事實，我都能看出來，她得了艾滋病。染上艾滋病的恥辱是非常可怕的——特別是對於一個女性來説——她因此受到的懲罰就是被拋棄。

站在她的病牀前，我忽然感到非常無助。我什麼東西都不能給她。我知道自己救不了她，但也不想讓她孤單。因此我在她旁邊跪下來，伸出手去撫摸她，而她一感覺到我的手就抓住了它，再不放開。我們手拉着手坐在那兒，儘管知道她聽不懂，但我還是説，“不要緊，不要緊，這不是你的錯”。

我們在一起待了一會兒，然後她用手指向上指了指。過了一會兒我才明白過來，她想趁天還亮着的時候到屋頂上去，在外面坐着。我問一位工作人員這是否可以，但需要她照顧的病人正讓她忙得團團轉。她説，“她馬上就要不行了，而我現在必須為病人們分藥”。然後我又問了另一位工作人員，得到了同樣的答案。天色漸漸變晚，太陽開始下山了，而我那天必須要離開，似乎沒有人願意帶她到房頂上。

因此，最後我一下子抱起她——她骨瘦如柴，幾乎就是一堆骨頭——帶她沿着樓梯走了上去。在屋頂上有幾把塑料椅子，椅子很輕，一陣強風就能吹走。我把她放在其中一把椅子上，用另一把椅子支撐住她的腿，然後在她的腿上搭了一個毯子。

她面朝西坐在那兒，看着落日。我確保工作人員知道她在屋頂上，這樣太陽落山之後他們就會來上來接她。然後我不得不離開了她。

但她從來沒有離開過我。

面對這位女病人的死，我感到自己做得還差得很遠。

但有時正是你無法幫助的人才真正激勵着你。

我明白，那些早晨還跟我挽着胳膊的性工作者晚上可能就會成為我帶到房頂上的那位女性——除非她們能找到一種方法，可以公然反抗生活中無處不在的恥辱。

在過去的XX年時間裏，我們的基金會已經幫助性工作者建立起了互助團體，這樣她們就可以從彼此身上獲得力量，大聲呼籲安全的性行為，並要求顧客使用安全套。

她們勇敢的行為是hiv病毒沒有在性工作者之間大規模傳播的原因之一，許多研究也表明，這是艾滋病沒有在印度爆發的一個主要原因。

當這些性工作者團結在一起阻止艾滋病傳播時，一件出乎我們意料的大事發生了。他們建立的團體成為了一個包羅萬象的平台。她們建立起了快速撥號網絡以應對暴力襲擊，凌辱並搶劫她們的警察及其他人再也無法逃脱制裁;她們還建立了鼓勵儲蓄的制度，他們使用金融服務，這幫助她們中的一些人開始創業並不再從事性服務。所有這些都是在社會眼中處於最底層的人做的。

對我來説，樂觀主義並不是消極地期盼事情變好，而是一種相信我們能使事情變好的信念——無論見證了什麼苦難，不論情況有多糟，只要不失去希望，只要不消極對待，我們都能幫助這些人們。

比爾·蓋茨：

梅琳達和我描述了一些令人震驚的場景。但是為了説明樂觀主義的力量，我們要舉出最強大的一個例子。即使是在絕境中，樂觀主義也能激發創新，從而帶來消滅苦難的新工具。但如果從來沒有真正見過處於苦難中的人們，那麼你的樂觀就無法幫助他們，你將永遠無法改變他們的世界。

而這一點與我看到的卻是相互矛盾的。

科技的世界推動着非凡的創新——而斯坦福就站在創新的中心，它創立起新公司、培養出摘得獎項的教授、製造出絕妙的軟件和神奇的藥物，教導出令人驚歎的學生們。對於人類能夠為彼此做的，我們即將創造出令人興奮的突破。這裏的人們對於未來確實激動萬分。

與此同時，如果你問美國人“未來是否會比過去更好”?大多數人會説：“不，我的孩子過的會比我差”。他們認為創新並不能使他們自己的或者孩子的世界變得更好。

那麼誰是對的呢?

