乔布斯经典哈佛英语演讲稿

2024年2月26日发(作者：于文雅)

乔布斯经典哈佛英语演讲稿

You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says.

Jobs说，你必需要找到你所爱的东西。

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement

from one of the finest universities in the world. I never

graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the clost I've

ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you

three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three

stories.

我今日很荣幸能和你们一起参与毕业典礼，斯坦福高校是世界上最好的高校之一。我从来没有从高校中毕业。说实话,今日或许是在我的生命中离高校毕业最近的一天了。今日我想向你们讲解并描述我生活中的三个故事。不是什么大不了的事情,只是三个故事而已。

The first story is about connecting the dots.

第一个故事是关于如何把生命中的点点滴滴串连起来。

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months,

but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or

so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

我在Reed高校读了六个月之后就退学了,但是在十八个月以后——我真正的作出退学确定之前,我还常常去学校。我为什么要退学呢?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was

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a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put

me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be

adopted by college graduates, so everything was all t for me

to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that

when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they

really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list,

got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an

unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of cour."

My biological mother later found out that my mother had never

graduated from college and thatmy father had never graduated

from high school. She refud to sign the final adoption papers.

She only relented a few months later when my parents promid

that I would someday go to college.

故事从我诞生的时候讲起。我的亲生母亲是一个年轻的,没有结婚的高校毕业生。她确定让别人收养我, 她非常想让我被高校毕业生收养。所以在我诞生的时候，她已经做好了一切的预备工作，能使得我被一个律师和他的妻子所收养。但是她没有料到,当我诞生之后,律师夫妇突然确定他们想要一个女孩。 所以我的生养父母(他们还在我亲生父母的观看名单上)突然在半夜接到了一个电话：我们如今这儿有一个不当心生出来的男婴,你们想要他吗？他们回答道：当然！但是我亲生母亲随后发觉，我的养母从来没有上过高校,我的父亲甚至从没有读过高中。她拒绝签这个收养合同。只是在几个月以后,我

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的父母容许她肯定要让我上高校,那个时候她才同意。

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively cho

a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of

my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my

college tuition. After six months, I couldn't e the value in

it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea

how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was

spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life.

So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out

OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was

one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out

I could stop taking the required class that didn't interest

me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

在十七岁那年,我真的上了高校。但是我很愚蠢的选择了一个几乎和你们斯坦福高校一样贵的学校, 我父母还处于蓝领阶层，他们几乎把全部积蓄都花在了我的学费上面。在六个月后, 我已经看不到其中的价值所在。我不知道我想要在生命中做什么,我也不知道高校能关心我找到怎样的答案。 但是在这里，我几乎花光了我父母这一辈子的全部积蓄。所以我确定要退学,我觉得这是个正确的确定。不能否认,我当时的确特别的可怕, 但是如今回头看看,那确实是我这一生中最棒的一个确定。在我做出退学确定的那一刻, 我最终可以不必去读那些令我提不起丝毫爱好的课程了。然后我还可以去修那些看

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起来有点意思的课程。

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I

slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles

for the 5 deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles

across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at

the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled

into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be

priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

但是这并不是那么罗曼蒂克。我失去了我的宿舍,所以我只能在伴侣房间的地板上面睡觉,我去捡5美分的可乐瓶子，仅仅为了填饱肚子, 在星期天的晚上,我需要走七英里的路程，穿过这个城市到Hare Krishna寺庙(注：位于纽约Brooklyn下城),只是为了能吃上饭这个星期唯一一顿好一点的饭。但是我喜爱这样。我跟着我的直觉和奇怪 心走, 遇到的许多东西,此后被证明是无价之宝。让我给你们举一个例子吧：

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best

calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus

every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand

calligraphed. Becau I had dropped out and didn't have to take

the normal class, I decidedto take a calligraphy class to

learn how to do this. I learned about rif and san rif

typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different

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letter combinations, about what makes great typography great.

It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that

science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

Reed高校在那时供应或许是全美最好的美术字课程。在这个高校里面的每个海报, 每个抽屉的标签上面全都是美丽的美术字。由于我退学了, 没有受到正规的训练, 所以我确定去参与这个课程，去学学怎样写出美丽的美术字。我学到了san rif 和rif字体, 我学会了怎么样在不同的字母组合之中转变空格的长度, 还有怎么样才能作出最棒的印刷式样。那是一种科学永久不能捕获到的、秀丽的、真实的艺术精妙, 我发觉那实在是太奇妙了。

None of this had even a hope of any practical application

in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first

Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it

all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful

typography. If I had never dropped in on that single cour in

college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or

proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just

copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have

them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped

in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not

have the wonderful typography that they do. Of cour it was

impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in

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college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years

later.

