比尔盖茨哈佛毕业演讲稿

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以及评估后果。但是世界的复杂性使得这三步都难于做到。
 
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，目前一定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。
 
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。
 
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。

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.
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.
祝各位好运。