朱棣文在哈佛大学毕业典礼上的演讲

朱棣文在哈佛大学毕业典礼上的演讲（精选6篇）

朱棣文在哈佛大学毕业典礼上的演讲 第1篇

朱棣文在哈佛大学毕业典礼上的演讲

朱棣文（Steven Chu，1948年2月28日－），美国物理学家，生于美国圣路易斯；华人血统，祖籍中国江苏太仓，曾获得诺贝尔物理学奖（1997年）。现任美国能源部部长。

我怀着回报社会的想法，开始了教学生涯。我的一生中，得到的多于我付出的，所以我要回报社会。这就引出了这次演讲的最后一个乐章。首先我要讲一个了不起的科学发现，以及由此带来的新挑战。它是一个战斗的号令，到了做出改变的时候了。

过去几十年中，我们的气候一直在发生变化。气候变化并不是现在才有的，过去60万年中就发生了6次冰河期。但是，现在的测量表明气候变化加速了。北极冰盖在9月份的大小，只相当于50年前的一半。1870年起，人们开始测量海平面上升的速度，现在的速度是那时的5倍。一个重大的科学发现就这样产生了。科学第一次在人类历史上，预测出我们的行为对50~100年后的世界有何影响。这些变化的原因是，从工业革命开始，人类排放到大气中的二氧化碳增加了。这使得地球的平均气温上升了0.8摄氏度。即使我们立刻停止所有温室气体的排放，气温仍然将比过去上升大约1度。因为在气温达到均衡前，海水温度的上升将持续几十年。

如果全世界保持现在的经济模式不变，联合国政府间气候变化专门委员会（IPCC）预测，本世纪末将有50%的可能，气温至少上升5度。这听起来好像不多，但是让我来提醒你，上一次的冰河期，地球的气温也仅仅只下降了6度。那时，俄亥俄州和费城以下的大部分美国和加拿大的土地，都终年被冰川覆盖。气温上升5度的地球，将是一个非常不同的地球。由于变化来得太快，包括人类在内的许多生物，都将很难适应。比如，有人告诉我，在更温暖的环境中，昆虫的个头将变大。我不知道现在身旁嗡嗡叫的这只大苍蝇，是不是就是前兆。我们还面临另一个幽灵，那就是非线性的“气候引爆点”，这会带来许多严重得多的变化。“气候引爆点”的一个例子就是永久冻土层的融化。永久冻土层经过千万年的累积形成，其中包含了巨量的冻僵的有机物。如果冻土融化，微生物就将广泛繁殖，使得冻土层中的有机物快速腐烂。冷冻后的生物和冷冻前的生物，它们在生物学特性上的差异，我们都很熟悉。在冷库中，冷冻食品在经过长时间保存后，依然可以食用。但是，一旦解冻，食品很快就腐烂了。一个腐烂的永久冻土层，将释放出多少甲烷和二氧化碳？即使只有一部分的碳被释放出来，可能也比我们从工业革命开始释放出来的所有温室气体还要多。这种事情一旦发生，局势就失控了。

候问题是我们的经济发展在无意中带来的后果。我们太依赖化石能源，冬天取暖，夏天制冷，夜间照明，长途旅行，环球观光。能源是经济繁荣的基础，我们不可能放弃经济繁荣。美国人口占全世界的3%，但是我们消耗全世界25%的能源。与此形成对照，全世界还有16亿人没有电，数亿人依靠燃烧树枝和动物粪便来煮饭。发展中国家的人民享受不到我们的生活，但是他们都看在眼里，他们渴望拥有我们拥有的东西。

这就是新的挑战。全世界作为一个整体，我们到底愿意付出多少，来缓和气候变化？这种变化在100年前，根本没人想到过。代际责任深深植根于所有文化中。家长努力工作，为了让他们的孩子有更好的生活。气候变化将影响整个世界，但是我们的天性使得我们只关心个人家庭的福利。我们能不能把全世界看作一个整体？能不能为未来的人们承担起责任？

虽然我忧心忡忡，但是还是对未来抱乐观态度，这个问题将会得到解决。我同意出任劳伦斯·伯克利国家实验室主任，部分原因是我想招募一些世界上最好的科学家，来研究气候变化的对策。我在那里干了4年半，是这个实验室78年的历史中，任期最短的主任，但是当我离任时，在伯克利实验室和伯克利分校，一些非常激动人心的能源研究机构已经建立起来了。

能够成为奥巴马施政团队的一员，我感到极其荣幸。如果有一个时机，可以引导美国和全世界走上可持续能源的道路，那么这个时机就是现在。总统已经发出信息，未来并非在劫难逃，而是乐观的，我们依然有机会。我也抱有这种乐观主义。我们面前的任务令人生畏，但是我们能够并且将会成功。

我们已经有了一些答案，可以立竿见影地节约能源和提高能源使用效率。它们不是挂在枝头的水果，而是已经成熟掉在地上了，就看我们愿不愿意捡起来。比如，我们有办法将楼宇的耗电减少80%，增加的投资在15年内就可以收回来。楼宇的耗电占我们能源消费的40%，节能楼宇的推广将使我们二氧化碳的释放减少三分之一。

我们正在加速美国这座巨大的创新机器，这将是下一次美国大繁荣的基础。我们将大量投资有效利用太阳能、风能、核能的新方法，大量投资能够捕获和隔离电厂废气中的二氧化碳的方法。先进的生物燃料和电力汽车将使得我们不再那么依赖外国的石油。

在未来的几十年中，我们几乎肯定会面对更高的油价和更严厉的二氧化碳排放政策。这是一场新的工业革命，美国有机会充当领导者。伟大的冰球选手Wayne Gretzky被问到，他如何在冰上跑位，回答说：“我滑向球下一步的位置，而不是它现在的位置。”美国也应该这样做。

奥巴马政府正在为美国的繁荣和可持续能源，打下新的基础。但是我们还有很多不知道的地方。这就需要你们的参与。在本次演讲中，我请求在座各位哈佛毕业生加入我们。你们是我们未来的智力领袖，请花时间加深理解目前的危险局势，然后采取相应的行动。你们是未来的科学家和工程师，我要求你们给我们更好的技术方案。你们是未来的经济学家和政治学家，我要求你们创造更好的政策选择。你们是未来的企业家，我要求你们将可持续发展作为你们业务中不可分割的一部分。

最后，你们是人道主义者，我要求你们为了人道主义说话。气候变化带来的最残酷的讽刺之一，就是最受伤害的人，恰恰就是最无辜的人——那些世界上最穷的人们和那些还没有出生的人。

第一段引语来自马丁·路德·金。这是1967年他对越南战争结束的评论，但是看上去非常适合用来评论今天的气候危机。

“我呼吁全世界的人们团结一心，抛弃种族、肤色、阶级、国籍的隔阂；我呼吁包罗一切、无条件的对全人类的爱。你会因此遭受误解和误读，信奉尼采哲学的世人会认定你是一个软弱和胆怯的懦夫。但是，这是人类存在下去的绝对必需。……我的朋友，眼前的事实就是，明天就是今天。此刻，我们面临最紧急的情况。在变幻莫测的生活和历史之中，有一样东西叫做悔之晚矣。”

