朱棣文:给大学毕业生的几个忠告1

Madam President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, faculty, family, friends, and, most importantly, today’s graduates.
尊敬的福斯特校长、哈佛集团的各位成员、监管理事会的各位理事、全体教职工、各位家长、各位朋友，以及最重要的各位毕业生们：

Thank you for letting me share this wonderful day with you.
感谢你们，让我有机会同你们一起分享这个美妙的日子。

I am not sure I can live up to the high standards of Harvard Commencement speakers. Last year, J.K. Rowling, the billionaire novelist, who started as a classics student, graced this podium. The year before, Bill Gates, the mega-billionaire philanthropist and computer nerd stood here. Today, sadly, you have me. I am not a billionaire, but at least I am a nerd.
我不太肯定自己是否够得上的哈佛大学毕业典礼演讲人这样的殊荣。去年在这个讲台上演讲的是英国亿万身家的小说家J.K.罗琳女士，她起初是一个学古典文学的学生。前年站在这里的是比尔·盖茨先生，他是超级富翁、慈善家和电脑痴。今年很遗憾，是我给你们发表毕业演讲，虽然我不是亿万富翁，但至少我是一个书呆子。

I am grateful to receive an honorary degree from Harvard, an honor that means more to me than you might care to imagine. As you may have heard this morning, I was the academic failure of my family. Both My brother have degrees from Harvard. My older brother, Gilbert,after getting a Ph.D. in physics from that other school down the river, got an M.D. Ph.D.from Harvard. My younger brother, Morgan Chu, who you just heard his name today at the board overseers, has a law degree. When I was awarded a Nobel Prize, I thought my mother would be pleased. Not so. I called her on the morning of the announcement, she replied, “That’s nice, but when are you going to visit me next.” Now, as the last brother with a degree from Harvard, maybe, at last, she will be pleased.
我很感激哈弗大学授予我荣誉学位，这对我很重要，也许比你们想象的更重要。你们今天早上可能听说了，从学术上来说，我在我家很差劲。我的兄弟们都获得了哈弗学位。我哥哥吉尔伯特在河下游的那所大学获得了物理学博士学位之后，又在哈弗大学获得医学博士学位；我弟弟摩根，你们在校监管理事会已经听到了了他的名字，拿到了哈弗大学法律学位。我本人得到诺贝尔奖的时候，我想母亲会很高兴。但是，我错了。消息公布的那天早上，我打电话给她，她只说：“这是个好消息，不过我想知道，你下次什么时候来看我？”如今在我们兄弟当中，我最终也拿到了哈弗大学的学位，我想这一次，她会感到满意。