从政坛铁腕到商界巨贾，从文学名家到娱乐新秀，年代变迁、行当不同、风格各异，却都在毕业演说的讲台上道出了自己的人生真谛。

　　对毕业生们来说，这是离开校园前的一次听讲，也是初涉社会的次受洗。来吧，听一听睿智多思的声音，想一想充满挑战的未来，带上智慧和自信——出发!

　　1.

　　John F. Kennedy, American University, 1963

　　约翰·F·肯尼迪，美国大学，1963

　　John F. Kennedy (1917~1963): the 35th President of the United States

　　Words of Wisdom:

　　Let us examine our attitude toward peace itself. Too many of us think it is impossible. Too many think it unreal. But that is a dangerous, defeatist belief. It leads to the conclusion that war is inevitable, that mankind is doomed, that we are gripped by forces we cannot control.

　　We need not accept that view. Our problems are man-made—therefore, they can be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings. Man’s reason and spirit have often solved the seemingly unsolvable—and we believe they can do it again.

　　2.

　　Bradley Whitford, Wisconsin, 2006

　　布兰德利·惠特福德，威斯康星大学，2006

　　Bradley Whitford (1959~): an American film and television actor. Best known for his role as Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman on the NBC television drama The West Wing.

　　Words of Wisdom:

　　Take action. Every story you’ve ever connected with, every leader you’ve ever admired, every puny little thing that you’ve ever accomplished is the result of taking action. You have a choice. You can either be a passive victim of circumstance or you can be the active hero of your own life. Action is the antidote(解药) to apathy and cynicism and despair. You will inevitably make mistakes. Learn what you can and move on. At the end of your days, you will be judged by your gallop, not by your stumble.

　　3.

　　Winston Churchill, Harrow School, 1941

　　温斯顿·丘吉尔，哈罗公学，1941

　　Winston Churchill (1874~1965): Prime Minister of Britain (1940~1945; 1951~1955)

　　Words of Wisdom:

　　Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense.

　　4.

　　Russell Baker, Connecticut College, 1995

　　拉塞尔·贝克，康乃迪克学院，1995

　　Russell Baker (1925~): an American Pulitzer Prize-winning writer known for his satirical commentary and self-critical prose, as well as for his autobiography, Growing Up.

　　Words of Wisdom:

　　Listen once in a while. It’s amazing what you can hear. On a hot summer day in the country you can hear the corn growing, the crack of a tin roof buckling(由于受压或受热而弯曲) under the power of the sun. In a real old-fashioned parlor silence so deep you can hear the dust settling on the velveteen settee, you might hear the footsteps of something sinister gaining on(逼近) you, or a heart-stoppingly beautiful phrase from Mozart you haven’t heard since childhood, or the voice of somebody—now gone—whom you loved. Or sometime when you’re talking up a storm(侃侃而谈) so brilliant, so charming that you can hardly believe how wonderful you are, pause just a moment and listen to yourself. It’s good for the soul to hear yourself as others hear you, and next time maybe, just maybe, you will not talk so much, so loudly, so brilliantly, so charmingly, so utterly shamelessly foolishly.

　　5.

　　Conan O’Brien, Harvard, 2000

　　柯南·奥布赖恩，哈佛大学，2000

　　Conan O’Brien (1963~): an American television host and comedian

　　Words of Wisdom:

　　I’ve dwelled on my failures today because, as graduates of Harvard, your biggest liability is your need to succeed. You need to always find yourself on the sweet side of the bell curve(钟形曲线). Because success is a lot like a bright, white tuxedo. You feel terrific when you get it, but then you’re desperately afraid of getting it dirty, of spoiling it in any way.

　　I left the cocoon of Harvard, I left the cocoon of Saturday Night Live(《周六夜现场》), I left the cocoon of The Simpsons(《辛普森一家》). And each time it was bruising and tumultuous(喧嚣的). And yet, every failure was freeing, and today I’m as nostalgic for the bad as I am for the good.

　　So, that’s what I wish for all of you: the bad as well as the good. Fall down, make a mess, break something occasionally. And remember that the story is never over.

　　6.

　　Steve Jobs, Stanford, 2005

　　史蒂夫·乔布斯，斯坦福大学，2005

　　Steve Jobs (1955~2011): an American business magnate, the co-founder and chief executive officer of Apple

　　Words of Wisdom:

　　No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to Heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It is life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

　　Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma(教条)—which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.... Stay hungry, Stay foolish.

　　7.

　　David Foster Wallace, Kenyon, 2005

　　戴维·福斯特·华莱士，凯尼恩学院，2005

　　David Foster Wallace (1962~2008): an American author of novels, essays, and short stories

　　Words of Wisdom:

　　“Learning how to think” really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience. Because if you cannot exercise this kind of choice in adult life, you will be totally hosed(打垮).

　　8.

　　Barbara Kingsolver, Duke, 2008

　　芭芭拉·金索沃，杜克大学，2008

　　Barbara Kingsolver (1955~): an American novelist, essayist, poet and activist

　　Words of Wisdom:

　　If somebody says “Your money or your life,” you could say, “Life.” And mean it. You’ll see things collapse in your time, the big houses, the empires of glass. The new green things that sprout up through the wreck—those will be yours.

　　The arc of history is longer than human vision. It bends. We abolished slavery, we granted universal suffrage(普选权). We have done hard things before. And every time it took a terrible fight between people who could not imagine changing the rules, and those who said, “We already did. We have made the world new.” The hardest part will be to convince yourself of the possibilities, and hang on.