比爾·蓋茨夫婦斯坦福大學2023畢業典禮演講（雙語）

比爾·蓋茨和夫人梅琳達·蓋茨在斯坦福大學2023年畢業典禮上的演講。整個演講以“樂觀”為主線，強調了他們對科技的樂觀態度，以及對世界美好未來的樂觀態度。蓋茨夫婦輪流講述了自己的親身經歷和故事，告訴學生應該站在他人的立場上，感同身受那些處境不及自己的人，盡自己所能去幫助那些需要幫助的人，讓全世界所有人類同胞都有一樣的美好未來。

Stanford University.

（斯坦福大學）

BILL GATES: Congratulations, class of 2023!

比爾·蓋茨：2023屆畢業生，祝賀你們順利畢業

(Cheers).（歡呼）

Melinda and I are excited to be here. It would be a thrill for anyone to be invited to speak at a Stanford commencement, but it's especially gratifying for us. Stanford is rapidly becoming the favorite university for members of our family, and it's long been a favorite university for Microsoft and our foundation.

我和梅琳達懷著激動的心情與你們歡聚在此共賀畢業。能受邀到斯坦福大學學位授予典禮上做演講是一件讓人激動的事，對我們而言，這尤為榮幸。斯坦福大學正日漸成為我們家庭成員最喜愛的大學。而長久以來，斯坦福也是微軟以及比爾與梅琳達基金會最喜愛的一所大學?！?/p>

Our formula has been to get the smartest, most creative people working on the most important problems. It turns out that a disproportionate number of those people are at Stanford. (Cheers).

我們一直致力于讓最聰穎有創造力的人攻克最為重要的問題。結果證明，一大部分這樣的人才都來自于斯坦福校園。（歡呼）

Right now, we have more than 30 foundation research projects underway here. When we want to learn more about the immune system to help cure the worst diseases, we work with Stanford. 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. This is where genius lives.

如今，我們在這里進行著30多個研究項目。當我們想要通過對免疫系統的研究來尋找治愈世界上最可怕疾病的方法，我們需要斯坦福。當我們需要通過對美國高等教育的研究來幫助低收入學生上大學時，我們亦需要斯坦福。這便是人才的搖籃。

There's a flexibility of mind here, an openness to change, an eagerness for what's new. This is where people come to discover the future, and have fun doing it.

在這里，有著靈活的思維，對于改變的開放態度以及對新鮮事物的渴求。在這里，人們善于發現新事物，并樂享這份經歷。

MELINDA GATES: Now, some people call you all nerds and we hear that you claim that label with pride. (Cheers and Applause).

梅琳達?蓋茨：當下，一些人用書呆子這樣詞語稱呼你們，而我們聽說你們正為這個稱呼而倍感驕傲。（歡呼和掌聲）

BILL GATES: Well, so do we. (Cheers and Applause).

比爾蓋茨：嗯，我們與你們同在。（歡呼和掌聲）

BILL GATES: My normal glasses really aren't all that different. (Laughter).

比爾蓋茨：我的這副普通眼鏡也沒多大差異嘛。（笑聲）

There are so many remarkable things going on here at this campus, but if Melinda and I had to put into one word what we love most about Stanford, it's the optimism.

There's an infectious feeling here that innovation can solve almost every problem.That's the belief that drove me in 1975 to leave a college in the suburbs of Boston and go on an endless leave of absence.(Laughter).

在這所校園中，每時每刻都有非凡的事件發生，但如果要我和梅琳達用一個詞來表達對斯坦福的摯愛，那便是“樂觀”。這是一種極富感染力的樂觀精神，那便是，所有的問題在創新之下都能迎刃而解。這便是驅使我在1975年離開波士頓郊區的大學，并永遠輟學的一個動力。（笑聲）

I believed that the magic of computers and software would empower people everywhere and make the world much, much better.

當時的我相信計算機和軟件的魔力能夠賦予全世界人民以力量，并能夠讓這個世界變得更加美好。

It's been 40 years since then, and 20 years since Melinda and I were married.We are both more optimistic now than ever. But on our journey, our optimism evolved.

據那時算起，已有40年之久，我和梅琳達喜結連理也有20年之遠了。這些年間，我們都比過去更為樂觀開朗，但是在這些人生之旅中，我們的樂觀也實現了進化。

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.When Paul Allen and I started Microsoft, we wanted to bring the power of computers and software to the people, and that was the kind of rhetoric we used.One of the pioneering books in the field had a raised fist on the cover, and it was called "Computer Lib."

我們今天很想與大家分享我們所學到的一切，并和你們聊聊我們的和你們的樂觀精神怎樣為更多的人服務。當初和保羅創立微軟之時，我們的目標是把計算機和軟件的力量普及到普通大眾，這便是我們當時的說法。在早期的一本書上的封面有一個上揚的拳頭，他們稱之為《計算機解放》。

At that time, only big businesses could buy computers.We wanted to offer the same power to regular people and democratize computing.

