Commencement Address for Northeastern University’s Class of 2013

在美国东北大学2013届毕业典礼上的演讲

World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim

世界银行行长金墉

Boston, Massachusetts, United States

马萨诸塞州的波士顿，美国

President Joseph E. Aoun,

Distinguished faculty members and administrators,

Members of the Class of 2013,

Ladies and gentlemen

约瑟夫·E·奥恩校长，

尊敬的各位教职员工，

2013届毕业班的全体同学们，

女士们，先生们，

It’s a great privilege to be here today with all of you, especially the members of the Class of 2013 and your families and friends. You should be very proud. This is a day for memories, a day to savor. A day, also, to join in honoring those who two weeks ago responded so courageously in the face of tragedy—including Northeastern students and staff who provided critical care and support to victims of the attack.

今天在这里与在座的各位、特别是2013届毕业生以及你们的家人和朋友欢聚一堂，是一个莫大的荣幸。你们应该感到非常自豪，这是难以忘怀的一天，值得体味的一天，这一天我们也要对那些在两周前勇敢面对悲剧的人们、包括东北大学的学生和员工致敬，他们为爆炸受害者提供了重要的关爱和支持。

It’s an honor for me to stand before you today just at the moment when you are leaving this great University and about to step into your life, the script of which is yet to be written. Throughout my years in the academy, I’ve loved commencements because they embody those rare moments in our modern culture when ritual, tradition and a bit of pageantry brighten our lives.

此时此刻，我站在各位面前，正值你们即将离开这所伟大的学府，即将踏入你们的人生，人生脚本还是一张白纸之际，我深感荣幸。在我投身学术界的岁月里，我曾很喜欢毕业典礼，因为它代表着我们现代文化中那些罕见的时刻，当仪式、传统和一点点排场照亮了我们的人生。

But I’m sure many of you are more than a little concerned about what the future will bring, and I just want to say to you today that not only is your future uncertain, but the overwhelming likelihood is that it’s far more uncertain than you think. And you know what, that’s a good thing. A recent study by a group of psychologists in the journal Science found that people are extremely poor at predicting their futures. The study showed that, for example, a typical 20-year-old woman’s predictions for life changes in the next decade of her life were not nearly as radical as the typical 30-year-old woman’s recollection of how much she had changed in her 20s. In other words, 20-year-olds had little idea of just how much they would change over the next ten years. This sort of discrepancy persisted among respondents all the way into their 60s.

但是我敢肯定，你们中许多人对于未来将会带来什么很有点担心，我今天只是想对你们说，不仅仅是你们的未来不确定，而最大的可能性是，它远比你所想的更不确定。你们知道吗，这是一件好事。几位心理学家最近在《科学》杂志上发表了一篇研究论文，他们发现人极其不擅长预测自己的未来。他们的研究显示，例如，一个典型的20岁女性对自己未来十年人生变化的预测绝不像一个典型的30岁女性对自己在20来岁时有多大变化的回忆那么激进。换句话说，20岁的人对于自己在未来十年会有多大变化几乎没有概念。这种差异在受访者中一直延续到60多岁的人。

This study’s findings are essentially the story of my life. In fact, even before I was born, given the obstacles my parents faced, I would never have predicted that I would, in fact, be born. My father spent his childhood in North Korea and, at the age of 17, escaped across the border into South Korea, leaving his parents, his brothers and sisters, his entire extended family -- everything he had ever known – behind. He had no money. Still, he managed to enroll in the Seoul National University Dental School and became a dentist. He told me stories about how he had so little money he often could only afford to buy lunch from the illegal noodle vendors on the street. Once when he was eating his contraband pasta next to the vendor, police came and chased after the vendors and their customers. But while he ran, my father kept eating his noodles because he knew he wouldn’t be able to afford another bowl for some time.

这项研究结果基本上也是我的人生故事。事实上，即使在我出生之前，鉴于我的父母所面临的重重障碍，事实上我都不敢预测我还会出生。我的父亲在北朝鲜度过了他的童年，他在17岁那年偷越边境逃到韩国，离开他的父母、他的兄弟姐妹、他的所有亲朋好友，离开了他所熟悉的一切。他身无分文。但他还是设法进了首尔国立大学牙科学院，后来成为一名牙医。他告诉我，他口袋里只有一点点钱，常常只能买得起街上非法小摊贩卖的面条当午餐。有一次，他正在无照小摊旁边吃面，警察来了，警察赶走了小摊贩和他们的顾客。但我的父亲一边跑一边还在吃他的面，因为他知道他还得过一段时间才能再买得起一碗面。

