李一诺颜宁二十年：在清华发出给世界的声音
题图：颜宁，一诺和王宏伟。
这是奴隶社会的第815篇原创文章。欢迎转发分享，未经作者授权不欢迎其它公众号转载。
上周五，清华大学生命科学学院举行了2016年毕业典礼。一诺和颜宁一并受生命科学院院长王宏伟的邀请，作为校友代表发言。以下为演讲视频及文字实录。
一诺写在前面：
7月1号，作为1996级校友，我和颜宁受清华生命科学院院长王宏伟之邀，在生科院毕业典礼上发言。宏伟是92年入学的，当年是我们班的辅导员，今年正值他毕业20年，我和颜宁入学二十年，难得的纪念。所以我和颜宁都改了行程参加。我当天发烧，嗓子疼的厉害。要不然声音可以更美妙一些 :)
https://v.qq.com/txp/iframe/player.html?vid=l0310dbkogo&width=500&height=375&auto=0
https://v.qq.com/txp/iframe/player.html?vid=l0310rwbj6m&width=500&height=375&auto=0
一诺演讲稿中文版：
各位老师、同学、家长们，大家早上好！
今天能站在这里演讲，我感到十分荣幸！
你们也许好奇我为什么用英语演讲。这是我考虑后做出的决定，原因有几个：
首先，我和宏伟或颜宁不一样，他们每天都在这儿教课、讲话，而我很少有机会在清华做公开演讲，所有我要尽可量给自己多争取点出镜时间。
其次，这也算是我对那些经常炫耀中文的老外发起的一个挑战，比如扎克伯格。我也可以显摆一下我的外语，而且是能被听懂的外语。不仅如此，我在清华用英文做演讲，大多数学生都能听懂，这证明了清华的教育水平。试想在外国任何一所高校用中文演讲，恐怕没多少人能听懂。我认为，这很好地体现了清华的教育能够把你们真正培养成未来的全球领袖。
第三，我想要全世界都能听到这个演讲。
我们今天生活的世界比人类历史上任何一个时期的互联程度都要高。但随着中国和全球经历巨大转变，这个世界也从未象现在这样令人困惑。中国存在深刻的社会问题，世界到处都有令人担忧的冲突发生，还有各种各样的误解，尤其是在和中国相关的问题上。
在这样一个充满困惑的时代，最好的解决办法，或者说找到解决办法的最好途径，就是沟通。
让我们先从困惑讲起。
毕业是个欢庆的时刻，终于可以在多年的紧张学习之后享受久违的自由。但这也是一个充满困惑的时刻。我十六年前毕业时就体会到了这一点。“未来”这个词听起来有点大，同时又令人生畏，在带来兴奋与希望的同时，还有不确定性和焦虑。你即将步入人生一个未知的篇章，不仅从学术和专业角度是陌生的，连个人身份也跟着发生了变化。你不再是大学生，而是一名年轻人，要对自己的生活负责。
如何度过富有意义而又充实的一生，是我们每个人毕生追求的答案。你或许在想，我已经毕业16年，应该把这件事想明白了。但我很抱歉地告诉你，我到现在都还没有答案。但我至少学会了一些东西，那就是如何与困惑和平相处。
所以接下来让我和大家分享一下，我是如何在这个不那么光鲜的旅程中学会与困惑和平共处的。
第一点，用历史的眼光看问题。
作为中国人，我们的优势之一就是拥有悠久的历史，我们有更多机会从中汲取经验。
但我要讲的不仅仅是学习，还有看事情的角度。
以卫生保健为例。全球在这一领域取得了巨大的进步，而中国无疑为改善人类基本生存条件做出了最大的贡献。我是70年代出生的人，那时中国每年的疟疾发病人数有2700万。到2014年，这一数字下降到57。1990年，中国的孕产妇死亡率是97/10万。到2013年，这一比例已经低于美国。那些大受欢迎的古装电视连续剧往往都看上去很美，但不要忘了在过去，比如清末，一个残酷的事实是数百万儿童活不到五岁，80%的人都是文盲。很多人幻想穿越回过去，但看到这样的数据，无论如何我都不会想回去。因为在古代我极有可能是个大字不识的妇女，然后在生孩子时死掉。
