比尔盖茨哈佛毕业演讲稿(中英版)

2024-10-22

比尔盖茨哈佛毕业演讲稿(中英版)（精选4篇）

1.比尔盖茨哈佛毕业演讲稿(中英版) 篇一

比尔盖茨在哈佛大学毕业典礼上的演讲稿

下文是比尔.盖茨今年 6 月 7 日在哈佛大学毕业典礼上的演讲的翻译。他在其中谈到了很多事情，包括他的学生时代、他的退学经历、以及他眼中人生最有意义的事情。我觉得内容非常好，完全改变了我对比尔.盖茨的看法，所以花了两个晚上翻译出来，希望让更多的人看到。

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？ ‖

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.答案很简单，也很令人难堪。在市场经济中，拯救儿童是一项没有利润的工作，政府也不会提供补助。这些儿童之所以会死亡，是因为他们的父母在经济上没有实力，在政治上没有能力发出声音。

But you and I have both.但是，你们和我在经济上有实力，在政治上能够发出声音。

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.我们可以让市场更好地为穷人服务，如果我们能够设计出一种更有创新性的资本主义制度 —— 如果我们可以改变市场，让更多的人可以获得利润，或者至少可以维持生活 —— 那么，这就可以帮到那些正在极端不平等的状况中受苦的人们。我们还可以向全世界的政府施压，要求他们将纳税人的钱，花到更符合纳税人价值观的地方。

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.如果我们能够找到这样一种方法，既可以帮到穷人，又可以为商人带来利润，为政治家带来选票，那么我们就找到了一种减少世界性不平等的可持续的发展道路。这个任务是无限的。它不可能被完全完成，但是任何自觉地解决这个问题的尝试，都将会改变这个世界。

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.在这个问题上，我是乐观的。但是，我也遇到过那些感到绝望的怀疑主义者。他们说： ― 不平等从人类诞生的第一天就存在，到人类灭亡的最后一天也将存在。—— 因为人类对这个问题根本不在乎。‖ 我完全不能同意这种观点。

I believe we have more caring than we know what to do with.我相信，问题不是我们不在乎，而是我们不知道怎么做。

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.此刻在这个院子里的所有人，生命中总有这样或那样的时刻，目睹人类的悲剧，感到万分伤心。但是我们什么也没做，并非我们无动于衷，而是因为我们不知道做什么和怎么做。如果我们知道如何做是有效的，那么我们就会采取行动。

The barrier to change is not too little caring;it is too much complexity.改变世界的阻碍，并非人类的冷漠，而是世界实在太复杂。

To turn caring into action, we need to see a problem, see a solution, and see the impact.But complexity blocks all three steps.为了将关心转变为行动，我们需要找到问题，发现解决办法的方法，评估后果。但是世界的复杂性使得所有这些步骤都难于做到。

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.即使有了互联网和 24 小时直播的新闻台，让人们真正发现问题所在，仍然十分困难。当一架飞机坠毁了，官员们会立刻召开新闻发布会，他们承诺进行调查、找到原因、防止将来再次发生类似事故。

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.但是如果那些官员敢说真话，他们就会说： ― 在今天这一天，全世界所有可以避免的死亡之中，只有

0.5% 的死者来自于这次空难。我们决心尽一切努力，调查这个 0.5% 的死亡原因。‖ The bigger problem is not the plane crash, but the millions of preventable deaths.显然，更重要的问题不是这次空难，而是其他几百万可以预防的死亡事件。

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。

Good luck.最后，祝各位同学好运。

2.比尔盖茨哈佛毕业演讲稿(中英版) 篇二

哈佛生物系博士毕业生何江作为研究生优秀毕业生代表演讲。他是哈佛第一位享此殊荣的大陆学生。

何江演讲英文版

The Spider’s Bite

When I was in middle school, a poisonous spider bit my right hand.I ran to my mom for help—but instead of taking me to a doctor, my mom set my hand on fire.After wrapping my hand withseveral layers of cotton, then soaking it in wine, she put a chopstick into my mouth,and ignited the cotton.Heat quickly penetrated the cotton and began to roast my hand.The searing pain made me want to scream, but the chopstick prevented it.All I could do was watch my hand burn-one minute, then two minutes –until mom put out the fire.You see, the part of China I grew up in was a rural village, and at that time pre-industrial.When I was born, my village had no cars, no telephones, no electricity, not even running water.And we certainly didn’t have access to modern medical resources.There was no doctor my mother could bring me to see about my spider bite.For those who study biology, you may have grasped the science behind my mom’s cure: heat deactivates proteins, and a spider’s venom is simply a form of protein.It’s coolhow that folk remedy actually incorporates basic biochemistry, isn’t it? But I am a PhD student in biochemistry at Harvard, I now know that better, less painful and less risky treatments existed.So I can’t help but ask myself, why I didn’t receive oneat the time?

