第一篇：比爾蓋茨哈佛畢業演講

Bill Gates鈥? Commencement address at Harvard University,2007(extract)

Members of the Harvard Family: Here in the Yard is one of the great

collections of intellectual talent in the world.What for?

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?

Let me make a request of the deans and the professors鈥攖he

intellectual leaders here at Harvard: As you hire new faculty, award tenure, review curriculum, and determine degree requirements, please ask

yourselves:

Should our best minds be dedicated to solving our biggest problems?

Should Harvard encourage its faculty to take on the world鈥檚 worst

inequities? Should Harvard students learn about the depth of global poverty鈥he prevalence of world hunger鈥he scarcity of clean water鈥he girls kept out of school鈥he children who die from diseases we can cure?

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

These are not rhetorical questions鈥攜ou will answer with your policies.When you consider what those of us here in this Yard have been given鈥攊n talent, privilege, and opportunity鈥攖here is almost no limit to what the world has a right to expect from us.In line with the promise of this age, I want to exhort each of the graduates here to take on an issue鈥攁 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鈥檛 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.Don鈥檛 let complexity stop you.Be activists.Take on the big inequities.It will be one of the great experiences of your lives.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.Knowing what you know, how could you not?

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鈥檚 deepest inequities鈥n how well you treated people a world away who have nothing in common with you but their humanity.Good luck.(words: 497)

第二篇：比爾蓋茨哈佛演講

President Bok, former President Rudenstine, incoming President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, members of the faculty, parents, and especially, the graduates:

尊敬的Bok校長，Rudenstine前校長，即將上任的Faust校長，哈佛集團的各位成員，監管理事會的各位理事，各位老師，各位家長，各位同學：

I've been waiting more than 30 years to say this: “Dad, I always told you I'd come back and get my degree.”

有一句話我等了三十年，現在終于可以說了：“老爸，我總是跟你說，我會回來拿到我的學位的！”

I want to thank Harvard for this timely honor.I'll be changing my job next year … and it will be nice to finally have a college degree on my resume.我要感謝哈佛大學在這個時候給我這個榮譽。明年，我就要換工作了（注：指從微軟公司退休）??我終于可以在簡歷上寫我有一個本科學位，這真是不錯啊。

I applaud the graduates today for taking a much more direct route to your degrees.For my part, I'm just happy that the Crimson has called me “Harvard's most successful dropout.” I guess that makes me valedictorian of my own special class … I did the best of everyone who failed.我為今天在座的各位同學感到高興，你們拿到學位可比我簡單多了。哈佛的校報稱我是“哈佛大學歷史上最成功的輟學生”。我想這大概使我有資格代表我這一類學生發言??在所有的失敗者里，我做得最好。

But I also want to be recognized as the guy who got Steve Ballmer to drop out of business school.I'm a bad influence.That's why I was invited to speak at your graduation.If I had spoken at your orientation, fewer of you might be here today.但是，我還要提醒大家，我使得Steve Ballmer（注：微軟總經理）也從哈佛商學院退學了。因此，我是個有著惡劣影響力的人。這就是為什么我被邀請來在你們的畢業典禮上演講。如果我在你們入學歡迎儀式上演講，那么能夠堅持到今天在這里畢業的人也許會少得多吧。

Harvard was just a phenomenal experience for me.Academic life was fascinating.I used to sit in on lots of classes I hadn't even signed up for.And dorm life was terrific.I lived up at Radcliffe, in Currier House.There were always lots of people in my dorm room late at night discussing things, because everyone knew I didn't worry about getting up in the morning.That's how I came to be the leader of the anti-social group.We clung to each other as a way of validating our rejection of all those social people.對我來說，哈佛的求學經歷是一段非凡的經歷。校園生活很有趣，我常去旁聽我沒選修的課。哈佛的課外生活也很棒，我在Radcliffe過著逍遙自在的日子。每天我的寢室里總有很多人

一直待到半夜，討論著各種事情。因為每個人都知道我從不考慮第二天早起。這使得我變成了校園里那些不安分學生的頭頭，我們互相粘在一起，做出一種拒絕所有正常學生的姿態。

Radcliffe was a great place to live.There were more women up there, and most of the guys were science-math types.That combination offered me the best odds, if you know what I mean.This is where I learned the sad lesson that improving your odds doesn't guarantee success.Radcliffe是個過日子的好地方。那里的女生比男生多，而且大多數男生都是理工科的。這種狀況為我創造了最好的機會，如果你們明白我的意思。可惜的是，我正是在這里學到了人生中悲傷的一課：機會大，并不等于你就會成功。

One of my biggest memories of Harvard came in January 1975, when I made a call from Currier House to a company in Albuquerque that had begun making the world's first personal computers.I offered to sell them software.我在哈佛最難忘的回憶之一，發生在1975年1月。那時，我從宿舍樓里給位于Albuquerque的一家公司打了一個電話，那家公司已經在著手制造世界上第一臺個人電腦。我提出想向他們出售軟件。

