保持乐观与同情—比尔盖茨夫妇2014在斯坦福的演讲选编

高级班第五课：比尔盖茨夫妇2014在斯坦福的演讲选编： 保持乐观与同情 Optimism, for me, is not a passive expectation that things are going to get better. For me, it’s a conviction and a belief that we can make things better. 乐观在我看来，并不是一种认为未来会变美好的被动期望。而是一种信念 相信我们能用自己的双手让未来变的更好。 So no matter how much suffering we see, no matter how bad it is, we can help people if we don’t lose hope and if we don’t look away.无论我们遭受了多少苦难 无论境况有多糟糕，只要不丧失希望 不假装没看见我们就能帮助这些人。 Even in dire situations, optimism fuels innovation and leads to new approaches that eliminate suffering.越是在极端恶劣的情形下，乐观越能激发出创新 为消除苦难找出新的方法。 But if you never really see the people who are suffering, your optimism can’t help them. You will never change their world. And that brings me to what I see is a paradox. 但如果你没亲眼见过遭受苦难的人们，你的乐观将帮不到她们。你也永远无法改变他们的世界。这在我看来是一个巨大的悖论。 The modern world is an incredible source of innovation and Stanford stands at the center of that, creating new companies, new schools of thought, prize-winning professors, inspired art and literature, miracle drugs, and amazing graduates.现代世界是一个无可比拟的创新之源，斯坦福则位于这一切的中心，创立起新公司和新的思想学派，充满获奖教授，启迪指示和智慧，研发出神奇药物，培养出了不起的毕业生。 Whether you are a scientist with a new discovery, or working in the trenches to understand the needs of the most marginalized, you are advancing amazing breakthroughs in what human beings can do for each other.无论你是得到新发现的科学家，还是奋战于满足边缘人群需求最前线的人，你都是在推动人类相互帮助上的伟大突破。 If innovation is purely market driven, and we don’t focus on the big inequalities, then we could have amazing advances in inventions that leave the world even more divided.如果创新纯粹是市场驱使的，没人关心不平等的加剧，那么世界就算有再多美妙发明也是白搭，只能让世界分化越发严重。 We won’t improve public schools. We won’t end malaria. We won’t end poverty. We won’t develop the innovations poor farmers need to grow food in a changing climate.我们将无法改善公立学校条件，我们将无法根除疟疾，我们将无法根除贫穷。我们将无法开发出贫苦农民所需的创新，让她们能在变化的气候条件下种出作物。 If our optimism doesn’t address the problems that affect so many of our fellow human beings, then our optimism needs more empathy. If empathy channels our optimism, we will see the poverty and the disease and the poor schools.如果我们的乐观不能解决这些问题，不能帮助很多需要帮助的同胞，那么这种乐观就需要更多同情心。如果同情心能够引导我们的乐观，我们就肯定能看到贫困，疾病和糟糕的教育条件。 If we have optimism, without empathy, then it doesn’t matter how much we master the secrets of science.如果我们指示乐观而没有同情心，那么对科学秘密掌握得再好也将毫无用处。 We are not really solving problems. We are just working on puzzles. I think most of you have a broader view than I had at your age. You can do better at this than I did.因为我们并不是在解决问题，而是仅仅在做一些智力题。我想你们大多数人，世界观都比我在你们这么大时更加宽广。你们肯定能够比我做到更好。 If you put your hearts and minds to it, you can surprise the pessimists. We are eager to see it.So when we strip away all of our privilege and we consider where we would be without them, it becomes someone much easier to see someone who is poor and say, that could be me. And that’s empathy.只要全心全意的投入进来，我们就必然能让悲观主义者震惊。我们很像看到你们创造的未来。当我们去除掉所有的优势，考虑我们没有这些优势。这就是同情心。 Empathy tears down barriers, and it opens up whole new frontiers for optimism. So here is our appeal to you all. As you leave Stanford, take all your genius and your optimism and your empathy, and go change the world in ways that will make millions of people optimistic. 同情推到一切障碍，并且打开乐观的新视野。这里有很大的吸引力。