Fifteen years have passed since that incident.I am happy to report that my hand is fine.But this question lingers, and I continue to be troubled by the unequal distribution of scientific knowledge throughout the world.We have learned to edit the human genome and unlock many secrets of how cancer progresses.We can manipulate neuronal activity literally with the switch of a light.Each year brings more advances in biomedical research-exciting, transformative accomplishments.Yet, despite the knowledge we have amassed, we haven’t been so successful in deploying it to where it’s needed most.According to the World Bank, twelve percent of the world’s population lives on less than $2 a day.Malnutrition kills more than 3 million children annually.Three hundred million peopleare afflicted by malaria globally.All over the world, we constantly see these problems of poverty, illness, and lack of resources impeding the flow of scientific information.Lifesaving knowledge we take for granted in the modern world is often unavailable in these underdeveloped regions.And in far too many places, people are still essentially trying to cure a spider bite with fire.While studying at Harvard, I saw how scientific knowledge can help others in simple, yet profound ways.The bird flu pandemic in the 2000s looked to my village like a spell cast by demons.Our folk medicine didn’t even have half-measures to offer.What’s more, farmers didn’t know the difference between common cold and flu;they didn’t understand that the flu was much more lethal than the common cold.Most people were also unaware that the virus could transmit across different species.So when I realized that simple hygiene practices like separating different animal species could contain the spread of the disease, and that I could help make this knowledge available to my village, that was my first ―Aha‖ moment as a budding scientist.But it was more than that: it was also a vital inflection point in my own ethical development, my own self-understanding as a member of the global community.Harvard dares us to dream big, to aspire to change the world.Here on this Commencement Day, we are probably thinking of grand destinations and big adventures that await us.As for me, I am also thinking of the farmers in my village.My experiencehere reminds me how important it is for researchersto communicateour knowledge to those who need it.Because by using the sciencewe already have, we could probably bring my village and thousands like it into the world you and I take for granted every day.And that’s an impact every one of us can make!

But the question is, will we make the effort or not?

More than ever before,our society emphasizes science and innovation.But an equally important emphasis should be on distributing the knowledge we have to where it’s needed.Changing the world doesn’t mean thateveryone has to find the next big thing.It can be as simple as becoming better communicators, and finding more creative ways to pass on the knowledge we have to people like my mom and the farmers in their local community.Our society also needs to recognize that the equal distribution of knowledge is a pivotal step of human development, and work to bring this into reality.And if we do that, then perhaps a teenager in rural China who is bitten by a spider will not have to burn his hand, but will know to seek a doctor instead.在我读初中的时候，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。

美国东部时间5月26日上午10点，哈佛大学生物系博士毕业生何江作为优秀研究生代表发表演讲。何江是哈佛大学历史上第一位享此殊荣的中国大陆学生。

这位1988年出生于湖南农村、家境一般的中国学生，凭借自己的努力，在中国科技大学获得了最高荣誉奖——郭沫若奖学金后，进入哈佛大学硕博连读，如今又获得了相当于哈佛大学给予毕业生的最高荣誉——从全校数万名毕业生中各选出一名本科生和研究生代表作毕业演讲。

何江在毕业演讲中讲述了一个自己中学时代被毒蜘蛛咬伤的―农村故事‖，进而推及到自己在哈佛大学所切身体会到的先进科技知识，他说道，―作为一名科学家，积极地将我们所会的知识传递给那些急需这些知识的人是多么地重要‖。

―改变世界可以非常简单‖。在演讲的最后，何江说，―改变世界也意味着我们的社会，作为一个整体，能够更清醒地认识到科技知识更加均衡的分布，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。‖

何江简介：

3.比尔盖茨哈佛毕业演讲稿(中英版) 篇三

Bill and Melinda Gates 比尔盖茨夫妇 Bill：Congratulations, class of 2014!祝贺2014届毕业生！

Melinda and I are excited to be here.我和梅琳达很高兴能来到这里。

It would be a thrill for anyone to be invited to speak at a Stanford commencement, but it’s especially gratifying for us.能受邀到斯坦福做毕业演讲对于任何人来说都是一件令人激动的事情, 我们尤是如此。Stanford is rapidly becoming the favorite university for members of our family, and it’s long been a favorite university for Microsoft and our foundation.斯坦福正迅速成为我们家人最喜欢的一所大学，它也一直是微软以及我们基金会最偏爱的一所大学。

