Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg Commencement Address

今年5月25日下午3点,哈佛大学举办了2017届学生毕业典礼。Facebook创始人马克·扎克伯格回到母校,做了毕业典礼演讲。在此之前,他还向Bill Gates爷爷取经,见下图:

在这篇演讲中,小扎提出了千禧一代的三个使命:
第一,作为千禧一代,仅仅找到个人的目的或使命是不够的,当然,首先你需要有明确的个人目标,但是我们都应该生活在一个larger than me的场景里;
第二,千禧一代面临的挑战是,要创造一个每个人都有使命感的世界,这是真正幸福的关键,也是我们保持社会进步的唯一途径;
第三,那就是建立起一个连接的世界,要先从本土的社群做起。

整篇演讲总共有三十三段,篇幅不短,不过胜在语言流畅简单。重点阅读段落是:6,7,9,12,15,16,17,26,27段。

高级水平的同学可以尝试精读全文,中级水平的同学略读全文,精读重点段落就可以,初级水平的同学则可以只读重点段落,等待大乐乐上课讲解哦。

第一段:

President Faust, Board of Overseers, faculty, alumni, friends, proud parents, members of the ad board and graduates of the greatest university in the world...I'm honored to be with you today, because let's face it, you accomplished something I never could. If I get through this speech, it'll be the first time I actually finish something at Harvard. Class of 2017, congratulations! 

Faust校长,校监委员会成员们,老师、校友、朋友、自豪的家长们、管理委员会的委员们,以及全世界最伟大学校的毕业生们,大家好哇!今天来你们(其实是我们)学校演讲我老高兴啦,因为说实话,你们干了一件我没干成的事情。当然,等我做完这个演讲,这将是我第一次在哈佛大学有始有终干成了一件事(此处是暗示自己当年从哈佛辍学)。2017届同学,祝贺你们!

金词:

be honored to be with sb 和某人共度时光很高兴

get through 熬过

第二段

I'm an unlikely speaker, not just because I dropped out, but because we're technically in the same generation. We walked this yard less than a decade apart, studied the same ideas and slept through the same Ec10 lectures. We may have taken different paths to get here, especially if you came all the way from the Quad, but today I want to share what I've learned about our generation and the world we're building together.

其实,我是最不应该在这里演讲的人,不仅因为我是一名辍学生,还因为其实我们是同一代人啊(傲娇脸)。我作为学生走在这个校园里,也就是不过十年前的事情。我们学过同样的知识,同样在EC10课堂上大睡特睡。尽管我们通过条条大路来到哈佛,尤其那些不远万里来自Quad园区的同学(The Quad以前是Radcliffe College的女生宿舍。Radcliffe从1879至1977年是哈佛的女性学院,1977年汇入哈佛);但今天我想和你们分享的是,我对我们这代人的一些想法,和我们正在合力建设的这个世界。

金词:

drop out 辍学

sleep through a class 上课睡大觉

take different paths 殊途(同归)

第三段:

But first, the last couple of days have brought back a lot of good memories. How many of you remember exactly what you were doing when you got that email telling you that you got into Harvard? I was playing "Civilization" and I ran downstairs, got my dad, and for some reason, his reaction was to video me opening the email. That could have been a really sad video. I swear, getting into Harvard is still the thing my parents are most proud of me for. What about your first lecture at Harvard? Mine was Computer Science 121 with the incredible Harry Lewis. I was late, so I threw on a t-shirt and didn't realize until afterwards it was inside out and backwards with my tag sticking out the front. I couldn't figure out why no one would talk to me — except one guy, KX Jin, he just went with it. We ended up doing our problem sets together, and now he runs a big part of Facebook. And that, Class of 2017, is why you should be nice to people.

但是首先,先说说哈佛唤起了多少我的美好回忆。有多少人还记得当初收到哈佛的录取通知邮件时在做什么啊?当时我可是正在玩《文明》呢。我跑下楼,找到我爸,不过他的反应很奇怪,居然开始录下我打开邮件的过程。那个视频看起来相当二。但我发誓,被哈佛录取,是最令我父母为我感到骄傲的事情。你们还记不记得在哈佛上的第一节课?我上的是计算机121,Harry Lewis老师超级棒。当时我要迟到了,于是抓了件T恤就套在身上,结果直到下午才发现我穿反了,商标在前面。怪不得一直没人理我,除了一个人,KX Jin,他根本不在意这些细节。之后,我们开始组队解决难题,现在他负责Facebook很大一块业务。这说明什么?2017的毕业生们,这说明你们应该对你们的弱智朋友好一些啦。

金词:

bring back good memories 唤起往昔

be proud of sb 为某人感到自豪

throw on a t-shirt 胡乱套上一件T恤

figure out 搞清楚

第四段:

But my best memory from Harvard was meeting Priscilla. I had just launched this prank website Facemash, and the ad board wanted to "see me." Everyone thought I was going to get kicked out. My parents came to help me pack. My friends threw me a going away party. As luck would have it, Priscilla was at that party with her friend. We met in line for the bathroom in the Pfoho Belltower, and in what must be one of the all time romantic lines, I said: "I'm going to get kicked out in three days, so we need to go on a date quickly." Actually, any of you graduating can use that line.

但是我在哈佛最美好的回忆,是我遇见了Priscilla,我的妻子。当时我刚上线一个恶作剧网站Facemash,然后管理委员会表示“要见我”,所有人都认为我要被赶走了。我爸妈都来帮我打包行李了;我朋友也帮我搞了个告别派对了。巧的是,Priscilla和她朋友一起来到了这个派对。我们在Pfoho Belltower的卫生间外等着上厕所时遇见了,接下来我就说了这辈子最浪漫的一句话——我说:“三天后我就要滚蛋啦,所以我们得抓紧时间约会啊。” 要不你们也试试这个套路?

金词:

kick sb out 开除某人

throw sb a going away party 给某人办告别派对

romantic lines 浪漫情话

第五段:

I didn't end up getting kicked out — I did that to myself. Priscilla and I started dating. And you know, that movie made it seem like Facemash was so important to creating Facebook. It wasn't. But without Facemash I wouldn't have met Priscilla, and she's the most important person in my life, so you could say it was the most important thing I built in my time here.We've all started lifelong friendships here, and some of us even families. That's why I'm so grateful to this place. Thanks, Harvard.

我没有被开除——我主动辍学了。Priscilla开始和我约会。你们知道,那部电影(《社交网络》)里说Facemash对Facebook好像很重要似的。事实并非如此。但是如果没有Facemash的话,我就不会遇到Priscilla。她是我生命中最重要的人,这么说的话,Facemash也是我人生中做出的最重要的一样东西。在哈佛,我们开始结交一生挚友,我们甚至遇到终身伴侣。这就是为什么我对哈佛如此感激的原因。谢谢你,哈佛!

