第一篇：我要去哈佛 演講稿

I’m going to Harvard

Hello, everyone!My name is 陳樂顏, I’m 9 years old.I like reading books.Today I’m very glad to stand here to give you a speech.Now I want to talk about my dream.I have a dream since I was very little: I want to go to Harvard.As you know, Harvard is an excellent university;it’s located in the United States.And it has educated a lot of famous people.I think I can meet a lot of good teachers and make new friends at Harvard.So I can learn much from them.I study hard every day, and I watch English programs and go to English corner every week, I want to improve my English.I believe that one day I can go to Harvard.That’s all.Thank you!

第二篇：《我要去春游》

大班社會活動《我要去春游》教案

大四班

廖瓊梅

一、活動目標

1．能夠運用符號、繪畫、標志等方式制作春游計劃,并用比較清楚連貫的語言介紹春游計劃。2．掌握春游計劃圖包含的幾大要素。

3．在制定春游計劃的過程中，提高協(xié)商合作能力，體驗運用非文字手段進行表達的樂趣。

二、活動準備

1.熟悉歌曲《去郊游》。

2.多媒體教學課件；幼兒繪畫用紙和筆；雙面膠 3.教師事先制作春游計劃圖范例一幅。

三、活動過程

（一）情景導入，展示春游圖片

1．教師：今天老師帶來了一些有趣的圖片，我們一起來欣賞一下！2．教師播放春游輕松音樂并配上春游PPT,幼兒欣賞。3．談話引出活動

A．教師：一年有春夏秋冬四個季節(jié)，圖片中是那個季節(jié)呢？剛才他們去了哪里？帶了什么東西？做了什么事情呀？

B．教師：剛才他們是春天去外面游玩的，我們給它起個名字，叫做“春游”。C．教師：你們想不想去春游呢？

（二）討論：春游計劃內容及要素

1．教師：大家都想去春游，那我們可以去桂平哪里春游呀？（西山、江邊……）2．教師：剛才大家說的春游地點都很棒！我們老師也要去春游，老師選一個近點的地方，去桂平的銀兔樓春游吧。

3．教師：去春游，需要準備一些什么東西呢，我們邊說邊記下來，做成一份春游計劃圖，那樣才能玩得更開心！

4．A．教師：咦，上次我們班去外面大草坪玩可開心了，是不是呀？那這次我們去春游可以帶些什么東西呢？（幼兒舉手發(fā)言）

B．教師：這么多東西，太亂了，我們可以分類說。填報肚子最重要了，先說食物，可以帶哪些好吃好喝的東西去呀？（食物：蛋糕、水果，飲料：水、果汁；教師讓幼兒舉手發(fā)言，幼兒說不出來了，教師再展示圖片提示）

5．教師：小朋友們說的東西真多，這是我們老師準備的食物！

6．教師：我們還需要準備哪些有用的東西呢？（幼兒舉手發(fā)言，若回答不出，教師提示：毛巾、雨傘、紙巾、杯子…….）

7．教師：這些就是我們老師需要用到的東西了。

5．A．教師：吃的用的東西都準備好了，真開心！但是玩的東西還沒準備喲，我們可以準備什么東西玩什么有趣的游戲呢？（幼兒發(fā)言，如回答不出來，教師提示比如：拔河比賽需要準備拔河繩）

B．教師：你們說的真棒！我們看看還可以帶些什么東西呀？ C．教師：東西真多，這是老師帶的東西，還有玩的游戲！

D．教師：東西都準備好了，我們怎么去呢？需要什么交通工具呢？

6．教師：春游要準備這么多東西，真麻煩！這些東西都讓一個人準備，可以嗎？ 7．教師：那我們該怎么辦？（請個別幼兒提出辦法）原來，我們需要分組討論，協(xié)商好誰帶哪些東西！

