比爾蓋茨畢業留言

如果你相信每個生命都是平等的,那么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,那么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:"這個世界怎么可以眼睜睜看著這些孩子死去?"

the answer is simple, 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,是因為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為窮人服務,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----那么,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,又可以為商人帶來利潤,為政治家帶來選票,那么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。----因為人類對這個問題根本不在乎。"我完全不能同意這種觀點。