In the curious custom of this venerable institution, I find myself standing before you expected to impart words of lasting wisdom. Here I am in a pulpit, dressed like a Puritan minister –an apparition that would have horrified many of my distinguished forebears and perhaps rededicated some of them to the extirpation of witches. This moment would have propelled Increase and Cotton into a true “Mather lather”. But here I am and there you are and it is the moment of and for Veritas.

　　根據這所受人尊重的大學別具一格的傳統，我站在你們面前，要為你們傳授亙古不變的智慧。此刻，我站在講臺上，打扮得像個清教徒-我們的傑出先輩們可能會被我這幽靈似的形象嚇壞了，也許還會讓一些前輩們重新致力於剷除女巫的事業。而這一時刻可能會使因克瑞斯·馬瑟和科頓·馬瑟父子(因克瑞斯，哈佛第六任校長，任職期間與神職人員在宗教問題上出現糾紛，最終辭職和其子科頓在耶魯任教)大為惱火。但是現在，我在這裡，你們在臺下，這一刻屬於真理，也為真理而存在。

You have been undergraduates for four years. I have been president for not quite one. You have known three presidents; I one senior class. Where then lies the voice of experience? Maybe you should be offering the wisdom. Perhaps our roles could be reversed and I could, in Harvard Law School style, do cold calls for the next hour or so.

　　你們已經在這兒學習了四年，我擔任校長卻還不到一年。你們已經認識了三屆校長，而我只認識你們這一屆的學生。因此，我哪有什麼經驗之談，或許我們應該呼喚角色，你們到臺上展示智慧，而我坐在下面聽你們說，像哈佛大學法學院的學生一樣冷不丁的提出幾個問題。

We all do seem to have made it to this point-more or less in one piece. Though I recently learned that we have not provided you with dinner since May 22. I know we need to wean you from Harvard in a figurative sense. I never knew we took it quite so literally.

　　在經歷了諸多事情之後，我們似乎終於盼到了畢業這一時刻的到來-而且基本順利，沒出什麼大的狀況。最近我聽說學校食堂從5月22日開始就已經向你們停止供應伙食。雖然“哈佛遲早會給你斷奶”，但我沒想到，學校斷奶斷的這樣徹底。

But let’s return to that notion of cold calls for a moment. Let’s imagine this was a baccalaureate service in the form of Q&A, and you were asking the questions. “What is the meaning of life, President Faust? What were these four years at Harvard for? President Faust, you have learned something since you graduated from college exactly 40 years ago?” (Forty years. I’ll say it out loud since every detail of my life-and certainly the year of my Bryn Mawr degree-now seems to be publicly available. But please remember I was young for my class. )

　　剛才談到提問題，現在我們還是接著這個話題講吧。讓我們假設這裡是以問和答形式進行的哈佛大學本科畢業生大會。然後又有學生問我，“校長，您能為我解釋一下生活的意義嗎?我知道您已經大學畢業40年了，這40年裡您一定學到了很多東西。”(40年!我可以與你們分享我人生中的每一個細節，當然包括我獲得布林茅爾女子學院學位的那一年。不過這些經歷現在似乎都已經是眾所周知了。但是還是要請你們記住：當時在我們班，我可算是年紀小的。)

In a way, you have been engaging me in this Q&A for the past year. On just these questions, although you have phrased them a bit more narrowly. And I have been trying to figure out how I might answer and, perhaps more intriguingly, why you were asking.

　　從某種意義上說，你們在過去一年就提給我提出諸多問題，儘管你們的問題的措辭會過於嚴密，但是我依舊很認真地思考要怎樣回答你們的問題，同時對我來說也許更有趣的是，我會猜想你們為什麼會提出這樣的問題。

Let me explain. It actually began when met with the UC just after my appointment was announced in the winter of 2007. Then the questions continued when I had lunch at Kirkland House, dinner at Leverett, when I met with students in my office hours, even with some recent graduates I encountered abroad. The first thing you asked me about wasn’t curriculum or advising or faculty contact or even student space. In fact, it wasn’t alcohol policy. Instead, you repeatedly asked me: why are so many of us going to Wall Street? Why are we going in such numbers from Harvard to finance, consulting, i-banking?