是聲稱創新將會帶來新的可能並使世界變得更加美好的人呢，還是認為社會不公將加劇，機會將越來越少，而創新無力改變這一切的人?

在我看來悲觀主義者是錯的，但他們並不是瘋子。如果技術創新完全由市場推動，如果我們沒有將創新集中於解決主要的社會不公，那麼那些令人驚歎的發明可能會使世界的兩極分化更加嚴重。

在我看來悲觀主義者是錯的，但他們並不是瘋子。如果技術創新完全由市場推動，如果我們沒有將創新集中於解決主要的社會不公，那麼那些令人驚歎的發明可能會使世界的兩極分化更加嚴重。

我們將無法對公立學校改造升級，無法治癒瘧疾，無法終結貧困，無法推動創新，從而使貧苦農民在氣候鉅變中也能種植食物。

如果樂觀主義無法解決這些影響眾多人類同胞的問題，那麼在這種樂觀中我們就需要更多地感同身受。如果二者相通，那麼我們就能看到貧困、疾病與窮困的學校，就能用創新解決這些問題，然後使悲觀主義者大吃一驚。

在索維託，我開始明白，如果要使所有人都重視樂觀主義並且為全世界所有人都賦予力量，我們就必須關注那些最需要幫助的人的生活。如果只擁有樂觀主義，而不能對他們的苦難感同身受，那麼無論我們掌握了多少科學的奧祕，都無法真正地解決問題;我們只是在迷宮中做無用功而已。

我相信在座的大多數同學都比你們這個年紀時的我有着更廣闊的世界觀。在這方面你們會比我做得更好。如果全身心地投入到這一事業中，你們會令悲觀主義者大吃一驚。我們迫不及待地想要看到這一情形。

梅琳達：

心碎之後，你對待樂觀主義的態度就會改變。

在一次南亞之行中，我遇到了一個一貧如洗的母親，她將自己的兩個幼子帶到我面前，請求我：“請您帶他們走吧”。當我請求她的原諒，表示我不能這樣做時，她説：“那就請帶走一個孩子”。

在另一次去洛杉磯南部的旅行中，我與一隊來自某個貧困社區的高中生攀談了起來，一位年輕的女性問我：“您是否有時會覺得我們只是其他人的孩子，我們的父母逃避責任，因此我們是被遺棄的?”這些女性曾令我——現在仍然令我——心碎。如果我對自己承認：“我也可能是她們中的一個”，那麼我就會加倍地同情她們。

在與旅行中遇到的母親們交談的過程中，我發現我們想為孩子做的是完全相同的，唯一的不同就是我們做到這些事的能力。

那麼是什麼造成了這種不同呢?

比爾與我曾在飯桌上跟我們的孩子討論過這個問題。比爾工作時的努力程度超乎想象，為了成功他也有過冒險和犧牲。但是要取得成功還有一個必不可少的因素，那就是好運氣——絕對的好運氣。

你什麼時候出生?你的父母是誰?你在哪裏長大?這些東西任何人都無法爭取到，我們只能接受它們。

如果去掉好運和特權，然後思考一下沒有這些的話我們將何去何從，想象一個貧窮而體弱多病的人説“我也可能使是她們中的一個”可能會更容易一些。這就叫做感同身受，它能夠打破隔閡，使樂觀精神得到更廣泛的傳播。

因此，我們呼籲：離開斯坦福之後，請用你們的天賦、樂觀和同情心使成千上萬的其他人同樣變得樂觀，從而改變這個世界。

不必心急，因為你們還要創業，要支付賬單，要戀愛，要結婚。現在這樣就足夠了。

但在你們的人生旅途中，倘若對自己沒有規劃的話，苦難會使你們心力交瘁。

如果這種狀況真的發生了——它會發生的——那麼別逃避，面對它便是。

改變就會在這一時刻發生。

祝賀你們畢業，祝你們好運。

比爾蓋茨在哈佛大學畢業典禮上的演講稿大學畢業典禮演講稿（3） | 返回目錄

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:

尊敬的 bok 校長， rudenstine 前校長，即將上任的 faust 校長，哈佛集團的各位成員，監管理事會的各位理事，各位老師，各位家長，各位同學：

i’ve been waiting more than 30 years to say this: dad, i always told you i’d come back and get my degree.