I worried that they would realize I was just a student in a dorm and hang up on me.Instead they said: “We're not quite ready, come see us in a month,” which was a good thing, because we hadn't written the software yet.From that moment, I worked day and night on this little extra credit project that marked the end of my college education and the beginning of a remarkable journey with Microsoft.我很擔心，他們會發覺我是一個住在宿舍的學生，從而掛斷電話。但是他們卻說：“我們還沒準備好，一個月后你再來找我們吧。”這是個好消息，因為那時軟件還根本沒有寫出來呢。就是從那個時候起，我日以繼夜地在這個小小的課外項目上工作，這導致了我學生生活的結束，以及通往微軟公司的不平凡的旅程的開始。

What I remember above all about Harvard was being in the midst of so much energy and intelligence.It could be exhilarating, intimidating, sometimes even discouraging, but always challenging.It was an amazing privilege – and though I left early, I was transformed by my years at Harvard, the friendships I made, and the ideas I worked on.不管怎樣，我對哈佛的回憶主要都與充沛的精力和智力活動有關。哈佛的生活令人愉快，也令人感到有壓力，有時甚至會感到泄氣，但永遠充滿了挑戰性。生活在哈佛是一種吸引人的特殊待遇??雖然我離開得比較早，但是我在這里的經歷、在這里結識的朋友、在這里發展起來的一些想法，永遠地改變了我。

But taking a serious look back … I do have one big regret.但是，如果現在嚴肅地回憶起來，我確實有一個真正的遺憾。

I left Harvard with no real awareness of the awful inequities in the world – the appalling disparities of health, and wealth, and opportunity that condemn millions of people to lives of despair.我離開哈佛的時候，根本沒有意識到這個世界是多么的不平等。人類在健康、財富和機遇上的不平等大得可怕，它們使得無數的人們被迫生活在絕望之中。

I learned a lot here at Harvard about new ideas in economics and politics.I got great exposure to the advances being made in the sciences.But humanity's greatest advances are not in its discoveries – but in how those discoveries are applied to reduce inequity.我在哈佛學到了很多經濟學和政治學的新思想。我也了解了很多科學上的新進展。但是，人類最大的進步并不來自于這些發現，而是來自于那些有助于減少人類不平等的發現。

President Bok, former President Rudenstine, incoming President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, members of the faculty, parents, and especially, the graduates:

尊敬的Bok校長，Rudenstine前校長，即將上任的Faust校長，哈佛集團的各位成員，監管理事會的各位理事，各位老師，各位家長，各位同學：

I've been waiting more than 30 years to say this: “Dad, I always told you I'd come back and get my degree.”

有一句話我等了三十年，現在終于可以說了：“老爸，我總是跟你說，我會回來拿到我的學位的！”

I want to thank Harvard for this timely honor.I'll be changing my job next year … and it will be nice to finally have a college degree on my resume.我要感謝哈佛大學在這個時候給我這個榮譽。明年，我就要換工作了（注：指從微軟公司退休）??我終于可以在簡歷上寫我有一個本科學位，這真是不錯啊。

I applaud the graduates today for taking a much more direct route to your degrees.For my part, I'm just happy that the Crimson has called me “Harvard's most successful dropout.” I guess that makes me valedictorian of my own special class … I did the best of everyone who failed.我為今天在座的各位同學感到高興，你們拿到學位可比我簡單多了。哈佛的校報稱我是“哈佛大學歷史上最成功的輟學生”。我想這大概使我有資格代表我這一類學生發言??在所有的失敗者里，我做得最好。

But I also want to be recognized as the guy who got Steve Ballmer to drop out of business school.I'm a bad influence.That's why I was invited to speak at your graduation.If I had spoken at your orientation, fewer of you might be here today.但是，我還要提醒大家，我使得Steve Ballmer（注：微軟總經理）也從哈佛商學院退學了。因此，我是個有著惡劣影響力的人。這就是為什么我被邀請來在你們的畢業典禮上演講。如果我在你們入學歡迎儀式上演講，那么能夠堅持到今天在這里畢業的人也許會少得多吧。

Harvard was just a phenomenal experience for me.Academic life was fascinating.I used to sit in on lots of classes I hadn't even signed up for.And dorm life was terrific.I lived up at Radcliffe, in Currier House.There were always lots of people in my dorm room late at night discussing things, because everyone knew I didn't worry about getting up in the morning.That's how I came to be the leader of the anti-social group.We clung to each other as a way of validating our rejection of all those social people.對我來說，哈佛的求學經歷是一段非凡的經歷。校園生活很有趣，我常去旁聽我沒選修的課。哈佛的課外生活也很棒，我在Radcliffe過著逍遙自在的日子。每天我的寢室里總有很多人一直待到半夜，討論著各種事情。因為每個人都知道我從不考慮第二天早起。這使得我變成了校園里那些不安分學生的頭頭，我們互相粘在一起，做出一種拒絕所有正常學生的姿態。

Radcliffe was a great place to live.There were more women up there, and most of the guys were science-math types.That combination offered me the best odds, if you know what I mean.This is where I learned the sad lesson that improving your odds doesn't guarantee success.Radcliffe是個過日子的好地方。那里的女生比男生多，而且大多數男生都是理工科的。這種狀況為我創造了最好的機會，如果你們明白我的意思。可惜的是，我正是在這里學到了人生中悲傷的一課：機會大，并不等于你就會成功。

