2019年6月16日,苹果CEO蒂姆·库克在斯坦福大学2019届毕业典礼上发表了演讲。
在演讲中他提及了科技对生活的负面影响,鼓励大家在接受荣誉的同时,还要学会承担责任,成为一个建设者,留下有价值的东西。
库克回忆起乔布斯,坦言“那是我一生中最孤独的时刻”。他告诫大家永远不会有准备就绪的时刻,但仍需继续前行。
下附演讲稿英文原文和中文翻译对照。
英文来源:斯坦福大学官网(stanford.edu)
本文来自《鹿老师说外语》微博文章
Good morning, Class of 2019!
早上好,2019届的毕业生们!
Thank you, President Tessier-Lavigne, for that generous introduction. I’ll do my best to earn it.
感谢特希尔·拉维尼(Tessier-Lavigne)校长的热情介绍,我将力求让这些称赞名副其实。
Before I begin, I want to recognize everyone whose hard work made this celebration possible, including the groundskeepers, ushers, volunteers and crew. Thank you.
在我开始之前,想要感谢所有为这次毕业典礼付出辛勤工作的人员,包括场地管理员,引导员,志愿者和工作人员。谢谢你们。
I’m deeply honored and frankly a little astonished to be invited to join you for this most meaningful of occasions.
能够受邀参与这样一场意义非凡的典礼,我深感荣幸,受宠若惊。
Graduates, this is your day. But you didn’t get here alone.
Family and friends, teachers, mentors, loved ones, and, of course, your parents, all worked together to make you possible and they share your joy today. Here on Father’s Day, let’s give the dads in particular a round of applause.
毕业生们,今天是属于你们的日子,但你们不是孤身一人走到现在,你们的家人、朋友、导师、亲人以及父母,他们一路陪伴着你们,直到你们取得今日的斐然成绩,与你们共享这份喜悦。今天也是父亲节,让我们特别为爸爸们献上掌声。
Stanford is near to my heart, not least because I live just a mile and a half from here.
斯坦福在我心中十分亲切,这倒不仅仅是因为我家离这里只有1.5英里。
Of course, if my accent hasn’t given it away, for the first part of my life I had to admire this place from a distance.
如果你们没发现我的口音的话,我可以告诉你们,在我生命的前半段,我一直在远处艳羡这所大学。
I went to school on the other side of the country, at Auburn University, in the heart of landlocked Eastern Alabama.
因为我的母校奥本大学,在美国的另一边,位于阿拉巴马州内陆的中心地带。
You may not know this, but I was on the sailing team all four years.
It wasn’t easy. Back then, the closest marina was a three-hour-drive. For practice, most of the time we had to wait for a heavy rainstorm to flood the football field. And tying knots is hard! Who knew?
你们可能不知道,大学四年我都是我母校帆船队的成员。那时候,到最近的码头训练需要3个小时的车程。大多数时候我们不得不等待着让暴雨淹没足球场后再进行训练,而且打绳结还特别困难。
Yet somehow, against all odds, we managed to beat Stanford every time. We must have gotten lucky with the wind.
但如有神助,我们每次都能克服一切困难,成功击败斯坦福大学,一定是风神对我们倍加眷顾。
Kidding aside, I know the real reason I’m here, and I don’t take it lightly.
这只是个玩笑,先告一段落。我深知我站在这里的真正原因,不能够对此掉以轻心。
Stanford and Silicon Valley’s roots are woven together. We’re part of the same ecosystem. It was true when Steve stood on this stage 14 years ago, it’s true today, and, presumably, it’ll be true for a while longer still.
斯坦福大学和硅谷的根紧密地缠绕在一起。我们是同一个生态系统的一部分。当史蒂夫·乔布斯14年前站在这个讲台上时,就已经证明了这一点。今天也是如此,而且未来也是如此。
The past few decades have lifted us together. But today we gather at a moment that demands some reflection.