金词:

be grateful to some place 对某地表示感激

第六段:

Today I want to talk about purpose. But I'm not here to give you the standard commencement about finding your purpose. We're millennials. We'll try to do that instinctively. Instead, I'm here to tell you finding your purpose isn't enough. The challenge for our generation is creating a world where everyone has a sense of purpose.

今天我想谈谈目标(Purpose),但我不是来教你们如何制定人生目标的。我们是千禧一代,我们会出于直觉和本能发现目标。相反地,我要说的是,仅仅自己有目标还不够,我们这代人面临的挑战,是创造一个人人都能有使命感的世界。

金词:

the standard commencment 标准的毕业演讲

a sense of purpose 使命感

第七段:

One of my favorite stories is when John F. Kennedy visited the NASA space center, he saw a janitor carrying a broom and he walked over and asked what he was doing. The janitor responded: "Mr. President, I'm helping put a man on the moon." Purpose is that sense that we are part of something bigger than ourselves, that we are needed, that we have something better ahead to work for. Purpose is what creates true happiness.

我最喜欢的一个故事,是约翰·F·肯尼迪访问美国宇航局太空中心时,看到一位看门人在扫地。于是他走上前去问这人在干什么。看门人回答说:“总统先生,我正在帮忙把一个人送上月球。” 使命感就是这样一种感觉:我们是更伟大事业的一部分,我们被需要,我们为着一个更好的明天而努力奋斗。使命感能带来真正的快乐。

金词:

help do sth 帮忙做某事

金句:

Purpose is that sense that we are part of something bigger than ourselves, that we are needed, that we have something better ahead to work for. Purpose is what creates true happiness.

使命感就是这样一种感觉:我们是更伟大事业的一部分,我们被需要,我们在为着一个更好的明天而努力奋斗。使命感能带来真正的快乐。

第八段:

You're graduating at a time when this is especially important. When our parents graduated, purpose reliably came from your job, your church, your community. But today, technology and automation are eliminating many jobs. Membership in communities is declining. Many people feel disconnected and depressed and are trying to fill a void. As I've traveled around, I've sat with children in juvenile detention and opioid addicts, who told me their lives could have turned out differently if they just had something to do, an after school program or somewhere to go. I've met factory workers who know their old jobs aren't coming back and are trying to find their place.

使命感对于马上要毕业的你们尤为重要。当你们父母毕业时,他们的目标就是安稳工作、定期去教堂、融入社群。但是今天,技术和自动化正在替代很多工作,社区成员人数也在下降。许多人感到孤独,感到沮丧,努力填补内心空白。当我周游世界时,我曾经帮助过许多药物成瘾,身陷囹圄的孩子们,他们告诉我如果他们有事可做,如果他们能参加课外活动或者只是有个容身之处,他们的人生就将大大改观。我也遇到过很多蓝领工人,他们知道铁饭碗已经不存在了,苦苦挣扎着想找到新工作。

金词:

eliminate many jobs 替代了许多工作

feel disconnected adn depressed 感到孤独和沮丧

fill a void 填补内心空白

sit with sb 帮助某人;照顾某人

第九段:

To keep our society moving forward, we have a generational challenge — to not only create new jobs, but create a renewed sense of purpose. I remember the night I launched Facebook from my little dorm in Kirkland House. I went to Noch's with my friend KX. I remember telling him I was excited to connect the Harvard community, but one day someone would connect the whole world. The thing is, it never even occurred to me that someone might be us. We were just college kids. We didn't know anything about that. There were all these big technology companies with resources. I just assumed one of them would do it. But this idea was so clear to us — that all people want to connect. So we just kept moving forward, day by day.
I know a lot of you will have your own stories just like this. A change in the world that seems so clear, you're sure someone else will do it. But they won't. You will.

为了保持社会的进步,我们身负挑战——不仅仅是创造新的工作,还要创造新的使命感。我还记得在Kirkland House的小宿舍中创造Facebook的那晚。我和我的朋友KX去了Noch。记得我告诉他,我很开心能把哈佛这个社群连接起来,但是有一天,终究会有人把整个世界都连接起来。当时,我完全没有想到这个人会是我们。那时我们还只是大学生,对此还一无所知。那些有钱有人的大公司才能做到连接世界,当初我是这么想的。但是,有一点我十分肯定,那就是,所有人都在渴望彼此连接,所以我们一直在朝这个方向努力前进。我知道你们中的很多人也会有类似的故事。那改变如此简单明朗,对世界意义又如此巨大,你确信已经有人会起而拯之。但是,你还不知道的是,起而拯之的人不是有人,而是你。

金词:

a generational challenge 一代人面临的挑战

a renewed sense of purpose

it occurs to sb that 某人想到某事

move forward 前进

day by day 日复一日

金句:

A change in the world that seems so clear, you're sure someone else will do it. But they won't. You will.

那改变如此简单明朗,对世界意义又如此巨大,你确信已经有人会起而拯之。但是,你还不知道的是,起而拯之的人不是有人,而是你。

第十段:

But it's not enough to have purpose yourself. You have to create a sense of purpose for others. I found that out the hard way. You see, my hope was never to build a company, but to make an impact. And as all these people started joining us, I just assumed that's what they cared about too, so I never explained what I hoped we'd build. A couple years in, some big companies wanted to buy us. I didn't want to sell. I wanted to see if we could connect more people. We were building the first News Feed, and I thought if we could just launch this, it could change how we learn about the world.

但是,光自己有目标是不够的,你还要心系他人的目标。我是经历了惨痛教训,才明白这一点。我从未想过只是开个公司,我要的是能够影响别人。随着Facebook越来越大,人越来越多,我误以为所有人跟我想的一样,所以我从未申明我们公司的目标。几年后,有大公司想要收购我们。我拒绝了。我想知道Facebook是否能连接更多的人。当时,我们正在建立第一个新闻流(News Feed),我想如果我们能做到这一点,可能就会改变我们了解世界的方式。

金词:

find sth out the hard way 经历惨痛教训,才搞清楚某事

a couple years in 几年后

learn about 了解

第十一段:

Nearly everyone else wanted to sell. Without a sense of higher purpose, this was the startup dream come true. It tore our company apart. After one tense argument, an advisor told me if I didn't agree to sell, I would regret the decision for the rest of my life. Relationships were so frayed that within a year or so, every single person on the management team was gone. That was my hardest time leading Facebook. I believed in what we were doing, but I felt alone. And worse, it was my fault. I wondered if I was just wrong, an impostor, a 22-year-old kid who had no idea how the world worked. Now, years later, I understand that is how things work with no sense of higher purpose. It's up to us to create it, so we can all keep moving forward together.

金词:

startup dream come true 初创公司梦想成真(在中国,可以理解为成功卖给BAT金主爸爸)

be up to sb to do sth 依靠某人做某事

keep moving forward together 不断携手前行

第十二段:

Today I want to talk about three ways to create a world where everyone has a sense of purpose: by taking on big meaningful projects together, by redefining equality so everyone has the freedom to pursue purpose and by building community across the world.

