演講作爲一種重要的交流方式在西方擁有長遠的歷史，可以追溯到亞里士多德時期。隨着人類社會的發展，演講一直作爲一種重要的交流方式應用於各種場合之中，並且發揮着越來越重要的作用。以下是本站小編精心爲大家蒐集整理的成功的經歷英語演講，希望對大家有所幫助!
成功的經歷英語演講篇1：著名導演斯皮爾伯格在哈佛20xx年畢業典禮上的演講
Thank you, thank you, President Faust, and Paul Choi, thank you so much.
非常感謝Faust校長、Paul Choi校長，謝謝你們。
It's an honor and a thrill to address this group of distinguished alumni and supportive friends and kvelling parents. We've all gathered to share in the joy of this day, so please join me in congratulating Harvard's Class of 20xx.
非常榮幸能被邀請成爲哈佛20xx年畢業典禮的演講嘉賓，在衆位優秀的畢業生、熱情的朋友和諸位家長前做演講。今天讓我們一起，祝賀20xx屆哈佛畢業生順利畢業。
I can remember my own college graduation, which is easy, since it was only 14 years ago. How many of you took 37 years to graduate? Because, like most of you, I began college in my teens, but sophomore year, I was offered my dream job at Universal Studios, so I dropped out. I told my parents if my movie career didn't go well, I'd re-enroll.
我記得我自己的大學畢業典禮，這不難，因爲就是20xx年以前的事情。你們當中的多少人花了37年才畢業?因爲就像你們中的多數人，我在十幾歲時進入大學，但是大二的時候我從環球影城獲得了我的夢想工作，所以我休學了。我跟我的父母說，如果我的電影事業不順，我會重新上學的。
It went all right.
我的電影事業發展得還行。
But eventually, I returned for one big reason. Most people go to college for an education, and some go for their parents, but I went for my kids. I'm the father of seven, and I kept insisting on the importance of going to college, but I hadn't walked the walk. So, in my fifties, I re-enrolled at Cal State - Long Beach, and I earned my degree.
但是我最後還是回到了學校，主要爲了一個原因。很多人爲了獲得教育去上大學，有的人爲了父母上大學，而我是爲了我的孩子去上的。我是7個孩子的爸爸，我總是不斷強調上大學的重要性，可我自己都沒上過。所以在我50多歲的時候，我重新進入加州州立大學長灘分校，獲得了學位。
I just have to add: It helped that they gave me course credit in paleontology for the work I did on Jurassic Park. That's three units for Jurassic Park, thank you.
我必須補充一點，我獲得學位的一個原因是學校爲我在《侏羅紀公園》裏所做的，給我了考古學學分。《侏羅紀公園》換得了3個學分，非常感謝。
Well, I left college because I knew exactly what I wanted to do, and some of you know, too - but some of you don't. Or maybe you thought you knew but are now questioning that choice. Maybe you're sitting there trying to figure out how to tell your parents that you want to be a doctor and not a comedy writer.
我離開大學是因爲我很清楚地知道我想要做什麼。你們中的一些人也知道，但是有些人還沒弄明白。或者你以爲你知道，但是現在開始質疑這個決定。或者你坐在這裏，試着想要怎麼告訴你的父母，你想要成爲一名醫生，而不是喜劇編劇。
Well, what you choose to do next is what we call in the movies the 'character-defining moment.' Now, these are moments you're very familiar with, like in the last Star Wars: The Force Awakens, when Rey realizes the force is with her. Or Indiana Jones choosing mission over fear by jumping over a pile of snakes.
你接下來要做的事情，在我們這行叫做“定義角色的時刻”。這些是你非常熟悉的場景，例如在最近的一部《星球大戰：原力覺醒》裏女主角Rey發現自己擁有原力的一刻。或者在《奪寶奇兵》裏印第安納·瓊斯選擇戰勝恐懼跳過蛇堆，繼續任務的時候。
Now in a two-hour movie, you get a handful of character-defining moments, but in real life, you face them every day. Life is one strong, long string of character-defining moments. And I was lucky that at 18 I knew what I exactly wanted to do. But I didn't know who I was. How could I? And how could any of us? Because for the first 25 years of our lives, we are trained to listen to voices that are not our own. Parents and professors fill our heads with wisdom and information, and then employers and mentors take their place and explain how this world really works.
一部兩小時的電影裏有幾個定義角色的時刻，但是在真實的生活中，你每天都在面對這樣的時刻。生活就是一長串強大的定義角色的時刻。我非常幸運在18歲時就知道我想要做什麼。但是我並不知道我是誰。我怎麼可能知道呢?我們中任何人都不知道。因爲在生命的頭一個20xx年裏，我們被訓練去傾聽除自己以外的人的聲音。父母和教授們把智慧和信息塞進我們的腦袋，然後換上僱主和導師來向我們解釋這個世界到底是怎麼一回事。
And usually these voices of authority make sense, but sometimes, doubt starts to creep into our heads and into our hearts. And even when we think, 'that's not quite how I see the world,' it's kind of easier to just to nod in agreement and go along, and for a while, I let that going along define my character. Because I was repressing my own point of view, because like in that Nilsson song, 'Everybody was talkin' at me, so I couldn't hear the echoes of my mind.'
通常這些權威人物的聲音是有道理的，但是有些時候，質疑會爬進你的腦子和心裏。就算我們覺得“這好像不太是我看世界的方式”，點頭表示贊同也是更容易做的事情，有段時間我就讓“附和”定義了我。因爲我壓抑了自己的想法，因爲就像尼爾森歌裏唱的一樣：“每個人都在對我說話，所以我聽不見我思考的回聲。”
And at first, the internal voice I needed to listen to was hardly audible, and it was hardly noticeable - kind of like me in high school. But then I started paying more attention, and my intuition kicked in.
一開始，我需要傾聽的內心的聲音幾乎一聲不響，也難以察覺——就像高中時的我。但是之後我開始更加註意這些聲音，然後我的直覺開始工作。
And I want to be clear that your intuition is different from your conscience. They work in tandem, but here's the distinction: Your conscience shouts, 'here's what you should do,' while your intuition whispers, 'here's what you could do.' Listen to that voice that tells you what you could do. Nothing will define your character more than that.
我想告訴你，你的直覺和你的良心是兩個不同的事物。它們會協力工作，但這是它們的不同：你的良心會呼喊“你應當去做這個”，而你的直覺只會低語“你是可以這樣做的”。傾聽那個告訴你你能怎麼去做的聲音。沒有什麼比這更能定義你的角色的了。
Because once I turned to my intuition, and I tuned into it, certain projects began to pull me into them, and others, I turned away from.
因爲我一旦會聽從我的直覺，我就會全力投入到一些項目中去，而放棄其它。
And up until the 1980s, my movies were mostly, I guess what you could call 'escapist.' And I don't dismiss any of these movies - not even 1941. Not even that one. And many of these early films reflected the values that I cared deeply about, and I still do. But I was in a celluloid bubble, because I'd cut my education short, my worldview was limited to what I could dream up in my head, not what the world could teach me.
直到19世紀80年代時，我電影中的大多數，我猜你們可以稱之爲“逃避現實”。我不會拒絕任何這些電影的邀約，不只是《1941》。不止那一部，很多早期電影反映了我當時內心的價值觀，如今我仍然在這樣做。但我當時處於自己的電影泡沫中，因爲我的輟學，我受限的世界觀部分來自於我的想象，而不是外界教會我的。
But then I directed The Color Purple. And this one film opened my eyes to experiences that I never could have imagined, and yet were all too real. This story was filled with deep pain and deeper truths, like when Shug Avery says, 'Everything wants to be loved.' My gut, which was my intuition, told me that more people needed to meet these characters and experience these truths. And while making that film, I realized that a movie could also be a mission.
當我執導《紫色》的時候，這部電影讓我體驗了我從未想象過，卻如此真實的一些感受。這個故事充滿了深深的痛苦和更深一部的真理，就像Shug Avery說“任何一個東西都想被愛着。”我的直覺告訴我，更多的人需要來認識這樣的角色，來體驗這樣的真理。在導演這部電影時，我突然發現一部電影也可以是一個使命。
I hope all of you find that sense of mission. Don't turn away from what's painful. Examine it. Challenge it.
我希望你們所有人都能找到這樣的使命感。不要避讓讓你痛苦的事情。研究它、挑戰它。
My job is to create a world that lasts two hours. Your job is to create a world that lasts forever. You are the future innovators, motivators, leaders and caretakers.
