桑德伯格2018年麻省理工(MIT)毕业典礼演讲：平静大海无法造就优秀水手

Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg addressed the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Class of 2018 Friday and stressed the importance of using technology for human good.

当地时间周五，Facebook首席运营官(COO)雪莉·桑德伯格（Sheryl Sandberg）参加麻省理工学院（MIT）2018届毕业生典礼并发表演讲，桑德伯格在演讲中强调了利用科技造福人类的重要性。

Sandberg encouraged the graduating class, comprised of over 4,500 undergraduates and 6,900 graduate students, to use education and innovation as a means to foster democracy and equality. Sandberg also addressed Facebook's recent data breaches and privacy issues.

她鼓励由4500多名本科生和6900名研究生组成的MIT 2018届毕业生，将教育和创新作为促进民主、和平等事业的手段；此外，桑德伯格还谈到了Facebook最近遇到的数据泄露和隐私问题。

https://v.qq.com/txp/iframe/player.html?vid=z0682rx1k26&width=500&height=375&auto=0

Read Sandberg's address to the MIT Class of 2018 below:

演讲全文如下：

Esteemed faculty, proud parents, devoted friends, squirming siblings but especially Class of 2018: Congratulations, you made it!

尊敬的老师们、自豪的父母们、亲爱的朋友们、局促不安的学弟学妹们，尤其是2018届的毕业生们：恭喜你们成功了！

It wasn't always easy. You plowed* through four years of problem sets. You conquered the snow of 2015. You survived way too many Weekly Wednesdays at the Muddy Charles [Pub] and learned this important life lesson: There's no such thing as a free chicken wing.

四年，一路走下来实属不易。四年里，你们处理了各种棘手难题。你们征服了2015年的冰雪天气。每周的星期三，你们大都在Muddy Charles酒吧度过，并从中学到了重要的人生经验：没有免费的鸡翅。

*plow：plough的美式拼写

*plough through sth

1) to go through a substance or an area of something with difficulty 费力通过；奋力穿过

2) to finish reading, eating, or dealing with something with difficulty 费劲地做（某事）

We ploughed through the mud.

我们费力地穿过泥泞的地方。

Today, you are graduates of the most revered technical institution in the world. The Harvard people tried to get me to say "most revered institution within a 2-mile radius." I said no, but you'll soon find out how persistent alumni associations can be. Just ask the class of '68: They've been to more fundraisers than you've eaten chicken wings.

今天，你们成为了全球最受尊敬的技术机构的毕业生。哈佛人试图让我称它们是“方圆两英里内最受人尊敬的学府”。我说不，但你很快就会发现MIT校友会有多么的稳固、持久。问问68届的学生就知道了：他们参加的筹款活动比你吃鸡翅还要多。

One thing I remember from graduation is that feeling of turning one corner and not being able to see clearly around the next.

当年我大学毕业时，所记得的一件事情是，当时就有一种“转弯儿”的感觉，根本无法看清在接下来要发生什么。

For someone like me who, yes, very annoyingly started studying for finals the first day of the semester, that was unsettling. Graduation was the first time in my life that the next steps were not clearly laid out. I remember the feeling of excitement and possibility, mixed in with just a teeny bit of crushing uncertainty.

对像我这样的人来说，在学期的第一天就开始为期末考试而烦恼，没错，令人不安。然而，毕业季是我人生中第一次没有明确规划下一步该怎么走的一段时期。我记得当时那种感觉，除了激动，另外感觉还有各种可能情况发生，还夹杂着一点点的不确定性。

If you know exactly what you're going to do for your career, raise your hand. There are always some. That is impressive.

同学们，如果现在你已明确知道了自己的职业目标，请举手。总有一些人有着自己明确的职业目标，这令人印象深刻。

I did not. I didn't know where I would fit in best or contribute most. These days, when I need advice, I turn to Mark Zuckerberg, but back then, he was in elementary school.

不过我没有。我不知道哪里最适合自己，或者说自己在这里能够做最大的贡献。如今，当我需要建议时，我会求助于马克·扎克伯格(Mark Zuckerberg)，不过当时他还在上小学。

I was sure of only one thing:I didn't want to go into business, and it never even occurred to me to go into technology.

