比尔·盖茨北大演讲：中国年轻人正处在一个绝佳时代

比尔·盖茨的名字，东方君从小听到大。他曾在哈佛毕业演讲时说：“评价自己的标准不仅是专业成就，还包括为改变这个世界的不平等所做出的努力。”所以现在的他致力于全球慈善事业的发展。而他几年前在北大发表演讲，又有什么精彩讲话呢？

东方君带你一起来阅读。

口语演讲，词汇不难，句式简单，

可作为英语听力/口语训练素材；

建议阅读时间：10分钟。

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE: INNOVATION, PHILANTHROPY, AND GLOBAL LEADERSHIP

Bill Gates

March 24, 2017

中国的未来：创新、慈善与全球领导力

Good evening.

Thank you, Professor Lin. It’s great to be here today. Beida has an incredible history and I’m sure next year, as you celebrate your 120th-year anniversary, you’ll get to look back on the incredible contributions（贡献） that you have made to this country.

I’ve been coming to China since the early 1990s, initially（最初地） as part of my work at Microsoft. It was ten years ago that I was privileged to be named an honorary trustee here at Beida. I remember what a great time I had in 2008 when I was here watching the Olympic table tennis semi-finals between China and South Korea.

As I’m sure you remember, China took the gold medal in every category（类别） – men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s and women’s team’s event. That was on top of two silvers and two bronze medals. For someone who’s a big table tennis fan, that was pretty incredible to witness.

既然是做客中国，盖茨大大在演讲的开头还是十分客气地拉了拉家常——先是夸了夸北大在教育领域取得的卓越成就，接着又讲了讲自己与中国的渊源：不仅成为北大荣誉校董，奥运期间，还曾在北大现场观看了中国队与韩国队的乒乓球比赛，并笑称自己是一个big table tennis fan（超级乒乓球迷）。这样的开场白让人倍感亲切。

And that highlights in one way, what incredible potential（潜力） China has. China is on a quest for excellence, a quest not only to improve itself but to contribute to the whole world.

As China’s economy is maturing（成熟）, it’s making bold（明显的；大胆的） and difficult decisions on things like energy and pollution. And it’s assuming a greater role in critical issues like climate and development. And this matters now more than ever as the world is navigating（航行；通过） a time of change and uncertainty.

接下来，盖茨大大开始展现出他“中国粉丝”的一面，他激动地说：

这从某种程度上展示了中国拥有的超凡潜力。无论是从自身的发展还是对世界的贡献来看，中国都是一个不断追求卓越的国度。（p.s. 这句话的英语句式也十分漂亮哦，赶紧做笔记~）

随着中国经济走向成熟，在应对能源和环境治理等自身挑战时，中国正在做出大胆的抉择，尽管这确实艰难。在气候变化和发展等全球重大议题上，中国也发挥着日益重要的作用。在这样一个快速变化的时代，世界面临着诸多不确定因素，中国的作用比以往任何时候都更重要。

This is a pretty incredible time to be a young person in China. Your generation’s entrance into the workforce will coincide with（与...一致） your country’s rise as a center of global progress and innovation. The world’s eyes are on China. . .and as a new generation comes of age, the world’s eyes are specifically on all of you.

这一段特别振奋人心，因为盖茨大大提到了年轻人——young person in China.

这对中国的年轻人来说是一个绝佳的时代。当你们步入社会时，恰逢中国崛起，成为全球发展和创新的中心。全世界的目光都在关注中国，关注你们这些即将走出校门的天之骄子。

So, I want to spend the rest of my comments focusing on four areas where I think there are exciting opportunities to use your education, your passion, and opportunities to unlock more amazing progress – for both China and for the world.  Specifically, health, agriculture, energy, and technology.

演讲到此，开始进入正题。盖茨大大说想在四个方面和大家进行探讨，分别是：健康、农业、能源与技术。

Health 健康

First, health. When my wife and I started the Gates foundation 17 years ago, we asked ourselves: how can we use our financial resources to make the biggest impact? It didn’t take long to realize that improving health deserved to be at the top of the list.

When people aren’t healthy, they can’t learn in school or be productive at work. They’re unable to seize economic opportunities or do any of the things they need to lift themselves out of poverty.