过去几十年的光阴让我们团结在一起。但今天我们共聚于此,是时候做出一些反思了。
Fueled by caffeine and code, optimism and idealism, conviction and creativity, generations of Stanford graduates (and dropouts) have used technology to remake our society.
在咖啡因和代码的刺激下,在乐观和理想主义的引领下,在信念和创造力的推动下,几代斯坦福大学人利用技术重塑着我们的社会。
But I think you would agree that, lately, the results haven’t been neat or straightforward.
但是,我相信在座的各位也明白,最近一些事情的结果并不乐观。
In just the four years that you’ve been here at the Farm, things feel like they have taken a sharp turn.
仅仅是你们在农场(斯坦福大学别称)的短短四年,事情似乎突然发生了变化。
Crisis has tempered optimism. Consequences have challenged idealism. And reality has shaken blind faith.
危机挫伤了乐观主义,恶果挑战了理想主义,而现实动摇了曾经坚固的信念。
And yet we are all still drawn here.
不变的是,我们仍被这里吸引。
For good reason.
这并不是毫无道理的。
Big dreams live here, as do the genius and passion to make them real. In an age of cynicism, this place still believes that the human capacity to solve problems is boundless.
这里是伟大梦想的发源地,也是那些使之成为现实的天才和热情的发源地。在这个愤世嫉俗的时代,这里仍然坚信人类拥有解决问题的无限能力。
But so, it seems, is our potential to create them.
同时,似乎我们也拥有无限制造问题的能力。
That’s what I’m interested in talking about today. Because if I’ve learned one thing, it’s that technology doesn’t change who we are, it magnifies who we are, the good and the bad.
这便是我今天想要讲的话题。因为我深知:科技无法改变我们本身,它只能放大我们的本质,放大我们的善恶。
Our problems – in technology, in politics, wherever – are human problems. From the Garden of Eden to today, it’s our humanity that got us into this mess, and it’s our humanity that’s going to have to get us out.
我们在科技上、政治上以及不论哪个领域里出现的问题,归根结底都是人的问题。从伊甸园至今,正是“人性”让我们陷入这些混乱,但也正是“人性”将我们带领走出混乱。
If you want credit for the good, take responsibility for the bad.
欲担善之名,先承恶之责。
First things first, here’s a plain fact.
首先,事实是这样的。
Silicon Valley is responsible for some of the most revolutionary inventions in modern history.
现代历史中,一些最具划时代意义的发明都诞生于硅谷。
From the first oscillator built in the Hewlett-Packard garage to the iPhones that I know you’re holding in your hands.
Social media, shareable video, snaps and stories that connect half the people on Earth. They all trace their roots to Stanford’s backyard.
从惠普车库里诞生的第一款音频振荡器到你们手中的iPhone手机。社交媒体,可分享的视频,快照和故事将地球上半数人口连接在一起。溯其根源,他们都来自斯坦福的后院。
But lately, it seems, this industry is becoming better known for a less noble innovation: the belief that you can claim credit without accepting responsibility.
但是最近,这个领域似乎因为另一个不那么高尚的“创新”而闻名:一种认为无需承担责任便可享受荣誉的想法。
We see it every day now, with every data breach, every privacy violation, every blind eye turned to hate speech. Fake news poisoning our national conversation. The false promise of miracles in exchange for a single drop of your blood. Too many seem to think that good intentions excuse away harmful outcomes.
我们每天都可以看到,数据泄露,隐私侵犯,对仇恨言论的漠视,让我们深受其害的虚假新闻,甚至号称“一滴血便能换来奇迹”的奇葩言论。太多人似乎相信,良好的本意可以为有害的结果洗白。
But whether you like it or not, what you build and what you create define who you are.
然而不论你是否认同,“你所创造的事物”定义了“你是谁”。
It feels a bit crazy that anyone should have to say this. But if you’ve built a chaos factory, you can’t dodge responsibility for the chaos. Taking responsibility means having the courage to think things through.
虽然听起来有点疯狂,但是如果你建立了一个生产混乱的工厂,那么这些混乱便是你无法逃避的责任。承担责任意味着有勇气理清整件事。
And there are few areas where this is more important than privacy.
