影响你一生的哈佛演讲（哈佛校长开学演讲）

当地时间8月30日，哈佛大学举办开学典礼欢迎1,649名2026届新生到校就读。哈佛校长劳伦斯·巴科（Lawrence Bacow）在开学典礼中致辞。

巴科校长指出，

• 哈佛学生来自世界各地，每个同学需要学会尊重差异并从中学习，根据第一印象评判他人不可取。

• 哈佛是现实世界的缩影，世界不会因为你有哈佛学位而善待你。身处哈佛依然难免遭遇各种不愉快的经历。

• 改变世界的前提是学会说服他人改变想法。首先学会改变自己，才有可能改变世界。

以下是哈佛大学劳伦斯·巴科校长本次演讲全文：

Good afternoon, Class of 2026. It is an honor to add my voice to the chorus welcoming you officially as members of the Harvard community.

下午好，2026届同学们。很荣幸能够在欢迎你们正式成为哈佛大家庭一员的活动中致辞。

（注：美国通常以毕业年份称呼某一届的学生）

Fifty-three years ago this week, I said goodbye to my friends and family in Pontiac, Michigan and arrived here in Cambridge, Massachusetts for my first year of college. Not here, exactly, but just down the street at MIT.

53年前的这个时候，我告别了远在密歇根州庞蒂亚克的好友与家人，来到马萨诸塞州剑桥上大学。但确切地说不是到哈佛大学，而是隔壁的麻省理工学院。

It seems like yesterday.

这一切仿佛就在昨天。

I can tell you with complete confidence that memories of your first few weeks on this campus will remain vivid throughout your lifetime. You will recall who you met, who you befriended, your very first class, your very first burger at Bartley’s—everything.

我可以非常肯定地告诉你们，开学最初几个星期的经历将在你们的一生中历历在目。你们会记得自己偶遇过的同学、结识的好友、上的第一堂课、在巴特利（食堂）吃到的第一个汉堡——你们会记得所有的一切！

Among my most vivid memories is my freshman roommate. His name was Alan. He was a lacrosse player from New Jersey. He was big. I was small. He was messy. I was neat. He brought his stereo to campus and liked to study with it on. I liked to study with it off. He liked to listen to the Rolling Stones, The Who and The Band. I liked Bob Dylan, James Taylor and Joni Mitchell. He liked almost all New York sports teams. I hated them. He was politically quite conservative. I was anything but.

我最清晰的记忆之一是我的大一室友艾伦，一个来自新泽西州的长曲棍球球员。他身材高大；我个子矮小。他不拘小节；我井井有条。他把音响带到宿舍，喜欢边听音乐边学习；我喜欢在安静的环境里学习。他喜欢听滚石乐队、谁人乐队和The Band（摇滚），而我钟爱鲍勃·迪伦、詹姆斯·泰勒和乔妮·米切尔（乡村音乐）。他痴迷几乎所有的纽约运动队；我很讨厌他们。在政治上他相当保守；我恰恰相反。

“This will never work out,” I thought. So—you can probably tell where this story is going—I could not have been more wrong. Alan, beneath a seemingly crusty, loud, opinionated exterior, proved to be one of the kindest, most interesting people I met during my time in college. He was incredibly well read, a terrific writer, and very generous with his time, patiently helping me navigate through freshman physics, calculus, and chemistry. While we differed on almost everything related to politics, he loved a good argument, and we had many.

我们永远不可能合得来的，我当时这么觉得。不过，就像你们猜到的那样——我大错特错了。事实上，艾伦那貌似脾气暴躁，吵吵嚷嚷，固执己见的表象下，却是我大学期间遇到的最善良和最有趣的同学之一。他博览群书、妙笔生花，而且花费大量时间、耐心地辅导我学习大一物理、微积分和化学课程。尽管我们在政治方面各执己见，但他欢迎富有建设性的辩论，我们俩经常争论不休。

He became one of my closest friends, and we continued to live together, even as graduate students. On my first day at Harvard Law School, he fixed me up on a blind date with his girlfriend’s roommate. That blind date is here today. Let me introduce you to her, my wife of 47 years, Adele. And Alan wound up marrying Adele’s roommate, Debby, one week before Adele and I got married. The two of them came to our wedding on their honeymoon.

