President Bok, former President Rudenstine, incoming President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, members of the faculty, parents, and especially, the graduates: I've been waiting more than 30 years to say this: “Dad, I always told you I’d come back and get my degree.”
尊敬的博克校長(zhǎng),前校長(zhǎng)魯?shù)撬固梗磳⑸先蔚姆鹚固匦iL(zhǎng),哈佛集團(tuán)和監(jiān)察理事會(huì)的各位成員。各位老師,各位家長(zhǎng),各位同學(xué):有句話我憋了30年,今天終于能一吐為快了:““爸 我沒(méi)騙你吧,文憑到手了!”

I want to thank Harvard for this timely honor. I’ll be changing my job next year … and it will be nice to finally have a college degree on my résumé.
我由衷地感謝哈佛這個(gè)時(shí)候給我這個(gè)榮譽(yù)。明年我要換工作(退休)。 我終于能在簡(jiǎn)歷里注明自己有大學(xué)學(xué)歷了。

I applaud the graduates today for taking a much more direct route to your degrees. For my part, I’m just happy that the Crimson has called me “Harvard’s most successful dropout.” I guess that makes me valedictorian of my own special class … I did the best of everyone who failed.
我要恭喜今年的畢業(yè)生們,因?yàn)槟銈儺厴I(yè)比我順利多了。其實(shí)我倒是很樂(lè)意克萊姆森把我喚作“哈佛大學(xué)最成功的輟學(xué)生”。這大概是我脫穎而出的法寶……我是輟學(xué)生中的領(lǐng)頭羊。

But I also want to be recognized as the guy who got Steve Ballmer to drop out of business school. I’m a bad influence. That’s why I was invited to speak at your graduation. If I had spoken at your orientation, fewer of you might be here today.
我還要檢討一下史蒂夫-鮑爾默也是受我蠱惑從商學(xué)院退學(xué)。我劣跡斑斑。這就是為什么我會(huì)受邀參加畢業(yè)演講。如果是開(kāi)學(xué)典禮,恐怕今天的人會(huì)少很多。

Harvard was just a phenomenal experience for me. Academic life was fascinating. I used to sit in on lots of classes I hadn’t even signed up for. And dorm life was terrific. I lived up at Radcliffe, in Currier House. There were always lots of people in my dorm room late at night discussing things, because everyone knew I didn’t worry about getting up in the morning. That’s how I came to be the leader of the antisocial group. We clung to each other as a way of validating our rejection of all those social people.
哈佛是我生命里的一段非凡經(jīng)歷。校園生活格外充實(shí),我旁聽(tīng)過(guò)很多沒(méi)有選過(guò)的課程。住宿的日子也很爽我當(dāng)時(shí)住在拉德克利夫的柯里爾宿舍,總是很多人在我的寢室討論到深夜。 大家知道我屬于夜行動(dòng)物。就這樣,我成為了這堆人的頭目。我們粘在一起,擺出拒絕社交的姿態(tài)。

Radcliffe was a great place to live. There were more women up there, and most of the guys were science-math types. That combination offered me the best odds, if you know what I mean. This is where I learned the sad lesson that improving your odds doesn’t guarantee success.
拉德克利夫是個(gè)好地方。那里的女生比男生多,男生們大多都是科學(xué)怪人。所以我的機(jī)會(huì)來(lái)了,你懂的??赏瑫r(shí)我也明白了一個(gè)道理——機(jī)會(huì)大也不能保證成功。

One of my biggest memories of Harvard came in January 1975, When I made a call from Currier House to a company in Albuquerque that had begun making the world’s first personal computers. I offered to sell them software.
1975年1月在哈佛打出的一通電話讓我畢生難忘。我打給位于阿爾伯克基的一個(gè)公司,那家公司當(dāng)時(shí)著手制造世界上第一臺(tái)個(gè)人電腦。我說(shuō)我想出售軟件給他們。

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.
我擔(dān)心他們會(huì)因?yàn)槲覍W(xué)生身份而掛掉電話。但他們只是說(shuō):“現(xiàn)在還沒(méi)有準(zhǔn)備好 請(qǐng)一個(gè)月后再聯(lián)系我們。”我長(zhǎng)舒一口氣,壓根我們就沒(méi)開(kāi)工。從那時(shí)起 我不分晝夜地趕工 它是我大學(xué)生活結(jié)束的標(biāo)志,也是微軟偉大旅程的開(kāi)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.
哈佛的獨(dú)特氛圍讓我充滿精力和智慧。這里的日子可能振奮快樂(lè)、也可能令人退縮沮喪,但永遠(yuǎn)充滿了挑戰(zhàn),神奇的體驗(yàn)!雖然我提前離開(kāi)了這里,但是這段經(jīng)歷對(duì)我影響重大。

But taking a serious look back … I do have one big regret.
不過(guò)說(shuō)心里話……我確實(shí)有一點(diǎn)遺憾。

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.
我離開(kāi)哈佛時(shí),根本沒(méi)有意識(shí)到這個(gè)世界是多么地不平等。健康、財(cái)富、機(jī)遇差異懸殊,數(shù)以百萬(wàn)計(jì)的人生活在絕望之中。

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.
我在哈佛觸摸著經(jīng)濟(jì)政治中的新思想,探索科學(xué)技術(shù)的未知前沿。