所以今天,我想谈谈创造一个每个人都有使命感的世界的三种方法:共同开启有意义的事业;重新定义平等,使每个人都有追求目标的自由;创建世界大社群。

金词:

take on meaningful projects together 共同开启有意义的事业

redefine equlaity 重新定义平等

build community 建设社群

第十三段:

First, let's take on big meaningful projects. Our generation will have to deal with tens of millions of jobs replaced by automation like self-driving cars and trucks. But we have the potential to do so much more together.Every generation has its defining works. More than 300,000 people worked to put a man on the moon – including that janitor. Millions of volunteers immunized children around the world against polio. Millions of more people built the Hoover dam and other great projects. These projects didn't just provide purpose for the people doing those jobs, they gave our whole country a sense of pride that we could do great things.

首先,让我们来说说如何共同开启有意义的事业。我们这一代人将不得不面对这么个局面:数千万的工作将被机器取代,比如无人驾驶汽车或者卡车会抢了司机的饭碗。但我们的潜力可不止于此。每一代人都有自己的事业。比如30多万人一起努力,将人类送上了月球——那位看门人的努力也在其中;比如数百万志愿者为世界各地的小儿麻痹症患者接种疫苗;比如数以百万计的人为建立胡佛水坝和其他伟大的项目贡献了自己的力量。这些事业不仅仅是为参与其中的人们赋予使命,还让全国人民拥有了自豪感,那就是万众一心,建立丰功伟业。

金词:

deal with 面对

defining works 事业

provide purpose for people

a sense of pride 自豪感

第十四段:

Now it's our turn to do great things. I know, you're probably thinking: I don't know how to build a dam, or get a million people involved in anything.But let me tell you a secret: no one does when they begin. Ideas don't come out fully formed. They only become clear as you work on them. You just have to get started.
If I had to understand everything about connecting people before I began, I never would have started Facebook.

现在轮到我们来建立丰功伟业了。我知道你可能会想:我不知道如何建造大坝,或者如何让一百万人参与到任何事情中来。但我想告诉你一个秘密:没有人从一开始就知道该做什么,想法并不会在最初就完全成型。只有当你付出努力时,想法才会逐渐变得清晰。你要做的唯一一件事就是开始。如果我必须在创办Facebook之前就想明白如何连接所有人的话,那么我永远都不会创办Facebook了。

金词:

fully formed 完全成型

work on sth 努力做某事

第十五段:

Movies and pop culture get this all wrong. The idea of a single eureka moment is a dangerous lie. It makes us feel inadequate since we haven't had ours. It prevents people with seeds of good ideas from getting started. Oh, you know what else movies get wrong about innovation? No one writes math formulas on glass. That's not a thing.

电影和流行文化总会误导大家,让大家觉得好点子来自那灵光一闪的时刻,这其实是一个危险的谎言。这会让我们觉得无能为力,因为我们得等待灵光一闪。有人徒有好点子,但是却因为这种误解而迟迟没有行动。对了,你知道电影里还有什么对创新的误解吗?那就是,没人会在玻璃上写数学公式。我们不这么干。

金词:

a single eureka moment 灵光一闪的时刻

feel inadequate 感到无能为力

prevent sb from doing sth 阻止某人做某事

seeds of good ideas 好点子

第十六段:

It's good to be idealistic. But be prepared to be misunderstood. Anyone working on a big vision will get called crazy, even if you end up right. Anyone working on a complex problem will get blamed for not fully understanding the challenge, even though it's impossible to know everything upfront. Anyone taking initiative will get criticized for moving too fast, because there's always someone who wants to slow you down.

理想主义其实是好事,但你要做好被误解的准备。即使最终获得成功,心怀大梦的人也常常被叫做疯子。任何干大事儿的人,都很容易因为考虑不周而被说三道四,但是谁又能从一开始就万事周全呢?任何抓住主动权先行一步的人都会因为步子太快而受到批评,因为总是有人想拖慢你的脚步。

金词:

be prepared to do sth 准备好做某事

a big vision 远大梦想

get critized for sth 因某事而遭到批评

take initiative 抓住主动权

第十七段:

In our society, we often don't do big things because we're so afraid of making mistakes that we ignore all the things wrong today if we do nothing. The reality is, anything we do will have issues in the future. But that can't keep us from starting.

我们社会的风气是不求有功,但求无过。所以我们明知当今社会有诸多弊病,却不作为。事实上,我们所做的任何事情将来都可能出问题,但将来的问题并不能阻止我们开始。

金词:

have issue 出问题

keep sb from doing sth 阻止某人做某事

第十八段:

So what are we waiting for? It's time for our generation-defining public works. How about stopping climate change before we destroy the planet and getting millions of people involved manufacturing and installing solar panels? How about curing all diseases and asking volunteers to track their health data and share their genomes? Today we spend 50 times more treating people who are sick than we spend finding cures so people don't get sick in the first place. That makes no sense. We can fix this. How about modernizing democracy so everyone can vote online, and personalizing education so everyone can learn? These achievements are within our reach. Let's do them all in a way that gives everyone in our society a role. Let's do big things, not only to create progress, but to create purpose. So taking on big meaningful projects is the first thing we can do to create a world where everyone has a sense of purpose.

那我们还在等什么呢? 现在轮到我们开创自己的丰功伟业了。比如,在我们毁灭地球之前阻止气候变化?比如让数百万人愿意参与制造和安装太阳能电池板? 比如治愈所有疾病?比如请志愿者们追踪记录他们的健康数据和分享他们的基因组? 今天,我们可能要花上50倍的价格去治疗已经得病的人,而不是找到一种治疗方法让人类第一时间免于染病。这很扯淡,我们完全可以解决这个问题。 比如如何让民主现代化,让每个人都能在网上投票,以及通过个性化教育让每个人都有学习的机会?这些都是我们力所能及的改变。让我们想个办法,让所有人都为这些改变贡献一份光和热。让我们心怀大梦,不仅带来进步,更要赋予使命。所以我们可以做的第一件事就是,创造一个每人都拥有使命感的世界。

金词:

It's time for sth 是做某事的时候了

solar panel 太阳能面板

in the first place 首先

make no sense 不合理

within one's reach 力所能及

第十九段:

The second is redefining equality to give everyone the freedom they need to pursue purpose.
Many of our parents had stable jobs throughout their careers. Now we're all entrepreneurial, whether we're starting projects or finding a role. And that's great. Our culture of entrepreneurship is how we create so much progress.

