哈佛大学演讲稿 哈佛大学校长的告别演讲

哈佛大学校长的告别演讲  

Good bye and good luck!
by Lawrence H. Summers
President of Harvard University
再见，好运！
哈佛大学校长 劳伦斯 萨默斯
Today
I speak from this podium a final time as your president. As I depart
I want to thank all of you - students
faculty
alumni and staff - with whom I have been privileged to work over these past years. Some of us have had our disagreements
but I know that which unites us transcends that which divides us. I leave with a full heart
grateful for the opportunity I have had to lead this remarkable institution.
今天，我将以校长的身份，最后一次在这个讲台上演讲。即将离任前，我要感谢诸位学生、教师、校友和员工，而且非常荣幸在过去的5年里能与你们共事。我们中的一些人意见不尽相同， 但是，我知道，我们的共识远远超越分歧。我心满意足的离开哈佛，感激你们给我机会领导这所杰出的学府。
Since I delivered my inaugural address
56 months ago
I have learned an enormous amount—about higher education
about leadership
and also about myself. Some things look different to me than they did five years ago. The world that today’s Harvard’s graduates are entering is a profoundly different one than the world administrators entered.
自从56个月前我发表上任讲话以来，我学到了很多——关于高等教育，关于领导艺术，也关于自我完善。在我看来，现在与5年前不同了。今天的哈佛毕业生正在进入的世界和管理人员当年所进入的世界相比已是大相径庭了。
It is a world where opportunities have never been greater for those who know how to teach children to read
or those who know how to distribute financial risk; never greater for those who understand the cell and the pixel; never greater for those who can master
and navigate beeen
legal codes
faith traditions
puter platforms
political viewpoints.
现今世界，机遇对于这些人来说是空前的：他们知道如何教子女阅读；他们知道如何组合投资；他们懂得基本存储单元和像素概念；他们能掌握各种法典、传统信仰、计算机平台、政治观点并在其中游刃有余。
It is also a world where some are left further and further behind - those who are not educated
those trapped in poverty and violence
those for whom equal opportunity is just a hollow phrase.
同时，现今世界，一些人越来越落后于时代。这些人没受过教育、深陷于贫穷和暴力、平等机遇对他们而言，仅是一句空话。
Scientific and technological advances are enabling us to prehend the furthest reaches of the cosmos
the most basic constituents of matter
and the miracle of life.
科技进步正在使我们能够探索宇宙的边陲、物质最基本的成分及生命的奇蹟。
At the same time
today
the actions
and inaction
of human beings imperil not only life on the pla
but the very life of the pla.
与此同时，今天，人类所做的及没能做到的事情，不仅危害到这个星球上的生命，也危害到该星球的寿命。
Globalization is making the world smaller
faster and richer. Still
9/11
avian flu
and Iran remind us that a smaller
faster world is not necessarily a safer world.
全球化正在使地球变得愈来愈小、愈来愈快和愈来愈富有。尽管如此，9/11、禽流感及伊朗提醒我们，更小更快的世界决不意味着其更安全。Our world is bursting with knowledge - but desperately in need of wisdom. Now
when sound bites are getting shorter
when instant messages crowd out essays
and when individual lives grow more frenzied
college graduates capable of deep reflection are what our world needs.
我们正处于一个知识爆炸的世界之中，不过，迫切需要智慧。现在，在（新闻采访的）原声摘要播出变得愈来愈短，即时信息淘汰了杂记文，个人生活变得如痴如狂之际，这个世界还是需要能够深思的大学生。
For all these reasons I believed - and I believe even more strongly today - in the unique and irreplaceable mission of universities.
考虑到这些理由，我过去信仰，而今天甚至更加强烈地信仰大学独特的、无可取代的使命。
Universities are where the wisdom we cannot afford to lose is preserved from generation to generation. Among all human institutions
universities can look beyond present norms to future possibilities
can look through current considerations to emergent opportunities.
大学是人类把不可或缺的智慧世代流传的殿堂。就人类所有公共机构而言，仅仅大学，能够超越当前的准则，注意到未来的可能性；能通过目前的判断，注意到突发的机遇。
And among universities
Harvard stands out. With its great tradition
its iconic reputation
its remarkable neork of 300
000 alumni
Harvard has never had as much potential as it does now.
哈佛在大学中间，鹤立鸡羣。凭其伟大的传统、因袭声誉及其非凡的300000校友网，哈佛的潜力前所未有。
And yet
great and proud institutions
like great and proud nations at their peak
must surmount a very real risk: that the very strength of their traditions will lead to caution
to an inward focus on prerogative and to a placency that lets the world pass them by.
可是，就像伟大和自豪的国家在其鼎盛时期一样，它们必须克服一个完全不能掉以轻心的危险因素：它们传统的绝对强势将会导致谨小慎微、追求内部特权及自满，这将使它们不能与时俱进.
And so I say to you that our University today is at an inflection point in its history. At such a moment
there is temptation to elevate fort and consensus over progress and clear direction
but this would be a mistake. The University’s matchless resources - human
physical
financial - demand that we seize this moment with vision and boldness. To do otherwise would be a lost opportunity. We can spur great deeds that history will mark decades and even centuries from now. If Harvard can find the courage to change itself
it can change the world.
今天，哈佛正处于其历史的转折点。此时此刻的自然倾向是，把贪图舒适和随波逐流留凌驾于进步和方向性之上，但，这可能是错误的。大学无与伦比的资源 ——人力、物力、财力——要求我们远见卓识和勇敢地抓住这个时机，否则，将会坐失良机。我们能推动将会被历史永世铭记的伟大的事业。如果哈佛能找到勇气来改变自己，它就能改变世界。