I don't think so. printed books won't be abandoned in such a short time. I admit that new technology is developing fast.
Many advanced electronic products are gradually take the place of traditional tools. Just like in university, teachers like to use multimedia in class for it is quite convenient and efficient. However, for our student, it is not realistic to study completely by electronic products.
There are many things need to recorded on books. Books are something meaningful and practical. I should say, in our country, printed books wouldn't be abandoned within 20 years at least for two reasons.
Firstly, books are classical container of knowledge. They accompany human to advance. A student without books could be someway ridiculous.
Secondly, our country haven't developed so strong to make every student study by computer or other forms of electronic tools. And even after 20 years, the possibility is also very small.
I also think it is unnecessary because books are cheap but useful and still meaningful.
ladies and gentlemen, teachers, my fellow students:
i am very excited and feel it's a great honor to stand here to deliver my speech. what i'm going to talk about is “choice in my life”
i can still remember the first time i failed in a singing contest. i immediately ran to my grandma, shedding lots of tears of course! i cried loudly and could hardly utter a word!
then, badly needed comforting words and touch came from grandma. i gradually regained my sense of pride and a sensible control of my feelings. yet, head down, i said: “grandma, i have no choice, and i have to give up, right?” “look at me, my dear!”she said gently. i looked up, straight into her eyes. what i saw was a shining, sweet, and loving stream from the bottom of her heart! then, there came the gentle voice of hers: “no, no, no…” her head shaking, while eyes smiling. “why don't you give more attention to the details?” she continued.
no other words were needed any more! i started practicing and rehearsing once again, paying special attention to those little things that i used to ignore. as a consequence, my overall performance was quickly elevated to a new high! without much trouble, in another singing contest held months later, i won!
what do i learn from this experience? never give up lightly! life's full of opportunities, and lots of them! to realize your dreams and fulfill your potential, you must learn to work hard and smart and steer your lifeboat wisely! as a li ling's sportswear commercial goes “everything is possible!” but not without sweat, devotion, and tears sometimes!
life is a long journey, during which we are surely going to face many challenges, experience lots of failures, and equally, many opportunities are waving to us, while sweet rewards are waiting for us! to transform these opportunities into fruitful results, or turn those challenges and failures into valuable assets, we must learn to seize the good ones and not to retreat lightly in front of difficulties.
winners can never be quitters!
thank you all!
Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen:
I'd like to start with a group of pictures.
“Modern and advanced”? This society forgets, and ignores the other two thirds of human beings. It's far from the ideal! We call ideal as a utopian, a place where reality does not exist. A few people still look forward to the ideals. We make fun of them, considering they are naive. Will we still be content to live in such a society, if misfortune drops to us? No! Of cause not!
When we feel the warmth of the sun, these people, endure great sorrows and pains. Can we imagine that? They are our brother and sisters!
Facing them, will we still complain about our own misfortune?
Facing them, will we still have the mood shouting for our own freedom? Facing them, will we still want to have more and more unnecessary stuff?
They are unable to meet their needs, even the basic needs of survival! Everyone, as a member of humanity, shouldn't feel ashamed? Our luxury deprived their lives, our indifference violated our soul, and our barbarity destroyed human civilization!
What's the ideal society? It's a society no one worries about their living, a society no one is refused from education, a society everyone can pursue his/her own happiness! The ideal society is filled with love, joy and kindness. In that society, we can touch the other's hearts, we can share our dreams and most important, we can just be the true men!
Let's break the ethnic divide, bridge the gap between rich and poor, hand in hand, to build a Great wall, protecting us from evil; to construct a steady bridge, connecting reality to the ideal society! Let's pursue for that, that's the only way to the bright future! They are watching us! Thank you!
Dream, with each one of us.
Dream is beautiful, it is the bottom of my heart the most beautiful expectations, so the dream also become our long-held beliefs.
Dream is the sun, it makes people from impetuous to solid, from the hesitation to the firm, and on the road to success.
Dream is powerful, it is the life source of forward momentum; Lofty dreams can inspire a life all potential.
Because of this we will go to dream, to grasp the dream, the pursuit of dreams.
And because of country's dream is the one people's little dream, is not affected by big dream small dreams, but just because one little dream realization and achievement of the establishment of the great dream, why not?
My dream, our dream, to improve the Chinese dream.
To you the day of my dreams to realize, is standing at the time of China.