Our formula has been to get the smartest, most creative people working on the most important problems.我们喜欢招募最聪明最有创造性的人去解决最重要的问题。

It turns out that a disproportionate number of thost people are at Stanford.事实证明，我们这里很大一部分人都来自于斯坦福。

Right now, we have more than 30 foundation research projects underway here.现在这里有30多个基金会研究项目正在进行。

When we want to learn more about the immune system to help cure the worst diseases we work with Stanford.当我们想更深入理解免疫系统帮助治疗最严重的疾病时，我们找到斯坦福一同合作。

When we want to understand the changing landscape of higher education in the United States, so that more low-income students get college degrees, we work with Stanford.当我们想了解美国高等教育现状的改变趋势,帮助更多低收入家庭的学生获得大学学位时，我们找到斯坦福一同合作。This is where genius lives.斯坦福是一个盛产天才的地方。

There’s a flexibility of mind here, and openness to change, an eagerness for what’s new.这里的思想充满了灵活性，开放性和创新性。

This is where people come to discover the future, and have fun doing it.斯坦福是促进人类探索未来并乐在其中的地方。

Melinda: Now, some people call you all nerds and we hear that you claim that label with pride.有些人把你们称作“书呆子”，听说你们很喜欢这个称谓。

Bill: Well, so do we.我们也喜欢。

夫妇同时戴眼镜

My normal glasses really aren’t all that different.Laughing。台下大笑。我平时用的眼睛其实也没有多大不同。

There are so many remarkable things going on here at this campus, but if Melinda and I had go put into one word what we love most about Stanford, it’s the optimism.这所学校里发生了很多了不起的事情。如果要我和梅琳达用一个词来总结对斯坦福的热爱，我们会说是“乐观”。

There’s an infectious feeling here that innovation can solve almost every problem.这里有着浓郁的氛围，让人觉得创新能够解决所有问题。

That’s the belief that drove me in 1975 to leave a college in the suburbs of Boston and go on endless leave of absence.也正是这种信念让我在1975年离开波士顿郊外的那所大学，从此一去不复返。

I believed that magic of computers and software would empower people everywhere and make the world much, much better.我相信，神奇的计算机和软件能够让全世界所有人获得力量，让世界变得比现在好很多很多。It’s been 40 years since then, and 20 years since Melinda and I were married.从那时到现在已经过40年，我和梅琳达结婚也已经20年了。We are both more optimistic now and ever.我们仍然坚持着这份乐观，甚至更甚于当年。But on our journey, our optimism evolved.随着人生旅途的展开，这份乐观也随之深化。

We would like to tell you what we learned and talk to you today about how your optimism and ours can do more for more people..今天，我们愿与大家分享自己的经历，告诉大家你们的乐观也可以和我们一样为更多的人做到更多。

When Paul Allen and I started Microsoft, we wanted to bring the power of the computers and software to the people, and that was the kind of rhetoric we used.我和保罗`艾伦开创微软时，希望让计算机和软件的力量造福全人类，这也正是我们所想传达的理念。

One of the pioneering book in the field had raised fist on the cover, and it was called “Computer Lib.”

领域内的一本先驱性的书籍封面上举起拳头，将这称作是“计算机解放运动”。At that time, only big businesses could buy computers.当时，只有大公司才买得起计算机。

We wanted to offer the same power to regular people, and democratize computing.我们希望让普通人也能使用这份力量，让计算机能够民众化普及化。

By the 1990s, we saw how profoundly personal computers could empower people, but that success created a new dilemma.到1990年代，我们都见证了个人计算机为人类做出的巨大贡献，但这份成功同时又引来了新的困境。

If rich kids got computers and poor kids didn’t, then technology would make inequality worse.如果富有孩子有电脑用，而穷孩子没有，那么技术的天平将变得更加不平等。That ran counter to our core belief.这将同我们的核心新年背道而驰。Technology should benefit everyone.技术应当让每个人收益。

So we worked to close the digital divide.于是我们开始行动，试图缩小这一数字鸿沟。

I made a priority at Microsoft, and Melinda and I made it an early priority at our Foundation.我原来在微软以及我和梅琳达在盖茨基金会早期都确立了。

Donating personal computers to public libraries to make sure that everyone had access.向公共图书馆捐赠个人计算机这一优先事务以帮助每个人获得计算机使用权。The digital divide was a focus of mine in 1997, when I took my first trip to South Africa.1997年这意数字鸿沟是我的主要关注焦点，当时我是第一次去南非。I went there on business.我是出公差。