有一句話我等了三十年，現在終於可以説了： “ 老爸，我總是跟你説，我會回來拿到我的學位的! ”

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 resume.

我要感謝哈佛大學在這個時候給我這個榮譽。明年，我就要換工作了(注：指從微軟公司退休) …… 我終於可以在簡歷上寫我有一個本科學位，這真是不錯啊。

i applaud the 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.

我為今天在座的各位同學感到高興，你們拿到學位可比我簡單多了。哈佛的校報稱我是 “ 哈佛大學歷史上最成功的輟學生 ” 。我想這大概使我有資格代表我這一類學生髮言 …… 在所有的失敗者裏，我做得最好。

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.

但是，我還要提醒大家，我使得 steve ballmer (注：微軟總經理)也從哈佛商學院退學了。因此，我是個有着惡劣影響力的人。這就是為什麼我被邀請來在你們的畢業典禮上演講。如果我在你們入學歡迎儀式上演講，那麼能夠堅持到今天在這裏畢業的人也許會少得多吧。

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 upat 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 anti-social group. we clung to each other as a way of validating our rejection of all those social people.

對我來説，哈佛的求學經歷是一段非凡的經歷。校園生活很有趣，我常去旁聽我沒選修的課。哈佛的課外生活也很棒，我在 radcliffe 過着逍遙自在 的日子。每天我的寢室裏總有很多人一直待到半夜，討論着各種事情。因為每個人都知道我從不考慮第二天早起。這使得我變成了校園裏那些不安分學生的頭頭，我們互相粘在一起，做出一種拒絕所有正常學生的姿態。

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.

radcliffe 是個過日子的好地方。那裏的女生比男生多，而且大多數男生都是理工科的。這種狀況為我創造了最好的機會，如果你們明白我的意思。可惜的是，我正是在這裏學到了人生中悲傷的一課：機會大，並不等於你就會成功。

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.

我在哈佛最難忘的回憶之一，發生在 1975 年 1 月。那時，我從宿舍樓裏給位於 albuquerque 的一家公司打了一個電話，那家公司已經在着手製造世界上第一台個人電腦。我提出想向他們出售軟件。

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.

我很擔心，他們會發覺我是一個住在宿舍的學生，從而掛斷電話。但是他們卻説： “ 我們還沒準備好，一個月後你再來找我們吧。 ” 這是個好消息，因為那時 軟件還根本沒有寫出來呢。就是從那個時候起，我日以繼夜地在這個小小的課外項目上工作，這導致了我學生生活的結束，以及通往微軟公司的不平凡的旅程的開 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.

不管怎樣，我對哈佛的回憶主要都與充沛的精力和智力活動有關。哈佛的生活令人愉快，也令人感到有壓力，有時甚至會感到泄氣，但永遠充滿了挑戰性。生 活在哈佛是一種吸引人的特殊待遇 …… 雖然我離開得比較早，但是我在這裏的經歷、在這裏結識的朋友、在這裏發展起來的一些想法，永遠地改變了我。

but taking a serious look back … i do have one big regret.

但是，如果現在嚴肅地回憶起來，我確實有一個真正的遺憾。

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.

我離開哈佛的時候，根本沒有意識到這個世界是多麼的不平等。人類在健康、財富和機遇上的不平等大得可怕，它們使得無數的人們被迫生活在絕望之中。

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.

我在哈佛學到了很多經濟學和政治學的新思想。我也瞭解了很多科學上的新進展。

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，人類最大的進步並不來自於這些發現，而是來自於那些有助於減少人類不平等的發現。不管通過何種手段 —— 民主制度、健全的公共教育體系、高質量的醫療保健、還是廣泛的經濟機會 —— 減少不平等始終是人類最大的成就。

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.