朱棣文在哈佛大学毕业典礼上的演讲 第2篇

-U.S.Secretary of Energy Steven Chu Madam President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, faculty, family, friends, and, most importantly, today’s graduates, Thank you for letting me share this wonderful day with you.I am not sure I can live up to the high standards of Harvard Commencement speakers.Last year, J.K.Rowling, the billionaire novelist, who started as a classics student, graced this podium.The year before, Bill Gates, the mega-billionaire philanthropist and computer nerd stood here.Today, sadly, you have me.I am not wealthy, but at least I am a nerd.I am grateful to receive an honorary degree from Harvard, an honor that means more to me than you might care to imagine.You see, I was the academic black sheep of my family.My older brother has an M.D./Ph.D.from MIT and Harvard while my younger brother has a law degree from Harvard.When I was awarded a Nobel Prize, jwothe announcement, she replied, “That’s nice, but when are you going to visit me next.” Now, as the last brother with a degree from Harvard, maybe, at last, she will be satisfied.Another difficulty with giving a Harvard commencement address is that some of you may disapprove of the fact that I have borrowed material from previous speeches.I ask that you forgive me for two reasons.First, in order to have impact, it is important to deliver the same message more than once.In science, it is important to be the first person to make a discovery, but it is even more important to be the last person to make that discovery.Second, authors who borrow from others are following in the footsteps of the best.Ralph Waldo Emerson, who graduated from Harvard at the age of 18, noted “All my best thoughts were stolen by the ancients.” Picasso declared “Good artists borrow.Great artists steal.” Why should commencement speakers be held to a higher standard? I also want to point out the irony of speaking to graduates of an institution that would have rejected me, had I the chutzpah to apply.I am married to “Dean Jean,” the former dean of admissions at Stanford.She assures me that she would have rejected me, if given the chance.When I showed her a draft of this speech, she objected strongly to my use of the word “rejected.” She never rejected applicants;her letters stated that “we are unable to offer you admission.” I have difficulty understanding the difference.After all, deans of admissions of highly selective schools are in reality, “deans of rejection.” Clearly, I have a lot to learn about marketing.My address will follow the classical sonata form of commencement addresses.The first movement, just presented, were light-hearted remarks.This next movement consists of unsolicited advice, which is rarely valued, seldom remembered, never followed.As Oscar Wilde said, “The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on.It is never of any use to oneself.” So, here comes the advice.First, every time you celebrate an achievement, be thankful to those who made it possible.Thank your parents and friends who supported you, thank your professors who were inspirational, and especially thank the other professors whose less-than-brilliant lectures forced you to teach yourself.Going forward, the ability to teach yourself is the hallmark of a great liberal arts education and will be the key to your success.To your fellow students who have added immeasurably to your education during those late night discussions, hug them.Also, of course, thank Harvard.Should you forget, there’s an alumni association to remind you.Second, in your future life, cultivate a generous spirit.In all negotiations, don’t bargain for the last, little advantage.Leave the change on the table.In your collaborations, always remember that “credit” is not a conserved quantity.In a successful collaboration, everybody gets 90 percent of the credit.Another difficulty with giving a Harvard commencement address is that some of you may disapprove of the fact that I have borrowed material from previous speeches.I ask that you forgive me for two reasons.First, in order to have impact, it is important to deliver the same message more than once.In science, it is important to be the first person to make a discovery, but it is even more important to be the last person to make that discovery.Second, authors who borrow from others are following in the footsteps of the best.Ralph Waldo Emerson, who graduated from Harvard at the age of 18, noted “All my best thoughts were stolen by the ancients.” Picasso declared “Good artists borrow.Great artists steal.” Why should commencement speakers be held to a higher standard? I also want to point out the irony of speaking to graduates of an institution that would have rejected me, had I the chutzpah to apply.I am married to “Dean Jean,” the former dean of admissions at Stanford.She assures me that she would have rejected me, if given the chance.When I showed her a draft of this speech, she objected strongly to my use of the word “rejected.” She never rejected applicants;her letters stated that “we are unable to offer you admission.” I have difficulty understanding the difference.After all, deans of admissions of highly selective schools are in reality, “deans of rejection.” Clearly, I have a lot to learn about marketing.My address will follow the classical sonata form of commencement addresses.The first movement, just presented, were light-hearted remarks.This next movement consists of unsolicited advice, which is rarely valued, seldom remembered, never followed.As Oscar Wilde said, “The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on.It is never of any use to oneself.” So, here comes the advice.First, every time you

celebrate an achievement, be thankful to those who made it possible.Thank your parents and friends who supported you, thank your professors who were inspirational, and especially thank the other professors whose less-than-brilliant lectures forced you to teach yourself.Going forward, the ability to teach yourself is the hallmark of a great liberal arts education and will be the key to your success.To your fellow students who have added immeasurably to your education during those late night discussions, hug them.Also, of course, thank Harvard.Should you forget, there’s an alumni association to remind you.Second, in your future life, cultivate a generous spirit.In all negotiations, don’t bargain for the last, little advantage.Leave the change on the table.In your collaborations, always remember that “credit” is not a conserved quantity.In a successful collaboration, everybody gets 90 percent of the credit.Here is my final piece of advice.Pursuing a personal passion is important, but it should not be your only goal.When you are old and gray, and look back on your life, you will want to be proud of what you have done.The source of that pride won’t be the things you have acquired or the recognition you have received.It will be the lives you have touched and the difference you have made.After nine years at Bell labs, I decided to leave that warm, cozy ivory tower for what I considered to be the “real world,” a university.Bell Labs, to quote what was said about Mary Poppins, was “practically perfect in every way,” but I wanted to leave behind something more than scientific articles.I wanted to teach and give birth to my own set of scientific children.Ted Geballe, a friend and distinguished colleague of mine at Stanford, who also went from Berkeley to Bell Labs to Stanford years earlier, described our motives best: “The best part of working at a university is the students.They come in fresh, enthusiastic, open to ideas, unscarred by the battles of life.They don’t realize it, but they’re the recipients of the best our society can offer.If a mind is ever free to be creative, that’s the time.They come in believing textbooks are authoritative, but eventually they figure out that textbooks and professors don’t know everything, and then they start to think on their own.Then, I begin learning from them.”