So I spent most of my time in meetings in downtown Johannesburg.大多数时间都在于汉内斯堡中心城区开会。

I stayed in the home of one of the richest families of South Africa.住在南非国内非常有线的一位富豪家里。

It had only been three years since the election of Nelson Mandela marked the end of apartheid.当时离纳尔逊·曼德拉当选只有三年时间，种族隔离刚刚终结。

When I sat down for dinner with my hosts, they used a bell to call the butler.我同屋子的主任坐在一起用餐，主人眼红铃来呼唤仆人。

After dinner, the women and men separated and the men smoked cigars.餐后女人们会和男人们分开，男人们会抽雪茄。

I thought, good thing I read Jane Austen, or I wouldn’t have known what was going on.我心想，幸好我读过简·奥斯汀的作品，否则我估计根本无法理解这里发生了什么。

But the next day I went to Soweto, the poor town just southwest of Johannesburg, that had been the center of the antiapartheid movement.第二天我去了索韦托，于汉内斯堡西南面一个很贫穷的城镇，曾经反种族运动的中心。It was a short distance from the city into the township, but the entry was sudden, jarring and harsh.这座城镇离约翰内斯堡主城区并不远，但进入索韦托后，我立刻感受到了强烈的视觉冲击。I passed into a world completely unlike the one I came from.它和我之前看到的完全是两个世界。

My visit to Soweto became an early lesson in how naïve I was.到索韦托后我才刚开始意识到原来自己有多么天真。

Microsoft was donating computers and software to a community center there.微软当时将计算机和软件捐给当地的社区中心。The kind of thing we did in the United States.这同我们在美国所做的一样。

But it became clear to me, very quickly, that this was not the United States.但我很快意识到南非并不是美国。

I had seen statistics on poverty, but I had never really seen poverty.我之前看过关于贫困的统计数字，但却从来没真正看过什么叫贫穷。

The people there lived in corrugated tin shacks, with on electricity, no water, no toilets.当地人住在简陋的金属棚里，没有电没有水没有厕所。Most people didn’t wear shoes.大多数人连鞋都没有穿的。

They walked barefoot along the streets, except there were no streets, just ruts in the mud.他们赤脚在街上走，其实那里根本就没有街，不过只有一些泥巴路。The community center had no consistent source of power.社区中心连持续的电力供应都没有。

So they rigged up an extension cord that ran 200 feet from the center to the diesel generator

outside.人们只能临时拉了一根200英尺长的延长线，让社区中心能够街上外面的柴油机发电机。Looking at this setup, I knew the minute the reporters left, the generator would get to a more urgent task.看到这种情形，我知道一旦记者离开发电机就会被用到更紧急的任务。

And the people at the community center would go back to worry about challenges that couldn’t be solved by a personal computer.而社区中心的人们也需要重新去面对那些不是个人计算机就能解决的问题。When I gave my prepared remarks to the press, I said Soweto is a milestone.我按照事先准备的讲稿，对媒体说索韦托是一个里程碑。

There’s major decisions ahead about whether technology will leave the developing world behind.在未来，为了不让发展中国家在技术上落后显然还有很多重大决定要做。This is to close the gap.我们将像这样，努力缩小技术上的鸿沟。

But as I read those words, I knew they weren’t super relevant.但在我阅读这份讲稿时，我深知情况远远没有这么简单。

What I didn’t say was, by the way, we’re not focused on the fact that half a million people on this continent are dying every year from malaria.讲稿上有一段我没有读，也就是我们还没开始关注这块大陆上，每年有大约五十万人死于疟疾这一事实。

But we are sure as hell going to bring you computers.但我们至少能够给大家带来计算机。

Before I went to Soweto, I thought I understood the world’s problems but I was blind to many of the most important ones.在我去索韦托之前，我以为我了解世界的问题，事实上我对很多问题都一无所知。

I was so taken aback by what I saw that I had to ask myself, did I still believe that innovation could solve the world’s toughest problems? 亲眼所见的情形让我非常惊讶，我不得不问自己我还相信创新能够解决世界上最困难的问题吗？

I promised myself that before I came back to Africa, I would find out more about what keeps people poor.我许下承若要在下次回到非洲之前，更了解到底是什么导致了人们的持续贫穷。Over the years, Melinda and I did learn more about the pressing needs of the poor.这些年来，我和梅琳达确实更了解穷人的急切需求。