我離開校園的時候，根本不知道在這個國家裏，有幾百萬的年輕人無法獲得接受教育的機會。我也不知道，發展中國家裏有無數的人們生活在無法形容的貧窮和疾病之中。

it took me decades to find out.

我花了幾十年才明白了這些事情。

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.

在座的各位同學，你們是在與我不同的時代來到哈佛的。你們比以前的學生，更多地瞭解世界是怎樣的不平等。在你們的哈佛求學過程中，我希望你們已經思考過一個問題，那就是在這個新技術加速發展的時代，我們怎樣最終應對這種不平等，以及我們怎樣來解決這個問題。

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?

為了討論的方便，請想象一下，假如你每個星期可以捐獻一些時間、每個月可以捐獻一些錢 —— 你希望這些時間和金錢，可以用到對拯救生命和改善人類生活有最大作用的地方。你會選擇什麼地方?

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.

對 melinda (注：蓋茨的妻子)和我來説，這也是我們面臨的問題：我們如何能將我們擁有的資源發揮出最大的作用。

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.

在討論過程中， melinda 和我讀到了一篇文章，裏面説在那些貧窮的國家，每年有數百萬的兒童死於那些在美國早已不成問題的疾病。麻疹、瘧疾、肺

炎、乙型肝炎、黃熱病、還有一種以前我從未聽説過的輪狀病毒，這些疾病每年導致 50 萬兒童死亡，但是在美國一例死亡病例也沒有。

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.

我們被震驚了。我們想，如果幾百萬兒童正在死亡線上掙扎，而且他們是可以被挽救的，那麼世界理應將用藥物拯救他們作為頭等大事。但是事實並非如此。那些價格還不到一美元的救命的藥劑，並沒有送到他們的手中。

if you believe that every life has equal value, it’s revolting to 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.

如果你相信每個生命都是平等的，那麼當你發現某些生命被挽救了，而另一些生命被放棄了，你會感到無法接受。我們對自己説： “ 事情不可能如此。如果這是真的，那麼它理應是我們努力的頭等大事。 ”

so we began our work in the same way anyone here would begin it. we asked: how could the world let these children die?

所以，我們用任何人都會想到的方式開始工作。我們問： “ 這個世界怎麼可以眼睜睜看着這些孩子死去? ”

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.

答案很簡單，也很令人難堪。在市場經濟中，拯救兒童是一項沒有利潤的工作，政府也不會提供補助。這些兒童之所以會死亡，是因為他們的父母在經濟上沒有實力，在政治上沒有能力發出聲音。

but you and i have both.

但是，你們和我在經濟上有實力，在政治上能夠發出聲音。

we can make market forces work better for the poor if we can develop a more creative capitalism – 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.

我們可以讓市場更好地為窮人服務，如果我們能夠設計出一種更有創新性的資本主義制度 —— 如果我們可以改變市場，讓更多的人可以獲得利潤，或者至少可 以維持生活 —— 那麼，這就可以幫到那些正在極端不平等的狀況中受苦的人們。我們還可以向全世界的政府施壓，要求他們將納税人的錢，花到更符合納税人價值觀 的地方。

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.

如果我們能夠找到這樣一種方法，既可以幫到窮人，又可以為商人帶來利潤，為政治家帶來選票，那麼我們就找到了一種減少世界性不平等的可持續的發展道路。這個任務是無限的。它不可能被完全完成，但是任何自覺地解決這個問題的嘗試，都將會改變這個世界。

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.

在這個問題上，我是樂觀的。但是，我也遇到過那些感到絕望的懷疑主義者。他們説： “ 不平等從人類誕生的第一天就存在，到人類滅亡的最後一天也將存在。 —— 因為人類對這個問題根本不在乎。 ” 我完全不能同意這種觀點。

i believe we have more caring than we know what to do with.

我相信，問題不是我們不在乎，而是我們不知道怎麼做。

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.