我们的第二个任务是,重新定义平等,让每个人都有追求目标的自由。我们这一代人的父母,很多人都是一生只做一件事,安安稳稳活到老。但是我们这一代人,无论是自己创业,还是加入创业公司,则都是不折腾不舒服斯基。这一点很赞,创业文化让我们进步神速。

金词:

stable jobs 安稳的工作

第二十段:

Now, an entrepreneurial culture thrives when it's easy to try lots of new ideas. Facebook wasn't the first thing I built. I also built games, chat systems, study tools and music players. I'm not alone. J.K. Rowling got rejected 12 times before publishing Harry Potter. Even Beyoncé had to make hundreds of songs to get "Halo." The greatest successes come from having the freedom to fail.

现在,尝试新想法成本更低,创业文化因此如火如荼。 Facebook并不是我做的第一件事,我还做过游戏、聊天软件、学习工具和音乐播放器,当然,都没做成。可是我不是唯一一个多次尝试的人, JK罗琳在出版《哈利波特》之前被拒绝了12次,碧昂丝也不得不写了数百首歌曲,才有了今天Halo这首歌获得的光环。最大的成功来自于我们享有失败的自由。

金词:

have the freedom to do sth 有做某事的自由

第二十一段:

But today, we have a level of wealth inequality that hurts everyone. When you don't have the freedom to take your idea and turn it into a historic enterprise, we all lose. Right now our society is way over-indexed on rewarding success and we don't do nearly enough to make it easy for everyone to take lots of shots.
Let's face it: There is something wrong with our system when I can leave here and make billions of dollars in 10 years, while millions of students can't afford to pay off their loans, let alone start a business.
Look, I know a lot of entrepreneurs, and I don't know a single person who gave up on starting a business because they might not make enough money. But I know lots of people who haven't pursued dreams because they didn't have a cushion to fall back on if they failed.

然而,今天,收入不平等正在伤害每个人。当你无法把你的想法变成一个伟大的企业时,我们所有人就都输了。如今我们过于看重成功,但是却没有创造足够多的机会让大家尝试失败,毕竟,失败才是成功之母。让我们面对这个现实吧:我们的社会体系是有问题的,有我这样从哈佛辍学却在10年内赚取数十亿美元的,也有数百万学生无法偿还学生贷款,更不用说开始创业了。我认识很多企业家,然而他们中没有任何人是因为怕赚不到足够的钱而停止创业的。但是我也知道很多人不能追求梦想,是因为一旦失败,他们就无路可退。

金词:

wealth inequality 收入不平等

be way over-indexed on rewarding success 过于看重成功

over-indexed 指数爆表,这里是比喻对于成功估值过高

take lots of shots 多次尝试

pay off one's loans 偿还贷款

let alone 更不要提

fall back on 求助于

第二十二段:

We all know we don't succeed just by having a good idea or working hard. We succeed by being lucky too. If I had to support my family growing up instead of having time to code, if I didn't know I'd be fine if Facebook didn't work out, I wouldn't be standing here today. If we're honest, we all know how much luck we've had.
Every generation expands its definition of equality. Previous generations fought for the vote and civil rights. They had the New Deal and Great Society. Now it's our time to define a new social contract for our generation.

我们都知道,想要成功,光凭一个好想法,或者一个好的工作态度,是远远不够的。运气也是成功很重要的因素。如果当初我没时间编写代码,而是必须勤工俭学补贴家用,如果我不知道万一Facebook不成功我还有路可退,我今天就不会站在这里了。扪心自问,我们都知道自己是多么的幸运,能够在哈佛读书。每一代人的成长都扩大了平等的定义。前几代人争取投票权和民权,于是他们争取到了新政和大社会。现在到了我们这一代人定义新的社会契约的时候了。

金词:

support one's family 补贴家用

previous generations 祖辈们

social contract 社会契约

第二十三段:

We should have a society that measures progress not just by economic metrics like GDP, but by how many of us have a role we find meaningful. We should explore ideas like [universal basic income][1] to give everyone a cushion to try new things. We're going to change jobs many times, so we need affordable childcare to get to work and healthcare that aren't tied to one company. We're all going to make mistakes, so we need a society that focuses less on locking us up or stigmatizing us. And as technology keeps changing, we need to focus more on continuous education throughout our lives.

我们应该打造一个不仅仅凭借GDP这样的经济指标来衡量进步的社会,而是一个每个人都可以找到自己的存在意义和角色的社会。我们应该探索像“普遍基本收入”这样的观念,让每一个人都有机会尝试新事物。每个人都有可能换很多工作,这就需要我们建立价格合理的托儿所和全覆盖医疗保健,这样让人可以无负担地去上班。人人都会犯错,所以我们需要一个更少污蔑与束缚的社会。随着技术的不断变化,我们要更多地关注继续教育,活到老,学到老。

金词:

economic metrics 经济指标

universal basic income

lock sb up 束缚某人

contimuous education 继续教育

第二十四段:

And yes, giving everyone the freedom to pursue purpose isn't free. People like me should pay for it. Many of you will do well and you should too. That's why Priscilla and I started the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and committed our wealth to promoting equal opportunity. These are the values of our generation. It was never a question of if we were going to do this. The only question was when.

是的,赋予每个人追求目标的自由,这并不是免费的。像我这样的人应当为此付费。在你们之中,许多人都会做得很好,当然,你们也有义务去做好。这也是为什么当初Priscilla 和我启动了Chan Zuckerberg Initiative,并承诺要用我们的财富去促进机会平等。这些是我们这代人的价值。”要不要这样做”从来都不是问题,唯一的问题是“什么时候去做”。

金词:

commit sth to sth/doing sth 将...用于(做)某事

commit one's wealth to promoting equal opportunity 将某人的财富用于推进机会平等

第二十五段:

Millennials are already one of the most charitable generations in history. In one year, three of four U.S. millennials made a donation and seven out of 10 raised money for charity. But it's not just about money. You can also give time. I promise you, if you take an hour or two a week — that's all it takes to give someone a hand, to help them reach their potential. Maybe you think that's too much time. I used to. When Priscilla graduated from Harvard she became a teacher, and before she'd do education work with me, she told me I needed to teach a class. I complained: "Well, I'm kind of busy. I'm running this company." But she insisted, so I taught a middle school program on entrepreneurship at the local Boys and Girls Club.

千禧一代已经是历史上最慈善的一代人之一了。每一年,平均四个千禧人中就会有三个人捐款,平均十个人里就有七个人会为慈善募捐。 当然,慈善不仅仅是捐钱,你也可以献出你的时间。我在这里向你保证,如果你可以每一两周花一个小时(去奉献和帮助),就会有一个人因此获得帮助,甚至实现他们以前不可能实现的目标。或许你觉得这太花时间了。我曾经也这么认为。Priscilla从哈佛毕业后当了老师,在她开始当我的老师之前,她让我去教课。我抱怨道:“好吧,可是我很忙啊,我得经营Facebook啊。”但是她坚持让我去教课,所以我就在当地的男童女童俱乐部教授了一门关于创业精神的中学课程。

第二十六段:

I taught them lessons on product development and marketing, and they taught me what it's like feeling targeted for your race and having a family member in prison. I shared stories from my time in school, and they shared their hope of one day going to college too. For five years now, I've been having dinner with those kids every month. One of them threw me and Priscilla our first baby shower. And next year they're going to college. Every one of them. First in their families. We can all make time to give someone a hand. Let's give everyone the freedom to pursue their purpose — not only because it's the right thing to do, but because when more people can turn their dreams into something great, we're all better for it.

