第一篇：亞馬遜ceo杰夫貝索斯演講視頻we are what we choose

亞馬遜CEO杰夫·貝索斯演講視頻We Are What We

Choose

We Are What We ChooseCleverness is a gift, kindness is a choice.Gifts are easy — they're given after all.Choices can be hard.You can seduce yourself with your gifts if you're not careful, and if you do, it'll probably be to the detriment of your choices.As a kid, I spent my summers with my grandparents on their ranch in Texas.I helped fix windmills, vaccinate cattle, and do other chores.We also watched soap operas every afternoon, especially “Days of our Lives.” My grandparents belonged to a Caravan Club, a group of Airstream trailer owners who travel together around the U.S.and Canada.And every few summers, we'd join the caravan.We'd hitch up the Airstream trailer to my grandfather's car, and off we'd go, in a line with 300 other Airstream adventurers.I loved and worshipped my grandparents and I really looked forward to these trips.On one particular trip, I was about 10 years old.I was rolling around in the big bench seat in the back of the car.My grandfather was driving.And my grandmother had the passenger seat.She smoked throughout these trips, and I hated the smell.At that age, I'd take any excuse to make estimates and do minor arithmetic.I'd calculate our gas mileage--figure out useless statistics on things like grocery spending.I'd been hearing an ad campaign about smoking.I can't remember the details, but basically the ad said, every puff of a cigarette takes some number of minutes off of your life: I think it might have been two minutes per puff.At any rate, I decided to do the math for my grandmother.I estimated the number of cigarettes per days, estimated the number of puffs per cigarette and so on.When I was satisfied that I'd come up with a reasonable number, I poked my head into the front of the car, tapped my grandmother on the shoulder, and proudly proclaimed, “At two minutes per puff, you've taken nine years off your life!”I have a vivid memory of what happened, and it was not what I expected.I expected to be applauded for my cleverness and arithmetic skills.“Jeff, you're so smart.You had to have made some tricky estimates, figure out the number of minutes in a year and do some division.” That's not what happened.Instead, my grandmother burst into tears.I sat in the backseat and did not know what to do.While my grandmother sat crying, my grandfather, who had been driving in silence, pulled over onto the shoulder of the highway.He got out of the car and came around and opened my door and waited for me to follow.Was I in trouble? My grandfather was a highly intelligent, quiet man.He had never said a harsh word to me, and maybe this was to be the first time? Or maybe he would ask that I get back in the car and apologize to my grandmother.I had no experience in this realm with my grandparents and no way to gauge what the consequences might be.We stopped beside the trailer.My grandfather looked at me, and after a bit of silence, he gently and calmly said, “Jeff, one day you'll understand that it's harder to be kind than clever.”What I want to talk to you about today is the difference between gifts and choices.Cleverness is a gift, kindness is a choice.Gifts are easy--they're given after all.Choices can be hard.You can seduce yourself with your gifts if you're not careful, and if you do, it'll probably be to the detriment of your choices.This is a group with many gifts.I'm sure one of your gifts is the gift of a smart and capable brain.I'm confident that's the case because admission is competitive and if there weren't some signs that you're clever, the dean of admission wouldn't have let you in.Your smarts will come in handy because you will travel in a land of marvels.We humans--plodding as we are--will astonish ourselves.We'll invent ways to generate clean energy and a lot of it.Atom by atom, we'll assemble tiny machines that will enter cell walls and make repairs.This month comes the extraordinary but also inevitable news that we've synthesized life.In the coming years, we'll not only synthesize it, but we'll engineer it to specifications.I believe you'll even see us understand the human brain.Jules Verne, Mark Twain, Galileo, Newton--all the curious from the ages would have wanted to be alive most of all right now.As a civilization, we will have so many gifts, just as you as individuals have so many individual gifts as you sit before me.How will you use these gifts? And will you take pride in your gifts or pride in your choices?I got the idea to start Amazon 16 years ago.I came across the fact that Web usage was growing at 2,300 percent per year.I'd never seen or heard of anything that grew that fast, and the idea of building an online bookstore with millions of titles--something that simply couldn't exist in the physical world--was very exciting to me.I had just turned 30 years old, and I'd been married for a year.I told my wife MacKenzie that I wanted to quit my job and go do this crazy thing that probably wouldn't work since most startups don't, and I wasn't sure what would happen after that.MacKenzie(also a Princeton grad and sitting here in the second row)told me I should go for it.As a young boy, I'd been a garage inventor.I'd invented an automatic gate closer out of cement-filled tires, a solar cooker that didn't work very well out of an umbrella and tinfoil, baking-pan alarms to entrap my siblings.I'd always wanted to be an inventor, and she wanted me to follow my passion.I was working at a financial firm in New York City with a bunch of very smart people, and I had a brilliant boss that I much admired.I went to my boss and told him I wanted to start a company selling books on the Internet.He took me on a long walk in Central Park, listened carefully to me, and finally said, “That sounds like a really good idea, but it would be an even better idea for someone who didn't already have a good job.” That logic made some sense to me, and he convinced me to think about it for 48 hours before making a final decision.Seen in that light, it really was a difficult choice, but ultimately, I decided I had to give it a shot.I didn't think I'd regret trying and failing.And I suspected I would always be haunted by a decision to not try at all.After much consideration, I took the less safe path to follow my passion, and I'm proud of that choice.Tomorrow, in a very real sense, your life--the life you author from scratch on your own--begins.How will you use your gifts? What choices will you make?Will inertia be your guide, or will you follow your passions?Will you follow dogma, or will you be original?Will you choose a life of ease, or a life of service and adventure?Will you wilt under criticism, or will you follow your convictions?Will you bluff it out when you're wrong, or will you apologize?Will you guard your heart against rejection, or will you act when you fall in love?Will you play it safe, or will you be a little bit swashbuckling?When it's tough, will you give up, or will you be relentless?Will you be a cynic, or will you be a builder?Will you be clever at the expense of others, or will you be kind?I will hazard a prediction.When you are 80 years old, and in a quiet moment of reflection narrating for only yourself the most personal version of your life story, the telling that will be most compact and meaningful will be the series of choices you have made.In the end, we are our choices.Build yourself a great story.Thank you and good luck!