引用这个历史数据不是为了淡化中国今天的问题。中国目前的确面临十分严峻的卫生保健挑战，而且这些挑战和古代不可同日而语。但了解历史有助于我们学习过去有哪些方法奏效，同时思考卫生保健系统中有哪些关键点对解决现在的问题具有意义。拥有历史的眼光能为我们提供看待问题的不同角度，也更有可能产生更好的结果。
除了看事情的角度，学会如何更加全面均衡地看待世界也很重要。
我年轻的时候，经常迫不及待地去辨别是非，区分黑白。面对一个充满困惑的世界，贴标签、一概而论似乎是找到答案的捷径，但往往也有很大的误导性。从历史中我们能学到：一切事情都有动因，而且大多数选择在当时的条件下都是合理的。有了这样的观点，才能看懂这个世界，把历史人物当做真实存在的个体来看，而非符号，并对世界面临的问题形成一个全面均衡的看法。
第二点，寻找所有事情中好的一面。
这听起来可能有些像心灵鸡汤，但有时恰恰是解决困惑的最有效方法。
你们中的很多人都将出国，继续攻读硕士或博士学位。完成学业后会面临是否回国的问题。我是留在国外还是回到中国？哪边更好呢？
我在美国读完博士之后，一直在中美两国交替生活。先是在美国麦肯锡工作了两年，之后回国工作六年。然后又回到美国三年，而现在又重新回到中国。很多人经常问我，到底是中国好还是美国好？我的回答一直是，两边都好。
谨记不要隔着玫瑰色的玻璃看世界，也不要老觉得邻居家的草比你的绿。人的大脑天生有倾向性，往往美化离你遥远的事物和地方，看身边时则要暗淡许多。但实际情况是，地球上没有天堂也没有地狱，只有真实存在的世界，无论你在哪里，这一点都不会变。
今天的中国确实有很多问题，像环境污染、不平等现象、留守儿童、医疗负担、对教育的焦虑等等。而美国也有自己的问题，比如恐怖主义，巨大的社会和政治分歧等等。
你可能无法从这些问题中找到所谓的“美好”，毕竟没有人喜欢污染或者恐怖主义，但你可以从坚持不懈解决这些问题的人身上看到很多的“美好”。
不要成为那种只会指出问题、妄下评论的人。问题对所有人来说都显而易见，刻薄的评论除了让自己一时痛快之外起不到任何作用。要成为那些努力寻找解决方法的人。不仅如此，要挑那些困难的问题来攻克。简单的问题不需要清华的毕业生来解决。
这将是一段漫长的旅程。你不会明天就遇到一个巨大的难题等你去解决。但要对此保持开放的心态和眼界，专注于你热爱的领域，找到有意义的问题去攻克。失败在所难免，我们每个人都不例外。但只有经历一次次失败，我们才能从中学习、有所改进，每一次的尝试都会让你离成功更近一步。
这注定不是件容易的事，但你无从逃避，因为，寻找解决办法才是脱离困惑的唯一途径。
第三点，要有勇气。
站到这个讲台上让我想起了1998年的一个晚上。当时我和宏伟，还有其他一些学生到校园外看一部话剧。回来的路上，我们坐了一辆小巴。因为是末班车，司机等到所有人都上车后宣布将票价从两块涨到五块。当时车上差不多有20个乘客，五块钱并不多，而且当时也很晚了。但是你们尊敬的宏伟院长觉得这非常不合理，我也同意他的想法。于是我们鼓动车里的其他乘客联合抵制涨价。如果司机不同意，那我们就都下车。
我们本来期望获得英雄般的胜利，就像电影里看到的那种场面。但很不幸，大部分乘客同意支付多出的车费，给自己省些麻烦。只有我们两个和另外一个人下了车，在深夜困在了离学校很远的地方。
所以我们一直走，走了很久才回到学校。
这和英雄般的胜利相去甚远。但过了这么多年之后，回过头看，那一晚走回校园的漫漫长路是我大学四年为数不多、记得如此清晰的时刻，从某种意义上说也深深影响了我今后的人生道路。
哪怕再小的事，只要是正确的，也要鼓起勇气捍卫到底。大多数时候你可能会失败，但每次做出选择本身就是一次胜利。
