比尔·盖茨夫妇斯坦福大学2014毕业典礼演讲（双语）

BILL GATES: Melinda and I have described some devastating scenes, but we want to make the strongest case we can for the power of optimism. Even in dire situations, optimism fuels innovation and leads to new approaches that eliminate suffering. But if you never really see the people that are suffering, your optimism can't help them. You will never change their world. And that brings me to what I see is a paradox.

比尔盖茨：我和梅琳达描述了几个最为在男性的画面，但是我们还是要尽量强调乐观的力量。即使是在绝境之中，乐观也会加速创新，产生新的避免痛苦的方法。但是如果你从未看过那些痛苦折磨着的人时，你的乐观也将无能为力。你也将不会改变他们的世界。这让我想到了我眼中的一个悖论。

The modern world is an incredible source of innovation and Stanford stands at the center of that, creating new companies, new schools of thought, prize-winning professors, inspired art and literature, miracle drugs, and amazing graduates. Whether you are a scientist with a new discovery, or working in the trenches to understand the needs of the most marginalized, you are advancing amazing breakthroughs in what human beings can do for each other.

现代社会拥有无与伦比的创新精神，而斯坦福大学正处在创新的核心。斯坦福孕育了许许多多的新公司，有思想的学校，硕果累累的教授，富有灵感的艺术文化，创新的软件，药品，还有优秀的毕业生。无论你是收获新发现的科学家，还是在深沟中了解社会最边缘人的需求，你都在为人类相互间的协作做出惊人的突破。

At the same time, if you ask people across the United States is the future going to be better than the past, most say no. My kids will be worse off than I am. They think innovation won't make the world better for them or their children.

同时，如果你问全美国的人——未来回避过去更好吗？大部分人会说不，我的孩子不如我优秀。他们认为创新不会让自己或孩子的世界更好。

So who is right? The people who say innovation will create new possibilities and make the world better? Or the people who see a trend toward inequality and a decline in opportunity and don't think innovation will change that?

那么谁是对的？是那些说创新产生新机遇让世界更好的人么？还是那些目睹不平衡的趋势，目睹机遇减少且不指望创新带来改变的人呢？

The pessimists are wrong, in my view. But they are not crazy. If innovation is purely market driven, and we don't focus on the big inequities, then we could have amazing advances and in inventions that leave the world even more divided. We won't improve cure public schools, we won't cure malaria, we won't end poverty. We won't develop the innovations poor farmers need to grow food in a changing climate.

在我看来，悲观者是错误的。但是他们并不疯狂。如果创新仅凭市场驱动，我们都不关注不公正现象，那么我们的重大发明将令世界的两极分化更加严重。我们不会改善公立学校，我们不会治愈疟疾，更不会终止贫穷。我们不会研发出让贫困农民在气候变化中也能种出植物的发明。

If our optimism doesn't address the problems that affect so many of our fellow human beings, then our optimism needs more empathy. If empathy channels our optimism, we will see the poverty and the disease and the poor schools. We will answer with our innovations and we will surprise the pessimists.

如果我们的乐观无法用来解决那些影响许许多多同胞的问题，那么这种乐观主义还需要融入更多的移情元素。如果我们能在乐观中融入同情，我们就能解决贫困，疾病以及教育匮乏的问题。我们会以创新作答，并震惊那些悲观主义者。

Over the next generation, you, Stanford graduates, will lead a new wave of innovation. Which problems will you decide to solve? If your world is wide, you can create the future we all want. If your world is narrow, you may create the future the pessimists fear.

在下一代中，你们，这些斯坦福毕业生，将开启一波创新的新潮。你们会决定解决哪些问题呢？如果你的世界很宽，那么就能创造出我们理想的未来。如果你的世界很狭隘，就会造出悲观者恐惧的未来。

I started learning in Soweto, that if we are going to make our optimism matter to everyone, and empower people everyone, we have to see the lives of those most in need. If we have optimism, without empathy, then it doesn't matter how much we master the secrets of science.

