视频&中英全文｜人生是旷野——比尔·盖茨赠予毕业生的五条建议

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2023-06-14 10:06

Photo by Tony Webster on Flickr

2023年5月13日，美国著名企业家、慈善家、前世界首富比尔·盖茨以北亚利桑那大学（简称NAU）荣誉博士的身份，在NAU毕业典礼上发表了演讲。这是他人生中第三次毕业演讲，前两次分别是在他的母校哈佛大学，还有斯坦福大学。

Photo by NAU TV

他在演讲中为毕业生提了五条建议：人生不止有一条轨道、学会提问、专注能解决问题的工作、重视友情和学会放松自己。下面是演讲视频和双语全文：

演讲全文

大家下午好！感谢Cruz Rivera校长和亚利桑那州立大学董事会授予我这一无可比拟的荣誉。我非常高兴能站在这里，与NAU的尊敬的教职员工们一起。

Good afternoon! Thank you, President Cruz Rivera and the Arizona Board of Regents, for this tremendous honor. I am thrilled to be here with NAU’s esteemed faculty and staff.

挚亲和好友们，我们终于可以松一口气了。今天的成就也同样属于你们——我认为这值得一轮掌声。毕业生们，你们做到了。你们完成了毕业论文和实习，挺过了大三写作课程和很多杯龙舌兰日出鸡尾酒；你们度过了在博物馆俱乐部（当地酒吧）的最后一个Dimes之夜，还从柯林斯那里获得了毕业主题的橡皮鸭。你们可能会很高兴，因为我也加入了你们的行列，我现在是荣誉博士学位和荣誉橡皮鸭的骄傲获得者。

Friends and family, the time has finally come to exhale. Today is your accomplishment, too—and I think that deserves a round of applause. Graduates, you made it. You finished your capstones and your internships. You survived junior-level writing class and multiple Tequila Sunrises. You had your last Dimes Night at Museum Club, and you earned your rubber duck from Collins.You might be happy to know that I have joined your ranks. I am now the proud recipient of an honorary doctorate and an honorary ducky.

今天能有机会在这里发表演讲，我感到非常荣幸，因为我认为应该有更多的人去了解 NAU 教育的巨大价值。你们即将从一个创造机会、促进创新和建立社区的学府毕业，它已为你们准备好应对当今世界难题的方案。NAU 还授予了你们我从未获得的东西：真正的大学学位。你们中的一些人可能知道，我从未参加过自己的毕业典礼。我在大学读了三个学期就离开去创立了微软。一个辍学生对毕业有什么了解呢？说实话，挺少的。

I am honored to have the opportunity to address you today, because I believe more people should know about the tremendous value of an NAU education. You are graduating from an institution that creates opportunity, fosters innovation, and builds community, and it has prepared you to find solutions to some of the biggest problems facing us today.NAU is also giving you something I never received: A real college degree. Some of you might know that I never made it to my own graduation. I left after three semesters to start Microsoft. So, what does a college dropout know about graduation? Not much personally, to be honest.

当我为今天做准备时，我想到了你们作为新毕业生，如何通过在这里获得的教育对世界产生最深远的影响。这让我想到了我从未参与过的毕业典礼，我从未听过的毕业演讲，以及我在像今天这样的日子里没有得到的建议。

As I prepared for today, I thought about how you, as new graduates, can have the biggest impact on the world with the education you received here. That led me to thinking about the graduation I never had, the commencement speech I never heard, and the advice I wasn’t given on a day just like this one.

Photo by website

这就是我今天下午想和大家分享的：在我未曾参加的毕业典礼上，我希望听到的5个建议。

That is what I want to share with you this afternoon: The five things I wish I was told at the graduation I never attended.

首先，你的人生不是独幕剧。

The first thing is, your life isn’t a one-act play.

眼下你大概会感受到很大的压力，因为你需要做出正确的职业选择。这些决定你可能会觉得是永久性的，其实并非如此。你明天或者未来十年要做什么，并不意味着你永远都会做这些。当我离开学校时，我以为我会在微软工作一辈子。如今，我仍然热爱软件方面的事情，但慈善事业已经成为我的全职工作。我现在的日常工作是创造创新，致力于解决气候变化问题和减少全球范围内的不平等现象，其中包括卫生和教育方面。我为我们的基金会有机会支持像 NAU 这样出色的学府而感到幸运，尽管当我22岁时，根本难以想象这些事情。改变主意或者尝试第二份职业不仅是可以接受的，而且可能是件好事。

You probably feel a lot of pressure right now to make the right decisions about your career. It might feel like those decisions are permanent. They’re not. What you do tomorrow—or for the next ten years—does not have to be what you do forever. When I left school, I thought I would work at Microsoft for the rest of my life. Today, I still love my work on software, but philanthropy is my full-time job. I spend my days working to create innovations that fight climate change and reduce inequalities around the world—including in health and education. I feel lucky that our foundation gets to support amazing institutions like NAU—even if it’s not what I imagined I’d be doing when I was 22. Not only is it okay to change your mind or have a second career… it can be a very good thing.

Photo by n0cturbulous on flickr

第二条我想听到的建议是，再聪明的人也会有困惑的时候。

The second piece of advice I wish I heard at my graduation is that you are never too smart to be confused.