当时看起来这些东西在我的生命中，似乎都没有什么实际应用的可能。但是十年之后,当我们在设计第一台Macintosh电脑的时候,就不是那样了。我把当时我学的那些家伙全都设计进了Mac。那是第一台使用了美丽的印刷字体的电脑。假如我当时没有退学, 就不会有机会去参与这个我感爱好的美术字课程, Mac就不会有这么多丰富的字体，以及赏心悦目的字体间距。那么如今个人电脑就不会有如今这么奇妙的字型了。当然我在高校的时候，还不行能把从前的点点滴滴串连起来,但是当我十年后回顾这一切的时候,真的豁然开朗了。

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you

can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust

that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to

trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.

This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the

difference in my life.

再次说明的是,你在向前展望的时候不行能将这些片断串连起来;你只能在回顾的时候将点点滴滴串连起来。所以你必需信任这些片断会在你将来的某一天串连起来。你必需要信任某些东西：你的士气、目的、生命、因缘。这个过程从来没有令我绝望(let me down),只是让我的生命更加地别出心裁而已。

My cond story is about love and loss.

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我的其次个故事是关于爱和损失的。

I was lucky – I found what I loved to do early in life.

Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We

worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two

ofus in a garage into a billion company with over 4000 employees.

We had just relead our finest creation - the Macintosh - a

year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired.

How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple

grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run

the company with me, and for the first year or so things went

well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and

eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of

Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly

out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone,

and it was devastating.

我特别幸运, 由于我在很早的时候就找到了我钟爱的东西。Woz和我在二十岁的时候就在父母的车库里面开创了苹果公司。我们工作得很努力, 十年之后, 这个公司从那两个车库中的穷光蛋进展到了超过四千名的'雇员、价值超过二十亿的大公司。在公司成立的第九年,我们刚刚发布了最好的产品,那就是Macintosh。我也快要到三十岁了。在那一年, 我被炒了鱿鱼。你怎么可能被你自己创立的公司炒了鱿鱼呢? 嗯,在苹果快速成长的时候，我们雇用了一个很有天

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分的家伙和我一起管理这个公司, 在最初的几年,公司运转的很好。但是后来我们对将来的看法发生了分歧, 最终我们吵了起来。当争吵不行开交的时候, 董事会站在了他的那一边。所以在三十岁的时候,

我被炒了。在这么多人的眼皮下我被炒了。在而立之年，我生命的全部支柱离自己远去, 这真是毁灭性的打击。

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt

that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down

- that I had dropped the baton as it was being pasd to me.

I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize

for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I

even thought about running away from the valley. But something

slowly began to dawn on me – I still loved what I did. The turn

of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been

rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start

over.

在最初的几个月里，我真是不知道该做些什么。我把从前的创业激情给丢了, 我觉得自己让与我一同创业的人都很懊丧。我和David Pack和Bob Boyce见面，并试图向他们抱歉。我把事情弄得糟糕透顶了。但是我慢慢发觉了曙光, 我仍旧宠爱我从事的这些东西。苹果公司发生的这些事情丝毫的没有转变这些, 一点也没有。我被驱除了,但是我仍旧钟爱它。所以我确定从头再来。

I didn't e it then, but it turned out that getting fired

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from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to

me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the

lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything.

It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

我当时没有觉察, 但是事后证明, 从苹果公司被炒是我这辈子发生的最棒的事情。由于，作为一个胜利者的极乐感觉被作为一个创业者的轻松感觉所重新代替: 对任何事情都不那么特殊看重。这让我觉得如此自由, 进入了我生命中最有制造力的一个阶段。

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT,

another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing

woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the

worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is

now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a

remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I retuned to Apple,

and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of

Apple's currentrenaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful

family together.

在接下来的五年里, 我创立了一个名叫NeXT的公司, 还有一个叫Pixar的公司, 然后和一个后来成为我妻子的优雅女人相识。Pixar 制作了世界上第一个用电脑制作的动画电影——玩具总动员,Pixar如今也是世界上最胜利的电脑制作工作室。在后来的一系列运转中,Apple收购了NeXT, 然后我又回到了Apple公司。我们在

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NeXT进展的技术在Apple的复兴之中发挥了关键的作用。我还和Laurence 一起建立了一个美好的家庭。

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I

hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine,

but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in

the head with a brick. Don't lo faith. I'm convinced that the

only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've

got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work

as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large

part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is

to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do

great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet,

keep looking. Don't ttle. As with all matters of the heart,

you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship,

it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep

looking until you find it. Don't ttle.