而如今,隐私问题是这些问题里最严重的问题。
If we accept as normal and unavoidable that everything in our lives can be aggregated, sold, or even leaked in the event of a hack, then we lose so much more than data.
如果生活中的一切均可以被收集整合、被贩卖甚至被黑客攻击泄露,而我们却对此却习以为常,我们失去的将不仅仅是数据。
We lose the freedom to be human.
我们也丢失了作为人的自由。
Think about what’s at stake. Everything you write, everything you say, every topic of curiosity, every stray thought, every impulsive purchase, every moment of frustration or weakness, every gripe or complaint, every secret shared in confidence.
想想这会是怎样的景象:你所写下的一切,你所说的一切,你感兴趣的每个话题,你的随机遐想,你的每次冲动购物,每个感到失落或软弱的时刻,每次抱怨牢骚,每个私下分享的秘密,都有被公之于众的风险。
In a world without digital privacy, even if you have done nothing wrong other than think differently, you begin to censor yourself. Not entirely at first. Just a little, bit by bit. To risk less, to hope less, to imagine less, to dare less, to create less, to try less, to talk less, to think less. The chilling effect of digital surveillance is profound, and it touches everything.
在一个没有数据隐私的世界里,即使你除了想法不同外,什么坏事也没做,你也会开始审视怀疑自己。最初可能并不是全面怀疑,只是一点点,但是怀疑慢慢增加,于是乎,冒险少一点,希望少一点,想象少一点,勇敢少一点,创造少一点,尝试少一点,谈论少一点,思考少一点。数据监控的恐惧影响十分深远,覆盖各个方面。
What a small, unimaginative world we would end up with. Not entirely at first. Just a little, bit by bit. Ironically, it’s the kind of environment that would have stopped Silicon Valley before it had even gotten started.
若果真如此,我们将生活在一个多么狭小而难以想象的世界中啊!不是突然的变化,而是一点点地侵蚀。讽刺的是,如果硅谷当年是在这种环境下,可能还没发展起来就夭折了。
We deserve better. You deserve better.
我们值得更好的世界。你们,值得更好的世界。
If we believe that freedom means an environment where great ideas can take root, where they can grow and be nurtured without fear of irrational restrictions or burdens, then it’s our duty to change course, because your generation ought to have the same freedom to shape the future as the generation that came before.
若是我们认同“自由”是可以让伟大思想不受非理性限制而生根发芽、蓬勃生长的环境,那么我们的责任就是走回正轨。因为你们这代人理应享受塑造未来的自由,正如你们的前辈一样。
Graduates, at the very least, learn from these mistakes. If you want to take credit, first learn to take responsibility.
毕业生们,至少,我们要从这些错误中吸取教训。如果你想获得荣誉,请先学会承担责任。
Be a builder
成为建设者
Now, a lot of you – the vast majority – won’t find yourselves in tech at all. That’s as it should be. We need your minds at work far and wide, because our challenges are great, and they can’t be solved by any single industry.
其实,你们当中不少人,应该是大多数人,不会从事科技类工作。理应如此,你们的才华应当在更广阔的世界里得到施展。我们所面临的挑战是艰巨的,这些挑战不是任何一个行业可以单独解决的。
No matter where you go, no matter what you do, I know you will be ambitious. You wouldn’t be here today if you weren’t. Match that ambition with humility – a humility of purpose.
无论你去向何方,从事何种工作,我相信你们都是充满斗志的。如果不是,你们也不可能出现在今天的现场了。请将你的斗志和谦逊结合在一起——有意识的谦逊。
That doesn’t mean being tamer, being smaller, being less in what you do. It’s the opposite, it’s about serving something greater. The author Madeleine L’Engle wrote, “Humility is throwing oneself away in complete concentration on something or someone else.”
