比尔盖茨经典演讲文章（世界的不平等及复杂）

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?

哈佛是否鼓励其教师去解决世界上最严重的不平等问题?哈佛的学生是否了解全球性的贫困?是否了解世界性的饥荒?是否了解清洁水资源的匮乏?是否了解失学女童?是否了解那些死于非恶性疾病的儿童?

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

世界上那些养尊处优的人们,你们是否了解那些生活艰辛的人们?

These are not rhetorical questions - you will answer with your policies.

我这不是反问,请你们用行动来回答.

My mother, who was filled with pride the day I was admitted here - never stopped pressing me to do more for others. A few days before my wedding, she hosted a bridal event, at which she read aloud a letter about marriage that she had written to Melinda. My mother was very ill with cancer at the time, but she saw one more opportunity to deliver her message, and at the close of the letter she said, "From those to whom much is given, much is expected."

我收到哈佛大学录取通知那天,我母亲非常自豪,但她一直敦促我,要为他人谋取更多的福祉.在我结婚的前几天,她特意主持了一个仪式.在这个仪式上,她高声朗读了一封信,是写给梅琳达的,关于婚姻方面的问题.那时,我母亲身患癌症,病入膏肓,但她还是抓住了一线机会,传播她的信念.在那封信的结尾,她写道："得到越多,期望越大."

When you consider what those of us here in this yard have been given - in talent, privilege, and opportunity -there is almost no limit to what the world has a right to expect from us.

但她一直敦促我,要为他人谋取更多的福祉.在我结婚的前几天,她特意主持了一个仪式.在这个仪式上,她高声朗读了一封信,是写给梅琳达的,关于婚姻方面的问题.那时,我母亲身患癌症,病入膏肓,但她还是抓住了一线机会,传播她的信念.在那封信的结尾,她写道："得到越多,期望越大."

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,我也要鼓励在座各位毕业生去解决一个问题,一个复杂的问题,这个深刻的社会不平等问题,然后把自己变成这方面的专家.如果你能够以此作为你的职业目标,你将脱颖而出.但是,你不可以为了扩大影响而做此事.一个星期花几个小时,你就可以从日益壮大的互联网上获得信息,找到志同道合的朋友,发现困难所在,并找到解决困难的途径.

Don't let complexity stop you. Be activists. Take on the big inequities. It will be one of the great experiences of your lives.

不要让这个复杂的社会阻碍你前进的步伐.做一个行动主义者.将解决人类的不平等视为己任,这将成为你生命中最棒的经历.

You graduates are coming of age in an amazing time. As you leave Harvard, you have technology that members of my class never had. You have awareness of global inequity, which we did not have. And with that awareness, you likely also have an informed conscience that will torment you if you abandon these people whose lives you could change with very little effort. You have more than we had; you must start sooner, and carry on longer.

在座的各位毕业生,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个年代所未曾拥有的,你们了解到的社会不平等现象也是我们那个年代所不曾了解的.既然认识到了这个问题,如果你弃之不顾,你可能会受到良心的谴责,只需要一点小小的努力,你就可以改变那些人的生活.你们比我们拥有更大的能力,你们应该尽早开始这项事业,并坚持不懈地做下去.

Knowing what you know, how could you not?

既然了解了这一切,你们怎能无动于衷呢?

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年后你们再回到哈佛,想起你们用自己的青春才智所做出的一切.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,还包括你们为改变社会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的人们,他们与你们毫不相关,但有唯一的共同点,就是同为人类.