One of my biggest memories of Harvard came in January 1975, when I made a call from Currier House to a company in Albuquerque that had begun making the world's first personal computers.I offered to sell them software.我在哈佛最難忘的回憶之一，發生在1975年1月。那時，我從宿舍樓里給位于Albuquerque的一家公司打了一個電話，那家公司已經在著手制造世界上第一臺個人電腦。我提出想向他們出售軟件。

I worried that they would realize I was just a student in a dorm and hang up on me.Instead they said: “We're not quite ready, come see us in a month,” which was a good thing, because we hadn't written the software yet.From that moment, I worked day and night on this little extra credit project that marked the end of my college education and the beginning of a remarkable journey with Microsoft.我很擔心，他們會發覺我是一個住在宿舍的學生，從而掛斷電話。但是他們卻說：“我們還沒準備好，一個月后你再來找我們吧。”這是個好消息，因為那時軟件還根本沒有寫出來呢。

就是從那個時候起，我日以繼夜地在這個小小的課外項目上工作，這導致了我學生生活的結束，以及通往微軟公司的不平凡的旅程的開始。

What I remember above all about Harvard was being in the midst of so much energy and intelligence.It could be exhilarating, intimidating, sometimes even discouraging, but always challenging.It was an amazing privilege – and though I left early, I was transformed by my years at Harvard, the friendships I made, and the ideas I worked on.不管怎樣，我對哈佛的回憶主要都與充沛的精力和智力活動有關。哈佛的生活令人愉快，也令人感到有壓力，有時甚至會感到泄氣，但永遠充滿了挑戰性。生活在哈佛是一種吸引人的特殊待遇??雖然我離開得比較早，但是我在這里的經歷、在這里結識的朋友、在這里發展起來的一些想法，永遠地改變了我。

But taking a serious look back … I do have one big regret.但是，如果現在嚴肅地回憶起來，我確實有一個真正的遺憾。

I left Harvard with no real awareness of the awful inequities in the world – the appalling disparities of health, and wealth, and opportunity that condemn millions of people to lives of despair.我離開哈佛的時候，根本沒有意識到這個世界是多么的不平等。人類在健康、財富和機遇上的不平等大得可怕，它們使得無數的人們被迫生活在絕望之中。

I learned a lot here at Harvard about new ideas in economics and politics.I got great exposure to the advances being made in the sciences.But humanity's greatest advances are not in its discoveries – but in how those discoveries are applied to reduce inequity.我在哈佛學到了很多經濟學和政治學的新思想。我也了解了很多科學上的新進展。但是，人類最大的進步并不來自于這些發現，而是來自于那些有助于減少人類不平等的發現。

第三篇：比爾蓋茨 哈佛演講 中英

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?

哈佛是否應該鼓勵教授解決世界上存在的嚴重不平等？哈佛的學生是不是應該多關注一些全球貧富不均、糧食短缺、水資源稀缺、女童輟學的問題？以及那些因無法接受有效治療而死亡的孩子？

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

世界上最衣食無憂的人是否應該了解那些掙扎在死亡邊緣的人們的生活？

These are not rhetorical questions – you will answer with your policies.這并非言語修辭，這些問題只能用行動回答。

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.‖

我的母親一直為我考上哈佛而自豪，也一直督促我回報社會。我結婚的前幾天的儀式上，她高聲朗讀自己寫給我妻子的信。當時我母親已經是癌癥晚期，但她堅持要用這個機會表達自己的觀點。信的最后 她念道：―獲益越多，責任越大。‖

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.想想我們獲得了什么——天賦，特權，機遇——世界寄予殷切的期望。

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.我希望每位畢業生承擔起這樣一種責任—— 參與解決人類不平等的問題，如果你獻身這項事業，你的影響力將會是驚人的。既便不打算以此為業，你一樣可以有所作為。每周只需要花幾個小時，就可以利用互聯網獲取信息、找到志同道合的朋友、設法解決一兩個問題。

Don't let complexity stop you.Be activists.Take on the big inequities.It will be one of the great experiences of your lives.不要畏難，盡管放手去做。它將是你生命中最寶貴經歷。

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.這是一個神奇的時代。今天的科技是我年輕時不曾體驗的。你們對不平等現象的認識遠遠超過我們這代人。面對這種不平等，你們更容易受良心的譴責。行動起來，時不我待。

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.30年后當你再次回到哈佛的時候，我希望看到你用自己的天賦和精力做了哪些事。不僅用專業成就來衡量成功，還要看你是如何解決人類根深蒂固的不平等問題。你是怎樣對待那些與你相隔萬里、迥然不同的人的。

Good luck.同學們，祝你們好運！

第四篇：比爾蓋茨哈佛演講 全文

比爾蓋茨哈佛演講 全文

Remarks of Bill Gates Harvard Commencement June 7, 2007

President Bok, former President Rudenstine, incoming President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, members of the faculty, parents, and especially, the graduates:

