kingsky

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.
　　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:
　　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.”
　　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，

对他们的期待也更多。”
　　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利，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.
　　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。