I've always been an optimist and I supposed that is rooted in my belief that the power of creativity and intelligence can make the world a better place.
我天生樂觀，堅信人類憑創造力和聰明才智可以讓世界日益美妙，這一設想一直根植於我的內心深處。
For as long as I can remember, I've loved learning new things and solving problems. So when I sat down at a computer for the first time in seventh grade, I was hooked. It's was a clunky and teletype machine that barely do anything compared to the computer we have today. But it changed my life.
自從記事起，我就熱衷於接觸新事物、挑戰難題。可想而知，我上七年級時第一次坐在計算機前是何等着迷，如入無我之境。那是一臺鏘鏘作響的舊牌機器，和我們今天擁有的計算機相比，它相當遜色幾乎一無所用，但正是它改變了我的生活。
When my friend Paul Allen and I stared Microsoft 30 years ago, we had a vision of "a computer on every desk and in every home," which probably sounded a little too optimistic at a time when most computers were the size of refrigerators. But we believe that personal computer would change the world. And they have.
30 年前，我和朋友保羅·艾倫創辦微軟時，我們幻想實現"在每個家庭、在每張辦公桌上都有一臺計算機"，這在大多數的計算機體積如同冰箱的尺寸的年代，聽起來有點異想天開。但是我們相信個人電腦將改變世界。今天看來果真如此。
And after 30 years, I'm still as inspired by computers as I was back in seventh grade. 30年後，我仍然象上七年級的時候那樣爲計算機而狂熱着迷。
I believe that computers are the most incredible tool we can use to feed our curiosity and inventiveness-to help us solve problems that even the smartest people couldn't solve on their own. Computer have transformed how we learn, giving kids everywhere a window into all of the world's knowledge. They're helping us build communicates around the things we care about and to stay close to the people who are important to us, no matter where they are.
我相信計算機是我們用來滿足好奇心及 發明創造的最神奇的工具--有了它們的幫助，甚至是最聰明的人憑自身力量無法應對的難題都將迎刃而解。計算機已經改變了我們的學習方式，爲全球各地的孩子 們開啓了一扇通向大千世界知識的窗戶。它可以幫我們圍繞我們關注的事物建立"羣"，讓我們和那些對自己重要的人保持密切聯繫，不管他們身處何方。
Like my friend Warren Buffett, I feel particularly lucky to do something every day I love to do. He calls it "tap-dancing to work". My job at Microsoft is as challenging as ever, but what makes me "tap-dancing to the work" is when we show people something new, like a computer that can recognize your handwriting or your speech, or one that can store a lifetime's worth of photos, and the say: "I didn't know you can do that with a pc!"
就像我的朋友沃倫·布非一樣，我爲每天都能做自己熱愛的事情而感到無比幸運。 他稱之爲"踢踏舞工作"。我在微軟的工作永遠充滿挑戰，但使我一直堅持"踢踏舞工作"的是我們向人們展示某些新成果的那些時刻，當他們看到計算機能辨認筆 跡、語音或者能存儲值得保留一輩子的照片時就會讚不絕口："我不敢相信個人電腦竟如此萬能"。
But for all the cool things that a person can do with a pc, there are lots other ways we can put our creativity and intelligence to work to improve our world. There are still far too many people in the world whose most basic needs go unmet. Every year, for example, millions of people die from diseases that are easy to prevent or treat in the developed world. 但是，除了能用電腦做出很酷的事情之外，我們還能通過許多別的方式在工作中發揮自己的創造力和聰明才智，以改善我們的世界。全球仍有許許多多的人連最基本的生存需求都未能解決。舉例來說，每年仍有數以萬計的人死於那些在發達國家易於預防和治療的疾病。
I believe that my own good fortune brings with it a responsibility tp give back to the world. My wife, Melinda, and I have committed to improving health and education in a way that can help as many people as possible.
我認爲，我所擁有的大量財富也使我負有回饋社會的責任。我的妻子梅林達和我致力於爲儘可能多的人改善健康和教育。
As a father, I believe that the death of a child in Africa is no less poignantor tragic than the death of a child anywhere else. And that doesn't take much to make an immense difference in these children's lives.
作爲一個父親，我認爲，非洲孩子死去所引起的痛苦和悲傷絲毫不亞於任何其他的孩子的死亡;我認爲，使這些孩子們的命運發生翻天地覆的變化並不費太大力氣。
I'm still very optimist, and I believe that progress on even the world's toughest problems is possible-and it's happening every day. We're seeing new drugs for deadly diseases, new diagnostic tools, and new attention paid to the health problems in the developing world. 我仍是一個堅定的樂觀主義者，我堅信即使世界級難題取得進展都是有可能的--其實每天也都在發生着這種事情。我們看到治療致命疾病的新藥、新的診斷器械不斷出現，而且，發展中國家的健康問題進入了人們的視野並日益得到重視。
I'm excited by the possibilities I see for medicine, for education and, of course, for technology. And I believe that through our natural inventiveness, creativity and willingness to solve tough problems, we're going to make some amazing achievements in all these areas in my lifetime.