这不是教你们变得更温顺,更渺小,更随波逐流。恰恰相反,这将帮助你们效力于更伟大的事业。作家马德琳·英格(Madeleine L‘Engle)曾写道:“谦逊是完全将自己投入到专注其他事和人中。”
In other words, whatever you do with your life, be a builder.
换句话说,无论你将一生献给哪个领域,请成为一个建设者。
You don’t have to start from scratch to build something monumental. And, conversely, the best founders – the ones whose creations last and whose reputations grow rather than shrink with passing time – they spend most of their time building, piece by piece.
你不必从零开始来建造一个不朽的事业。与此相反,那些最杰出的建设者,他们的创造和信誉不会因时间的流逝而腐朽,反而能够流芳百世。他们将大量的时间投入到一点一滴的建设中。
Builders are comfortable in the belief that their life’s work will one day be bigger than them – bigger than any one person. They’re mindful that its effects will span generations. That’s not an accident. In a way, it’s the whole point.
建设者们深信,他们毕生的工作终有一天会超越他们自身,超过任何单独的个体。这一信念让他们感到愉悦。他们仔细经营,以便其结果能世代流传。这并不是偶然的,从一定意义上来看,这就是终极目标。
In a few days we will mark the 50th anniversary of the riots at Stonewall.
再过几天就是石墙事件50周年纪念日了。
When the patrons of the Stonewall Inn showed up that night – people of all races, gay and transgender, young and old – they had no idea what history had in store for them. It would have seemed foolish to dream it.
50年前那个晚上,石墙酒吧的常客们来到酒吧时,他们来自各个种族,有同性恋者,跨性别者,年长者,年轻者,他们并不知道等待他们的将是什么。仅仅是想象接下来发生的事情,在当时看来都是很愚蠢的。
When the door was busted open by police, it was not the knock of opportunity or the call of destiny. It was just another instance of the world telling them that they ought to feel worthless for being different.
当警方破门而入时,这并不是机遇的来临或是命运的呼唤。仅仅是这个世界给他们看的一个例子,一个让他们因自己的不同而感到毫无价值的情况。
But the group gathered there felt something strengthen in them. A conviction that they deserved something better than the shadows, and better than oblivion.
然而聚集于此的这群人感受到来他们自身的一种力量,一种信念。他们应当得到更好的待遇,而不是躲在阴影里,被人遗忘。
And if it wasn’t going to be given, then they were going to have to build it themselves.
如果世界不能给予他们这样的待遇,那么他们就必须自己去争取,去建设。
I was 8 years old and a thousand miles away when Stonewall happened. There were no news alerts, no way for photos to go viral, no mechanism for a kid on the Gulf Coast to hear these unlikely heroes tell their stories.
当石墙事件发生时,我仅仅只有8岁,并远在一千英里之外。那时没有新闻热点,没有网上疯传的照片,没有方法让一个远在墨西哥湾沿岸地区的孩子听到这些意想不到的英雄们讲述他们的故事。
Greenwich Village may as well have been a different planet, though I can tell you that the slurs and hatreds were the same.
格林威治村仿佛与世隔绝,虽然我知道那里也存在着同样的诋毁和仇恨。
What I would not know, for a long time, was what I owed to a group of people I never knew in a place I’d never been.
相当长的一段时间内我都不可能知道,在一个我从未去过的地方,存在这样一群我从不认识的人,他们的举动让我受益颇深。
Yet I will never stop being grateful for what they had the courage to build.
而我也将永远感激他们鼓起勇气建设出的一切。
Graduates, being a builder is about believing that you cannot possibly be the greatest cause on this Earth, because you aren’t built to last. It’s about making peace with the fact that you won’t be there for the end of the story.
毕业生们,作为一个建设者意味着你要相信自己不太可能是地球上最重要的人,因为人类生命是有限的。你要学会接受这个事实:当一切结束时,你早已不在世间。
You won’t be ready
你永远不会准备就绪
That brings me to my last bit of advice.