選擇塑造人生——杰夫·貝索斯聰明是一種天賦，而善良是 一種選擇。天賦得來(lái)很容易——畢竟它們與生俱來(lái)。而選擇卻頗為艱難。如果一不小心，你可能被天賦所誘惑，這可能會(huì)損害到你做出的選擇。在我還是一個(gè)孩子的時(shí)候，我的夏天總是在德州祖父母的農(nóng)場(chǎng)中度過(guò)。我?guī)兔π蘩盹L(fēng)車，為牛接種疫苗，也做其它家務(wù)。每天下午，我們都會(huì)看肥皂劇，尤其是《我們的歲月》。我的祖父母參加了一個(gè)房車俱樂(lè)部，那是一群駕駛Airstream拖掛型房車的人們，他們結(jié)伴遍游美國(guó)和加拿大。每隔幾個(gè)夏天，我也會(huì)加入他們。我們把房車掛在祖父的小汽車后面，然后加入300余名Airstream探險(xiǎn)者們組成的浩蕩隊(duì)伍。我愛(ài)我的祖父母，我崇敬他們，也真心期盼這些旅程。那是一次我大概十歲時(shí)的旅行，我照例坐在后座的長(zhǎng)椅上，祖父開(kāi)著車，祖母坐在他旁邊，吸著煙。我討厭煙味。在那樣的年紀(jì)，我會(huì)找任何借口做些估測(cè)或者小算術(shù)。我會(huì)計(jì)算油耗還有雜貨花銷等雞毛蒜皮的小事。我聽(tīng)過(guò)一個(gè)有關(guān)吸煙的廣告。我記不得細(xì)節(jié)了，但是廣告大意是說(shuō)，每吸一口香煙會(huì)減少幾分鐘的壽命，大概是兩分鐘。無(wú)論如何，我決定為祖母做個(gè)算術(shù)。我估測(cè)了祖母每天要吸幾支香煙，每支香煙要吸幾口等等，然后心滿意足地得出了一個(gè)合理的數(shù)字。接著，我捅了捅坐在前面的祖母的頭，又拍了拍她的肩膀，然后驕傲地宣稱，“每天吸兩分鐘的煙，你就少活九年!”我清晰地記得接下來(lái)發(fā)生了什么，而那是我意料之外的。我本期待著小聰明和算術(shù)技巧能贏得掌聲，但那并沒(méi)有發(fā)生。相反，我的祖母哭泣起來(lái)。我的祖父之前一直在默默開(kāi)車，把車停在了路邊，走下車來(lái)，打開(kāi)了我的車門，等著我跟他下車。我惹麻煩了嗎?我的祖父是一個(gè)智慧而安靜的人。他從來(lái)沒(méi)有對(duì)我說(shuō)過(guò)嚴(yán)厲的話，難道這會(huì)是第一次?還是他會(huì)讓我回到車上跟祖母道歉?我以前從未遇到過(guò)這種狀況，因而也無(wú)從知曉會(huì)有什么后果發(fā)生。我們?cè)诜寇嚺酝Ｏ聛?lái)。祖父注視著我，沉默片刻，然后輕輕地、平靜地說(shuō)：“杰夫，有一天你會(huì)明白，善良比聰明更難?！边x擇比天賦更重要今天我想對(duì)你們說(shuō)的是，天賦和選擇不同。聰明是一種天賦，而善良是一種選擇。天賦得來(lái)很容易——畢竟它們與生俱來(lái)。而選擇則頗為不易。如果一不小心，你可能被天賦所誘惑，這可能會(huì)損害到你做出的選擇。在座各位都擁有許多天賦。我確信你們的天賦之一就是擁有精明能干的頭腦。之所以如此確信，是因?yàn)槿雽W(xué)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)十分激烈，如果你們不能表現(xiàn)出聰明智慧，便沒(méi)有資格進(jìn)入這所學(xué)校。你們的聰明才智必定會(huì)派上用場(chǎng)，因?yàn)槟銈儗⒃谝黄錆M奇跡的土地上行進(jìn)。我們?nèi)祟悾M管跬步前行，卻終將令自己大吃一驚。我們能夠想方設(shè)法制造清潔能源，也能夠一個(gè)原子一個(gè)原子地組裝微型機(jī)械，使之穿過(guò)細(xì)胞壁，然后修復(fù)細(xì)胞。這個(gè)月，有一個(gè)異常而不可避免的事情發(fā)生了——人類終于合成了生命。在未來(lái)幾年，我們不僅會(huì)合成生命，還會(huì)按說(shuō)明書驅(qū)動(dòng)它們。我相信你們甚至?xí)吹轿覀兝斫馊祟惖拇竽X，儒勒·凡爾納，馬克·吐溫，伽利略，牛頓——所有那些充滿好奇之心的人都希望能夠活到現(xiàn)在。作為文明人，我們會(huì)擁有如此之多的天賦，就像是坐在我面前的你們，每一個(gè)生命個(gè)體都擁有許多獨(dú)特的天賦。你們要如何運(yùn)用這些天賦呢?你們會(huì)為自己的天賦感到驕傲，還是會(huì)為自己的選擇感到驕傲?追隨自己內(nèi)心的熱情，16年前，我萌生了創(chuàng)辦亞馬遜的想法。彼時(shí)我面對(duì)的現(xiàn)實(shí)是互聯(lián)網(wǎng)使用量以每年2300%的速度增長(zhǎng)，我從未看到或聽(tīng)說(shuō)過(guò)任何增長(zhǎng)如此快速的東西。創(chuàng)建涵蓋幾百萬(wàn)種書籍的網(wǎng)上書店的想法令我興奮異常，因?yàn)檫@個(gè)東西在物理世界里根本無(wú)法存在。那時(shí)我剛剛30歲，結(jié)婚才一年。我告訴妻子MacKenzie想辭去工作，然后去做這件瘋狂的事情，很可能會(huì)失敗，因?yàn)榇蟛糠謩?chuàng)業(yè)公司都是如此，而且我不確定那之后會(huì)發(fā)生什么。MacKenzie告訴我，我應(yīng)該放手一搏。在我還是一個(gè)男孩兒的時(shí)候，我是車庫(kù)發(fā)明家。我曾用水泥填充的輪胎、雨傘和錫箔以及報(bào)警器制作了一個(gè)自動(dòng)關(guān)門器。我一直想做一個(gè)發(fā)明家，MacKenzie支持我追隨內(nèi)心的熱情。我當(dāng)時(shí)在紐約一家金融公司工作，同事是一群非常聰明的人，我的老板也很有智慧，我很羨慕他。我告訴我的老板我想開(kāi)辦一家在網(wǎng)上賣書的公司。他帶我在中央公園漫步良久，認(rèn)真地聽(tīng)我講完，最后說(shuō)：“聽(tīng)起來(lái)真是一個(gè)很好的主意，但是對(duì)那些目前沒(méi)有謀到一份好工作的人來(lái)說(shuō)，這個(gè)主意會(huì)更好?！边@一邏輯對(duì)我而言頗有道理，他說(shuō)服我在最終作出決定之前再考慮48小時(shí)。那樣想來(lái)，這個(gè)決定確實(shí)很艱難，但是最終，我決定拼一次。我認(rèn)為自己不會(huì)為嘗試過(guò)后的失敗而遺憾，倒是有所決定但完全不付諸行動(dòng)會(huì)一直煎熬著我。在深思熟慮之后，我選擇了那條不安全的道路，去追隨我內(nèi)心的熱情。我為那個(gè)決定感到驕傲。明天，非?，F(xiàn)實(shí)地說(shuō)，你們從零塑造自己人生的時(shí)代即將開(kāi)啟。你們會(huì)如何運(yùn)用自己的天賦?你們又會(huì)作出怎樣的抉擇?你們是被慣性所引導(dǎo)，還是追隨自己內(nèi)心的熱情?你們會(huì)墨守陳規(guī)，還是勇于創(chuàng)新?你們會(huì)選擇安逸的生活，還是選擇一個(gè)奉獻(xiàn)與冒險(xiǎn)的人生?你們會(huì)屈從于批評(píng)，還是會(huì)堅(jiān)守信念?你們會(huì)掩飾錯(cuò)誤，還是會(huì)坦誠(chéng)道歉?你們會(huì)因害怕拒絕而掩飾內(nèi)心，還是會(huì)在面對(duì)愛(ài)情時(shí)勇往直前?你們想要波瀾不驚，還是想要搏擊風(fēng)浪?你們會(huì)在嚴(yán)峻的現(xiàn)實(shí)之下選擇放棄，還是會(huì)義無(wú)反顧地前行?你們要做憤世嫉俗者，還是踏實(shí)的建設(shè)者?你們要不計(jì)一切代價(jià)地展示聰明，還是選擇善良?我要做一個(gè)預(yù)測(cè)：在你們80歲時(shí)某個(gè)追憶往昔的時(shí)刻，只有你一個(gè)人靜靜對(duì)內(nèi)心訴說(shuō)著你的人生故事，其中最為充實(shí)、最有意義的那段講述，會(huì)被你們作出的一系列決定所填滿。最后，是選擇塑造了我們的人生。為你自己塑造一個(gè)偉大的人生故事。謝謝，祝你們好運(yùn)!We Are What We ChooseCleverness is a gift, kindness is a choice.Gifts are easy — they're given after all.Choices can be hard.You can seduce yourself with your gifts if you're not careful, and if you do, it'll probably be to the detriment of your choices.As a kid, I spent my summers with my grandparents on their ranch in Texas.I helped fix windmills, vaccinate cattle, and do other chores.We also watched soap operas every afternoon, especially “Days of our Lives.” My grandparents belonged to a Caravan Club, a group of Airstream trailer owners who travel together around the U.S.and Canada.And every few summers, we'd join the caravan.We'd hitch up the Airstream trailer to my grandfather's car, and off we'd go, in a line with 300 other Airstream adventurers.I loved and worshipped my grandparents and I really looked forward to these trips.On one particular trip, I was about 10 years old.I was rolling around in the big bench seat in the back of the car.My grandfather was driving.And my grandmother had the passenger seat.She smoked throughout these trips, and I hated the smell.At that age, I'd take any excuse to make estimates and do minor arithmetic.I'd calculate our gas mileage--figure out useless statistics on things like grocery spending.I'd been hearing an ad campaign about smoking.I can't remember the details, but basically the ad said, every puff of a cigarette takes some number of minutes off of your life: I think it might have been two minutes per puff.At any rate, I decided to do the math for my grandmother.I estimated the number of cigarettes per days, estimated the number of puffs per cigarette and so on.When I was satisfied that I'd come up with a reasonable number, I poked my head into the front of the car, tapped my grandmother on the shoulder, and proudly proclaimed, “At two minutes per puff, you've taken nine years off your life!”I have a vivid memory of what happened, and it was not what I expected.I expected to be applauded for my cleverness and arithmetic skills.“Jeff, you're so smart.You had to have made some tricky estimates, figure out the number of minutes in a year and do some division.” That's not what happened.Instead, my grandmother burst into tears.I sat in the backseat and did not know what to do.While my grandmother sat crying, my grandfather, who had been driving in silence, pulled over onto the shoulder of the highway.He got out of the car and came around and opened my door and waited for me to follow.Was I in trouble? My grandfather was a highly intelligent, quiet man.He had never said a harsh word to me, and maybe this was to be the first time? Or maybe he would ask that I get back in the car and apologize to my grandmother.I had no experience in this realm with my grandparents and no way to gauge what the consequences might be.We stopped beside the trailer.My grandfather looked at me, and after a bit of silence, he gently and calmly said, “Jeff, one day you'll understand that it's harder to be kind than clever.”What I want to talk to you about today is the difference between gifts and choices.Cleverness is a gift, kindness is a choice.Gifts are easy--they're given after all.Choices can be hard.You can seduce yourself with your gifts if you're not careful, and if you do, it'll probably be to the detriment of your choices.This is a group with many gifts.I'm sure one of your gifts is the gift of a smart and capable brain.I'm confident that's the case because admission is competitive and if there weren't some signs that you're clever, the dean of admission wouldn't have let you in.Your smarts will come in handy because you