Hello, ladies and gentlemen. It’s great to be here. First of all, thanks for your coming. Tonight, what I am gonna talk about is innovation. Who can tell me what is innovation? We all know that, since 1978, China has been through the greatest changes brought by the reform and opening-up. So what we can see from the reform and opening-up? The power of innovation. That’s why I am here. I am here to show you my Chinese dream.
I want to talk about the future and how we're going to win it. If we want to make innovation. But firstly, we should make sure that China is a place where we can make it if we try, where we can go as far as hard work and big dreams will take us. We understand that it’s not going to be a cakewalk, this competition for the future, which means all of us are going to have to do our best. We are going to have to win the future by being smarter and working harder and working together. Innovation is the spirit of our country, the motive force for our country’s prosperity.
Sparking the imagination and creativity of our people, unleashing new discoveries -- that's what China will do better than any other country on Earth. From the moment we have a new idea, we can explore it; we can develop it with a research grant; we can protect it with a patent; we can market it with a loan to start a new business. We’ve got a chain that takes a great idea all the way through. We must be confirmed that, today, the challenges we face are real. They are serious they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But we will somehow find a way to overcome the difficulties. My major is . My is to discover or create new drugs for many diseases like cancer. You know that laboratory is the place where miracles happen. Believe it or not.
What I do can save millions of people’s lives. For a long time, what challenges me is how to commercialize research. You come up with a great idea, but moving that new discovery from theory to practice or from the lab to the marketplace, that's really a big . That’s what we should focus on. We need to act with a sense of urgency-to study and work and create as if the fate of the country depends on us-because it does. It depends on us. Thank you!
My mother’s name is nancy. She has long hair, two big eyes My mother likessports and shopping. Her favourite sports are football and yoga. And herfavourite food is ice cream. She also likes dogs and cats.
My mother is a high school techer, she works very hard and does very wellin the school.
My mother also concerns my study. She always helps me study and play thepiano. She is very glad when I make progress.
My mother loves me very much. And I love my mother too!
Different people have different attitudes towards example, someof the rich are very mean with their money, while some of them are quitegenerous. Some people lack of money but they are not absorbed in pursuit ofwealth while some people regard money as everything. As far as I am concerned,money is necessary for all of us, but it is not all for us.
For one thing, money is necessary for all of us. In modern society, moneyis one of tools for measure the value and can be used to exchange materials. Allmaterials we need for our basic existence is all about money. Without money, ourexistence will be threatened and we can not find our way to live. Therefore, allof us need to earn money to afford us and our family basic needs, such as food,clothes and house.
For another, money is not all for us. Though money can be used to exchangeour basic needs, it is not almighty. For example, we cannot use money to buy areal love or ability with money. Hence, just as the saying goes, “money is goodservant but a bad master”. We cannot be controlled by money so that we will notbe a pathetic slave of money.
In short, we need money but we should not regard money as our only hold this attitude can we use our money properly.
Different people have different attitudes towards example, someof the rich are very mean with their money, while some of them are quitegenerous. Some people lack of money but they are not absorbed in pursuit ofwealth while some people regard money as everything. As far as I am concerned,money is necessary for all of us, but it is not all for us.
For one thing, money is necessary for all of us. In modern society, moneyis one of tools for measure the value and can be used to exchange materials. Allmaterials we need for our basic existence is all about money. Without money, ourexistence will be threatened and we can not find our way to live. Therefore, allof us need to earn money to afford us and our family basic needs, such as food,clothes and house.
For another, money is not all for us. Though money can be used to exchangeour basic needs, it is not almighty. For example, we cannot use money to buy areal love or ability with money. Hence, just as the saying goes, “money is goodservant but a bad master”. We cannot be controlled by money so that we will notbe a pathetic slave of money.
In short, we need money but we should not regard money as our only hold this attitude can we use our money properly.
Most people would like to be popular with others, but not everyone can achieve this goal. What is the secret to popularity? In fact, it is very simple. The first step is to improve our appearance. We should always make sure that we stay in good shape and dress well. When we are healthy and well-groomed, we will not only look better but also feel better. In addition, we should smile and appear friendly. After all, our facial expression is an important part of our appearance. If we can do this, people will be attracted to our good looks and impressed by our confidence.
Another important step is developing more consideration for others. We should always put others first and place their interests before our own. It's also important to be good listeners; in this way people will feel comfortable enough to confide in us. However, no matter what we do, we must not gossip. Above all, we must remember to be ourselves, not phonies. Only by being sincere and respectful of others can we earn their respect. If we can do all of the above, I am sure popularity will come our way.