此刻在這個院子裏的所有人，生命中總有這樣或那樣的時刻，目睹人類的悲劇，感到萬分傷心。但是我們什麼也沒做，並非我們無動於衷，而是因為我們不知道做什麼和怎麼做。如果我們知道如何做是有效的，那麼我們就會採取行動。

the barrier to change is not too little caring; it is too much complexity.

改變世界的阻礙，並非人類的冷漠，而是世界實在太複雜。

to turn caring into action, we need to see a problem, see a solution, and see the impact. but complexity blocks all three steps.

為了將關心轉變為行動，我們需要找到問題，發現解決辦法的方法，評估後果。但是世界的複雜性使得所有這些步驟都難於做到。

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.

即使有了互聯網和 24 小時直播的新聞台，讓人們真正發現問題所在，仍然十分困難。當一架飛機墜毀了，官員們會立刻召開新聞發佈會，他們承諾進行調查、找到原因、防止將來再次發生類似事故。

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.

但是如果那些官員敢説真話，他們就會説： “ 在今天這一天，全世界所有可以避免的死亡之中，只有

0.5% 的死者來自於這次空難。我們決心盡一切努力，調查這個 0.5% 的死亡原因。 ”

the bigger problem is not the plane crash, but the millions of preventable deaths.

顯然，更重要的問題不是這次空難，而是其他幾百萬可以預防的死亡事件。

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.

我們並沒有很多機會了解那些死亡事件。媒體總是報告新聞，幾百萬人將要死去並非新聞。如果沒有人報道，那麼這些事件就很容易被忽視。另一方面，即使 我們確實目睹了事件本身或者看到了相關報道，我們也很難持續關注這些事件。看着他人受苦是令人痛苦的，何況問題又如此複雜，我們根本不知道如何去幫助他 人。所以我們會將臉轉過去。

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.

就算我們真正發現了問題所在，也不過是邁出了第一步，接着還有第二步：那就是從複雜的事件中找到解決辦法。

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.

如果我們要讓關心落到實處，我們就必須找到解決辦法。如果我們有一個清晰的和可靠的答案，那麼當任何組織和個人發出疑問 “ 如何我能提供幫助 ” 的時 候，我們就能採取行動。我們就能夠保證不浪費一丁點全世界人類對他人的關心。但是，世界的複雜性使得很難找到對全世界每一個有愛心的人都有效的行動方法， 因此人類對他人的關心往往很難產生實際效果。

cutting through complexity to find a solution runs through four predictable stages: determine a goal, find the highest-leverage approach, 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.

從這個複雜的世界中找到解決辦法，可以分為四個步驟：確定目標，找到最高效的方法，發現適用於這個方法的新技術，同時最聰明地利用現有的技術，不管它是複雜的藥物，還是最簡單的蚊帳。

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.

艾滋病就是一個例子。總的目標，毫無疑問是消滅這種疾病。最高效的方法是預防。最理想的技術是發明一種疫苗，只要注射一次，就可以終生免疫。所以， 政府、製藥公司、基金會應該資助疫苗研究。但是，這樣研究工作很可能十年之內都無法完成。因此，與此同時，我們必須使用現有的技術，目前最有效的預防方法 就是設法讓人們避免那些危險的行為。

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.

要實現這個新的目標，又可以採用新的四步循環。這是一種模式。關鍵的東西是永遠不要停止思考和行動。我們千萬不能再犯上個世紀在瘧疾和肺結核上犯過的錯誤，那時我們因為它們太複雜，而放棄了採取行動。

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.

在發現問題和找到解決方法之後，就是最後一步 —— 評估工作結果，將你的成功經驗或者失敗經驗傳播出去，這樣其他人就可以從你的努力中有所收穫。

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.

當然，你必須有一些統計數。你必須讓他人知道，你的項目為幾百萬兒童新接種了疫苗。你也必須讓他人知道，兒童死亡人數下降了多少。這些都是很關鍵的，不僅有利於改善項目效果，也有利於從商界和政府得到更多的幫助。

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.

