Amazing time

　　"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, which would be phenomenal."——Bill Gates

　　“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，那么工作就会非常杰出。”

　　——比尔·盖茨

　　背景资料

　　2014年3月4日，《福布斯》公布2014年全球亿万富豪排行榜。在阔别四年以后，比尔·盖茨以720亿美元的净资产，重新登顶世界首富宝座。他把四成身家拿来做慈善。

　　比尔·盖茨有很多理由可以感到自豪，但是最令他感到骄傲的是盖茨基金的慈善事业，特别是全球卫生项目。他说，“如果没有我们赞助、提供的疟疾疫苗，会有600多万人丧生，无法活到今天。”

　　Amazing time

　　——Bill Gates

　　The defining and ongoing innovations of this age- biotechnology , the computer, theInternet-give us a chance we've never had before to end extreme poverty and end death frompreventable disease.

　　The emergence of low-cost personal computers gave rise to a powerful network that hastransformed opportunities for learning and communicating.

　　The magical thing about this network is not just that it collapses distance and makeseveryone your neighbor. It also dramatically increases the number of brilliant minds we can haveworking together on the same problem-and that scales up the rate of innovation to a staggeringdegree.

　　At the same time, for every person in the world who has access to this technology, fivepeople don't. That means many creative minds are left out of this discussion-smart people withpractical intelligence and relevant experience who don't have the technology to hone their talentsor contribute their ideas to the world.

　　We need as many people as possible to have access to this technology, because theseadvances are triggering a revolution in what human beings can do for one another. They aremaking it possible not just for national governments, but for universities, corporations, smallerorganizations, and even individuals to see problems, see approaches and measure the impact oftheir efforts to address the hunger, poverty and desperation George Marshall spoke of 60 yearsago.

　　Members of the Harvard Family: Here in the Yard is one of the great collections ofintellectual talent in the world.

　　What for?

　　There is no question that the faculty , the alumni , the students and the benefactors ofHarvard have used their power to improve the lives of people here and around the world. But canwe do more? Can Harvard dedicate its intellect to improving the lives of people who will nevereven hear its name?

　　Let me make a request of the deans and the professors-- the intellectual leaders here atHarvard: As you hire new faculty, award tenure , review curriculum and determine degreerequirements, 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 Harvardstudents learn about the depth of global poverty…the prevalence of world hunger…the scarcityof 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 leastprivileged?

　　These are not rhetorical questions-you will answer with your policies.

　　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 anissue-a complex problem, a deep inequity and become a specialist on it. If you make it the focusof your career, that would be phenomenal . But you don't have to do that to make an impact. For afew hours every week, you can use the growing power of the Internet to get informed, find otherswith the same interests, see the barriers and find ways to cut through them.

　　You graduates are coming of age in an amazing time. As you leave Harvard, you havetechnology that members of my class never had. You have awareness of global inequity, which wedid not have. And with that awareness, you likely also have an informed conscience that willtorment 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 youhave done with your talent and your energy. I hope you will judge yourselves not on yourprofessional accomplishments alone, but also on how well you have addressed the world'sdeepest inequities…on how well you treated people a world away who have nothing in commonwith you but their humanity.

　　Good luck.

　　参考译文

　　神奇的时代

　　——比尔·盖茨

　　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。

　　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。

　　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。它还极大地增加了使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。

　　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。

　　我们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，让不仅是政府，还包括大学、公司、小机构、甚至个人，能够发现问题所在、找到解决办法、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。

　　哈佛是一个大家庭。这个院子里在场的人们，是全世界最有智慧的群体之一。

　　我们可以做些什么？

　　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？

　　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：

　　我们最优秀的人才是否在致力于解决我们最大的问题？

　　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？哈佛的学生是否了解全球那些极端的贫穷……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？

　　那些世界上过着最优越生活的人们，了解那些最困难的人们的生活吗？

　　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。

　　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利，期待我们做出贡献。

　　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。

　　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。

　　知道了你们所知道的一切，你们怎么可能不采取行动呢？

　　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，还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。

　　祝各位好运。