I’ve been waiting more than 30 years to say this: ―Dad, I always told you

I’d come back and get my degree.‖ I want to thank Harvard for this timely honor.I’ll be changing my job next year … and it will be nice to finally have a college degree on my resume.I applaud the graduates today for taking a much more direct route to your degrees.For my part, I’m just happy that the Crimson has called me ―Harvard’s most successful dropout.‖ I guess that makes me valedictorian of my own special class … I did the best of everyone who failed.But I also want to be recognized as the guy who got Steve Ballmer to drop out of business school.I’m a bad influence.That’s why I was invited to speak at your graduation.If I had spoken at your orientation, fewer of you might be

here today.Harvard was just a phenomenal experience for me.Academic life was fascinating.I used to sit in on lots of classes I hadn’t even signed up for.And dorm life was terrific.I lived up at Radcliffe, in Currier House.There were always lots of people in my dorm room late at night discussing things, because everyone knew I didn’t worry about getting up in the morning.That’s how I came to be the leader of the anti-social group.We clung to each other as a way of validating our rejection of all those social people.Radcliffe was a great place to live.There were more women up there, and most of the guys were science-math types.That combination offered me the best odds, if you know what I mean.This is where I learned the sad lesson that improving your odds doesn’t guarantee success.One of my biggest memories of Harvard came in January 1975, when I made a call from Currier House to a company in Albuquerque that had begun making the world’s first personal computers.I offered to sell them software.I worried that they would realize I was just a student in a dorm and hang up on me.Instead they said: ―We’re not quite ready, come see usin a month,‖ which was a good thing, because we hadn’t written the software yet.From that moment, I worked day and night on this little extra credit project that marked the end of my college education and the beginning of a remarkable journey

with Microsoft.What I remember above all about Harvard was being in the midst of so much energy and intelligence.It could be exhilarating, intimidating, sometimes even discouraging, but always challenging.It was an amazing privilege – and though I left early, I was transformed by my years at Harvard, the friendships I

made, and the ideas I worked on.But taking a serious look back … I do have one big regret.I left Harvard with no real awareness of the awful inequities in the world – the appalling disparities of health, and wealth, and opportunity that condemn

millions of people to lives of despair.I learned a lot here at Harvard about new ideas in economics and politics.I got great exposure to the advances being made in the sciences.But humanity’s greatest advances are not in its discoveries – but in how those discoveries are applied to reduce inequity.Whether through democracy, strong public education, quality health care, or broad economic opportunity –

reducing inequity is the highest human achievement.I left campus knowing little about the millions of young people cheated out of educational opportunities here in this country.And I knew nothing about the millions of people living in unspeakable poverty and disease in developing

countries.It took me decades to find out.You graduates came to Harvard at a different time.You know more about the world’s inequities than the classes that came before.In your years here, I hope you’ve had a chance to think about how – in this age of accelerating technology – we can finally take on these inequities, and we can solve them.Imagine, just for the sake of discussion, that you had a few hours a week and a few dollars a month to donate to a cause – and you wanted to spend that time and money where it would have the greatest impact in saving and improving lives.Where would you spend it?

For Melinda and for me, the challenge is the same: how can we do the most good for the greatest number with the resources we have.During our discussions on this question, Melinda and I read an article about the millions of children who were dying every year in poor countries from diseases that we had long ago made harmless in this country.Measles, malaria, pneumonia, hepatitis B, yellow fever.One disease I had never even heard of, rotavirus, was killing half a million kids each year – none of them in

the United States.We were shocked.We had just assumed that if millions of children were dying and they could be saved, the world would make it a priority to discover and deliver the medicines to save them.But it did not.For under a

dollar, there were interventions that could save lives that just weren’t being

delivered.If you believe that every life has equal value, it’s revolting to learn that some lives are seen as worth saving and others are not.We said to ourselves: ―This can’t be true.But if it is true, it deserves to be the priority of our giving.‖

So we began our work in the same way anyone here would begin it.We asked: ―How could the world let these children die?‖

The answer is simple, and harsh.The market did not reward saving the lives of these children, and governments did not subsidize it.So the children died because their mothers and their fathers had no power in the market and

no voice in the system.But you and I have both.We can make market forces work better for the poor if we can develop amore creative capitalism – if we can stretch the reach of market forces so that more people can make a profit, or at least make a living, serving people who are suffering from the worst inequities.We also can press governments around the world to spend taxpayer money in ways that better reflect the values of the

people who pay the taxes.If we can find approaches that meet the needs of the poor in ways that generate profits for business and votes for politicians, we will have found a sustainable way to reduce inequity in the world.This task is open-ended.It can never be finished.But a conscious effort to answer this challenge will change

the world.I am optimistic that we can do this, but I talk to skeptics who claim there is no hope.They say: ―Inequity has been with us since the beginning, and will be with us till the end – because people just …don’t … care.‖ I completely

disagree.I believe we have more caring than we know what to do with.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.The barrier to change is not too little caring;it is too much complexity.To turn caring into action, we need to see a problem, see a solution, and see the impact.But complexity blocks all three steps.Even with the advent of the Internet and 24-hour news, it is still a complex enterprise to get people to truly see the problems.When an airplane crashes, officials immediately call a press conference.They promise to investigate, determine the cause, and prevent similar crashes in the future.But if the officials were brutally honest, they would say: ―Of all the people in the world who died today from preventable causes, one half of one percent of them were on this plane.We’re determined to do everything possible to solve the problem that took the lives of the one half of one percent.‖