My mother was born in China near Shanghai among a small community of Korean expatriates. After returning to Korea, on a day she will never forget, her mother -- my grandmother -- went outside to hang the laundry and never returned, probably either kidnapped or killed by North Korean soldiers. With the war closing in around her, at the age of 15, my mother became a refugee and literally walked, with her younger brother on her back, for 200 miles to escape the fighting. Luckily, she was able to resume her schooling in a tent in the southern city of Masan. She was a good student and with great luck she received a scholarship from a secret women’s society in the United States and was able to enroll as a freshman at Scarritt College in Nashville, Tennessee.

我的母亲出生在中国上海附近的一个韩国侨民居住的小社区。回到韩国后，有一天，她永远都不会忘记，她的母亲也就是我的外祖母出去晾衣服就再也没有回来，她可能是被北朝鲜士兵绑架或杀害了。随着战争的临近，我的母亲在15岁时成了难民，为了躲避战火，她背着她的小弟弟徒步走了200英里。幸运的是，她在南部马山市的一顶帐篷里得以继续学业。她是一个好学生，非常幸运地获得了美国一个秘密妇女学会提供的奖学金，进入田纳西州纳什维尔的斯卡里特学院。

Through almost unthinkably divergent and unlikely paths, my parents ended up meeting in New York City at a Christmas party that gathered together the few hundred Korean students who were living in the United States at that time. They fell in love, married in New York, where my older brother was born, then returned to Korea.

通过几乎是无法想象的完全不同和不可能的路径，我的父母最终在纽约市的一次圣诞聚会上邂逅相遇，那次圣诞聚会聚集了几百名当时居住在美国的韩国学生。他们坠入爱河，在纽约缔结良缘，生下我哥哥，然后回到韩国。

I was born in Seoul and when I was five, my family moved back to the United States and we eventually settled in Muscatine, Iowa. My father opened his dental practice, and my mother set to work on her PhD in philosophy at the University of Iowa. In the late 60’s, influenced by my mother’s passion for social justice, we watched the civil rights and anti-war movements unfold from our living room in Muscatine. We lived, as you can tell, the classic All-American, Korean family grows up in a small town in Iowa story. We fully embraced our lives in the heartland of this great country.

我出生在首尔，在我五岁时我的家人搬回到美国，我们最终定居在爱荷华州的马斯卡廷，我的父亲开了自己的牙科诊所，我的母亲在爱荷华大学研修博士学位。在上世纪60年代，受我母亲热衷于社会公正的影响，我们看到民权和反战运动从马斯卡廷我们家的客厅展开。你们可以想象，我们有着在爱荷华州一个小镇的经典的美籍韩国家庭中成长的经历，我们完全拥抱了在这个伟大国家中心地带的生活。

As you might imagine, there weren’t a lot of Asians in Iowa in the 60’s and 70’s but happily, one of the most popular shows at that time was Kung Fu, the story of a former Shaolin priest, half-Chinese, half-American, who comes to the United States to find his American father. So while we were outsiders in Iowa in a profound sense, at least the bully kids left us alone, because they thought all Asians knew Kung Fu. I played quarterback on the high school football team -- but don’t be too impressed, we had the longest losing streak in the nation by the time I was done with my senior year. Years and years went by without a single victory. It was said that grandfathers of my teammates had contributed to the multi-generational streak.

正如你们可以想象，在60年代和70年代爱荷华州的亚洲人并不多，但令人高兴的是，当时最受欢迎的一个节目是《功夫》，故事讲的是一个少林和尚，一半中国血统，一半美国血统，到美国来寻找他的美国父亲。所以，虽然我们从深层意义上讲在爱荷华州属于外人，但至少爱欺负人的孩子不招惹我们，因为他们认为所有的亚洲人都会功夫。我在高中橄榄球队打四分卫，但别以为我们有多了不起，在我大四的时候我们是全国连败最长的队。一年又一年，我们一次都没赢过，有人说，我同学的爷爷们早就为子孙后代的连败打下了基础。

After high school, I eventually ended up at Brown University, and I remember one particular day vividly. My father picked me up at the airport after I flew back to Muscatine from Providence, and when we were driving home, he asked me, “So what are you thinking of studying?”