My students, post doctoral fellows, and the young researchers who worked with me at Bell Labs, Stanford, and Berkeley have been extraordinary.Over 30 former group members are now professors, many at the best research institutions in the world, including Harvard.I have learned much from them.Even now, in rare moments on weekends, the remaining members of my biophysics group meet with me in the ether world of cyberspace.I began teaching with the idea of giving back;I received more than I gave.This brings me to the final movement of this speech.It begins with a story about an extraordinary scientific discovery and a new dilemma that it poses.It’s a call to arms and about making a difference.In the last several decades, our climate has been changing.Climate change is not new: the Earth went through six ice ages in the past 600,000 years.However, recent measurements show that the climate has begun to change rapidly.The size of the North Polar Ice Cap in the month of September is only half the size it was a mere 50 years ago.The sea level which been rising since direct measurements began in 1870 at a rate that is now five times faster than it was at the beginning of recorded measurements.Here’s the remarkable scientific discovery.For the first time in human history, science is now making predictions of how our actions will affect the world 50 and 100 years from now.These changes are due to an increase in carbon dioxide put into the atmosphere since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.The Earth has warmed up by roughly 0.8 degrees Celsius since the beginning of the Revolution.There is already approximately a 1 degree rise built into the system, even if we stop all greenhouse gas emissions today.Why? It will take decades to warm up the deep oceans before the temperature reaches a new equilibrium.If the world continues on a business-as-usual path, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that there is a fifty-fifty chance the temperature will exceed 5 degrees by the end of this century.This increase may not sound like much, but let me remind you that during the last ice age, the world was only 6 degrees colder.During this time, most of Canada and the United States down to Ohio and Pennsylvania were covered year round by a glacier.A world 5 degrees warmer will be very different.The change will be so rapid that many species, including Humans, will have a hard time adapting.I’ve been told for example, that, in a much warmer world, insects were bigger.I wonder if this thing buzzing around is a precursor.We also face the specter of nonlinear “tipping points” that may cause much more severe changes.An example of a tipping point is the thawing of the permafrost.The permafrost contains immense amounts of frozen organic matter that have been accumulating for millennia.If the soil melts, microbes will spring to life and cause this debris to rot.The difference in biological activity below freezing and above freezing is something we are all familiar with.Frozen food remains edible for a very long time in the freezer, but once thawed, it spoils quickly.How much methane and carbon dioxide might be released from the rotting permafrost? If even a fraction of the carbon is released, it could be greater than all the greenhouse gases we have released to since the beginning of the industrial revolution.Once started, a runaway effect could occur.The climate problem is the unintended consequence of our success.We depend on fossil energy to keep our homes warm in the winter, cool in the summer, and lit at night;we use it to travel across town and across continents.Energy is a fundamental reason for the prosperity we enjoy, and we will not surrender this prosperity.The United States has 3 percent of the world population, and yet, we consume 25 percent of the energy.By contrast, there are 1.6 billion people who don’t have access to electricity.Hundreds of millions of people still cook with twigs or dung.The life we

enjoy may not be within the reach of the developing world, but it is within sight, and they want what we have.Here is the dilemma.How much are we willing to invest, as a world society, to mitigate the consequences of climate change that will not be realized for at least 100 years? Deeply rooted in all cultures, is the notion of generational responsibility.Parents work hard so that their children will have a better life.Climate change will affect the entire world, but our natural focus is on the welfare of our immediate families.Can we, as a world society, meet our responsibility to future generations? While I am worried, I am hopeful we will solve this problem.I became the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, in part because I wanted to enlist some of the best scientific minds to help battle against climate change.I was there only four and a half years, the shortest serving director in the 78-year history of the Lab, but when I left, a number of very exciting energy institutes at the Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley had been established.I am extremely privileged to be part of the Obama administration.If there ever was a time to help steer America and the world towards a path of sustainable energy, now is the time.The message the President is delivering is not one of doom and gloom, but of optimism and opportunity.I share this optimism.The task ahead is daunting, but we can and will succeed.We know some of the answers already.There are immediate and significant savings in energy efficiency and conservation.Energy efficiency is not just low-hanging fruit;it is fruit lying on the ground.For example, we have the potential to make buildings 80 percent more efficient with investments that will pay for themselves in less than 15 years.Buildings consume 40 percent of the energy we use, and a transition to energy efficient buildings will cut our carbon emissions by one-third.We are revving up the remarkable American innovation machine that will be the basis of a new American prosperity.We will invent much improved methods to harness the sun, the wind, nuclear power, and capture and sequester the carbon dioxide emitted from our power plants.Advanced bio-fuels and the electrification of personal vehicles make us less dependent on foreign oil.In the coming decades, we will almost certainly face higher oil prices and be in a carbon-constrained economy.We have the opportunity to lead in development of a new, industrial revolution.The great hockey player, Wayne Gretzky, when asked, how he positions himself on the ice, he replied,“ I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it’s been.” America should do the same.The Obama administration is laying a new foundation for a prosperous and sustainable energy future, but we don’t have all of the answers.That’s where you come in.In this address, I am asking you, the Harvard graduates, to join us.As our future intellectual leaders, take the time to learn more about what’s at stake, and then

act on that knowledge.As future scientists and engineers, I ask you to give us better technology solutions.As future economists and political scientists, I ask you to create better policy options.As future business leaders, I ask that you make sustainability an integral part of your business.Finally, as humanists, I ask that you speak to our common humanity.One of the cruelest ironies about climate change is that the ones who will be hurt the most are the most innocent: the worlds poorest and those yet to be born.The coda to this last movement is borrowed from two humanists.The first quote is from Martin Luther King.He spoke on ending the war in Vietnam in 1967, but his message seems so fitting for today’s climate crisis:

“This call for a worldwide fellowship that lifts neighborly concern beyond one’s tribe, race, class, and nation is in reality a call for an all-embracing and unconditional love for all mankind.This oft misunderstood, this oft misinterpreted concept, so readily dismissed by the Nietzsches of the world as a weak and cowardly force, has now become an absolute necessity for the survival of man … We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today.We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now.In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late.”

The final message is from William Faulkner.On December 10th, 1950, his Nobel Prize banquet speech was about the role of humanists in a world facing potential nuclear holocaust.“I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail.He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance.The poet’s, the writer’s, duty is to write about these things.It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past.”

