比尔盖茨在哈佛大学的演讲(双语版)（2）

I worried that they would realize I was just a student in a dorm and hang up on me. Instead they said: "We’re not quite ready, come see us in a month," which was a good thing, because we hadn’t written the software yet. From that moment, I worked day and night on this little extra credit project that marked the end of my college education and the beginning of a remarkable journey with Microsoft.

我很担心，他们会发觉我是一个住在宿舍的学生，从而挂断电话。但是他们却说：“我们还没准备好，一个月后你再来找我们吧。”这是个好消息，因为那时 软件还根本没有写出来呢。就是从那个时候起，我日以继夜地在这个小小的课外项目上工作，这导致了我学生生活的结束，以及通往微软公司的不平凡的旅程的开 始。

What I remember above all about Harvard was being in the midst of so much energy and intelligence. It could be exhilarating, intimidating, sometimes even discouraging, but always challenging. It was an amazing privilege – and though I left early, I was transformed by my years at Harvard, the friendships I made, and the ideas I worked on.

不管怎样，我对哈佛的回忆主要都与充沛的精力和智力活动有关。哈佛的生活令人愉快，也令人感到有压力，有时甚至会感到泄气，但永远充满了挑战性。生 活在哈佛是一种吸引人的特殊待遇……虽然我离开得比较早，但是我在这里的经历、在这里结识的朋友、在这里发展起来的一些想法，永远地改变了我。

But taking a serious look back … I do have one big regret.

但是，如果现在严肃地回忆起来，我确实有一个真正的遗憾。

I left Harvard with no real awareness of the awful inequities in the world – the appalling disparities of health, and wealth, and opportunity that condemn millions of people to lives of despair.

我离开哈佛的时候，根本没有意识到这个世界是多么的不平等。人类在健康、财富和机遇上的不平等大得可怕，它们使得无数的人们被迫生活在绝望之中。

I learned a lot here at Harvard about new ideas in economics and politics. I got great exposure to the advances being made in the sciences.

我在哈佛学到了很多经济学和政治学的新思想。我也了解了很多科学上的新进展。

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，人类最大的进步并不来自于这些发现，而是来自于那些有助于减少人类不平等的发现。不管通过何种手段——民主制度、健全的公共教育体系、高质量的医疗保健、还是广泛的经济机会——减少不平等始终是人类最大的成就。

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.

我离开校园的时候，根本不知道在这个国家里，有几百万的年轻人无法获得接受教育的机会。我也不知道，发展中国家里有无数的人们生活在无法形容的贫穷和疾病之中。

It took me decades to find out.

我花了几十年才明白了这些事情。

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.

在座的各位同学，你们是在与我不同的时代来到哈佛的。你们比以前的学生，更多地了解世界是怎样的不平等。在你们的哈佛求学过程中，我希望你们已经思考过一个问题，那就是在这个新技术加速发展的时代，我们怎样最终应对这种不平等，以及我们怎样来解决这个问题。

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?

为了讨论的方便，请想象一下，假如你每个星期可以捐献一些时间、每个月可以捐献一些钱——你希望这些时间和金钱，可以用到对拯救生命和改善人类生活有最大作用的地方。你会选择什么地方？

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.

对Melinda（注：盖茨的妻子）和我来说，这也是我们面临的问题：我们如何能将我们拥有的资源发挥出最大的作用。