我教他们产品开发和市场营销,他们教我因为肤色受歧视的人生,以及有个坐牢的老爹时的感受。 我分享给他们我读书时的故事,他们分享给我上大学的渴望。 五年来,我每个月都会和这些孩子一起共进一次晚餐。其中有一个孩子,为我与Priscilla举办了第一个准妈妈派对。明年,这些孩子们都要上大学了,是的,他们每一个都要上大学了,而且他们都将骄傲地成为自己家族里第一名大学生。花一点时间,去帮助其他人,这是我们每个人都可以做到的。让我们通过此举,让每个人都有实现人生目标的自由——不仅因为这样做是正确的,更是因为当人们可以把梦想变为伟大的现实时,我们每个人都会变得更好。

金词:

feel targeted for your race 因为种族而遭到歧视

throw sb a baby shower 为某人举办准妈妈派对

make time to do sth 抽出时间做某事

第二十七段:

Purpose doesn't only come from work. The third way we can create a sense of purpose for everyone is by building community. And when our generation says "everyone," we mean everyone in the world.
Quick show of hands: How many of you are from another country? Now, how many of you are friends with one of these folks? Now we're talking. We have grown up connected. In a survey asking millennials around the world what defines our identity, the most popular answer wasn't nationality, religion or ethnicity, it was "citizen of the world." That's a big deal. Every generation expands the circle of people we consider "one of us." For us, it now encompasses the entire world.

“目标”不仅来自于工作。去实现“让每个人都有活的有目标”的第三种方式是建立社区。 而当我们这一代人说“每个人”的时候,我们指的是——世界上的每一个人。来做一个调查:你们有多少来自美国之外其他国家?你们中有多少人是他们的朋友?看到了吗?我们出生于一个互联的世界。在最近一项调查中,世界各地的80后90后被要求选择自己认同的身份,最流行的答案不是国籍,宗教或种族,它是“世界公民”。这是一个标志性的事件。每一代人都扩大了我们认同的“自己人”。对我们来说,它现在涵盖了整个世界。

金词:

identity 身份

nationality 国籍

ethnicity 种族

citizen of the world 世界公民

encompass 涵盖

第二十八段:

We understand the great arc of human history bends towards people coming together in ever greater numbers — from tribes to cities to nations — to achieve things we couldn't on our own.We get that our greatest opportunities are now global — we can be the generation that ends poverty, that ends disease. We get that our greatest challenges need global responses too -- no country can fight climate change alone or prevent pandemics. Progress now requires coming together not just as cities or nations, but also as a global community.

回顾历史,历史的滚滚巨轮总是因为人的力量而改变方向- 从部落到城市到国家- 人们汇集起来实现单枪匹马无法完成的事情。现在我们最大的机会来自于全球化- 我们可以成为终结贫穷和结束疾病的一代人。但同时我们也意识到我们面临的巨大挑战也需要全球性的协作- 没有一个国家可以单独应对气候变化或预防全球大瘟疫。要想取得进步不能靠单个城市或国家,更是要团结全球社会。

金词:

the great arc of human history 历史的滚滚巨轮

bend towards 转向

第二十九段:

But we live in an unstable time. There are people left behind by globalization across the world. It's hard to care about people in other places if we don't feel good about our lives here at home. There's pressure to turn inwards. This is the struggle of our time. The forces of freedom, openness and global community against the forces of authoritarianism, isolationism and nationalism. Forces for the flow of knowledge, trade and immigration against those who would slow them down. This is not a battle of nations, it's a battle of ideas. There are people in every country for global connection and good people against it.

但我们又生活在一个动荡的时代,有人被全球化远远抛在身后。如果我们还没有厘清自己的生活,那么我们就只能勉强自保,而无法帮助别人。这是我们时代的斗争。支持自由,开放和反对威权主义的力量对抗孤立主义和民族主义势力。支持知识流动,贸易和移民的声音对抗反对这一切的噪音。这不是国与国的战争,而是一场观念之争。每个国家,有人支持,有人反对。

金词:

be left behind 被抛下

openness 开放

authoritarianism 权威主义

isolationism 孤立主义

natioanlism 民族主义

第三十段:

This isn't going to be decided at the U.N. either. It's going to happen at the local level, when enough of us feel a sense of purpose and stability in our own lives that we can open up and start caring about everyone. The best way to do that is to start building local communities right now. We all get meaning from our communities. Whether our communities are houses or sports teams, churches or music groups, they give us that sense we are part of something bigger, that we are not alone; they give us the strength to expand our horizons.That's why it's so striking that for decades, membership in all kinds of groups has declined as much as one-quarter. That's a lot of people who now need to find purpose somewhere else.

全球化之争不是联合国能解决的问题。全球化之争必须依靠地区力量来解决,当我们足够的感觉到我们自己的使命和稳定感,我们可以开始关心其他人。最好的办法是开始建立当地的社群。我们都从我们的社群中获得意义。无论我们的社群是邻里社区还是运动小组,教堂或音乐团体。他们给我们归属感,我们属于的群体的一部分,我们不是一个人;社群给了我们扩大我们的视野的力量。这就是为什么这几十年来各类团体的会员人数下降了四分之一的事实是多么需要引起注意!现在很多人都需要在别的地方寻找生活的使命感了。

金词:

at the local level 本地

expand one's horizon 开阔视野

第三十一段:

But I know we can rebuild our communities and start new ones because many of you already are.
I met Agnes Igoye, who's graduating today. Where are you, Agnes? She spent her childhood navigating conflict zones in Uganda, and now she trains thousands of law enforcement officers to keep communities safe. I met Kayla Oakley and Niha Jain, graduating today too. Stand up. Kayla and Niha started a non-profit that connects people suffering from illnesses with people in their communities willing to help. I met David Razu Aznar, graduating from the Kennedy School today. David, stand up. He's a former city councilor who successfully led the battle to make Mexico City the first Latin American city to pass marriage equality — even before San Francisco.