朱棣文在哈佛大学毕业典礼上的演讲 第3篇

我很荣幸能在这个下午与你们相聚在“the Baccalaureate”这个古老的仪式上。我今天的任务是给予你们一些最后的建议,而你们的任务则是让这些话语(病毒式地)在互联网上广为传播。但是首先,你们要先填好你们的“Baccalaureate Bingo (游戏)”的卡片。

自从你们4年前来到这座校园起,你们就似乎注定将成为一个不寻常的群体。我们第一次相聚并不是在300周年剧场(译注:即哈佛园内纪念教堂与怀德纳图书馆之间的草坪)的阳光下,而是在暴雨停电后的科学中心。你们在那里玩着扑克牌和香蕉拼字游戏、吃着应急的披萨饼,并在一个完全不同于你们想象的场合初识彼此。当时没人知道我们会步入一个怎样不同的境地。一个星期内,整个世界遭遇了自从大萧条以来最严重的金融危机。几个月内,奥巴马的成功当选让你们中的许多人涌上了哈佛广场的街头。接下来的4年我们见证了一连串的灾难——海啸、地震、石油泄漏、革命、庞氏骗局、传染病。而我们所经历的天气即使是在新英格兰也算是奇怪的了——我们在泥泞中欢庆哈佛的375岁生日、在那个是冬天的冬天踏过两倍于平常的积雪,并在这个不算冬天的冬天穿着短袖走过哈佛园。

你们很特别,很幸运

通过一系列“第一”和“最后”的交汇,你们也见证了哈佛的改变。你们是多年来第一届在没有提前录取的情况下入学的学生、第一届享受我们当前的助学金系统的学生、最后一届采用“核心教程”(译注:自2013届起,哈佛本科学生的博雅教育必修课程由原有的“核心课程”即CoreCurriculum全面转为“综合教育”即GeneralEducation)的学生、第一届在洛克菲勒国际经历基金的支持下国外游学的学生、最后一届经历在寒假后期末考试的创伤的学生、第一届使用智能卡的学生、最后一届使用@fas.harvard.edu邮箱(译注:自2013届起,哈佛本科学生的邮箱地址由原来与文理研究生院共用的fas.harvard.edu即文理学院前缀改为独立的college.harvard.edu)和纸质学生手册及课程评价指南的学生、最后一届由非正式的开学典礼启示大学生涯的学生、第一届带领一支常青藤篮球队在全国女子邀请锦标赛中取得胜利的学生、50多年来第一届将男子篮球队带入全国大学运动协会(NCAA)赛事的学生——这一切都向大家证明了你们作为最后一届享有热早餐的学生究竟能取得多大的成就。你们之间产生了一位马歇尔学者、四位罗德学者,并在哈佛一耶鲁橄榄球赛中保持全胜。

谁能想到,你们现在即将步入的这个世界要和四年前的那个世界这么不一样呢?不过我确实预想你们会从那些在停电时打牌的孩子们成长成非常不同的人,而你们也证实了我的预想。

你们尝试了许多新事物——你们当中的一员告诉我学习划艇改变了他/她的生活,你们学习了斯瓦西里语、乌尔都语和梵文,你们积极探索如何教授印度的孩子们预防性医疗的意义,你们与智利的孩子们一起参与了2010年的灾后重建,你们变得更加善于合作并富有创业精神,你们发起了“哈佛大思想(Harvard Thinks Big)”(译注:即2012年由学生发起的10位哈佛教授仿照TED演讲形式的10次演讲),你们针对“占领”运动制作了公共政策信息表,你们发起了一个鼓励社区工作的网络平台,你们通过“科学女生协会”分会的建立鼓励剑桥当地学生学习数学与科学,你们把昆西烧烤店(译注:Quincy Grille,即昆西学院晚上由学生管理的小吃店,提供薯条、炸鸡柳、炸莫扎瑞拉奶酪等)变成了全部河畔学院(译注:即River House,哈佛大学位于查尔斯河畔的九所住宿学院)共有的夜宵聚集点,你们创始了本科学院的第一个法语剧社,你们在大雨中表演了《欢乐颂》,你们在这座教堂的走廊里给了我一段即兴的小夜曲,你们在苏格兰的小岛上研究生命的起源,你们还在热带雨林中的火山里迷失又被找到。

你们的确不同寻常,但是你们在周四的毕业典礼上是否应当怀着“自己不同寻常”的想法毕业呢?前哈佛文理学院院长杰里米·诺尔斯(Jeremy Knowles)曾经在你们上几届的学长们开学时告诉他们,教育的主要意义(甚至是全部意义)是让你能知道别人是否在说瞎话。迄今为止,这是我所见到的对博雅教育的怀疑与批判精神最好的概述。还有什么比能够辩伪存真更符合我们的校训“真理”二字的呢?

认为我们自己不同寻常一定程度上来讲就是瞎话——但是一定程度上来讲也是真的,所以难以察觉。你们都很杰出。我4年前说过,你们没有一个人是招生办公室的失误,而你们也通过这4年的辛勤努力证明了这一切。所以一定程度上来讲,你们拼得了你们今天的坐席,而我们在接下来的几天里也会庆祝你的这些成就。但是在我们完全进入毕业季的疯狂中前,我想先暂停一下,从另一个角度来讲讲你们的不同寻常,讲讲另一个平行的事实,那就是你们和我都同样无比的幸运。

全世界大约有1.2亿21岁的青年,而只有1551人将在几天后从哈佛毕业。这种机遇的比例对我自己来说也是一样的。这让我们明白这个世界有多么不公平。无论我们有多努力、征服了多少苦难,我们最终能够来到这里总是有一点我们无法控制的因素在里面。我们当中的大部分人首先幸运地出生在了西方发达国家,接下来则是一系列其他的机缘巧合——我们的父母、学校、朋友、健康、助学金,或是一本儿童画册,或是在我们之前争取教育权利的先辈,或是直接向我们提供帮助与指引的人们,或是那些改变我们想法或感动我们内心的事情。我们今天聚集在这座教堂,这座高等教育的圣殿,但是这很大程度上都是由机缘巧合而决定的。

而事实是,我们并不会那么轻易地认识到这点。我们总是喜欢用逻辑去看问题,哪怕是随机的事件,我们也会用逻辑与因果论去套用。心理学家丹尼尔·卡内曼(Daniel Kahneman)通过解释我们总是意识不到我们在编故事这一现象获得了诺贝尔经济学奖。我们总是选择相信这些故事。而从某种程度上来说,所谓的英才教育/社会(meritocracy)就是这样一个故事,一个关于最高等学府和自由社会顶层精英的成员完全是凭借自己的智慧和能力取得这些成就的故事。哈佛在1930年代通过以考试为基础的奖学金项目以及对优秀学生的破格录取让这个理想变得愈发神圣。这改变了哈佛大学、改变了成千上万个学生的命运,也让你们得以来到这里。

Hold住你的好运

但是问题在于,随着时间的推移,机会可能会看起来像是固有的权利——机会是我们的,因为是我们争取来的。于是我们逐渐忽视巧合的作用,我们不再去想事情可能会往另一个方向发展。如果爱意味着永远都不用说对不起——哈佛学生们都很清楚(译注:“爱意味着永远都不用说对不起”是1990年电影《爱情故事》的经典台词,而因该电影情节与哈佛相关,哈佛本科学生的入学传统之一是统一观看由CrimsonKey协会背景搞笑解说版《爱情故事》)——那么运气就意味着永远不认为什么是应得的。

4年前,当世界还一片繁荣时,大量的毕业生们都去华尔街工作,运气看起来没那么重要。似乎一个哈佛毕业生就应当在金融界有自己的一席之地。但是金融危机改变了这一切。但一位2009届的毕业生说这个改变是幸运的,因为解放了他,让他可以不去做自己认为应该做的事情,而去做自己想做的事情。另一位毕业生则说这让他有借口去追寻自己的志愿。这场变局让许多人得以重新定位自己,去从事公共服务、艺术、研究的工作,去怀抱着理想闯荡。