Speaking of reading， many people are excited because reading brings themboth knowledge and entertainment。 By reading， we can learn lots of informationand know our history。 But for some people， reading is not their priority。 Theywill choose to watch movies to have fun。 However， I think people can benefit alot by reading。
說起讀書，很多人都很興奮，讀書不僅僅能帶給他們知識，而且也能帶給他們娛樂。透過讀書，我們能得到很多資訊，瞭解我們的歷史。但是對於一部分人來說，閱讀並不是他們的首選。他們會選取看電影來找樂子。但是，我認為，讀書能讓我們獲益。
First of all， reading can let us know what have happened in history。 Sincehistory is recorded in books， if we read books， then we can not only what havehappened in history but also we can better understand the great figures of theage。
第一，讀書能讓我們明白歷史。歷史都被記錄在數中，如果我們讀書的話，我們不僅僅能瞭解歷史，而且我們也能更加了解時代偉人。
Secondly， reading can enrich our knowledge。 By reading， we can knowdifferent kinds of things， how things happen and how to avoid bad things fromhappening。 Books record a wide range of things about life。 Through reading， wecan know various aspects of life。
第二，讀書能讓我們豐富我們的知識。透過讀書，我們能瞭解很多事物，瞭解到事件是怎樣發生的，怎樣避免不利事件的`發生。書本記錄著社會的方方面面。透過讀書，我們能瞭解生活的方方面面的知識。
Thirdly， reading teaches us skills。 There are so many books about how tolearn a certain language， how to get a good job， how to bee popular in yourcircle， how to cook and so on。 Thus， these kinds of books can make us moreskillful if we do a certain thing。
第三，我們能透過讀書來學習一些技能。很多書都是寫關於怎樣學會一門語言，怎樣找到一份好工作，怎樣讓自我在圈子中更受歡迎以及怎樣烹飪等之類的東西。透過這些書，我們能在做事的時候更加熟練。
All in all， we can find lots of benefits through reading。
總之，我們能夠透過讀書收穫很多。
Good morning teachers and fellow students. Today we would like to introduce a few favorite books to you.
My favorite book is (Italian: Cuore). This is a diary written by an Italian boy Enrico. The diary is about his life and study. It included various touching stories that happened around Enrico, the mottos taught by his parents, as well as the wonderful ten "monthly" stories told by his teacher during the class. Every word in the chapter describes the word "love". From patriotism to friendship, and to the love between parents and child -- really touching.
This novel taught me how to love, and how to learn from love. I really like this book very much. How about you? What is your favorite book?
My favorite book is . Have you read it before?
Oh, I haven’t read this book before. What is it about?
Well, it is a story of a rich girl who maintained her noble character after the bankruptcy of her father. The story is happy ending.
Can you tell us why you love this book so much?
Sure. It is because the story taught us to be brave and to face the challenges and difficulties with courage. I am deeply impressed by the strength and perseverance of the little princess in the story. I have decided to learn from her from now on.
Oh I see, the story sounds very good. I cannot wait to read this book as well.
good evening, honorable judges, ladies and gentlemen.
it’s my great pleasure to stand here to present my speech—change the world, change ourselves.
it’s noticable that western holidays are becoming increasingly popular day by day, while chinese traditional festivals are being somewhat neglected. not long before about 10 doctors in beijing university and qinghua unversity announced that we should reject the invasion of western holidays ,because they regard western holidays as an challenge against our traditional festivals and culture.
frankly speaking, i don’t quite agree with ed, we should never neglect or even discard our traditonal festivals as china boasts a brilliant history and splendid traditions. (examples) why can’t we absorb the meaningful western holidays and culture. there are obvious reasons why some western holidays are so popular in china. on the one hand, some of the western holidays which we chinese don’t have are reasonable and meaningful, such as father’s day and april fool’s day etc. on the other hand,the prevalence of globalization enables western culture to prevail in china. overwhelmed by such a trend,chinese unconsiciously get involved in western holidays and culture.
with the further development of the whole world, the cultural communication between different countries and nations becomes faster and more and more important. we are indeed from different nations, but we are the citizens of the same world, so the outstanding culture of different nations is the commom wealth of everyone on the only way for us to protect our traditional culture is to reject the foreign culture? the answer is definitely no. what we ought to do is to spare no effort to educate chinese to get to know and treasure our splendid traditions instead of rejecting foreign culture. only by educating can we set our confidence and belief towards our culture. only by educating can we preserve and promote the wealth that our ancesters left for us.
at last i’d like to share a famouse saying of gandhi with all of you ,that is:if you want to change the world, then you must change yourself first.”