（三）講解春游計劃圖

1．教師：在你們的好主意下，我們老師做出了一份春游計劃圖出來了！圖里有些什么內容，一起來看看吧！

2．教師講解春游計劃圖，幫助幼兒理解。（這個圖分成6個部分，表示有6位老師一起完成，X老師準備好吃好喝的，X老師準備有用的東西，X老師準備游戲需要玩的一些東西，X老師準備了交通工具，東西都放上車，可以出發(fā)咯！到了目的地，2位老師組織我們玩游戲，真開心！這些游戲跟我們帶的東西都是相對應的，發(fā)現(xiàn)了沒有呀！游玩中，需要注意什么呀？玩累了，我們收拾東西回家咯）

3．教師小結：這個春游計劃圖清楚的告訴了我們需要準備些什么東西，怎樣去怎樣回來，玩什么游戲，什么時候回來。

（四）制作春游計劃圖

1．教師：這是老師們設計的春游計劃圖，那你們的呢？ 7個小朋友一組協(xié)商討論、以最快的速度完成它，然后去制作春游計劃圖好不好？

2．教師：老師從剛才小朋友說的地點中選出6個地點，誰要去東塔？那你們協(xié)商一下誰帶食物，誰帶用的，誰帶玩的，誰安排交通工具，誰組織游戲，誰組織回家。（將幼兒分成6組，每組7人，幼兒協(xié)商合作，教師巡回指導）

（五）展示春游計劃圖

1．請2位代表向大家介紹本組的計劃。

2．教師：你們設計的春游計劃真有趣，現(xiàn)在我們就按照第X組的計劃去春游吧！

2（教師播放歌曲《去郊游》，幼兒在歡快的音樂中結束活動。）

第三篇：畢業(yè)后,我要去

畢業(yè)后，我要去

從踏出校園開始，我們不再是“大學生”，而前路依然未知。不管是焦慮茫然，還是順風得意，在真正獲得一個明確而穩(wěn)定的社會身份前，我們被統(tǒng)稱為“社會新人”。近年來就業(yè)形勢日益嚴峻，城市與大學生、人才供求間的緊張關系著實讓大學畢業(yè)生承受著巨大的壓力。

一、個人期望

畢業(yè)后，我打算一方面參加地方的教師招聘考試，一方面準備專升本的統(tǒng)一考試。對于這兩次重要的考試，我會認真對待。如果我工作了，我不會給自己多么高的期望，我現(xiàn)在知道自己的能力有限，不會期望自己升職有多快工資多高，有些事情讓我明白了自我定位是多么的重要，只要有一個明確的目的，就是只要能鍛煉自己。

如果我升學了，我會戒浮戒躁，繼續(xù)努力。其實學習和工作一樣，都是一個不斷鍛煉的的過程，在學習中我們也會遇到許多的困難。但是我相信風雨是短暫的，彩虹正在為我們招手?？偠灾?，無論去工作還是學習，只要能鍛煉自己，只要能學到有價值的東西，我覺得一切都是值得的，二、自我分析

在做事方面，我能夠吃苦耐勞，做事耐心細致，懂得運用科學方法提高做事效率，但是做事有時會三分鐘熱度；在心態(tài)方面，我有一顆進取的心，樂觀的心態(tài)，敢于拼搏，但是有時又避免不了自大的壞習慣；在學習方面，我的思維較為活躍，品學兼優(yōu)，愛好廣泛，雖然貌似全面發(fā)展，但又發(fā)展不全面；在交際方面，我溝通表達能力、組織協(xié)調能力一般，但我有極好的團隊協(xié)作精神。

我至今為止還沒有工作過，一直也狠不下心去做兼職，所以缺乏一些社會經驗，因此我希望畢業(yè)后可以有機會先磨練一下自己，薪水倒不太在意，只希望有好的機會提升自己，適應社會。看了很多關于就業(yè)的講座，我也知道社會是殘酷的，像我這種沒什么經驗的少不了要碰壁，我也做好了很多心理準備堅持到底、永不氣餒。