On a later trip to South Africa, I paid a visit to a hospital for patients with MDR-TB, multidrug resistant tuberculosis, a disease with a cure rate of under 59%.在之后一次去南非的过程中，我造访了一家治疗MDR-TB病人的医院，MDR-TB也就是多耐药肺结核，这种疾病的治愈率低于50%。I remember that hospital as a place of despair.我还记得那所医院是一个充满绝望的地方。

It was a giant open ward, with a sea of patients shuffling around in pajamas, wearing masks.一个开放式的巨大病房中，到处都是身着病服和口罩，驮着沉重步伐走动的病人。There was one floor just for children, including some babies lying in bed.有一层楼专门容纳儿童病人，包括刚出生不久的婴儿。

They had a little school for kids who were well enough to learn, but many of the children couldn’t make it, and the hospital didn’t seem to know whether it was worth it to keep the school open.这里还有一所小型学校，为身体条件足够好的孩子们准备，但很多孩子都没好转到能够上学，医院不知道开这么一所学校是否值得。I talked to a patient there in her early 30s.我同以为三十岁出头的年轻女患者谈了谈。

She had been a worker at a TB hospital when she came down with a cough.她之前在一家结合并医院当护工，结果自己也开始咳嗽。She went to a doctor and said she had drug-resistant TB.她去看医生，医生说她得了耐药性结核病。She was later diagnosed with AIDS.之后她又被确诊患有艾滋病。

She wasn’t going to live much longer.But there were plenty of MDR patients, waiting to take her bed when she vacated it.她估计活不了多久，但还有很多肺结核患者等待这她死后腾出的病床。This was hell with a waiting list.这是一个排队等待死亡的地狱。

But seeing this hell didn’t reduce my optimism.It channeled it.看到这个地狱并没有挫败我的乐观态度。而是为我指引了方向。

I got into the car as I left and I told the doctor we were working with, I know MDR-TB is hard to cure, but we must do something for these people.离开的时候，我钻进车里告诉与我们共事的医生，我知道MDR-TB很难治愈，但我们必须为这些人们做点什么。

And, in fact, this year, we are entering phase three with the new TB drug regime for patients who respond, instead of a 50% cure rate after 18 months for $2000, we get an 80% cure rate after six months under $100.实际上，就在今年，我们进入了一种新结核药的第三阶段，对于响应的患者，情况不再是2000美元价格，治疗18个月治愈率50%，而是不到100美元的价格，治疗6个月治愈率80%。

Optimism is often dismissed as false hope.But there is also false hopelessness.乐观经常会由于错误的希望而消散。但错误的绝望同样存在。

That’s the attitude that says we can’t defeat poverty and disease.We absolutely can.这种态度总在告诉我们，我们无法打败贫穷和疾病。实际上我们肯定能打败。

Melinda: Bill called me that day after he visited the TB hospital and normally if one of us is on an international trip, we will go through our agenda for the day and who we met and where we have been.那天造访结合医院后，比尔打电话给我，如果我们俩有人要到国外出差，一般情况下，我们都会对去哪以及见谁有一个计划。

But this call was different.Bill said to me, Melinda, I have been somewhere that I have never been before.但这通电话很特别。比尔跟我说，梅琳达我去了一个从没去过的地方。And then he coked up and he couldn’t go on.然后他有些哽咽有些话说不出来。

And he finally just said, I will tell you more when I get home.最后他说等我回来以后再跟你仔细讲。

And I knew what he was going through because when you see people with so little hope, it breaks your heart.我能了解他正经受着什么，当你看到有人如此缺乏希望时，你会感到心碎。

But if you want to do the most, you have to go see the worst, and I’ve had days like that too.但要想做得最多，你必须看到最糟的真相。我也有过这样的经历。

About ten years ago, I traveled with a group of friends to India.On last day I was there, I had a meeting with a group of prostitutes, and I expected to talk to them about the risk of AIDS that they were facing, but what they wanted to talk to me about was stigma.大约十年前我和一帮朋友去了印度。待在那里的最后一天我见了一群妓女，跟她们讨论她们所面临的艾滋病威胁，但她们想跟我讲的确实污名。Many of these women had been abandoned by their husbands.她们很多人都被丈夫抛弃了。

That’s why they even went into prostitution.不得已靠卖身为生。

They wanted to be able to feed their children.她们必须想办法养活自己的孩子。

They were so low in the eyes of society that they could be raped and robbed and beaten by anyone, even the police, and nobody cared.她们在社会的眼中如此卑贱以至于任何人甚至警察都可以随意强奸抢劫和殴打她们，但却没人关心。

Talking to them about their lives was so moving to me, but what I remember most was how much they wanted to be touched.同她们的对话让我动容，我印象最深刻的是她们很希望同人接触。They wanted to touch me and to be touched by them.她们希望接触我也希望我接触她们。

