比尔·盖茨和夫人梅琳达·盖茨在斯坦福大学2014年毕业典礼上的演讲。整个演讲以“乐观”为主线，强调了他们对科技的乐观态度，以及对世界美好未来的乐观态度。盖茨夫妇轮流讲述了自己的亲身经历和故事，告诉学生应该站在他人的立场上，感同身受那些处境不及自己的人，尽自己所能去帮助那些需要帮助的人，让全世界所有人类同胞都有一样的美好未来。

Stanford University.

（斯坦福大学）

BILL GATES: Congratulations, class of 2014!

比尔·盖茨：2014届毕业生，祝贺你们顺利毕业

(Cheers).（欢呼）

Melinda and I are excited to be here. It would be a thrill for anyone to be invited to speak at a Stanford commencement, but it's especially gratifying for us. 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.

我和梅琳达怀着激动的心情与你们欢聚在此共贺毕业。能受邀到斯坦福大学学位授予典礼上做演讲是一件让人激动的事，对我们而言，这尤为荣幸。斯坦福大学正日渐成为我们家庭成员最喜爱的大学。而长久以来，斯坦福也是微软以及比尔与梅琳达基金会最喜爱的一所大学。”

Our formula has been to get the smartest, most creative people working on the most important problems. It turns out that a disproportionate number of those people are at Stanford. (Cheers).

我们一直致力于让最聪颖有创造力的人攻克最为重要的问题。结果证明，一大部分这样的人才都来自于斯坦福校园。（欢呼）

Right now, we have more than 30 foundation research projects underway here. When we want to learn more about the immune system to help cure the worst diseases, we work with Stanford. 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. This is where genius lives.

如今，我们在这里进行着30多个研究项目。当我们想要通过对免疫系统的研究来寻找治愈世界上最可怕疾病的方法，我们需要斯坦福。当我们需要通过对美国高等教育的研究来帮助低收入学生上大学时，我们亦需要斯坦福。这便是人才的摇篮。

There's a flexibility of mind here, an openness to change, an eagerness for what's new. This is where people come to discover the future, and have fun doing it.

在这里，有着灵活的思维，对于改变的开放态度以及对新鲜事物的渴求。在这里，人们善于发现新事物，并乐享这份经历。

MELINDA GATES: Now, some people call you all nerds and we hear that you claim that label with pride. (Cheers and Applause).

梅琳达•盖茨：当下，一些人用书呆子这样词语称呼你们，而我们听说你们正为这个称呼而倍感骄傲。（欢呼和掌声）

BILL GATES: Well, so do we. (Cheers and Applause).

比尔盖茨：嗯，我们与你们同在。（欢呼和掌声）

BILL GATES: My normal glasses really aren't all that different. (Laughter).

比尔盖茨：我的这副普通眼镜也没多大差异嘛。（笑声）

There are so many remarkable things going on here at this campus, but if Melinda and I had to put into one word what we love most about Stanford, it's the optimism.

There's an infectious feeling here that innovation can solve almost every problem.That's the belief that drove me in 1975 to leave a college in the suburbs of Boston and go on an endless leave of absence.(Laughter).

在这所校园中，每时每刻都有非凡的事件发生，但如果要我和梅琳达用一个词来表达对斯坦福的挚爱，那便是“乐观”。这是一种极富感染力的乐观精神，那便是，所有的问题在创新之下都能迎刃而解。这便是驱使我在1975年离开波士顿郊区的大学，并永远辍学的一个动力。（笑声）

I believed that the magic of computers and software would empower people everywhere and make the world much, much better.

当时的我相信计算机和软件的魔力能够赋予全世界人民以力量，并能够让这个世界变得更加美好。

It's been 40 years since then, and 20 years since Melinda and I were married.We are both more optimistic now than ever. But on our journey, our optimism evolved.

据那时算起，已有40年之久，我和梅琳达喜结连理也有20年之远了。这些年间，我们都比过去更为乐观开朗，但是在这些人生之旅中，我们的乐观也实现了进化。

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.When Paul Allen and I started Microsoft, we wanted to bring the power of computers and software to the people, and that was the kind of rhetoric we used.One of the pioneering books in the field had a raised fist on the cover, and it was called "Computer Lib."

我们今天很想与大家分享我们所学到的一切，并和你们聊聊我们的和你们的乐观精神怎样为更多的人服务。当初和保罗创立微软之时，我们的目标是把计算机和软件的力量普及到普通大众，这便是我们当时的说法。在早期的一本书上的封面有一个上扬的拳头，他们称之为《计算机解放》。

At that time, only big businesses could buy computers.We wanted to offer the same power to regular people and democratize computing.

在那个时候，只有大企业才能购置计算机。我们想让这种计算机设备普及到社会大众并让计算机民主化。

By the 1990s, we saw how profoundly personal computers could empower people, but that success created a new dilemma.If rich kids got computers and poor kids didn't, then technology would make inequality worse.That ran counter to our core belief.

在上个世纪90年代，我们目睹了个人电脑对人们的巨大效用，但是这种成功同时造成了新的困局。如果富人的孩子拥有计算机而穷人的孩子却不能时，这种科技会加剧不平等。而这与我们的核心理念相抵触。

Technology should benefit everyone.

科技应当惠及万众。

So we worked to close the digital divide. I made it a priority at Microsoft, and Melinda and I made it an early priority at our Foundation. Donating personal computers to public libraries to make sure that everyone had access.

因此我们应当努力缩小这种差距。我将它定位为微软的首要任务，也是我和梅琳达在建立基金会之初的首要任务。为公众图书馆捐献个人电脑从而确保人人都能有机会使用。