Learn How to Say No
We've all been taught that we should help people. It is the right thing to do and will make us popular with others. It may even win us favors in return. However, we must be realistic. We can't say yes to every request. If we did, we would fail or go crazy for sure. Sometimes we simply don't have the time to help. In this case, we must know how to say no politely.
When we need to say no, here is one method we can try. First, we should tell the truth. If we really can't do something, we should just say so. Second, we should remember to refuse requests politely. We must communicate clearly, but must also be sincere and sympathetic. A true friend will understand. Finally, we must not feel guilty about saying no. Sometimes refusing others is the right thing to do. It can save ourselves, and them, a lot of trouble. In short, we cannot please everyone all the time. Refusing favors is a part of life.
學習如何說不
我們都被教導說，我們應該要幫助別人。這是應該做的事，而且這樣做會使我們受人歡迎。它甚至會為我們贏得一些回報。但是，我們必須要實際一點。我們不能答應每一個要求。如果我們這麼做，我們就一定會失敗或發瘋。有時候我們確實沒有時間去幫忙。既然如此，我們就必須知道如何有禮貌地說不。
當我們需要說不的時候，有個辦法我們可以試試。首先，我們應該要說實話。假如我們真的辦不到某件事，我們就應該說不。第二，我們應該記得要客氣地拒絕對方的要求。我們必須清楚地表達，但態度也必須真誠並且表示同情。一個真正的朋友會諒解的。最後，我們不必為了說不而覺得有罪惡感。有時候拒絕別人才是我們應該做的事。它可以替我們自己和別人，都省下許多麻煩。總而言之，我們無法一直取悅每個人。拒絕請求是人生的一部分。
i wanna welcome everybody here in this cheer team. thank you for coming here this morning to stand on my side cheering me on. it’s my dream to have the opportunity to challenge all the foreign athletes to the championship at this great occasion: 20xx olympic games. now, the dream came true. as an athlete of china, i’m here to win the gold medal of orienteering for our motherland.
i’m so proud of being one of the best players in the world. but could you believe i had been a lazy girl when i was in junior high. i’m not kidding! at that time, running was my last favorite. i really don’t know how to describe the first time i was on the track. it was horrible. when i started to run, i was simply out of breath. and while i touched the finishing line, i really didn’t know if i was still alive. it’s so funny, huh? but it’s true, i did.
well, something happened and changed the situation. we won the right of holding the olympic games in 20xx. after that, sports became a kind of game in campus. and there are many sports clubs in school. one day someone asked me:“are you gonna try one of those?”first i felt so wired.
“try to get into sports clubs? are you kidding?” i said. and she goes: “why not it’s not hard at all, and so fascinating!” so i did tried one and i was so lucky to become one of those who did orienteering. that is a fantastic sport! you need to run and find where to go just by using a map and a compass. it’s wasn’t popular in china at first. but when we heard it might become a new event in 20xx, we did practiced hard, and aimed to win the first champion of orienteering in the world. when we practiced, there were a lot of troubles. you know, sometimes you need to go with your feet, but sometimes you need to go with your heart. in some situations, we faced the difficulties and problems. and we need to solve that through teamwork and strong willpower. so we can run faster, go higher and be stronger. that is what we say—olympic spirit.
now the dream came true. i’m standing here with all my body and my heart put in sports. so do the people from all over the world to here at the olympic games. it’s the olympic games that make us together. we are here for a big day of sport; we are here for a dream of sports. we are here for a spirit of sport that encourages us to face the difficulties of today and tomorrow.
Sino-Japan problem is always a sensitive topic, a fuse which can trigger a serial of explosion. Some so-called patriots argue that buying domestic products is patriotism and proclaim that in particular all the Chinese should reject goods marked “made in Japan”.
Those who are more extreme may smash or plunder a shop which sells Japan products or burn any Japanese car in the street no matter who owns it.
Then, how about launch a war against Japan so that we can destroy that malicious disgusting nation which had invaded our mother land then unscrupulous deny the history written in black and white?
What if a person, on one hand is a patriot from tip to toe and willing to sacrifice his life to his country if Japan dare to wage a war against China(if possible) while one the other hand he is a Japanese culture vulture?
What if the shop the mob smashed is owned by a hard working Chinese businessman? Had they committed a crime? Are the masses just venting their discontentment which accumulates day by day because of the appalling unfairness in the reality?