我的工作是要構築一個維持兩小時的世界。你的工作是要建一個會一直持續的世界。你們是未來的創新者、激勵者、領導者和守護者。
And the way you create a better future is by studying the past. Jurassic Park writer Michael Crichton, who graduated from both this college and this medical school, liked to quote a favorite professor of his who said that if you didn't know history, you didn't know anything. You were a leaf that didn't know it was part of a tree. So history majors: Good choice, you're in great in the job market, but culturally.
你們要研究過去，才能建設一個更好的未來。《侏羅紀公園》的編劇Michael Crichton是從這所大學的醫學院畢業的。他喜歡引用他最喜歡的一位教授的話，他說如果你不懂得歷史，那麼你一無所知。你是一片樹葉，不知道自己只是樹的一部分。所以主修歷史的同學們，很棒的選擇，你的前景不錯…不是說在招聘市場上啊，從文化上來說的話。
The rest of us have to make a little effort. Social media that we're inundated and swarmed with is about the here and now. But I've been fighting and fighting inside my own family to get all my kids to look behind them, to look at what already has happened. Because to understand who they are is to understand who we were, and who their grandparents were, and then, what this country was like when they emigrated here. We are a nation of immigrants - at least for now.
我們剩下的其它人就需要努點力了。淹沒和吞噬我們的社交媒體只關乎當下。但是我自己和家人都不斷嘗試，讓我所有的孩子們能透過這些，去看過去發生過的事情。因爲要知道他們是誰，就要去理解他們曾經是誰，他們的祖父母是誰，以及當他們移民到這個國家來的時候，這個國家到底是什麼樣。我們是一個移民國家——至少現在還是。
So, to me, this means we all have to tell our own stories. We have so many stories to tell. Talk to your parents and your grandparents, if you can, and ask them about their stories. And I promise you, like I have promised my kids, you will not be bored.
所以對我來說，這意味着我們每個人都有自己的故事可講，有很多故事可講。如果可以的話，和你的父母、祖父母聊聊天，聽聽他們的故事。我保證，就像我向我的孩子保證的一樣，一定收穫頗豐，絕對不會無聊。
And that's why I so often make movies based on real-life events. I look to history not to be didactic, 'cause that's just a bonus, but I look because the past is filled with the greatest stories that have ever been told. Heroes and villains are not literary constructs, but they're at the heart of all history.
這就是爲什麼我經常就會導演由真實事件改編的電影。我回顧歷史並不是爲了說教，這是額外的獎勵，我回顧歷史因爲過去充滿了那些從來沒被講述出來的偉大故事。英雄和壞人不是文學塑造出來的，而是在一切歷史的最中心。
And again, this is why it's so important to listen to your internal whisper. It's the same one that compelled Abraham Lincoln and Oskar Schindler to make the correct moral choices. In your defining moments, do not let your morals be swayed by convenience or expediency. Sticking to your character requires a lot of courage. And to be courageous, you're going to need a lot of support.
所以，這就是爲什麼傾聽你內心的低語非常重要。這與驅使亞伯拉罕·林肯和奧斯卡·辛德勒去做正確的道德選擇的東西是一樣的。在屬於你的“定義角色的時刻”裏，不要讓你的道德被便利或者私利左右。忠於你的角色需要很多的勇氣，變得勇敢，你又需要很多的支持。
And if you're lucky, you have parents like mine. I consider my mom my lucky charm. And when I was 12 years old, my father handed me a movie camera, the tool that allowed me to make sense of this world. And I am so grateful to him for that. And I am grateful that he's here at Harvard, sitting right down there.
如果你足夠幸運，你會有像我父母一樣開明的父母。我把母親看做我的幸運女神。12歲時，我父親給了我一個電影攝像機，也是因爲有了這個，我可以更好地去感知這個世界，我很感謝我的父親。現在我很感激父親也來到哈佛，坐在這裏。
My dad is 99 years old, which means he's only one year younger than Widener Library. But unlike Widener, he's had zero cosmetic work. And dad, there's a lady behind you, also 99, and I'll introduce you after this is over, okay?
我父親今年99歲了，只比懷德納圖書館(哈佛最大的圖書館今年120xx年)年輕1歲，但不像這個圖書館可以翻新，父親已垂垂老矣。另外，父親，在你身後有一位99歲的女士，這個之後我會介紹你給她，好嗎?
But look, if your family's not always available, there's backup. Near the end of It's a Wonderful Life - you remember that movie, It's a Wonderful Life? Clarence the Angel inscribes a book with this: "No man is a failure who has friends." And I hope you hang on to the friendships you've made here at Harvard. And among your friends, I hope you find someone you want to share your life with. I imagine some of you in this yard may be a tad cynical, but I want to be unapologetically sentimental. I spoke about the importance of intuition and how there's no greater voice to follow. That is, until you meet the love of your life. And this is what happened when I met and married Kate, and that became the greatest character-defining moment of my life.
但是，如果你的家人並不總是支持你，還有B計劃。在《生活多美好》劇終前，天使Clarence在一本書上題寫了這句話：“有朋友的人，不會是生活的失敗者。”我希望你們會珍惜在哈佛建立的這些友誼。而在你的朋友之中，我希望你們找個能分享你生活的另一半。我猜想你們中的一些人對此會會抱有懷疑，但是我表現出的感性毫無歉意。我說了直覺的重要性，以及除了直覺沒有更值得追隨的聲音。這是指在你遇到你一生最愛之前。我與妻子相戀並結婚的經歷就是如此，這成爲了我生活中最重要的“定義角色的時刻”。
Love, support, courage, intuition. All of these things are in your hero's quiver, but still, a hero needs one more thing: A hero needs a villain to vanquish. And you're all in luck. This world is full of monsters. And there's racism, homophobia, ethnic hatred, class hatred, there's political hatred, and there's religious hatred.
愛、支持、勇氣、直覺。所有的這些都在你英雄的箭袋之中，但是英雄還需要一件東西——英雄需要一個去征服的壞人。而你們所有人都很走運，這個世界充滿了怪物。有種族歧視、恐同、種族仇恨、階級仇恨，還有政治仇恨和宗教仇恨。
As a kid, I was bullied - for being Jewish. This was upsetting, but compared to what my parents and grandparents had faced, it felt tame. Because we truly believed that anti-Semitism was fading. And we were wrong. Over the last two years, nearly 20,000 Jews have left Europe to find higher ground. And earlier this year, I was at the Israeli embassy when President Obama stated the sad truth. He said: 'We must confront the reality that around the world, anti-Semitism is on the rise. We cannot deny it.'
還是孩子的時候，我因爲是猶太人而被起伏。這讓人喪氣，但是與我父母和祖父母曾經面對的事情比起來，這很平淡。我們都真正相信反猶太運動正在衰退，但我們錯了。在過去兩年間，有大約兩萬猶太人離開歐洲尋找生存之地。今年早些時候，我在以色列大使館聽奧巴馬總統陳述了一個悲慘的現實。他說：“反猶太運動的增勢發生在全球各地，這是我們需要面對的事實。我們不能否認它。”
My own desire to confront that reality compelled me to start, in 1994, the Shoah Foundation. And since then, we've spoken to over 53,000 Holocaust survivors and witnesses in 63 countries and taken all their video testimonies. And we're now gathering testimonies from genocides in Rwanda, Cambodia, Armenia and Nanking. Because we must never forget that the inconceivable doesn't happen - it happens frequently. Atrocities are happening right now. And so we wonder not just, 'When will this hatred end?' but, 'How did it begin?'
我正視這一事實的強烈願望驅使我從1994年成立了大屠殺真相基金會，從那以後我們採訪了63個國家5.3萬名大屠殺的倖存者或目擊者，錄製了他們所有人的證詞。現在我們還在收集盧旺達、柬埔寨、亞美尼亞以及南京大屠殺的證詞。因爲我們永遠都不要忘記那些難以想象的罪惡會發生，並且時有發生。暴行也仍在發生。所以我們不能只去想“仇恨什麼時候纔會停止?”而是“它是怎麼開始的?”。
Now, I don't have to tell a crowd of Red Sox fans that we are wired for tribalism. But beyond rooting for the home team, tribalism has a much darker side. Instinctively and maybe even genetically, we pide the world into 'us' and 'them.' So the burning question must be: How do all of us together find the 'we?' How do we do that? There's still so much work to be done, and sometimes I feel the work hasn't even begun. And it's not just anti-Semitism that's surging - Islamophobia's on the rise, too. Because there's no difference between anyone who is discriminated against, whether it's the Muslims, or the Jews, or minorities on the border states, or the LGBT community - it is all big one hate.