多年来我一直告诉学生:做你喜欢做的事情,做对你意义重大的事情。这可能是金融,但也可能是别的。在尝试A计划之前,不要去执行你那安稳的B计划,哪怕A计划看起来机会很渺茫。我称之为停车位人生理论:不要因为怕找不到更近的停车位就停在离目的地十条街远的地方。去你想去的地方,实在不行,你总是可以回到你应该去的地方。

或许因为我所站的讲台本应是一位清教徒牧师的位置,我开始在想哈佛的创始人的语言中的“上帝的白白的恩典”。好运并不是我们应有的权利,而是被赐予我们的。我们获得恩典并不因为我们比别人做得更好,甚至并不因为我们好,而是随意赋予我们的。就像麻省重要的清教徒约翰·科顿(John Cotton)所说,我们“被泼洒着恩典的祝福”。如果回到1636年,我站在这里的话,可能不会被算作是“被泼洒着恩典”的一员,因此我感激我们身边的英才教育/社会(meritocracy)。两者我们都需要。

接受运气可以解放我们。其实我们越不去想运气,就越会担负想要去变得不寻常的压力,就越要面临在所谓“成就的竞技场”内竞技的恐惧。作家沃尔特·科恩(Walter Kirn)在他的作品《迷失在英才体制中(Lostinthe Meritocracy)》中称之为“向上逃逸”,因为在这个社会中“百分比位数即命运”,我们对自己的非凡的信念反而把我们框死了。根据最新的研究,相信自己好运会让自己变得更幸运,因为这会培养出一些企业家与CEO们归为运气的特质——而我认为这些特质是富有意义的人生的基础——谦卑、好学、乐观、脆弱、真诚、慷慨和开放。

所以,当你拿着你的毕业证书步入受教育者的行列,步入社会时,记住你的好运。这是对你的慰藉。你一旦认识到你的好运,成就非凡就不再是你的目的,你的目的将会是做一个对世界有价值的人,而且你会意识到你和那些没有和你一样机会的人们之间的联系。你们当中的一员告诉我,他/她想触碰那些“和我一样但没有同样的机遇”的人们。成就是有阶级的。驱动我们学习的火苗更像是上天的恩赐、更像运气、更像是恩典。

有料,就容易运气好

你们已经知道这点了,因为学习总是伴随着运气。想一想科学中的机缘巧合。20世纪最伟大的科学发现之一就是无意中发现的——当两位贝尔实验室的科学家们试图消除他们天线中的杂音时,他们发现这个杂音就是宇宙的背景辐射,这使得宇宙大爆炸理论得到证实。而无意中发现青霉素的亚历山大·弗莱明(Alexander Fleming)则称这个过程为“发现你并未寻找的事物”。

运气并非争取来的,但是我们可以做好准备。博雅教育让我们学会改变与适应,随时接受偶然,指引我们认识并把握偶然的机遇。运气与准备的关系,很难说清。

或许没有任何一届毕业生像你们一样清楚如何找到运气、天分和准备的平衡。天分本身是上天赐予的,但是你的努力决定着其他的一切。洛杉矶道奇队的著名投手桑迪·克法克斯(Sandy Koufax)曾被问到他是如何四场比赛将对手零封的。他说“你得运气好,但是如果你有料的话,那就很容易运气好。”

朱棣文在哈佛大学毕业典礼上的演讲 第4篇

我曾确信我自己唯一想做的事情是写小说。但我的父母认为我的想象力只是个人怪癖，并不能用来付房贷，或者确保得到退休金。他们希望我再去读个专业学位，而我想读英国文学。最后，达成了一个双方都不甚满意的妥协：我改学外语。可是等到父母一走开，我立刻报名学习古典文学。

我没有抱怨和批评我的父母，他们只是希望我能摆脱贫穷。然而，我在你们这个年龄的时候，最害怕的不是贫穷，而是失败。

我可以说，仅仅在我毕业7年后，我经历了一次巨大的失败。我突然间结束了一段短暂的婚姻，失去了工作，变成了一个单身妈妈。从任何一个通常的标准来看，这是我知道的最大失败。我也不会和你们说失败很好玩。那时我还不知道我的书会被新闻界认为是神话故事的革命，我也不知道这段灰暗的日子要持续多久。

那么我为什么还要谈论失败的好处呢？失败后我找到了自我，我开始把我所有的精力仅仅放在我关心的工作上。我变得自在，因为我已经经历过最大的恐惧。

我告诉自己：我还活着，我有一个值得我自豪的女儿，我有一个陈旧的打字机和很不错的写作灵感。在失败堆积而成的基础上，我开始重筑人生。

知识比任何證书都有价值

失败给了我内心的安宁，这种安宁是顺利通过测验考试获得不了的。失败让我认识自己，这些是没法从其他地方学到的。

从挫折中获得的知识越充满智慧、越有力，你在以后的生存中则越安全。除非遭受磨难，否则你们不会真正认识自己，也没法知道你们之间关系有多牢固。这些知识才是真正的礼物，比我曾获得过的任何证书都更有价值。

如果给我一个时间机器，我会告诉21岁的自己，个人的幸福在于自己能够认识到：生活不是拥有的物品与成就的清单。虽然你们会碰到很多分不清楚生活与清单的区别的人，但你们的资格证书、简历，都不能等价于你们的生活。生活是困难的，也是复杂的，它完全超出任何人的控制，谦虚地认识到这些能使你们在生命的沉浮中得以顺利生存。

释放力量：感受别人的生命

人类能够在没有自我经历的情况下学习和理解，可以思他人所思，想他人所想。古希腊作家普卢塔克曾说：“我们对内在修养的追求将会改变外在现实。”它在我们生命中每一天会被证明一千多次。我们只能通过生命存在来接触别人生命的事实，但是你们到底有多么愿意来感受他人的生命呢？

如果你们选择用你们的地位和影响力，来为没法发出声音的人说话；如果你们选择不仅认同有权的强势群体，也认同无权的弱势群体；如果你们保留你们的能力，用来想象那些没有你们这些优势的人的现实生活，那么不仅是你家人因你感到自豪，那些因为你们的帮助而生活得更好的数以千万计的人，也会怀有同样的感激。改变世界不需要魔法，我们自己的体内就有这样的力量：那就是我们一直在梦想，让这个世界变得更美好。

拥有胜过红宝石的朋友

在我的演说快要结束的时候，我对大家还有最后一个希望，这是我在自己21岁时就明白的道理。毕业那天和我坐在一起的朋友，后来成了我终生的朋友。他们是我孩子的教父母，非常友善，我碰到麻烦时可以向他们求助。我希望你们能拥有同样的友情。

此外，我希望即使你们忘记了我今天的演讲，但可以记住另一个古罗马哲学家塞内加说过的一句话：“生活如同小说，要紧的不是它有多长，而在于它有多好。”