Is it true we just take Japan or international trade as an outlet?
Patriotism is not nationalistic fever, not intense ethnic emotion. We need to calm down and differentiate ethnical frenzy and moderate sober patriotism.
In addition, there is always danger to ignore the real problematic issue such as political corruption, academic plagiarism, educational unfairness, and social classes polarizing which are screaming for our attention and should be our priority.
What has been called for in the loudest voice is usually the most lacking one. Ramble roars in the movie “First Blood”-I have done everything for my country, what has my country done for me?! Nowadays, we badly need a rewritten version of Kennedy’s famous saying “ask not only what you can do for your country but also what your country can do for you.”
good afternoon ，ladies and gentlemen!
i’m very honored to stand here and give you a short speech! to begin with ,i want to ask a question everybody dream a good dream last night? actually ,today i want to talk about dream with you. of course, what i want to talk is not a dream you have last night,but a dream—— about life.
everyone has dreams about life, different dreams at different life stage,and we need dreams to support us. dreams are like the stars we never reach in the sky,but like most mariners(水手),we can chart our course by them. with the dream,we have a direction,with a direction, we were no longer the dream, there is hope,with hope, we have the strength to fight.
i have a dream: to be a doctor.，because doctor may relieve the pain of patients. may let the human change the health. at the same time, i believed that, those who help others may be able to obtain joyfully. therefore, i hoped in the near future ,i might be a doctor.
but i know，life is tough,and there are always ups and downs, maybe we fail in the way to our aims,and we may feel depressed ,whenever at this time, the dream in our heart can always comfort us, encourage us ,and support us to move ahead .
Good morning teachers and fellow students. Today we would like to introduce a few favorite books to you.
My favorite book is (Italian: Cuore). This is a diary written by an Italian boy Enrico. The diary is about his life and study. It included various touching stories that happened around Enrico, the mottos taught by his parents, as well as the wonderful ten "monthly" stories told by his teacher during the class. Every word in the chapter describes the word "love". From patriotism to friendship, and to the love between parents and child -- really touching.
This novel taught me how to love, and how to learn from love. I really like this book very much. How about you? What is your favorite book?
My favorite book is . Have you read it before?
Oh, I haven’t read this book before. What is it about?
Well, it is a story of a rich girl who maintained her noble character after the bankruptcy of her father. The story is happy ending.
Can you tell us why you love this book so much?
Sure. It is because the story taught us to be brave and to face the challenges and difficulties with courage. I am deeply impressed by the strength and perseverance of the little princess in the story. I have decided to learn from her from now on.
Oh I see, the story sounds very good. I cannot wait to read this book as well.
Necessity of lifelong learning
Dear Mr. Li, dear my schoolmates, good morning!
Entrusted by the first group of schoolmates, the topic of my speech is Necessity for lifelong learning.
About lifelong learning, there is the famous proverb in Chinese: never too old to learn. Confucius, the famous educator in ancient China, also said: if I learn the Classical literature "Yi" from the age of 50, I would never make so many mistakes.
To sum up, Necessity of lifelong learning is mainly based on the following reasons:
First of all, the knowledge of modern society changes so quickly, if not to learn new knowledge in time you will soon fall behind the times. For example, using the mobile Internet technology, we can using a mobile phone to book a taxi, pay various fees, buy all kinds of goods etc. if a person may not grasp the knowledge, especially senior people ,they will not use the convenience brought by Internet.
Secondly, diligent in thinking can effectively prevent the occurrence of Alzheimer's disease. This conclusion has been verified in medicine.
Finally, a person who maintains the habit of lifelong
learning, can have a stronger advantage in occupation choice. This is not only good for the person, but also for the country and the society.
Some people complain that, they have too much work and have no time to read a book usually. But In fact lifelong learning is not only reading or having a class, we can browse the web, read e-books, receiving distance courses through the Internet conveniently. We can learn not only knowledge, but also skills.
Age cannot be a barrier to our lifelong learning. Chu
Shijian, once the king of China's tobacco industry, had
suffered a great setback before retirement. He was even put into prison. But at the age of 75, he began to study orange planting technology seriously, and finally have a huge success in this area ten years late. Harland Sandoz of America began learning the fast-food lethal at his age of 83. When he was 88 years old, his fast food chain often Kentucky had distributed each corner of the world.
Therefore, lifelong learning is never too late to start, let's start our plan today.
Thank you.