我想我並不需要向一羣紅襪隊的球迷解釋我們爲什麼會擁抱部落文化。但是在爲主隊加油之外，部落文化有它更陰暗的一面。本能地或者由基因決定，我們把世界分成“我們”和“他們”。所以棘手的問題是，我們所有人能共同發現“我們”?我們應當如何去做?仍舊有許多的工作要做，有的時候我甚至覺得這一事業還沒開始。這不僅僅是指反猶太運動擡頭，伊斯蘭恐懼症也在擡頭。因爲那些被歧視的人羣之間是沒有區別的，不管他們是穆斯林、猶太人、邊境州里的弱勢人羣，或者是同性戀、雙性戀及變性者社羣——他們遭受的都是同樣的仇恨。
And to me, and, I think, to all of you, the only answer to more hate is more humanity. We gotta repair - we have to replace fear with curiosity. 'Us' and 'them' - we'll find the 'we' by connecting with each other. And by believing that we're members of the same tribe. And by feeling empathy for every soul - even Yalies.
對我來說，我想對你們也一樣，只能用更多的人性來對抗更多的仇恨。我們需要修護，用好奇來替代恐懼。不排斥異己，我們通過建立人與人的聯繫來找到共同的“我們”。我們要相信我們是同一個部落的成員。我們對所有的人都要有同情心——哪怕對“友校”耶魯人也要如此。
My son graduated from Yale, thank you…
我的兒子就是從耶魯畢業的，謝謝…
But make sure this empathy isn't just something that you feel. Make it something you act upon. That means vote. Peaceably protest. Speak up for those who can't and speak up for those who may be shouting but aren't being hard. Let your conscience shout as loud as it wants if you're using it in the service of others.
但是你要確認你的同理心不只是你的感受。讓它是你採取行動的誘因。這是指參加投票、和平地抗議、爲那些不能爲自己發聲或者已經聲嘶力竭卻無法讓人注意的人發聲。讓你的良心大聲疾呼吧，如果是爲了服務於他們。
And as an example of action in service of others, you need to look no further than this Hollywood-worthy backdrop of Memorial Church. Its south wall bears the names of Harvard alumni - like President Faust has already mentioned - students and faculty members, who gave their lives in World War II. All told, 697 souls, who once tread the ground where stand now, were lost. And at a service in this church in late 1945, Harvard President James Conant - which President Faust also mentioned - honored the brave and called upon the community to 'reflect the radiance of their deeds.'
作爲爲他人服務的行動榜樣，你只需要看看這像好萊塢背景一般的紀念教堂。它的南牆上是哈佛校友們的名字，福斯特校長已經說過，他們是在第二次世界大戰中獻身的哈佛學生和教師們。697個人，他們曾經在你站着的地方逗留過，697條生命逝去。在1945年紀念教堂舉行的追思會上，柯南特校長紀念這些勇敢的人們，並號召哈佛人身上要“反射出他們壯舉的榮光”。
Seventy years later, this message still holds true. Because their sacrifice is not a debt that can be repaid in a single generation. It must be repaid with every generation. Just as we must never forget the atrocities, we must never forget those who fought for freedom. So as you leave this college and head out into the world, continue please to 'reflect the radiance of their deeds,' or as Captain Miller in Saving Private Ryan would say, "Earn this."
70年後，這句話仍然適用。因爲他們所做出的犧牲不是一代人就能報答的。每一代人都應該報答他們。就像我們永遠不該忘記那些惡行，我們永遠也不應當忘記那些爲自由而戰的人。所以當你離開這所學校進入世界，請繼續“反射出他們壯舉的榮光”，或者像《拯救大兵瑞恩》裏米勒上尉說的“別辜負大家”。
And please stay connected. Please never lose eye contact. This may not be a lesson you want to hear from a person who creates media, but we are spending more time looking down at our devices than we are looking in each other's eyes. So, forgive me, but let's start right now. Everyone here, please find someone's eyes to look into. Students, and alumni and you too, President Faust, all of you, turn to someone you don't know or don't know very well. They may be standing behind you, or a couple of rows ahead. Just let your eyes meet. That's it. That emotion you're feeling is our shared humanity mixed in with a little social discomfort.
此外，請保持彼此的聯繫，別避而不見。這可能不是你想從一個創作媒體的人這裏聽的一課，但是我們花越來越多的時間低頭看手機，而不是注視別人的眼睛。所以請原諒我，現在所有人，請找一雙眼睛深刻凝視。學生們、校友們都是，福斯特校長、你們所有人，轉向一位你不認識或者不熟悉的人，對視，僅此而已。你所感受到的使我們共同擁有的人性，混進去了一絲社交不適感。
But, if you remember nothing else from today, I hope you remember this moment of human connection. And I hope you all had a lot of that over the past four years. Because today you start down the path of becoming the generation on which the next generation stands. And I've imagined many possible futures in my films, but you will determine the actual future. And I hope that it's filled with justice and peace.
如果你今天別的什麼都沒記住，我希望你能記住這一刻人與人之間的聯繫。我希望過去四年中，你們經歷了很多的這樣的時刻。因爲從今天開始，你們會像前輩一樣，託舉起下一輩人。我在我的電影裏幻想過很多種不同的未來，但是你們會決定未來的實際樣子。我希望，這樣的未來充滿公正與和平。
And finally, I wish you all a true, Hollywood-style happy ending. I hope you outrun the T. rex, catch the criminal and for your parents' sake, maybe every now and then, just like E.T.: Go home. Thank you.
最後，我祝願大家好萊塢式的大團圓結局成真。祝你們能跑過暴龍、抓住罪犯，爲了你們的父母，也別忘了像E.T.那樣常回家看看。謝謝。
成功的經歷英語演講篇2：比爾蓋茨在哈佛大學畢業典禮上的演講
President Bok, former President Rudenstine, incoming President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, members of the faculty, parents, and especially, the graduates: I've been waiting more than 30 years to say this: “Dad, I always told you I’d come back and get my degree.”
尊敬的博克校長，前校長魯登斯坦，即將上任的佛斯特校長，哈佛集團和監察理事會的各位成員。各位老師，各位家長，各位同學：有句話我憋了30年，今天終於能一吐爲快了：““爸 我沒騙你吧，文憑到手了!”
I want to thank Harvard for this timely honor. I’ll be changing my job next year … and it will be nice to finally have a college degree on my résumé.
我由衷地感謝哈佛這個時候給我這個榮譽。明年我要換工作(退休)。 我終於能在簡歷裏註明自己有大學學歷了。
I applaud the graduates today for taking a much more direct route to your degrees. For my part, I’m just happy that the Crimson has called me “Harvard’s most successful dropout.” I guess that makes me valedictorian of my own special class … I did the best of everyone who failed.
我要恭喜今年的畢業生們，因爲你們畢業比我順利多了。其實我倒是很樂意克萊姆森把我喚作“哈佛大學最成功的輟學生”。這大概是我脫穎而出的法寶……我是輟學生中的領頭羊。
But I also want to be recognized as the guy who got Steve Ballmer to drop out of business school. I’m a bad influence. That’s why I was invited to speak at your graduation. If I had spoken at your orientation, fewer of you might be here today.
我還要檢討一下史蒂夫-鮑爾默也是受我蠱惑從商學院退學。我劣跡斑斑。這就是爲什麼我會受邀參加畢業演講。如果是開學典禮，恐怕今天的人會少很多。
Harvard was just a phenomenal experience for me. Academic life was fascinating. I used to sit in on lots of classes I hadn’t even signed up for. And dorm life was terrific. I lived up at Radcliffe, in Currier House. There were always lots of people in my dorm room late at night discussing things, because everyone knew I didn’t worry about getting up in the morning. That’s how I came to be the leader of the antisocial group. We clung to each other as a way of validating our rejection of all those social people.
哈佛是我生命裏的一段非凡經歷。校園生活格外充實，我旁聽過很多沒有選過的課程。住宿的日子也很爽我當時住在拉德克利夫的柯里爾宿舍，總是很多人在我的寢室討論到深夜。 大家知道我屬於夜行動物。就這樣，我成爲了這堆人的頭目。我們粘在一起，擺出拒絕社交的姿態。
Radcliffe was a great place to live. There were more women up there, and most of the guys were science-math types. That combination offered me the best odds, if you know what I mean. This is where I learned the sad lesson that improving your odds doesn’t guarantee success.
拉德克利夫是個好地方。那裏的女生比男生多，男生們大多都是科學怪人。所以我的機會來了，你懂的。可同時我也明白了一個道理——機會大也不能保證成功。
One of my biggest memories of Harvard came in January 1975, When I made a call from Currier House to a company in Albuquerque that had begun making the world’s first personal computers. I offered to sell them software.