他成为我的挚友之一。我们继续住在一起，持续到研究生阶段。在我入读哈佛大学法学院的第一天，他就给我介绍了他女朋友的室友。这位相亲对象今天就坐在这里。请允许我向大家介绍我结婚47年的妻子——阿黛尔。艾伦最后和阿黛尔的室友黛比结婚了，就在我和阿黛尔结婚的前一周。蜜月期间他们俩还出席了我们的婚礼。

巴科校长和夫人阿黛尔

Today, 53 years after we met, Alan and Debby remain two of our closest friends. This summer, they spent three days with us at our home. We have been through all of life’s passages together—the birth of our children and their children—the work of building careers and families—the joys and disappointments of life—the sweetness of every milestone and the sorrow of every loss.

今天，在我们相识53年后，艾伦和黛比依然是我们最亲密的朋友。今年夏天，他们在我家住了三天。我们共同度过了人生的各个重要阶段——我们各自孩子的出生、建立事业和组建家庭、人生的欢悲、每一次成功的喜悦和失败的悲伤。

We still agree about very little when it comes to politics, but we have civil conversations—even debates from time to time—and usually end up agreeing to disagree. But we always respect each other, and we often learn from each other. And, after 53 years, we love them like family.

谈及政治，我们依然鲜有共识，但我们心平气和地交谈（有时甚至是激烈辩论），最后往往只能以意见不一致告终。但我们总是互相尊重，并且经常互相学习。经过53年后，我们对此习以为常。

During your time here, please don’t overlook your Alan. Please don’t judge people quickly based on their outward appearances or your first impressions. One of the many reasons we admitted students from around the world, people with every interest imaginable, is because we learn from our differences. As you get to know your roommates and your classmates, try to be slow to judge and quick to understand. Give everyone the benefit of the doubt, at least initially, not just at Harvard but throughout life and you will be surprised by the number of friends you will acquire, people quite different from you, but people who will enrich your life immensely.

在哈佛期间，请不要对你的艾伦视而不见。请不要根据别人的外表或是你的第一印象去迅速评判他人。我们招收来自世界各地、志趣各异的学生的原因之一，在于我们可以从彼此的差异中学习。在认识和了解你的室友和同学时，请尽量试着延缓评判而加快理解。至少在最初的阶段，对每个人都宽容相待——不仅仅是你在哈佛的时间里，而且贯穿你的一生。做到这一点，你会发现能够结交的朋友将多得出乎意料。他们或许与你迥然不同，但将极大地丰富你的人生。

If you are like most Harvard students, the friendships you make in the next few days will stay with you forever. A few of you are even likely to meet your spouse or life partner here. I know this statement to be true because I attend a lot of Harvard reunions. I hear the same stories over and over about lifelong relationships that started during the first few days of school. Your best friends, people with whom you will share your life together, are sitting among you. Your job is to find them.

如果你和大多数哈佛学生一样，在接下来几天内你收获陪伴终生的友谊。你们中的一些人甚至可能在这里遇到你的配偶或生活伴侣。我参加过很多哈佛毕业聚会，因此深知此言非虚。我一遍又一遍地听到那些始于大学初期并延续终身的友情故事。你们的挚友，那些将参与并分享你们人生的人，此时此刻就坐在你们身边。你所要做的就是找到他们。

Let me also acknowledge that you may meet people at Harvard that you do not like. Harvard is a microcosm of the larger world, and everything that you may find objectionable in the larger world is present in some measure here. We are not perfect, but we strive to be better. While trying to be a caring, understanding, and welcoming community, we cannot protect you from everything that is unpleasant.

我还得承认，你们在哈佛可能会遇见不喜欢的人。哈佛是大千世界的一个缩影，因此社会中令人反感的一切在某种程度上都存在于此。我们绝非完美无瑕，但我们努力变得更好。虽然我们尽力成为一个关怀备至、善解人意和宾至如归的社区，但你们依然难免遭遇各种不愉快的经历。

Our job is to prepare you for the world you will inhabit when you graduate. And that world is not going to treat you with kid gloves simply because you have a Harvard degree. We would not be doing you a favor if we placed you in an emotional bubble and did not let your emotional immune systems develop. We are here to prepare you to deal with a world that will challenge you—and sometimes even offend you. I hope you will master these skills while you are at Harvard so you can devote your life to repairing a world that we all know is far from perfect.