高中毕业后，我最终考进了布朗大学，有一天我尤其记忆犹新。我从普罗维登斯飞回马斯卡廷，我的父亲到机场接我，在我们开车回家的路上，他问我，“那么你想学什么呢？”

I told him I was excited about philosophy and political science. I thought I could make a difference in the world and I was thinking of going into politics.

My father put on the blinker, pulled off the road, and turned off the car. He turned to me in the back seat. “Look,” he said, “once you finish your medical residency, you can do anything you want.”我说我对哲学和政治学很感兴趣。我认为我可以改变这个世界，我在考虑从政。我父亲打开车子的闪光灯，把车开到路边停下。他转过身来对坐在后座上的我说：“瞧，你只要完成了医生实习期，就可以做任何你想做的事情。”

You see, my father knew all about uncertainty. He knew that it’s impossible to be sure about where you might end up in life. And he worried that his own success might have deprived his children of the opportunity to understand deeply the meaning of running away from the noodle police while, of course, finishing your noodles. He wanted me to have a skill and he wanted me to butt my head up against the joy but also the hard reality of finishing medical school, finishing residency and caring for patients in life-or-death situations.

你们看，我的父亲十分懂得不确定性。他很清楚，一个人不可能知道自己最终会做什么，而且他很担心自己的成功有可能会使自己的子女没有机会深入理解从警察身边跑开、当然同时还要吃完剩下的面条意味着什么。他希望我掌握一门本领，他希望我能够有效地抵抗读完医学院、完成实习期和在生与死的情景中照顾患者的喜悦与残酷的现实。

I’m so grateful to my father.

我很感谢我的父亲。

So far I’ve told you that life is uncertain, but you already knew that. What I really want you to know is that you have abundant tools to face that uncertainty and to lead an extraordinary life, even beyond your wildest dreams.

到目前为止，我告诉你们说人生是不确定的，但你们已经了解了这一点。我真正想让你们了解的是，你们拥有大量的工具来直面这种不确定性，成就不平凡的人生，甚至超出你最疯狂的梦想。

Roy Baumeister is a psychologist who has devoted his career to studying the qualities in human beings that lead them to achieve what he calls “positive outcomes.” In this fascinating field, researchers have found that two traits are most consistently associated with success: intelligence and willpower. In Baumeister’s book entitled Willpower, we learn that efforts to permanently increase intelligence have failed, but people can in fact improve their willpower. Baumeister and his colleagues have shown that taking certain actions to improve willpower is the surest way to a more successful life. Moreover, they’ve shown that willpower is like a muscle that can be built with practice, but also that if you don’t actively exercise your willpower, your capacity to do so will atrophy just like your stomach muscles if you stop doing sit-ups. They’ve even learned that because willpower is associated with a certain part of your brain, maintaining glucose levels in your blood to feed that part of your brain is critical for sustaining your willpower!

罗伊·鲍迈斯特是一位心理学家，终生研究带领人类成就他称之为“积极的结果”的人类素质。在这个令人着迷的领域，研究人员发现，有两个特质始终与成功相伴：智力和意志力。从鲍迈斯特所著的《意志力》一书中，我们了解到，虽然永久地提高智力的努力归于失败，但人其实是可以提高自身的意志力的。鲍迈斯特和他的同事们已经证明，采取某些行动来提高意志力，是实现更成功的人生的最可靠的途径。此外，他们也已证明，意志力就像肌肉，可以通过锻炼来强化，而且如果你不积极锻炼你的意志力，你的能力就会像你的腹部肌肉一样，在停止做仰卧起坐之后会出现萎缩。他们甚至还了解到，由于意志力与大脑的某些部位有关，保持血液里的血糖水平来滋养大脑的这个部位对于维持意志力至关重要！

Looked at from another angle, a group of researchers has shown that, more than talent, practice is what determines mastery over any given skill or ability. Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Outliers, popularized an important body of work that showed that the path to mastery required 10,000 hours of practice. Books with titles like “talent is overrated” have been published to make the point.

从另一个角度看，一些研究人员已经证明，与天赋相比，实践才是决定能否掌握任何技能或能力的主要因素。马尔科姆·格拉德威尔在他的《局外人》一书中推广的一项重要研究成果表明，达到精通之路需要10000个小时的练习， 《天赋被高估了》等书的出版就是为了说明这一点。

Now I want you to know that there’s really good news here, especially for Northeastern graduates. By graduating today, you’ve shown your families and the world that you have plenty of IQ points to accomplish anything you set out to achieve. Willpower, discipline and focus -- the essential qualities for success that everyone needs -- are in your hands to develop and build. As Baumeister shows in his book, you can indeed go to the willpower gym and come out mentally buff, ready to take on the world.