1975年1月在哈佛打出的一通電話讓我畢生難忘。我打給位於阿爾伯克基的一個公司，那家公司當時着手製造世界上第一臺個人電腦。我說我想出售軟件給他們。
I worried that they would realize I was just a student in a dorm and hang up on me. Instead they said: “We’re not quite ready, come see us in a month,” which was a good thing, because we hadn’t written the software yet. From that moment, I worked day and night on this little extra credit project that marked the end of my college education and the beginning of a remarkable journey with Microsoft.
我擔心他們會因爲我學生身份而掛掉電話。但他們只是說：“現在還沒有準備好 請一個月後再聯繫我們。”我長舒一口氣，壓根我們就沒開工。從那時起 我不分晝夜地趕工 它是我大學生活結束的標誌，也是微軟偉大旅程的開始。
What I remember above all about Harvard was being in the midst of so much energy and intelligence. It could be exhilarating, intimidating, sometimes even discouraging, but always challenging. It was an amazing privilege and though I left early, I was transformed by my years at Harvard, the friendships I made, and the ideas I worked on.
哈佛的獨特氛圍讓我充滿精力和智慧。這裏的日子可能振奮快樂、也可能令人退縮沮喪，但永遠充滿了挑戰，神奇的體驗!雖然我提前離開了這裏，但是這段經歷對我影響重大。
But taking a serious look back … I do have one big regret.
不過說心裏話……我確實有一點遺憾。
I left Harvard with no real awareness of the awful inequities in the world - the appalling disparities of health, and wealth, and opportunity that condemn millions of people to lives of despair.
我離開哈佛時，根本沒有意識到這個世界是多麼地不平等。健康、財富、機遇差異懸殊，數以百萬計的人生活在絕望之中。
I learned a lot here at Harvard about new ideas in economics and politics. I got great exposure to the advances being made in the sciences.
我在哈佛觸摸着經濟政治中的新思想，探索科學技術的未知前沿。
But humanity’s greatest advances are not in its discoveries – but in how those discoveries are applied to reduce inequity. Whether through democracy, strong public education, quality health care, or broad economic opportunity – reducing inequity is the highest human achievement.
但是，人類的進步不在於這些新發現，而在於如何運用這些發現減少社會不公。不管是通過民主政策、健全的公共教育、高質量的醫療保健還是廣泛的商機，消除不平等始終是人類最大的目標。
I left campus knowing little about the millions of young people cheated out of educational opportunities here in this country. And I knew nothing about the millions of people living in unspeakable poverty and disease in developing countries. It took me decades to find out.
離開校園的時候，根本不知道在美國上百萬年輕人沒有接受教育的機會。也對發展中國家被貧困和病痛折磨的人們一無所知。我花了幾十年才明白這些事情。
You graduates came to Harvard at a different time. You know more about the world’s inequities than the classes that came before. In your years here, I hope you’ve had a chance to think about how – in this age of accelerating technology – we can finally take on these inequities, and we can solve them.
如今，在座的各位應該比我更瞭解世界上的這些不平等現象。在你們的求學之路上我希望你們已經思考過這個問題——如何在這個高速發展的時代解決不平等現象。
Imagine, just for the sake of discussion, that you had a few hours a week and a few dollars a month to donate to a cause and you wanted to spend that time and money where it would have the greatest impact in saving and improving lives. Where would you spend it?
試想一下如果你每週捐出幾個小時，幾塊錢，來參與一項能夠拯救生命和提高生活品質的項目，你會如何選擇?
For Melinda and for me, the challenge is the same: how can we do the most good for the greatest number with the resources we have.
我和妻子梅琳達就面臨着這樣一個問題：怎樣才能充分利用我們擁有的資源。
During our discussions on this question, Melinda and I read an article about the millions of children who were dying every year in poor countries from diseases that we had long ago made harmless in this country. Measles, malaria, pneumonia, hepatitis B, yellow fever. One disease I had never even heard of, rotavirus, was killing half a million kids each year- none of them in the United States.
舉棋不定時我們讀到一篇文章，文章裏說在貧困的國家裏，每年有數百萬，兒童死於於美國早已戰勝的疾病——麻疹、瘧疾、肺炎、乙肝、黃熱病，還有一種從未聽說的輪狀病毒每年會奪走五十萬兒童的生命，而在美國沒有一例死亡病例。
We were shocked. We had just assumed that if millions of children were dying and they could be saved, the world would make it a priority to discover and deliver the medicines to save them. But it did not. For under a dollar, there were interventions that could save lives that just weren’t being delivered.
當時我們就震驚了。我以爲全世界會不遺餘力地拯救這些在死亡線上掙扎的兒童們，然而這些不值錢的救命藥卻沒有送到他們手中。
If you believe that every life has equal value, it’s revolting to learn that some lives are seen as worth saving and others are not. We said to ourselves: “This can’t be true. But if it is true, it deserves to be the priority of our giving.”
如果你堅信人生而平等，把生命分等級的做法簡直令人髮指。我們對自己說：“這絕不可能。但萬一這是真的，那麼這將成爲我們慈善事業的首要任務。
So we began our work in the same way anyone here would begin it. We asked: “How could the world let these children die?”
於是我們開始行動了 我相信這也會是你們的選擇。我們疑惑：“這個世界怎麼可以眼睜睜看着這些孩子死去?”
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. But you and I have both. We can make market forces work better for the poor if we can develop a more creative capitalism.
答案簡單卻殘酷。市場經濟中，拯救兒童沒有利潤，政府也不會給予補貼。父母無財無權 孩子們就死了。我們不一樣，我們可以讓市場更好地爲窮人服務，如果我們可以改進現有資本主義制度。
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.
改善市場環境，讓更多的人賺到錢、維持生計，緩解苦難。給世界各地的政府施壓 讓他們把納稅人的錢花到最值得的地方。採取一些既滿足滿足窮人的需求，又能帶來商業利潤併爲政治家帶來選票的措施。
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 task is open-ended. It can never be finished. But a conscious effort to answer this challenge will change the world.
採取一些既滿足滿足窮人的需求，又能帶來商業利潤併爲政治家帶來選票的措施，我們就摸索到了減少世界不平等的可持續發展道路。然而這項任務並沒有終點，我們也許無法徹底解決。但只要不懈努力，就可以改變世界。
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.
我始終保持樂觀。但也聽到過消極的言論。他們認爲：“這種不平等現象會伴隨我們一生，因爲人們漠視這一切。”但我不苟同。
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.
雖然我們不知道該如何幫助他們，但我們絕對有這份心。我們都有過這樣的經歷，看到令人心碎的悲劇，卻沒有伸出援手。不是因爲冷漠 而是我們不知道該怎麼做。如果我們知道如何去幫，就一定會採取行動。
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.
阻礙援助步伐的並非冷漠，而是世界太複雜。要把愛心轉變爲行動，我們首先要發掘問題，然後尋找解決方案，並且監測效果。然而世界的複雜性阻礙着這些步驟的實施。
Even with the advent of the Internet and 24-hour news, it is still a complex enterprise to get people to truly see the problems. When an airplane crashes, officials immediately call a press conference. They promise to investigate, determine the cause, and prevent similar crashes in the future.
即使有了互聯網和24小時不間斷的新聞，人們仍然很難看到真正的問題。一架飛機發生墜毀事故，官員們會立刻召開新聞發佈會，承諾調查起因，以避免今後發生類似的事故。
But if the officials were brutally honest, they would say: “Of all the people in the world who died today from preventable causes, one half of one percent of them were on this plane. We’re determined to do everything possible to solve the problem that took the lives of the one half of one percent.” The bigger problem is not the plane crash, but the millions of preventable deaths.
但如果那些官員敢講真話，他們會說：“全世界每天會有好多人含恨而終，這起空難只是冰山一角。我們會不惜一切代價解決削平這一角冰山，此外的問題我們無力解決。” 可是與空難相比，那些奪走數百萬生命的問題則更爲嚴重。
We don’t read much about these deaths. The media covers what’s new – and millions of people dying is nothing new. So it stays in the background, where it’s easier to ignore. But even when we do see it or read about it, it’s difficult to keep our eyes on the problem. It’s hard to look at suffering if the situation is so complex that we don’t know how to help. And so we look away.
事實上那些人的死輕如鴻毛，司空見慣，連媒體都不屑於報道。更無法吸引我們的注意。即使我們知道了 它也很難刺痛我們的神經。世間最痛苦的事莫過於看着他人經受苦難的卻無能爲力，於是我們選擇了逃避。
If we can really see a problem, which is the first step, we come to the second step: cutting through the complexity to find a solution.
