比爾蓋茨的哈佛大學(xué)演講(3)
我在哈佛學(xué)到了很多經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)和政治學(xué)的新思想。我也了解了很多科學(xué)上的新進(jìn)展。
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.
但是,人類最大的進(jìn)步并不來自于這些發(fā)現(xiàn),而是來自于那些有助于減少人類不平等的發(fā)現(xiàn)。不管通過何種手段----民主制度、健全的公共教育體系、高質(zhì)量的醫(yī)療保健、還是廣泛的經(jīng)濟(jì)機(jī)會(huì)----減少不平等始終是人類最大的成就。
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(shí)候,根本不知道在這個(gè)國(guó)家里,有幾百萬(wàn)的年輕人無(wú)法獲得接受教育的機(jī)會(huì)。我也不知道,發(fā)展中國(guó)家里有無(wú)數(shù)的人們生活在無(wú)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(xué),你們是在與我不同的時(shí)代來到哈佛的。你們比以前的學(xué)生,更多地了解世界是怎樣的不平等。在你們的哈佛求學(xué)過程中,我希望你們已經(jīng)思考過一個(gè)問題,那就是在這個(gè)新技術(shù)加速發(fā)展的時(shí)代,我們?cè)鯓幼罱K應(yīng)對(duì)這種不平等,以及我們?cè)鯓觼斫鉀Q這個(gè)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(qǐng)想象一下,假如你每個(gè)星期可以捐獻(xiàn)一些時(shí)間、每個(gè)月可以捐獻(xiàn)一些錢----你希望這些時(shí)間和金錢,可以用到對(duì)拯救生命和改善人類生活有最大作用的地方。你會(huì)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(duì)Melinda(注:蓋茨的妻子)和我來說,這也是我們面臨的問題:我們?nèi)绾文軐⑽覀儞碛械馁Y源發(fā)揮出最大的作用。