評論
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Now, a certain amount of self-absorption is in our nature.
關注自己是我們天性的一部分。
As Harvard's own E.O. Wilson has recently written, and I quote him,
就像哈佛大學的行政主任最近寫道的，
"We are an insatiably curious species -- provided the subjects are our personal selves and people we would know or would like to know."
“我們是一種無法被滿足的充滿好奇心的物種，好奇的對象是我們自己，我們認識的人和想要認識的人。”
But I want to underscore two troubling aspects of this obsession with ourselves.
但是我想要指出兩個在關注自己時出現的令人擔憂的問題。
The first is it undermines our sense of responsibility to others
首先，過度關注自身會弱化我們對其他人的責任感，
the ethos of service at the heart of Thomas Shepard's phrase describing Harvard's enduring commitment to graduate students who are "enlarged" to be about more than themselves.
托馬斯·謝帕德曾說，哈佛一直以來都致力于培養出不僅僅關注自身的學生，而對他人的責任感正是他這一想法的核心。
Not just enlarged for their own sake and betterment -- but enlarged toward others and toward the world.
他希望學生的學習不僅僅是為了讓自己變得更好，更要讓他人、讓世界變得更好。
This is part of the essence of what this university has always strived to be.
這正是我們這所學校一直以來的追求。
Our students and faculty have embodied that spirit through their work to serve in our neighborhood and around the world.
我們的學生和全體教員在為鄰居和整個世界提供幫助時都貫徹了這一點。
From tutoring at the Harvard Ed Portal in Allston to working in Liberia to mitigate the Ebola crisis,
從對奧爾斯頓早申門戶的指導，到幫助緩和利比亞的埃博拉危機，
they make a difference in the lives of countless individuals.
他們給無數人的生活帶去了巨大改變。
The Dexter Gate across the Yard invites students to "Enter to grow in wisdom. Depart to serve better thy country and thy kind."
我校的Dexter Gate上寫著：“入學是為了增長知識。畢業是為了更好地服務國家和人民。”
Today, some 6,500 graduates go forth. May each of them remember that it is in some way to serve.
今天，大約有6500名學生即將畢業。我希望你們每一個人都牢記自己的使命。
There is yet another danger we should note as well.
還有第二個危險信號我們也應該注意。
Self-absorption may obscure not only our responsibilities to others but our dependence upon them.
過度關注自身不僅會弱化我們對他人的責任感，還會減少我們對他們的依賴。
And this is troubling for Harvard, for higher education and for fundamental social institutions whose purposes and necessity we forget at our peril.
而這對哈佛大學、對高等教育、對基礎社會機構來說都不是好事，如果我們忘記它們的目的性和必要性，危險就會降臨。