It was if physical contact somehow proved their worth.似乎只有通过这种身体接触，她们才能体会到自己的存在价值。

And so before I left, we linked arms hand in hand and did a photo together.于是我在离开之前，同她们手拉手照了合影。

Later that same day, I spent some time in India in a home for the dying.还是那一天，我后来又去了一所垂死之家。

I walked into a large hall and I saw rows and rows of cots, and every cot was attended to except for one, that was far off in the corner.And so I decided to go over there.我走过大厅看到一排排病床，每张病床都有人照料，除了角落里的那张略显孤独。于是我决定过去看看。

The patient who was in this room was a woman in her 30s.And I remember her eyes.床上是以为三十多岁的女性。我深深记得她的眼睛。

She had these huge, brown, sorrowful eyes.She was emaciated and on the verge of death and her intestines were not holding anything and so the workers had put a pan under her bed, cut a hole in bottom of the bed, and everything in her was just pouring out into that pan.她有一对充满悲伤的棕色大眼睛。她很消瘦离死亡已不遥远，她的肚子里已经无法容纳任何东西，义工们不得不将床板切一个洞，并将盆子放到床下，她体内的一切就这样倾泻到盆子里。

I could tell that she had AIDS.Both in the way she looked and the fact that she was off in this corner alone.我可以看出她患有艾滋病。她有一些症状而且被安排在这个孤独的角落更说明了这一点。The stigma of AIDS is vicious, especially for women.And the punishment is abandonment.艾滋病的污名是恶劣的，特别是对于女性。而惩罚便是被抛弃。When I arrived at her cot, I suddenly felt completely and totally helpless.我到了她的病床前，我感到的是完全的无助。

I had absolutely nothing I could offer this woman.I knew I couldn’t save her.But I didn’t want her to be alone.我没有什么能给这位女性的。我没办法挽救她的生命。但我不认看到她那么孤独。

So I knelt down with her and put my hand out..She reached for my hand and grasped it and she wouldn’t let it go.于是跪在她身旁，把手伸给他。她抓住我的手久久不愿放开。

I didn’t speak her language.And I couldn’t think of what I should say to her.我不会讲她的语言，我也不知道该对她说什么。And finally I just said to her, it’s going to be okay.最后我只能说没事的。

It’s going to be okay.It’s not your fault.没事的，这不是你的错。

And after I had been with her for sometime, she started pointing to the roof top.She clearly wanted to go up and I realized the sun was going down and what she wanted to do was so up on the roof and see the sunset.我同他相处了一段时间，她指向屋顶。她显然是想上去，我意识到太阳就快下山。她肯定是想到屋顶看日落。

The workers in this home for the dying were very busy.I said to them can we take her up on the roof top? And they said, “No.No.We have to pass out medicines.”

垂死之家的义工都非常忙碌。我们她们能否帮忙把她抬上屋顶？她们说：“不行，我们还需要非法药物。”

I waited that for that to happen and I asked another worker and they said “No no no, we are too busy.We can’t get her up there.”

我等着她们做完我又问了另一个义工“不行不行，我们太忙了，没时间把她抬上去。” And so finally, I just scooped this woman up in my arms.最后我只能自己将这位女性用手搂起。

She was nothing more than skin over bones and I took her up on the roof top and I found one of those plastic chairs that blows over in the light breeze.I put her there and sat her down, and put a blanket over her legs and she sat there facing to the west, watching the sunset.她几乎痩的只剩皮包骨头了，我将她搀扶到屋顶，找了一张被人遗忘的在微风中的塑料椅子，让她坐在椅子上，用毛毯盖上她的双腿，她坐在那里，面朝西方，静静的看着日落。

The workers knew—I made sure they knew that she was up there so that they would bring her down after later that evening after the sun went down and then I had to leave.我告诉义工们她在上面，让她们晚上日落后把她搬下来，然后我不得不离开。But she never left me.但对她的记忆却在心中挥之不去。

I felt completely and totally inadequate in the face of this woman’s death.听到这位女性死去的消息我觉得自己完全没有做好心理准备。

But sometimes, it’s the people that you can’t help that inspire you the most.有时正是那些你帮不了的人对你心灵的震撼最大。

I knew that those sex worker I had met in the morning could be the woman that I carried upstairs later that evening, unless we found a way to defy the stigma that hung over their lives.我知道白天我碰到的那些性工作者，以后很有可能就会变成那天晚上我扶上楼的那位女性，除非我们能够找到办法，为她们洗脱身上无法摆脱的污名。

