那些振奋人心的毕业致辞究竟保质期有多久

Six long decades ago George Marshall, the American secretary of state, delivered the commencement speech at Harvard University's graduation ceremony. Back then, in 1947, he did not feel the need to pander to his young audience: instead of offering anecdotes about his own life or giving career advice, he delivered a lofty appeal to the American people to save the war-battered continent of Europe.
六十年前，时任美国国务卿的乔治•马歇尔(George Marshall)在哈佛大学(Harvard University)的毕业典礼上致辞。当时（1947年），马歇尔并未感到有必要去迎合那些年轻的听众；他没有分享自己的人生趣事或是给出职业建议，而是高屋建瓴地呼吁美国人民去拯救战后满目疮痍的欧洲大陆。

“The truth of the matter is that Europe's requirements for the next three or four years of foreign food and other essential products - principally from America - are so much greater than her present ability to pay that she must have substantial additional help,” Marshall solemnly told the students as he outlined, for the first time, his putative “Marshall plan”. “The remedy lies in breaking the vicious circle and restoring the confidence of the European people.”
马歇尔严肃地告诉台下的学生们：“事实上，欧洲在未来三到四年间需要外国（主要是美国）提供的食品以及其他重要物资，远远超过了欧洲目前的支付能力，因此欧洲必须得到大量额外援助。”这是他首次阐述所谓 “马歇尔计划”的政策纲要。他说：“解决问题的关键在于打破当前的恶性循环，并让欧洲民众重拾信心。”

How times change. At this time of year, hundreds of universities and other educational institutions across America are holding their own commencement rituals. And, as in Marshall's time, these are solemn, high-stakes events. Little surprise: in modern America, commencement ceremonies have almost become akin to “coming of age” ceremonies. As an anthropologist might say, they are a liminal ritual that marks a changing social state, and thus forces people to reflect on the values they want to inculcate in the next generation.
如今时代是多么不同啊。在一年中的这个时候，美国各地的数百所大学以及其他教育机构正在举行自己的毕业典礼。和马歇尔时代一样，这些也都是都是庄严而重要的活动。意料之中的是，在当代的美国社会，毕业典礼已近乎成为一种类似“成年礼”的仪式。人类学家或许会说，毕业典礼是一种标志社会状态变化的过渡性仪式，因此也迫使人们思考他们希望传递给下一代怎样的价值观。

But if Marshall could have heard this year's crop of commencement speeches - or secular “sermons” - he might have been shocked. Never mind the fact that modern etiquette demands that today's commencement speeches are very short, usually lasting a mere 12-15 minutes; and ignore the fact that the speeches are now deliberately directed at students, not society as a whole. What is really striking is that the ranks of civic notables who are delivering these sermons are no longer limited to senior politicians or even judges and religious leaders.
但假如马歇尔能够听到今年的这批毕业致辞——或者说是俗世“布道”——他或许会深感震惊。且不论现代礼仪要求如今的毕业致辞短小精炼（时长通常仅为12到15分钟）这一事实，也忽略现在的毕业致辞专门针对学生、而非面向社会整体这一点。真正让人感到震惊的是，如今在毕业典礼上布道的名人已不再局限于资深政治家、法官以及宗教领袖。

On the contrary, writers, business leaders, sportsmen, TV personalities, entertainers and scientists now dominate the ranks. Thus students this year have heard from people such as Oprah Winfrey (chat-show host); Jim Yong Kim (head of the World Bank); Julie Andrews (actress); Annie Lennox (singer); Neil deGrasse Tyson (astrophysicist); the ** Lama (the Buddhist leader); Arianna Huffington (journalist); and Sheri McCoy (CEO of Avon Products). True, there have been some politicians and senior government officials: Barack Obama, Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand and Michael Bloomberg have spoken too. But after perusing the numbers, it seems to me that the statesmen were vastly outnumbered by cultural commentators. (In the interests of disclosure I should admit that I have skewed that list too, since I was one of several journalists who spoke, in my case at Baruch College in New York.)
相反，作家、商界领袖、运动员、电视名人、演艺界人士以及科学家如今成为毕业致辞者的主流。今年的毕业生们聆听了以下名人的致辞：奥普拉•温弗瑞（Oprah Winfrey，脱口秀主持人）、金墉（Jim Yong Kim，世界银行(World Bank)行长）、朱莉•安德鲁斯（Julie Andrews，演员）、安妮•伦诺克斯（Annie Lennox，歌手）、奈尔•德格拉斯•泰森（Neil deGrasse Tyson，天文物理学家）、达赖喇嘛（** Lama，佛教领袖）、阿里安娜•赫芬顿（Arianna Huffington，新闻工作者）以及雪莉•麦科伊（Sheri McCoy，雅芳(Avon Products)首席执行官）。的确，在致辞者中也有一些政治家和高级政府官员：巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)、科瑞•布克(Cory Booker)、柯尔斯顿•吉利布兰德(Kirsten Gillibrand)以及迈克尔•布隆伯格(Michael Bloomberg)也在今年的毕业典礼上发表了演讲。但我仔细研读数据后发现，政治家的数量远远少于文化评论家。（出于信息公开的目的，我应该坦诚，我自己也有份使这份名单变得比例失衡，因为我也是受邀发表毕业致辞的几位新闻工作者之一，在纽约市立大学柏鲁克分校(Baruch College, The City University of New York)）做了演讲。）