我只知道一件事：我不想从事商业，甚至从来没有想过要从事科技行业。

I guess that's a warning for those of you who put your hands up: Certainty is one of the great privileges of youth. Things won't always end up as you think, but you will gain valuable lessons along life's uncertain path.

我想这对刚才那些举手的同学来说是一个警告：确定性是年轻人最大的特权之一。事情不会总是像你想象的那样匆匆结束，但你会在人生的不确定道路上获得宝贵的经验。

首份工作

The lesson I want to share with you today is one I learned in my very first job out of college: working on a leprosy[麻风病] treatment program in India. Since biblical times*, leprosy patients were ostracized* from communities to prevent the disease from spreading.

今天我想和大家分享的是我大学毕业后的第一份工作：在印度从事麻风病治疗项目。从远古时代以来，麻风病患者通常就会被排斥在社区之外，以防止疾病的传播。

*Biblical times 圣经时代，大多数历史学家的观点为是指从公元前1250年摩西带领犹太人出埃及开始算起。

*ostracize：to avoid someone intentionally, or to prevent someone from taking part in the activities of a group 故意避开；排挤，排斥

His colleagues ostracized him after he criticized the company in public.

他公开批评公司之后，同事们对他采取了排斥态度。

By the time I graduated from college, the technical challenges had been solved. Doctors could easily diagnose leprosy that showed up in skin patches on your chest and medicine could easily treat the disease. But the stigma* remained, so patients hid their disease instead of seeking care.

当我大学毕业的时候，关于麻风病技术上的挑战已经被解决。医生可以很容易地诊断出出现在你胸部皮肤上的麻风病，药物可以很容易地治疗这种疾病。但跟这种疾病相关的耻辱感仍然存在，所以病人们通常会隐藏他们的疾病，而不是寻求积极治疗。

*stigma：a strong feeling of disapproval that most people in a society have about something, especially when this is unfair 耻辱；（尤指不公正的）恶名

I will never forget meeting patients for the first time, extending my arm and watching them recoil* because they were not used to even being touched.

我永远不会忘记第一次见到麻风病病人时的情景：我伸出手臂去触摸他们，他们却往后退缩，因为他们不习惯自己被触摸。

*recoil：to move back because of fear or disgust (= dislike or disapproval) 退缩，畏惧；（因为厌恶而）退避

He leaned forward to kiss her and she recoiled in horror.

他俯身去吻她，她惊恐地后退避开。

The real breakthrough didn't come from technicians or doctors but from local community leaders. They knew that they had to erase the stigma before they could erase the disease, so they wrote plays and songs in local languages and went around the local community, encouraging people to come forward without fear.

真正的突破不是来自技术人员或医生，而是来自当地社区的领导人。他们知道，必须为这种疾病正名，才能消除这种疾病，因而他们用当地语言写出了剧本和歌曲，并在社区开展宣传活动，鼓励人们无所畏惧地走上前来诊治疾病。

They understood that the most difficult problems and the greatest opportunities we have are not technical. They are human.

他们明白，我们所面临的最大困难问题和最大的机会，并非技术方面上的，而是人类自身。

In other words, it's not just about technology. It's about people.
换句话说，这不仅仅是技术方面的问题，而是关于人的问题。

网络工具

This is a lesson you've learned here at MIT, and not just those of you graduating with technical degrees, but those who studied management or urban planning, or Course 11 or Course 15, in MIT speak. You know it's people who build technology, and people who use it to make their lives better, to get educated, to get health care, to share an infinite number of cat videos that are all unique and totally adorable — unless you're a dog person.

这是你们在麻省理工学院学到的一课，不仅仅是那些拿着技术学位毕业的人，还包括那些在麻省理工学习管理或城市规划的人，或者学习课程11或课程15的人。你们知道，是人们发明了技术，人们使用技术，目的是让自己的生活变得更好，能够接受教育，获得医疗保健，分享无数的猫咪视频，这些视频都是独一无二的，而且非常可爱——除非你是个爱狗的人。

Today, anyone with an internet connection can inspire millions with a single sentence or a single image. This gives extraordinary power to those who use it to do good — to march for equality; to reignite the movement against sexual harassment; to rally around the things they care about and the people they want to be there for.

