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1、StanfordStanford University 斯坦福大学 Bill and Melinda Gates 比尔盖茨夫妇Bill：Congratulations, class of 2014! 祝贺2014届毕业生！Melinda and I are excited to be here. 我和梅琳达很高兴能来到这里。It would be a thrill for anyone to be invited to speak at a Stanford commencement, but its especially gratifying for us.能受邀到斯坦福做毕业演讲对于任何人
2、来说都是一件令人激动的事情, 我们尤是如此。Stanford is rapidly becoming the favorite university for members of our family, and its long been a favorite university for Microsoft and our foundation.斯坦福正迅速成为我们家人最喜欢的一所大学，它也一直是微软以及我们基金会最偏爱的一所大学。Our formula has been to get the smartest, most creative people working on the mos
3、t important problems.我们喜欢招募最聪明最有创造性的人去解决最重要的问题。It turns out that a disproportionate number of thost people are at Stanford.事实证明，我们这里很大一部分人都来自于斯坦福。Right now, we have more than 30 foundation research projects underway here.现在这里有30多个基金会研究项目正在进行。When we want to learn more about the immune system to help
4、 cure the worst diseases we work with Stanford. 当我们想更深入理解免疫系统帮助治疗最严重的疾病时，我们找到斯坦福一同合作。When we want to understand the changing landscape of higher education in the United States, so that more low-income students get college degrees, we work with Stanford.当我们想了解美国高等教育现状的改变趋势,帮助更多低收入家庭的学生获得大学学位时，我们找到斯坦福
5、一同合作。This is where genius lives.斯坦福是一个盛产天才的地方。Theres a flexibility of mind here, and openness to change, an eagerness for whats new.这里的思想充满了灵活性，开放性和创新性。This is where people come to discover the future, and have fun doing it.斯坦福是促进人类探索未来并乐在其中的地方。Melinda: Now, some people call you all nerds and we hea
6、r that you claim that label with pride.有些人把你们称作“书呆子”，听说你们很喜欢这个称谓。Bill: Well, so do we.我们也喜欢。夫妇同时戴眼镜My normal glasses really arent all that different. Laughing。台下大笑。我平时用的眼睛其实也没有多大不同。There are so many remarkable things going on here at this campus, but if Melinda and I had go put into one word what we
7、 love most about Stanford, its the optimism.这所学校里发生了很多了不起的事情。如果要我和梅琳达用一个词来总结对斯坦福的热爱，我们会说是“乐观”。Theres an infectious feeling here that innovation can solve almost every problem.这里有着浓郁的氛围，让人觉得创新能够解决所有问题。Thats the belief that drove me in 1975 to leave a college in the suburbs of Boston and go on endless
8、 leave of absence.也正是这种信念让我在1975年离开波士顿郊外的那所大学，从此一去不复返。I believed that magic of computers and software would empower people everywhere and make the world much, much better.我相信，神奇的计算机和软件能够让全世界所有人获得力量，让世界变得比现在好很多很多。Its been 40 years since then, and 20 years since Melinda and I were married.从那时到现在已经过40年
9、，我和梅琳达结婚也已经20年了。We are both more optimistic now and ever.我们仍然坚持着这份乐观，甚至更甚于当年。But on our journey, our optimism evolved.随着人生旅途的展开，这份乐观也随之深化。We would like to tell you what we learned and talk to you today about how your optimism and ours can do more for more people.今天，我们愿与大家分享自己的经历，告诉大家你们的乐观也可以和我们一样为更多
10、的人做到更多。When Paul Allen and I started Microsoft, we wanted to bring the power of the computers and software to the people, and that was the kind of rhetoric we used.我和保罗艾伦开创微软时，希望让计算机和软件的力量造福全人类，这也正是我们所想传达的理念。One of the pioneering book in the field had raised fist on the cover, and it was called “Com
11、puter Lib.”领域内的一本先驱性的书籍封面上举起拳头，将这称作是“计算机解放运动”。At that time, only big businesses could buy computers.当时，只有大公司才买得起计算机。We wanted to offer the same power to regular people, and democratize computing.我们希望让普通人也能使用这份力量，让计算机能够民众化 普及化。By the 1990s, we saw how profoundly personal computers could empower peopl
12、e, but that success created a new dilemma.到1990年代，我们都见证了个人计算机为人类做出的巨大贡献，但这份成功同时又引来了新的困境。If rich kids got computers and poor kids didnt, then technology would make inequality worse.如果富有孩子有电脑用，而穷孩子没有，那么技术的天平将变得更加不平等。That ran counter to our core belief.这将同我们的核心新年背道而驰。Technology should benefit everyone.