这恰恰引出了我的最后一条建议。
Fourteen years ago, Steve stood on this stage and told your predecessors: “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”
14年前,史蒂夫·乔布斯站在这个讲台上告诉你们的前辈:“你的时间是有限的。所以不要浪费时间过其他人的生活。”
Here’s my corollary: “Your mentors may leave you prepared, but they can’t leave you ready.”
我想要告诉你们的是:“导师们也许能让你做好准备,但他们无法让你准备就绪。”
When Steve got sick, I had hardwired my thinking to the belief that he would get better. I not only thought he would hold on, I was convinced, down to my core, that he’d still be guiding Apple long after I, myself, was gone.
乔布斯生病的时候,我让自己坚信他会好起来。我不仅觉得他会坚持下去,而且还相信即便在我过世许久之后,他都会继续引导苹果。
Then, one day, he called me over to his house and told me that it wasn’t going to be that way.
然后,有一天他把我叫到他家里,告诉我事情不是我想象的那样。
Even then, I was convinced he would stay on as chairman. That he’d step back from the day to day but always be there as a sounding board.
即使在那时,我都坚信他会继续担任董事长。即使他不再管理日常事务,也会作为决策咨询人常伴左右。
But there was no reason to believe that. I never should have thought it. The facts were all there.
可是这样的想法是没有道理的,我就不应该这样欺骗自己。因为事实都摆在那里。
And when he was gone, truly gone, I learned the real, visceral difference between preparation and readiness.
当他真正走了之后,我才明白了“做准备”和“准备就绪”的本质区别。
It was the loneliest I’ve ever felt in my life. By an order of magnitude. It was one of those moments where you can be surrounded by people, yet you don’t really see, hear or feel them. But I could sense their expectations.
那是我一生中最孤独的时刻。这些时刻就像是你虽被人群包围,但是却无法真实地看见、听到和感知他们。但我可以感受到他们的期望。
When the dust settled, all I knew was that I was going to have to be the best version of myself that I could be.
当事情尘埃落定,我唯一知道的是,我必须努力成为我能达到的最好的自己。
I knew that if you got out of bed every morning and set your watch by what other people expect or demand, it’ll drive you crazy.
我明白那种每天早上起床,整天都要按照其他人对你的期待和需求去安排事务的感觉,这种感觉简直可以把人逼疯。
So what was true then is true now. Don’t waste your time living someone else’s life. Don’t try to emulate the people who came before you to the exclusion of everything else, contorting into a shape that doesn’t fit.
正如乔布斯14年前所说的那样,不要浪费你的时间去过其他人的生活。彼时此时都适用。不要试图模仿前人,放弃其他所有,逼迫自己成为不合自己心意的样子。
It takes too much mental effort – effort that should be dedicated to creating and building. You’ll waste precious time trying to rewire your every thought, and, in the mean time, you won’t be fooling anybody.
这会花掉太多精力,而这些精力本应该用来创造和建设。试图重塑你的每个想法,简直就是在浪费宝贵的时间,同时,别人也能看出你在假装。
Graduates, the fact is, when your time comes, and it will, you’ll never be ready.
毕业生们,事实是,当该你上场时,这一刻终将到来,你永远也不可能准备就绪。
But you’re not supposed to be. Find the hope in the unexpected. Find the courage in the challenge. Find your vision on the solitary road.
但你也不需要准备就绪。去始料未及处找寻希望,去挑战中寻求勇气,在孤独道路上认清你的方向。
Don’t get distracted.
别分心。
There are too many people who want credit without responsibility.
总有太多人只想要荣誉,不愿担责任。
Too many who show up for the ribbon cutting without building anything worth a damn.
总有太多人登台剪彩却毫无建树。
Be different. Leave something worthy.
保持与众不同,留下有价值的东西。
And always remember that you can’t take it with you. You’re going to have to pass it on.
始终记住你带不走你所建设的东西,你得将它们传下去。
Thank you very much. And Congratulations to the Class of 2019!
非常感谢大家。祝贺你们,2019年的毕业生们!
翻译:Zenobia;校对:Jie
来源:斯坦福大学官网 stanford.edu