正如我在索维托所学到的，如果我们要让自己的乐观影响所有人，并赋予他们力量，我们就要看到他们最紧迫的需求。如果我们的乐观没有融入同情，那么我们掌握多少科学秘密也没有任何用处。

We are not really solving problems. We are just working on puzzles. I think most of you have a broader world view than I had at your age. You can do better at this than I did. If you put your hearts and minds to it, you can surprise the pessimists. We are eager to see it. (Applause).

我们都解决不了世界上的难题。我们只是在玩智力游戏罢了。我想，你们中的大多数人比当时的我视野更宽广。你们会比曾经的我做得更出色。如果你们全身心地投身于此，你们便能震惊那些悲观者。我们对之迫不及待。（掌声）

MELINDA GATES: So let your heart break. It will change what you do with your optimism.

梅琳达•盖茨：让你们的心为之而碎。这会改变你们处理乐观的方式。

On a trip to south Asia, I met a desperately poor Indian woman. She had two children and she begged me to take them home with me. And when I begged her for her forgiveness she said, well then, please, just take one of them.

在去南亚的旅行中，我遇见了一位贫困潦倒的印度妇女。育有两子，她后来乞求我让我把这两个孩子带走。当我祈求她原谅时，她说，那好吧，请至少带走一个也可以吧。

On another trip to south Los Angeles, I met with a group of the students from a tough neighborhood. A young girl said to me, do you ever feel like we are the kids' whose parents shirked their responsibilities and we are just the leftovers? These women broke my heart.

在另一个去洛杉矶南部的旅途中，我遇见了一群来自贫困社区的学生。一个年轻女孩对我说，你是不是觉得我们就是那群父母逃避责任，我们只是留守儿童呢？这些女性让我心碎。

And they still do. And the empathy intensifies if I admit to myself, that could be me. When I talk with the mothers I meet during my travels, there's no difference between what we want for our children. The only difference is our ability to provide it to our children.

而她们现在依然让我心碎。当我对自己承认，我也可能会是她们中的一员。我与旅途中的母亲交流时发现，我们想给予孩子的没有什么不同。唯一的不同在于我们将其给予孩子的能力。

So what accounts for that difference? Bill and I talk about this with our own kids around the dinner table. Bill worked incredibly hard and he took risks and he made sacrifices for success. But there's another essential ingredient of success, and that is luck. Absolute and total luck. When were you born? Who are your parents? Where did you grow up? None of us earn these things. These things were given to us.

那么差距何在呢？我和比尔曾就此问题与我们的孩子在餐桌上共同讨论。比尔工作非常努力，他冒过风险，为成功做出不少牺牲。但是还有一个成功的重要因素，那便是运气。完完全全的运气。你出生何处？你的父母是谁？你在哪里成长？没有任何人赚得这些东西，我们只是被赐予了这些东西而已。

So when we strip away all of our luck and our privilege and we consider where we would be without them, it becomes someone much easier to see someone who is poor and say, that could be me. And that's empathy. Empathy tears down barriers and it opens up whole new frontiers for optimism.

所以当我们剥去运气和优待，并思考没有他们我们会将如何时，这个人就更容易看到那些贫困者，并说，这可能就是我。这就是同情心，同情心抹平障碍，为乐观敞开新的大门。

So here is our appeal to you all. As you leave Stanford, take all your genius and your optimism and your empathy, and go change the world in ways that will make millions of people optimistic. You don't have to rush. You have careers to launch and debts to pay and spouses to meet and marry. That's plenty enough for right now. But in the course of your lives, perhaps without any plan on your part, you will see suffering that's going to break your heart. And when it happens, don't turn away from it. That's the moment that change is born.

所以这就是我们对你们所有人的呼吁。在你离开斯坦福校园之后，带着你的天分，乐观以及同情心，改变这个世界，让数百万人为之乐观起来。你无须急功近利，你还要开创事业，付清债款，找寻另一半并喜结良缘。现在就这些便足够了，但是在你们的生命之中，可能你们并未计划过，你会目睹那些让你心碎的苦楚。当这些痛苦发生时，不要掩面离开，在这一刻，改变因此而孕育。

Congratulations and good luck to the class of 2014!

最后，向2014届毕业生表示祝贺，并祝你们好运！

（视频来源：网易公开课，编辑 Helen）