我爲醫藥、教育，當然還有技術發展的諸多前景而歡欣鼓舞。我相信，憑藉人類與生俱來的發明創造能力和不畏艱難、堅忍不拔的品格，在我的有生之年裏我們將在所有這些領域都創造出可喜的成就。
比爾蓋茨英語演講稿 [篇2]
president bok, former president rudenstine, incoming president faust, members of the harvard corporation and the board of overseers, members of thefaculty, parents, and especially, the graduates:
尊敬的bok校長，rudenstine前校長，即將上任的faust校長，哈佛集團的各位成員，監管理事會的各位理事，各位老師，各位家長，各位同學：
i've been waiting more than 30 years to say this: "dad, i always told you i'd come back and get my degree."
有一句話我等了三十年，現在終於可以說了：“老爸，我總是跟你說，我會回來拿到我的學位的！”
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.
我要感謝哈佛大學在這個時候給我這個榮譽。明年，我就要換工作了（注：指從微軟公司退休）……我終於可以在簡歷上寫我有一個本科學位，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.
我爲今天在座的各位同學感到高興，你們拿到學位可比我簡單多了。哈佛的校報稱我是“哈佛大學歷史上最成功的輟學生”。我想這大概使我有資格代表我這一類學生髮言……在所有的失敗者裏，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.
但是，我還要提醒大家，我使得steve ballmer（注：微軟總經理）也從哈佛商學院退學了。因此，我是個有着惡劣影響力的人。這就是爲什麼我被邀請來在你們的畢業典禮上演講。如果我在你們入學歡迎儀式上演講，那麼能夠堅持到今天在這裏畢業的人也許會少得多吧。
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，哈佛的求學經歷是一段非凡的經歷。校園生活很有趣，我常去旁聽我沒選修的課。哈佛的課外生活也很棒，我在radcliffe過着逍遙自在的日子。每天我的寢室裏總有很多人一直待到半夜，討論着各種事情。因爲每個人都知道我從不考慮第二天早起。這使得我變成了校園裏那些不安分學生的頭頭，我們互相粘在一起，做出一種拒絕所有正常學生的姿態。
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.
radcliffe是個過日子的好地方。那裏的女生比男生多，而且大多數男生都是理工科的。這種狀況爲我創造了最好的機會，如果你們明白我的意思。可惜的是，我正是在這裏學到了人生中悲傷的`一課：機會大，並不等於你就會成功。
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 ma-ki-ng the world's first personal computers. i offered to sell them software.
我在哈佛最難忘的回憶之一，發生在1975年1月。那時，我從宿舍樓裏給位於albuquerque的一家公司打了一個電話，那家公司已經在着手製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.
我很擔心，他們會發覺我是一個住在宿舍的學生，從而掛斷電話。但是他們卻說：“我們還沒準備好，一個月後你再來找我們吧。”這是個好消息，因爲那時軟件還根本沒有寫出來呢。就是從那個時候起，我日以繼夜地在這個小小的課外項目上工作，這導致了我學生生活的結束，以及通往微軟公司的不平凡的旅程的開始。
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.
不管怎樣，我對哈佛的回憶主要都與充沛的精力和智力活動有關。哈佛的生活令人愉快，也令人感到有壓力，有時甚至會感到泄氣，但永遠充滿了挑戰性。生活在哈佛是一種吸引人的特殊待遇……雖然我離開得比較早，但是我在這裏的經歷、在這裏結識的朋友、在這裏發展起來的一些想法，永遠地改變了我。
but taking a serious look back…i do have one big regret.
但是，如果現在嚴肅地回憶起來，我確實有一個真正的遺憾。
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麼的不平等。人類在健康、財富和機遇上的不平等大得可怕，它們使得無數的人們被-迫生活在絕望之中。
i left campus knowing little about the millions of young people cheated out of educational opportunities here in this country. and i knew nothing about the millions of people living in unspeakable poverty and disease in developing countries.
我離開校園的時候，根本不知道在這個國家裏，有幾百萬的年輕人無法獲得接受教育的機會。我也不知道，發展中國家裏有無數的人們生活在無法形容的貧窮和疾病之中。
it took me decades to find out.
我花了幾十年才明白了這些事情。
you graduates came to harvard at a different time. you know more about the world's inequities than the classes that came before. in your years here, i hope you've had a chance to think about how--in this age of accelerating technology--we can finally take on these inequities, and we can solve them.
在座的各位同學，你們是在與我不同的時代來到哈佛的。你們比以前的學生，更多地瞭解世界是怎樣的不平等。在你們的哈佛求學過程中，我希望你們已經思考過一個問題，那就是在這個新技術加速發展的時代，我們怎樣最終應對這種不平等，以及我們怎樣來解決這個問題。
imagine, just for the sake of discussion, that you had a few hours a week and a few dollars a month to donate to a cause--and you wanted to spend that time and money where it would have the greatest impact in saving and improving lives. where would you spend it?