美聯儲主席伯克南普林斯頓大學畢業典禮演講稿中英雙語對照：
It's nice to be back at Princeton. I find it difficult to believe that it's been almost 11 years since I departed these halls for Washington. I wrote recently to inquire about the status of my leave from the university, and the letter I got back began, "Regrettably, Princeton receives many more qualified applicants for faculty positions than we can accommodate."重返普林斯頓感覺不錯，很難相信，我離開校園赴華盛頓已經11年了。近期我向校方詢問了我的教職問題，回信稱：“很遺憾，普林斯頓收到很多更有才華的學者的求職信，而教職有限。”
I'll extend my best wishes to the seniors later, but first I want to congratulate the parents and families here. As a parent myself, I know that putting your kid through college these days is no walk in the park. Some years ago I had a colleague who sent three kids through Princeton even though neither he nor his wife attended this university. He and his spouse were very proud of that accomplishment, as they should have been. But my colleague also used to say that, from a financial perspective, the experience was like buying a new Cadillac every year and then driving it off a cliff. I should say that he always added that he would do it all over again in a minute. So, well done, moms, dads, and families.我將在稍後獻上對畢業生的最美好祝願，首先我要恭喜在座的家長們。作為父母，我知道這年頭供孩子讀完大學不容易，數年前，我的一個同事有3個孩子畢業於普林斯頓，儘管他們夫妻都不畢業於此，但我的同事常說，從財政角度講，這如同每年買輛卡迪拉克，然後讓車墜崖。他總會補充說，他會毫不猶豫的選擇重新來過。所以，感謝你們的工作，母親們，父親們，及家人們。
This is indeed an impressive and appropriate setting for a commencement. I am sure that, from this lectern, any number of distinguished spiritual leaders have ruminated on the lessons of the Ten Commandments. I don't have that kind of confidence, and, anyway, coveting your neighbor's ox or donkey is not the problem it used to be, so I thought I would use my few minutes today to make Ten Suggestions, or maybe just Ten Observations, about the world and your lives after Princeton. Please note, these points have nothing whatsoever to do with interest rates. My qualification for making such suggestions, or observations, besides having kindly been invited to speak today by President Tilghman, is the same as the reason that your obnoxious brother or sister got to go to bed later--I am older than you. All of what follows has been road-tested in real-life situations, but past performance is no guarantee of future results.這確實是做畢業典禮演講的合適場合，我認為，在這一講臺上，每個精神導師都受到過“十誡”的教誨，我沒有那樣的信心，而且無論無何，覬覦鄰居的驢牛已不是目前的問題，所以今年前幾分鐘我將提出“十個建議”，或稱為對這個世界和你們畢業後的生活的十個觀察。請注意，這十點與利率毫無關係。我之所以有資格提出這些建議和或觀察，除了普林斯頓的善意邀請外，理由和你們討厭的哥哥姐姐可以晚睡是一個道理：我比你們更老。以下內容均經受過生活的考驗，但以往表現並不能確保未來的結果。
1. The poet Robert Burns once said something about the best-laid plans of mice and men ganging aft agley, whatever "agley" means. A more contemporary philosopher, Forrest Gump, said something similar about life and boxes of chocolates and not knowing what you are going to get. They were both right. Life is amazingly unpredictable; any 22-year-old who thinks he or she knows where they will be in 10 years, much less in 30, is simply lacking imagination. Look what happened to me: A dozen years ago I was minding my own business teaching Economics 101 in Alexander Hall and trying to think of good excuses for avoiding faculty meetings. Then I got a phone call... In case you are skeptical of Forrest Gump's insight, here's a concrete suggestion for each of the graduating seniors. Take a few minutes the first chance you get and talk to an alum participating in his or her 25th, or 30th, or 40th reunion--you know, somebody who was near the front of the P-rade. Ask them, back when they were graduating 25, 30, or 40 years ago, where they expected to be today. If you can get them to open up, they will tell you that today they are happy and satisfied in various measures, or not, and their personal stories will be filled with highs and lows and in-betweens. But, I am willing to bet, those life stories will in almost all cases be quite different, in large and small ways, from what they expected when they started out. This is a good thing, not a bad thing; who wants to know the end of a story that's only in its early chapters? Don't be afraid to let the drama play out.1、阿甘曾講到人生和巧克力的相似性，你不知道下一塊巧克力的味道。人生確實難以預料，任何一個認為知道其10年後情況的畢業生，更不同說三十年了，我只能說他或她缺乏想象力。看看我吧，12年前我一心教經濟學入門課程，想著編造什麼理由不參加教學會議，結果我接到了那個電話。有過你有機會與畢業25年、30年或40年的校友交談，並使他們敞開心扉，他們將告訴你，他們對生活中哪些事滿意或不滿意，他們經歷過的高潮和低谷。但我敢打賭，他們的人生故事將與預期相異。這是好事而不是壞事，誰想在故事的開篇就知道結局呢？