我这么说并非鼓励你们去盲目地冒险。风险本身不具有任何价值。我是鼓励你们要有勇气，做对的事情。
为什么呢？
因为现在的很多人都迷恋“成功”或者“胜利”。我从自己的经验中学到的是，有勇气去做对的事是最终获得“成功”或者“胜利”的唯一途径。
但你可能禁不住要问，怎样才能知道做的事情是对的？这就要回到我之前提到的两点：运用历史的眼光看问题会帮助你看清大的趋势，然后还要和那些努力寻找解决办法的人共事。
所以我鼓励你们要有伟大的梦想，不是为你自己，而是为了对的事情。把自己看成是实现更加伟大目标的工具，这才是通往充满意义的人生的终极道路。
无论是你、我，还是任何人，都只是人类历史长河中渺小的一点。人生短暂，没有人可以预知明天。当我们离开这个世界的时候，什么都带不走，无论是金钱、社会地位还是名气。但如果有勇气去做对的事，我们可以留下更加有意义的东西。所以你们要更有理想、更有勇气、追求更大的梦想、更加努力地工作，并且更多地去爱。让我们为我们的后代创造一个比今天更加美好的世界。
颜宁演讲稿原文：
前言：在2014年清华大学本科生毕业典礼上我曾经作为校友代表演讲，诚惶诚恐地花了两个星期准备那份发言稿。有了这么一次经历，当我上星期接到邀请在清华生命学院毕业典礼作为校友发言时，第一反应当然是拒绝。当拒绝“未遂”时，我就想这一次不要这么严肃，面对自家人，我打算即兴掏掏心窝子。但正如科学研究我们需要做第一，不能做第二，没想到发言也不能做第二个。因为前面那个人已经把你想说的话七七八八都说出来了。特别是你相知多年的闺蜜，也许有了神秘的“量子纠缠”，所以她在想什么估计我脑子里同时也已经映射出来。于是现在轮到我即兴发言，我就只能说：李一诺，你怎么能这样对我？不过一诺真是我的好闺蜜，因为她善解人意地选择了用英文，所以我还有机会用中文再讲一遍。
言归正传，首先向在座的所有毕业生们致以最衷心的祝贺！今天可能是你们每个人一生中最重要的时刻之一，因为它不仅代表一份收获，更是一个新的起点。有些人马上走出校园，有些人还会留在园子里，但是无论何去何从，这都是你人生新篇章的开始。相比于等一下要去领毕业证、去被拨穗，这个未知的明天更加激动人心。
站在这里，我非常感慨。两年前我曾经感谢陈吉宁校长说，在本科生毕业典礼上演讲是作为清华毕业生最光荣的时刻；而今天则是我作为清华毕业生最温暖的时刻，因为在座的有教过我的老师、有我的师兄师弟、有我指导过的学生，还有二十年前迎接我入校的辅导员，以及相交19年的闺蜜，更重要的是，到今天依旧是好闺蜜。这一刻让我非常感动，谢谢生命学院和王导给我这个机会。看着同学们好像在看昨天的自己，站在这里又在感受着今天的自己，同时又和大家一起畅想着未来，这是一种很奇妙的温暖和开心。
尽管早就打算即兴发言，但是脑子里还是忍不住想了很久要对我的师弟师妹们、我的学生们说什么。想说的实在太多，反而语无伦次。再说，大家也已经听过了各种各样或励志或段子手的发言。好像毕业典礼发言现在已经成为一个时尚，看谁能够在毕业典礼上妙语连珠语出惊人，比如你短短多少字可以赢得多少的转发和掌声……我是没有这个奢望的。何况，不论别人和你说了什么，其实未来的路是难以预测的、终归是靠你自己去走，去体验的。
我们生活在一个瞬息万变的时代，一个信息爆炸的时代，可能今天我和你说的话明天你就抛之于脑后了。所以我一直感慨 “计划跟不上变化”。给大家举一个例子，我和一诺都是在诺和诺德做的本科毕设。经过了一年，当时我们的导师陈克勤博士，Kevin，预言说颜宁是不适合做科研的，而一诺将来会是一位杰出的科学家。现实如何呢？不过，我相信如果我和一诺两个人现在位置互换，我们的工作成绩应该也差不多，只不过换了个名字而已，在这种意义上说，我和我的挚友一诺也拓宽了彼此的人生。讲这段小插曲是想说，很多时候不过机缘巧合做了一个选择，选择本身也许并不那么重要，更重要的是你做了选择之后怎么走。