我可以特别确定,假如我不被Apple开除的话, 这其中一件事情也不会发生的。这个良药的味道实在是太苦了,但是我想病人需要这个药。有些时候, 生活会拿起一块砖头向你的脑袋上猛拍一下。不要失去信念。我很清晰唯一使我始终走下去的，就是我做的事情令我无比钟爱。你需要去找到你所爱的东西。对于工作是如此, 对于你的爱人也是如此。你的工作将会占据生活中很大的一部分。你只有信任

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自己所做的是宏大的工作, 你才能怡然得意。假如你如今还没有找到,

那么连续找、不要停下来、全心全意的去找, 当你找到的时候你就会知道的。就像任何真诚的关系, 随着岁月的消逝只会越来越紧密。所以连续找，直到你找到它，不要停下来!

My third story is about death.

我的第三个故事是关于死亡的。

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like:

"If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll

most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since

then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every

morning and asked mylf: "If today were the last day of my life,

would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever

the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I

need to change something.

当我十七岁的时候, 我读到了一句话：假如你把每一天都当作生命中最终一天去生活的话,那么有一天你会发觉你是正确的。这句话给我留下了深刻的印象。从那时开头,过了33年,我在每天早晨都会对着镜子问自己：假如今日是我生命中的最终一天, 你会不会完成你今日想做的事情呢？当答案连续许多次被赐予不的时候, 我知道自己需要转变某些事情了。

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important

tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in

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life. Becau almost everything – all external expectations,

all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - the things

just fall away in the face of death,leaving only what is truly

important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best

way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to

lo. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow

your heart.

记住你即将死去！是我一生中遇到的最重要箴言。它帮我指明白生命中重要的选择。由于几乎全部的事情, 包括全部的荣誉、全部的傲慢、全部对尴尬和失败的恐惊,这些在死亡面前都会消逝。我看到的是留下的真正重要的东西。你有时候会思索你将会失去某些东西，记住你即将死去是我知道的避开这些想法的最好方法。你已经赤身裸体了, 你没有理由不去跟随自己的心一起跳动。

About a year ago I was diagnod with cancer. I had a scan

at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my

pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors

told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is

incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three

to six months. My doctor advid me to go home and get my affairs

in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means

to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the

next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to

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make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy

as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

也许一年以前, 我被诊断出癌症。我在早晨七点半做了一个检查, 检查清晰的显示在我的胰腺有一个肿瘤。我当时都不知道胰腺是什么东西。医生告知我那很可能是一种无法治愈的癌症, 我还有三到六个月的时间活在这个世界上。我的医生叫我回家, 然后整理好我的一切, 那就是医生预备死亡的程序。那意味着你将要把将来十年对你小孩说的话在几个月里面说完，那意味着把每件事情都搞定, 让你的家人会尽可能轻松的生活;那意味着你要说再见了。

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening

I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat,

through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into

my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was dated,

but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the

cells under a microscope the doctors started crying becau it

turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is

curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

我成天和那个诊断书一起生活。后来有一天早上我作了一个活切片检查，医生将一个内窥镜从我的喉咙伸进去,通过我的胃, 然后进入我的肠子, 用一根针在我的胰腺上的肿瘤上取了几个细胞。我当时很冷静,由于我被注射了冷静剂。但是我的妻子在那里, 后来告知我，当医生在显微镜地下观看这些细胞的时候他们开头尖叫, 由于这

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些细胞最终竟然是一种特别罕见的可以用手术治愈的胰腺癌症。我做了这个手术, 如今我痊愈了。

This was the clost I've been to facing death, and I hope

its the clost I get for a few more decades. Having lived

through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty

than when death was a uful but purely intellectual concept:

那是我最接近死亡的时候, 我还盼望这也是以后的几十年最接近的一次。从死亡线上又活了过来, 死亡对我来说，只是一个有用但是纯粹是学问上的概念的时候，我可以更确定一点地对你们说：

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven

don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination

we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should

be, becau Death is very likely the single best invention of

Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make

way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too

long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared

away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

没有人情愿死, 即使人们想上天堂, 人们也不会为了去那里而死。但是死亡是我们每个人共同的终点。从来没有人能够逃脱它。也应当如此。 由于死亡就是生命中最好的一个创造。它将旧的去除以便给新的让路。你们如今是新的, 但是从如今开头不久以后, 你们将会渐渐的变成旧的然后被去除。我很愧疚这很戏剧性, 但是这非常

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的真实。

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone

el's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with

the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noi of

other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most

important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.

They somehow already know what you truly want to become.

Everything el is condary.

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