三、環(huán)境分析

2012年6月畢業(yè)的600多萬大學生中，卻至少300萬還沒有找到工作;而已經找到工作的大學生中至少160萬的工作職位相當于中學生直接就業(yè)的職位，也就是至少460萬大學生陷入了就業(yè)十分艱難的狀態(tài)。根據(jù)前幾年招生數(shù)據(jù)推算，今后幾年，普通高校畢業(yè)生將持續(xù)大幅度的增長。由于今后幾年社會對高校畢業(yè)生的需求增加幅度不會有大的變化，可以預計，大學生就業(yè)競爭將更加激烈。

四、存在的困難和誘惑

缺乏社會工作經驗的我面對一個競爭高度激烈的社會，我的壓力實在很大。將來極大可能會找不到自己喜歡的、適合自己的工作，工資也估計只夠基本的生活開支，那些房子、車子更是遙不可及的說法。更別說我為社會做貢獻了。

五、解決問題的思考

在就業(yè)指導課上，我了解到畢業(yè)生在選擇職業(yè)的過程中，首先要針對自己的實際情況，做好自己的職業(yè)定位，規(guī)劃自己的職業(yè)生涯。畢業(yè)生還要排除各種外界干擾，如果自己和用人單位彼此都很滿意，就應該早做決斷。還要根據(jù)自己的專業(yè)、技能、綜合能力和社會用人單位的要求，確定自己的職業(yè)定位。就業(yè)過程是一個復雜的過程，往往會遇到這樣或那樣的困難，這就要求我們要努力培養(yǎng)良好的心理承受能力，勇敢地迎接選擇未來生活的種種挑戰(zhàn)。對此，我有自己的一些看法：、放低心態(tài)，先找份工作積累經驗。首先，應當做好各方面的準備，即在學校期間要認真學習自己的專業(yè)課程，努力提高自身的業(yè)務素質和道德品質素質。其次，在求職招聘前要做好自身的定位，不要過高的估計自己的能力，也不要妄自菲薄，要實事求是的分析自己的興趣愛好和能力水品。2、當積累到一定經驗和資金后，可以考慮自己創(chuàng)業(yè)，好好運用市場營銷學這門知識為自己的以后打算?？偠灾砸活w良好的心態(tài)去面對、現(xiàn)實，面對社會，面對挫折要永不氣餒，俗話說的好，堅持就是勝利；畢業(yè)后我們先要想到的是就業(yè)，而非事業(yè)，只有積累了經驗和資金，還有在社會的為人處事之道后方能談自己的事業(yè)。

第四篇：比爾蓋茨哈佛演講稿

idn’t care, but because we didn’t know what to do.if we had known how to help, we would have acted.此刻在這個院子里的所有人，生命中總有這樣或那樣的時刻，目睹人類的悲劇，感到萬分傷心。但是我們什么也沒做，并非我們無動于衷，而是因為我們不知道做什么和怎么做。如果我們知道如何做是有效的，那么我們就會采取行動。

the barrier to change is not too little caring;it is too much complexity.改變世界的阻礙，并非人類的冷漠，而是世界實在太復雜。

to turn caring into action, we need to see a problem, see a solution, and see the impact.but complexity blocks all three steps.為了將關心轉變?yōu)樾袆?，我們需要找到問題，發(fā)現(xiàn)解決辦法的方法，評估后果。但是世界的復雜性使得所有這些步驟都難于做到。

even with the advent of the internet and 24-hour news, it is still a complex enterprise to get people to truly see the problems.when an airplane crashes, officials immediately call a press conference.they promise to investigate, determine the cause, and prevent similar crashes in the future.即使有了互聯(lián)網(wǎng)和24小時直播的新聞臺，讓人們真正發(fā)現(xiàn)問題所在，仍然十分困難。當一架飛機墜毀了，官員們會立刻召開新聞發(fā)布會，他們承諾進行調查、找到原因、防止將來再次發(fā)生類似事故。

but if the officials were brutally honest, they would say: “of all the people in the world who died today from preventable causes, one half of one percent of them were on this plane.we’re determined to do everything possible to solve the problem that took the lives of the one half of one percent.”