will travel in a land of marvels.We humans--plodding as we are--will astonish ourselves.We'll invent ways to generate clean energy and a lot of it.Atom by atom, we'll assemble tiny machines that will enter cell walls and make repairs.This month comes the extraordinary but also inevitable news that we've synthesized life.In the coming years, we'll not only synthesize it, but we'll engineer it to specifications.I believe you'll even see us understand the human brain.Jules Verne, Mark Twain, Galileo, Newton--all the curious from the ages would have wanted to be alive most of all right now.As a civilization, we will have so many gifts, just as you as individuals have so many individual gifts as you sit before me.How will you use these gifts? And will you take pride in your gifts or pride in your choices?I got the idea to start Amazon 16 years ago.I came across the fact that Web usage was growing at 2,300 percent per year.I'd never seen or heard of anything that grew that fast, and the idea of building an online bookstore with millions of titles--something that simply couldn't exist in the physical world--was very exciting to me.I had just turned 30 years old, and I'd been married for a year.I told my wife MacKenzie that I wanted to quit my job and go do this crazy thing that probably wouldn't work since most startups don't, and I wasn't sure what would happen after that.MacKenzie(also a Princeton grad and sitting here in the second row)told me I should go for it.As a young boy, I'd been a garage inventor.I'd invented an automatic gate closer out of cement-filled tires, a solar cooker that didn't work very well out of an umbrella and tinfoil, baking-pan alarms to entrap my siblings.I'd always wanted to be an inventor, and she wanted me to follow my passion.I was working at a financial firm in New York City with a bunch of very smart people, and I had a brilliant boss that I much admired.I went to my boss and told him I wanted to start a company selling books on the Internet.He took me on a long walk in Central Park, listened carefully to me, and finally said, “That sounds like a really good idea, but it would be an even better idea for someone who didn't already have a good job.” That logic made some sense to me, and he convinced me to think about it for 48 hours before making a final decision.Seen in that light, it really was a difficult choice, but ultimately, I decided I had to give it a shot.I didn't think I'd regret trying and failing.And I suspected I would always be haunted by a decision to not try at all.After much consideration, I took the less safe path to follow my passion, and I'm proud of that choice.Tomorrow, in a very real sense, your life--the life you author from scratch on your own--begins.How will you use your gifts? What choices will you make?Will inertia be your guide, or will you follow your passions?Will you follow dogma, or will you be original?Will you choose a life of ease, or a life of service and adventure?Will you wilt under criticism, or will you follow your convictions?Will you bluff it out when you're wrong, or will you apologize?Will you guard your heart against rejection, or will you act when you fall in love?Will you play it safe, or will you be a little bit swashbuckling?When it's tough, will you give up, or will you be relentless?Will you be a cynic, or will you be a builder?Will you be clever at the expense of others, or will you be kind?I will hazard a prediction.When you are 80 years old, and in a quiet moment of reflection narrating for only yourself the most personal version of your life story, the telling that will be most compact and meaningful will be the series of choices you have made.In the end, we are our choices.Build yourself a great story.Thank you and good luck!選擇塑造人生——杰夫·貝索斯聰明是一種天賦，而善良是 一種選擇。天賦得來(lái)很容易——畢竟它們與生俱來(lái)。而選擇卻頗為艱難。如果一不小心，你可能被天賦所誘惑，這可能會(huì)損害到你做出的選擇。在我還是一個(gè)孩子的時(shí)候，我的夏天總是在德州祖父母的農(nóng)場(chǎng)中度過(guò)。我?guī)兔π蘩盹L(fēng)車，為牛接種疫苗，也做其它家務(wù)。每天下午，我們都會(huì)看肥皂劇，尤其是《我們的歲月》。我的祖父母參加了一個(gè)房車俱樂(lè)部，那是一群駕駛Airstream拖掛型房車的人們，他們結(jié)伴遍游美國(guó)和加拿大。每隔幾個(gè)夏天，我也會(huì)加入他們。我們把房車掛在祖父的小汽車后面，然后加入300余名Airstream探險(xiǎn)者們組成的浩蕩隊(duì)伍。我愛(ài)我的祖父母，我崇敬他們，也真心期盼這些旅程。那是一次我大概十歲時(shí)的旅行，我照例坐在后座的長(zhǎng)椅上，祖父開(kāi)著車，祖母坐在他旁邊，吸著煙。我討厭煙味。在那樣的年紀(jì)，我會(huì)找任何借口做些估測(cè)或者小算術(shù)。我會(huì)計(jì)算油耗還有雜貨花銷等雞毛蒜皮的小事。我聽(tīng)過(guò)一個(gè)有關(guān)吸煙的廣告。我記不得細(xì)節(jié)了，但是廣告大意是說(shuō)，每吸一口香煙會(huì)減少幾分鐘的壽命，大概是兩分鐘。無(wú)論如何，我決定為祖母做個(gè)算術(shù)。我估測(cè)了祖母每天要吸幾支香煙，每支香煙要吸幾口等等，然后心滿意足地得出了一個(gè)合理的數(shù)字。接著，我捅了捅坐在前面的祖母的頭，又拍了拍她的肩膀，然后驕傲地宣稱，“每天吸兩分鐘的煙，你就少活九年!”我清晰地記得接下來(lái)發(fā)生了什么，而那是我意料之外的。我本期待著小聰明和算術(shù)技巧能贏得掌聲，但那并沒(méi)有發(fā)生。相反，我的祖母哭泣起來(lái)。我的祖父之前一直在默默開(kāi)車，把車停在了路邊，走下車來(lái)，打開(kāi)了我的車門，等著我跟他下車。我惹麻煩了嗎?我的祖父是一個(gè)智慧而安靜的人。他從來(lái)沒(méi)有對(duì)我說(shuō)過(guò)嚴(yán)厲的話，難道這會(huì)是第一次?還是他會(huì)讓我回到車上跟祖母道歉?我以前從未遇到過(guò)這種狀況，因而也無(wú)從知曉會(huì)有什么后果發(fā)生。我們?cè)诜寇嚺酝Ｏ聛?lái)。祖父注視著我，沉默片刻，然后輕輕地、平靜地說(shuō)：“杰夫，有一天你會(huì)明白，善良比聰明更難?！边x擇比天賦更重要今天我想對(duì)你們說(shuō)的是，天賦和選擇不同。聰明是一種天賦，而善良是一種選擇。天賦得來(lái)很容易——畢竟它們與生俱來(lái)。而選擇則頗為不易。如果一不小心，你可能被天賦所誘惑，這可能會(huì)損害到你做出的選擇。在座各位都擁有許多天賦。我確信你們的天賦之一就是擁有精明能干的頭腦。之所以如此確信，是因?yàn)槿雽W(xué)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)十分激烈，如果你們不能表現(xiàn)出聰明智慧，便沒(méi)有資格進(jìn)入這所學(xué)校。你們的聰明才智必定會(huì)派上用場(chǎng)，因?yàn)槟銈儗⒃谝黄錆M奇跡的土地上行進(jìn)。我們?nèi)祟?，盡管跬步前行，卻終將令自己大吃一驚。我們能夠想方設(shè)法制造清潔能源，也能夠一個(gè)原子一個(gè)原子地組裝微型機(jī)械，使之穿過(guò)細(xì)胞壁，然后修復(fù)細(xì)胞。這個(gè)月，有一個(gè)異常而不可避免的事情發(fā)生了——人類終于合成了生命。在未來(lái)幾年，我們不僅會(huì)合成生命，還會(huì)按說(shuō)明書驅(qū)動(dòng)它們。我相信你們甚至?xí)吹轿覀兝斫馊祟惖拇竽X，儒勒·凡爾納，馬克·吐溫，伽利略，牛頓——所有那些充滿好奇之心的人都希望能夠活到現(xiàn)在。作為文明人，我們會(huì)擁有如此之多的天賦，就像是坐在我面前的你們，每一個(gè)生命個(gè)體都擁有許多獨(dú)特的天賦。你們要如何運(yùn)用這些天賦呢?你們會(huì)為自己的天賦感到驕傲，還是會(huì)為自己的選擇感到驕傲?追隨自己內(nèi)心的熱情，16年前，我萌生了創(chuàng)辦亞馬遜的想法。彼時(shí)我面對(duì)的現(xiàn)實(shí)是互聯(lián)網(wǎng)使用量以每年2300%的速度增長(zhǎng)，我從未看到或聽(tīng)說(shuō)過(guò)任何增長(zhǎng)如此快速的東西。創(chuàng)建涵蓋幾百萬(wàn)種書籍的網(wǎng)上書店的想法令我興奮異常，因?yàn)檫@個(gè)東西在物理世界里根本無(wú)法存在。那時(shí)我剛剛30歲，結(jié)婚才一年。我告訴妻子MacKenzie想辭去工作，然后去做這件瘋狂的事情，很可能會(huì)失敗，因?yàn)榇蟛糠謩?chuàng)業(yè)公司都是如此，而且我不確定那之后會(huì)發(fā)生什么。MacKenzie告訴我，我應(yīng)該放手一搏。在我還是一個(gè)男孩兒的時(shí)候，我是車庫(kù)發(fā)明家。我曾用水泥填充的輪胎、雨傘和錫箔以及報(bào)警器制作了一個(gè)自動(dòng)關(guān)門器。我一直想做一個(gè)發(fā)明家，MacKenzie支持我追隨內(nèi)心的熱情。我當(dāng)時(shí)在紐約一家金融公司工作，同事是一群非常聰明的人，我的老板也很有智慧，我很羨慕他。我告訴我的老板我想開(kāi)辦一家在網(wǎng)上賣書的公司。他帶我在中央公園漫步良久，認(rèn)真地聽(tīng)我講完，最后說(shuō)：“聽(tīng)起來(lái)真是一個(gè)很好的主意，但是對(duì)那些目前沒(méi)有謀到一份好工作的人來(lái)說(shuō)，這個(gè)主意會(huì)更好?！边@一邏輯對(duì)我而言頗有道理，他說(shuō)服我在最終作出決定之前再考慮48小時(shí)。那樣想來(lái)，這個(gè)決定確實(shí)很艱難，但是最終，我決定拼一次。我認(rèn)為自己不會(huì)為嘗試過(guò)后的失敗而遺憾，倒是有所決定但完全不付諸行動(dòng)會(huì)一直煎熬著我。在深思熟慮之后，我選擇了那條不安全的道路，去追隨我內(nèi)心的熱情。我為那個(gè)決定感到驕傲。明天，非?，F(xiàn)實(shí)地說(shuō)，你們從零塑造自己人生的時(shí)代即將開(kāi)啟。你們會(huì)如何運(yùn)用自己的天賦?你們又會(huì)作出怎樣的抉擇?你們是被慣性所引導(dǎo)，還是追隨自己內(nèi)心的熱情?你們會(huì)墨守陳規(guī)，還是勇于創(chuàng)新?你們會(huì)選擇安逸的生活，還是選擇一個(gè)奉獻(xiàn)與冒險(xiǎn)的人生?你們會(huì)屈從于批評(píng)，還是會(huì)堅(jiān)守信念?你們會(huì)掩飾錯(cuò)誤，還是會(huì)坦誠(chéng)道歉?你們會(huì)因害怕拒絕而掩飾內(nèi)心，還是會(huì)在面對(duì)愛(ài)情時(shí)勇往直前?你們想要波瀾不驚，還是想要搏擊風(fēng)浪?你們會(huì)在嚴(yán)峻的現(xiàn)實(shí)之下選擇放棄，還是會(huì)義無(wú)反顧地前行?你們要做憤世嫉俗者，還是踏實(shí)的建設(shè)者?你們要不計(jì)一切代價(jià)地展示聰明，還是選擇善良?我要做一個(gè)預(yù)測(cè)：在你們80歲時(shí)某個(gè)追憶往昔的時(shí)刻，只有你一個(gè)人靜靜對(duì)內(nèi)心訴說(shuō)著你的人生故事，其中最為充實(shí)、最有意義的那段講述，會(huì)被你們作出的一系列決定所填滿。最后，是選擇塑造了我們的人生。為你自己塑造一個(gè)偉大的人生故事。謝謝，祝你們好運(yùn)!