在那個時候，只有大企業才能購置計算機。我們想讓這種計算機設備普及到社會大眾并讓計算機民主化。

By the 1990s, we saw how profoundly personal computers could empower people, but that success created a new dilemma.If rich kids got computers and poor kids didn't, then technology would make inequality worse.That ran counter to our core belief.

在上個世紀90年代，我們目睹了個人電腦對人們的巨大效用，但是這種成功同時造成了新的困局。如果富人的孩子擁有計算機而窮人的孩子卻不能時，這種科技會加劇不平等。而這與我們的核心理念相抵觸。

Technology should benefit everyone.

科技應當惠及萬眾。

So we worked to close the digital divide. I made it a priority at Microsoft, and Melinda and I made it an early priority at our Foundation. Donating personal computers to public libraries to make sure that everyone had access.

因此我們應當努力縮小這種差距。我將它定位為微軟的首要任務，也是我和梅琳達在建立基金會之初的首要任務。為公眾圖書館捐獻個人電腦從而確保人人都能有機會使用。

The digital divide was a focus of mine in 1997, when I took my first trip to South Africa. I went there on business so I spent most of my time in meetings in downtown Johannesburg. I stayed in the home of one of the richest families in South Africa.

當我在1997年首次出訪南非時，我便開始關注“數碼鴻溝”。因公事出差的我將大部分時間都花費在約翰內斯堡的市區開會中。當時我住在南非最富裕的一戶家庭中。

It had only been three years since the election of Nelson Mandela marked the end of apartheid. When I sat down for dinner with my hosts, they used a bell to call the butler. After dinner, the women and men separated and the men smoked cigars. I thought, good thing I read Jane Austen, or I wouldn't have known what was going on. (Laughter).

那時距離尼爾森?曼德拉上臺，并結束種族隔離只有3年。當我同主人共進晚餐時，他們使用鈴鐺來使喚管家。在晚飯后，男女相互分開而男人們開始抽雪茄。當時我想，幸好我讀過簡?奧斯汀的書否則我就不知道發生了什么。（笑聲）

But the next day I went to Soweto, the poor township southwest of Johannesburg, that had been the center of the anti-apartheid movement. It was a short distance from the city into the township, but the entry was sudden, jarring and harsh.

但在第二天我去了索韋托，約翰內斯堡西南的一個貧窮小鎮，那里曾經是反種族隔離的中心。盡管從約翰內斯堡到索韋托路程不長，但從進入索韋托的那一刻起，一切都令人無比震驚。

I passed into a world completely unlike the one I came from. My visit to Soweto became an early lesson in how naive I was. Microsoft was donating computers and software to a community center there. The kind of thing we did in the United States.

我覺得我來到了一個和我所來自的地方截然不同的世界。索韋托之行讓我很早便意識到自己竟是如此天真。微軟向那里的一個社區中心捐贈計算機和軟件。和我們在美國所做的一切相同。

But it became clear to me, very quickly, that this was not the United States.

但是我很快明白了，這里并不是美國。

I had seen statistics on poverty, but I had never really seen poverty.The people there lived in corrugated tin shacks with no electricity, no water, no toilets. Most people didn't wear shoes. They walked barefoot along the streets, except there were no streets, just ruts in the mud.

我曾經閱覽過有關貧窮的調查數據，但是卻未曾目睹過貧窮。那里的人們住在用鐵皮搭成的簡陋棚戶里，沒有電，沒有自來水，也沒有廁所。人們幾乎不穿鞋，赤腳行走。或者可以說根本沒有街道，只是一些坑洼的泥土路。

The community center had no consistent source of power. So they rigged up an extension cord that ran 200 feet from the center to the diesel generator outside. Looking at this setup, I knew the minute the reporters left, the generator would get moved to a more urgent task. And the people who used the community center would go back to worrying about challenges that couldn't be solved by a personal computer.

由于社區中心沒有持續供電的設施，所以他們安裝了一根延長線連接到200英尺以外的柴油發電機上?？催^了這些裝置，我明白了一旦記者離開后，發電機將會被運用到更緊迫的任務上。使用社區中心的人們也會因此而離開，為電腦所不能解決的問題而擔憂。

When I gave my prepared remarks to the press, I said Soweto is a milestone. There are major decisions ahead about whether technology will leave the developing world behind. This is to close the gap.

當我向媒體道出已準備好的發言時，我談到索韋托的經歷對我而言是一個里程碑，我們所面臨的重大決定是科技是否會讓發展中國家落后。這也便是要縮小差距。

But as I read those words, I knew they weren't super relevant. What I didn't say was, by the way, we're not focused on the fact that half a million people on this continent are dying every year from malaria. But we are sure as hell going to bring you computers.

