美国斯坦福大学校长2017新生演讲：保存好奇心，服务世界，忠于自己

　　最近，美国斯坦福大学举行了2021届学生的开学典礼，校长Marc Tessier-Lavigne向新生发表了主题演讲。

　　在演讲中，校长Marc Tessier-Lavigne反复强调“你们属于这里”，鼓励新生把握斯坦福提供的种种机会，为世界的进步作出自己的贡献，在纷繁复杂的世界中不忘初心、砥砺前行。并送给了新生三大期许：保持好奇与开放精神，敏于机遇；热心公益，投身世界；探索自我，忠于自我，做可靠的人，做最好的自己。

　　校长致辞原文（节选）

　　一年级的新生和转学生们，我十分荣幸地欢迎你们每一个人来到斯坦福大学。你们的思想、心灵，以及你们的故事，也鼓舞着我们。

　　To our incoming first year and transfer students, I am honored to welcome each of you to Stanford University. Your mind, your heart, and the story of who you are inspire us.

　　我们期待着能够帮助你们展翅飞翔，相信你们的到来，也将会为我们的校园增添光彩。感谢今天出席的父母以及其他家属们，感谢你们将所爱之人托付给我们。我们承诺，必定会竭尽所能，把他们当做自己的家人和孩子来对待。

　　We are so looking forward to helping you spread your wings and fly… and to how your presence will enrich our campus.To all of the parents and family members who are here, thank you so much for entrusting your loved ones to us. We pledge to do our best by them as though they are our own.

　　其实，我的女儿Ella就是斯坦福大学读大二的一名学生。我希望你们知道，就像欢迎我们的学生一样，我们欢迎你们所有人加入斯坦福的大家庭。

　　In fact, a Stanford sophomore is my own – my daughter Ella.Please know, just as we welcome our students, we welcome all of you to the Stanford family.

　　同学们，你们将会参加一系列学术交流或课外活动，开始一段美好的自我探索，以及发现世界之旅。借此之际，我很高兴能与大家分享一些想法。

　　Students, as you begin an incredible odyssey of self-discovery and world discovery through academic and extracurricular activities, I am thrilled by the opportunity to share a few thoughts.

　　首先，我想在Alexis（斯坦福高年级学生代表）刚才所说的基础上，重申一下：你属于这里。然后，我希望你们努力做到这三点：敏于机遇 、热心公益 、忠于自我。

　　First, I want to build on what Alexis just said and to reaffirm that you belong here. And, then I want to challenge you to do three things:

　　To be curious amidst opportunity.

　　To be of service to the world; and

　　To be true to the best you know.

　　最重要的一点就是：你属于这里。

　　Again, the foremost thing I want you all to know is: you belong here.

 

　　无论你是家里第一个上大学的人，或是来自精英家庭。无论你是美国人，还是来自其他任何地方；无论你的家庭是哪一种经济阶层，有着什么样的经济基础；无论你是坚定于一个身份、一个群体、一个信仰、一种天分、一个活动、一个政党、一个人生哲理，或是其他任何重要的……你热爱的事情，又或者，你还处于迷茫期。

　　我都希望你们能明白这一点：你属于这里。

　　Whether you are the first person in your family to go to college, or whether many people in your family have attended college. Whether you and your family were born in the United States, or in another special place somewhere around the world. Whether you come from a family of lesser or greater financial means. Whether you are strongly committed to an identity, a group, a faith, a talent, an activity, a political party, a life philosophy—something important … something near and dear to you—or whether you are still figuring out a lot of those things.

　　I want all of you to know: you belong here.

　　即使你们所有人都来到了斯坦福，都属于斯坦福，这也并不意味着你们的未来都是安逸的。我们知道你们能够应对一些挑战，但这并不意味着需要你们去独自应对。

　　Now, even though all of you belong, this doesn’t mean it will always be easy.  We know you are up to the challenges that will come your way, but that doesn’t mean you need to tackle them alone.

　　要知道，你们在这里的每一步，我们都在你们身旁提供指导与支持。你们的朋友，你们的RAs（远程访问服务器）、教授，以及学校里大量的支持系统都会随时待命，为你们提供帮助。

　　所以，去积极参与去努力探索属于你们的人生吧。自信些！你们属于这里。

　　有了这种归属感，也意味着肩负了一定的责任：你也将竭尽所能，为斯坦福这一大家庭贡献一份力。

　　Know that we are here for you every step of the way.  Ask for guidance and support. Your peers, your RAs, your professors, and the myriad support services around the university stand ready to help.

　　So, explore and participate in your experiences with confidence, knowing you belong here.

　　But with this belonging comes a responsibility: that you too will do your part to make Stanford a community that fosters belonging for all its members.

　　我们知道，斯坦福的辉煌，源于她的多样性，接受所有背景、国籍、种族、性别、身份、宗教、政治观点和思维方式的文化。

　　一个学校的兴旺繁荣，取决于能否让学生能够在相互包容、彼此尊重的文化中，进行自由和开放的思想交流，尤其是其他人的观点与自己并不一致的时候。

　　Throughout the university, we know that our strength comes from the diversity of our community and our culture of inclusion of people of all backgrounds, nationalities, races, genders, identities, religions, political views and ways of thinking.

　　A thriving academic community depends on the free and open exchange of ideas in a culture of mutual respect, even – and especially – if the ideas and perspectives of others don’t square with our own.