现在，我希望你们了解，这实际上是个好消息，尤其是对东北大学的毕业生来说。通过今天的毕业，你们已经向家人和世界证明，你们有足够的智商完成你们决定去做的任何事情。意志力、纪律和专注——每个人都需要的成功的必备素质——就掌握在你们手中，靠你们去开发和建立。鲍迈斯特在他的书中揭示，你的确可以去意志力健身房，强健精神，准备好挑战世界。

Now about the 10,000 hours it takes to achieve mastery. Well, because you’ve studied here at Northeastern, you’ve got a head start. My own estimate is that, through your cooperative education in which you’ve received both classroom knowledge and practical knowledge, you all deserve at least a couple of thousand hours of discount off the standard 10,000. Good for you and congratulations!

现在来谈谈达到精通所需要的10,000个小时。嗯，由于你们已完成在东北大学的学业，你们已经有了一个良好的开端。我个人的估计是，通过合作式教育，你们学到了课堂知识和实践知识，你们可以至少从10,000个标准小时中扣除2000个小时。干得好，祝贺你们！

But in addition to thinking about uncertainty and willpower, there’s one more thing I want you to try to will yourself to remember today. I want you to think about how you can use time effectively and for good in this complex world.

但是，除了思考不确定性和意志力之外还有一件事，我希望你们能够用自己的意志力记住今天，我希望你们想一想怎样才能有效地利用时间，在这个复杂的世界里持之以恒。

Back in Iowa, my mother used to read to me the writings of Martin Luther King, Jr. In Dr. King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” he writes about understanding the urgency of the present. He writes about an experience with a white moderate -- an ally of the civil rights movement -- who wrote to him saying that he, Dr. King, was in too great a hurry and that “the lessons of Christ take time to come to earth.” African Americans, the moderate argued, would eventually -- eventually -- be granted their full civil rights.

早在爱荷华州时，我的母亲曾经读马丁·路德·金的著作给我听。金博士在 “寄自伯明翰监狱的信”中写了他对现实紧迫性的理解。他写道与一位白人温和派人士、民权运动盟友的交流，此人写信给他，说他金博士过于性急，“基督的教义传播人世，总要花费时日”。这位温和派人士认为，非裔美国人最终——他是说最终——会获得完全的民权。

Dr. King responded, and I quote: “Such an attitude stems from a tragic misconception of time and a strangely irrational notion that there is something in the flow of time that will inevitably cure all ills. Actually, time itself is neutral. It can be used destructively or constructively. More and more I feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than the people of goodwill. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.” End quote.

金博士回应说，我在此引用他的话：“这样的态度乃源自对时间的可悲误解，源自一种不合理的奇特观念，认为在时间之流当中，会有什么东西必将疗治所有的邪恶。实际上，时间是中立的东西；它可以用于建设，也可以用于破坏。我越发觉得，邪恶的人之利用时间，将会比善良的人更其有效。我们得在这一代进行忏悔，不仅因坏人们充满仇恨的言辞与行为，也因好人们骇人听闻的沉默。”引语完。

With all the willpower I can muster, I try to bring the sense of urgency in Dr. King’s words to my work today. I do this with an understanding that I still have no idea of what the future may bring. After all, I had no idea that I would not only get my medical degree but also a PhD in anthropology. I had no idea that I would help found an organization, Partners in Health, with my colleague Paul Farmer and eventually work in 10 countries around the world. I had no idea that my experience at Partners In Health would lead to my taking charge of the World Health Organization’s HIV/AIDS efforts and starting a campaign to treat 3 million people by the year 2005. And with only minimal experience in academic administration, I became President of Dartmouth College. Finally, completely out of the blue, last year President Obama asked me to stand as a candidate to lead the World Bank Group.

我集中全部的意志力，试图将金博士所说的紧迫感带入我今天的工作。我这样做是因为我了解我仍不知道未来可能会带来什么。毕竟，我没有想到我不仅获得了医学学位，而且还获得了人类学博士学位。我没有想到，我会和我的同事保罗·法莫一起帮助创建了一个机构“健康伙伴”，并最终在全世界10个国家开展了工作。我没有想到我在“健康伙伴”的工作经历会导致我主管世界卫生组织的艾滋病工作，并开展了一场到2005年治疗3万名艾滋病患者的运动。我只有很少的学术管理经验，却担任了达特茅斯学院的院长。最后，就如晴天霹雳一般，去年奥巴马总统邀请我作为领导世界银行集团的候选人之一。

Always with some trepidation, I embraced these unexpected opportunities, and now I find myself in one of the most interesting jobs in the world. The World Bank Group is an extraordinary organization, founded in the 1940’s to rebuild Europe after World War II. Over the 66 years of its existence, it has become the premier development institution in the world.

