朱棣文:给大学毕业生的几个忠告4

Jimmy Stewart,as Elwood P.Dowd in the movie Harvey got it exactly right. Now, forgive me, I don't believe in Jimmy Stewart's story very well, but...Years ago my mother used to say to me 'In this world, Elwood, you must be...she always used to call me Elwood...in this world, Elwood, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant.'Well, for years I was smart...I recommend pleasant. You may quote me on that.
电影《哈维》中，吉米·斯图尔特扮演的角色埃尔伍德P.多德，就完全理解这一点。（请原谅，我并不是很相信吉米·斯图尔特的故事。但是……）他说：“多年前，母亲曾经对我说，‘埃尔伍德...她总是叫我埃尔伍德...活在这个世界上，你要么做一个聪明人，要么做一个好人。’”我做聪明人， 已经做了好多年了……但是，我推荐你们做好人。你们可以引用我这句话。

My third piece of advice is as follows: As you begin this new stage of your lives, follow your passion. If you don't have a passion, don't be satisfied until you find one. Life is too short to go through it without caring deeply about something. When I was in your age, I was incredibly single-minded in my goal to be a physicist. After college, I spent eight years as a graduate student and postdoc at Barkeley, and then nine years at Bell Labs. During that time, my central focus and professional joy was physics.
我的第三个忠告是，当你开始生活的新阶段时，请追随你的爱好。如果你没有爱好，就去找，找不到绝不罢休。生命太短暂，所以不能空手走过，你必须对某样东西倾注你的深情。我在你们这个年龄，是超级的一根筋，我的目标就是非成为物理学家不可。本科毕业后，我在加州大学伯克利分校又待了8年，读完了研究生，做完了博士后，然后去贝尔实验室待了9年。在这些年中，我关注的中心和职业上的全部乐趣，都来自物理学。

Here is my final advice. Pursuing a personal passion is important, but it should not be your only goal. When you are old and gray, and look back on your life, you will want to be proud of what you have done. The source of that pride won't be the things you have acquired or the recognition you have received. It will be the lives you have touched and the difference you have made.
我还有最后一个忠告，兴趣爱好固然重要，但是不应是你的唯一目标。当你白发苍苍、垂垂老矣、回首人生时，你需要为自己做过的事感到自豪。你所获得的物质财富和得到的荣誉都不是自豪的源泉。只有那些受你影响、被你改变过的人和事，才会让你感到自豪。