　　請聽我的解釋。從2007年冬天我接任哈佛校長的訊息公佈後，我開始和哈佛理事會接觸，不論是我在柯克蘭宿舍吃午飯還是在李維特宿舍吃晚飯，或是在辦公時間會見學生，甚至當我在國外遇見哈佛的畢業生時，我都會聽到你們的問題。你們問我的第一個問題不是關於課業，不是向我徵求意見，也不是簡單的師生聯絡。相反，你們反覆詢問的問題是：為什麼我們中那麼多人去華爾街工作?為什麼這麼多學生從哈佛走向了金融機構，理財諮詢機構，投資銀行機構?

There are a number of ways to think about this question and how to answer it. There is the Willie Sutton approach. You may know that when he was asked why he robbed banks, he replied, “Because that’s where the money is.” Professors Claudia Goldin and Larry Kats, whom many of you have encountered in your economics concentration, offer a not dissimilar answer based on their study of student career choices since the seventies. They find it notable that, given the very high pecuniary rewards in finance, many students nonetheless still choose to do something else. Indeed, 37 of you have signed on with Teach for America; one of you will dance tango and work in dance therapy in Argentina; another will be engaged in agricultural development in Kenya; another, with an honors degree in math, will study poetry; another will train as a pilot with the USAF; another will work to combat breast cancer. Numbers of you will go to law school, medical school, and graduate school. But, consistent with the pattern Goldin and Katz have documented, a considerable number of you are selecting finance and consulting. The Crimson’s survey of last year’s class reported that 58 percent of men and 43 percent of women entering the workforce made this choice. This year, even in challenging economics times, the figure is 39 percent.

　　我們可以通過不同的方式來思考和回答這個問題。搶劫犯威利·薩頓對這個問題也有他自己的理解和回答。當他被問及為什麼搶銀行時，他答道:“因為那裡有錢。”教你們經濟學的克勞迪亞·戈爾丁和拉里·凱茨教授研究過上世紀70年代以來學生的職業選擇並從中得出了類似的結論。他們還發現了一個值得關注的現象：儘管從事金融工作可以獲得豐厚的報酬，但是仍然有很多學生選擇從事其他行業的工作。事實上，你們當中已經有37人和“為美國而教：組織簽約，1人將去跳探戈舞並在阿根廷從事舞蹈治療工作;1人將致力於肯亞的農業發展;另有1人獲得了數學榮譽學位，卻轉而去研究詩歌;1人進入美國空軍接受飛行員訓練;還有1人將從事乳腺癌的防治工作。一部分人將進入法學院，醫學院或者研究生院繼續深造。但是，正如這兩位教授的研究結果現實的那樣，你們當中的大部分人還是會選擇從事金融，理財諮詢等工作。去年的就業調查顯示面臨就業的學生中有58%的男生和46%的女生做出了這樣的選擇。而今年，即使經濟情況如此複雜，還是有39%的畢業生做出了同樣的選擇。

High salaries, the all but irresistible recruiting juggernaut, the reassurance for many of you that you will be in New York working and living and enjoying life alongside your friends, the promise of interesting work-there are lots of ways to explain these choices. For some of you, it is a commitment for only a year or two in any case. Others believe they will best be able to do good by first doing well. Yet, you ask me why you are following this path.

　　有很多理由解釋你們的決定，即高薪，具有成為財經界新成員巨大的無法抗拒的誘惑力，可以留在紐約工作和和朋友們一起享受生活，有意思的工作會大有前途等等。對你們當中的一些人來說，這樣的選擇只不過是一個一年到兩年的合約，而另一部分人則相信只有首先獲得成功才有能力去更好的發展。不過，你們依然會問我為什麼會做出這樣的選擇。

I find myself in some ways less interested in answering your question that in figuring out why you are posing it. If professors Goldin and Katz have it right; if finance is indeed the “rational choice”, why do you keep raising this issue with me? Why does this seemingly rational choice strike a number of you as not understandable, as not entirely rational, as in some sense less a free choice than a compulsion or necessity? Why does this seem to be troubling so many of you?