我祝愿你们都有幸福的生活。谢谢大家。

朱棣文在哈佛大学毕业典礼上的演讲 第5篇

我读初中的时候，有一次，一只毒蜘蛛咬伤了我的右手。我问我妈妈该怎么处理---我妈妈并没有带我去看医生，她而是决定用火疗的方法治疗我的伤口。

她在我的手上包了好几层棉花，棉花上喷撒了白酒，在我的嘴里放了一双筷子，然后打火点燃了棉花。热量逐渐渗透过棉花，开始炙烤我的右手。灼烧的疼痛让我忍不住想喊叫，可嘴里的筷子却让我发不出声来。我只能看着我的手被火烧着，一分钟，两分钟，直到妈妈熄灭了火苗。

你看，我在中国的农村长大，在那个时候，我的村庄还是一个类似前工业时代的传统村落。在我出生的时候，我的村子里面没有汽车，没有电话，没有电，甚至也没有自来水。我们自然不能轻易的获得先进的现代医疗资源。那个时候也没有一个合适的医生可以来帮我处理蜘蛛咬伤的伤口。

在座的如果有生物背景的人，你们或许已经理解到了我妈妈使用的这个简单的治疗手段的基本原理：高热可以让蛋白质变性，而蜘蛛的毒液也是一种蛋白质。这样一种传统的土方法实际上有它一定的理论依据，想来也是挺有意思的。但是，作为哈佛大学生物化学的博士，我现在知道在我初中那个时候，已经有更好的，没有那么痛苦的，也没有那么有风险的治疗方法了。于是我便忍不住会问自己，为什么我在当时没有能够享用到这些更为先进的治疗方法呢？

蜘蛛咬伤的事故已经过去大概十五年了。我非常高兴的向在座的各位报告一下，我的手还是完好的。但是，我刚刚提到的这个问题这些年来一直停在我的脑海中，而我也时不时会因为先进科技知识在世界上不同地区的不平等分布而困扰。现如今，我们人类已经学会怎么进行人类基因编辑了，也研究清楚了很多个癌症发生发展的原因。我们甚至可以利用一束光来控制我们大脑内神经元的活动。每年生物医学的研究都会给我们带来不一样突破和进步——其中有不少令人振奋，也极具革命颠覆性的成果。

然而，尽管我们人类已经在科研上有了无数的建树，在怎样把这些最前沿的科学研究带到世界最需要该技术的地区这件事情上，我们有时做的差强人意。世界银行的数据显示，世界上大约有12%的人口每天的生活水平仍然低于2美元。营养不良每年导致三百万儿童死亡。将近3亿人口仍然受到疟疾的干扰。在世界各地，我们经常看到类似的由贫穷，疾病和自然匮乏导致的科学知识传播的受阻。现代社会里习以为常的那些救生常识经常在这些欠发达或不发达地区未能普及。于是，在世界上仍有很多地区，人们只能依赖于用火疗这一简单粗暴的方式来治理蜘蛛咬伤事故。

在哈佛读书期间，我有切身体会到先进的科技知识能够既简单又深远的帮助到社会上很多的人。本世纪初的时候，禽流感在亚洲多个国家肆虐。那个时候，村庄里的农民听到禽流感就像听到恶魔施咒一样，对其特别的恐惧。乡村的土医疗方法对这样一个疾病也是束手无策。农民对于普通感冒和流感的区别并不是很清楚，他们并不懂得流感比普通感冒可能更加致命。而且，大部分人对于科学家所发现的流感病毒能够跨不同物种传播这一事实并不清楚。

于是，在我意识到这些知识背景，及简单的将受感染的不同物种隔离开来以减缓疾病传播，并决定将这些知识传递到我的村庄时，我的心里第一次有了一种作为未来科学家的使命感。但这种使命感不只停在知识层面，它也是我个人道德发展的重要转折点，我自我理解的作为国际社会一员的责任感。

哈佛的教育教会我们学生敢于拥有自己的梦想，勇于立志改变世界。在毕业典礼这样一个特别的日子，我们在座的毕业生都会畅想我们未来的伟大征程和冒险。对我而言，我在此刻不可避免的还会想到我的家乡。我成长的经历教会了我作为一个科学家，积极的将我们所会的知识传递给那些急需这些知识的人是多么的重要。因为利用那些我们已经拥有的科技知识，我们能够轻而易举的帮助我的家乡，还有千千万万类似的村庄，让他们生活的世界变成一个我们现代社会看起来习以为常的场所，而这样一件事，是我们每一个毕业生都能够做的，也力所能及能够做到的。

但问题是，我们愿意来做这样的努力吗？

比以往任何时候都多，我们的社会强调科学和创新。但我们社会同样需要注意的一个重心是分配知识到那些真正需要的地方。改变世界并不意味着每个人都要做一个大突破。改变世界可以非常简单。它可以简单得变成作为世界不同地区的沟通者，并找出更多创造性的方法将知识传递给像我母亲或农民这样的群体。同时，改变世界也意味着我们的社会，作为一个整体，能够更清醒的认识到科技知识的更加均衡的分布，是人类社会发展的一个关键环节，而我们也能够一起奋斗将此目标变成现实。

如果我们能够做到这些，或许，将来有一天，一个在农村被毒蜘蛛咬伤的少年或许不用火疗这样粗暴的方法来治疗伤口，而是去看医生得到更为先进的医疗护理。

The Spider’s Bite

朱棣文在哈佛大学毕业典礼上的演讲 第6篇

尊敬的 Bok 校长，Rudenstine 前校长，即将上任的 Faust 校长，哈佛集团的各位成员，监管理事会的各位理事，各位老师，各位家长，各位同学：

I’ve been waiting more than 30 years to say this: Dad, I always told you I’d come back and get my degree.有一句话我等了三十年，现在终于可以说了： “ 老爸，我总是跟你说，我会回来拿到我的学位的!”