但是，這些還不夠，如果你想激勵其他人蔘加你的項目，你就必須拿出更多的統計數;你必須展示你的項目的人性因素，這樣其他人就會感到拯救一個生命，對那些處在困境中的家庭到底意味着什麼。

i 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.

幾年前，我去瑞士達沃斯旁聽一個全球健康問題論壇，會議的內容有關於如何拯救幾百萬條生命。天哪，是幾百萬!想一想吧，拯救一個人的生命已經讓人何等激動，現在你要把這種激動再乘上幾百萬倍 …… 但是，不幸的是，這是我參加過的最最乏味的論壇，乏味到我無法強迫自己聽下去。

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?

那次經歷之所以讓我難忘，是因為之前我們剛剛發佈了一個軟件的第 13 個版本，我們讓觀眾激動得跳了起來，喊出了聲。我喜歡人們因為軟件而感到激動，那麼我們為什麼不能夠讓人們因為能夠拯救生命而感到更加激動呢?

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.

除非你能夠讓人們看到或者感受到行動的影響力，否則你無法讓人們激動。如何做到這一點，並不是一件簡單的事。

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.

同前面一樣，在這個問題上，我依然是樂觀的。不錯，人類的不平等有史以來一直存在，但是那些能夠化繁為簡的新工具，卻是最近才出現的。這些新工具可以幫助我們，將人類的同情心發揮最大的作用，這就是為什麼將來同過去是不一樣的。

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.

這個時代無時無刻不在湧現出新的革新 —— 生物技術，計算機，互聯網 —— 它們給了我們一個從未有過的機會，去終結那些極端的貧窮和非惡性疾病的死亡。

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，喬治 . 馬歇爾也是在這個地方的畢業典禮上，宣佈了一個計劃，幫助那些歐洲國家的戰後建設。他説： “ 我認為，困難的一點是這個問題太複雜， 報紙和電台向公眾源源不斷地提供各種事實，使得大街上的普通人極端難於清晰地判斷形勢。事實上，經過層層傳播，想要真正地把握形勢，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.

馬歇爾發表這個演講之後的三十年，我那一屆學生畢業，當然我不在其中。那時，新技術剛剛開始萌芽，它們將使得這個世界變得更小、更開放、更容易看到、距離更近。

the emergence of low-cost personal computers gave rise to a powerful network that has transformed opportunities for learning and communicating.

低成本的個人電腦的出現，使得一個強大的互聯網有機會誕生，它為學習和交流提供了巨大的機會。

the magical thing about this network is not just that it collapses distance 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.

網絡的神奇之處，不僅僅是它縮短了物理距離，使得天涯若比鄰。它還極大地增加了懷有共同想法的人們聚集在一起的機會，我們可以為了解決同一個問題，一起共同工作。這就大大加快了革新的進程，發展速度簡直快得讓人震驚。

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.

與此同時，世界上有條件上網的人，只是全部人口的六分之一。這意味着，還有許多具有創造性的人們，沒有加入到我們的討論中來。那些有着實際的操作經驗和相關經歷的聰明人，卻沒有技術來幫助他們，將他們的天賦或者想法與全世界分享。

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 individuals to see problems, see approaches, and measure the impact of their efforts to address the hunger, poverty, and desperation george marshall spoke of 60 years provided

我們需要儘可能地讓更多的人有機會使用新技術，因為這些新技術正在引發一場革命，人類將因此可以互相幫助。新技術正在創造一種可能，不僅是政府，還 包括大學、公司、小機構、甚至個人，能夠發現問題所在、能夠找到解決辦法、能夠評估他們努力的效果，去改變那些馬歇爾六十年前就説到過的問題 —— 飢餓、貧 窮和絕望。

members of the harvard family: here in the yard is one of the great collections of intellectual talent in the world.

哈佛是一個大家庭。這個院子裏在場的人們，是全世界最有智力的人類羣體之一。

what for?