当我离开大学时，我以为我已经掌握了所需的一切知识。但学习新东西的第一步就是是接受你所不知道的，而不是固步自封。在你的职业生涯中，总有一天会遇到一个你无法独自解决的问题。当这种情况发生时，不要惊慌。深呼吸，强迫自己深入思考。然后去找聪明的人向他们学习。他（她）可以是经验更丰富的同事，也可能是你的同学，他们能提供很好的观点，推动你以不同的方式思考。还可能是愿意私信回答你的问题的该领域专家。几乎我取得的所有成就，都来自于我寻求了其他更有经验的人的帮助。人们愿意帮助你。关键是不要害怕提问。你可能已经完成了学业。但你可以——也应该——把余生看作一个终生学习的过程。

I thought I knew everything I needed to know when I left college. But the first step to learning something new is embracing what you don’t know, instead of focusing on what you do know. At some point in your career, you will find yourself facing a problem you cannot solve on your own. When that happens, don’t panic. Take a breath. Force yourself to think things through. And then find smart people to learn from. It could be a colleague with more experience. It could be one of your fellow graduates, who has a good perspective and will push you to think differently. It could be an expert in the field who is willing to reply to your questions over DM. Just about everything I have accomplished came because I sought out others who knew more. People want to help you. The key is to not be afraid to ask. You may be done with school. But you can—and should—see the rest of your life as an education.

Photo by EMi Spicer on flickr

第三条建议是，专注于能解决重要问题的工作。

My third piece of advice is to gravitate toward work that solves an important problem.

好消息是，你们正处在有许多重要问题需要解决的时代。新兴产业和公司层出不穷，让你们既能谋生又能去做出改变，科学和技术的进步使得产生巨大影响变得比以往更容易。例如，你们中的许多人将成为林业专业人员。你们的教授教给了你们关于先进工具的知识，比如使用光学雷达来绘制森林地面的精确地图。你们可以找到新方法，利用这种技术来应对气候变化。一些人即将从事程序员职业，你们可以利用自己的技能确保所有人都能从人工智能里获益，或者帮助消除人工智能偏见。无论你从事什么工作，都可以找到方法将你的才能用于解决重要问题。当你每天投入时间去解决重要问题时，这会激励你去发挥最好的工作能力。它促使你更富创造力，并且给你的生活带来强烈的目标感。

The good news is, you are graduating at a time when there are many important problems to solve. New industries and companies are emerging every day that will allow you to make a living and make a difference, and advances in science and technology have made it easier than ever to make a big impact. For example, many of you are becoming foresters. Your professors taught you about cutting-edge tools, like drones that use LIDAR to produce accurate maps of the forest floor. You could find new ways to use that technology to help fight climate change. Some of you are heading off to start careers as programmers. You could use your talents to make sure all people can benefit from artificial intelligence—or to help eliminate biases in AI. When you spend your days doing something that solves a big problem, it energizes you to do your best work. It forces you to be more creative, and it gives your life a strong sense of purpose.

Photo by bekassine on flickr

我的第四条建议很简单：不要低估友情的力量。

My fourth piece of advice is simple: Don’t underestimate the power of friendship.

当我还在读书的时候，我结交到一个朋友，他和我有许多共同的兴趣，比如科幻小说和计算机杂志。我从未想过这份友谊会有多么重要。这位朋友叫保罗·艾伦——我们一起创办了微软。请记住，那些课堂上的同桌，一起滑雪的伙伴，以及在比赛中竞争的人不仅仅是你的同学，他们更是你的人脉网络。他们可能是你未来的合伙人和同事，是你寻求支持、信息和建议的重要资源。比今天和你一起走下舞台的人更有价值的，是和你一起上台的人。

When I was in school, I became friends with another student who shared a lot of my interests, like science fiction novels and computer magazines. Little did I know how important that friendship would be. My friend’s name was Paul Allen—and we started Microsoft together. Remember that people you’ve sat next to in lectures, skied Snowbowl with, and competed against on Wingo night are not just your classmates. They are your network. Your future co-founders and colleagues. A great future source of support, information, and advice. The only thing more valuable than what you walk offstage with today is who you walk onstage with.

Photo by bevardolt on flickr

我最后一条建议是最需要的，而我花了很长时间才领悟到这一点。那就是︰适当放松并不代表你懒惰。

My last piece of advice is the one I could have used the most. It took me a long time to learn. And it is this: You are not a slacker if you cut yourself some slack.

在你们这个年龄的时候，我不相信什么度假，也不相信什么周末。我逼迫身边的每一个人都要工作很长时间。在微软创业初期，我的办公室可以俯瞰停车场，而我会在那里记录谁早退谁加班。但是随着我变老，尤其是成为了一名父亲之后，我意识到生活不仅仅只有工作。不要像我―样等到很晚才明白这个道理。花些时间去培养人际关系，庆祝成功，平复挫折。在你需要的时候休息一下。在周围的人需要休息的时候，对他们要宽容一些。在你们开始生命的下一阶段之前，花点时间去享受一下。今晚、这个周末、这个夏天或其他时间，你们都值得这样做。

When I was your age, I didn’t believe in vacations. I didn’t believe in weekends. I pushed everyone around me to work very long hours. In the early days of Microsoft, my office overlooked the parking lot—and I would keep track of who was leaving early and staying late. But as I got older—and especially once I became a father—I realized there is more to life than work. Don’t wait as long as I did to learn this lesson. Take time to nurture your relationships, to celebrate your successes, and to recover from your losses. Take a break when you need to. Take it easy on the people around you when they need it, too. And before you begin the next stage of your lives, take a moment and have some fun. Tonight, this weekend, this summer, whenever. You deserve it.

2023届毕业生，未来属于你们。我相信你们可以成为解决气候危机和缩小贫富差距的人。你们在一个前所未有的时代上大学，已经创造了历史。我毫不怀疑，你们将在余生中继续创造历史。我迫不及待地想看看你们将如何推动世界进步。

Class of 2023, the future belongs to you. I believe you will be the ones to solve the climate crisis and reduce the gap between the rich and poor. You have already made history by attending college during some truly unprecedented times. I have no doubt that you will continue to make history throughout the rest of your lives. I cannot wait to see how you will drive progress around the world.