今天，任何能够使用互联网的人，都可以用一句话或一张图片来激励数百万人。这赋予了那些使用互联网做好事的人拥有了非凡的权力——为平等而游行；重新点燃反性骚扰运动；团结、聚拢那些关心共同事情的人。

But it also empowers those who seek to do harm.

但是，互联网同样也赋予那些寻求做坏事的人以权力。

When everyone has a voice, some raise them in hatred. When everyone can share, some share lies. When everyone can organize, some organize against the things we value the most.

当每个人都可以发声时，有些人会以仇恨的方式表达。当每个人都可以分享的时候，有些人会分享谎言。当每个人都能被组织起来的时候，有些人会组织起来反对我们最看重的东西。

Journalist Anne O'Hare McCormick wrote about the impact of new technology. She said we had created the ultimate democracy, where anything said by anyone could be heard by everyone, but she worried about whether it provoked partisanship or tolerance, whether it was time wasted or time well spent. She wondered if it explained "all the furious fence-building, the fanned-up nationalisms, and the angers and neuroses of our time."

记者安妮·奥黑尔·麦考密克(Anne O’hare McCormick)报道了关于新技术的影响。她说，我们创造了终极民主，这这里，任何人说的任何话都能被所有人听到。但她担心，这是否会引发党派偏见或容忍，究竟是浪费了时间，还是很好的利用了时间。她不知道这是否解释了“所有的疯狂的建立壁垒，狂热的民族主义，以及我们这个时代的愤怒和神经质。”

She wrote this in 1932, about the radio — and by the way, she was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for journalism.

她在1932年一篇关于无线电广播的文章中提到了这点。顺便说一下，她是第一位获得普利策新闻奖的女性。

迎接挑战

The fact that the challenges we face today are not new does not make them less pressing. Like the generations before us, we have to solve the problems that our technology brings.

我们今天所面临的挑战并不是新的，但这并不意味着我们可以放松节奏去处理它们。就像我们的前辈一样，我们必须解决技术所带来的问题。

I believe there are three ways we can deal with these challenges: We can retreat in fear, we can barrel ahead with a single-minded belief in our technology or we can fight like hell to do all the good we can do with the understanding that what we build will be used by people and people are capable of great beauty and great cruelty.

我认为有三种方法可以应对这些挑战：我们可以在恐惧中退缩；我们可以一意孤行地相信我们的技术；或者，我们可以极尽全力地去做我们能做的所有的好事，因为我们知道，我们所建设的东西将被人们所利用，人类能够用它创建伟大繁荣，也可以制造巨大灾难。

I encourage you to choose the third option: To be clear-eyed optimists; to see that building technology that supports equality, democracy, truth and kindness means looking around corners -- and throwing up every possible roadblock against hate, violence and deception.

我鼓励你们选择第三种选项：做清醒的乐观主义者，认识到要想创造有利于平等，民主，推动真理与善良的技术，就必须统筹兼顾，为仇恨、暴力及欺骗的出现设置一切可能的障碍。

You might be thinking, given some of the issues Facebook has had, isn't what I'm saying hitting pretty close to home?

你可能会想，考虑到Facebook所面临的一些问题，我说的不是非常接地气吗？    

Yes. It is.

是的。

I am proud of what Facebook has done around the world — proud of the connections people have created. Proud of how people use Facebook to organize for democracy, the Women's March, Black Lives Matter. Proud of how people use Facebook to start and grow businesses and create jobs all around the world.

我为Facebook在世界各地所做的事情感到自豪。我为它给人们创造的人脉关系感到自豪；为人们利用Facebook组织民主、如何组织妇女游行，让人们了解黑人生活而自豪；为人们利用Facebook在全球各地创业、发展业务、创造就业机会而自豪。

But at Facebook, we didn't see all the risks coming, and we didn't do enough to stop them.

但在Facebook，我们没有看到所有风险正在逼近，我们也没有采取足够的措施阻止它们。

It's painful when you miss something, when you make the mistake of believing so much in the good you are seeing that you don't see the bad. It's hard when you know that you let people down.