第二篇：杰夫·貝索斯普林斯頓大學(xué)演講(中英)

As a kid, I spent my summers with my grandparents on their ranch(牧場(chǎng))in Texas(德克薩斯).I helped fix windmills（風(fēng)車）, vaccinate cattle（給牛接種疫苗）, and do other chores（雜務(wù)）.We also watched soap operas（肥皂?。〆very afternoon, especially “Days of our Lives.” My grandparents belonged to a Caravan（乘拖車度假）Club, a group of Airstream trailer（車屋）owners who travel together around the U.S.and Canada.And every few summers, we’d join the caravan.We’d hitch（鉤住）up the Airstream trailer to my grandfather’s car, and off we’d go, in a line with 300 other Airstream adventurers.I loved and worshipped（崇敬）my grandparents and I really looked forward to these trips.On one particular（特別的）trip, I was about 10 years old.I was rolling around in the big bench seat in the back of the car.My grandfather was driving.And my grandmother had the passenger seat.She smoked throughout these trips, and I hated the smell.童年時(shí)，夏天都是在姥爺?shù)牡驴怂_斯牧場(chǎng)里度過(guò)。我修過(guò)風(fēng)車、給牛接種疫苗，做過(guò)許多其它的事情。每天下午我們也看肥皂劇，經(jīng)?？础段覀兊娜兆印?。我的姥爺外婆參加了一個(gè)房車俱樂(lè)部。他們都有自己的房車，一起在美國(guó)和加拿大旅游。每隔幾個(gè)夏天，我也會(huì)參加他們的旅行。我們把房車掛在姥爺?shù)霓I車上，就這樣，我們跟其它300個(gè)房車愛(ài)好者出發(fā)了。我非常愛(ài)姥爺和外婆，總是非常期待和他們一塊兒出去旅行。在一次特殊的旅途當(dāng)中，我依舊坐在后排車座上。姥爺在開(kāi)著車，外婆坐在旅客席上，一直抽著煙，但我很討厭煙味。

At that age, I’d take any excuse to make estimates（預(yù)算）and do minor arithmetic（算術(shù)）.I’d calculate（計(jì)算）our gas mileage（每英里汽油消耗量）— figure out useless statistics（統(tǒng)計(jì)）on things like grocery（食品雜貨店）spending.I’d been hearing an ad campaign（活動(dòng)）about smoking.I can’t remember the details, but basically the ad said, every puff of a cigarette（香煙）takes some number of minutes off of your life: I think it might have been two minutes per puff.At any rate, I decided to do the math for my grandmother.I estimated the number of cigarettes per days, estimated the number of puffs per cigarette and so on.When I was satisfied that I’d come up with a reasonable number, I poked（撥）my head into the front of the car, tapped（輕拍）my grandmother on the shoulder, and proudly proclaimed（公告）, “At two minutes per puff, you’ve taken nine years off your life!”

在那個(gè)年齡，我總是找一切機(jī)會(huì)去進(jìn)行計(jì)算和預(yù)測(cè)，我曾經(jīng)計(jì)算過(guò)車的油耗量和一些沒(méi)多大用處的事情，像食品雜貨店的開(kāi)銷這樣的事情。我曾聽(tīng)到過(guò)一個(gè)關(guān)于吸煙的廣告，具體的內(nèi)容記的不是太清，但我記的廣告基本內(nèi)容是，每吸一口煙將從我們生命中帶走幾分鐘的時(shí)間。我想應(yīng)該是每口兩分鐘，不管怎樣，我決定為外婆計(jì)算一下。我估算每天抽幾根煙，每根煙需要抽幾口等等。當(dāng)我確定已經(jīng)計(jì)算出一個(gè)合理的數(shù)據(jù)時(shí)，我把頭伸向汽車的前排，輕輕拍了一下外婆，大聲的說(shuō)：“以每口兩分鐘計(jì)算的話，你已經(jīng)抽走了九年的時(shí)間了！”。

I have a vivid(生動(dòng)的)memory of what happened, and it was not what I expected.I expected to be applauded（夸獎(jiǎng)）for my cleverness and arithmetic（算術(shù)）skills.“Jeff, you’re so smart.You had to have made some tricky（狡猾的）estimates, figure out the number of minutes in a year and do some division（除法）.” That’s not what happened.Instead, my grandmother burst into tears（突然哭起來(lái)）.I sat in the backseat and did not know what to do.While my

grandmother sat crying, my grandfather, who had been driving in silence, pulled over onto the shoulder of the highway.He got out of the car and came around and opened my door and waited for me to follow.Was I in trouble? My grandfather was a highly intelligent, quiet man.He had never said a harsh（嚴(yán)厲的）word to me, and maybe this was to be the first time? Or maybe he would ask that I get back in the car and apologize to my grandmother.I had no experience in this realm（領(lǐng)域）with my grandparents and no way to gauge（估計(jì)）what the consequences（后果）might be.We stopped beside the trailer.My grandfather looked at me, and after a bit of silence, he gently and calmly said, “Jeff, one day you’ll understand that it’s harder to be kind than clever.”

我對(duì)此有很深刻的印象，我期望外婆夸獎(jiǎng)我的聰明和算術(shù)能力，我想外婆會(huì)說(shuō)：“杰夫，你是如此的聰明，你可以計(jì)算出一年有多少分鐘并且也能做除法?！钡Y(jié)果卻不是這樣的。外婆突然哭了出來(lái)，我坐在車?yán)锊恢涝撛趺崔k。姥爺依舊開(kāi)著車，默不作聲，最后他把車聽(tīng)到了路邊，下了車，打開(kāi)我這邊的車門，站在那里等我下車。我心里有點(diǎn)忐忑。我的姥爺是一個(gè)睿智溫和的男人，從來(lái)沒(méi)有責(zé)備過(guò)我，但或許這有可能就成為了第一次，也有可能讓我去給外婆道歉。我從來(lái)沒(méi)有經(jīng)歷過(guò)，也不知道會(huì)有什么樣的后果。當(dāng)我們走到拖車的后面，姥爺停下了腳步，看著我，在一陣沉默之后，他平靜而又溫柔的對(duì)我說(shuō)：“杰夫，總有一天你會(huì)明白善良比聰明更難?！?/p>

What I want to talk to you about today is the difference between gifts and choices.Cleverness is a gift, kindness is a choice.Gifts are easy — they’re given after all.Choices can be hard.You can seduce（誘惑）yourself with your gifts if you’re not careful, and if you do, it’ll probably be to the detriment of your choices.今天我想告訴你們的是天賦和選擇的區(qū)別。聰明是一種天賦，善良卻是一種選擇。天賦是最容易得到的，因?yàn)槟阋怀錾陀辛耍屏紖s是難得的。你如果你一不小心，你就會(huì)讓天賦去驅(qū)使自己，它會(huì)蒙蔽的你雙眼。

This is a group with many gifts.I’m sure one of your gifts is the gift of a smart and capable brain.I’m confident that’s the case because admission（準(zhǔn)許進(jìn)入）is competitive and if there weren’t some signs that you’re clever, the dean of admission wouldn’t have let you in.這里說(shuō)的天賦有很多種，我相信敏捷的思維和活躍的大腦就是你們的天賦之

一。我確信這一點(diǎn)，是因?yàn)閬?lái)這所大學(xué)的學(xué)生是經(jīng)過(guò)殘酷競(jìng)爭(zhēng)的，如果你們沒(méi)有這些特征的話，學(xué)校也不愿意招收你們的。

Your smarts will come in handy（便利的）because you will travel in a land of marvels（奇跡）.We humans — plodding（單調(diào)乏味的）as we are — will astonish（使驚訝）ourselves.We’ll invent ways to generate（產(chǎn)生）clean energy and a lot of it.Atom by atom, we’ll assemble（集合）tiny machines that will enter cell walls and make repairs.This month comes the extraordinary（非凡的）but also inevitable（必然的）news that we’ve synthesized（合成的）life.In the coming years, we’ll not only synthesize it, but we’ll engineer it to specifications（規(guī)格）.I believe you’ll even see us understand the human brain.Jules Verne, Mark Twain, Galileo, Newton — all the curious from the ages would have wanted to be alive most of all right now.As a civilization（文化）, we will have so many gifts, just as you as individuals（個(gè)人）

have so many individual gifts as you sit before me.你們的聰明才智終究會(huì)派上用途的，那時(shí)，你們正在進(jìn)行著一次絕妙的旅程，我們?nèi)祟?，單調(diào)乏味的人類，最終卻讓我們自己感到不可思議。我們找到很多方式去發(fā)明清潔能源。我們用原子做成很小的機(jī)器，用它進(jìn)入到細(xì)胞壁來(lái)進(jìn)行一些修復(fù)。這個(gè)月我們已經(jīng)合成了細(xì)胞，在來(lái)年我們不僅要合成，我們還要給細(xì)胞定一些規(guī)格。我認(rèn)為我們甚至可以了解人類的大腦，儒勒·凡爾納、馬克·吐溫、伽利略、牛頓——所有這些有思想的人都可以復(fù)活。作為一種共識(shí)，我們有這么多天賦，你們還有許多個(gè)人天賦。

How will you use these gifts? And will you take pride in your gifts or pride in your choices?

