全通翻譯/翻譯社

跟比爾‧蓋茲學英語：比爾‧蓋茲原汁原味哈佛大學畢業典禮演說

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. Now this task is open-ended. It can never be finished. But a conscious effort to answer this challenge can change the world.

I'm 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 until the end — because people just don't care.” I completely disagree.

I believe we have more caring than we know what to do with.

All of us here in this yard, at one time or another, have seen human tragedies that broke our hearts, and yet we did nothing — not because we didn't care, but because we didn't know what to do. If we had known how to help, we would have acted. The barrier to change is not too little caring; it is too much complexity.

To turn caring into action, we need to see a problem, see a solution, and see the impact. But complexity blocks all three steps.

如果我們能找出滿足貧苦者需求，又能替企業創造利益，並為政客帶來選票的解決方法，我們就會找到消弭世上不平等的長久之道。這項任務永無止境，永遠不會結束。但只要刻意努力回應這個挑戰，必能改變世界。

我樂觀地認為我們做得到，但我和宣稱這一切都是無望的懷疑論者交談時，他們卻說：「不平等從一開始就存在著，也會持續到最後──因為人們根本就不在乎」。我完全不同意。

我相信我們擁有的關懷比我們知道該如何付出的還要多。

身處這個校園的你我，在某個時刻，都曾目睹讓我們感到萬分傷心的人間悲劇，但我們卻袖手旁觀──並不是因為我們不在乎，而是因為我們不知該做些什麼。如果我們知道該怎麼幫忙，你我都會付諸行動。

改變的阻礙不在於太少的關心，在於太多的複雜。

要將關心轉化成行動，我們需要看清問題，找出解決方案，評估影響效應，然而複雜性就成了這三步驟的絆腳石。

資料來源：biz 互動英語電子報