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.

我很擔心，他們會發(fā)覺我是一個住在宿舍的學生，從而掛斷電話。但是他們卻說：“我們還沒準備好，一個月后你再來找我們吧。”這是個好消息，因為那時 軟件還根本沒有寫出來呢。就是從那個時候起，我日以繼夜地在這個小小的課外項目上工作，這導致了我學生生活的結(jié)束，以及通往微軟公司的不平凡的旅程的開 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.

不管怎樣，我對哈佛的回憶主要都與充沛的精力和智力活動有關。哈佛的生活令人愉快，也令人感到有壓力，有時甚至會感到泄氣，但永遠充滿了挑戰(zhàn)性。生 活在哈佛是一種吸引人的特殊待遇……雖然我離開得比較早，但是我在這里的經(jīng)歷、在這里結(jié)識的朋友、在這里發(fā)展起來的一些想法，永遠地改變了我。

But taking a serious look back … I do have one big regret.

但是，如果現(xiàn)在嚴肅地回憶起來，我確實有一個真正的遺憾。

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.

我離開哈佛的時候，根本沒有意識到這個世界是多么的不平等。人類在健康、財富和機遇上的不平等大得可怕，它們使得無數(shù)的人們被迫生活在絕望之中。

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.

我在哈佛學到了很多經(jīng)濟學和政治學的新思想。我也了解了很多科學上的新進展。

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，人類最大的進步并不來自于這些發(fā)現(xiàn)，而是來自于那些有助于減少人類不平等的發(fā)現(xiàn)。不管通過何種手段——民主制度、健全的公共教育體系、高質(zhì)量的醫(yī)療保健、還是廣泛的經(jīng)濟機會——減少不平等始終是人類最大的成就。

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.

我離開校園的時候，根本不知道在這個國家里，有幾百萬的年輕人無法獲得接受教育的機會。我也不知道，發(fā)展中國家里有無數(shù)的人們生活在無法形容的貧窮和疾病之中。

It took me decades to find out.

我花了幾十年才明白了這些事情。

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.

在座的各位同學，你們是在與我不同的時代來到哈佛的。你們比以前的學生，更多地了解世界是怎樣的不平等。在你們的哈佛求學過程中，我希望你們已經(jīng)思考過一個問題，那就是在這個新技術加速發(fā)展的時代，我們怎樣最終應對這種不平等，以及我們怎樣來解決這個問題。

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?

為了討論的方便，請想象一下，假如你每個星期可以捐獻一些時間、每個月可以捐獻一些錢——你希望這些時間和金錢，可以用到對拯救生命和改善人類生活有最大作用的地方。你會選擇什么地方？

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.

對Melinda（注：蓋茨的妻子）和我來說，這也是我們面臨的問題：我們?nèi)绾文軐⑽覀儞碛械馁Y源發(fā)揮出最大的作用。