13、技术应当让每个人收益。So we worked to close the digital divide.于是我们开始行动，试图缩小这一数字鸿沟。I made a priority at Microsoft, and Melinda and I made it an early priority at our Foundation.我原来在微软以及我和梅琳达在盖茨基金会早期都确立了。Donating personal computers to public libraries to make sure that everyone had access.向公共图书馆捐赠个人计算机这一优先事务以帮助
14、每个人获得计算机使用权。The digital divide was a focus of mine in 1997, when I took my first trip to South Africa.1997年这意数字鸿沟是我的主要关注焦点，当时我是第一次去南非。I went there on business.我是出公差。So I spent most of my time in meetings in downtown Johannesburg.大多数时间都在于汉内斯堡中心城区开会。I stayed in the home of one of the richest families
15、of South Africa.住在南非国内非常有线的一位富豪家里。It had only been three years since the election of Nelson Mandela marked the end of apartheid.当时离纳尔逊曼德拉当选只有三年时间，种族隔离刚刚终结。When I sat down for dinner with my hosts, they used a bell to call the butler.我同屋子的主任坐在一起用餐，主人眼红铃来呼唤仆人。After dinner, the women and men separated
16、and the men smoked cigars.餐后女人们会和男人们分开，男人们会抽雪茄。I thought, good thing I read Jane Austen, or I wouldnt have known what was going on.我心想，幸好我读过简奥斯汀的作品，否则我估计根本无法理解这里发生了什么。But the next day I went to Soweto, the poor town just southwest of Johannesburg, that had been the center of the antiapartheid moveme
17、nt.第二天我去了索韦托，于汉内斯堡西南面一个很贫穷的城镇，曾经反种族运动的中心。It was a short distance from the city into the township, but the entry was sudden, jarring and harsh.这座城镇离约翰内斯堡主城区并不远，但进入索韦托后，我立刻感受到了强烈的视觉冲击。I passed into a world completely unlike the one I came from.它和我之前看到的完全是两个世界。My visit to Soweto became an early lesson
18、in how nave I was.到索韦托后我才刚开始意识到原来自己有多么天真。Microsoft was donating computers and software to a community center there.微软当时将计算机和软件捐给当地的社区中心。The kind of thing we did in the United States.这同我们在美国所做的一样。But it became clear to me, very quickly, that this was not the United States.但我很快意识到南非并不是美国。I had seen st
19、atistics on poverty, but I had never really seen poverty.我之前看过关于贫困的统计数字，但却从来没真正看过什么叫贫穷。The people there lived in corrugated tin shacks, with on electricity, no water, no toilets.当地人住在简陋的金属棚里，没有电没有水 没有厕所。Most people didnt wear shoes.大多数人连鞋都没有穿的。They walked barefoot along the streets, except there wer
20、e no streets, just ruts in the mud.他们赤脚在街上走，其实那里根本就没有街，不过只有一些泥巴路。The community center had no consistent source of power.社区中心连持续的电力供应都没有。So they rigged up an extension cord that ran 200 feet from the center to the diesel generator outside.人们只能临时拉了一根200英尺长的延长线，让社区中心能够街上外面的柴油机发电机。Looking at this setup,
21、 I knew the minute the reporters left, the generator would get to a more urgent task.看到这种情形，我知道一旦记者离开发电机就会被用到更紧急的任务。And the people at the community center would go back to worry about challenges that couldnt be solved by a personal computer.而社区中心的人们也需要重新去面对那些不是个人计算机就能解决的问题。When I gave my prepared re
22、marks to the press, I said Soweto is a milestone.我按照事先准备的讲稿，对媒体说索韦托是一个里程碑。Theres major decisions ahead about whether technology will leave the developing world behind.在未来，为了不让发展中国家在技术上落后显然还有很多重大决定要做。This is to close the gap.我们将像这样，努力缩小技术上的鸿沟。But as I read those words, I knew they werent super releva
23、nt.但在我阅读这份讲稿时，我深知情况远远没有这么简单。What I didnt say was, by the way, were not focused on the fact that half a million people on this continent are dying every year from malaria.讲稿上有一段我没有读，也就是我们还没开始关注这块大陆上，每年有大约五十万人死于疟疾这一事实。But we are sure as hell going to bring you computers.但我们至少能够给大家带来计算机。Before I went t
24、o Soweto, I thought I understood the worlds problems but I was blind to many of the most important ones.在我去索韦托之前，我以为我了解世界的问题，事实上我对很多问题都一无所知。I was so taken aback by what I saw that I had to ask myself, did I still believe that innovation could solve the worlds toughest problems?亲眼所见的情形让我非常惊讶，我不得不问自己我