　　所以，好好利用我们大学的多样性。多去了解来自不同阶层，各个国家、不同地区，有着不同观点、不同的宗教信仰的老师和同学们，他们能够丰富你们世界观，并与你们建立终身的友谊与感情。视野的拓展，人脉的累积，都是你将在斯坦福度过的日子里得到的最重要的礼物之一。

　　So, draw on our diversity.  Get to know your peers and members of the faculty from different backgrounds and perspectives, from different regions and countries. They will profoundly enrich your world-view, and you will develop relationships that last a lifetime.  The broadening of your horizons, and the web of relationships you will develop, will be among the most important gifts you will take away from your time here at Stanford.

　　现在，我想提出我对你们的第一个要求。我希望你们能够抓住机遇，并且保持好奇心，积极探索。

　　Now, I want to offer my first challenge. I challenge you to be curious amidst opportunity.

　　在斯坦福大学的四年里，你们可以接触到各个领域和各个学科前沿的杰出学者：包括艺术、人文、社会科学、科学和工程，法律、医学、商业、教育，以及公共服务、创业领域。我希望你们能够充分利用这些，不要过于狭隘地选择某个研究领域。

　　In your own four years here at Stanford, you will have access to extraordinary scholars on the leading edge of every field and discipline: in the arts, humanities, social sciences, sciences and engineering; in law, medicine, business, and education; in public service, and in entrepreneurship. I urge you to take advantage of this breadth, not to focus too narrowly as you choose a field of study.

 

　　现在，你们中的一些人可能已经在考虑，是否要选择一些在毕业后比较实用的和利于就业的东西。我当然能理解那种想法。事实上，这也是我要求你们去勇于冒险、追随激情、延展自己、保持开放的原因。这是一种广泛的教育，因为你们需要为这个迅速发展、全球化的世界做最好的准备。

　　Now, some of you may already be thinking about choosing something that will be practical and employable after graduation. I can certainly understand that kind of thinking. In fact, perhaps paradoxically, it is part of why I want to challenge you to embrace adventure, to follow passions, to stretch yourself, and to stay open. That’s because your best preparation for a rapidly evolving and more globalized world is, in fact, a broad education.

　　现在，其实我希望在第一天就有一个人告诉我：其实生活有着不同的阶段。所以即使你提前计划，也要保持开放。

　　Here is what I wish someone had told me on my first day: Life is lived in chapters. So even as you plan ahead, always keep an open mind.

　　如今，我担任着斯坦福大学的校长，这是我生命中伟大荣誉之一。我很高兴能鼓励你们踏上这一振奋人心的学习之旅。因此，基于我的个人经验，我希望你们除了在所选择的专业领域里深入学习，还能够广泛地去接触、了解斯坦福大学所提供的其他知识。

　　Now, serving as president of Stanford, one of the great honors of my life, I have the pleasure of encouraging you on your own exciting journey of possibility. Based on my personal experience, I therefore hope that, beyond getting deep knowledge in the area of concentration you select – in your major – you will also expose yourself broadly to what Stanford has to offer.

　　在你决定要专注于某个领域的时候，要敞开心胸去爱上一些其他东西，接受新的知识领域，开始新的探索之路。思想、灵感、实验、激情、协同、问题、联系、挑战——或者这些能让你有新的发现。

　　所以，要保持好奇心，抓住机会，去追求自己热爱的东西。

　　As you decide what to focus on, be open to falling in love with the unexpected – new areas of knowledge and paths to discovery.

　　Ideas, inspirations, experiments, passions, synergies, questions, connections, challenges – these invaluable flecks are the units of discovery.

　　So, be curious, and go after the opportunities that make your heart sing.

　　最后，我希望你们热心公益。自斯坦福创办以来，我们追求完美，但不是为了完美。我们追求完美是为了改变世界，让这个世界变得更美好。

　　你们学习期间，学校会竭力支持你们，帮助你们成长，为了让世界变得更加美好而努力。

　　Next, I challenge you to be of service to the world.

　　Since the founding of Stanford, we have pursued and celebrated excellence, but not for the sake of excellence.  We pursue excellence as a means to make the world a better place. In your years here, we will seek to support you and to help you nurture within you this higher purpose – the betterment of the world.

　　我希望你们能够挑战自己。忠于自我，努力做到最好。用你们的正直与勇气，努力学习，勇于探索，让家庭、学校为你们而骄傲！这意味着，照顾自己，也照顾身边人；尊重自己，也尊重他人；尊重自己的身体，也尊重他人的身体；对自己负责，也对他人负责，防止性暴力。

　　I invite you to rise to her challenge.

　　Being true to the best you know means making yourself, your family and our university proud – through your integrity and your courage in personal and academic choices. Being true to the best you know means taking care of yourself and taking care of others;  respecting yourself and respecting others; respecting your body and respecting the bodies of others; holding yourself and one another accountable for preventing sexual violence.

　　2021届的学生们，我们知道，你们都非常的出色。享受这激动人心的一刻！这只是开始，接下来会更加精彩！相信我，你们准备好了！

　　学生们、家长们、朋友们——欢迎来到斯坦福大学！

　　Class of 2021, we know you are an extraordinary class. Enjoy this exhilarating beginning to all of what comes next. Trust me, you are ready.

　　Class of 2021, transfer students, families, and friends—welcome to Stanford University!