真理的追求与大学的使命——哈佛大学校长白乐瑞北京大学演讲（节选）
2019年3月20日上午，哈佛大学校长白乐瑞（Lawrence S. Bacow）访问北京大学，并发表题为“真理的追求与大学的使命（The Pursuit of Truth and the Mission of the University）”的演讲。
Great universities stand for truth, and the pursuit of truth demands perpetual effort. Truth has to be discovered, revealed through argument and experiment, tested on the anvil of opposing explanations and ideas. This is precisely the function of a great university, where scholars in every field and discipline debate and marshal evidence in support of their theories, as they strive to understand and explain our world.
伟大的大学坚持真理，而追求真理需要不懈的努力。真理需要被发现，它只有在争论和试验中才会显露，它必须经过对不同的解释和理论的检验才能成立。这正是一所伟大大学的任务。各学科和领域的学者在大学里一起辩论，各自寻找证据来支持自己的理论，努力理解并解释我们的世界。
This search for truth has always required courage, both in the sciences, where those who seek to shift paradigms have often initially met with ridicule, banishment, and worse, and in the social sciences, arts, and humanities, where scholars have often had to defend their ideas from political attacks on all sides.
追求真理需要勇气。在自然科学中，想要推动范式转移的科学家常常被嘲讽，被放逐，甚至经历更大的厄运。在社会科学和人文学科里，学者们常常需要防备来自各个方面的政治攻击。
演讲会现场（来源：“北京大学”微信公众号）
It is no wonder, then, that transformational thought and action often take root on university campuses. Overturning conventional wisdom takes a remarkable amount of grit and determination, as well as a willingness to welcome contrary views and to risk being proved wrong. Great universities nurture these qualities. They are places where individuals are encouraged both to listen and to speak, where the value of an idea is discussed and debated — not suppressed or silenced.
正因为这样，开创性的的思想和行动往往是从大学校园里开始生长。改变传统思维模式需要巨大的决心和毅力，也需要欢迎对立观点的意愿，需要直面自己错误的勇气。伟大的大学培养这些品质，鼓励人们倾听，鼓励人们发言。不同想法可以切磋，也可以争论，但不会被压制，更不会被禁止。
If we stand for truth, we must appreciate diversity in every possible dimension. We must invite into our communities those people who challenge our thinking — and listen to them. Most of all, we must embrace the difficult task of being quick to understand and slow to judge.
要坚持真理，我们就必须接受并欣赏思想的多元 。对挑战我们思想的人，我们应该欢迎他们到我们中间来，听取他们的意见。最重要的是，我们必须能够敏锐地去理解，但不急于作出评判。