Over the past ten years, our Foundation has helped sex workers build support groups so they could empower one another to speak up and demand safe sex and that their clients use condoms.过去十年来我们基金会帮助性工作者建立起很多支持小组让他们有能力互相鼓励发出声音要求安全的性交易要求客人使用安全套。

Their brave efforts have helped to keep HIV prevalence low among sex workers and a lot of studies show that’s the big reason why the AIDS epidemic has not exploded in India.她们的努力让性工作者的艾滋病发病率保持较低水平，很多研究显示这也正是艾滋病没有在印度大范围暴发的重要原因。

When these sex workers gather together to help stop AIDS transmission, something unexpected and wonderful happened.性工作者们聚在一起帮助阻止艾滋病传播的同时，又发生了一件令人意想不到的奇妙事情。The community they formed became a platform for everything.她们组成的群体为自身权益的伸张筑起了平台。

Police and others who raped and robbed them couldn’t get away with it anymore.强奸抢劫她们的警察和其他人不能再逍遥法外。

The women set up systems to encourage savings for one another and with those savings, they were able to leave sex work.这些女性组织起了一个鼓励大家存钱的体系，通过这些存款不少人得以脱离性工作。This was all done by people that society considered the lowest of the low.这些都是被社会认为最下等的人们所做的。

Optimism, for me, is not a passive expectation that things are going to get better.乐观在我看来，并不是一种认为未来会变美好的被动期望。For me, it’s a conviction and a belief that we can make things better.而是一种信念相信我们能用自己的双手让未来变的更好。

So no matter how much suffering we see, no matter how bad it is, we can help people if we don’t lose hope and if we don’t look away.无论我们遭受了多少苦难无论境况有多糟糕，只要不丧失希望不假装没看见我们就能帮助这些人。

Bill: Melinda and I have described some devastating scenes, but we want to make the strongest case we can for the power of optimism.我和梅琳达都讲述了灾难性的情景，但我们愿意以最好的期许相信乐观的力量。

Even in dire situations, optimism fuels innovation and leads to new approaches that eliminate suffering.越是在极端恶劣的情形下，乐观越能激发出创新为消除苦难找出新的方法。But if you never really see the people who are suffering, your optimism can’t help them.但如果你没亲眼见过遭受苦难的人们，你的乐观将帮不到她们。You will never change their world.你也永远无法改变他们的世界。

And that brings me to what I see is a paradox.这在我看来是一个巨大的悖论。

The modern world is an incredible source of innovation and Stanford stands at the center of that, creating new companies, new schools of thought, prize-winning professors, inspired art and literature, miracle drugs, and amazing graduates.现代世界是一个无可比拟的创新之源，斯坦福则位于这一切的中心，创立起新公司和新的思想学派，充满获奖教授，启迪指示和智慧，研发出神奇药物，培养出了不起的毕业生。Whether you are a scientist with a new discovery, or working in the trenches to understand the needs of the most marginalized, you are advancing amazing breakthroughs in what human beings can do for each other.无论你是得到新发现的科学家，还是奋战于满足边缘人群需求最前线的人，你都是在推动人类相互帮助上的伟大突破。

At the same time, if you ask people across the United States is the future going to be better than the past, most say no.My kids will be worse off than I am.同时在美国范围内如果你问人们未来会比过去号码，大多数人说不会。我的子孙会比我过的糟糕。

They think innovation won’t make the world better for them or their children.他们认为创新不会让她们及子孙的世界变得更好。So who is right? 到底谁对呢？

The people who say innovation will create new possibilities and make the world better? Or the people who see a trend toward inequality and a decline in opportunity and don’t think innovation will change that? 是那些声称创新能够创造新机遇并让世界变得更好的人，还是那些认为不平等会加重，机会会减少，不认为创新能够改变这些趋势的人？

The pessimists are wrong, in my view.But they are not crazy.在我看来，悲观主义者是错误的。但她们的想法并不疯狂。

If innovation is purely market driven, and we don’t focus on the big inequalities, then we could have amazing advances in inventions that leave the world even more divided.如果创新纯粹是市场驱使的，没人关心不平等的加剧，那么世界就算有再多美妙发明也是白搭，只能让世界分化越发严重。

We won’t improve public schools.We won’t end malaria.We won’t end poverty.We won’t develop the innovations poor farmers need to grow food in a changing climate.我们将无法改善公立学校条件，我们将无法根除疟疾，我们将无法根除贫穷。我们将无法开发出贫苦农民所需的创新，让她们能在变化的气候条件下种出作物。