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.我要感谢哈佛大学在这个时候给我这个荣誉。明年，我就要换工作了(注：指从微软公司退休)…… 我终于可以在简历上写我有一个本科学位，这真是不错啊。

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.我为今天在座的各位同学感到高兴，你们拿到学位可比我简单多了。哈佛的校报称我是 “ 哈佛大学历史上最成功的辍学生 ”。我想这大概使我有资格代表我这一类学生发言 …… 在所有的失败者里，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，我还要提醒大家，我使得 Steve Ballmer(注：微软总经理)也从哈佛商学院退学了。因此，我是个有着恶劣影响力的人。这就是为什么我被邀请来在你们的毕业典礼上演讲。如果我在你们入学欢迎仪式上演讲，那么能够坚持到今天在这里毕业的人也许会少得多吧。

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.对我来说，哈佛的求学经历是一段非凡的经历。校园生活很有趣，我常去旁听我没选修的课。哈佛的课外生活也很棒，我在 Radcliffe 过着逍遥自在 的日子。每天我的寝室里总有很多人一直待到半夜，讨论着各种事情。因为每个人都知道我从不考虑第二天早起。这使得我变成了校园里那些不安分学生的头头，我们互相粘在一起，做出一种拒绝所有正常学生的姿态。

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.Radcliffe 是个过日子的好地方。那里的女生比男生多，而且大多数男生都是理工科的。这种状况为我创造了最好的机会，如果你们明白我的意思。可惜的是，我正是在这里学到了人生中悲伤的一课：机会大，并不等于你就会成功。

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.我在哈佛最难忘的回忆之一，发生在 1975 年 1 月。那时，我从宿舍楼里给位于 Albuquerque 的一家公司打了一个电话，那家公司已经在着手制造世界上第一台个人电脑。我提出想向他们出售软件。

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.我很担心，他们会发觉我是一个住在宿舍的学生，从而挂断电话。但是他们却说： “ 我们还没准备好，一个月后你再来找我们吧。” 这是个好消息，因为那时 软件还根本没有写出来呢。就是从那个时候起，我日以继夜地在这个小小的课外项目上工作，这导致了我学生生活的结束，以及通往微软公司的不平凡的旅程的开 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.不管怎样，我对哈佛的回忆主要都与充沛的精力和智力活动有关。哈佛的生活令人愉快，也令人感到有压力，有时甚至会感到泄气，但永远充满了挑战性。生 活在哈佛是一种吸引人的特殊待遇 …… 虽然我离开得比较早，但是我在这里的经历、在这里结识的朋友、在这里发展起来的一些想法，永远地改变了我。

But taking a serious look back … I do have one big regret.但是，如果现在严肃地回忆起来，我确实有一个真正的遗憾。

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.我离开哈佛的时候，根本没有意识到这个世界是多么的不平等。人类在健康、财富和机遇上的不平等大得可怕，它们使得无数的人们被迫生活在绝望之中。

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.我在哈佛学到了很多经济学和政治学的新思想。我也了解了很多科学上的新进展。

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，人类最大的进步并不来自于这些发现，而是来自于那些有助于减少人类不平等的发现。不管通过何种手段 —— 民主制度、健全的公共教育体系、高质量的医疗保健、还是广泛的经济机会 —— 减少不平等始终是人类最大的成就。

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.我离开校园的时候，根本不知道在这个国家里，有几百万的年轻人无法获得接受教育的机会。我也不知道，发展中国家里有无数的人们生活在无法形容的贫穷和疾病之中。

It took me decades to find out.我花了几十年才明白了这些事情。

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.在座的各位同学，你们是在与我不同的时代来到哈佛的。你们比以前的学生，更多地了解世界是怎样的不平等。在你们的哈佛求学过程中，我希望你们已经思考过一个问题，那就是在这个新技术加速发展的时代，我们怎样最终应对这种不平等，以及我们怎样来解决这个问题。

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?

为了讨论的方便，请想象一下，假如你每个星期可以捐献一些时间、每个月可以捐献一些钱 —— 你希望这些时间和金钱，可以用到对拯救生命和改善人类生活有最大作用的地方。你会选择什么地方?

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.对 Melinda(注：盖茨的妻子)和我来说，这也是我们面临的问题：我们如何能将我们拥有的资源发挥出最大的作用。

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.在讨论过程中，Melinda 和我读到了一篇文章，里面说在那些贫穷的国家，每年有数百万的儿童死于那些在美国早已不成问题的疾病。麻疹、疟疾、肺

炎、乙型肝炎、黄热病、还有一种以前我从未听说过的轮状病毒，这些疾病每年导致 50 万儿童死亡，但是在美国一例死亡病例也没有。

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.我们被震惊了。我们想，如果几百万儿童正在死亡线上挣扎，而且他们是可以被挽救的，那么世界理应将用药物拯救他们作为头等大事。但是事实并非如此。那些价格还不到一美元的救命的药剂，并没有送到他们的手中。

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.如果你相信每个生命都是平等的，那么当你发现某些生命被挽救了，而另一些生命被放弃了，你会感到无法接受。我们对自己说： “ 事情不可能如此。如果这是真的，那么它理应是我们努力的头等大事。”

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，我们用任何人都会想到的方式开始工作。我们问： “ 这个世界怎么可以眼睁睁看着这些孩子死去? ”

我们并没有很多机会了解那些死亡事件。媒体总是报告新闻，几百万人将要死去并非新闻。如果没有人报道，那么这些事件就很容易被忽视。另一方面，即使 我们确实目睹了事件本身或者看到了相关报道，我们也很难持续关注这些事件。看着他人受苦是令人痛苦的，何况问题又如此复杂，我们根本不知道如何去帮助他 人。所以我们会将脸转过去。

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.就算我们真正发现了问题所在，也不过是迈出了第一步，接着还有第二步：那就是从复杂的事件中找到解决办法。

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.如果我们要让关心落到实处，我们就必须找到解决办法。如果我们有一个清晰的和可靠的答案，那么当任何组织和个人发出疑问 “ 如何我能提供帮助 ” 的时 候，我们就能采取行动。我们就能够保证不浪费一丁点全世界人类对他人的关心。但是，世界的复杂性使得很难找到对全世界每一个有爱心的人都有效的行动方法，因此人类对他人的关心往往很难产生实际效果。

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.从这个复杂的世界中找到解决办法，可以分为四个步骤：确定目标，找到最高效的方法，发现适用于这个方法的新技术，同时最聪明地利用现有的技术，不管它是复杂的药物，还是最简单的蚊帐。

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.艾滋病就是一个例子。总的目标，毫无疑问是消灭这种疾病。最高效的方法是预防。最理想的技术是发明一种疫苗，只要注射一次，就可以终生免疫。所以，政府、制药公司、基金会应该资助疫苗研究。但是，这样研究工作很可能十年之内都无法完成。因此，与此同时，我们必须使用现有的技术，目前最有效的预防方法 就是设法让人们避免那些危险的行为。

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.要实现这个新的目标，又可以采用新的四步循环。这是一种模式。关键的东西是永远不要停止思考和行动。我们千万不能再犯上个世纪在疟疾和肺结核上犯过的错误，那时我们因为它们太复杂，而放弃了采取行动。

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.在发现问题和找到解决方法之后，就是最后一步 —— 评估工作结果，将你的成功经验或者失败经验传播出去，这样其他人就可以从你的努力中有所收获。

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，你必须有一些统计数字。你必须让他人知道，你的项目为几百万儿童新接种了疫苗。你也必须让他人知道，儿童死亡人数下降了多少。这些都是很关键的，不仅有利于改善项目效果，也有利于从商界和政府得到更多的帮助。

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，这些还不够，如果你想激励其他人参加你的项目，你就必须拿出更多的统计数字;你必须展示你的项目的人性因素，这样其他人就会感到拯救一个生命，对那些处在困境中的家庭到底意味着什么。

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.几年前，我去瑞士达沃斯旁听一个全球健康问题论坛，会议的内容有关于如何拯救几百万条生命。天哪，是几百万!想一想吧，拯救一个人的生命已经让人何等激动，现在你要把这种激动再乘上几百万倍 …… 但是，不幸的是，这是我参加过的最最乏味的论坛，乏味到我无法强迫自己听下去。

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?