我曾经在准备《赛先生》主编发言稿的时候写了很长一段，后来删掉了。大意是说现在这个时代，当网络如此畅通的时候，我们社会就变成了一个有机体，而我们每个人都如同一个细胞。那么你是变成了那个被神经元来支配的细胞，还是自己努力去做这个神经元呢？这其实是一个挺严肃的问题。大家想一想，你每天都获得如此多的资讯，也在拼命地处理各种资讯，可是你准备好用自己的大脑真正去辨别对错、去辨别是非、去努力保持自我、做自己的主人了吗？其实越是在这样一个信息爆炸的时代，我越惶恐，很害怕自己会迷失。尽管我现在已经快不惑之年了，比你们大出很多岁，但是我特别怕自己迷失。亲爱的同学们，当你走出校园，你会面临各种各样在园子里想不到的挑战，会面临各种各样从未经历过的诱惑，甚至各种各样的陷阱，那么这个时候你是否准备好了？
但我想跟大家说的是，其实没关系，尽管前途未卜，可是我们每个人来到这个世界上也不过是一个过程、一段经历，就是来体验的。因为我是教生化的，整天想的都是metabolism（新陈代谢）；我是做结构生物学的，整天看的都是生物大分子，所以我几乎有点儿走火入魔地整天想，到底人是什么？人和其他的生物一样，不过就是一个集成的化学反应器，你每天摄入各种各样的物质和能量，那么在新陈代谢之后我们留下了什么？
每个人白驹过隙在世上最多不过百年，百年之后你留下什么？你在这个世界上走一圈，最终留下什么？现在你刚刚毕业，一个新的篇章即将开始，那么当你像我这个年龄的时候或者再过二十年、再过四十年、甚至再过六十年，我们会留下什么？可能这是每个人都值得抽出一点时间去想一想的问题。屈原、李白、杜甫留下了伟大的篇章，爱因斯坦、牛顿留下了伟大的理论，达芬奇留下了蒙娜丽莎的微笑，乔布斯留下了苹果，甚至周星驰留下了周星星、至尊宝，周润发留下了小马哥等等，那么你将会留下什么？我请大家思考一下，你到底想要追求的是什么？
刚才一诺说过现在很多人追求成功，那么这个成功又是谁来定义的？我们清华毕业生每个人毫无疑问都是优秀的，但是一定要去做别人眼中那个优秀的你吗？我们是不是一不小心就变得随波逐流、人云亦云了？在这个微时代，希望大家保持勇气，勇敢地去做独一无二的你自己！不要惧怕失败。失败不可怕，放弃才可怕。
最后送给大家几句话，就是希望大家能够收获爱情、享受友情、珍惜亲情。说到亲情，可能我们越独立越强大反而会慢慢淡忘父母对我们的恩情，所以希望大家任何时候不要take it for granted，要珍惜亲情。此外，请不要吝惜温情。我有些时候在实验室熬夜看到打扫卫生的物业大姐们、保安们不论寒暑，天不亮就开始工作，可他们只是拿着非常微薄的工资。你要想一想有这么多的人用自己的辛苦劳作来支持着我们。他们的收入与付出并不成比例。每当看到他们，我都发自内心的感激，会觉得自己有欠于他们。有个朋友给我留言说，能力越大责任越大。所以请大家不要吝惜温情，不忘给这些默默支持着你的人们一份微笑、给他们多一些尊重，更要在你有机会、有能力的时候去帮助那些真正需要帮助的人。最后，希望清华的毕业生莫忘豪情，因为这是我们，清华的毕业生们，对于时代的责任。这一点是老生常谈，今天不再赘言。但我还是要说，作为清华的毕业生，我们应该致力于成为各行各业的领袖，完成我们对于往小处说对民族、对社会、对国家的责任，往大处说是对人类、对人类文明的贡献！
最后，祝愿大家谱写独一无二的美丽人生，与所有人共勉。谢谢！
一诺演讲稿英文版：
Good morning faculty, students and parents,
It really is a great honor and privilege to be standing here to deliver this speech.
