哈佛大学校长的告别演讲
作者：news发表时间：2011年02月22日 (1周前)
美文于我，从来不意味着华丽辞藻的堆砌，更不是平仄工整的秩序，美文应是一种思想的折射，一种语言之上的光华，简单，简洁，却又是一个谜，一种挑战，一种意味深长。套用张爱玲那句常用的诗句：于千万人之中，遇见你要遇见的人。于千万年之中，时间无涯的荒野里，没有早一步，也没有迟一步，遇上了也只能轻轻地说一句：“你也在这里吗？” 希望我选的文章也能给你带来如此感觉，于愿足矣。
Good bye and good luck!
by Lawrence H.Summers, President of Harvard University
Today, I speak from this podium a final time as your president.As I depart, I want to thank all of youwith whom I have been privileged to work over these past years.Some of us have had our disagreements, but I know that which unites us transcends that which divides us.I leave with a full heart, grateful for the opportunity I have had to lead this remarkable institution.
Since I delivered my inaugural addre, 56 months ago, I have learned an enormous amount—about higher education, about leadership, and also about myself.Some things look different to me than they did five years ago.The world that today’s Harvard’s
graduates are entering is a profoundly different one than the world administrators entered.It is a world where opportunities have never been greater for those who know how to teach children to read, or those who know how to distribute financial risk; never greater for those who understand the cell and the pixel; never greater for those who can master, and navigate between, legal codes, faith traditions, computer platforms, political viewpoints.It is also a world where some are left further and further behindbut desperately in need of wisdom.Now, when sound bites are getting shorter, when instant meages crowd out eays, and when
individual lives grow more frenzied, college graduates capable of deep reflection are what our world needs.
For all these reasons I believedin the unique and irreplaceable miion of universities.
Universities are where the wisdom we cannot afford to lose is preserved from generation to generation.Among all human institutions, universities can look beyond present norms to future poibilities, can look through current considerations to emergent opportunities.And among universities, Harvard stands out.With its great tradition, its iconic reputation, its remarkable network of 300,000 alumni, Harvard has never had as much potential as it does now.
And yet, great and proud institutions, like great and proud nations at their peak, must
surmount a very real risk: that the very strength of their traditions will lead to caution, to an inward focus on prerogative and to a complacency that lets the world pa them by.
And so I say to you that our University today is at an inflection point in its history.At such a moment, there is temptation to elevate comfort and consensus over progre and clear direction, but this would be a mistake.The University’s matchle resourcesdemand that we seize this moment with vision and boldne.To do otherwise would be a lost opportunity.We can spur great deeds that history will mark decades and even centuries from now.If Harvard can find the courage to change itself, it can change the world.
【中文译文】：
再见，好运！
哈佛大学校长 劳伦斯 萨默斯
今天，我将以校长的身份，最后一次在这个讲台上演讲。即将离任前，我要感谢诸位学生、教师、校友和员工，而且非常荣幸在过去的5年里能与你们共事。我们中的一些人意见不尽相同， 但是，我知道，我们的共识远远超越分歧。我心满意足的离开哈佛，感激你们给我机会领导这所杰出的学府。
自从56个月前我发表上任讲话以来，我学到了很多——关于高等教育，关于领导艺术，也关于自我完善。在我看来，现在与5年前不同了。今天的哈佛毕业生正在进入的世界和管理人员当年所进入的世界相比已是大相径庭了。
现今世界，机遇对于这些人来说是空前的：他们知道如何教子女阅读；他们知道如何组合投资；他们懂得基本存储单元和像素概念；他们能掌握各种法典、传统信仰、计算机平台、政治观点并在其中游刃有余。
同时，现今世界，一些人越来越落后于时代。这些人没受过教育、深陷于贫穷和暴力、平等机遇对他们而言，仅是一句空话。
科技进步正在使我们能够探索宇宙的边陲、物质最基本的成分及生命的奇迹。
与此同时，今天，人类所做的及没能做到的事情，不仅危害到这个星球上的生命，也危害到该星球的寿命。
全球化正在使地球变得愈来愈小、愈来愈快和愈来愈富有。尽管如此，9/
11、禽流感及伊朗提醒我们，更小更快的世界决不意味着其更安全。
我们正处于一个知识爆炸的世界之中，不过，迫切需要智慧。现在，在（新闻采访的）原声摘要播出变得愈来愈短，即时信息淘汰了杂记文，个人生活变得如痴如狂之际，这个世界还是需要能够深思的大学生。
考虑到这些理由，我过去信仰，而今天甚至更加强烈地信仰大学独特的、无可取代的使命。 大学是人类把不可或缺的智慧世代流传的殿堂。就人类所有公共机构而言，仅仅大学，能够超越当前的准则，注意到未来的可能性；能通过目前的判断，注意到突发的机遇。
哈佛在大学中间，鹤立鸡群。凭其伟大的传统、因袭声誉及其非凡的300000校友网，哈佛的潜力前所未有。
可是，就像伟大和自豪的国家在其鼎盛时期一样，它们必须克服一个完全不能掉以轻心的危险因素：它们传统的绝对强势将会导致谨小慎微、追求内部特权及自满，这将使它们不能与时俱进.今天，哈佛正处于其历史的转折点。此时此刻的自然倾向是，把贪图舒适和随波逐流留凌驾于进步和方向性之上，但，这可能是错误的。大学无与伦比的资源 ——人力、物力、财力——要求我们远见卓识和勇敢地抓住这个时机，否则，将会坐失良机。我们能推动将会被历史永世铭记的伟大的事业。如果哈佛能找到勇气来改变自己，它就能改变世界
