比爾蓋茨畢業留言
you 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，你們是在與我不同的時代來到哈佛的。你們比以前的學生，更多地瞭解世界是怎樣的不平等。在你們的哈佛求學過程中，我希望你們已經思考過一個問題，那就是在這個新技術加速發展的時代，我們怎樣最終應對這種不平等，以及我們怎樣來解決這個問題。
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?
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。你會選擇什麼地方？
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：我們如何能將我們擁有的資源發揮出最大的作用。
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.
在討論過程中，melinda和我讀到了一篇文章，裡面說在那些貧窮的國家，每年有數百萬的兒童死於那些在美國早已不成問題的疾病。麻疹、瘧疾、肺炎、乙型肝炎、黃熱病、還有一種以前我從未聽說過的輪狀病毒，這些疾病每年導致50萬兒童死亡，但是在美國一例死亡病例也沒有。
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 werent being delivered.
我們被震驚了。我們想，如果幾百萬兒童正在死亡線上掙扎，而且他們是可以被挽救的`，那麼世界理應將用藥物拯救他們作為頭等大事。但是事實並非如此。那些價格還不到一美元的救命的藥劑，並沒有送到他們的手中。
if you believe that every life has equal value, its revolting to learn that some lives are seen as worth saving and others are not. we said to ourselves: "this cant be true. but if it is true, it deserves to be the priority of our giving."
如果你相信每個生命都是平等的，那麼當你發現某些生命被挽救了，而另一些生命被放棄了，你會感到無法接受。我們對自己說："事情不可能如此。如果這是真的，那麼它理應是我們努力的頭等大事。"
so we began our work in the same way anyone here would begin it. we asked: "how could the world let these children die?"
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