You may wonder why I do this in English. This is a conscious decision for a few reasons:
Firstly, unlike Hongwei or Yan Ning, who teach and talk here all the time publicly, I have very little chance to speak publicly at Tsinghua, so I want to make sure I maximize the airtime I get.
Secondly, this is a challenge to people, like Mark Zuckerberg, who show off their Chinese all the time. I can show off a foreign language as well, and at the same time it can actually be understood. And also I want to make a testimony to the education of Tsinghua that I can actually deliver a speech in English and be understood by most students. That would challenge any university in the US for somebody to deliver a speech in Chinese and be understood. So I think this is demonstrating that the quality of education of Tsinghua is ready to groom you all to be the leaders in the years to come.
Thirdly, I wanted this speech to be heard by the world.
The world we live in today is more connected than at any other time in human history. And yet, with the massive transformations ongoing both in China and across the globe, it also has never been as confusing. There are profound social issues in China, worrying frictions around the world and massive misunderstanding, especially on China related issues.
In a time of confusion, the best solution, or at least the best path to a solution, is to communicate.
So let’s start with confusion.
Graduation is a time of joy and celebration for enjoying a much-needed dose of freedom after all the stresses of the past months and years. But it’s also a time of confusion. It certainly was for me, when I graduated 16 years ago. “Future” is a big and daunting word; it brings excitement and hope, but also uncertainty and anxiety. You are entering an unknown period of your life. Unknown not only academically or professionally, but also personally – you are not “college students” anymore, you are young adults, taking charge of your own lives. How to live a meaningful and fulfilling life, is the answer we are all ultimately seeking.
You might think that, by now, after 16 years, I must have figured it all out. I’m sorry to tell you, I haven’t. But I have made some progress at least: I’ve learnt to be more at peace with my confusion.
So let me share with you a few lessons I’ve learned on this not so glorious journey of living at peace with confusion.
Lesson one: take a historical perspective.
If being Chinese gives us any advantage, it’s that we have a longer history, and we have more opportunities to learn from it.
But this is not only about learning, it’s also about putting things in perspective.
Let’s take healthcare as an example. This is an area where the world has made huge strides, and China, has made arguably the biggest contribution to the improvement of basic human conditions. In the 1970s when I was born, China had 27 million cases of malaria each year. In 2014, there were 57 cases of local transmission. In 1990, China’s maternal mortality rate was 97 in every 100,000 lives births. By 2013, it was lower than that of the United States. TV dramas set in a glamorized historical China are often big hits, but it’s worth noting in these times (at the end of the Qing dynasty for example) the reality was that millions of children didn’t live beyond their 5-year birthday and 80% of people were illiterate. People fantasize about going back in time, but looking at this data there’s no way I would want to go. Chances are that I would have been an illiterate women who died giving birth to a child.
Citing this historical data is not to minimize the issues China has now; of course there are huge healthcare challenges facing our population, and they’re very different from those of the past. But understanding this historical context allows one to learn from what worked in the past, and to think about what healthcare system levers are available to address healthcare issues in the present-day setting. A historical perspective helps one to look at issues and solutions with a different lens, which will more likely lead to better outcomes.
This is also not only about putting things in perspective, it’s also about having a more balanced view of the world.
When I was younger, I was eager to discern the good from the bad, the black from the white. Labeling and generalizing seem like an easy shortcut to answers in a confusing world, but it can also be massively misleading. If we can learn anything from history, it is that everything happens with preludes, and most choices made seemed reasonable within their own context and their time. So having this view allows one to make sense of the world, connect with historical figures as real individuals rather than as symbols, and form a more balanced view of issues facing today’s world.