你怎么用這些天賦呢？你會(huì)為你的天賦或者選擇自豪么？

I got the idea to start Amazon 16 years ago.I came across the fact that Web usage（使用）was growing at 2,300 percent per year.I’d never seen or heard of anything that grew that fast, and the idea of building an online bookstore with millions of titles — something that simply couldn’t exist in the physical world — was very exciting to me.I had just turned 30 years old, and I’d been married for a year.I told my wife MacKenzie that I wanted to quit my job and go do this crazy thing that probably wouldn’t work since most startups（創(chuàng)業(yè)）don’t, and I wasn’t sure what would happen after that.MacKenzie(also a Princeton grad and sitting here in the second row)told me I should go for it.As a young boy, I’d been a garage（車庫(kù)）inventor.I’d invented an automatic gate closer out of cement-filled tires, a solar（太陽(yáng)能灶）cooker that didn’t work very well out of an umbrella and tinfoil（錫紙）, baking-pan alarms to entrap（欺騙）my siblings（兄弟姐妹）.I’d always wanted to be an inventor, and she wanted me to follow my passion（激情）.16年前我有了開(kāi)亞馬遜的想法。我無(wú)意中發(fā)現(xiàn)這樣一個(gè)事實(shí)：互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的使用人數(shù)以每年2300%的速度進(jìn)行增長(zhǎng)。我從來(lái)沒(méi)有見(jiàn)過(guò)或聽(tīng)說(shuō)過(guò)哪種事物增長(zhǎng)的這么迅速，然后我有了一個(gè)令我激動(dòng)的想法，那就是建一個(gè)可以有數(shù)百萬(wàn)圖書的網(wǎng)上書店，然而這種書店在物理世界中是不可能存在的。那時(shí)我才剛剛?cè)畾q，剛結(jié)婚一年。我告訴我的妻子MacKenzie我想辭職去做一件瘋狂的事，甚至我自己也不知道做完這件事會(huì)有什么樣的結(jié)果，MacKenzie（也是一個(gè)普林斯頓大學(xué)的畢業(yè)生，就坐在第二排）告訴我，讓我放手去做。當(dāng)我還是個(gè)孩子的時(shí)候，我已經(jīng)成為了一個(gè)車庫(kù)發(fā)明家。我發(fā)明了一個(gè)能自動(dòng)填充水泥的輪胎，一個(gè)沒(méi)有了雨傘和錫紙就不能工作的太陽(yáng)能炊具和欺騙兄弟用的平底鍋報(bào)警裝置。我一直想成為一個(gè)發(fā)明者，并且我的妻子讓我跟著心走。

I was working at a financial firm（金融企業(yè)）in New York City with a bunch（群）of very smart people, and I had a brilliant（杰出的）boss that I much admired.I went to my boss and told him I wanted to start a company selling books on the Internet.He took me on a long walk in Central Park, listened carefully to me, and finally said, “That sounds like a really good idea, but it would be an even better idea for someone who didn’t already have a good job.” That logic（邏輯）made some sense to me, and he convinced me to think about it for 48 hours before making a final decision.Seen in that light, it really was a difficult choice, but ultimately（最終）, I decided I had to give it a shot.I didn’t think I’d regret

trying and failing.And I suspected（懷疑）I would always be haunted（纏住）by a decision to not try at all.After much consideration, I took the less safe path to follow my passion, and I’m proud of that choice.我當(dāng)時(shí)和一群非常聰明的人一起在一家紐約的金融公司工作，我很羨慕我們的老板。我走進(jìn)老板的辦公室，告訴他我想辦一家在網(wǎng)上賣書的公司。他帶著我去中央公園散步，很認(rèn)真的聽(tīng)我說(shuō)，聽(tīng)完后跟我說(shuō)：“聽(tīng)起來(lái)這是一個(gè)很好的注意，但對(duì)于一個(gè)還沒(méi)有好工作的人來(lái)說(shuō)，這會(huì)是一個(gè)更好的注意”。這個(gè)說(shuō)法有點(diǎn)打動(dòng)我，老板讓我好好想兩天再做決定。從那個(gè)角度看，這確實(shí)是一個(gè)艱難的抉擇，但是最終我決定試一試。我想我不會(huì)因?yàn)閲L試和失敗而后悔，而會(huì)因?yàn)闆](méi)有嘗試而懊惱。經(jīng)過(guò)思考，我決定為我的激情而鋌而走險(xiǎn)，我為我的選擇而自豪。

Tomorrow, in a very real sense, your life — the life you author from scratch on your own — begins.明天，從某種意義上，你自己的人生才剛剛開(kāi)始。

How will you use your gifts? What choices will you make?

你會(huì)怎么運(yùn)用你的天賦？做出怎么樣的選擇？

Will inertia（惰性）be your guide, or will you follow your passions?

惰性會(huì)成為你的常態(tài)，還是跟著激情奔走？

Will you follow dogma, or will you be original?

你會(huì)屈服于命運(yùn)，還是與天搏斗？

Will you choose a life of ease, or a life of service and adventure?

你會(huì)選擇一種安逸的生活，還是選擇一個(gè)充滿冒險(xiǎn)而有意義的生活？ Will you wilt（屈服）under criticism, or will you follow your convictions（信仰）? 你會(huì)在指責(zé)中退縮，還是堅(jiān)持你的信仰？

Will you bluff（蒙混過(guò)關(guān)）it out when you’re wrong, or will you apologize? 當(dāng)你犯錯(cuò)時(shí)，你會(huì)選擇蒙混過(guò)關(guān)，還是去勇敢的面對(duì)？

Will you guard your heart against rejection, or will you act when you fall in love?

面對(duì)愛(ài)情時(shí)，你會(huì)因?yàn)榫芙^而退縮，還是會(huì)一往無(wú)前？

Will you play it safe, or will you be a little bit swashbuckling?

你們想要波瀾不驚，還是想要搏擊風(fēng)浪？

When it’s tough（困難）, will you give up, or will you be relentless?

在困境中，你選擇放棄，還是百折不撓？

Will you be a cynic（憤世嫉俗者）, or will you be a builder?

你們要做憤世嫉俗者，還是踏實(shí)的建設(shè)者？

Will you be clever at the expense of others, or will you be kind?

你們要不計(jì)一切代價(jià)地展示聰明，還是選擇善良？

I will hazard（冒險(xiǎn)）a prediction（語(yǔ)言）.When you are 80 years old, and in a quiet moment of reflection narrating（敘述）for only yourself the most personal version of your life story, the telling that will be most compact（簡(jiǎn)潔）and meaningful will be the series of choices you have made.In the end, we are our choices.Build yourself a great story.Thank you and good luck!

我可以負(fù)責(zé)任的說(shuō)。當(dāng)你八十歲的時(shí)候，你自己靜靜的反思自己的一生，你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)記得都是自己所做的一系列的決定。而這每一一些列的決定最后造就了我們自己。創(chuàng)建一個(gè)屬于你自己的精彩故事。謝謝并祝你們好運(yùn)。

第三篇：4月2日杰夫貝索斯普林斯頓2010畢業(yè)典禮演講

杰夫·貝索斯(Jeff Bezos)在普林斯頓2010畢業(yè)典禮的演講

——抵抗天賦的誘惑

2010 Baccalaureate remarks, Princeton University

“We are What We Choose”

Remarks by Jeff Bezos, as delivered to the Class of 2010 Baccalaureate May 30, 2010

在我還是一個(gè)孩子的時(shí)候，我的夏天總是在德州祖父母的農(nóng)場(chǎng)中度過(guò)。我?guī)兔π蘩盹L(fēng)車，為牛接種疫苗，也做其它家務(wù)。每天下午，我們都會(huì)看肥皂劇，尤其是《我們的歲月》。我的祖父母參加了一個(gè)房車俱樂(lè)部，那是一群駕駛Airstream拖掛型房車的人們，他們結(jié)伴遍游美國(guó)和加拿大。每隔幾個(gè)夏天，我也會(huì)加入他們。我們把房車掛在祖父的小汽車后面，然后加入300余名Airstream探險(xiǎn)者們組成的浩蕩隊(duì)伍。