当你错过某件事时、犯了这样的错误时，你会感到很痛苦。不过，你会认为你看到的是好事，而不是坏事。当你能够知道你让别人失望的时候，这是很不容易的。

In the middle of one of my toughest moments, Michael Miller, former Superintendent of the Naval Academy, kindly reached out to remind me that smooth seas never make good sailors.

在我最艰难的时刻之一，海军学院前院长迈克尔·米勒(Michael Miller)亲切地伸出了援手，他提醒我，平静的大海决不能造就出优秀的水手。

He's right. The times in my life that I have learned the most have definitely been the hardest. That is when you will learn the most about yourself. You can almost feel yourself growing; you can feel the growing pains. When you own your mistakes, you can work harder to correct them and even harder to prevent the next ones.

他说的很对。在我的生活中，给我带来收获最多的事情，肯定是最难的事情。这是你了解自己最多的时候。你几乎能感觉到自己在成长，你能够感觉到成长的痛苦。当你承认自己的错误时，你可以更加努力地改正它们，甚至更努力地防止下一次再犯错误。

That's my job now. It won't be easy and it's not going to be fast. But we will see it through.

这就是我现在的工作。这并非轻而易举，也不会立竿见影。但我们会挺过去的。

Yet the larger challenge is one all of us here must face. The role of technology in our lives is growing and that means our relationship with technology is changing.

然而，更大的挑战是我们在座的所有人都必须面对的。科技在我们生活中的作用正在增长，这意味着我们与科技的关系正在改变。

We have to change too. We have to recognize the full weight of our responsibilities. It's not enough to be technologists, we have to make sure that technology serves people. It's not enough or even possible to be neutral. Tools are shaped by the minds that make them as well as the hands that use them.

我们也必须改变。我们必须认识到我们全部的责任。仅仅靠技术专家是不够的，我们必须确保技术为人类服务。仅仅想保持中立还不够，甚至是不可能的。工具是由制造工具的思想和使用工具的手所塑造的。

It's not enough to have a good idea, we have to know when to stop a bad one. This is hard because technology changes faster than society. When I was in college, no one had a cell phone. Today there are more cell phones than people on earth.

仅仅有一个好主意是不够的，我们必须知道什么时候去阻止一个坏主意。这很困难，因为技术的变化比社会发展快。在我上大学的时候，还没有人使用手机。今天全球的手机数量比地球上的总人口还要多。

历史使命

We are in one of the most remarkable moments in human history and you will not just live through it, you will shape it.

我们正处在人类历史上最辉煌的时刻之一，你不仅要经历它，还要塑造它。

Many of you will work on technologies that will change the world. You will connect the rest of the world, create new jobs and disrupt old ones, give machines new powers to think and give us the means to communicate in ways we haven't even thought of.

你们中的许多人将致力于改变世界技术。你们将把世界其他地方连接起来，创造新的就业机会，颠覆旧的就业机会，给机器新的思考能力，给我们以我们从未想过的方式交流手段。

We are not passive observers of these changes. We can't be. Trends do not just happen, they are the result of choices people make.

我们不是这些变化的被动观察者。我们不能成为被动观察者。趋势不会偶尔发生，它们是人们所做出选择的结果。

We are not indifferent creators, we have a duty of care and when even with the best of intentions you go astray*, as many of us have, you have the responsibility to course correct.

我们不是冷漠的创造者，我们有义务去关注，即使是出于好意也可能误入歧途，就像我们很多人一样，你有责任去纠正它。 

*astray：(adv.) away from the correct path or correct way of doing something 偏离正轨地；迷路地；离开正道地；误入歧途地

The letter must have gone astray in the post.

这封信一定是在邮递过程中丢失了。

We are accountable to the people who use what we build, to our colleagues, to ourselves and to our values.

我们对使用我们所创建产品的人负责，对我们的同事负责，对我们自己和我们的价值观负责。

So if you are thinking about joining a team, an NGO, a startup or a company, ask if they are doing good for the world.

所以，如果你想加入一个团队、一个非政府组织、一家初创企业或者一家公司，问问他们是否为世界做了善事。

Research at that other school down the river shows that we become more creative when we ask "Could we?" And we become more ethical when we ask "Should we?"