虽然总是有些诚惶诚恐，但我接受了这些意外的机会，现在我发现自己做的是世界上最有意思的工作之一。世界银行集团是一个非同寻常的机构，成立于1940年，初衷是在二战之后重建欧洲。在其存在的66年里，它已成为世界上最大的发展机构。

Just two weeks ago, our governing body endorsed a target to end extreme poverty by 2030 -- just 17 years from now. Our Governors, who are made up of the Ministers of Finance and Development of 188 member countries, also endorsed a goal to boost shared prosperity, so that the bottom 40% of income earners in our member states can share in economic growth. Our Governors also emphasized that prosperity must be shared with future generations, which means that we will be leaders in tackling climate change. Climate change has the potential to wipe out many of the development gains of the past decades and plunge people back into poverty.

就在两周前，我们的理事会批准了一个目标 ，即，到2030年，从现在起在短短17年时间里终结极度贫困。我们的理事会由188个成员国的财政和发展部长组成，他们还通过一个目标，就是促进共享繁荣，使我们成员国里处于收入最底层的40％人口可以分享经济增长的成果。我们的理事会还强调，必须让子孙后代共享繁荣，这就意味着我们将在应对气候变化方面发挥领导作用。气候变化有可能使过去数十年的发展成果毁于一旦，使人民重新陷入贫困。

By setting such bold targets for our organization and setting an expiration date for extreme poverty in the world, our Governors have given us the gift of focus and urgency. We will now use time to drive forward what we hope will be a signal achievement in human history.

通过给我们的机构设定这种大胆的目标，为消除世界上的极度贫困设定期限，我们的理事会赋予我们着眼点和紧迫感。现在，我们要花时间来推进我们期望成为人类历史上的一项标志性成就。

In closing, my challenge to you is this: set bold goals, deliberately and consciously build your willpower, and use your time well. You are so fortunate. Northeastern’s co-op program and emphasis on experiential learning make this one of the most innovative educational models in the world today. With co-op options now in more than 70 countries, in all types of organizations, this University has given you an unexcelled preparation for global citizenship. As countries around the world, including the United States, search for ways to overhaul higher education, they’re looking to Northeastern’s example. Through your hard work in these past four years, you’ve acquired something exceptional: the foundations for critical and self-critical thinking, joined to the practical skills to solve tough problems in the real world.

最后，我对你们提出的挑战是：设定大胆的目标，有意识和自觉地建立自己的意志力，用好你们的时间。你们是如此幸运，东北大学的合作教育计划和对体验式学习的重视，是当今世界上最具创新性的教育模式之一。合作模式已在70多个国家、各种类型的机构中推广，这所大学为你们成为全球公民做了极好的铺垫。世界各国、包括美国都在寻找改革高等教育的路径，他们也在研究东北大学的案例。通过你们在过去四年的努力，你们获得了一些特殊的资质：批判和自我批判思维的基础，结合解决现实世界中棘手问题的实用技能。

These are extraordinary qualifications. They give you power -- and responsibility.

这些都是非凡的资质，它们赋予你们力量，还有责任。

Like my father on the streets of Seoul -- though in a different way -- you face a world of uncertainty. Don’t fear that uncertainty. Embrace it. Use it. Uncertainty means that nothing is predetermined. Uncertainty means that the future is yours to shape -- with the force of your will, the force of your intellect, and the force of your compassion. Uncertainty is freedom. Take that freedom and run with it. And don’t forget to eat some noodles as you go. You’ll need the glucose.

就像在首尔街头的我的父亲，虽然以不同的方式，你们都面对着一个充满不确定性的世界。不要害怕这种不确定性，去拥抱它，去利用它。不确定性意味着没有什么是预先确定的。不确定性意味着未来需要你们去塑造，用你们的力量，你们的意志，你们智慧的力量，你们同情心的力量。不确定性就是自由，抓住这种自由，带着它奔跑吧，别忘了一边跑一边吃点面条，你需要葡萄糖。

Thank you very much, and congratulations to the graduating class.

谢谢各位，祝贺毕业班的同学们！

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