The bigger problem is not the plane crash, but the millions of preventable

deaths.We don’t read much about these deaths.The media covers what’s new –and millions of people dying is nothing new.So it stays in the background, where it’s easier to ignore.But even when we do see it or read about it, it’s difficult to keep our eyes on the problem.It’s hard to look at suffering if the situation is so complex that we don’t know how to help.And so

we look away.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.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.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 bed net.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.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.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.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.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.I remember going to Davos some years back and sitting on a global health panel that was discussing ways to save millions of lives.Millions!Think of the thrill of saving just one person’s life – then multiply that by millions.… Yet this was the most boring panel I’ve ever been on – ever.So boring even I couldn’t

bear it.What made that experience especially striking was that I had just come from an event where we were introducing version 13 of some piece of software, and we had people jumping and shouting with excitement.I love getting people excited about software – but why can’t we generate even more excitement for

saving lives?

You can’t get people excited unless you can help them see and feel the impact.And how you do that – is a complex question.Still, I’m optimistic.Yes, inequity has been with us forever, but the new tools we have to cut through complexity have not been with us forever.They are new – they can help us make the most of our caring –and that’s why the

future can be different from the past.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.Sixty years ago, George Marshall came to this commencement and announced a plan to assist the nations of post-war Europe.He said: ―I think one difficulty is that the problem is one of such enormous complexity that the very mass of facts presented to the public by press and radio make it exceedingly difficult for the man in the street to reach a clear appraisement of the situation.It is virtually impossible at this distance to grasp at all the real

significance of the situation.‖ Thirty years after Marshall made his address, as my class graduated without me, technology was emerging that would make the world smaller, more open, more visible, less distant.The emergence of low-cost personal computers gave rise to a powerful network that has transformed opportunities for learning and communicating.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.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.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.Members of the Harvard Family: Here in the Yard is one of the great collections of intellectual talent in the world.What for?

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? 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:

Should our best minds be dedicated to solving our biggest problems?

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?

Should the world’s most privileged people learn about the lives of the

world’s least privileged? These are not rhetorical questions – you will answer with your policies.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.‖ 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.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.Don’t let complexity stop you.Be activists.Take on the big inequities.It will be one of the great experiences of your lives.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.Knowing what you know, how could you not?

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.Good luck.過去30年里，我一直在等待著說這樣一句話，―父親，我一直對您說我將拿

到自己的學位。‖。

我要感謝哈佛及時地授予我學位。我明年要換工作(注：指全力投入比爾及梅琳達基金會的慈善工作)，有了學位我的簡歷看起來會更好一些。

祝賀今天的哈佛畢業生都直接獲得了學位。哈佛校報稱我為―哈佛歷史上最成功的輟學生‖，這讓我感到非常高興。當我面對同一屆畢業生時，我可以對他們說，―我是失敗者中最為成功的。‖

眾所周知，當初史蒂夫·鮑爾默(Steve Ballmer)從哈佛商學院退學，我是始作俑者。我并不是一個好榜樣，這也是我受邀在你們的畢業典禮上發表演講的原因。如果你們都像我一樣輟學，那今天就沒有人會坐在這里。

對我來說，在哈佛的經歷是一段難忘的體驗。校園生活總是讓人留戀，我曾經上了很多根本沒有注冊的課。當然，宿舍的生活并不太美好。當時我住在拉德克里夫學院，同一宿舍的很多人經常討論問題到深夜，因為他們都知道我并不擔心早上起不來床。正是在這樣的環境下，我成長為反社會集團的領導者。

拉德克里夫是一個適合生活的地方。那時候這里有很多女孩子，而且大多數男生都屬于較為死板的類型，因此我的機會很多，你們都知道我的意思。不過，正是在這里，我明白了擁有機會并不一定能獲得成功的道理。(笑)

微軟的起步

在哈佛的日子里，最令我難忘的一天是在1975年1月。當時我給Albuquerque的一家公司打了電話，這家公司已經開始生產全世界首批個人計算

機，我希望向它們銷售軟件。

最開始我忐忑不安，因為擔心這家公司會因為我是學生而掛斷電話。但幸運的是，它們沒有這樣做，而是對我說，―我們還沒有準備好，一個月內來我們公司看看吧。‖這對我來說是一個好消息，因為我們當時還沒有完成軟件開發。從那一刻起，我夜以繼日地工作。這一項目雖然價值不大，但它標志著我大學生

活的結束，以及微軟的起步。

哈佛給我留下印象最深的是所有人都活力十足，而且非常聰明。在哈佛的日子有快樂，也有失落，但總是充滿挑戰。盡管我很早離開了哈佛，但那幾年已經足以改變我。在這里，我結識了很多朋友，并想出了很多創意。

最大遺憾

認真回顧過去，我確實有著一大遺憾。

當我離開哈佛時，我并沒有意識到這個世界存在著可怕的不平等現象。人們享受的醫療、保健和機會嚴重不均，很多人生活在絕望的邊緣。

我在哈佛學到了很多東西，包括經濟和政治方面的新思想，但體會最深的還是科學的不斷進步。

可是，人類的最大進步并不體現在發現和發明上，而是如何利用它們來消除不平等。不管通過何種方式，民主、公共教育、醫療保健、或者是經濟合作，消除不平等才是人類的最大成就。