As a kid, I spent my summers with my grandparents on their ranch in Texas.I helped fix windmills, vaccinate cattle, and do other chores.We also watched soap operas every afternoon, especially “Days of our Lives.” My grandparents belonged to a Caravan Club, a group of Airstream trailer owners who travel together around the U.S.and Canada.And every few summers, we'd join the caravan.We'd hitch up the Airstream trailer to my grandfather's car, and off we'd go, in a line with 300 other Airstream adventurers.我愛(ài)我的祖父母，我崇敬他們，也真心期盼這些旅程。那是一次我大概十歲時(shí)的旅行，我照例坐在后座的長(zhǎng)椅上，祖父開(kāi)著車，祖母坐在他旁邊，吸著煙。我討厭煙味。

I loved and worshipped my grandparents and I really looked forward to these trips.On one particular trip, I was about 10 years old.I was rolling around in the big bench seat in the back of the car.My grandfather was driving.And my grandmother had the passenger seat.She smoked throughout these trips, and I hated the smell.在那樣的年紀(jì)，我會(huì)找任何借口做些估測(cè)或者小算術(shù)。我會(huì)計(jì)算油耗還有雜貨花銷等雞毛蒜皮的小事。我聽(tīng)過(guò)一個(gè)有關(guān)吸煙的廣告。我記不得細(xì)節(jié)了，但是廣告大意是說(shuō)，每吸一口香煙會(huì)減少幾分鐘的壽命，大概是兩分鐘。無(wú)論如何，我決定為祖母做個(gè)算術(shù)。我估測(cè)了祖母每天要吸幾支香煙，每支香煙要吸幾口等等，然后心滿意足地得出了一個(gè)合理的數(shù)字。接著，我捅了捅坐在前面的祖母的頭，又拍了拍她的肩膀，然后驕傲地宣稱，“每天吸兩分鐘的煙，你就少活九年!”

At that age, I'd take any excuse to make estimates and do minor arithmetic.I'd calculate our gas mileage--figure out useless statistics on things like grocery spending.I'd been hearing an ad campaign about smoking.I can't remember the details, but basically the ad said, every puff of a cigarette takes some number of minutes off of your life: I think it might have been two minutes per puff.At any rate, I decided to do the math for my grandmother.I estimated the number of

cigarettes per days, estimated the number of puffs per cigarette and so on.When I was satisfied that I'd come up with a reasonable number, I poked my head into the front of the car, tapped my grandmother on the shoulder, and proudly proclaimed, “At two minutes per puff, you've taken nine years off your life!”

我清晰地記得接下來(lái)發(fā)生了什么，而那是我意料之外的。我本期待著小聰明和算術(shù)技巧能贏得掌聲，但那并沒(méi)有發(fā)生。相反，我的祖母哭泣起來(lái)。我的祖父之前一直在默默開(kāi)車，把車停在了路邊，走下車來(lái)，打開(kāi)了我的車門，等著我跟他下車。我惹麻煩了嗎?

I have a vivid memory of what happened, and it was not what I expected.I expected to be applauded for my cleverness and arithmetic skills.“Jeff, you're so smart.You had to have made some tricky estimates, figure out the number of minutes in a year and do some division.” That's not what happened.Instead, my grandmother burst into tears.I sat in the backseat and did not know what to do.While my grandmother sat crying, my grandfather, who had been driving in silence, pulled over onto the shoulder of the highway.He got out of the car and came around and opened my door and waited for me to follow.Was I in trouble?

我的祖父是一個(gè)智慧而安靜的人。他從來(lái)沒(méi)有對(duì)我說(shuō)過(guò)嚴(yán)厲的話，難道這會(huì)是第一次?還是他會(huì)讓我回到車上跟祖母道歉?我以前從未遇到過(guò)這種狀況，因而也無(wú)從知曉會(huì)有什么后果發(fā)生。我們?cè)诜寇嚺酝Ｏ聛?lái)。祖父注視著我，沉默片刻，然后輕輕地、平靜地說(shuō)：“杰夫，有一天你會(huì)明白，善良比聰明更難。”

My grandfather was a highly intelligent, quiet man.He had never said a harsh word to me, and maybe this was to be the first time? Or maybe he would ask that I get back in the car and apologize to my grandmother.I had no experience in this realm with my grandparents and no way to gauge what the consequences might be.We stopped beside the trailer.My grandfather looked at me, and after a bit of silence, he gently and calmly said, “Jeff, one day you'll understand that it's harder to be kind than clever.”

今天我想對(duì)你們說(shuō)的是，天賦和選擇不同。聰明是一種天賦，而善良是一種選擇。天賦得來(lái)很容易——畢竟它們與生俱來(lái)。而選擇則頗為不易。如果一不小心，你可能被天賦所誘惑，這可能會(huì)損害到你做出的選擇。

What I want to talk to you about today is the difference between gifts and choices.Cleverness is a gift, kindness is a choice.Gifts are easy--they're given after all.Choices can be hard.You can seduce yourself with your gifts if you're not careful, and if you do, it'll probably be to the detriment of your choices.在座各位都擁有許多天賦。我確信你們的天賦之一就是擁有精明能干的頭腦。之所以如此確信，是因?yàn)槿雽W(xué)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)十分激烈，如果你們不能表現(xiàn)出聰明智慧，便沒(méi)有資格進(jìn)入這所學(xué)校。

This is a group with many gifts.I'm sure one of your gifts is the gift of a smart and capable brain.I'm confident that's the case because admission is competitive and if there weren't some signs that you're clever, the dean of admission wouldn't have let you in.你們的聰明才智必定會(huì)派上用場(chǎng)，因?yàn)槟銈儗⒃谝黄錆M奇跡的土地上行進(jìn)。我們?nèi)祟?，盡管跬步前行，卻終將令自己大吃一驚。我們能夠想方設(shè)法制造清潔能源，也能夠一個(gè)原子一個(gè)原子地組裝微型機(jī)械，使之穿過(guò)細(xì)胞壁，然后修復(fù)細(xì)胞。這個(gè)月，有一個(gè)異常而不可避免的事情發(fā)生了——人類終于合成了生命。在未來(lái)幾年，我們不僅會(huì)合成生命，還會(huì)按說(shuō)明書驅(qū)動(dòng)它們。我相信你們甚至?xí)吹轿覀兝斫馊祟惖拇竽X，儒勒·凡爾納，馬克·吐溫，伽利略，牛頓——所有那些充滿好奇之心的人都希望能夠活到現(xiàn)在。作為文明人，我們會(huì)擁有如此之多的天賦，就像是坐在我面前的你們，每一個(gè)生命個(gè)體都擁有許多獨(dú)特的天賦。

Your smarts will come in handy because you will travel in a land of marvels.We humans--plodding as we are--will astonish ourselves.We'll invent ways to generate clean energy and a lot of it.Atom by atom, we'll assemble tiny machines that will enter cell walls and make repairs.This month comes the extraordinary but also inevitable news that we've synthesized life.In the coming years, we'll not only synthesize it, but we'll engineer it to specifications.I believe you'll even see us understand the human brain.Jules Verne, Mark Twain, Galileo, Newton--all the curious from the ages would have wanted to be alive most of all right now.As a civilization, we will have so many gifts, just as you as individuals have so many individual gifts as you sit before me.你們要如何運(yùn)用這些天賦呢?你們會(huì)為自己的天賦感到驕傲，還是會(huì)為自己的選擇感到驕傲?

How will you use these gifts? And will you take pride in your gifts or pride in your choices?

16年前，我萌生了創(chuàng)辦亞馬遜的想法。彼時(shí)我面對(duì)的現(xiàn)實(shí)是互聯(lián)網(wǎng)使用量以每年2300%的速度增長(zhǎng)，我從未看到或聽(tīng)說(shuō)過(guò)任何增長(zhǎng)如此快速的東西。創(chuàng)建涵蓋幾百萬(wàn)種書籍的網(wǎng)上書店的想法令我興奮異常，因?yàn)檫@個(gè)東西在物理世界里根本無(wú)法存在。那時(shí)我剛剛30歲，結(jié)婚才一年。

I got the idea to start Amazon 16 years ago.I came across the fact that Web usage was growing at 2,300 percent per year.I'd never seen or heard of anything that grew that fast, and the idea of building an online bookstore with millions of titles--something that simply couldn't exist in the physical world--was very exciting to me.I had just turned 30 years old, and I'd been married for a year.我告訴妻子MacKenzie想辭去工作，然后去做這件瘋狂的事情，很可能會(huì)失敗，因?yàn)榇蟛糠謩?chuàng)業(yè)公司都是如此，而且我不確定那之后會(huì)發(fā)生什么。MacKenzie告訴我，我應(yīng)該放手一搏。在我還是一個(gè)男孩兒的時(shí)候，我是車庫(kù)發(fā)明家。我曾用水泥填充的輪胎、雨傘和錫箔以及報(bào)警器制作了一個(gè)自動(dòng)關(guān)門器。我一直想做一個(gè)發(fā)明家，MacKenzie支持我追隨內(nèi)心的熱情。

I told my wife MacKenzie that I wanted to quit my job and go do this crazy thing that probably wouldn't work since most startups don't, and I wasn't sure what would happen after that.MacKenzie(also a Princeton grad and sitting here in the second row)told me I should go for it.As a young boy, I'd been a garage inventor.I'd invented an automatic gate closer out of cement-filled tires, a solar cooker that didn't work very well out of an umbrella and tinfoil, baking-pan alarms to entrap my siblings.I'd always wanted to be an inventor, and she wanted me to follow my passion.我當(dāng)時(shí)在紐約一家金融公司工作，同事是一群非常聰明的人，我的老板也很有智慧，我很羨慕他。我告訴我的老板我想開(kāi)辦一家在網(wǎng)上賣書的公司。他帶我在中央公園漫步良久，認(rèn)真地聽(tīng)我講完，最后說(shuō)：“聽(tīng)起

來(lái)真是一個(gè)很好的主意，但是對(duì)那些目前沒(méi)有謀到一份好工作的人來(lái)說(shuō)，這個(gè)主意會(huì)更好?！?/p>

I was working at a financial firm in New York City with a bunch of very smart people, and I had a brilliant boss that I much admired.I went to my boss and told him I wanted to start a company selling books on the Internet.He took me on a long walk in Central Park, listened carefully to me, and finally said, “That sounds like a really good idea, but it would be an even better idea for someone who didn't already have a good job.”