發現問題，只是邁出了第一步，接下來我們還要：尋找解決方案。
Finding solutions is essential if we want to make the most of our caring. If we have clear and proven answers anytime an organization or individual asks “How can I help?,” then we can get action – and we can make sure that none of the caring in the world is wasted. But complexity makes it hard to mark a path of action for everyone who cares — and that makes it hard for their caring to matter.
如果不想讓愛心變成空談，就必須找到問題的解決方案。如果有清晰可靠的方案，那麼政府或個人組織就能立刻採取行動，將愛心落實。但是世界的複雜性使找尋方案的過程無比艱難 於是愛心才淪爲空談。
Cutting through complexity to find a solution runs through four predictable stages: determine a goal, find the highest-leverage approach, discover the ideal technology for that approach, and in the meantime, make the smartest application of the technology that you already have whether it’s something sophisticated, like a drug, or something simpler, like a bednet.
打破複雜性需要四個步驟：確定目標、找到最有效的途徑、尋找最理想的技術，併合理利用現有技術。無論是製作複雜的藥物，還是利用簡單的蚊帳，都行。
The AIDS epidemic offers an example. The broad goal, of course, is to end the disease. The highest-leverage approach is prevention. The ideal technology would be a vaccine that gives lifetime immunity with a single dose. So governments, drug companies, and foundations fund vaccine research. But their work is likely to take more than a decade, so in the meantime, we have to work with what we have in hand – and the best prevention approach we have now is getting people to avoid risky behavior.
以艾滋病爲例。我們的目標是消滅它。最有效的途徑是預防，最理想的技術是注射一劑疫苗實現終身免疫。所以現在政府、製藥公司、基金會都在資助疫苗的研究。但可能要十幾年才能研究出來，所以目前的最好的預防措施就是避開那些可能傳播艾滋病的行爲。
Pursuing that goal starts the four-step cycle again. This is the pattern. The crucial thing is to never stop thinking and working – and never do what we did with malaria and tuberculosis in the 20th century – which is to surrender to complexity and quit.
四步循環直達目標。記住永遠不要停止思考和行動——永遠不要像人們在20世紀對待瘧疾和肺結核那樣，向疾病投降。
The final step – after seeing the problem and finding an approach – is to measure the impact of your work and share your successes and failures so that others learn from your efforts.
在發現問題並找到解決方法後，還需監測結果，並與他人分享成功的經驗和失敗的教訓，讓別人也能從中受益。
You have to have the statistics, of course. You have to be able to show that a program is vaccinating millions more children. You have to be able to show a decline in the number of children dying from these diseases. This is essential not just to improve the program, but also to help draw more investment from business and government.
當然，你還得有統計數據。用來證明你的項目爲上百萬兒童接種了疫苗，證明這些孩子的死亡率降低了。這不僅有利於項目的改進，也有助於吸引更多的企業和政府投資。
But if you want to inspire people to participate, you have to show more than numbers. You have to convey the human impact of the work – so people can feel what saving a life means to the families affected.
但如果想吸引更多的人蔘與進來，光靠數字還遠遠不夠。你需要展示出項目承載的價值，讓他們明白挽救一個生命對其家庭的意義。
Remember going to Davos some years back and sitting on a global health panel that was discussing ways to save millions of lives. Millions! Think of the thrill of saving just one person’s life – then multiply that by millions. Yet this was the most boring panel I’ve ever been on – ever. So boring even I couldn’t bear it.
我記得幾年前去達沃斯參加全球健康討論會，關於如何挽救數百萬人的生命。數百萬人!只要想想挽救一條生命帶來的震撼，再把這種震撼乘上幾百萬倍是什麼感覺!然而，那是我見過的最無聊的討論會。
What made that experience especially striking was that I had just come from an event where we were introducing version 13 of some piece of software, and we had people jumping and shouting with excitement. I love getting people excited about software – but why can’t we generate even more excitement for saving lives?
之所以銘記在心是因爲我最近參加的一款軟件發佈會的現場氛圍異常火爆。人們激動地歡呼雀躍。看到人們因爲軟件興奮，我也很開心——但我們爲什麼無法對挽救生命更感興趣呢?
You can’t get people excited unless you can help them see and feel the impact. And how you do that – is a complex question.
除非人們能感知到行動的影響力，否則人們就不會動心。如何做到這一點並不簡單。
Still, I’m optimistic. Yes, inequity has been with us forever, but the new tools we have to cut through complexity have not been with us forever. They are new – they can help us make the most of our caring – and that’s why the future can be different from the past.
儘管如此，我還是很樂觀。是的，不平等現象一直存在，但我們總會想出新的解決辦法。新技術可以幫助我們傳播愛心，我對未來充滿信心。
The defining and ongoing innovations of this age – biotechnology, the computer, the Internet--give us a chance we’ve never had before to end extreme poverty and end death from preventable disease.
創新技術不斷涌現，比如生物技術、計算機、互聯網。讓我們有機會終結救極度貧困和非惡性死亡。
Sixty years ago, George Marshall came to this commencement and announced a plan to assist the nations of post-war Europe. He said: “I think one difficulty is that the problem is one of such enormous complexity that the very mass of facts presented to the public by press and radio make it exceedingly difficult for the man in the street to reach a clear appraisement of the situation. It is virtually impossible at this distance to grasp at all the real significance of the situation.”
六十年前，喬治-馬歇爾在哈佛的畢業典禮上宣佈了一項協助戰後歐洲的計劃。他說：“我認爲推動這項計劃的困難在於，報紙和廣播源源不斷地提供各種事實，使得公衆難以清晰地判斷形勢。事實上，經過層層傳播，想要真正地把握形勢，是根本不可能的。
Thirty years after Marshall made his address, as my class graduated without me, technology was emerging that would make the world smaller, more open, more visible, less distant.
馬歇爾發表演講三十年後，我的同學畢業了，科技開始發展，這個世界變得更小、更開放、更透明、人們之間的關係拉得更近。
The emergence of low-cost personal computers gave rise to a powerful network that has transformed opportunities for learning and communicating.
低成本個人電腦和互聯網爲人們提供了更多學習和交流的機會。
The magical thing about this network is not just that it collapses distance and makes everyone your neighbor. It also dramatically increases the number of brilliant minds we can have working together on the same problem and that scales up the rate of innovation to a staggering degree.
神奇的是，網絡不僅縮短了人與人之間的距離，也增加了精英們集思廣益共同解決難題的機會。加快了創新的規模和速度。
At the same time, for every person in the world who has access to this technology, five people don’t. That means many creative minds are left out of this discussion smart people with practical intelligence and relevant experience who don’t have the technology to hone their talents or contribute their ideas to the world.
然而世界上只有六分之一的人能夠接觸互聯網，很多精英不能參與我們的討論，很多人無法把它們解決問題的智慧和經驗分享出 來。
We need as many people as possible to have access to this technology, because these advances are triggering a revolution in what human beings can do for one are making it possible not just for national governments, but for universities, corporations, smaller organizations, and even individualsto see problems, see approaches, and measure the impact of their efforts to address the hunger, poverty, and desperation George Marshall spoke of 60 years ago.
如今，新技術將引發一場革命，讓儘可能多的人與世界接軌，科技不僅爲政府，也爲大學、企業、小團體甚至個人帶來了機會，而今這些機構和個人能夠運用科技找到有效的解決60年前喬治•馬歇爾談到的饑荒、貧困和絕望。
Members of the Harvard Family: Here in the Yard is one of the great collections of intellectual talent in the world. What for?
各位哈佛大家庭的成員，你們是世界上少有的精英。我們爲什麼要上哈佛?
There is no question that the faculty, the alumni, the students, and the benefactors of Harvard have used their power to improve the lives of people here and around the world. But can we do more? Can Harvard dedicate its intellect to improving the lives of people who will never even hear its name?
毫無疑問，我們的教員、學生、校友都曾盡其所能改善全球人類的生活。我們還能更進一步嗎?哈佛能夠爲不知道哈佛名氣的陌生人奉獻智慧，伸出援助之手嗎?
Let me make a request of the deans and the professors the intellectual leaders here at Harvard: As you hire new faculty, award tenure, review curriculum, and determine degree requirements, please ask yourselves: Should our best minds be dedicated to solving our biggest problems?
請院長和教授接受我的不情之請，各位哈佛大學的精英領導者們，在你們僱用新教員、授予教授終身教職、評估課程安排和決定學位要求時，請問自己一個問題：最優秀的人才是否應該致力於解決人類的困境?
Should Harvard encourage its faculty to take on the world’s worst inequities? Should Harvard students learn about the depth of global poverty … the prevalence of world hunger … the scarcity of clean water …the girls kept out of school the children who die from diseases we can cure?