但當我說出這些詞時，我發現他們并不是如此相關。我沒有說的是，“順便說一下，我們并沒有注意到這個大洲上每年都會有50萬人死于瘧疾的事實?！钡覀冞€是萬分確信我們會為他們帶來計算機。

Before I went to Soweto, I thought I understood the world's problems but I was blind to many of the most important ones. I was so taken aback by what I saw that I had to ask myself, did I still believe that innovation could solve the world's toughest problems? I promised myself that before I came back to Africa, I would find out more about what keeps people poor.

在我去索韋托之前，我認為自己很理解這個世界存在的問題，可那時我才明白我忽視了最重要的問題，我不停問自己‘你還認為創新能解決世界上最棘手的問題嗎？’我向自己保證，在重回非洲之前，會找到更多讓人們貧窮的原因。

Over the years, Melinda and I did learn more about the pressing needs of the poor.

數年來，我和梅琳達確實發現了窮人們的當務之需。

On a later trip to South Africa, I paid a visit to a hospital for patients with MDR-TB, multi-drug resistant tuberculosis, a disease with a cure rate of under 50%. I remember that hospital as a place of despair.

在后來一次到南非的時候，我去了一家住有很多抗藥性肺結核患者和耐多藥結核病患者的醫院，這是一種治愈率不到50%的頑疾。我還記得那個充滿絕望的地方。

It was a giant open ward, with a sea of patients shuffling around in pajamas, wearing masks. There was one floor just for children, including some babies lying in bed. They had a little school for kids who were well enough to learn, but many of the children couldn't make it, and the hospital didn't seem to know whether it was worth it to keep the school open.

在一個巨大的開放性病房里，住著很多很多病人，他們穿著睡衣，帶著口罩，慢慢挪動著。有一層樓是專為孩童開設的，其中包括還在臥床的嬰兒們。醫院中也為適齡兒童設有小學校，但是大多數孩子都無法戰勝病魔踏入學堂，因此醫院似乎并不確信是否有必要開設這所學校。

I talked to a patient there in her early 30s. She had been a worker at a TB hospital when she came down with a cough. She went to a doctor and he told her said she had drug-resistant TB. She was later diagnosed with AIDS. She wasn't going to live much longer, but there were plenty of MDR patients waiting to take her bed when she vacated it. This was hell with a waiting list.

我同一位30多歲的病人做了交談，并了解到她曾肺結核醫院的一名職工，因為咳嗽而病倒。她看了醫生，醫生告訴她患上了耐藥性結核病，在后來也被診斷患有艾滋。她活不了過久了，但有很多耐多藥結核病患者卻“覬覦”著她即將空出的床位。這是一個有很多候場病人的地獄。

But seeing this hell didn't reduce my optimism. It channeled it. 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. And, 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 $2,000, we get an 80% cure rate after six months for under $100. (Applause).

但是目睹了這個地域并不能減少我的樂觀心態，相反，它指導著樂觀的前行。在我們離開時，我在車里跟與我們同行的醫生說，我雖然知道耐多藥結核病是一種頑疾，但我們必須為這些人做一些實事。實際上，在今年，我們進入了新結核藥物研發的第三階段，對于那些病人而言，他們不再需為18個月50%的治愈率而花費2000美元，我們的新藥物花費不超100美元便能在6個月后實現80%的治愈率。（掌聲）

Optimism is often dismissed as false hope. But there is also false hopelessness. That's the attitude that says we can't defeat poverty and disease. We absolutely can.

樂觀常被視為錯誤的希望。但是錯誤的無望也存在于世，那就是我們無法擊敗貧困和疾病的態度。但我們卻能夠做到。

MELINDA GATES: Bill called me that day after he visited the TB hospital and normally 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. But this call was different.

在比爾去過結核病醫院后，他曾給我致電。（因為）慣例上當我們其中一個出國的話，我們都會聊聊這天我們遇到的人和我們去過的地方。但是這番電話有些特別。

Bill said to me, Melinda, I have been somewhere that I have never been before. And then he choked up and he couldn't go on. And he finally just said, I will tell you more when I get home. And I knew what he was going through because when you see people with so little hope, it breaks your heart.

比爾說，梅琳達，我（今天）去了一個我之前從未去過的地方。然后他哽咽地說不出話了。他最后只是說，等我回來了再詳細告訴你。（其實）我知道他經歷了什么，因為當你看到瀕臨絕望的人們，他會讓你十分悲痛。

But if you want to do the most, you have to go see the worst, and I've had days like that too. About ten years ago, I traveled with a group of friends to India. And 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 AIDS that they were facing, but what they wanted to talk to me about was stigma.