President Bok, former President Rudenstine, incoming President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, members of the faculty, parents, and especially, the graduates:

校長博克,，前任校長魯?shù)撬固?，接任校長福斯特，校董事會的各位董事,，校務(wù)監(jiān)督委員會的各位委員,，各位老師，各位家長,，特別是,，諸位畢業(yè)生：

I’ve been waiting more than 30 years to say this: "Dad, I always told you I’d come back and get my degree."

我一直等了三十多年，現(xiàn)在終于可以說了：“爸,，我老跟你說,，我會回來拿到我的學(xué)位的！”

I want to thank Harvard for this timely honor. I’ll be changing my job next year … and it will be nice to finally have a college degree on my resume.

感謝哈佛及時地給我這個榮譽,。明年,，我就要換工作（譯者注：從微軟公司退休）……我終于可以在簡歷上寫我有一個大學(xué)學(xué)歷，這真是不錯啊,。

I applaud the graduates today for taking a much more direct route to your degrees. For my part, I’m just happy that the Crimson has called me "Harvard’s most successful dropout." I guess that makes me valedictorian of my own special class … I did the best of everyone who failed.

我為在座的各位畢業(yè)生而鼓掌,，你們拿到學(xué)位可比我輕松多了。而我,，之所以高興,，是因為哈佛的校報稱我是“哈佛大學(xué)歷史上最成功的輟學(xué)生”。我想這大概使我有資格代表我這一類特殊的學(xué)生在此致辭——在所有的失敗者中,，我做得最好,。

But I also want to be recognized as the guy who got Steve Ballmer to drop out of business school. I’m a bad influence. That’s why I was invited to speak at your graduation. If I had spoken at your orientation, fewer of you might be here today.

同時，我也想讓大家也知道,，我就是那個讓史蒂夫?鮑爾默（譯者注：微軟總經(jīng)理）也從哈佛商學(xué)院退學(xué)的家伙,；我影響惡劣,。這就是我被邀請來在你們的畢業(yè)典禮上做演講的原因。要是我在你們的入學(xué)歡迎儀式上演講,，那今天在此的畢業(yè)生可能就更少了,。

Harvard was just a phenomenal experience for me. Academic life was fascinating. I used to sit in on lots of classes I hadn’t even signed up for. And dorm life was terrific. I lived up at Radcliffe, in Currier House. There were always lots of people in my dorm room late at night discussing things, because everyone knew I didn’t worry about getting up in the morning. That’s how I came to be the leader of the anti-social group. We clung to each other as a way of validating our rejection of all those social people.

對我來說，哈佛的求學(xué)是一段非凡的經(jīng)歷,。哈佛的課堂生活令人神往,，我以前常常去旁聽一些課程，甚至連名都不報,。哈佛的課外生活也異彩紛呈,，我在拉德克里夫?qū)W院的卡瑞爾宿舍樓過著逍遙自在的日子。每天我的寢室里總有一幫人待到半夜,，討論著各種事情,，因為他們都知道我從不擔(dān)心第二天要早起。這就讓我慢慢變成了“反社會頭目”,，我們緊密地團結(jié)在一起,，并以此來證明，我們抵制一切“世俗的人們”,。

Radcliffe was a great place to live. There were more women up there, and most of the guys were science-math types. That combination offered me the best odds, if you know what I mean. This is where I learned the sad lesson that improving your odds doesn’t guarantee success.

拉德克里夫是個適合生活的好地方,。那里的女生比男生多，而且大多數(shù)男生都是理工科的,；這給我創(chuàng)造了最好的機會,，如果你們明白我意思的話?？上У氖?，我正是在這里學(xué)到了人生中悲傷的一課：機會多，并不等于你就會成功,。

One of my biggest memories of Harvard came in January 1975, when I made a call from Currier House to a company in Albuquerque that had begun making the world’s first personal computers. I offered to sell them software.

我在哈佛最難忘的一件事情發(fā)生在1975年1月，當(dāng)時,，我從卡瑞爾宿舍樓里給位于阿爾伯克基的一家公司打了個電話,，那家公司已經(jīng)在著手制造世界上第一臺個人電腦。我提出想向他們出售軟件,。

I worried that they would realize I was just a student in a dorm and hang up on me. Instead they said: "We’re not quite ready, come see us in a month," which was a good thing, because we hadn’t written the software yet. From that moment, I worked day and night on this little extra credit project that marked the end of my college education and the beginning of a remarkable journey with Microsoft.

我很擔(dān)心,，他們會發(fā)覺我是一個住校的學(xué)生，從而掛斷電話,。但是他們卻說：“我們還沒準(zhǔn)備好,，一個月后再看看吧。”這是個好消息,，因為那時軟件還根本沒有寫出來呢,。就是從那個時候起,，我夜以繼日地工作，把時間花在這個小小的課外項目上,，這標(biāo)志著了我大學(xué)生活的結(jié)束,，也標(biāo)志著我與微軟的非凡旅程的開始。

What I remember above all about Harvard was being in the midst of so much energy and intelligence. It could be exhilarating, intimidating, sometimes even discouraging, but always challenging. It was an amazing privilege – and though I left early, I was transformed by my years at Harvard, the friendships I made, and the ideas I worked on.

我記憶中的哈佛,，風(fēng)華正茂,，人才輩出。哈佛的生活使人興奮,，讓人膽怯,，有時甚至?xí)械叫箽猓肋h充滿了挑戰(zhàn),。生活在哈佛是一種莫大的榮幸——雖然我離開得比較早,，但是多年在這里生活的經(jīng)歷、在這里結(jié)識的朋友,、在這里形成的觀念,，塑造了一個全新的我。

But taking a serious look back … I do have one big regret.

但是,，仔細地回想過往,，我確實有一大遺憾。

I left Harvard with no real awareness of the awful inequities in the world – the appalling disparities of health, and wealth, and opportunity that condemn millions of people to lives of despair.

我離開哈佛的時候,，根本沒有意識到這個世界是多么的不平等——人類在健康,、財富和機遇上的鴻溝大得驚人，這一切使無數(shù)人陷入了絕望,。