爲了討論的方便，請想象一下，假如你每個星期可以捐獻一些時間、每個月可以捐獻一些錢——你希望這些時間和金錢，可以用到對拯救生命和改善人類生活有最大作用的地方。你會選擇什麼地方？
for melinda and for me, the challenge is the same: how can we do the most good for the greatest number with the resources we have.
對melinda（注：蓋茨的妻子）和我來說，這也是我們面臨的問題：我們如何能將我們擁有的資源發揮出最大的作用。
during our discussions on this question, melinda and i read an article about the millions of children who were dying every year in poor countries from diseases that we had long ago made harmless in this country. measles, malaria, pneumonia, hepatitis b, yellow fever. one disease i had never even heard of, rotavirus, was killing half a million kids each year ? none of them in the united states.
在討論過程中，melinda和我讀到了一篇文章，裏面說在那些貧窮的國家，每年有數百萬的兒童死於那些在美國早已不成問題的疾病。麻疹、瘧疾、肺炎、乙型肝炎、黃熱病、還有一種以前我從未聽說過的輪狀病毒，這些疾病每年導致50萬兒童死亡，但是在美國一例死亡病例也沒有。
we were shocked. we had just assumed that if millions of children were dying and they could be saved, the world would make it a priority to discover and deliver the medicines to save them. but it did not. for under a dollar, there were interventions that could save lives that just weren't being delivered.
我們被震驚了。我們想，如果幾百萬兒童正在死亡線上掙扎，而且他們是可以被挽救的，那麼世界理應將用藥物拯救他們作爲頭等大事。但是事實並非如此。那些價格還不到一美元的救命的藥劑，並沒有送到他們的手中。
if you believe that every life has equal value, it's revolting to learn that some lives are seen as worth saving and others are not. we said to ourselves: "this can't be true. but if it is true, it deserves to be the priority of our giving."
如果你相信每個生命都是平等的，那麼當你發現某些生命被挽救了，而另一些生命被放棄了，你會感到無法接受。我們對自己說：“事情不可能如此。如果這是真的，那麼它理應是我們努力的頭等大事。”
so we began our work in the same way anyone here would begin it. we asked: "how could the world let these children die?"
所以，我們用任何人都會想到的方式開始工作。我們問：“這個世界怎麼可以眼睜睜看着這些孩子死去？”
the answer is si-mp-le, and harsh. the market did not reward saving the lives of these children, and governments did not subsidize it. so the children died because their mothers and their fathers had no power in the market and no voice in the system.
答案很簡單，也很令人難堪。在市場經濟中，拯救兒童是一項沒有利潤的工作，政府也不會提供補助。這些兒童之所以會死亡，是因爲他們的父母在經濟上沒有實力，在政治上沒有能力發出聲音。
but you and i have both.
但是，你們和我在經濟上有實力，在政治上能夠發出聲音。
we can make market forces work better for the poor if we can develop a more creative capitalism ? if we can stretch the reach of market forces so that more people can make a profit, or at least make a living, serving people who are suffering from the worst inequities. we also can press governments around the world to spend taxpayer money in ways that better reflect the values of the people who pay the taxes.
我們可以讓市場更好地爲窮人服務，如果我們能夠設計出一種更有創新性的資本主義制度——如果我們可以改變市場，讓更多的人可以獲得利潤，或者至少可以維持生活——那麼，這就可以幫到那些正在極端不平等的狀況中受苦的人們。我們還可以向全世界的政府施壓，要求他們將納稅人的錢，花到更符合納稅人價值觀的地方。
if we can find approaches that meet the needs of the poor in ways that generate profits for business and votes for politicians, we will have found a sustainable way to reduce inequity in the world. this task is open-ended. it can never be finished. but a conscious effort to answer this challenge will change the world.
如果我們能夠找到這樣一種方法，既可以幫到窮人，又可以爲商人帶來利潤，爲政治家帶來選票，那麼我們就找到了一種減少世界性不平等的可持續的發展道路。這個任務是無限的。它不可能被完全完成，但是任何自覺地解決這個問題的嘗試，都將會改變這個世界。
i am optimistic that we can do this, but i talk to skeptics who claim there is no hope. they say: "inequity has been with us since the beginning, and will be with us till the end ? because people just…don't…care." i completely disagree.
在這個問題上，我是樂觀的。但是，我也遇到過那些感到絕望的懷疑主義者。他們說：“不平等從人類誕生的第一天就存在，到人類滅亡的最後一天也將存在。——因爲人類對這個問題根本不在乎。”我完全不能同意這種觀點。
i believe we have more caring than we know what to do with.
我相信，問題不是我們不在乎，而是我們不知道怎麼做。
