掌握自己的指南针，并相信它；勇于冒险、不怕失败；记住，第一位冲破高墙的人总不免受伤。我大三和大四时，在 East Adams街尽头和四位室友分租一栋五间卧室的公寓，其中一位名叫Chris的室友主修戏剧。Chris是个可爱的家伙，有着狡黠幽默感，总是在舞台上扮 演阳光男孩角色。他生不逢时，最擅长扮演《百老汇的小鬼》中Mickey Rooney伙伴那种角色。当时我订阅了《时代杂志》和《新闻周刊》；Chris感兴趣的是一些千奇百怪、跟艺术无关的事物。毕业后，我与Chris失去 联络，所以不确定Chris是何时过世的。但我记得，大约在最后一次见到他一年半之后，我在《新闻周刊》上读到一篇文章，关于某种病毒正在全国蔓延的报导，疾病控制与预防中心称它为“获得性免疫缺陷综合症”，简称艾滋病。他们向白宫申请3500万美元的研究、照护和治疗经费，白宫认为，将3500万美元花 在某种只会感染同性恋的疾病上太过昂贵，拒绝了这项申请。我敢肯定，如果他们知道，比起10年后花在治疗上的20亿美元，3500万美元不过是九牛一毛， 当初就不会拒绝。我的意思是，只要Chris阅读《新闻周刊》，今天就能好好活着吗？当然不是。但在我看来，当我们期待越多，了解的就越少，这是必须改变 的现象。你的朋友、你的家人、这所学校对你的期待，不仅是职场上的成就。 (来源：英语学习门户 http://www.EnglishCN.com)

Today is May 13th and today you graduate and the rules are about to change, and one of them is this: Decisions are made by those who show up. Don't ever forget that you're a citizen of this world. Don't ever forget that you're a citizen of this world, and there are things you can do to lift the human spirit, things that are easy, things that are free, things that you can do every day. Civility, respect, kindness, character. You're too good for schadenfreude, you're too good for gossip and snark, you're too good for intolerance—and since you're walking into the middle of a presidential election, it's worth mentioning that you're too good to think people who disagree with you are your enemy. Unless they went to Georgetown, in which case, they can go to hell.

今天是5月13日， 你们毕业的日子，代表你必须做出某些改变，其中一个原则如下：挺身而出者才有机会做出改变，别忘了你是这个世界的公民。别忘了你是这个世界的公民，你可以做些提升人类心灵层面的事，这些事并不困难，不过是举手之劳，随时随地都能进行。文明、尊重、善良、品格；你们不会幸灾乐祸；你们不会散播谣言、危言耸听；你们不会心胸狭窄、缺乏宽容。既然你们都可能迈向竞选总统之途，这句话值得 一提：你们不会视反对者为敌人，除非是来自乔治敦大学的人（雪城大学的死对头）。若碰上这种情况，就叫他们下地狱吧！

Don't ever forget that a small group of thoughtful people can change the world. It's the only thing that ever has. Rehearsal's over. You're going out there now, you're going to do this thing. How you live matters. You're going to fall down, but the world doesn't care how many times you fall down, as long as it's one fewer than the number of times you get back up.

别忘了，一群深思熟虑的人可以改变世界，这是唯一的真理。人生的排练已经结束，你们即将走出校门，开创真实人生，重要的是，你如何经营自己的人生。失败在所难免，但这个世界并不在乎你曾经失败过多少次，只要你能一次又一次地重新站起来。

For the class of 2012, I wish you joy. I wish you health and happiness and success, I wish you a roof, four walls, a floor and someone in your life that you care about more than you care about yourself. Someone who makes you start saying "we" where before you used to say "I" and "us" where you used to say "me." I wish you the quality of friends I have and the quality of colleagues I work with. Baseball players say they don't have to look to see if they hit a home run, they can feel it. So I wish for you a moment—a moment soon—when you really put the bat on the ball, when you really get a hold of one and drive it into the upper deck, when you feel it. When you aim high and hit your target, when just for a moment all else disappears, and you soar with wings as eagles. The moment will end as quickly as it came, and so you'll have to have it back, and so you'll get it back no matter what the obstacles. A lofty prediction, to be sure, but I flat out guarantee it.

2012年毕业生，祝福你们常怀喜悦，祝福你们健康、幸福、成功，祝福你们拥有幸福美满的家庭，拥有某个你在 乎他胜过自己的人，某个能与你共享生活中一切喜怒哀乐的人，希望你们拥有跟我朋友和同事一样优秀的伙伴。棒球选手说，他们不需要紧盯着球，就能感觉自己击出了全垒打。我期待有那么一天－在不久的将来－你们真正击中那颗球。掌握这个机会，更上一层楼，真正拥有这份感受。当你拥有崇高目标，并尽力达成时，在一刻，一切艰辛都将烟消云散，你将如鹰般展翅翱翔。这个瞬间稍纵即逝，所以你必须继续往目标迈进，你必须继续往目标迈进，不论途中遭遇多少阻碍。这确实是个崇高的目标，但只要付出努力，必定能够达成。