　　我發現，在某種程度上我更喜歡思考你們為什麼會提出這個問題勝於回答問題。如果兩位教授的調查結果準確無誤，如果從事金融工作的確是一個理性的選擇，為什麼你們還一直向我提出這個問題呢?為什麼這個看似理性的選擇讓你們當中一部分人認為是無法理解的，是完全不合理的，而且從某種意義上說不是自由的選擇，而是被逼無奈的選擇或者需要?為什麼這個問題會給你們這麼多人造成困擾?

You are asking me, I think, about the meaning of life, though you have posed your question in code-in terms of the observable and measurable phenomenon of senior career choice rather than the abstract, unfathomable and almost embarrassing realm of metaphysics. The Meaning of Life-capital M, capital L-is a cliché- easier to deal with as the ironic title of a Monty Python movie or the subject of a Simpsons episode than as a matter about which one would dare admit to harboring serious concern.

　　我認為你們是想問我生活的意義是什麼。你們問的如此隱晦。你們並沒有直接詢問那些抽象並且晦澀難懂的形而上學的哲學範疇，而是向我詢問“畢業生職業選擇”這一可觀察可衡量的問題。所謂“生活的意義”-生活，意義，早已經被人們談論了千百次的話題，就如同電影《巨蟒和聖盃》這極具諷刺性的片名一樣，或者像《辛普森一家》的主題一樣，並不是一件具有嚴肅內涵的事情了。

But let’s for a moment abandon our Harvard savior faire, our imperturbability, our pretense of invulnerability, and try to find the beginnings of some answers to your question.

　　那讓我們暫時的拋開哈佛一貫的處世之道，收起那冷靜的面具，脫下那看似刀槍不入的偽裝，嘗試著去探索一下這個問題的答案吧。

I think you are worried because you want your lives not just to be conventionally successfully, but to be meaningful, and you are not sure how those two goals fit together. You are not sure if a generous starting salary at a prestigious brand name organization together with the promise of future wealth will feed your soul.

　　我知道你們很困惑，你們不僅希望人生能夠實現傳統意義上的成功，還想彰顯它的意義，但是你們不確定如何把“生活”和“意義”有機結合起來。你們不確定在一個能夠提供豐厚薪金的著名公司工作能否也能使你的精神也隨著錢包充實起來。

Why are you worried? Partly it is our fault. We have told you from the moment you arrived here that you will be the leaders responsible for the future, that you are the best and the brightest on whom we will all depend, that you will change the world. We have burdened you with no small expectations. And you have already done remarkable things to fulfill them: your dedication to service demonstrated in your extracurricular engagements, your concern about the future of the planet expressed in your vigorous championing of sustainability, your reinvigoration of American politics through engagement in this year’s presidential contests.

　　為什麼你們會有這樣的困惑呢?在一定程度上講這是哈佛的錯誤。從你們踏入哈佛的那天起，你們就被告知你們將是未來世界的領導者，將是我們可以依靠的最優秀和最聰明的人，你們將改變世界。哈佛對你們寄予厚望，而你們也已經用你們傑出的表現實現了這些期望：你們在課外活動中熱情的服務;你們在對可持續發展的堅決使用者中表現出了對地球未來的關注;你們參加了今年的大選並讓美國政治重現生機。

But many of you are now wondering how these commitments fit with a career choice. Is it necessary to decide between remunerative work and meaningful work? If it were be either/or, which would you choose? Is there a way to have both?

　　但是很多人會發出這樣的疑問：我們所做的這些跟職業選擇有什麼關係呢?到底有沒有必要在高薪工作和有意義的工作之間做出選擇呢?如果答案是肯定的或者否定的，那麼你們又將如何做出選擇，有沒有一種方法兼顧兩者呢?

You are asking me and yourselves fundamental questions about values, about trying to reconcile potentially competing goods, about recognizing that it may not be possible to have it all. You are at a moment of transition that requires making choices. And selecting one option-a job, a career, a graduate program-means not selecting others. Every decision means loss as well as gain-possibilities foregone as well as possibilities embraced. Your question to me is a partly about that-about loss of roads not taken.

