哈佛大學校長告別演講

        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.

　　同時，現(xiàn)今世界，一些人越來越落后于時代。這些人沒受過教育、深陷于貧窮和暴力、平等機遇對他們而言，僅是一句空話。

　　Scientific and technological advances are enabling us to comprehend the furthest reaches of the cosmos, the most basic constituents of matter, and the miracle of life.

　　科技進步正在使我們能夠探索宇宙的邊陲、物質(zhì)最基本的成分及生命的奇跡。

　　At the same time, today, the actions, and inaction, of human beings imperil not only life on the planet, but the very life of the planet.

　　與此同時，今天，人類所做的及沒能做到的事情，不僅危害到這個星球上的生命，也危害到該星球的壽命。

　　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.

　　全球化正在使地球變得愈來愈小、愈來愈快和愈來愈富有。盡管如此，9/11、禽流感及伊朗提醒我們，更小更快的世界決不意味著其更安全。

　　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.

　　我們正處于一個知識爆炸的世界之中，不過，迫切需要智慧。現(xiàn)在，在(新聞采訪的)原聲摘要播出變得愈來愈短，即時信息淘汰了雜記文，個人生活變得如癡如狂之際，這個世界還是需要能夠深思的大學生。

　　For all these reasons I believed - and I believe even more strongly today - in the unique and irreplaceable mission of universities.

　　考慮到這些理由，我過去信仰，而今天甚至更加強烈地信仰大學獨特的、無可取代的使命。

　　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.

　　大學是人類把不可或缺的智慧世代流傳的殿堂。就人類所有公共機構(gòu)而言，僅僅大學，能夠超越當前的準則，注意到未來的可能性；能通過目前的判斷，注意到突發(fā)的機遇。

　　And among universities, Harvard stands out. With its great tradition, its iconic reputation, its remarkable network of 300,000 alumni, Harvard has never had as much potential as it does now.

　　哈佛在大學中間，鶴立雞群。憑其偉大的傳統(tǒng)、因襲聲譽及其非凡的300000校友網(wǎng)，哈佛的潛力前所未有。