當我離開校園時，并不知道美國有數百萬的青少年享受不到受教育的機會，我也不知道在發展中國家有數百萬人生活在極度的貧困之中。

我用了數十年的時間才明白了這些。

你們和我完全不同，你們更了解這個世界上存在的不平等。我希望你們過去幾年都曾經認真想過，應當如何應對這樣的不平等，以及如何解決這些問題。

假如，如果你愿意付出每周幾小時時間和每月幾美元，希望這些時間和錢能拯救更多的人，改善更多人的生活。那么，你會將時間和錢花在哪里呢？

對于梅琳達(注：蓋茨之妻)和我來說，也存在著同樣的問題：應該怎樣做，才能讓我們擁有的資源給最多的人帶來好處呢？

在討論這一問題的過程中，梅琳達和我看到一篇關于疾病每年在發展中國家殺死數百萬兒童的新聞。這些疾病包括麻疹、瘧疾、肺炎、B型肝炎和黃熱病，它們在美國已經受到嚴密的控制。此外，一種我們從未聽說的疾病——輪狀病毒每年要殺死50萬兒童，但其中沒有一名美國兒童。

我們感到非常震驚。既然每年有如此多的兒童因為這些疾病而死，那么就應當將研發新藥、拯救生命放在首位，但事實并非如此。

人人生而平等

如果你們相信―人人生而平等‖，當了解到人們認為有些生命值得拯救，而有些生命不值得時，也會感到震驚。我們會對自己說：―這并不是真的。但是，如果它是真的，我們就應當努力改變這種情況。‖

因此，我們開始了這樣的工作，我們相信別人也會這樣做。有時我們會感到不解：這個世界為什么會允許那么多的孩子死亡呢？

答案很簡單，也很殘酷。拯救這些孩子的生命并不會帶來市場回報，政府也沒有為此提供補貼。這些孩子之所以會死亡，主要因為他們的父母沒有強大的市場力量，甚至沒有話語權。

但是我和你們都有。

我們今天坐在這里，就在這一時間，世界各地仍在上演著人間慘劇。這讓我們感到心碎，我們之所以沒有采取任何行動，并不是我們沒有同情心，而是

因為我們不知道如何去做。

我們面臨的障礙并不是缺乏同情心，實際情況要復雜的多。

要將同情心轉化為行動，我們需要看到問題，找到解決方案，并了解最終結果。但實際情況是，我們很難做到這三點。

即使有了互聯網和24小時新聞播報，我們仍然很難真正地了解問題。如果一架飛機墜毀，官方會立即舉辦新聞發布會。他們將會承諾展開調查，確定事故原因，并保證今后不會出現同樣的情況。

但實際情況卻是，飛機失事死亡人數還不足全世界每天因可避免原因死

亡人數的0.5%。

更嚴重的問題并不是飛機失事，而是全球數以百萬計的可避免死亡。

事實上，我們很難獲得同后者相關的消息。新聞媒體希望獲得新消息，而數以百萬計的人因貧窮和疾病死亡并不是新消息。因此，這樣的消息很難出現在媒體報道中，從而更容易被人們所忽略。另一方面，即使我們看到這樣的報道，也不太情愿仔細閱讀。因為情況過于復雜，我們不知道如何提供幫助。在這種情況下，我們大多數情況會將視線轉向其它方向。

看到問題只是第一步，我們要做的下一步是降低問題的復雜度，并找到

解決方案。

如果我們想讓自己的同情心發揮作用，找到解決方案非常必要。因為只有這樣，我們才能確保同情心沒有被浪費。當然，由于大部分問題都很復雜，要

找到解決方案并不容易。

那么，我們又應當如何降低復雜度，找到解決方案呢？我認為可以分為四個階段：確定一個目標、發現最有效的方式、為這種方式找到理想的技術、以及開發最優秀的應用，例如用于治病的藥品。

我們要做的最后一步就是衡量工作的成果，并與他人共享我們的成功與失

敗。

第五篇：比爾蓋茨哈佛畢業演講稿(中英版)

比爾蓋茨哈佛畢業演講稿

President Bok, former President Rudenstine, incoming President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, members of the faculty, parents, and especially, the graduates: 尊敬的Bok校長，Rudenstine前校長，即將上任的Faust校長，哈佛集團的各位成員，監管理事會的各位理事，各位老師，各位家長，各位同學：

I've been waiting more than 30 years to say this: “Dad, I always told you I'd come back and get my degree.” 有一句話我等了三十年，現在終于可以說了：“老爸，我總是跟你說，我會回來拿到我的學位的！”

I want to thank Harvard for this timely honor.I'll be changing my job next year?and it will be nice to finally have a college degree on my resume.我要感謝哈佛大學在這個時候給我這個榮譽。明年，我就要換工作了（注：指從微軟公司退休）??我終于可以在簡歷上寫我有一個本科學位，這真是不錯啊。