哈佛是否應該鼓勵教授解決世界上存在的嚴重不平等?哈佛的學生是不是應該多關注一些全球貧富不均、糧食短缺、水資源稀缺、女童輟學的問題?以及那些因無法接受有效治療而死亡的孩子?
Should the world’s most privileged people learn about the lives of the world’s least privileged?
世界上最衣食無憂的人是否應該瞭解那些掙扎在死亡邊緣的人們的生活?
These are not rhetorical questions – you will answer with your policies.
這並非言語修辭，這些問題只能用行動回答。
My mother, who was filled with pride the day I was admitted here – never stopped pressing me to do more for others. A few days before my wedding, she hosted a bridal event, at which she read aloud a letter about marriage that she had written to Melinda. My mother was very ill with cancer at the time, but she saw one more opportunity to deliver her message, and at the close of the letter she said: “From those to whom much is given, much is expected.”
我的母親一直爲我考上哈佛而自豪，也一直督促我回報社會。我結婚的前幾天的儀式上，她高聲朗讀自己寫給我妻子的信。當時我母親已經是癌症晚期，但她堅持要用這個機會表達自己的觀點。信的最後 她念道：“獲益越多，責任越大。”
When you consider what those of us here in this Yard have been given – in talent, privilege, and opportunity – there is almost no limit to what the world has a right to expect from us.
想想我們獲得了什麼——天賦，特權，機遇——世界寄予殷切的期望。
In line with the promise of this age, I want to exhort each of the graduates here to take on an issue –a complex problem, a deep inequity, and become a specialist on you make it the focus of your career, that would be you don’t have to do that to make an impact. For a few hours every week, you can use the growing power of the Internet to get informed, find others with the same interests, see the barriers, and find ways to cut through them.
我希望每位畢業生承擔起這樣一種責任—— 參與解決人類不平等的問題，如果你獻身這項事業，你的影響力將會是驚人的。既便不打算以此爲業，你一樣可以有所作爲。每週只需要花幾個小時，就可以利用互聯網獲取信息、找到志同道合的朋友、設法解決一兩個問題。
Don't let complexity stop you. Be activists. Take on the big inequities. It will be one of the great experiences of your lives.
不要畏難，儘管放手去做。它將是你生命中最寶貴經歷。
You graduates are coming of age in an amazing you leave Harvard, you have technology that members of my class never had. You have awareness of global inequity, which we did not have. And with that awareness, you likely also have an informed conscience that will torment you if you abandon these people whose lives you could change with very little effort. You have more than we had; you must start sooner, and carry on longer.
這是一個神奇的時代。今天的科技是我年輕時不曾體驗的。你們對不平等現象的認識遠遠超過我們這代人。面對這種不平等，你們更容易受良心的譴責。行動起來，時不我待。
And I hope you will come back here to Harvard 30 years from now and reflect on what you have done with your talent and your energy. I hope you will judge yourselves not on your professional accomplishments alone, but also on how well you have addressed the world’s deepest inequities … on how well you treated people a world away who have nothing in common with you but their humanity.
30年後當你再次回到哈佛的時候，我希望看到你用自己的天賦和精力做了哪些事。不僅用專業成就來衡量成功，還要看你是如何解決人類根深蒂固的不平等問題。你是怎樣對待那些與你相隔萬里、迥然不同的人的。
Good luck.
同學們，祝你們好運!
成功的經歷英語演講篇3：馬丁·路德·金演講稿：我已達至峯頂 I've Been to the Mountaintop
Thank you very kindly, my friends. As I listened to Ralph Abernathy and his eloquent and generous introduction and then thought about myself, I wondered who he was talking about. It's always good to have your closest friend and associate to say something good about you. And Ralph Abernathy is the best friend that I have in the world. I'm delighted to see each of you here tonight in spite of a storm warning. You reveal that you are determined to go on anyhow.
Something is happening in Memphis; something is happening in our world. And you know, if I were standing at the beginning of time, with the possibility of taking a kind of general and panoramic view of the whole of human history up to now, and the Almighty said to me, "Martin Luther King, which age would you like to live in?" I would take my mental flight by Egypt and I would watch God's children in their magnificent trek from the dark dungeons of Egypt through, or rather across the Red Sea, through the wilderness on toward the promised land. And in spite of its magnificence, I wouldn't stop there.
I would move on by Greece and take my mind to Mount Olympus. And I would see Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Euripides and Aristophanes assembled around the Parthenon. And I would watch them around the Parthenon as they discussed the great and eternal issues of reality. But I wouldn't stop there.
I would go on, even to the great heyday of the Roman Empire. And I would see developments around there, through various emperors and leaders. But I wouldn't stop there.
I would even come up to the day of the Renaissance, and get a quick picture of all that the Renaissance did for the cultural and aesthetic life of man. But I wouldn't stop there.
I would even go by the way that the man for whom I am named had his habitat. And I would watch Martin Luther as he tacked his ninety-five theses on the door at the church of Wittenberg. But I wouldn't stop there.
I would come on up even to 1863, and watch a vacillating President by the name of Abraham Lincoln finally come to the conclusion that he had to sign the Emancipation Proclamation. But I wouldn't stop there.
I would even come up to the early thirties, and see a man grappling with the problems of the bankruptcy of his nation. And come with an eloquent cry that we have nothing to fear but "fear itself." But I wouldn't stop there.
Strangely enough, I would turn to the Almighty, and say, "If you allow me to live just a few years in the second half of the 20th century, I will be happy."
Now that's a strange statement to make, because the world is all messed up. The nation is sick. Trouble is in the land; confusion all around. That's a strange statement. But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars. And I see God working in this period of the twentieth century in a way that men, in some strange way, are responding.
Something is happening in our world. The masses of people are rising up. And wherever they are assembled today, whether they are in Johannesburg, South Africa; Nairobi, Kenya; Accra, Ghana; New York City; Atlanta, Georgia; Jackson, Mississippi; or Memphis, Tennessee -- the cry is always the same: "We want to be free."
And another reason that I'm happy to live in this period is that we have been forced to a point where we are going to have to grapple with the problems that men have been trying to grapple with through history, but the demands didn't force them to do it. Survival demands that we grapple with them. Men, for years now, have been talking about war and peace. But now, no longer can they just talk about it. It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world; it's nonviolence or nonexistence. That is where we are today.
And also in the human rights revolution, if something isn't done, and done in a hurry, to bring the colored peoples of the world out of their long years of poverty, their long years of hurt and neglect, the whole world is doomed. Now, I'm just happy that God has allowed me to live in this period to see what is unfolding. And I'm happy that He's allowed me to be in Memphis.
I can remember -- I can remember when Negroes were just going around as Ralph has said, so often, scratching where they didn't itch, and laughing when they were not tickled. But that day is all over. We mean business now, and we are determined to gain our rightful place in God's world.
And that's all this whole thing is about. We aren't engaged in any negative protest and in any negative arguments with anybody. We are saying that we are determined to be men. We are determined to be people. We are saying -- We are saying that we are God's children. And that we are God's children, we don't have to live like we are forced to live.
Now, what does all of this mean in this great period of history? It means that we've got to stay together. We've got to stay together and maintain unity. You know, whenever Pharaoh wanted to prolong the period of slavery in Egypt, he had a favorite, favorite formula for doing it. What was that? He kept the slaves fighting among themselves. But whenever the slaves get together, something happens in Pharaoh's court, and he cannot hold the slaves in slavery. When the slaves get together, that's the beginning of getting out of slavery. Now let us maintain unity.
Secondly, let us keep the issues where they are. The issue is injustice. The issue is the refusal of Memphis to be fair and honest in its dealings with its public servants, who happen to be sanitation workers. Now, we've got to keep attention on that. That's always the problem with a little violence. You know what happened the other day, and the press dealt only with the window-breaking. I read the articles. They very seldom got around to mentioning the fact that one thousand, three hundred sanitation workers are on strike, and that Memphis is not being fair to them, and that Mayor Loeb is in dire need of a doctor. They didn't get around to that.
Now we're going to march again, and we've got to march again, in order to put the issue where it is supposed to be -- and force everybody to see that there are thirteen hundred of God's children here suffering, sometimes going hungry, going through dark and dreary nights wondering how this thing is going to come out. That's the issue. And we've got to say to the nation: We know how it's coming out. For when people get caught up with that which is right and they are willing to sacrifice for it, there is no stopping point short of victory.
We aren't going to let any mace stop us. We are masters in our nonviolent movement in disarming police forces; they don't know what to do. I've seen them so often. I remember in Birmingham, Alabama, when we were in that majestic struggle there, we would move out of the 16th Street Baptist Church day after day; by the hundreds we would move out. And Bull Connor would tell them to send the dogs forth, and they did come; but we just went before the dogs singing, "Ain't gonna let nobody turn me around."