2. Does the fact that our lives are so influenced by chance and seemingly small decisions and actions mean that there is no point to planning, to striving? Not at all. Whatever life may have in store for you, each of you has a grand, lifelong project, and that is the development of yourself as a human being. Your family and friends and your time at Princeton have given you a good start. What will you do with it? Will you keep learning and thinking hard and critically about the most important questions? Will you become an emotionally stronger person, more generous, more loving, more ethical? Will you involve yourself actively and constructively in the world? Many things will happen in your lives, pleasant and not so pleasant, but, paraphrasing a Woodrow Wilson School adage from the time I was here, "Wherever you go, there you are." If you are not happy with yourself, even the loftiest achievements won't bring you much satisfaction.2、 是否人生偶然性之大的事實，意味著小的決定和行動無足輕重，不需要規劃和奮鬥呢？當然不是。無論未來人生如何，她將是一個巨集大和漫長的專案，是你作為個人 的發展過程。你的家人、朋友和你在普林斯頓的時光已經為你造就了良好的開端，未來你會如何？你會不斷學習、竭力思索、對至關重要的問題持批判態度嗎？你會 成為情感上更強大、更大度、更有愛心、更道德的人嗎？你會更積極的、更建設性的參與世事嗎？你的人生會有很多故事，快樂的，及不太快樂的，如果你不為自己 感到快樂，就連最偉大的成就業也不會讓你感到滿足。
3. The concept of success leads me to consider so-called meritocracies and their implications. We have been taught that meritocratic institutions and societies are fair. Putting aside the reality that no system, including our own, is really entirely meritocratic, meritocracies may be fairer and more efficient than some alternatives. But fair in an absolute sense? Think about it. A meritocracy is a system in which the people who are the luckiest in their health and genetic endowment; luckiest in terms of family support, encouragement, and, probably, income; luckiest in their educational and career opportunities; and luckiest in so many other ways difficult to enumerate--these are the folks who reap the largest rewards. The only way for even a putative meritocracy to hope to pass ethical muster, to be considered fair, is if those who are the luckiest in all of those respects also have the greatest responsibility to work hard, to contribute to the betterment of the world, and to share their luck with others. As the Gospel of Luke says (and I am sure my rabbi will forgive me for quoting the New Testament in a good cause): "From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded" (Luke 12:48, New Revised Standard Version Bible). Kind of grading on the curve, you might say.3、 成功的概念促使我考慮所謂的精英主義及其含義。精英是在健康和基因上最幸運的人，他們在家庭支援、鼓勵上，或在收入上也是最幸運的，他們在教育和職業機遇 上最幸運，他們在很多方面都最幸運，一般人難以複製。一個精英體制是否公平，要看這些精英是否有義務努力工作、致力於建設更好的世界，並與他人分享幸運。
4. Who is worthy of admiration? The admonition from Luke--which is shared by most ethical and philosophical traditions, by the way--helps with this question as well. Those most worthy of admiration are those who have made the best use of their advantages or, alternatively, coped most courageously with their adversities. I think most of us would agree that people who have, say, little formal schooling but labor honestly and diligently to help feed, clothe, and educate their families are deserving of greater respect--and help, if necessary--than many people who are superficially more successful. They're more fun to have a beer with, too. That's all that I know about sociology.4、誰值得尊重？是那些充分利用其優勢，或勇敢面對逆境的人。我想我們會認同，那些雖然接受的正式教育不多，但誠實勞動、勤勉的為家人提供衣食和教育的人，相比更多表面上很成功的人，更值得尊重，和他們喝兩杯是更有趣的事情。
