哈佛大学校长演讲：你可能会在校园里遇到一生交好的伙伴

Fifty-three years ago this week, I said goodbye to my friends and family in Pontiac, Michigan and arrived here in Cambridge, Massachusetts for my first year of college. Not here, exactly, but just down the street at MIT.

53年前的这个时候，我告别了远在密歇根州庞蒂亚克的亲朋好友来到麻省剑桥上大学，但不是到哈佛大学，而是隔壁的麻省理工学院。

Among my most vivid memories is my freshman roommate. His name was Alan. He was a lacrosse player from New Jersey. He was big. I was small. He was messy. I was neat. 

我最记忆犹新的是我的大学一年级室友。他的名字叫艾伦，是一名来自新泽西的曲棍球运动员。他很高大，而我个子矮小。他不拘小节，而我井井有条。

He brought his stereo to campus and liked to study with it on. I liked to study with it off. He liked to listen to the Rolling Stones, The Who and The Band. I liked Bob Dylan, James Taylor and Joni Mitchell.

他把音响带到宿舍，喜欢一边听音乐一边学习；而我喜欢在安静环境里学习。他喜欢听摇滚音乐，而我钟爱乡村歌曲。

He liked almost all New York sports teams. I hated them. He was politically quite conservative. I was anything but. "This will never work out," I thought. So—you can probably tell where this story is going—I could not have been more wrong.

他痴迷所有的纽约运动队，而我很讨厌他们。他在政治上相当保守，而我恰恰相反。刚开始觉得我们永远都合不来。不过，就像你们猜到的那样——我的想法大错特错！

Alan, beneath a seemingly crusty, loud, opinionated exterior, proved to be one of the kindest, most interesting people I met during my time in college.

在那个貌似固执、吵闹和吵闹的外表下，事实证明艾伦是我大学期间遇到的最善良和最有意思的同学之一。

He was incredibly well read, a terrific writer, and very generous with his time, patiently helping me navigate through freshman physics, calculus, and chemistry.

他博览群书，是一位了不起的作家，在他的时间上非常慷慨，耐心地帮助我学习大一的物理、微积分和化学。

While we differed on almost everything related to politics, he loved a good argument, and we had many. He became one of my closest friends, and we continued to live together, even as graduate students.

尽管我们在政治方面各执己见，但他欢迎富有建设性的辩论，我们俩经常争论不休。但他成为了我的挚友。我们继续住在一起，持续到研究生阶段。

On my first day at Harvard Law School, he fixed me up on a blind date with his girlfriend's roommate. That blind date is here today. Let me introduce you to her, my wife of 47 years, Adele.

在我入读哈佛大学法学院的第一天，他安排我认识了他女朋友的室友，这位相亲对象今天就坐在这里。请允许我向大家介绍我结婚47年的妻子——阿黛尔！

And Alan wound up marrying Adele's roommate, Debby, one week before Adele and I got married. The two of them came to our wedding on their honeymoon.

艾伦和阿黛尔的室友黛比的婚礼在我们结婚前的一周举行，蜜月期间他俩还出席了我们的婚礼。

During your time here, please don't overlook your Alan. Please don't judge people quickly based on their outward appearances or your first impressions.

在哈佛期间，请不要对你的Alan视而不见，请不要根据外在表现或第一印象快速评判他人。

One of the many reasons we admitted students from around the world, people with every interest imaginable, is because we learn from our differences.

哈佛招收来自世界各地志趣各异的学生的原因之一，在于我们可以学习各自的不同之处。

As you get to know your roommates and your classmates, try to be slow to judge and quick to understand. Give everyone the benefit of the doubt, at least initially,

在认识室友和同学时，请尽量延缓评判而加快理解。至少在开始阶段，让每个人都能从怀疑中受益。

not just at Harvard but throughout life and you will be surprised by the number of friends you will acquire, people quite different from you, but people who will enrich your life immensely.

不但在哈佛，而且贯穿整个人生。如果做到这一点，你结交的朋友将多得出乎预料，他们或许与你迥然不同，但将极大地丰富你的人生。

Let me also acknowledge that you may meet people at Harvard that you do not like.

我无法否认，你们在哈佛可能遇见不喜欢的人。

Harvard is a microcosm of the larger world, and everything that you may find objectionable in the larger world is present in some measure here. We are not perfect, but we strive to be better.

哈佛是现实生活的一个缩影，因此社会中令人反感的所有一切在某种程度上都存在于哈佛校园。我们绝非完美无瑕，但我们努力变得更好。

While trying to be a caring, understanding, and welcoming community, we cannot protect you from everything that is unpleasant.

虽然我们虽然我们尽力将哈佛打造成一个关怀备至、善解人意和宾至如归的社区，但你们依然难免遭遇各种不愉快的经历。

Our job is to prepare you for the world you will inhabit when you graduate. And that world is not going to treat you with kid gloves simply because you have a Harvard degree.

我们的工作在于让你们为毕业后进入社会做好充分准备。这个世界不会因为哈佛毕业生的身份而善待你们。

We are here to prepare you to deal with a world that will challenge you—and sometimes even offend you. We would not be doing you a favor if we placed you in an emotional bubble and did not let your emotional immune systems develop.

如果处处顾及你们的情绪而非提升各位的情商，对你们没有任何好处。在这里，我们让大家做好充分准备应对一个挑战（有时甚至是冒犯）你们的世界。

I hope you will master these skills while you are at Harvard so you can devote your life to repairing a world that we all know is far from perfect.

我们希望你们能够在哈佛掌握这些技能，从而终其一生致力于改善这个绝非完美的世界。

往期推荐

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