這一邏輯對(duì)我而言頗有道理，他說(shuō)服我在最終作出決定之前再考慮48小時(shí)。那樣想來(lái)，這個(gè)決定確實(shí)很艱難，但是最終，我決定拼一次。我認(rèn)為自己不會(huì)為嘗試過(guò)后的失敗而遺憾，倒是有所決定但完全不付諸行動(dòng)會(huì)一直煎熬著我。在深思熟慮之后，我選擇了那條不安全的道路，去追隨我內(nèi)心的熱情。我為那個(gè)決定感到驕傲。

That logic made some sense to me, and he convinced me to think about it for 48 hours before making a final decision.Seen in that light, it really was a difficult choice, but ultimately, I decided I had to give it a shot.I didn't think I'd regret trying and failing.And I suspected I would always be haunted by a decision to not try at all.After much consideration, I took the less safe path to follow my passion, and I'm proud of that choice.明天，非常現(xiàn)實(shí)地說(shuō)，你們從零塑造自己人生的時(shí)代即將開(kāi)啟。

Tomorrow, in a very real sense, your life--the life you author from scratch on your own--begins.你們會(huì)如何運(yùn)用自己的天賦?你們又會(huì)作出怎樣的抉擇?

How will you use your gifts? What choices will you make?

你們是被慣性所引導(dǎo)，還是追隨自己內(nèi)心的熱情?

Will inertia be your guide, or will you follow your passions?

你們會(huì)墨守陳規(guī)，還是勇于創(chuàng)新?

Will you follow dogma, or will you be original?

你們會(huì)選擇安逸的生活，還是選擇一個(gè)奉獻(xiàn)與冒險(xiǎn)的人生?

Will you choose a life of ease, or a life of service and adventure?

你們會(huì)屈從于批評(píng)，還是會(huì)堅(jiān)守信念?

Will you wilt under criticism, or will you follow your convictions?

你們會(huì)掩飾錯(cuò)誤，還是會(huì)坦誠(chéng)道歉?

Will you bluff it out when you're wrong, or will you apologize?

你們會(huì)因害怕拒絕而掩飾內(nèi)心，還是會(huì)在面對(duì)愛(ài)情時(shí)勇往直前?

Will you guard your heart against rejection, or will you act when you fall in love?

你們想要波瀾不驚，還是想要搏擊風(fēng)浪?

Will you play it safe, or will you be a little bit swashbuckling?

你們會(huì)在嚴(yán)峻的現(xiàn)實(shí)之下選擇放棄，還是會(huì)義無(wú)反顧地前行?

When it's tough, will you give up, or will you be relentless?

你們要做憤世嫉俗者，還是踏實(shí)的建設(shè)者?

Will you be a cynic, or will you be a builder?

你們要不計(jì)一切代價(jià)地展示聰明，還是選擇善良?

Will you be clever at the expense of others, or will you be kind?

我要做一個(gè)預(yù)測(cè)：在你們80歲時(shí)某個(gè)追憶往昔的時(shí)刻，只有你一個(gè)人靜靜對(duì)內(nèi)心訴說(shuō)著你的人生故事，其中最為充實(shí)、最有意義的那段講述，會(huì)被你們作出的一系列決定所填滿。最后，是選擇塑造了我們的人生。為你自己塑造一個(gè)偉大的人生故事。

I will hazard a prediction.When you are 80 years old, and in a quiet moment of reflection narrating for only yourself the most personal version of your life story, the telling that will be most compact and meaningful will be the series of choices you have made.In the end, we are our choices.Build yourself a great story.謝謝，祝你們好運(yùn)!

Thank you and good luck!

第四篇：杰夫貝佐斯普林斯頓大學(xué)畢業(yè)演講稿

“We are What We Choose”

Baccalaureate

Remarks by Jeff Bezos, as delivered to the Class of 2010

As a kid, I spent my summers with my grandparents on their ranch in Texas.I helped fix windmills, vaccinate cattle, and do other chores.We also watched soap operas every

afternoon, especially “Days of our Lives.” My grandparents belonged to a Caravan Club, a group of Airstream trailer owners who travel together around the U.S.and Canada.And every few summers, we'd join the caravan.We'd hitch up the Airstream trailer to my

grandfather's car, and off we'd go, in a line with 300 other Airstream adventurers.I loved and worshipped my grandparents and I really looked forward to these trips.On one

particular trip, I was about 10 years old.I was rolling around in the big bench seat in the back of the car.My grandfather was driving.And my grandmother had the passenger seat.She smoked throughout these trips, and I hated the smell.At that age, I'd take any excuse to make estimates and do minor arithmetic.I'd calculate our gas mileage--figure out useless statistics on things like grocery spending.I'd been hearing an ad campaign about smoking.I can't remember the details, but basically the ad said, every puff of a cigarette takes some number of minutes off of your life: I think it might have been two minutes per puff.At any rate, I decided to do the math for my grandmother.I estimated the number of cigarettes per days, estimated the number of puffs per cigarette and so on.When I was satisfied that I'd come up with a reasonable number, I poked my head into the front of the car, tapped my grandmother on the

shoulder, and proudly proclaimed, “At two minutes per puff, you've taken nine years off your life!”

I have a vivid memory of what happened, and it was not what I expected.I expected to be applauded for my cleverness and arithmetic skills.“Jeff, you're so smart.You had to have made some tricky estimates, figure out the number of minutes in a year and do some division.” That's not what happened.Instead, my grandmother burst into tears.I sat in the backseat and did not know what to do.While my grandmother sat crying, my grandfather, who had been driving in silence, pulled over onto the shoulder of the highway.He got out of the car and came around and opened my door and waited for me to follow.Was I in trouble? My grandfather was a highly intelligent, quiet man.He had never said a harsh word to me, and maybe this was to be the first time? Or maybe he would ask that I get back in the car and apologize to my grandmother.I had no experience in this realm with my grandparents and no way to gauge what the consequences might be.We stopped beside the trailer.My grandfather looked at me, and after a bit of silence, he gently and calmly said, “Jeff, one day you'll understand that it's harder to be kind than clever.”

What I want to talk to you about today is the difference between gifts and choices.Cleverness is a gift, kindness is a choice.Gifts are easy--they're given after all.Choices can be hard.You can seduce yourself with your gifts if you're not careful, and if you do, it'll probably be to the detriment of your choices.This is a group with many gifts.I'm sure one of your gifts is the gift of a smart and capable brain.I'm confident that's the case because admission is competitive and if there weren't some signs that you're clever, the dean of admission wouldn't have let you in.Your smarts will come in handy because you will travel in a land of marvels.We humans--plodding as we are--will astonish ourselves.We'll invent ways to generate clean energy and a lot of it.Atom by atom, we'll assemble tiny machines that will enter cell walls and make repairs.This month comes the extraordinary but also inevitable news that we've synthesized life.In the coming years, we'll not only synthesize it, but we'll engineer it to specifications.I believe you'll even see us understand the human brain.Jules Verne, Mark Twain, Galileo, Newton--all the curious from the ages would have wanted to be alive most of all right now.As a civilization, we will have so many gifts, just as you as individuals have so many individual gifts as you sit before me.How will you use these gifts? And will you take pride in your gifts or pride in your choices? I got the idea to start Amazon 16 years ago.I came across the fact that Web usage was growing at 2,300 percent per year.I'd never seen or heard of anything that grew that fast, and the idea of building an online bookstore with millions of titles--something that simply couldn't exist in the physical world--was very exciting to me.I had just turned 30 years old, and I'd been married for a year.I told my wife MacKenzie that I wanted to quit my job and go do this crazy thing that probably wouldn't work since most startups don't, and I wasn't sure what would happen after that.MacKenzie(also a Princeton grad and sitting here in the second row)told me I should go for it.As a young boy, I'd been a garage inventor.I'd invented an automatic gate closer out of cement-filled tires, a solar cooker that didn't work very well out of an umbrella and tinfoil, baking-pan alarms to entrap my siblings.I'd always wanted to be an inventor, and she wanted me to follow my passion.I was working at a financial firm in New York City with a bunch of very smart people, and I had a brilliant boss that I much admired.I went to my boss and told him I wanted to start a company selling books on the Internet.He took me on a long walk in Central Park,listened carefully to me, and finally said, “That sounds like a really good idea, but it would be an even better idea for someone who didn't already have a good job.” That logic made some sense to me, and he convinced me to think about it for 48 hours before making a final decision.Seen in that light, it really was a difficult choice, but ultimately, I decided I had to give it a shot.I didn't think I'd regret trying and failing.And I suspected I would always be haunted by a decision to not try at all.After much consideration, I took the less safe path to follow my passion, and I'm proud of that choice.Tomorrow, in a very real sense, your life--the life you author from scratch on your own--

begins.How will you use your gifts? What choices will you make?

Will inertia be your guide, or will you follow your passions?

Will you follow dogma, or will you be original?

Will you choose a life of ease, or a life of service and adventure?

Will you wilt under criticism, or will you follow your convictions?

Will you bluff it out when you're wrong, or will you apologize?

Will you guard your heart against rejection, or will you act when you fall in love? Will you play it safe, or will you be a little bit swashbuckling?