5. Since I have covered what I know about sociology, I might as well say something about political science as well. In regard to politics, I have always liked Lily Tomlin's line, in paraphrase: "I try to be cynical, but I just can't keep up." We all feel that way sometime. Actually, having been in Washington now for almost 11 years, as I mentioned, I feel that way quite a bit. Ultimately, though, cynicism is a poor substitute for critical thought and constructive action. Sure, interests and money and ideology all matter, as you learned in political science. But my experience is that most of our politicians and policymakers are trying to do the right thing, according to their own views and consciences, most of the time. If you think that the bad or indifferent results that too often come out of Washington are due to base motives and bad intentions, you are giving politicians and policymakers way too much credit for being effective. Honest error in the face of complex and possibly intractable problems is a far more important source of bad results than are bad motives. For these reasons, the greatest forces in Washington are ideas, and people prepared to act on those ideas. Public service isn't easy. But, in the end, if you are inclined in that direction, it is a worthy and challenging pursuit.5、 提到政治，憤世嫉俗是批判性思考和建設性行動的更糟糕的替代品。當然，利益、金錢和意識形態都有影響力，如你在政治課上所學。但我的感受是大部分政界人士 都在尋求做正確的事情，大部分時候，這由他們的觀點和意識決定。在複雜及難於處理的問題上所犯的誠實錯誤，更是糟糕結果的主要原因，而非不良動機。因此， 華盛頓最有影響的力量是觀念和想法，人們基於這些觀念去行動。公共服務並不輕鬆，如果你選擇了這一道路，那是值得的，並頗具挑戰性。
6. Having taken a stab at sociology and political science, let me wrap up economics while I'm at it. Economics is a highly sophisticated field of thought that is superb at explaining to policymakers precisely why the choices they made in the past were wrong. About the future, not so much. However, careful economic analysis does have one important benefit, which is that it can help kill ideas that are completely logically inconsistent or wildly at variance with the data. This insight covers at least 90 percent of proposed economic policies.6、經濟學是頗具詭辯性的思維領域，她在解釋決策者以往所犯錯誤方面顯得很崇高，但在預測未來時，則不僅如此。然而，謹慎的經濟分析確有重要益處，她能去除那些不合邏輯或與資料不符的想法，這對90%的經濟政策建議有影響。
7. I'm not going to tell you that money doesn't matter, because you wouldn't believe me anyway. In fact, for too many people around the world, money is literally a life-or-death proposition. But if you are part of the lucky minority with the ability to choose, remember that money is a means, not an end. A career decision based only on money and not on love of the work or a desire to make a difference is a recipe for unhappiness.7、我不會告訴你們金錢無用，反正你們也不會聽的。事實上，對全球很多人來說，金錢能夠決定生存還是死亡。但如果你屬於那些幸運得有能力進行抉擇的少數人，請記住，金錢只是途徑，而非最終目標。職業選擇基於收入、而非熱愛，或做出貢獻的熱情，是日後苦惱的根源。
8. Nobody likes to fail but failure is an essential part of life and of learning. If your uniform isn't dirty, you haven't been in the game.8、沒有人希望失敗，但失敗是生活和學習的一部分。如果你衣衫整齊，你並沒有進入比賽。
9. I spoke earlier about definitions of personal success in an unpredictable world. I hope that as you develop your own definition of success, you will be able to do so, if you wish, with a close companion on your journey. In making that choice, remember that physical beauty is evolution's way of assuring us that the other person doesn't have too many intestinal parasites. Don't get me wrong, I am all for beauty, romance, and sexual attraction--where would Hollywood and Madison Avenue be without them? But while important, those are not the only things to look for in a partner. The two of you will have a long trip together, I hope, and you will need each other's support and sympathy more times than you can count. Speaking as somebody who has been happily married for 35 years, I can't imagine any choice more consequential for a lifelong journey than the choice of a traveling companion.9、 我希望你們能夠發展自身對成功的定義，在這一過程中，你們能夠選擇一位親密的伴侶。在做出選擇時，要記住外表美只是人類演變的一種方式，它使我們確信對方 沒有腸道寄生蟲。不要誤解我，我也為美麗、浪漫和性所吸引，不然美國影視業和廣告業怎麼生存下去呢？但儘管重要，這些不是尋找人生伴侶時需要考慮的事 情。你們將共同走過人生旅程，需要對方的支援和關愛。作為已婚35年的人士，我想象不到比選擇人生伴侶更重要的事情。
10. Call your mom and dad once in a while. A time will come when you will want your own grown-up, busy, hyper-successful children to call you. Also, remember who paid your tuition to Princeton.10、時不時的給父母去個電話。早晚有一天，你希望自己長大成人的、工作繁忙的、超級成功的孩子給你來個電話，再者，請記著誰供養你上的大學。
Those are my suggestions. They're probably worth exactly what you paid for them. But they come from someone who shares your affection for this great institution and who wishes you the best for the future.
Congratulations, graduates. Give 'em hell.最後，畢業生們，給他們點顏色看看。
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