Lesson two: find the good in everything.
This may sound like a bowl of “chicken soup for the soul”, but this is sometimes the most effective way out of confusion.
Many of you will be going abroad to pursue a master’s or PhD degree. Some of you will also be grappling with the questions of whether to return to China afterwards. Should I stay abroad or should I return to China? Which side is better?
Since finishing my PhD in the US, life has propelled me back and forth between China and the US, with 2 years working for McKinsey in the US, followed by 6 years in Beijing, another 3 years in the US, and now returning to China once again. I have often been asked “which side is better”? And my answer has always been: both.
Beware those rose-tinted glasses and the grass that looks greener over the fence. The human brain has a natural tendency to romanticize things or places that are farther away, while taking a bleak view of its immediate surroundings. But the reality is, there is no heaven or hell on earth, there is only the real world, no matter where you are.
Today’s China has no shortage of problems: pollution, inequality, left-behind children, the healthcare burden, anxiety in education, you name it.
The US has its problems too, including terrorism and huge social and political divides, just to name a few.
There is nothing “good” to be found in these issues per se (nobody likes pollution or terrorism), but there is plenty of “good” to be found in people who have been working tirelessly to solve these problems.
Do not be that person who points out the problems and makes smart comments. The problems are equally obvious to everyone else, and mean-spirited comments serve few beyond yourself. Be the kind of person who works to find solutions. And what’s more, pick the hard problems; the easy ones don’t need a Tsinghua graduate to solve.
This will be a journey. You won’t run into a huge, very serious problem to solve tomorrow. But keep your minds and eyes open for it, focus on where your passion lies, and find a meaningful problem to engage with. You are bound to fail sometimes, just like the rest of us. But it’s only through failure that we truly learn and improve, and you will get closer to success every time you try it.
It won’t be easy, but there’s no escaping it; at the end of the day, engaging in solutions is the only way out of confusion.
Lesson three: be courageous
Standing here, I recall one night in 1998, when Hongwei, your dear dean, I and a few other students left campus to watch a play. On our way back we took a minibus. Knowing this was the last one that night, after all the passengers came onboard the bus, the driver said he decided to raise the bus fare from 2 RMB to 5 RMB. The bus had about 20 passengers. This was small money, and it was late. But your dear Dean Hongwei felt it was wrong, and I happened to agree with him. So we called for passengers to boycott - that we should all refuse to pay extra. If the driver disagreed, then we shall all get off the bus.
We were hoping we could win like heroes, creating the kind of scene you see in movies. But we didn’t. Most of the passengers agreed to pay the extra and save themselves the trouble. Only we, and one more person, got off the bus, and were left stranded in the middle of the night, very from campus.
So we walked, walked and walked the very long way home.
It was about as far from a heroic win as you can get, but after all these years, looking back, that night’s walk back to campus is one of the few moments from my 4 years at Tsinghua that I remember vividly, and in a way that experience has profoundly shaped who I am.
Take courage, stand up for the right thing, even when it’s very small. Yes, you’ll probably fail most of the time, but you are winning every time you make these choices.
In saying this I’m not encouraging you to simply take risks. Risk has no value for its own sake. I encourage you to have the courage to do the right thing.
Why?
Because people nowadays are obsessed with “success” or “winning”. What I’ve come to understand is that having the courage to do the right thing is ultimately the only way to “succeed” or “win”.
But, you might be wondering, how do you know what the “right thing” is? Here I’ll go back to the two lessons I mentioned earlier: by having a historical perspective, enabling you to identify the big trends, and by working with good people who are looking for solutions.
So I encourage you all to dream big, not for yourselves, but for the sake of the right thing. Allow yourselves to be instruments for a bigger cause. This is the ultimate path to a meaningful life.
You, me, everybody here – we are merely a tiny link in the chain of human history. Life is short, and who knows what will happen tomorrow? When we leave this world, there is nothing we can take with us: not money, not status, not fame. But by having the courage to do the right thing, we can leave something far more significant behind. So be more idealistic, be more courageous, dream bigger, work harder, love more. And together, let’s pass on to the generations to come a better world than we have today.
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