When it's tough, will you give up, or will you be relentless?

Will you be a cynic, or will you be a builder?

Will you be clever at the expense of others, or will you be kind?

I will hazard a prediction.When you are 80 years old, and in a quiet moment of reflection narrating for only yourself the most personal version of your life story, the telling that will be most compact and meaningful will be the series of choices you have made.In the end, we are our choices.Build yourself a great story.Thank you and good luck!

第五篇：貝索斯在普林斯頓大學(xué)2010年學(xué)士畢業(yè)典禮上的演講)

在我還是一個(gè)孩子的時(shí)候，我的夏天總是在德州祖父母的農(nóng)場(chǎng)中度過(guò)。我?guī)兔π蘩盹L(fēng)車，為牛接種疫苗，也做其它家務(wù)。每天下午，我們都會(huì)看肥皂劇，尤其是《我們的歲月》。我的祖父母參加了一個(gè)房車俱樂(lè)部，那是一群駕駛Airstream拖掛型房車的人們，他們結(jié)伴遍游美國(guó)和加拿大。每隔幾個(gè)夏天，我也會(huì)加入他們。我們把房車掛在祖父的小汽車后面，然后加入300余名Airstream探險(xiǎn)者們組成的浩蕩隊(duì)伍。

我愛(ài)我的祖父母，我崇敬他們，也真心期盼這些旅程。那是一次我大概十歲時(shí)的旅行，我照例坐在后座的長(zhǎng)椅上，祖父開(kāi)著車，祖母坐在他旁邊，吸著煙。我討厭煙味。

在那樣的年紀(jì)，我會(huì)找任何借口做些估測(cè)或者小算術(shù)。我會(huì)計(jì)算油耗還有雜貨花銷等雞毛蒜皮的小事。我聽(tīng)過(guò)一個(gè)有關(guān)吸煙的廣告。我記不得細(xì)節(jié)了，但是廣告大意是說(shuō)，每吸一口香煙會(huì)減少幾分鐘的壽命，大概是兩分鐘。無(wú)論如何，我決定為祖母做個(gè)算術(shù)。我估測(cè)了祖母每天要吸幾支香煙，每支香煙要吸幾口等等，然后心滿意足地得出了一個(gè)合理的數(shù)字。接著，我捅了捅坐在前面的祖母的頭，又拍了拍她的肩膀，然后驕傲地宣稱，“每天吸兩分鐘的煙，你就少活九年!”

我清晰地記得接下來(lái)發(fā)生了什么，而那是我意料之外的。我本期待著小聰明和算術(shù)技巧能贏得掌聲，但那并沒(méi)有發(fā)生。相反，我的祖母哭泣起來(lái)。我的祖父之前一直在默默開(kāi)車，把車停在了路邊，走下車來(lái)，打開(kāi)了我的車門，等著我跟他下車。我惹麻煩了嗎?我的祖父是一個(gè)智慧而安靜的人。他從來(lái)沒(méi)有對(duì)我說(shuō)過(guò)嚴(yán)厲的話，難道這會(huì)是第一次?還是他會(huì)讓我回到車上跟祖母道歉?我以前從未遇到過(guò)這種狀況，因而也無(wú)從知曉會(huì)有什么后果發(fā)生。我們?cè)诜寇嚺酝Ｏ聛?lái)。祖父注視著我，沉默片刻，然后輕輕地、平靜地說(shuō)：“杰夫，有一天你會(huì)明白，善良比聰明更難。”

選擇比天賦更重要

今天我想對(duì)你們說(shuō)的是，天賦和選擇不同。聰明是一種天賦，而善良是一種選擇。天賦得來(lái)很容易——畢竟它們與生俱來(lái)。而選擇則頗為不易。如果一不小心，你可能被天賦所誘惑，這可能會(huì)損害到你做出的選擇。

在座各位都擁有許多天賦。我確信你們的天賦之一就是擁有精明能干的頭腦。之所以如此確信，是因?yàn)槿雽W(xué)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)十分激烈，如果你們不能表現(xiàn)出聰明智慧，便沒(méi)有資格進(jìn)入這所學(xué)校。

你們的聰明才智必定會(huì)派上用場(chǎng)，因?yàn)槟銈儗⒃谝黄錆M奇跡的土地上行進(jìn)。我們?nèi)祟?，盡管跬步前行，卻終將令自己大吃一驚。我們能夠想方設(shè)法制造清潔能源，也能夠一個(gè)原子一個(gè)原子地組裝微型機(jī)械，使之穿過(guò)細(xì)胞壁，然后修復(fù)細(xì)胞。這個(gè)月，有一個(gè)異常而不可避免的事情發(fā)生了——人類終于合成了生命。在未來(lái)幾年，我們不僅會(huì)合成生命，還會(huì)按說(shuō)明書驅(qū)動(dòng)它們。我相信你們甚至?xí)吹轿覀兝斫馊祟惖拇竽X，儒勒·凡爾納，馬克·吐溫，伽利略，牛頓——所有那些充滿好奇之心的人都希望能夠活到現(xiàn)在。作為文明人，我們會(huì)擁有如此之多的天賦，就像是坐在我面前的你們，每一個(gè)生命個(gè)體都擁有許多獨(dú)特的天賦。

你們要如何運(yùn)用這些天賦呢?你們會(huì)為自己的天賦感到驕傲，還是會(huì)為自己的選擇感到驕傲?

追隨自己內(nèi)心的熱情

16年前，我萌生了創(chuàng)辦亞馬遜的想法。彼時(shí)我面對(duì)的現(xiàn)實(shí)是互聯(lián)網(wǎng)使用量以每年2300%的速度增長(zhǎng)，我從未看到或聽(tīng)說(shuō)過(guò)任何增長(zhǎng)如此快速的東西。創(chuàng)建涵蓋幾百萬(wàn)種書籍的網(wǎng)上書店的想法令我興奮異常，因?yàn)檫@個(gè)東西在物理世界里根本無(wú)法存在。那時(shí)我剛剛30歲，結(jié)婚才一年。

我告訴妻子MacKenzie想辭去工作，然后去做這件瘋狂的事情，很可能會(huì)失敗，因?yàn)榇蟛糠謩?chuàng)業(yè)公司都是如此，而且我不確定那之后會(huì)發(fā)生什么。MacKenzie告訴我，我應(yīng)該放手一搏。在我還是一個(gè)男孩兒的時(shí)候，我是車庫(kù)發(fā)明家。我曾用水泥填充的輪胎、雨傘和錫箔以及報(bào)警器制作了一個(gè)自動(dòng)關(guān)門器。我一直想做一個(gè)發(fā)明家，MacKenzie支持我追隨內(nèi)心的熱情。

我當(dāng)時(shí)在紐約一家金融公司工作，同事是一群非常聰明的人，我的老板也很有智慧，我很羨慕他。我告訴我的老板我想開(kāi)辦一家在網(wǎng)上賣書的公司。他帶我在中央公園漫步良久，認(rèn)真地聽(tīng)我講完，最后說(shuō)：“聽(tīng)起來(lái)真是一個(gè)很好的主意，但是對(duì)那些目前沒(méi)有謀到一份好工作的人來(lái)說(shuō)，這個(gè)主意會(huì)更好。”

這一邏輯對(duì)我而言頗有道理，他說(shuō)服我在最終作出決定之前再考慮48小時(shí)。那樣想來(lái)，這個(gè)決定確實(shí)很艱難，但是最終，我決定拼一次。我認(rèn)為自己不會(huì)為嘗試過(guò)后的失敗而遺憾，倒是有所決定但完全不付諸行動(dòng)會(huì)一直煎熬著我。在深思熟慮之后，我選擇了那條不安全的道路，去追隨我內(nèi)心的熱情。我為那個(gè)決定感到驕傲。

明天，非常現(xiàn)實(shí)地說(shuō)，你們從零塑造自己人生的時(shí)代即將開(kāi)啟。

你們會(huì)如何運(yùn)用自己的天賦?你們又會(huì)作出怎樣的抉擇?

你們是被慣性所引導(dǎo)，還是追隨自己內(nèi)心的熱情?

你們會(huì)墨守陳規(guī)，還是勇于創(chuàng)新?

你們會(huì)選擇安逸的生活，還是選擇一個(gè)奉獻(xiàn)與冒險(xiǎn)的人生?

你們會(huì)屈從于批評(píng)，還是會(huì)堅(jiān)守信念?

你們會(huì)掩飾錯(cuò)誤，還是會(huì)坦誠(chéng)道歉?

你們會(huì)因害怕拒絕而掩飾內(nèi)心，還是會(huì)在面對(duì)愛(ài)情時(shí)勇往直前?

你們想要波瀾不驚，還是想要搏擊風(fēng)浪?

你們會(huì)在嚴(yán)峻的現(xiàn)實(shí)之下選擇放棄，還是會(huì)義無(wú)反顧地前行?

你們要做憤世嫉俗者，還是踏實(shí)的建設(shè)者?

你們要不計(jì)一切代價(jià)地展示聰明，還是選擇善良?

我要做一個(gè)預(yù)測(cè)：在你們80歲時(shí)某個(gè)追憶往昔的時(shí)刻，只有你一個(gè)人靜靜對(duì)內(nèi)心訴說(shuō)著你的人生故事，其中最為充實(shí)、最有意義的那段講述，會(huì)被你們作出的一系列決定所填滿。最后，是選擇塑造了我們的人生。為你自己塑造一個(gè)偉大的人生故事。

謝謝，祝你們好運(yùn)!

(本文譯自貝索斯在普林斯頓大學(xué)2010年學(xué)士畢業(yè)典禮上的演講)