Thank you! 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:
谢谢大家！尊敬的博克校长，鲁登斯坦前校长，即将上任的浮士德校长，哈佛集团的各位成员，监管理事会的各位理事，各位老师，各位家长，各位同学：
I've been waiting more than 30 years to say this: "Dad, I always told you I'd come back and get my degree."
有一句话我等了三十年，现在终于可以说了：“老爸，我总是跟您说，我会回来拿到我的学位的！”
I want to thank Harvard for this honor. I'll be changing my job next year...and it will be nice to finally have a college degree on my resume.
我要感谢哈佛大学给我这个荣誉。明年，我就要换工作了（注：指从微软公司退休）……我终于可以在简历上写我有一个大学学位，这真是太好了！
I applaud the graduates 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.
我为今天在座的各位同学感到高兴，你们拿到学位可比我容易多了。哈佛的校报称我是“哈佛大学历史上最成功的辍学生”。我想这大概是因为我有资格代表我这一类学生发言——在所有的辍学者里，我做得最好。
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.
但是，我还要提醒大家，是我使史蒂夫·鲍尔默（注：微软首席执行官）也从哈佛商学院退学了。我是个有着恶劣影响的人。这就是为什么我被邀请来在你们的毕业典礼上演讲。如果我在你们入学欢迎仪式上演讲，那么熊猫坚持到今天在这里毕业的人也许会少得多吧。
重点讲解：
1. recognize as
把……看作；
eg. I don't think that most the kids recognize me as a celebrity.
我想绝大多数孩子并不会把我当作一位名人。
eg. They refused to recognize him as the lawful heir.
他们拒绝承认他为合法继承人。
2. drop out of
退学；退出（比赛等）；
eg. You'll never go to college if you drop out of high school.
如果高中辍学，你就永远不能上大学了。
eg. He had injured leg and had to drop out of the race.
他的腿伤了，不得不退出比赛。
3. be invited to do sth.
（正式）邀请，请求，要求；
eg. At a future date, managers will be invited to apply for a management buy-out.
在将来的某天，经理们将受邀进行管理层收购。
eg. We were invited to a larney function.
我们获得邀请参加一个盛大的庆典。
背景资料：
比尔·盖茨出生于美国西海岸华盛顿州西雅图，父亲威廉·亨利·盖茨是当地的著名律师，他过世的母亲玛丽·盖茨是银行系统的董事。大学时，从哈佛退学创建了微软公司，曾任微软CEO和首席软件设计师，创造巨大财富，曾是世界首富。此篇是比尔·盖茨2007年6月7日在哈佛大学毕业典礼上的演讲，他在其中谈到了很多事情，包括他的学生时代、他的退学经历，以及他眼中人生最有意义的事情。
名人经典：
Don't let complexity stop you. Be activists. Take on the big inequities. I feel sure it will be one of the great experiences of your lives.
不要让这个世界的复杂性阻碍你前进。要成为一个行动主义者。将解决人类的不平等视为己任。我敢肯定它将成为你生命中最重要的经历之一。 |