但是如果那些官員敢說真話，他們就會說：“在今天這一天，全世界所有可以避免的死亡之中，只有0.5%的死者來自于這次空難。我們決心盡一切努力，調查這個0.5%的死亡原因?！?/p>

the bigger problem is not the plane crash, but the millions of preventable deaths.顯然，更重要的問題不是這次空難，而是其他幾百萬可以預防的死亡事件。

we don’t read much about these deaths.the media covers what’s new – and millions of people dying is nothing new.so it stays in the background, where it’s easier to ignore.but even when we do see it or read about it, it’s difficult to keep our eyes on the problem.it’s hard to look at suffering if the situation is so complex that we don’t know how to help.and so we look away.我們并沒有很多機會了解那些死亡事件。媒體總是報告新聞，幾百萬人將要死去并非新聞。如果沒有人報道，那么這些事件就很容易被忽視。另一方面，即使 我們確實目睹了事件本身或者看到了相關報道，我們也很難持續(xù)關注這些事件?？粗耸芸嗍橇钊送纯嗟模螞r問題又如此復雜，我們根本不知道如何去幫助他 人。所以我們會將臉轉過去。

if we can really see a problem, which is the first step, we come to the second step: cutting through the complexity to find a solution.就算我們真正發(fā)現(xiàn)了問題所在，也不過是邁出了第一步，接著還有第二步：那就是從復雜的事件中找到解決辦法。

finding solutions is essential if we want to make the most of our caring.if we have clear and proven answers anytime an organization or individual asks “how can i help?,” then we can get action – and we can make sure that none of the caring in the world is wasted.but complexity makes it hard to mark a path of action for everyone who cares — and that makes it hard for their caring to matter.如果我們要讓關心落到實處，我們就必須找到解決辦法。如果我們有一個清晰的和可靠的答案，那么當任何組織和個人發(fā)出疑問“如何我能提供幫助”的時 候，我們就能采取行動。我們就能夠保證不浪費一丁點全世界人類對他人的關心。但是，世界的復雜性使得很難找到對全世界每一個有愛心的人都有效的行動方法，因此人類對他人的關心往往很難產生實際效果。

cutting through complexity to find a solution runs through four predictable stages: determine a goal, find the highest-leverage approach, discover the ideal technology for that approach, and in the meantime, make the smartest application of the technology that you already have — whether it’s something sophisticated, like a drug, or something simpler, like a bednet.從這個復雜的世界中找到解決辦法，可以分為四個步驟：確定目標，找到最高效的方法，發(fā)現(xiàn)適用于這個方法的新技術，同時最聰明地利用現(xiàn)有的技術，不管它是復雜的藥物，還是最簡單的蚊帳。

the aids epidemic offers an example.the broad goal, of course, is to end the disease.the highest-leverage approach is prevention.the ideal technology would be a vaccine that gives lifetime immunity with a single dose.so governments, drug companies, and foundations fund vaccine research.but their work is likely to take more than a decade, so in the meantime, we have to work with what we have in hand – and the best prevention approach we have now is getting people to avoid risky behavior.艾滋病就是一個例子。總的目標，毫無疑問是消滅這種疾病。最高效的方法是預防。最理想的技術是發(fā)明一種疫苗，只要注射一次，就可以終生免疫。所以，政府、制藥公司、基金會應該資助疫苗研究。但是，這樣研究工作很可能十年之內都無法完成。因此，與此同時，我們必須使用現(xiàn)有的技術，目前最有效的預防方法 就是設法讓人們避免那些危險的行為。

pursuing that goal starts the four-step cycle again.this is the pattern.the crucial thing is to never stop thinking and working – and never do what we did with malaria and tuberculosis in the 20th century – which is to surrender to complexity and quit.要實現(xiàn)這個新的目標，又可以采用新的四步循環(huán)。這是一種模式。關鍵的東西是永遠不要停止思考和行動。我們千萬不能再犯上個世紀在瘧疾和肺結核上犯過的錯誤，那時我們因為它們太復雜，而放棄了采取行動。