但是,我知道我们可以重建我们的社群,因为你们中许多人已经开始行动了。我遇到了今天毕业的Agnes Igoye,(对现场说,你在哪里,Agnes?)她在乌干达的冲突地区度过童年时期,现在她在训练数以千计的执法人员来保持社区的安全。我遇到Kayla和Niha,也是今天毕业,他们发起了一个非营利组织,将患有疾病的人与社区内愿意帮助他们的人联系起来。我遇到了David Razu Aznar,今天从肯尼迪政治学院毕业(对现场说,David站起来)。 他是前墨西哥市的议员,他成功领导了一场运动,使墨西哥城成为第一个通过婚姻平等法案的拉丁美洲城市,甚至比旧金山还早。

金词:

conflicting zones 争端地区

第三十二段:

This is my story too. A student in a dorm room, connecting one community at a time, and keeping at it until one day we connect the whole world. Change starts local. Even global changes start small — with people like us. In our generation, the struggle of whether we connect more, whether we achieve our biggest opportunities, comes down to this — your ability to build communities and create a world where every single person has a sense of purpose.

这也是我自己的故事。一个宅在宿舍的学生,一次连接了一个社群,然后始终维护它,直到有一天我们连接了整个世界。改变源于身边。全球性的改变也是源自足下跬步,始于我们身边的普通人。在我们这一代,我们的努力能否连接更多人和事,能否把握我们最大的机遇,都归结于这一点—— 你是否有能力搭建社群并且创造一个所有人都能有使命感的世界。

金词:

one at a time 一次一个

keep at sth 坚持某事

第三十三段:

Class of 2017, you are graduating into a world that needs purpose. It's up to you to create it. Now, you may be thinking: can I really do this? Remember when I told you about that class I taught at the Boys and Girls Club? One day after class I was talking to them about college, and one of my top students raised his hand and said he wasn't sure he could go because he's undocumented. He didn't know if they'd let him in.
Last year I took him out to breakfast for his birthday. I wanted to get him a present, so I asked him and he started talking about students he saw struggling and said "You know, I'd really just like a book on social justice."I was blown away. Here's a young guy who has every reason to be cynical. He didn't know if the country he calls home -- the only one he's known — would deny him his dream of going to college. But he wasn't feeling sorry for himself. He wasn't even thinking of himself. He has a greater sense of purpose, and he's going to bring people along with him.

2017届的校友们,你们将面临的是一个极度渴望使命感的世界。你们正是这个世界的缔造者。你可能会想:我真的可以吗?还记得我前面提到的我在Boys and Girls Club教授的课程吗?有一天下课后,我正和他们谈论大学,其中一个顶尖的学生举手说道他并不确定他是否可以上大学因为他是没有身份的。他完全不知道,大学会不会批准他入学!去年,在他过生日的时候,我带他去吃早餐。我想送给他一个礼物,所以我问他想要什么,然后他开始谈论他看到的正在挣扎于进入大学的学生,“我其实就想要一本关于社会正义的书。”我被震撼了。这本该是个完全可以愤世嫉俗的年轻人。他不知道他所称之为家乡的,他唯一知道的国家,是否会拒绝他上大学的梦想。但他自己并不觉得遗憾。他甚至都没有想到自己。他有更宏大的使命感,他想要带着大家一起前进。

第三十四段:

It says something about our current situation that I can't even say his name because I don't want to put him at risk. But if a high school senior who doesn't know what the future holds can do his part to move the world forward, then we owe it to the world to do our part too.Before you walk out those gates one last time, as we sit in front of Memorial Church, I am reminded of a prayer, Mi Shebeirach, that I say whenever I face a challenge, that I sing to my daughter thinking about her future when I tuck her into bed. It goes:
"May the source of strength, who blessed the ones before us, help us find the courage to make our lives a blessing."I hope you find the courage to make your life a blessing.

Congratulations, Class of '17! Good luck out there.

由于现在所处的情况,我并不能说出他的名字,因为我不想把他置身于危险之中。但是,如果一个不知道自己未来会怎样的高中生都能为推动世界做出自己的贡献,那么我们也理应对这个世界做出我们的贡献。在你们最后一次走出这些校门之前,当我们坐在这纪念教堂前的时候,我想起了一段祈祷,Mi Shebeirach,每当我面对挑战时我都会说的,每当我把女儿放进婴儿床里想象着她的未来都会唱到的:

"May the source of strength, who blessed the ones before us, help us find the courage to make our lives a blessing."

我希望你们也可以找到属于自己的勇气,使你们的生命成为一个祝福。

恭喜你们,2017届的同学们!祝你们好运!

下载PDF版

今年5月25日,哈佛大学举办了2017届学生毕业典礼。Facebook创始人马克·扎克伯格回到母校,做了毕业典礼演讲。在此之前,他还向比尔盖茨爷爷取经,见下图:

Pic1

好吧,比尔盖茨爷爷也是蛮幽默的。
在这篇演讲中,小扎提出了千禧一代的三个使命:
第一,作为千禧一代,仅仅找到个人的目的或使命是不够的,当然,首先你需要有明确的个人目标,但是我们都应该生活在一个larger than me的场景里;
第二,千禧一代面临的挑战是,要创造一个每个人都有使命感的世界,这是真正幸福的关键,也是我们保持社会进步的唯一途径;
第三,那就是建立起一个连接的世界,要先从本土的社群做起。
整篇演讲总共有三十三段,篇幅不短,不过胜在语言简单,行文流畅。大乐乐上课要重点讲解的段落是:6,7,9,12,15,16,17,26,27段。
高级水平的同学可以尝试精读全文,中级水平的同学略读全文,精读重点段落就可以,初级水平的同学则可以只读重点段落,等待大乐乐上课讲解哦。

第一段:
President Faust, Board of Overseers, faculty, alumni, friends, proud parents, members of the ad board and graduates of the greatest university in the world...I'm honored to be with you today, because let's face it, you accomplished something I never could. If I get through this speech, it'll be the first time I actually finish something at Harvard. Class of 2017, congratulations!

第二段;
I'm an unlikely speaker, not just because I dropped out, but because we're technically in the same generation. We walked this yard less than a decade apart, studied the same ideas and slept through the same Ec10 lectures. We may have taken different paths to get here, especially if you came all the way from the Quad, but today I want to share what I've learned about our generation and the world we're building together.

第三段:
But first, the last couple of days have brought back a lot of good memories. How many of you remember exactly what you were doing when you got that email telling you that you got into Harvard? I was playing "Civilization" and I ran downstairs, got my dad, and for some reason, his reaction was to video me opening the email. That could have been a really sad video. I swear, getting into Harvard is still the thing my parents are most proud of me for. What about your first lecture at Harvard? Mine was Computer Science 121 with the incredible Harry Lewis. I was late, so I threw on a t-shirt and didn't realize until afterwards it was inside out and backwards with my tag sticking out the front. I couldn't figure out why no one would talk to me - except one guy, KX Jin, he just went with it. We ended up doing our problem sets together, and now he runs a big part of Facebook. And that, Class of 2017, is why you should be nice to people.