来自查尔斯河边上的另一所学校的一项研究表明，当问“我们可以吗？”时我们会更有创造力，当问“我们应该这样吗？”时我们会变得更有道德。

So ask both.

所以，两个问题都要问自己。

Know that you have an obligation to never shy away from doing the right thing, because the fight to ensure tech is used for good is never over; to make sure that technology reflects and upholds the right values, we have to build with awareness, and the best way to be more aware is to have more people in the room with different voices and different views.

要知道，你有从不回避做正确的事情义务，因为确保科技被用于善意目的的斗争永远不会结束；为了确保技术能够反映和维护正确的价值观，我们必须意识到，以最好的方式、让更多拥有不同声音、持不同观点的人知晓这些观点。

世界多样性

There are still skeptics out there when it comes to the value of diversity. They dismiss it as something we do to feel better, not to be better.

They are wrong. We cannot build technology for equality and democracy unless we have and we harness diversity in its creation.

当谈到多样性的价值时，仍然有人持怀疑态度。他们认为这是为了让我们感觉更好，但不是真正更好。他们错了。除非我们拥有并利用多样性来创造技术，否则我们不可能建立平等和民主的技术。

More people with more diverse backgrounds are working in technology than ever before and are graduating in your class today than ever before.

在科技行业内，拥有不同背景的人越来越多，在今天在你们班的毕业生中，拥有不同背景的人比以往任何时候都多。

But our industry is still lagging at MIT. Even the newest technology can contain the oldest prejudices and our lack of diversity is at the root of some of the things we fail to see and prevent.
但我们的行业在麻省理工学院仍然落后。即使是最新的技术，也能包含最古老的偏见，而我们在多样性上的偏见，正是一些我们未能看到和未能预防事情的根源。

It is up to all of us to fix that, people like me, and people like you; everyone graduating today and all the graduates to come.

我们所有人都要解决这个问题，包括我，也包括你，包括今天所有的毕业生和未来所有的毕业生。

So continue the example you have lived at MIT. Continue to engage with people outside your discipline, your gender, your race. Talk with people who grew up in different places, who believe different things, who live and worship differently than you do. Talk with them, listen to them, get their perspectives as you have done here and encourage them to work in and with technology too.

因此，继续以你在麻省理工学院的样子生活。继续与你所学学科之外的人、异性以及不同种族的人交往。和那些与你在不同地方长大、信仰不同、生活和信仰不同的人交谈。与他们交谈，倾听他们的意见，获取他们的观点，就像你在这里所做的那样，鼓励他们也与科技合作。

To all the current and future educators here today, let's reform our educational system so we give everyone the opportunity to learn to code. This is a basic language now that needs to be taught in all of our schools so that more people have a choice. When some kids learn it and some don't, that creates an unequal playing field long before people go into the workforce.

对于今天在场的教育者，或未来能够成为教育者的诸位，让我们对教育系统进行改革，从而给每个人学习编程的机会。这是一种基本的语言，需要在我们所有的学校里教授，让更多的人有选择的机会。当一些孩子学会了，而另一些没有学会时，就会使人们在步入职场之前营造出一个不平等的竞争环境。

And to all the future leaders in tech, that's you. Know that you have a chance to right wrongs, not reinforce them.

对于科技领域的未来领导者，那就是你。要知道你有机会改正错误，而不是去强化它们。

Tech institutions can be some of the strongest voices for progress in the workplace, but we can always do better. Encourage your employers and policymakers to ensure that everyone, including contractors, earns a living wage. Fight for paid family leave with equal time for all genders because equality in the workplace will not happen until we have equality in the home and because no one should be forced to choose between the job they need and the family they love. Give people bereavement leave[奔丧假] because when tragedy strikes, we need to be there for each other.

科技机构可能是推动职场进步的最有力声音之一，但我们总是能做得更好。鼓励你的雇主和政策制定者，确保使包括承包商在内的每个人都能得到一份保障生活的工资。为带薪休假而战，让所有性别的人平等享受带薪休假，没有家庭内的平等，就没有工作场所里的平等，因为不应该有人被迫在需要工作和他们所爱的家庭之间做出选择。给那些失去亲人的员工制定奔丧假，因为当悲剧发生的时候，我们需要彼此关怀。

And build workplaces where everyone, everyone, is treated with respect.