那次经历之所以让我难忘，是因为之前我们刚刚发布了一个软件的第 13 个版本，我们让观众激动得跳了起来，喊出了声。我喜欢人们因为软件而感到激动，那么我们为什么不能够让人们因为能够拯救生命而感到更加激动呢?

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.除非你能够让人们看到或者感受到行动的影响力，否则你无法让人们激动。如何做到这一点，并不是一件简单的事。

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.同前面一样，在这个问题上，我依然是乐观的。不错，人类的不平等有史以来一直存在，但是那些能够化繁为简的新工具，却是最近才出现的。这些新工具可以帮助我们，将人类的同情心发挥最大的作用，这就是为什么将来同过去是不一样的。

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.这个时代无时无刻不在涌现出新的革新 —— 生物技术，计算机，互联网 —— 它们给了我们一个从未有过的机会，去终结那些极端的贫穷和非恶性疾病的死亡。

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，乔治.马歇尔也是在这个地方的毕业典礼上，宣布了一个计划，帮助那些欧洲国家的战后建设。他说： “ 我认为，困难的一点是这个问题太复杂，报纸和电台向公众源源不断地提供各种事实，使得大街上的普通人极端难于清晰地判断形势。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.马歇尔发表这个演讲之后的三十年，我那一届学生毕业，当然我不在其中。那时，新技术刚刚开始萌芽，它们将使得这个世界变得更小、更开放、更容易看到、距离更近。

The emergence of low-cost personal computers gave rise to a powerful network that has transformed opportunities for learning and communicating.低成本的个人电脑的出现，使得一个强大的互联网有机会诞生，它为学习和交流提供了巨大的机会。

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.网络的神奇之处，不仅仅是它缩短了物理距离，使得天涯若比邻。它还极大地增加了怀有共同想法的人们聚集在一起的机会，我们可以为了解决同一个问题，一起共同工作。这就大大加快了革新的进程，发展速度简直快得让人震惊。

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.与此同时，世界上有条件上网的人，只是全部人口的六分之一。这意味着，还有许多具有创造性的人们，没有加入到我们的讨论中来。那些有着实际的操作经验和相关经历的聪明人，却没有技术来帮助他们，将他们的天赋或者想法与全世界分享。

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 ago.lunwen001.cn provided

我们需要尽可能地让更多的人有机会使用新技术，因为这些新技术正在引发一场革命，人类将因此可以互相帮助。新技术正在创造一种可能，不仅是政府，还 包括大学、公司、小机构、甚至个人，能够发现问题所在、能够找到解决办法、能够评估他们努力的效果，去改变那些马歇尔六十年前就说到过的问题 —— 饥饿、贫 穷和绝望。

Members of the Harvard Family: Here in the Yard is one of the great collections of intellectual talent in the world.哈佛是一个大家庭。这个院子里在场的人们，是全世界最有智力的人类群体之一。

What for?

我们可以做些什么?

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，哈佛的老师、校友、学生和资助者，已经用他们的能力改善了全世界各地人们的生活。但是，我们还能够再做什么呢?有没有可能，哈佛的人们可以将他们的智慧，用来帮助那些甚至从来没有听到过 “ 哈佛 ” 这个名字的人?

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:lunwen001.cn provided

请允许我向各位院长和教授，提出一个请求 —— 你们是哈佛的智力领袖，当你们雇用新的老师、授予终身教职、评估课程、决定学位颁发标准的时候，请问你们自己如下的问题：

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

我们最优秀的人才是否在致力于解决我们最大的问题?

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?

哈佛是否鼓励她的老师去研究解决世界上最严重的不平等?哈佛的学生是否从全球那些极端的贫穷中学到了什么 …… 世界性的饥荒 …… 清洁的水资源的缺乏 …… 无法上学的女童 …… 死于非恶性疾病的儿童 …… 哈佛的学生有没有从中学到东西?

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

那些世界上过着最优越生活的人们，有没有从那些最困难的人们身上学到东西?

These are not rhetorical questions – you will answer with your policies.这些问题并非语言上的修辞。你必须用自己的行动来回答它们。

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.lunwen001.cn provided

我的母亲在我被哈佛大学录取的那一天，曾经感到非常骄傲。她从没有停止督促我，去为他人做更多的事情。在我结婚的前几天，她主持了一个新娘进我家的 仪式。在这个仪式上，她高声朗读了一封关于婚姻的信，这是她写给 Melinda 的。那时，我的母亲已经因为癌症病入膏肓，但是她还是认为这是又一个传播她 的信念的机会。在那封信的结尾，她写道： “ 对于那些接受了许多帮助的人们，他们还在期待更多的帮助。”

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，我们在这个院子里的这些人，被给予过什么 —— 天赋、特权、机遇 —— 那么可以这样说，全世界的人们几乎有无限的权力，期待我们做出贡献。

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.lunwen001.cn provided

同这个时代的期望一样，我也要向今天各位毕业的同学提出一个忠告：你们要选择一个问题，一个复杂的问题，一个有关于人类深刻的不平等的问题，然后你 们要变成这个问题的专家。如果你们能够使得这个问题成为你们职业的核心，那么你们就会非常杰出。但是，你们不必一定要去做那些大事。每个星期只用几个小 时，你就可以通过互联网得到信息，找到志同道合的朋友，发现困难所在，找到解决它们的途径。

Don’t let complexity stop you.Be activists.Take on the big inequities.It will be one of the great experiences of your lives.不要让这个世界的复杂性阻碍你前进。要成为一个行动主义者。将解决人类的不平等视为己任。它将成为你生命中最重要的经历之一。

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.在座的各位毕业的同学，你们所处的时代是一个神奇的时代。当你们离开哈佛的时候，你们拥有的技术，是我们那一届学生所没有的。你们已经了解到了世界 上的不平等，我们那时还不知道这些。有了这样的了解之后，要是你再弃那些你可以帮助的人们于不顾，就将受到良心的谴责，只需一点小小的努力，你就可以改变 那些人们的生活。你们比我们拥有更大的能力;你们必须尽早开始，尽可能长时期坚持下去。

Knowing what you know, how could you not?

知道了你们所知道的一切，你们怎么可能不采取行动呢?

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 年后你们还会再回到哈佛，想起你们用自己的天赋和能力所做出的一切。我希望，在那个时候，你们用来评价自己的标准，不仅仅是你们的专业

成就，而包括你们为改变这个世界深刻的不平等所做出的努力，以及你们如何善待那些远隔千山万水、与你们毫不涉及的人们，你们与他们唯一的共同点就是同为人 类。