the final step – after seeing the problem and finding an approach – is to measure the impact of your work and share your successes and failures so that others learn from your efforts.在發(fā)現(xiàn)問題和找到解決方法之后，就是最后一步——評估工作結果，將你的成功經驗或者失敗經驗傳播出去，這樣其他人就可以從你的努力中有所收獲。

you have to have the statistics, of course.you have to be able to show that a program is vaccinating millions more children.you have to be able to show a decline in the number of children dying from these diseases.this is essential not just to improve the program, but also to help draw more investment from business and government.當然，你必須有一些統(tǒng)計數(shù)字。你必須讓他人知道，你的項目為幾百萬兒童新接種了疫苗。你也必須讓他人知道，兒童死亡人數(shù)下降了多少。這些都是很關鍵的，不僅有利于改善項目效果，也有利于從商界和政府得到更多的幫助。

but if you want to inspire people to participate, you have to show more than numbers;you have to convey the human impact of the work – so people can feel what saving a life means to the families affected.但是，這些還不夠，如果你想激勵其他人參加你的項目，你就必須拿出更多的統(tǒng)計數(shù)字；你必須展示你的項目的人性因素，這樣其他人就會感到拯救一個生命，對那些處在困境中的家庭到底意味著什么。

i remember going to davos some years back and sitting on a global health panel that was discussing ways to save millions of lives.millions!think of the thrill of saving just one person’s life – then multiply that by millions.… yet this was the most boring panel i’ve ever been on – ever.so boring even i couldn’t bear it.幾年前，我去瑞士達沃斯旁聽一個全球健康問題論壇，會議的內容有關于如何拯救幾百萬條生命。天哪，是幾百萬！想一想吧，拯救一個人的生命已經讓人何等激動，現(xiàn)在你要把這種激動再乘上幾百萬倍……但是，不幸的是，這是我參加過的最最乏味的論壇，乏味到我無法強迫自己聽下去。

what made that experience especially striking was that i had just come from an event where we were introducing version 13 of some piece of software, and we had people jumping and shouting with excitement.i love getting people excited about software – but why can’t we generate even more excitement for saving lives?

那次經歷之所以讓我難忘，是因為之前我們剛剛發(fā)布了一個軟件的第13個版本，我們讓觀眾激動得跳了起來，喊出了聲。我喜歡人們因為軟件而感到激動，那么我們?yōu)槭裁床荒軌蜃屓藗円驗槟軌蛘壬械礁蛹幽兀?/p>

you can’t get people excited unless you can help them see and feel the impact.and how you do that – is a complex question.除非你能夠讓人們看到或者感受到行動的影響力，否則你無法讓人們激動。如何做到這一點，并不是一件簡單的事。

still, i’m optimistic.yes, inequity has been with us forever, but the new tools we have to cut through complexity have not been with us forever.they are new – they can help us make the most of our caring – and that’s why the future can be different from the past.同前面一樣，在這個問題上，我依然是樂觀的。不錯，人類的不平等有史以來一直存在，但是那些能夠化繁為簡的新工具，卻是最近才出現(xiàn)的。這些新工具可以幫助我們，將人類的同情心發(fā)揮最大的作用，這就是為什么將來同過去是不一樣的。

the defining and ongoing innovations of this age – biotechnology, the computer, the internet – give us a chance we’ve never had before to end extreme poverty and end death from preventable disease.這個時代無時無刻不在涌現(xiàn)出新的革新——生物技術，計算機，互聯(lián)網(wǎng)——它們給了我們一個從未有過的機會，去終結那些極端的貧窮和非惡性疾病的死亡。

sixty years ago, george marshall came to this commencement and announced a plan to assist the nations of post-war europe.he said: “i think one difficulty is that the problem is one of such enormous complexity that the very mass of facts presented to the public by press and radio make it exceedingly difficult for the man in the street to reach a clear appraisement of the situation.it is virtually impossible at this distance to grasp at all the real significance of the situation.”