建立一个人人都能够受到尊重的工作场所。

We need to stop harassment and hold both perpetrators and enablers accountable and we need to make a personal commitment to stop racism and sexism, including the expressions of bias that become commonplace and accepted instead of rejected and fought.

我们需要阻止骚扰和追究肇事者和案件促成者的责任，我们需要做出个人承诺，来阻止种族主义和性别歧视的蔓延，包括偏见表现，这种偏见表达已经变得司空见惯，人们通常对偏见的表达持默认态度，而不是拒绝和抗争。

入职建议

I want you to know that you can impact the workplace from the very day you enter it.

我想让你们知道，当进入职场的那一天起，你们就能影响工作场所。

A few months ago, LeanIn.org surveyed people to understand how the #MeToo movement was influencing work. After so many brave women spoke out, we found evidence of an unintended backlash: Almost half of male managers in the U.S. are now uncomfortable having a work meeting alone with a woman and even more uncomfortable having a work dinner alone with a female colleague.

几个月前，LeanIn.org经过调查，了解了#MeToo运动是如何影响工作的。在这么多勇敢的女性发表意见后，我们发现了一种无意的反弹迹象：在美国，近一半的男性经理现在不愿意与女性单独会面，更不愿意与女性同事单独共进工作餐。

These are the informal moments where men have long gotten more mentoring than women -- and now it looks like it could get worse. For the men here: Someone may pull you aside in your first week at work and say, "never being alone with a woman."

在这些非正式场合里，男性比女性得到更多的职业指导，而现在看来，这一情况可能会变得更糟。对于这些场合里的男人：有人会在你工作的第一周就把你拉到一边，告诉你“不要和女人单独在一起。”

You know they're wrong. You know how to work with all people. So give them advice instead.

你知道他们错了。你知道如何与所有人合作。因此要给他们一些建议。

Tell them they have the responsibility to make access equal for women and that if they don't feel comfortable having dinner with women, they shouldn't have dinner with men. Group lunches for everyone.
告诉他们，他们有责任让女性获得平等的机会，如果他们不喜欢和女性共进晚餐，就不应该和男性共进晚餐。应该与所有人共进午餐。

In one of my early jobs, I had a boss who treated me quite differently from the two men on my team and not in a good way. He spoke to them with kindness and respect but belittled* me publicly. I tried to talk to him, but that made it worse. My two male teammates right out of school themselves stepped up and it stopped.

在我早期的一份工作中，遇到这样一个老板，他对我的态度不是很好，但对我们团队中另外两个男性员工态度的截然不同，他给他们讲话很和蔼、尊敬，但公开地贬低我。我试着和他说话，但情况变得更糟。我的两个男队友刚从学校毕业，他们自己也站到了我这边，后来这种情况才得到遏制。

*belittle：to make a person or an action seem as if he, she or it is not important 轻视；贬低

Though she had spent hours fixing the computer, he belittled her efforts.

虽然她花了几个钟头修电脑，他却无视她的努力。

Even if you're the most junior person in the room, you have power. Use it, and use it well.

即使你是房间里资历最浅的人，你也有自己的权力。要好好利用它，利用好它。

Class of 2018, it's not the technology you build that will define you. It's the teams you build and what people do with your technology. We have to get this right because we need technology to solve our greatest challenges.

2018届的毕业生们，并不是你所发明的技术能够去定义你，能够定义你的，是你建立的团队和人们如何使用你的技术。我们必须解决这个问题，因为我们需要技术来解决我们所面临的最大挑战。

When I sat where you are sitting today, I never thought I would work in technology, but somewhere along that uncertain path, I learned new lessons and became a technologist. And technologists have always been optimists.

当我坐在你们今天所坐的位置上时，我从来没有想过我会在技术领域工作，但在这一不确定的道路上，我学到了新的东西，并成为了一名技术专家。技术专家一直都是乐观主义者。

We're optimists because we have to be. If you want to do something that has never been done before, so many people will tell you it cannot be done.