Bull Connor next would say, "Turn the fire hoses on." And as I said to you the other night, Bull Connor didn't know history. He knew a kind of physics that somehow didn't relate to the transphysics that we knew about. And that was the fact that there was a certain kind of fire that no water could put out. And we went before the fire hoses; we had known water. If we were Baptist or some other denominations, we had been immersed. If we were Methodist, and some others, we had been sprinkled, but we knew water. That couldn't stop us.
And we just went on before the dogs and we would look at them; and we'd go on before the water hoses and we would look at it, and we'd just go on singing "Over my head I see freedom in the air." And then we would be thrown in the paddy wagons, and sometimes we were stacked in there like sardines in a can. And they would throw us in, and old Bull would say, "Take 'em off," and they did; and we would just go in the paddy wagon singing, "We Shall Overcome." And every now and then we'd get in jail, and we'd see the jailers looking through the windows being moved by our prayers, and being moved by our words and our songs. And there was a power there which Bull Connor couldn't adjust to; and so we ended up transforming Bull into a steer, and we won our struggle in Birmingham. Now we've got to go on in Memphis just like that. I call upon you to be with us when we go out Monday.
Now about injunctions: We have an injunction and we're going into court tomorrow morning to fight this illegal, unconstitutional injunction. All we say to America is, "Be true to what you said on paper." If I lived in China or even Russia, or any totalitarian country, maybe I could understand some of these illegal injunctions. Maybe I could understand the denial of certain basic First Amendment privileges, because they hadn't committed themselves to that over there. But somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read of the freedom of press. Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for right. And so just as I say, we aren't going to let dogs or water hoses turn us around, we aren't going to let any injunction turn us around. We are going on.
We need all of you. And you know what's beautiful to me is to see all of these ministers of the Gospel. It's a marvelous picture. Who is it that is supposed to articulate the longings and aspirations of the people more than the preacher? Somehow the preacher must have a kind of fire shut up in his bones. And whenever injustice is around he tell it. Somehow the preacher must be an Amos, and saith, "When God speaks who can but prophesy?" Again with Amos, "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream." Somehow the preacher must say with Jesus, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me," and he's anointed me to deal with the problems of the poor."
And I want to commend the preachers, under the leadership of these noble men: James Lawson, one who has been in this struggle for many years; he's been to jail for struggling; he's been kicked out of Vanderbilt University for this struggle, but he's still going on, fighting for the rights of his people. Reverend Ralph Jackson, Billy Kiles; I could just go right on down the list, but time will not permit. But I want to thank all of them. And I want you to thank them, because so often, preachers aren't concerned about anything but themselves. And I'm always happy to see a relevant ministry.
It's all right to talk about "long white robes over yonder," in all of its symbolism. But ultimately people want some suits and dresses and shoes to wear down here! It's all right to talk about "streets flowing with milk and honey," but God has commanded us to be concerned about the slums down here, and his children who can't eat three square meals a day. It's all right to talk about the new Jerusalem, but one day, God's preacher must talk about the new New York, the new Atlanta, the new Philadelphia, the new Los Angeles, the new Memphis, Tennessee. This is what we have to do.
Now the other thing we'll have to do is this: Always anchor our external direct action with the power of economic withdrawal. Now, we are poor people. Individually, we are poor when you compare us with white society in America. We are poor. Never stop and forget that collectively -- that means all of us together -- collectively we are richer than all the nations in the world, with the exception of nine. Did you ever think about that? After you leave the United States, Soviet Russia, Great Britain, West Germany, France, and I could name the others, the American Negro collectively is richer than most nations of the world. We have an annual income of more than thirty billion dollars a year, which is more than all of the exports of the United States, and more than the national budget of Canada. Did you know that? That's power right there, if we know how to pool it.
We don't have to argue with anybody. We don't have to curse and go around acting bad with our words. We don't need any bricks and bottles. We don't need any Molotov cocktails. We just need to go around to these stores, and to these massive industries in our country, and say, "God sent us by here, to say to you that you're not treating his children right. And we've come by here to ask you to make the first item on your agenda fair treatment, where God's children are concerned. Now, if you are not prepared to do that, we do have an agenda that we must follow. And our agenda calls for withdrawing economic support from you."
And so, as a result of this, we are asking you tonight, to go out and tell your neighbors not to buy Coca-Cola in Memphis. Go by and tell them not to buy Sealtest milk. Tell them not to buy -- what is the other bread? -- Wonder Bread. And what is the other bread company, Jesse? Tell them not to buy Hart's bread. As Jesse Jackson has said, up to now, only the garbage men have been feeling pain; now we must kind of redistribute the pain. We are choosing these companies because they haven't been fair in their hiring policies; and we are choosing them because they can begin the process of saying they are going to support the needs and the rights of these men who are on strike. And then they can move on town -- downtown and tell Mayor Loeb to do what is right.
But not only that, we've got to strengthen black institutions. I call upon you to take your money out of the banks downtown and deposit your money in Tri-State Bank. We want a "bank-in" movement in Memphis. Go by the savings and loan association. I'm not asking you something that we don't do ourselves at SCLC. Judge Hooks and others will tell you that we have an account here in the savings and loan association from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. We are telling you to follow what we are doing. Put your money there. You have six or seven black insurance companies here in the city of Memphis. Take out your insurance there. We want to have an "insurance-in."
Now these are some practical things that we can do. We begin the process of building a greater economic base. And at the same time, we are putting pressure where it really hurts. I ask you to follow through here.
Now, let me say as I move to my conclusion that we've got to give ourselves to this struggle until the end. Nothing would be more tragic than to stop at this point in Memphis. We've got to see it through. And when we have our march, you need to be there. If it means leaving work, if it means leaving school -- be there. Be concerned about your brother. You may not be on strike. But either we go up together, or we go down together.
Let us develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness. One day a man came to Jesus, and he wanted to raise some questions about some vital matters of life. At points he wanted to trick Jesus, and show him that he knew a little more than Jesus knew and throw him off base....
Now that question could have easily ended up in a philosophical and theological debate. But Jesus immediately pulled that question from mid-air, and placed it on a dangerous curve between Jerusalem and Jericho. And he talked about a certain man, who fell among thieves. You remember that a Levite and a priest passed by on the other side. They didn't stop to help him. And finally a man of another race came by. He got down from his beast, decided not to be compassionate by proxy. But he got down with him, administered first aid, and helped the man in need. Jesus ended up saying, this was the good man, this was the great man, because he had the capacity to project the "I" into the "thou," and to be concerned about his brother.
Now you know, we use our imagination a great deal to try to determine why the priest and the Levite didn't stop. At times we say they were busy going to a church meeting, an ecclesiastical gathering, and they had to get on down to Jerusalem so they wouldn't be late for their meeting. At other times we would speculate that there was a religious law that "One who was engaged in religious ceremonials was not to touch a human body twenty-four hours before the ceremony." And every now and then we begin to wonder whether maybe they were not going down to Jerusalem -- or down to Jericho, rather to organize a "Jericho Road Improvement Association." That's a possibility. Maybe they felt that it was better to deal with the problem from the causal root, rather than to get bogged down with an individual effect.
But I'm going to tell you what my imagination tells me. It's possible that those men were afraid. You see, the Jericho road is a dangerous road. I remember when Mrs. King and I were first in Jerusalem. We rented a car and drove from Jerusalem down to Jericho. And as soon as we got on that road, I said to my wife, "I can see why Jesus used this as the setting for his parable." It's a winding, meandering road. It's really conducive for ambushing. You start out in Jerusalem, which is about 1200 miles -- or rather 1200 feet above sea level. And by the time you get down to Jericho, fifteen or twenty minutes later, you're about 2200 feet below sea level. That's a dangerous road. In the days of Jesus it came to be known as the "Bloody Pass." And you know, it's possible that the priest and the Levite looked over that man on the ground and wondered if the robbers were still around. Or it's possible that they felt that the man on the ground was merely faking. And he was acting like he had been robbed and hurt, in order to seize them over there, lure them there for quick and easy seizure. And so the first question that the priest asked -- the first question that the Levite asked was, "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" But then the Good Samaritan came by. And he reversed the question: "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?"
That's the question before you tonight. Not, "If I stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to my job. Not, "If I stop to help the sanitation workers what will happen to all of the hours that I usually spend in my office every day and every week as a pastor?" The question is not, "If I stop to help this man in need, what will happen to me?" The question is, "If I do not stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to them?" That's the question.
Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness. Let us stand with a greater determination. And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge to make America what it ought to be. We have an opportunity to make America a better nation. And I want to thank God, once more, for allowing me to be here with you.
