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.
總而言之,在我記憶中,哈佛充滿青春活力、人才輩出.哈佛的生活令人愉快,也讓人感到壓力,有時甚至會感到洩氣,但永遠充滿挑戰.生活在哈佛是極大的榮幸……雖然我離開得比較早,但我在這裡的經歷、在這裡結識的朋友、在這裡產生的一些想法影響了我一生.
But taking a serious look back … I do have one big regret.
但是,仔細回想過去,我確實有一大遺憾.
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.
我離開哈佛時,根本沒有意識到這個世界是多麼不平等.人類在健康、財富和機遇上的不平等大得可怕,這使無數人被迫在絕望中生活.
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.
我在哈佛學到了很多經濟學和政治學的新思想,我也瞭解到了很多科學上的新進展.
But humanity's greatest advances are not in its discoveries - but in how those discoveries are applied to reduce inequity. Whether through democracy, strong public education, quality health care, or broad economic opportunity - reducing inequity is the highest human achievement.
但是,人類最大的進步並不在於這些發現,而是在於如何用這些發現去減少不平等現象.不管通過何種手段-建立民主制度、健全公共教育體系、完善醫療保健制度,還是創造廣泛的經濟機會-減少不平等始終是人類最大的成就.
I left campus knowing little about the millions of young people cheated out of educational opportunities here in this country. And I knew nothing about the millions of people living in unspeakable poverty and disease in developing countries.
我離開校園的時候,根本不知道在這個國家裡,有數百萬年輕人無法獲得受教育的機會.我也不知道,在發展中國家,無數人生活在無法形容的貧窮和疾病之中.
It took me decades to find out.
幾十年後我才明白這些事情.
You graduates came to Harvard at a different time. You know more about the world's inequities than the classes that came before. In your years here, I hope you've had a chance to think about how - in this age of accelerating technology - we can finally take on these inequities, and we can solve them.
在座的各位同學,你們來到哈佛的時代與我不同.你們比以前的學生要更瞭解這個世界的不平等.我希望你們在哈佛求學的過程中已經思考過一個問題,那就是在這個新技術加速發展的時代,我們最終該怎樣應對這種不平等,怎樣來解決這個問題.
Imagine, just for the sake of discussion, that you had a few hours a week and a few dollars a month to donate to a cause - and you wanted to spend that time and money where it would have the greatest impact in saving and improving lives. Where would you spend it?
為了方便討論,請想象一下,假如你每個星期可以付出一些時間、每個月可以捐獻一些錢,你希望這些時間和金錢,用到對拯救生命和改善人類生活最有用的地方.你會選擇什麼地方?
For Melinda and for me, the challenge is the same: how can we do the most good for the greatest number with the resources we have.
對我和梅琳達來說,這也是我們面臨的問題：如何讓我們擁有的資源發揮最大的作用.
During our discussions on this question, Melinda and I read an article about the millions of children who were dying every year in poor countries from diseases that we had long ago made harmless in this country, measles, malaria, pneumonia, hepatitis B, yellow fever. One disease I had never even heard of, rotavirus, was killing half a million kids each year - none of them in the United States.
在討論的過程中,我和梅琳達讀到一篇文章,裡面說在那些貧窮的國家,每年有數百萬的兒童死於那些在美國早已不成問題的疾病-麻疹、瘧疾、肺炎、乙型肝炎、黃熱病,還有一種我以前從未聽說過的輪狀病毒.這些疾病每年導致50萬兒童死亡,但是在美國一例這類死亡病例也沒有.
We were shocked. We had just assumed that if millions of children were dying and they could be saved, the world would make it a priority to discover and deliver the medicines to save them. But it did not. For under a dollar, there were interventions that could save lives that just weren't being delivered.
我們震驚了.我們想,如果幾百萬兒童正在死亡線上掙扎,而且他們是可以獲救的,那麼這個世界理應將用藥物拯救他們作為頭等大事.但是事實並非如此.因為不足一美元的資金問題,受到干涉,這些藥物並沒有送到他們的手中.
If you believe that every life has equal value, it's revolting to learn that some lives are seen as worth saving and others are not. We said to ourselves, "This can't be true. But if it is true, it deserves to be the priority of our giving."
如果你相信每個生命都是平等的,那麼當你發現有人認為某些生命值得救助,而另一些生命不值得時,你會深感厭惡.我們對自己說："事情不可能如此.如果真是如此,那麼這理應是我們努力的頭等大事."
So we began our work in the same way anyone here would begin it. We asked, "How could the world let these children die?"
所以,我們用任何人都會想到的方式開始工作.我們問："這個世界怎麼可以眼睜睜地看著這些孩子死去?"
The answer is simple, and harsh. The market did not reward saving the lives of these children, and governments did not subsidize it. So the children died because their mothers and their fathers had no power in the market and no voice in the system.
答案很簡單,也很令人難堪.在市場經濟中,拯救兒童是一項沒有利潤的工作,政府也不會提供補助.這些兒童之所以會死亡,是因為他們的父母在經濟上沒有實力,在政治上沒有能力發出聲音.
But you and I have both.
但是,你們和我在經濟上有實力,在政治上能夠發出聲音!
We can make market forces work better for the poor if we can develop a more creative capitalism - if we can stretch the reach of market forces so that more people can make a profit, or at least make a living, serving people who are suffering from the great inequities. We also can press governments around the world to spend taxpayer money in ways that better reflect the values of the people who pay the taxes.
我們可以讓市場更好地服務窮人,如果我們能夠讓資本主義制度更具創造力-如果我們可以改變市場,讓更多人獲利,或者至少可以維持生活-那麼,這就可以幫到那些正在極端不平等的狀況中受苦的人們.我們還可以向全世界的政府施壓,要求他們將納稅人的錢,花到更能反映納稅人價值的地方.
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