If our optimism doesn’t address the problems that affect so many of our fellow human beings, then our optimism needs more empathy.If empathy channels our optimism, we will see the poverty and the disease and the poor schools.如果我们的乐观不能解决这些问题，不能帮助很多需要帮助的同胞，那么这种乐观就需要更多同情心。如果同情心能够引导我们的乐观，我们就肯定能看到贫困，疾病和糟糕的教育条件。

We will answer with our innovations and we will surprise the pessimists.我们就肯定能通过创新给我答案，我们就肯定能让悲观主义者大吃一惊。

Over the next generation, you, Stanford graduates, will lead a new weave of innovation.在下一代，你们这些斯坦福毕业生将会引领新一波创新。Which problems will you decide to solve? 你们决定处理哪些问题？

If your world is wide, you can create the future we all want.如果你们的世界观足够宽广你们将恩那个创建出我们所有人都想要的未来。If your world is narrow, you may create the future the pessimists fear.如果你们的世界观太过狭窄，你们就有可能创建出悲观主义者们所害怕的未来。

I started learning in Soweto, that if we are going to make our optimism matter to everyone, and empower people everywhere, we have to see the lives of those most in need.从索韦托开始我开始了解到，如果我们要将这份乐观传递给每个人，让所有地方的人都获得力量，我们需要首先去感受那些需求最迫切者的生活。

If we have optimism, without empathy, then it doesn’t matter how much we master the secrets of science.如果我们指示乐观而没有同情心，那么对科学秘密掌握得再好也将毫无用处。

We are not really solving problems.We are just working on puzzles.I think most of you have a broader view than I had at your age.You can do better at this than I did.因为我们并不是在解决问题，而是仅仅在做一些智力题。我想你们大多数人，世界观都比我在你们这么大时更加宽广。你们肯定能够比我做到更好。

If you put your hearts and minds to it, you can surprise the pessimists.We are eager to see it.只要全心全意的投入进来，我们就必然能让悲观主义者震惊。我们很像看到你们创造的未来。Melinda: So let your heart break.It will change what you do with your optimism.让自己沉浸于心碎。这会改变你们对乐观的理解。

On a trip to South Asia, I met a desperately poor Indian woman who had two children and she begged me to take them home with me.有一次去南亚，我碰到了以为赤贫的印度女性，她有两个孩子，她请求我把这两个孩子带回去领养。

And when I begged her for her forgiveness she said, well, then please, just take one of them.在我请她原谅我的无能为力时她说，那请你领养其中一个孩子行吗。

On another trip to south Los Angeles, I met with a group of the students from a tough neighborhood.A young girl said to me, do you ever feel like we are the kids whose parents shirked their responsibilities and we are just the leftovers? 还有一次我去南洛杉矶，见了一群来自艰苦社区的学生。一个小女孩跟我说，你有没有觉得我们这些孩子都被父母放置不理，我们只不过是多余的东西。These women broke my heart.And they still do.这些女性让我感到心碎。现在仍然如此。

And the empathy intensifies if I admit to myself, that could be me.如果想想“这也可能是我”同情心便会越发强烈。

When I talk with the mothers I meet during my travels, there’s no difference between what we want for our children.The only difference is our ability to provide it to our children.我在其他地方碰到过很多母亲。我们想为子女提供的东西其实并没有太大差别。唯一差别在于我们为子女提供这些东西的能力。So what accounts for that difference? 这中差异是如何造成的？

Bill and I talk about this with our own kids around the dinner table.我和比尔在餐桌上同我们自己的孩子讨论这个问题。

Bill worked incredibly hard and he took risks and he made sacrifices for success.比尔工作无比努力，他冒过很多风险，做过很多牺牲采取的了今天的成功。

But there’s another essential ingredient of success, and that is luck.Absolute and total luck.但成功还有另外一个很重要的成分那就是运气。完全纯粹的运气。When were you born? Who are your parents? Where did you grow up? 你出生在什么年代，你的父母是谁？你在那里长大？ None of us earn these things.These things were given to us.我们谁都不能挣得这些，这些都是被给予的。

So when we strip away all of our privilege and we consider where we would be without them, it becomes someone much easier to see someone who is poor and say, that could be me.And that’s empathy.当我们去除掉所有的优势，考虑我们没有这些优势。这就是同情心。

Empathy tears down barriers, and it opens up whole new frontiers for optimism.So here is our appeal to you all.As you leave Stanford, take all your genius and your optimism and your empathy, and go change the world in ways that will make millions of people optimistic.同情推到一切障碍，并且打开乐观的新视野。这里有很大的吸引力。