我们的工作在于让你们为毕业后进入社会做好充分准备。这个世界不会因为你有哈佛学位而善待你们。如果我们把你们保护在一个情绪泡泡里，不让你们的情绪免疫系统发展，对你们百害无一利。我们在这里是为了让你们准备好去应对一个挑战你们，有时甚至是冒犯你们的世界。我希望你们能够在哈佛掌握这些技能，从而终其一生致力于改善这个绝非完美的世界。

I know from conversations that I have already had with some of you that you want to change the world. Good for you. That is one of the reasons we admitted you. But if you want to change the world, you need to master the art of persuading people to change their minds. And I guarantee that you will not be effective at doing so unless you first have the experience of changing your own.

通过与你们中的一些人交流，我得知你们希望改变世界。这个想法非常好。这也是我们邀请你们入学的原因之一。但如果想要改变世界，你们需要掌握说服别人改变想法的艺术。我敢保证，如果各位固执己见、做不到首先改变自己，那么很难让别人从善如流。

Our motto at Harvard is veritas. It is more than a motto. It is the reason we exist, to seek the truth. Over time, truth is revealed, it needs to be tested on the anvil of competing ideas. If you really seek the truth, you must engage with those who think differently than you.

我们哈佛的校训是“真理（veritas）”，但这绝不只是校训。它成为我们存续的理由——寻求真理。真理随时间被假释，又需要经过不断的检验和挖掘。如果你真的寻求真理，你必须与想法与众不同的人互动、让不同想法的充分碰撞。

Even more importantly, you must be willing to change your mind – to be persuaded by a better argument or new information. Only when you have this experience will you be well equipped to make a difference in the world. This is another skill I hope you will master at Harvard.

更重要的是，你必须心甘情愿地改变自己原有的想法——信服于更有力的论点和全新的信息。只有当你有了这些经验，才能具备更强大的能力去改变世界。这是我希望你们在哈佛期间掌握的另一项技能。

On move in day, Adele and I met many of your families. We witnessed more than one emotional goodbye. Most of you have been at the center of your loved one’s lives since the day you entered their world. Now you are gone, and, for many left behind, the silence is deafening. You have many people to help you make your transition to college—academic advisors, peer advisors, residential advisors, proctors, deans—you name it. But your loved ones are on their own. They are also going through a big adjustment, and it is up to you to help them through it. Please give them a call from time to time, not a text – a call, and ask them how they are doing. I guarantee you they will appreciate it.

在入校那天，阿黛尔（校长夫人）和我一起会见了很多新生家庭。我们见证了无数次真情流露的告别。自从出生以来，你们中多数人一直是热爱你们的家人的生命核心。随着你们的离家，对留在家中的人来说，那种寂静是震耳欲聋的。你们周围有很多人（学术导师、同窗好友、宿管人员、住校教师和院长等，只要你能想到的）去帮助大家顺利过渡到大学阶段。但你们的家人只有依靠自己走出来。他们同样经历着巨大的转折，只有你们才能帮助他们渡过难关。恳请各位同学经常给父母打个电话，而不仅是发发短信，关心一下他们近况如何。我向你们保证他们接到电话会非常高兴。

Class of 2026, we have great expectations for you. I hope that Harvard is everything you dreamed it will be—intellectually, socially and personally. I only wish I could be there at your 50th reunion so you could tell me how your life turned out and the role that Harvard played in it.

2026届同学们，我们对你们寄予厚望。 我希望哈佛在学术、社交和个人期待上，都和你梦想中的一样。我谨期待自己能有幸出席你们毕业五十周年聚会，倾听你们人生的精彩华章，以及其中哈佛所起到的作用。

Best of luck to each of you, and Godspeed.

祝愿在座各位好运，心想事成。

*英文原文来源哈佛官网，中文由美通编译，欢迎指正。

https://www.harvard.edu/president/speeches/2022/2022-convocation-remarks/

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