In my adolescent years on the foothills of Himalayas, I had a friend we all referred to as the "dreamy guy." He would spend his days enjoying the smallest of things – color-tagging butterflies, counting peaks on the horizon, making stories out of cloud formations. He was a happy soul, deeply receptive to life's beauties and easily excited. I knew this guy many years ago and I thought about him today as I sat down to write this piece for you, dear class of 2013.
我在喜馬拉雅山的山腳下度過了青春歲月,當時有個朋友被我們稱為“追夢人”。他每天都在享受最微妙的樂趣——用五顏六色標注蝴蝶、數地平線上的高峰,對著形狀各異的云朵編故事。他是個快樂的家伙,對生活的美妙深有體會,容易興奮激動。親愛的2013屆畢業生,我認識這家伙很多年了,今天我坐下來給你們寫這篇文章的時候,突然想到了他。
As you graduate, my friends, remember what lies ahead of you is a world overflowing with beauty and potential; not just in the form of office corridors or Wall Street but a real, throbbing world, full of many mysteries and heady experiences. A number of us miss this simple truth.
親愛的朋友,你們即將畢業,呈現在你面前的世界擁有美好的前景和潛力;這個世界并不僅僅以辦公室走廊或華爾街的形式出現,而是令人激動不已的真實世界,充滿許多未解之謎,以及讓人陶醉的體驗。我們當中許多人都忽略了這個簡單的真理。
But I know your generation, unlike any other generation in the past, is most eager to look at life differently. So as you leave school, I offer you a list of some obvious-yet-vastly-ignored truths that may help you look at life a little differently than just a series of paychecks:
然而我知道,你們這一代人不同于過去的任何一代人,極其渴望體會不同以往的人生。所以,在你們離開學校之際,我要向你們介紹幾條顯而易見、卻容易忽略的真理,幫助你們以略微不同的角度來看待生活,而不是僅憑一疊薪金來認識世界:
Embrace the world
擁抱世界
The Internet has flattened the world, and Facebook has banded us together as one big family. Our grandfathers inherited regions, my generation inherited nations, you have inherited the world. You are now only 4.74 people away from any human being and an average of two days away from any inhabited corner of the world. So travel. Africa, Europe, India, China or Brazil, go where you can learn the most, embrace what can teach you the most.
互聯網已經讓世界變成了平面,Facebook讓我們大家團結起來,組成一個大家庭。我們的祖父那一輩人是地區的傳承者,我們這代人是國家的傳承者,而你們則是世界的傳承者。你現在和任何人的聯系只有4.74個人的距離,到達全球任何有人居住的角落平均只需要兩天時間。你可以踏上旅途。無論是非洲、歐洲、印度、中國還是巴西,前往那些能讓你學到最多東西的地方,擁抱那個可以教給你最多東西的國度。
adj. 可能的,潛在的
n. 潛力,潛能