六十年前，喬治?馬歇爾也是在這個地方的畢業(yè)典禮上，宣布了一個計劃，幫助那些歐洲國家的戰(zhàn)后建設。他說：“我認為，困難的一點是這個問題太復雜，報紙和電臺向公眾源源不斷地提供各種事實，使得大街上的普通人極端難于清晰地判斷形勢。事實上，經過層層傳播，想要真正地把握形勢，是根本不可能的?！?/p>

thirty years after marshall made his address, as my class graduated without me, technology was emerging that would make the world smaller, more open, more visible, less distant.馬歇爾發(fā)表這個演講之后的三十年，我那一屆學生畢業(yè)，當然我不在其中。那時，新技術剛剛開始萌芽，它們將使得這個世界變得更小、更開放、更容易看到、距離更近。

the emergence of low-cost personal computers gave rise to a powerful network that has transformed opportunities for learning and communicating.低成本的個人電腦的出現(xiàn)，使得一個強大的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)有機會誕生，它為學習和交流提供了巨大的機會。

the magical thing about this network is not just that it collapses distance and makes everyone your neighbor.it also dramatically increases the number of brilliant minds we can have working together on the same problem – and that scales up the rate of innovation to a staggering degree.網(wǎng)絡的神奇之處，不僅僅是它縮短了物理距離，使得天涯若比鄰。它還極大地增加了懷有共同想法的人們聚集在一起的機會，我們可以為了解決同一個問題，一起共同工作。這就大大加快了革新的進程，發(fā)展速度簡直快得讓人震驚。

at the same time, for every person in the world who has access to this technology, five people don’t.that means many creative minds are left out of this discussion---smart people with practical intelligence and relevant experience who don’t have the technology to hone their talents or contribute their ideas to the world.與此同時，世界上有條件上網(wǎng)的人，只是全部人口的六分之一。這意味著，還有許多具有創(chuàng)造性的人們，沒有加入到我們的討論中來。那些有著實際的操作經驗和相關經歷的聰明人，卻沒有技術來幫助他們，將他們的天賦或者想法與全世界分享。

we need as many people as possible to have access to this technology, because these advances are triggering a revolution in what human beings can do for one another.they are making it possible not just for national governments, but for universities, corporations, smaller organizations, and even individuals to see problems, see approaches, and measure the impact of their efforts to address the hunger, poverty, and desperation george marshall spoke of 60 years ago.我們需要盡可能地讓更多的人有機會使用新技術，因為這些新技術正在引發(fā)一場革命，人類將因此可以互相幫助。新技術正在創(chuàng)造一種可能，不僅是政府，還 包括大學、公司、小機構、甚至個人，能夠發(fā)現(xiàn)問題所在、能夠找到解決辦法、能夠評估他們努力的效果，去改變那些馬歇爾六十年前就說到過的問題——饑餓、貧 窮和絕望。

members of the harvard family: here in the yard is one of the great collections of intellectual talent in the world.

第五篇：比爾蓋茨哈佛演講稿

President Bok, former President Rudenstine, incoming President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, members of the faculty, parents, and especially, the graduates: I've been waiting more than 30 years to say this: “Dad, I always told you I'd come back and get my degree.”