　　你們不斷地在問我，也在問你們自己這些根本性的問題：關於價值，關於如何協調那些潛在的競爭的事物，並且開始意識到魚和熊掌不可兼得。你們正處在一個需要做出決定的過渡期，選擇一份工作，一份事業還是讀研。你做出選擇的同時就意味著你無法選擇其他兩項。每個決定都會有得有失-你放棄一些機會的同時也扎住了另外一些機會。而你們所問的問題在一定程度上就是你們在做出選擇後會失去什麼。

Finance, Wall Street, “recruiting” have become the symbol of this dilemma, representing a set of issues that is much broader and deeper than just one career path. These are issues that in one way or another will at some point face you all-as you graduate from medical school and choose a specialty –family practice or dermatology, as you decide whether to stay in teaching after your two years with TFA. You are worried because you want to have both a meaningful life and a successful one; you know you were educated to make a difference not just for yourself, for your own comfort and satisfaction, but for the world around you. And now you have to figure out the way to make that possible.

　　在金融屆，華爾街，“招聘”已經成為進退維谷的代名詞，它們所反映的問題，遠比選擇一條職業道路更為廣泛和深刻。你們每個人都將在某個時刻面臨類似的問題：從醫學院畢業後是做全科醫生還是面板科醫生?法學院畢業後是到公司做法律顧問還是擔任公共辯論律師?在為“為美國而教”組織工作兩年後，是否繼續效力?你們很擔心，因為你們想要即充實又無比成功的人生。你們知道自身所接受的教育不僅是為了改變自己，獲得安逸和舒適的生活，還是為了改變周圍的世界，為天下謀福祉。現在，你們必須思考要如何將其實現。

I think there is a second reason you are worried-related to but not entirely distinct from the first. You want to be happy. You have flocked to courses like “Positive Psychology”-Psych 1504-and “The Science of Happiness” in search of tips. But how do we find happiness? I can offer one encouraging answer-get older. Turns out that survey data show older people-that is, my age-report themselves happier than do younger ones. But perhaps you don’t want to wait.

　　我認為你們之所以擔心還有第二個原因，這個原因和第一條原因有關，但是又有所不同。那就是你們想過上幸福的生活。你們為了得到一些生活的啟示，於是蜂擁著去選修“積極心理學”和“幸福學”這兩門課。那麼我們如何才能找到幸福呢?我可以給你們一個鼓舞人心的答案，那就是變老。資料調查表明老年人，也就是像我這麼大年紀的人，普遍感覺自己比年輕人幸福。不過，你們可不願意等待。

I have listened to you talk about the choices ahead of you, I have heard you articulate your worries about the relationship of success and happiness-perhaps, more accurately, how to define success so that it yields and encompasses real happiness, not just money and prestige. The most remunerative choice, you fear, may not be the most meaningful and the most satisfying. But you wonder how you would ever survive as an artist or an actor or a public servant or a high school teacher? How would you ever figure out a path by which to make your way in journalism? Would you ever find a job as an English professor after you finished who knows how many years of graduate school and dissertation writing?

　　我聽到過你們談論目前所面臨的抉擇，也聽說過你們講述自己面臨的困惑：關於成功和幸福的關係。更具體的說，就是如何去定義“成功”以便它能夠帶來真正的幸福，而不僅僅是金錢和名譽。你們害怕一份報酬豐厚的工作或許並不是最有意義最能讓滿意的工作。同時你們也擔心，如果去做一個藝術家，一個演員，一名公務員或者一名高中老師，自己該如何生活下去?你們是否曾經想過在媒體圈裡該如何有所成就?你們可曾打算在結束若干年的研究生學業之後，在完成了諸多篇枯燥的論文寫作之後，去從事一份英語教授的工作?

The answer is: you won’t know till you try. But if you don’t try to do what you love- whether it is painting or biology or finance; if you don’t pursue what you think will be most meaningful, you will regret it. Life is long. There is always time for Plan B. But don’t begin with it.