I applaud the graduates today for taking a much more direct route to your degrees.For my part, I'm just happy that the Crimson has called me “Harvard's most successful dropout.” I guess that makes me valedictorian of my own special class?I did the best of everyone who failed.我為今天在座的各位同學感到高興，你們拿到學位可比我簡單多了。哈佛的校報稱我是“哈佛大學歷史上最成功的輟學生”。我想這大概使我有資格代表我這一類學生發言??在所有的失敗者里，我做得最好。

But I also want to be recognized as the guy who got Steve Ballmer to drop out of business school.I'm a bad influence.That's why I was invited to speak at your graduation.If I had spoken at your orientation, fewer of you might be here today.但是，我還要提醒大家，我使得Steve Ballmer（注：微軟總經理）也從哈佛商學院退學了。因此，我是個有著惡劣影響力的人。這就是為什么我被邀請來在你們的畢業典禮上演講。如果我在你們入學歡迎儀式上演講，那么能夠堅持到今天在這里畢業的人也許會少得多吧。

Harvard was just a phenomenal experience for me.Academic life was fascinating.I used to sit in on lots of classes I hadn't even signed up for.And dorm life was terrific.I lived up at Radcliffe, in Currier House.There were always lots of people in my dorm room late at night discussing things, because everyone knew I didn't worry about getting up in the morning.That's how I came to be the leader of the anti-social group.We clung to each other as a way of validating our rejection of all those social people.對我來說，哈佛的求學經歷是一段非凡的經歷。校園生活很有趣，我常去旁聽我沒選修的課。哈佛的課外生活也很棒，我在Radcliffe過著逍遙自在的日子。每天我的寢室里總有很多人一直待到半夜，討論著各種事情。因為每個人都知道我從不考慮第二天早起。這使得我變成了校園里那些不安分學生的頭頭，我們互相粘在一起，做出一種拒絕所有正常學生的姿態。

Radcliffe was a great place to live.There were more women up there, and most of the guys were science-math types.That combination offered me the best odds, if you know what I mean.This is Where I learned the sad lesson that improving your odds doesn't guarantee success.Radcliffe是個過日子的好地方。那里的女生比男生多，而且大多數男生都是理工科的。這種狀況為我創造了最好的機會，如果你們明白我的意思。可惜的是，我正是在這里學到了人生中悲傷的一課：機會大，并不等于你就會成功。One of my biggest memories of Harvard came in January 1975, when I made a call From Currier House to a company in Albuquerque that had begun making the world's first personal computers.I offered to sell them software.我在哈佛最難忘的回憶之一，發生在1975年1月。那時，我從宿舍樓里給位于Albuquerque的一家公司打了一個電話，那家公司已經在著手制造世界上第一臺個人電腦。我提出想向他們出售軟件。

I worried that they would realize I was just a student in a dorm and hang up on me.Instead they said: “We're not quite ready, come see us in a month,” which was a good thing, because we hadn't written the software yet.From that moment, I worked day and night on this little extra credit project that marked the end of my college education and the beginning of a remarkable journey with Microsoft.我很擔心，他們會發覺我是一個住在宿舍的學生，從而掛斷電話。但是他們卻說：“我們還沒準備好，一個月后你再來找我們吧。”這是個好消息，因為那時軟件還根本沒有寫出來呢。就是從那個時候起，我日以繼夜地在這個小小的課外項目上工作，這導致了我學生生活的結束，以及通往微軟公司的不平凡的旅程的開始。What I remember above all about Harvard was being in the midst of so much energy and intelligence.It could be exhilarating, intimidating, sometimes even discouraging, but always challenging.It was an amazing privilege?and though I left early, I was transformed by my years at Harvard, the friendships I made, and the ideas I worked on.不管怎樣，我對哈佛的回憶主要都與充沛的精力和智力活動有關。哈佛的生活令人愉快，也令人感到有壓力，有時甚至會感到泄氣，但永遠充滿了挑戰性。生活在哈佛是一種吸引人的特殊待遇??雖然我離開得比較早，但是我在這里的經歷、在這里結識的朋友、在這里發展起來的一些想法，永遠地改變了我。But taking a serious look back?I do have one big regret.但是，如果現在嚴肅地回憶起來，我確實有一個真正的遺憾。

I left Harvard with no real awareness of the awful inequities in the world--the appalling disparities of health, and wealth, and opportunity that condemn millions of people to lives of despair.我離開哈佛的時候，根本沒有意識到這個世界是多么的不平等。人類在健康、財富和機遇上的不平等大得可怕，它們使得無數的人們被迫生活在絕望之中。

I left campus knowing little about the millions of young people cheated out of educational opportunities here in this country.And I knew nothing about the millions of people living in unspeakable poverty and disease in developing countries.我離開校園的時候，根本不知道在這個國家里，有幾百萬的年輕人無法獲得接受教育的機會。我也不知道，發展中國家里有無數的人們生活在無法形容的貧窮和疾病之中。