Melinda and I saw the example of China creating a better life for its people, and it inspired us to see if there was a way to support China’s progress. Over the last decade, our work here has focused on several of the most persistent domestic health challenges – specifically reducing the incidence of tuberculosis（结核病） and tobacco-related（烟草相关） diseases, preventing HIV（艾滋病病毒） transmission, and improving treatment（治疗） and care for people living with AIDS.

首先是健康领域。17年前，当梅琳达和我决定成立基金会时，我们不断问自己：怎么才能使我们的资源产生最大的影响？很快，我们就意识到健康领域的改善是重中之重。

如果没有健康的身体，一个人就无法高效地学习或工作，更不用说摆脱贫困和赚钱养家了。

梅琳达和我亲眼目睹了中国为自己的人民创造了更加美好的生活，这也促使我们思考如何更好地支持中国的发展。过去的十年里，我们在中国的工作重心一直放在那些中国尚未完全解决的健康挑战上，如减少结核病和烟草相关疾病、预防艾滋病病毒传播以及改善艾滋病患者的治疗和关怀等等。

Angriculture 农业

The second area where I believe China can accelerate（促进） global progress is agriculture.  Since 1975, Chinese agricultural productivity has grown at a rate of 12 percent per year – four times the annual（年度的） rate of growth in Africa.

盖茨大大认为中国能够推动全球进步的第二大领域是农业。（各位农业大学的筒子们，必须扬眉吐气一下了~~）

1975年以来，中国的农业生产率以每年12%的速度增长，是非洲农业年增长率的四倍。农业发展不仅解决了基数巨大且不断增长的中国人口的温饱问题，还促进了国民营养和健康水平的改善、农村收入的增加和贫困人口的下降，并向其他产业提供劳动力，从而在整体上推动了中国经济发展。

Energy 能源

what I think of as China’s third global opportunity: energy innovation. China is already one of the world leaders in renewable energy. And it recently announced that it will spend $360 billion on renewable（可再生的） power sources by 2020. This will pay off handsomely for China domestically, and it’s a great, long-term business opportunity.

There are challenges: sorting out（寻找） the right mix of technologies, managing the reliability in the new large transmission grid（格子；网络）. All of these will be needed to manage in a very complex way to meet the growing energy needs.

盖茨大大接着指出：中国的第三大全球机遇是能源创新。中国目前已经成为可再生能源领域的全球领导者之一，而且最近还宣布将在2020年前，对可再生能源领域投资3600亿美元。无论从中国国内还是全球商业长远机遇的角度而言，这一举措都将产生丰厚的回报。

知易行难。中国现在需要找到常规能源和新能源技术的平衡点，这是一个不小的挑战。我们也需要更多类型的能源，在满足能源需求的同时实现温室气体减排。

Software 软件工程

A fourth area where I know China has great potential is software. During my time at Microsoft, we were so impressed by the quality of computer scientists and developers coming out of the universities here that we established one of our first research labs in Beijing almost 20 years ago.

Today, it’s Microsoft’s largest research center outside the United States. It’s a phenomenal（显著的） place, with 200 of the world’s top researchers and developers and more than 300 visiting scientists and fellows.

提到中国拥有巨大潜力的领域，不得不说是计算机方面的：软件开发。

盖茨说：“我还在微软的时候，从中国各大高校走出的计算机科学家和研发人员给我们留下了深刻的印象，直接促使我们在北京成立微软亚洲研究院，到现在一晃已近二十年。

目前，微软亚洲研究院仍然是微软在美国本土以外最大的基础研究机构，聚集了200多名全球顶尖的研究和开发人员以及300多名访问学者和实习生。”

在随后的演讲中，比尔·盖茨又提到了技术所影响的慈善事业——Technology is also helping to power the philanthropic（博爱的；慈善的） sector in China.

可见，如今他仍然坚定地身体力行着他大学毕业演讲时说的那句话：

评价自己的标准不仅是专业成就，还包括为改变这个世界的不平等所做出的努力。

最后，盖茨在鼓励学子们时这么说道：

No matter what your ambition（雄心壮志） is to improve the world, this is the best time and the best place to do it, and all of you have a great opportunity. I look forward to seeing what you’ll achieve.

东方君也借盖茨大大的这句话，

与屏幕前的你共勉。

无论你有什么样的雄心壮志要去改变世界，

就放手去做吧。

没有比现在更好的时机，

也没有比现在更好的环境。

你们每个人都拥有很棒的机会，

我对你们未来所能取得的成就充满期待。