第四段:
But my best memory from Harvard was meeting Priscilla. I had just launched this prank website Facemash, and the ad board wanted to "see me." Everyone thought I was going to get kicked out. My parents came to help me pack. My friends threw me a going away party. As luck would have it, Priscilla was at that party with her friend. We met in line for the bathroom in the Pfoho Belltower, and in what must be one of the all time romantic lines, I said: "I'm going to get kicked out in three days, so we need to go on a date quickly." Actually, any of you graduating can use that line.

第五段:
I didn't end up getting kicked out - I did that to myself. Priscilla and I started dating. And you know, that movie made it seem like Facemash was so important to creating Facebook. It wasn't. But without Facemash I wouldn't have met Priscilla, and she's the most important person in my life, so you could say it was the most important thing I built in my time here.We've all started lifelong friendships here, and some of us even families. That's why I'm so grateful to this place. Thanks, Harvard.

第六段:
Today I want to talk about purpose. But I'm not here to give you the standard commencement about finding your purpose. We're millennials. We'll try to do that instinctively. Instead, I'm here to tell you finding your purpose isn't enough. The challenge for our generation is creating a world where everyone has a sense of purpose.

第七段:
One of my favorite stories is when John F. Kennedy visited the NASA space center, he saw a janitor carrying a broom and he walked over and asked what he was doing. The janitor responded: "Mr. President, I'm helping put a man on the moon." Purpose is that sense that we are part of something bigger than ourselves, that we are needed, that we have something better ahead to work for. Purpose is what creates true happiness.

第八段:
You're graduating at a time when this is especially important. When our parents graduated, purpose reliably came from your job, your church, your community. But today, technology and automation are eliminating many jobs. Membership in communities is declining. Many people feel disconnected and depressed and are trying to fill a void. As I've traveled around, I've sat with children in juvenile detention and opioid addicts, who told me their lives could have turned out differently if they just had something to do, an after school program or somewhere to go. I've met factory workers who know their old jobs aren't coming back and are trying to find their place.

第九段:
To keep our society moving forward, we have a generational challenge - to not only create new jobs, but create a renewed sense of purpose. I remember the night I launched Facebook from my little dorm in Kirkland House. I went to Noch's with my friend KX. I remember telling him I was excited to connect the Harvard community, but one day someone would connect the whole world. The thing is, it never even occurred to me that someone might be us. We were just college kids. We didn't know anything about that. There were all these big technology companies with resources. I just assumed one of them would do it. But this idea was so clear to us - that all people want to connect. So we just kept moving forward, day by day.
I know a lot of you will have your own stories just like this. A change in the world that seems so clear, you're sure someone else will do it. But they won't. You will.

第十段:
But it's not enough to have purpose yourself. You have to create a sense of purpose for others. I found that out the hard way. You see, my hope was never to build a company, but to make an impact. And as all these people started joining us, I just assumed that's what they cared about too, so I never explained what I hoped we'd build. A couple years in, some big companies wanted to buy us. I didn't want to sell. I wanted to see if we could connect more people. We were building the first News Feed, and I thought if we could just launch this, it could change how we learn about the world.

第十一段:
Nearly everyone else wanted to sell. Without a sense of higher purpose, this was the startup dream come true. It tore our company apart. After one tense argument, an advisor told me if I didn't agree to sell, I would regret the decision for the rest of my life. Relationships were so frayed that within a year or so, every single person on the management team was gone. That was my hardest time leading Facebook. I believed in what we were doing, but I felt alone. And worse, it was my fault. I wondered if I was just wrong, an impostor, a 22-year-old kid who had no idea how the world worked. Now, years later, I understand that is how things work with no sense of higher purpose. It's up to us to create it, so we can all keep moving forward together.

第十二段:
Today I want to talk about three ways to create a world where everyone has a sense of purpose: by taking on big meaningful projects together, by redefining equality so everyone has the freedom to pursue purpose and by building community across the world.

第十三段:
First, let's take on big meaningful projects. Our generation will have to deal with tens of millions of jobs replaced by automation like self-driving cars and trucks. But we have the potential to do so much more together.Every generation has its defining works. More than 300,000 people worked to put a man on the moon - including that janitor. Millions of volunteers immunized children around the world against polio. Millions of more people built the Hoover dam and other great projects. These projects didn't just provide purpose for the people doing those jobs, they gave our whole country a sense of pride that we could do great things.

第十四段:
Now it's our turn to do great things. I know, you're probably thinking: I don't know how to build a dam, or get a million people involved in anything.But let me tell you a secret: no one does when they begin. Ideas don't come out fully formed. They only become clear as you work on them. You just have to get started.
If I had to understand everything about connecting people before I began, I never would have started Facebook.

第十五段:
Movies and pop culture get this all wrong. The idea of a single eureka moment is a dangerous lie. It makes us feel inadequate since we haven't had ours. It prevents people with seeds of good ideas from getting started. Oh, you know what else movies get wrong about innovation? No one writes math formulas on glass. That's not a thing.

第十六段:
It's good to be idealistic. But be prepared to be misunderstood. Anyone working on a big vision will get called crazy, even if you end up right. Anyone working on a complex problem will get blamed for not fully understanding the challenge, even though it's impossible to know everything upfront. Anyone taking initiative will get criticized for moving too fast, because there's always someone who wants to slow you down.

第十七段:
In our society, we often don't do big things because we're so afraid of making mistakes that we ignore all the things wrong today if we do nothing. The reality is, anything we do will have issues in the future. But that can't keep us from starting.

第十八段:
So what are we waiting for? It's time for our generation-defining public works. How about stopping climate change before we destroy the planet and getting millions of people involved manufacturing and installing solar panels? How about curing all diseases and asking volunteers to track their health data and share their genomes? Today we spend 50 times more treating people who are sick than we spend finding cures so people don't get sick in the first place. That makes no sense. We can fix this. How about modernizing democracy so everyone can vote online, and personalizing education so everyone can learn? These achievements are within our reach. Let's do them all in a way that gives everyone in our society a role. Let's do big things, not only to create progress, but to create purpose. So taking on big meaningful projects is the first thing we can do to create a world where everyone has a sense of purpose.

第十九段:
The second is redefining equality to give everyone the freedom they need to pursue purpose.
Many of our parents had stable jobs throughout their careers. Now we're all entrepreneurial, whether we're starting projects or finding or role. And that's great. Our culture of entrepreneurship is how we create so much progress.

第二十段:
Now, an entrepreneurial culture thrives when it's easy to try lots of new ideas. Facebook wasn't the first thing I built. I also built games, chat systems, study tools and music players. I'm not alone. J.K. Rowling got rejected 12 times before publishing Harry Potter. Even Beyoncé had to make hundreds of songs to get "Halo." The greatest successes come from having the freedom to fail.