我们是乐观主义者，因为我们必须做乐观主义者。如果你想做以前从未做过的事情，很多人会告诉你这是不可能的。

伟大的MIT

Graduates of this amazing university have helped sequence the human genome, paved the way for the treatment of AIDS and made an MIT balloon appear in the middle of the Harvard-Yale football game.

这所神奇的大学的毕业生们，帮助测序了人类基因组，为艾滋病的治疗铺平了道路，并让麻省理工学院的一个气球出现在了哈佛-耶鲁橄榄球赛的中间。

We're optimists because we run the numbers.

Our world can feel polarized and dangerous, but in many critical ways, we are so much better off. A century ago, global life expectancy was 35 for 2 billion people.

我们的世界可能会感到两极分化和危险，但在许多关键的方面，我们的境况要好得多。一个世纪以前，全球20亿人口的平均寿命为35岁。

Today it is 70, for 7 billion.

今天全球人口达到了70亿，平均寿命达到了70岁。

When I graduated, 1 in 3 people lived in extreme poverty. Today it is 1 in 10. It is still way too high but we have made more progress in our lifetimes than in all of human history.

当我毕业时，三分之一的人生活在极度贫困中。现在是十分之一。这个数字仍然太高，但我们一生中取得的进步比人类历史上的任何时期都要多。

Our challenge now is to be clear-eyed optimists, or to paraphrase President Kennedy, optimists without illusions: To build technology that improves lives and gives voice to those who often have none while preventing misuse, to build teams that better reflect the world around us with all its complexity and diversity.

我们现在面临的挑战是，要做一个头脑清醒的乐观主义者，或者像肯尼迪总统那样，做一个不抱任何幻想的乐观主义者：创建技术从而改善生活，为那些防止滥用技术但往往一无所有的人发声，创建出能够反映世界充满多样性和复杂性的团队。

If we succeed — and we'll succeed — we will build technology that better serves not just some of us, but all of us.
如果我们成功了，我们也将会取得成功，我们将创造出更好地服务，不仅仅是我们当中的一部分人，而且将服务于我们所有的人。

MIT graduate and former faculty member David Baltimore won a Nobel Prize for his work on the interaction between viruses and the genetic material of the cell. But before that, he helped bring biologists, lawyers and physicians together to debate new gene editing technology. They were worried that it had the potential to cause more harm than good, but they concluded that the opportunities for progress were too great, so they created voluntary ethical guidelines and continued the research.

作为麻省理工学院的毕业生和前教员，戴维·巴尔的摩（David Baltimore）研究病毒与细胞遗传物质的相互作用而获得诺贝尔奖。但在此之前，他曾帮助生物学家、律师和医生一起讨论过新的基因编辑技术。他们担心这项研究所带来的后果可能会带来弊大于利，但他们得出的结论是，这项研究取得进展的机会太大了，因此他们制定了自愿的伦理准则，并继续进行研究。

That decision led to some of the greatest advances in genetic science and medicine.

正是这一决定，导致了基因科学和医学的获得了重大进步。

It also set a standard that we as technologists can follow: Seek advice from people with different perspectives, look deeply at the risks as well as the benefits of new technology and if those risks can be managed, keep going even in the face of uncertainty.
它还为我们作为技术人员设定了可以遵循的标准：向不同视角的人寻求建议，深入研究新技术带来的风险和好处，如果这些风险能够得到管理，即使面对不确定性，也要坚持下去。

结语

Class of 2018, you are now graduates of one of the most forward-thinking places on earth.

2018届毕业生，你们现在是地球上最具前瞻性思维的毕业生。

You will have tremendous opportunities and you will be highly sought after. You will use what you learned here to work on some of the most critical questions we face.

你们将有巨大的机会，你们将被高度关注。你们将用在这里学到的知识来解决我们面临的一些最关键的问题。

I hope you will use your influence to make sure technology is a force for good in the world. Technology needs a human heartbeat; the things that bring us joy and the things that bring us together are the things that matter most.

我希望你们能发挥影响力，确保技术成为世界上一种善的力量。技术需要人来创建，希望你们所带来的技术，能够给我们带来欢乐，让我们聚在一起，这才是最重要的。

The future is in your hands. Congratulations!

未来掌握在你们手中。恭喜你们！

译文来源：凤凰网科技 编译/若水

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