25、还相信创新能够解决世界上最困难的问题吗？I promised myself that before I came back to Africa, I would find out more about what keeps people poor.我许下承若要在下次回到非洲之前，更了解到底是什么导致了人们的持续贫穷。Over the years, Melinda and I did learn more about the pressing needs of the poor.这些年来，我和梅琳达确实更了解穷人的急切需求。On a later trip to South Africa, I p
26、aid a visit to a hospital for patients with MDR-TB, multidrug resistant tuberculosis, a disease with a cure rate of under 59%.在之后一次去南非的过程中，我造访了一家治疗MDR-TB病人的医院，MDR-TB也就是多耐药肺结核，这种疾病的治愈率低于50%。I remember that hospital as a place of despair.我还记得那所医院是一个充满绝望的地方。It was a giant open ward, with a sea of patie
27、nts shuffling around in pajamas, wearing masks.一个开放式的巨大病房中，到处都是身着病服和口罩，驮着沉重步伐走动的病人。There was one floor just for children, including some babies lying in bed.有一层楼专门容纳儿童病人，包括刚出生不久的婴儿。They had a little school for kids who were well enough to learn, but many of the children couldnt make it, and the hosp
28、ital didnt seem to know whether it was worth it to keep the school open.这里还有一所小型学校，为身体条件足够好的孩子们准备，但很多孩子都没好转到能够上学，医院不知道开这么一所学校是否值得。I talked to a patient there in her early 30s.我同以为三十岁出头的年轻女患者谈了谈。She had been a worker at a TB hospital when she came down with a cough.她之前在一家结合并医院当护工，结果自己也开始咳嗽。She went t
29、o a doctor and said she had drug-resistant TB.她去看医生，医生说她得了耐药性结核病。She was later diagnosed with AIDS.之后她又被确诊患有艾滋病。She wasnt going to live much longer. But there were plenty of MDR patients, waiting to take her bed when she vacated it.她估计活不了多久，但还有很多肺结核患者等待这她死后腾出的病床。This was hell with a waiting list.这是一
30、个排队等待死亡的地狱。But seeing this hell didnt reduce my optimism. It channeled it.看到这个地狱并没有挫败我的乐观态度。而是为我指引了方向。I got into the car as I left and I told the doctor we were working with, I know MDR-TB is hard to cure, but we must do something for these people.离开的时候，我钻进车里告诉与我们共事的医生，我知道MDR-TB很难治愈，但我们必须为这些人们做点什么。A
31、nd, in fact, this year, we are entering phase three with the new TB drug regime for patients who respond, instead of a 50% cure rate after 18 months for $2000, we get an 80% cure rate after six months under $100.实际上，就在今年，我们进入了一种新结核药的第三阶段，对于响应的患者，情况不再是2000美元价格，治疗18个月治愈率50%，而是不到100美元的价格，治疗6个月治愈率80%。Op
32、timism is often dismissed as false hope. But there is also false hopelessness.乐观经常会由于错误的希望而消散。但错误的绝望同样存在。Thats the attitude that says we cant defeat poverty and disease. We absolutely can.这种态度总在告诉我们，我们无法打败贫穷和疾病。实际上我们肯定能打败。Melinda: Bill called me that day after he visited the TB hospital and normally
33、 if one of us is on an international trip, we will go through our agenda for the day and who we met and where we have been.那天造访结合医院后，比尔打电话给我，如果我们俩有人要到国外出差，一般情况下，我们都会对去哪以及见谁有一个计划。But this call was different. Bill said to me, Melinda, I have been somewhere that I have never been before.但这通电话很特别。比尔跟我说，
34、梅琳达我去了一个从没去过的地方。And then he coked up and he couldnt go on.然后他有些哽咽有些话说不出来。And he finally just said, I will tell you more when I get home.最后他说等我回来以后再跟你仔细讲。And I knew what he was going through because when you see people with so little hope, it breaks your heart.我能了解他正经受着什么，当你看到有人如此缺乏希望时，你会感到心碎。But if
35、you want to do the most, you have to go see the worst, and Ive had days like that too.但要想做得最多，你必须看到最糟的真相。我也有过这样的经历。About ten years ago, I traveled with a group of friends to India. On last day I was there, I had a meeting with a group of prostitutes, and I expected to talk to them about the risk of
36、AIDS that they were facing, but what they wanted to talk to me about was stigma.大约十年前我和一帮朋友去了印度。待在那里的最后一天我见了一群妓女，跟她们讨论她们所面临的艾滋病威胁，但她们想跟我讲的确实污名。Many of these women had been abandoned by their husbands.她们很多人都被丈夫抛弃了。Thats why they even went into prostitution.不得已靠卖身为生。They wanted to be able to feed thei