It took me decades to find out.我花了幾十年才明白了這些事情。

You graduates came to Harvard at a different time.You know more about the world's inequities than the classes that came before.In your years here, I hope you've had a chance to think about how--in this age of accelerating technology--we can finally take on these inequities, and we can solve them.在座的各位同學，你們是在與我不同的時代來到哈佛的。你們比以前的學生，更多地了解世界是怎樣的不平等。在你們的哈佛求學過程中，我希望你們已經思考過一個問題，那就是在這個新技術加速發展的時代，我們怎樣最終應對這種不平等，以及我們怎樣來解決這個問題。

Imagine, just for the sake of discussion, that you had a few hours a week and a few dollars a month to donate to a cause--and you wanted to spend that time and money Where it would have the greatest impact in saving and improving lives.Where would you spend it? 為了討論的方便，請想象一下，假如你每個星期可以捐獻一些時間、每個月可以捐獻一些錢——你希望這些時間和金錢，可以用到對拯救生命和改善人類生活有最大作用的地方。你會選擇什么地方？ For Melinda and for me, the challenge is the same: how can we do the most good for the greatest number with the resources we have.對Melinda（注：蓋茨的妻子）和我來說，這也是我們面臨的問題：我們如何能將我們擁有的資源發揮出最大的作用。

During our discussions on this question, Melinda and I read an article about the millions of children who were dying every year in poor countries From diseases that we had long ago made harmless in this country.Measles, malaria, pneumonia, hepatitis B, yellow fever.One disease I had never even heard of, rotavirus, was killing half a million kids each year ? none of them in the United States.在討論過程中，Melinda和我讀到了一篇文章，里面說在那些貧窮的國家，每年有數百萬的兒童死于那些在美國早已不成問題的疾病。麻疹、瘧疾、肺炎、乙型肝炎、黃熱病、還有一種以前我從未聽說過的輪狀病毒，這些疾病每年導致50萬兒童死亡，但是在美國一例死亡病例也沒有。

We were shocked.We had just assumed that if millions of children were dying and they could be saved, the world would make it a priority to discover and deliver the medicines to save them.But it did not.For under a dollar, there were interventions that could save lives that just weren't being delivered.我們被震驚了。我們想，如果幾百萬兒童正在死亡線上掙扎，而且他們是可以被挽救的，那么世界理應將用藥物拯救他們作為頭等大事。但是事實并非如此。那些價格還不到一美元的救命的藥劑，并沒有送到他們的手中。

If you believe that every life has equal value, it's revolting to learn that some lives are seen as worth saving and others are not.We said to ourselves: “This can't be true.But if it is true, it deserves to be the priority of our giving.” 如果你相信每個生命都是平等的，那么當你發現某些生命被挽救了，而另一些生命被放棄了，你會感到無法接受。我們對自己說：“事情不可能如此。如果這是真的，那么它理應是我們努力的頭等大事。”

So we began our work in the same way anyone here would begin it.We asked: “How could the world let these children die?” 所以，我們用任何人都會想到的方式開始工作。我們問：“這個世界怎么可以眼睜睜看著這些孩子死去？”

The answer is simple, and harsh.The market did not reward saving the lives of these children, and governments did not subsidize it.So the children died because their mothers and their fathers had no power in the market and no voice in the system.答案很簡單，也很令人難堪。在市場經濟中，拯救兒童是一項沒有利潤的工作，政府也不會提供補助。這些兒童之所以會死亡，是因為他們的父母在經濟上沒有實力，在政治上沒有能力發出聲音。But you and I have both.但是，你們和我在經濟上有實力，在政治上能夠發出聲音。

We can make market forces work better for the poor if we can develop a more creative capitalism ? if we can stretch the reach of market forces so that more people can make a profit, or at least make a living, serving people who are suffering From the worst inequities.We also can press governments around the world to spend taxpayer money in ways that better reflect the values of the people who pay the taxes.我們可以讓市場更好地為窮人服務，如果我們能夠設計出一種更有創新性的資本主義制度——如果我們可以改變市場，讓更多的人可以獲得利潤，或者至少可以維持生活——那么，這就可以幫到那些正在極端不平等的狀況中受苦的人們。我們還可以向全世界的政府施壓，要求他們將納稅人的錢，花到更符合納稅人價值觀的地方。

If we can find approaches that meet the needs of the poor in ways that generate profits for business and votes for politicians, we will have found a sustainable way to reduce inequity in the world.This task is open-ended.It can never be finished.But a conscious effort to answer this challenge will change the world.如果我們能夠找到這樣一種方法，既可以幫到窮人，又可以為商人帶來利潤，為政治家帶來選票，那么我們就找到了一種減少世界性不平等的可持續的發展道路。這個任務是無限的。它不可能被完全完成，但是任何自覺地解決這個問題的嘗試，都將會改變這個世界。

I am optimistic that we can do this, but I talk to skeptics who claim there is no hope.They say: “Inequity has been with us since the beginning, and will be with us till the end ? because people just?don't?care.” I completely disagree.在這個問題上，我是樂觀的。但是，我也遇到過那些感到絕望的懷疑主義者。他們說：“不平等從人類誕生的第一天就存在，到人類滅亡的最后一天也將存在。——因為人類對這個問題根本不在乎。”我完全不能同意這種觀點。I believe we have more caring than we know what to do with.我相信，問題不是我們不在乎，而是我們不知道怎么做。