第二十一段:
But today, we have a level of wealth inequality that hurts everyone. When you don't have the freedom to take your idea and turn it into a historic enterprise, we all lose. Right now our society is way over-indexed on rewarding success and we don't do nearly enough to make it easy for everyone to take lots of shots.
Let's face it: There is something wrong with our system when I can leave here and make billions of dollars in 10 years, while millions of students can't afford to pay off their loans, let alone start a business.
Look, I know a lot of entrepreneurs, and I don't know a single person who gave up on starting a business because they might not make enough money. But I know lots of people who haven't pursued dreams because they didn't have a cushion to fall back on if they failed.

第二十二段:
We all know we don't succeed just by having a good idea or working hard. We succeed by being lucky too. If I had to support my family growing up instead of having time to code, if I didn't know I'd be fine if Facebook didn't work out, I wouldn't be standing here today. If we're honest, we all know how much luck we've had.
Every generation expands its definition of equality. Previous generations fought for the vote and civil rights. They had the New Deal and Great Society. Now it's our time to define a new social contract for our generation.

第二十三段:
We should have a society that measures progress not just by economic metrics like GDP, but by how many of us have a role we find meaningful. We should explore ideas like universal basic income to give everyone a cushion to try new things. We're going to change jobs many times, so we need affordable childcare to get to work and healthcare that aren't tied to one company. We're all going to make mistakes, so we need a society that focuses less on locking us up or stigmatizing us. And as technology keeps changing, we need to focus more on continuous education throughout our lives.

第二十四段:
And yes, giving everyone the freedom to pursue purpose isn't free. People like me should pay for it. Many of you will do well and you should too. That's why Priscilla and I started the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and committed our wealth to promoting equal opportunity. These are the values of our generation. It was never a question of if we were going to do this. The only question was when.

第二十五段:
Millennials are already one of the most charitable generations in history. In one year, three of four U.S. millennials made a donation and seven out of 10 raised money for charity. But it's not just about money. You can also give time. I promise you, if you take an hour or two a week - that's all it takes to give someone a hand, to help them reach their potential. Maybe you think that's too much time. I used to. When Priscilla graduated from Harvard she became a teacher, and before she'd do education work with me, she told me I needed to teach a class. I complained: "Well, I'm kind of busy. I'm running this company." But she insisted, so I taught a middle school program on entrepreneurship at the local Boys and Girls Club.

第二十六段:
I taught them lessons on product development and marketing, and they taught me what it's like feeling targeted for your race and having a family member in prison. I shared stories from my time in school, and they shared their hope of one day going to college too. For five years now, I've been having dinner with those kids every month. One of them threw me and Priscilla our first baby shower. And next year they're going to college. Every one of them. First in their families. We can all make time to give someone a hand. Let's give everyone the freedom to pursue their purpose - not only because it's the right thing to do, but because when more people can turn their dreams into something great, we're all better for it.

第二十七段:
Purpose doesn't only come from work. The third way we can create a sense of purpose for everyone is by building community. And when our generation says "everyone," we mean everyone in the world.
Quick show of hands: How many of you are from another country? Now, how many of you are friends with one of these folks? Now we're talking. We have grown up connected. In a survey asking millennials around the world what defines our identity, the most popular answer wasn't nationality, religion or ethnicity, it was "citizen of the world." That's a big deal. Every generation expands the circle of people we consider "one of us." For us, it now encompasses the entire world.

第二十八段:
We understand the great arc of human history bends towards people coming together in ever greater numbers - from tribes to cities to nations - to achieve things we couldn't on our own.We get that our greatest opportunities are now global - we can be the generation that ends poverty, that ends disease. We get that our greatest challenges need global responses too -- no country can fight climate change alone or prevent pandemics. Progress now requires coming together not just as cities or nations, but also as a global community.

第二十九段:
But we live in an unstable time. There are people left behind by globalization across the world. It's hard to care about people in other places if we don't feel good about our lives here at home. There's pressure to turn inwards. This is the struggle of our time. The forces of freedom, openness and global community against the forces of authoritarianism, isolationism and nationalism. Forces for the flow of knowledge, trade and immigration against those who would slow them down. This is not a battle of nations, it's a battle of ideas. There are people in every country for global connection and good people against it.

第三十段:
This isn't going to be decided at the U.N. either. It's going to happen at the local level, when enough of us feel a sense of purpose and stability in our own lives that we can open up and start caring about everyone. The best way to do that is to start building local communities right now. We all get meaning from our communities. Whether our communities are houses or sports teams, churches or music groups, they give us that sense we are part of something bigger, that we are not alone; they give us the strength to expand our horizons.That's why it's so striking that for decades, membership in all kinds of groups has declined as much as one-quarter. That's a lot of people who now need to find purpose somewhere else.

第三十一段:
But I know we can rebuild our communities and start new ones because many of you already are.
I met Agnes Igoye, who's graduating today. Where are you, Agnes? She spent her childhood navigating conflict zones in Uganda, and now she trains thousands of law enforcement officers to keep communities safe. I met Kayla Oakley and Niha Jain, graduating today too. Stand up. Kayla and Niha started a non-profit that connects people suffering from illnesses with people in their communities willing to help. I met David Razu Aznar, graduating from the Kennedy School today. David, stand up. He's a former city councilor who successfully led the battle to make Mexico City the first Latin American city to pass marriage equality - even before San Francisco.

第三十二段:
This is my story too. A student in a dorm room, connecting one community at a time, and keeping at it until one day we connect the whole world. Change starts local. Even global changes start small - with people like us. In our generation, the struggle of whether we connect more, whether we achieve our biggest opportunities, comes down to this - your ability to build communities and create a world where every single person has a sense of purpose.

第三十三段:
Class of 2017, you are graduating into a world that needs purpose. It's up to you to create it. Now, you may be thinking: can I really do this? Remember when I told you about that class I taught at the Boys and Girls Club? One day after class I was talking to them about college, and one of my top students raised his hand and said he wasn't sure he could go because he's undocumented. He didn't know if they'd let him in.
Last year I took him out to breakfast for his birthday. I wanted to get him a present, so I asked him and he started talking about students he saw struggling and said "You know, I'd really just like a book on social justice."I was blown away. Here's a young guy who has every reason to be cynical. He didn't know if the country he calls home -- the only one he's known - would deny him his dream of going to college. But he wasn't feeling sorry for himself. He wasn't even thinking of himself. He has a greater sense of purpose, and he's going to bring people along with him.

第三十三段:
It says something about our current situation that I can't even say his name because I don't want to put him at risk. But if a high school senior who doesn't know what the future holds can do his part to move the world forward, then we owe it to the world to do our part too.Before you walk out those gates one last time, as we sit in front of Memorial Church, I am reminded of a prayer, Mi Shebeirach, that I say whenever I face a challenge, that I sing to my daughter thinking about her future when I tuck her into bed. It goes:
"May the source of strength, who blessed the ones before us, help us find the courage to make our lives a blessing."
I hope you find the courage to make your life a blessing.
Congratulations, Class of '17! Good luck out there.

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