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ciences. 我在哈佛學(xué)到了很多經(jīng)濟學(xué)和政治學(xué)的新思想。我也了解了很多科學(xué)上的新進展。 [NextPage] But humanitys greatest advances are not in its discoveries but in how those discoveries are applied to reduce inequity. Whether through democracy, strong public education, quality health care, or broad economic opportunity reducing inequity is the highest human achievement. 但是,人類最大的進步并不來自于這些發(fā)現(xiàn),而是來自于那些有助于減少人類不平等的發(fā)現(xiàn)。不管通過何種手段 民主制度、健全的公共教育體系、高質(zhì)量的醫(yī)療保健、還是廣泛的經(jīng)濟機會 減少不平等始終是人類最大的成就?! left campus knowing little about the millions of young people cheated out of educational opportunities here in this country. And I knew nothing about the millions of people living in unspeakable poverty and disease in developing countries. 我離開校園的時候,根本不知道在這個國家里,有幾百萬的年輕人無法獲得接受教育的機會。我也不知道,發(fā)展中國家里有無數(shù)的人們生活在無法形容的貧窮和疾病之中?! t took me decades to find out. 我花了幾十年才明白了這些事情?! ou graduates came to Harvard at a different time. You know more about the worlds inequities than the classes that came before. In your years here, I hope youve had a chance to think about how in this age of accelerating technology we can finally take on these inequities, and we can solve them. 在座的各位同學(xué),你們是在與我不同的時代來到哈佛的。你們比以前的學(xué)生,更多地了解世界是怎樣的不平等。在你們的哈佛求學(xué)過程中,我希望你們已經(jīng)思考過一個問題,那就是在這個新技術(shù)加速發(fā)展的時代,我們怎樣最終應(yīng)對這種不平等,以及我們怎樣來解決這個問題?! magine, just for the sake of discussion, that you had a few hours a week and a few dollars a month to donate to a cause and you wanted to spend that time and money where it would have the greatest impact in saving and improving lives. Where would you spend it? 為了討論的方便,請想象一下,假如你每個星期可以捐獻一些時間、每個月可以捐獻一些錢 你希望這些時間和金錢,可以用到對拯救生命和改善人類生活有最大作用的地方。你會選擇什么地方? For Melinda and for me, the challenge is the same: how can we do the most good for the greatest number with the resources we have. 對 Melinda (注:蓋茨的妻子)和我來說,這也是我們面臨的問題:我們?nèi)绾文軐⑽覀儞碛械馁Y源發(fā)揮出最大的作用?! uring our discussions on this question, Melinda and I read an article about the millions of children who were dying every year in poor countries from diseases that we had long ago made harmless in this country. Measles, malaria, pneumonia, hepatitis B, yellow fever. One disease I had never even heard of, rotavirus, was killing half a million kids each year none of them in the U