You know, several years ago, I was in New York City autographing the first book that I had written. And while sitting there autographing books, a demented black woman came up. The only question I heard from her was, "Are you Martin Luther King?" And I was looking down writing, and I said, "Yes." And the next minute I felt something beating on my chest. Before I knew it I had been stabbed by this demented woman. I was rushed to Harlem Hospital. It was a dark Saturday afternoon. And that blade had gone through, and the X-rays revealed that the tip of the blade was on the edge of my aorta, the main artery. And once that's punctured, your drowned in your own blood -- that's the end of you.
It came out in the New York Times the next morning, that if I had merely sneezed, I would have died. Well, about four days later, they allowed me, after the operation, after my chest had been opened, and the blade had been taken out, to move around in the wheel chair in the hospital. They allowed me to read some of the mail that came in, and from all over the states and the world, kind letters came in. I read a few, but one of them I will never forget. I had received one from the President and the Vice-President. I've forgotten what those telegrams said. I'd received a visit and a letter from the Governor of New York, but I've forgotten what that letter said. But there was another letter that came from a little girl, a young girl who was a student at the White Plains High School. And I looked at that letter, and I'll never forget it. It said simply,
Dear Dr. King,
I am a ninth-grade student at the White Plains High School."
And she said,
While it should not matter, I would like to mention that I'm a white girl. I read in the paper of your misfortune, and of your suffering. And I read that if you had sneezed, you would have died. And I'm simply writing you to say that I'm so happy that you didn't sneeze.
And I want to say tonight -- I want to say tonight that I too am happy that I didn't sneeze. Because if I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been around here in 1960, when students all over the South started sitting-in at lunch counters. And I knew that as they were sitting in, they were really standing up for the best in the American dream, and taking the whole nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the Founding Fathers in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been around here in 1961, when we decided to take a ride for freedom and ended segregation in inter-state travel.
If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been around here in 1962, when Negroes in Albany, Georgia, decided to straighten their backs up. And whenever men and women straighten their backs up, they are going somewhere, because a man can't ride your back unless it is bent.
If I had sneezed -- If I had sneezed I wouldn't have been here in 1963, when the black people of Birmingham, Alabama, aroused the conscience of this nation, and brought into being the Civil Rights Bill.
If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have had a chance later that year, in August, to try to tell America about a dream that I had had.
If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been down in Selma, Alabama, to see the great Movement there.
If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been in Memphis to see a community rally around those brothers and sisters who are suffering.
I'm so happy that I didn't sneeze.
And they were telling me --. Now, it doesn't matter, now. It really doesn't matter what happens now. I left Atlanta this morning, and as we got started on the plane, there were six of us. The pilot said over the public address system, "We are sorry for the delay, but we have Dr. Martin Luther King on the plane. And to be sure that all of the bags were checked, and to be sure that nothing would be wrong with on the plane, we had to check out everything carefully. And we've had the plane protected and guarded all night."
And then I got into Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers?
Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop.
And I don't mind.
Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!
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And so I'm happy, tonight.
I'm not worried about anything.
I'm not fearing any man!
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!!
(中文版部分翻譯)
但是我要告訴你們我的想象力給我的啓示。很可能其實是這些人都覺得害怕，你看，耶利哥之路是一條危險的路途。我還記得我和我的妻子第一次到耶路撒冷的情形。我們租了一輛車然後從耶路撒冷開往耶利哥，但我們上路之後，我就跟我妻子說道:“我現在明白爲什麼耶穌要拿這條路來作比喻了。”這是一條蜿蜒曲折的道路，非常有利於埋伏，你從耶路撒冷出發，這大約是1200英里，也即海平面以上1200英尺。而當15或者20分鐘之後，你到達耶利哥時，你卻在海平面以下2200英尺。那真是一條危險的路途啊!在耶穌的時代，它就以“血腥之途(Bloody Pass)”而爲人所知。而且你知道，可能那個利未人和那個教士檢查了地上的那個人，而懷疑那些盜賊是否仍在附近，抑或是他們認爲這個人僅僅是在僞裝，他只是裝作被搶劫了被打傷了，目的是爲了抓住他們，引誘他們從而快速而簡單的捉住他們。所以那個利未人的第一個問題是：如果我停下來幫助這個人的話，有什麼事會發生在我身上?但是接着那個好心的撒瑪利亞人(Samaritan)過來了，他顛倒着這個問題：如果我不停下來幫助這個人的話他會怎麼樣?這就是今晚擺在我們面前的問題，不是“如果我停下來幫助這些環衛工人的話，我的工作會有什麼影響?”不是“如果我停下來幫助這些環衛工人的話，那些我作爲一個牧師花在辦公室裏的一天接一天，一個禮拜接一個禮拜的時間會怎麼樣?”問題不是：“如果我幫助了這個需要幫助的人，我會怎麼樣?”問題是：“如果我不幫助這些環衛工人的話，他會怎麼樣?”這纔是我們的問題。
今晚讓我們以更高的積極性起來反抗吧!讓我們以更大的決心站起來!讓我們在這偉大的時代繼續前行，在這有機會使美國成爲真正的美國的時代!我們有這樣一個機會使美國成爲一個更好的國家!同時，我要再一次感謝仁慈的主，讓我能和你們在一起前行!
你們應該知道，幾年前，那時我在紐約，爲我的第一本書籤名，當我坐在那裏簽名的時候，一個精神有問題的黑人婦女過來了，我聽到他問的唯一一個問題就是：“你是馬丁路德金嗎?”但是我正埋頭簽名，我回答道：“是啊。”接着下一秒我就感覺到我的胸部被什麼東西刺中了，在我意識到的時候我已經被這個精神有問題的婦女刺中了。我即刻被送到了Harlem醫院，這是一個黑沉沉的禮拜六的下午。那柄刀穿透了我的胸部，通過X光片可以看到刀刃正好從主動脈的邊緣穿過，一旦主動脈被刺穿，你就會被你的血所淹沒，也就是你的生命將終結。第二天早上紐約時報上登出來了，如果我打了噴嚏的話，我就會死掉。四天之後，在手術之後，在我的胸口被打開刀刃被取出來之後，他們允許我坐在輪椅上在醫院裏四處走走，他們允許我看一些從美國乃至世界各地郵寄來的信件，善意的來信。我看了一些，但是隻有一封我永遠都不會忘記。我收到了一封總統先生和副總統先生的來信，但我已經忘了信上說了什麼了。我還接受了紐約市長的訪問以及他的一封信，我也幾經忘了這封信上說的什麼了。但是有一封信，來自一個小姑娘，她在白原高校(White Plains High School)唸書，我看了那封信，我終生難忘。信很簡單：“親愛的金博士：我是一個在白原高校廿九年級的學生，”她說，“這雖然沒有什麼關係，但我還是要說出來，我是個白人女孩，我在報紙上看到你的不幸，你的遭遇。並且我讀到如果你打了噴嚏的話，就會死掉，而我寫這封信給你其實只是想告訴你，我真的很高興你沒有打噴嚏。”
今晚我想說，今晚，我想說，我也很高興我沒有打噴嚏，因爲如果那個時候我打了噴嚏的話，1960年我就不會出現在這裏，當時整個南部的(黑人)學生開始了在午餐檯邊坐着吃飯，而我知道當他們可以坐着吃飯的時候，他們正真正擡起頭來實現着美國夢中最美妙的精神。他們帶着整個國家迴歸到偉大的民主的源泉，這源泉由建國者們在《獨立宣言》和《憲法》中深深挖掘。那個時候我打了噴嚏的話，1961年，我不會出現在這裏，那時我們決定搭上自由之車，終止在州與州之間旅行時存在的隔離。如果那個時候我打了噴嚏的話，1962年我不會出現在這裏，當時，在佐治亞的奧爾巴尼，人們決定挺直他們的腰桿，而一旦人們挺直了腰板，他們纔會有所建樹，因爲人不能扛着背前行，除非他的背斷掉了。如果那個時候我打了噴嚏的話，1963年我不會出現在這裏，那時，阿拉巴馬伯明翰的黑人們喚起了這個國家的良知，使民權法案獲得了通過。如果那個時候我打了噴嚏的話，1964年我不會有機會告訴美國我一直以來的一個夢想。如果那個時候我打了噴嚏的話，我不會在阿拉巴馬塞爾瑪目睹一場偉大的運動。如果那個時候我打了噴嚏的話，我不會在孟菲斯看到一個團結了那麼多飽受苦難的兄弟姐妹的社團。我真的很高興我沒有打噴嚏。
而他們告訴我---現在，沒有。