I want to thank Harvard for this timely honor.I'll be changing my job next year…and it will be nice to finally have a college degree on my resume.I applaud the graduates today for taking a much more direct route to your degrees.For my part, I'm just happy that the Crimson has called me “Harvard's most successful dropout.” I guess that makes me valedictorian of my own special class…I did the best of everyone who failed.But I also want to be recognized as the guy who got Steve Ballmer to drop out of business school.I'm a bad influence.That's why I was invited to speak at your graduation.If I had spoken at your orientation, fewer of you might be here today.Harvard was just a phenomenal experience for me.Academic life was fascinating.I used to sit in on lots of classes I hadn't even signed up for.And dorm life was terrific.I lived up at Radcliffe, in Currier House.There were always lots of people in my dorm room late at night discussing things, because everyone knew I didn't worry about getting up in the morning.That's how I came to be the leader of the anti-social group.We clung to each other as a way of validating our rejection of all those social people.Radcliffe was a great place to live.There were more women up there, and most of the guys were science-math types.That combination offered me the best odds, if you know what I mean.This is Where I learned the sad lesson that improving your odds doesn't guarantee success.One of my biggest memories of Harvard came in January 1975, when I made a call From Currier House to a company in Albuquerque that had begun making the world's first personal computers.I offered to sell them software.I worried that they would realize I was just a student in a dorm and hang up on me.Instead they said: “We're not quite ready, come see us in a month,” which was a good thing, because we hadn't written the software yet.From that moment, I worked day and night on this little extra credit project that marked the end of my college education and the beginning of a remarkable journey with Microsoft.What I remember above all about Harvard was being in the midst of so much energy and intelligence.It could be exhilarating, intimidating, sometimes even discouraging, but always challenging.It was an amazing privilege…and though I left early, I was transformed by my years at Harvard, the friendships I made, and the ideas I worked on.But taking a serious look back…I do have one big regret.I left Harvard with no real awareness of the awful inequities in the world--the appalling disparities of health, and wealth, and opportunity that condemn millions of people to lives of despair.I 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.It took me decades to find out.You graduates came to Harvard at a different time.You know more about the world's inequities than the classes that came before.In your years here, I hope you've 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.Imagine, 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?

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.During 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 United States.We were shocked.We had just assumed that if millions of children were dying and they could be saved, the world would make it a priority to discover and deliver the medicines to save them.But it did not.For under a dollar, there were interventions that could save lives that just weren't being delivered.If you believe that every life has equal value, it's revolting to learn that some lives are seen as worth saving and others are not.We said to ourselves: “This can't be true.But if it is true, it deserves to be the priority of our giving.””So we began our work in the same way anyone here would begin it.We asked: “How could the world let these children die?”

The answer is simple, and harsh.The market did not reward saving the lives of these children, and governments did not subsidize it.So the children died because their mothers and their fathers had no power in the market and no voice in the system.But you and I have both.We can make market forces work better for the poor if we can develop a more creative capitalism ? if we can stretch the reach of market forces so that more people can make a profit, or at least make a living, serving people who aresuffering From the worst inequities.We also can press governments around the world to spend taxpayer money in ways that better reflect the values of the people who pay the taxes.If we can find approaches that meet the needs of the poor in ways that generate profits for business and votes for politicians, we will have found a sustainable way to reduce inequity in the world.This task is open-ended.It can never be finished.But a conscious effort to answer this challenge will change the world.I am optimistic that we can do this, but I talk to skeptics who claim there is no hope.They say: “Inequity has been with us since the beginning, and will be with us till the end ? because people just…don't…care.” I completely disagree.I believe we have more caring than we know what to do with.All of us here in this Yard, at one time or another, have seen human tragedies that broke our hearts, and yet we did nothing--not because we didn't care, but because we didn't know what to do.If we had known how to help, we would have acted.The barrier to change is not too little caring;it is too much complexity.To turn caring into action, we need to see a problem, see a solution, and see the impact.But complexity blocks all three steps.If we can really see a problem, which is the first step, we come to the second step: cutting through the complexity to find a solution.Finding solutions is essential if we want to make the most of our caring.If we have clear and proven answers anytime an organization or individual asks “How can I help?,” then we can get action--and we can make sure that none of the caring in the world is wasted.But complexity makes it hard to mark a path ofaction for everyone who cares--and that makes it hard for their caring to matter.Cutting through complexity to find a solution runs through four predictable stages: determine a goal, find the highest-leverage approach, discover the ideal technology for that approach, and in the meantime, make the smartest application of the technology that you already have--whether it's something sophisticated, like a drug, or something simpler, like a bednet.The AIDS epidemic offers an example.The broad goal, of course, is to end the disease.The highest-leverage approach is prevention.The ideal technology would be a vaccine that gives lifetime immunity with a single dose.So governments, drug companies, and foundations fund vaccine research.But their work is likely to take more than a decade, so in the meantime, we have to work with what we have in hand--and the best prevention approach we have now is getting people to avoid risky behavior.Pursuing that goal starts the four-step cycle again.This is the pattern.The crucial thing is to never stop thinking and working--and never do what we did with malaria and tuberculosis in the 20th century--which is to surrender to complexity and quit.The final step--after seeing the problem and finding an approach--is to measure the impact of your work and share your successes and failures so that others learn From your efforts.You have to have the statistics, of course.You have to be able to show that a program is vaccinating millions more children.You have to be able to show a decline in the number of children dying From these diseases.This is essential not just to improve the program, but also to help draw more investment From business and government.But if you want to inspire people to participate, you have to show more thannumbers;you have to convey the human impact of the work ? so people can feel what saving a life means to the families affected.The defining and ongoing innovations of this age--biotechnology, the computer, the Internet--give us a chance we've never had before to end extreme poverty and end death From preventable disease.The emergence of low-cost personal computers gave rise to a powerful network that has transformed