37、r children.她们必须想办法养活自己的孩子。They were so low in the eyes of society that they could be raped and robbed and beaten by anyone, even the police, and nobody cared.她们在社会的眼中如此卑贱以至于任何人甚至警察都可以随意强奸抢劫和殴打她们，但却没人关心。Talking to them about their lives was so moving to me, but what I remember most was how much they
38、wanted to be touched.同她们的对话让我动容，我印象最深刻的是她们很希望同人接触。They wanted to touch me and to be touched by them.她们希望接触我也希望我接触她们。It was if physical contact somehow proved their worth.似乎只有通过这种身体接触，她们才能体会到自己的存在价值。And so before I left, we linked arms hand in hand and did a photo together.于是我在离开之前，同她们手拉手照了合影。Later t
39、hat same day, I spent some time in India in a home for the dying.还是那一天，我后来又去了一所垂死之家。I walked into a large hall and I saw rows and rows of cots, and every cot was attended to except for one, that was far off in the corner. And so I decided to go over there.我走过大厅看到一排排病床，每张病床都有人照料，除了角落里的那张略显孤独。于是我决定过去看
40、看。The patient who was in this room was a woman in her 30s. And I remember her eyes.床上是以为三十多岁的女性。我深深记得她的眼睛。She had these huge, brown, sorrowful eyes. She was emaciated and on the verge of death and her intestines were not holding anything and so the workers had put a pan under her bed, cut a hole in
41、bottom of the bed, and everything in her was just pouring out into that pan.她有一对充满悲伤的棕色大眼睛。她很消瘦离死亡已不遥远，她的肚子里已经无法容纳任何东西，义工们不得不将床板切一个洞，并将盆子放到床下，她体内的一切就这样倾泻到盆子里。I could tell that she had AIDS. Both in the way she looked and the fact that she was off in this corner alone.我可以看出她患有艾滋病。她有一些症状而且被安排在这个孤独的角落更
42、说明了这一点。The stigma of AIDS is vicious, especially for women. And the punishment is abandonment.艾滋病的污名是恶劣的，特别是对于女性。而惩罚便是被抛弃。When I arrived at her cot, I suddenly felt completely and totally helpless.我到了她的病床前，我感到的是完全的无助。I had absolutely nothing I could offer this woman. I knew I couldnt save her. But I
43、 didnt want her to be alone.我没有什么能给这位女性的。我没办法挽救她的生命。但我不认看到她那么孤独。So I knelt down with her and put my hand out. She reached for my hand and grasped it and she wouldnt let it go.于是跪在她身旁，把手伸给他。她抓住我的手久久不愿放开。I didnt speak her language. And I couldnt think of what I should say to her.我不会讲她的语言，我也不知道该对她说什么。A
44、nd finally I just said to her, its going to be okay.最后我只能说 没事的。Its going to be okay. Its not your fault.没事的，这不是你的错。And after I had been with her for sometime, she started pointing to the roof top. She clearly wanted to go up and I realized the sun was going down and what she wanted to do was so up o
45、n the roof and see the sunset.我同他相处了一段时间，她指向屋顶。她显然是想上去，我意识到太阳就快下山。她肯定是想到屋顶看日落。The workers in this home for the dying were very busy. I said to them can we take her up on the roof top? And they said, “No. No. We have to pass out medicines.”垂死之家的义工都非常忙碌。我们她们能否帮忙把她抬上屋顶？她们说：“不行，我们还需要非法药物。”I waited that
46、for that to happen and I asked another worker and they said “No no no, we are too busy. We cant get her up there.”我等着她们做完我又问了另一个义工“不行不行，我们太忙了，没时间把她抬上去。”And so finally, I just scooped this woman up in my arms.最后我只能自己将这位女性用手搂起。She was nothing more than skin over bones and I took her up on the roof top
47、 and I found one of those plastic chairs that blows over in the light breeze. I put her there and sat her down, and put a blanket over her legs and she sat there facing to the west, watching the sunset.她几乎痩的只剩皮包骨头了，我将她搀扶到屋顶，找了一张被人遗忘的在微风中的塑料椅子，让她坐在椅子上，用毛毯盖上她的双腿，她坐在那里，面朝西方，静静的看着日落。The workers knewI ma
48、de sure they knew that she was up there so that they would bring her down after later that evening after the sun went down and then I had to leave.我告诉义工们她在上面，让她们晚上日落后把她搬下来，然后我不得不离开。But she never left me.但对她的记忆却在心中挥之不去。I felt completely and totally inadequate in the face of this womans death.听到这位女性死去的消息我觉得自己完全没有做好心理准备。But sometimes, its the people that you cant hel