我們可以做些什麼?

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?

毫無疑問，哈佛的老師、校友、學生和資助者，已經用他們的能力改善了全世界各地人們的生活。但是，我們還能夠再做什麼呢?有沒有可能，哈佛的人們可以將他們的智慧，用來幫助那些甚至從來沒有聽到過 “ 哈佛 ” 這個名的人?

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: provided

請允許我向各位院長和教授，提出一個請求 —— 你們是哈佛的智力領袖，當你們僱用新的老師、授予終身教職、評估課程、決定學位頒發標準的時候，請問你們自己如下的問題：

should our best minds be dedicated to solving our biggest problems?

我們最優秀的人才是否在致力於解決我們最大的問題?

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?

哈佛是否鼓勵她的老師去研究解決世界上最嚴重的不平等?哈佛的學生是否從全球那些極端的貧窮中學到了什麼 …… 世界性的饑荒 …… 清潔的水資源的缺乏 …… 無法上學的女童 …… 死於非惡性疾病的兒童 …… 哈佛的學生有沒有從中學到東西?

should the world’s most privileged people learn about the lives of the world’s least privileged?

那些世界上過着最優越生活的人們，有沒有從那些最困難的人們身上學到東西?

these are not rhetorical questions – you will answer with your policies.

這些問題並非語言上的修辭。你必須用自己的行動來回答它們。

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 provided

我的母親在我被哈佛大學錄取的那一天，曾經感到非常驕傲。她從沒有停止督促我，去為他人做更多的事情。在我結婚的前幾天，她主持了一個新娘進我家的 儀式。在這個儀式上，她高聲朗讀了一封關於婚姻的信，這是她寫給 melinda 的。那時，我的母親已經因為癌症病入膏肓，但是她還是認為這是又一個傳播她 的信念的機會。在那封信的結尾，她寫道： “ 對於那些接受了許多幫助的人們，他們還在期待更多的幫助。 ”

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.

想一想吧，我們在這個院子裏的這些人，被給予過什麼 —— 天賦、特權、機遇 —— 那麼可以這樣説，全世界的人們幾乎有無限的權力，期待我們做出貢獻。

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 provided

同這個時代的期望一樣，我也要向今天各位畢業的同學提出一個忠告：你們要選擇一個問題，一個複雜的問題，一個有關於人類深刻的不平等的問題，然後你 們要變成這個問題的專家。如果你們能夠使得這個問題成為你們職業的核心，那麼你們就會非常傑出。但是，你們不必一定要去做那些大事。每個星期只用幾個小 時，你就可以通過互聯網得到信息，找到志同道合的朋友，發現困難所在，找到解決它們的途徑。

don’t let complexity stop you. be activists. take on the big inequities. it will be one of the great experiences of your lives.

不要讓這個世界的複雜性阻礙你前進。要成為一個行動主義者。將解決人類的不平等視為己任。它將成為你生命中最重要的經歷之一。

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.

在座的各位畢業的同學，你們所處的時代是一個神奇的時代。當你們離開哈佛的時候，你們擁有的技術，是我們那一屆學生所沒有的。你們已經瞭解到了世界 上的不平等，我們那時還不知道這些。有了這樣的瞭解之後，要是你再棄那些你可以幫助的人們於不顧，就將受到良心的譴責，只需一點小小的努力，你就可以改變 那些人們的生活。你們比我們擁有更大的能力;你們必須儘早開始，儘可能長時期堅持下去。

knowing what you know, how could you not?

知道了你們所知道的一切，你們怎麼可能不採取行動呢?

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.

我希望， 30 年後你們還會再回到哈佛，想起你們用自己的天賦和能力所做出的一切。我希望，在那個時候，你們用來評價自己的標準，不僅僅是你們的專業

成就，而包括你們為改變這個世界深刻的不平等所做出的努力，以及你們如何善待那些遠隔千山萬水、與你們毫不涉及的人們，你們與他們唯一的共同點就是同為人 類。

good luck.

最後，祝各位同學好運。