　　我的回答是：如果不去嘗試，你將永遠不知道答案。如果你不試著去做你熱愛的事情-不管是畫畫，生物還是金融，不去追求你認為生命中最有意義的事情，那麼你將抱憾終生。路漫漫，你會有很多時間去嘗試其他的選擇，但是千萬別在一開始的時候就這樣做。

I think of this as my “parking space theory” of career choice, and I have been sharing it with students for decades. Don’t park 20 blocks from your destination because you think you’ll never find a space. Go where you want to be and then circle back to where you have to be.

　　這就是臥關於職業選擇的“停車理論”，在過去的幾十年裡我曾經和許多學生分享過這個理論。在你開車前往某個地方時，不要因為害怕目的地沒有車位而把車停在離目的地還有20個路口的地方-先去你想去的地方，然後再繞回，去你必須去的地方。

You may love investment banking or finance or consulting. It might be just right for you. Or, you might be like the senior I met at lunch at Kirkland who had just returned from an interview on the West Coast with a prestigious consulting firm. “Why am I doing this?” she asked. “I hate hotels, I won’t like this job.” Find work you love. It is hard to be happy if you spend more than half your waking hours doing something you don’t.

　　你可能喜歡投資銀行業或者是金融業又或者是理財諮詢業，那麼它很可能恰好就適合你。或者就像我在柯克蘭吃飯時遇到的一位剛從西海岸一家著名理財公司面試回來的大四女生一樣，她問我，“為什麼要做這份工作，我討厭坐飛機，我討厭住旅館，我不喜歡這份工作。”同學們，去做你們喜歡做的工作吧，如果你把一生大半的時間花在從事自己不喜歡的工作，你是不會覺得幸福的。

But what is ultimately most important here is that you are asking the question-not just of me but of yourselves. You are choosing roads and at the same time challenging your own choices. You have a notion of what you want your life to be and you are not sure the road you are taking is going to get you there. This is the best news. And it is also, I hope, to some degree, our fault. Noticing your life, reflecting upon it, considering how you can live it well, wondering how you can do good: There are perhaps the most valuable things a liberal arts education has equipped you to do. A liberal education demands that you live self-consciously. It prepares you to seek and define the meaning inherent in all you do. It has made you an analyst and critic of yourself, a person in this way supremely equipped to take charge of your life and how it folds. It is in this sense that the liberal arts are liberal –as in liberare-to free. They empower you with the possibility of exercising agency, of discovering meaning, of making choices. The surest way to have a meaningful, happy life is to commit yourself to striving for it. Don’t settle. Be prepared to change routes. Remember the impossible expectations we have of you, and even as you recognize they are impossible, remember how important they are as a lodestar guiding you toward something that matters to you and to the world. The meaning of your life is for you to make.

　　最重要的一點是，關於生活的意義這個問題，你們不僅僅在問我，更是在捫心自問。你們在選擇人生的道路，同時也是在向自己的選擇提出質疑。你們對自己的人生充滿著模糊的憧憬，你們不知道這條道路通向何方。你們有這種困惑對我來說是最好的訊息。從某種程度上說，這是哈佛教育的結果。關注生活，反思生活，思考如何才能生活得幸福，探索怎樣才能做出有意義的事情：這或許就是人文教育帶給你們最有價值的東西了。人文教育要求你們有意識地生活，從而去探索並定義你們所做的所有事情的意義所在。人文教育使你們能夠進行自我分析和自我反省，從而遊刃有餘地掌控你們的生活和其走向。就是這樣，人文教育使你們更加自由，讓你們擁有實踐的能力，擁有發現真理的機會，以及做出抉擇的權力。獲得幸福和充滿意義的生活的最可靠的方式就是通過自己不斷地努力。同學們，不要停滯不前，時刻調整自己的人生路線，記住我們賦予你們的那些崇高的期望，即使連你們自己都覺得這些期望過高不易實現的時候，你們也一定要銘記，它們會像北極星一樣指引你向著某個目標前進，這些目標對你，對整個世界來說都是至關重要的。生活的意義將由你們自己去創造。

I can’t wait to see how you all turn out. Do come back, from time to time, and let us know.

　　我已經迫不及待想要看到你們的成就了。一定常回母校看看，告訴母校你們的情況。

迷茫~