opportunities

for

learning

and communicating.The magical thing about this network is not just that it collapses distance and makes everyone your neighbor.It also dramatically increases the number of brilliant minds we can have working together on the same problem--and that scales up the rate of innovation to a staggering degree.At the same time, for every person in the world who has access to this technology, five people don't.That means many creative minds are left out of this discussion--smart people with practical intelligence and relevant experience who don't have the technology to hone their talents or contribute their ideas to the world.We need as many people as possible to have access to this technology, because these advances are triggering a revolution in what human beings can do for one another.They are making it possible not just for national governments, but for universities, corporations, smaller organizations, and even individuals to see problems, see approaches, and measure the impact of their efforts to address the hunger, poverty, and desperation George Marshall spoke of 60 years ago.Members of the Harvard Family: Here in the Yard is one of the great collections of intellectual talent in the world.What for? There is no question that the faculty, the alumni, the students, and the benefactors of Harvard have used their power to improve the lives of people here and around the world.But can we do more? Can Harvard dedicate its intellect to improving the lives of people who will never even hear its name?

Let me make a request of the deans and the professors--the intellectual leaders here at Harvard: As you hire new faculty, award tenure, review curriculum, and determine degree requirements, please ask yourselves: Should our best minds be dedicated to solving our biggest problems? Should Harvard encourage its faculty to take on the world's worst inequities? Should Harvard students learn about the depth of global poverty…the prevalence of world hunger…the scarcity of clean water…the girls kept out of school…the children who die From diseases we can cure? Should the world's most privileged people learn about the lives of the world's least privileged?

These are not rhetorical questions--you will answer with your policies.When you consider what those of us here in this Yard have been given--in talent, privilege, and opportunity--there is almost no limit to what the world has a right to expect From us.In line with the promise of this age, I want to exhort each of the graduates here to take on an issue--a complex problem, a deep inequity, and become a specialist on it.If you make it the focus of your career, that would be phenomenal.But you don't have to do that to make an impact.For a few hours every week, you can use the growing power of the Internet to get informed, find others with the same interests, see the barriers, and find ways to cut through them.Don't let complexity stop you.Be activists.Take on the big inequities.It will be one of the great experiences of your lives.You graduates are coming of age in an amazing time.As you leave Harvard, you have technology that members of my class never had.You have awareness of global inequity, which we did not have.And with that awareness, you likely also have an informed conscience that will torment you if you abandon these people whose lives you could change with very little effort.You have more than we had;you must start sooner, and carry on longer.Knowing what you know, how could you not? And I hope you will come back here to Harvard 30 years From now and reflect on what you have done with your talent and your energy.I hope you will judge yourselves not on your professional accomplishments alone, but also on how well you have addressed the world's deepest inequities…on how well you treated people a world away who have nothing in common with you but their humanity.