I learned a lot here at Harvard about new ideas in economics and politics. I got great exposure to the advances being made in the sciences.
就是在哈佛，我吸收到了很多关于政治和经济的新思想。我也接触到了很多科学上的新进展。
But humanity’s 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，人类最大的进步并不在于这些伟大的发现本身，而是在于我们如何应用这些发现去消除社会的不平等现象。无论是建立民主的政治制度，还是健全公共的教育体制，无论是提供良好的医疗保健，还是创造广泛的经济机会——消除社会不公始终是人类最大的成就。
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.
我离开校园的时候，根本不知道在这个国家里，有数百万的年轻人无法获得教育的机会；根本不知道在一些发展中国家，有数百万的人民生活在无以言表的赤贫和疾病之中。
It took me decades to find out.
几十年了，我才明白。
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.
诸位毕业生，你们来到哈佛的时代与我迥异。较之以前，你们更了解世界的不平等现象。在你们的哈佛求学历程中，我希望你们已经思考过一个问题，那就是：在这个技术加速发展的时代，我们终将如何去应对这种不平等，我们终将如何去解决这种不平等。
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?
为了讨论，试设想一下，假如你每周可以抽出一些时间，每月可以捐出一些钱——你希望这些时间和金钱，发挥最大的作用，以拯救人类的生命和改善人类的生活，你会选择什么地方？
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.
对梅林达（译者注：盖茨的妻子）和我来说，我们所面临的挑战与大家一样：我们该怎么做，才能将我们所拥有的资源发挥到极至，以造福千万的人民。
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.
我与梅林达在讨论这个问题的时候，读到了一篇文章，里面说，在一些贫穷的国家，每年有数百万的儿童死于麻疹、疟疾、肺炎、乙肝和黄热病，而这些疾病在我国早已不成问题。还有一种以前我从未听说过的轮状病毒，这种病毒每年导致50万儿童死亡，但是无一例是在美国。
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.
震惊之余，我们以为：如果几百万儿童正在死亡线上挣扎，他们本可以得救，那么全世界理应将研制这些药物，并把药物送到他们手中，以拯救他们的生命作为头等大事。然而，事实并非如此。因为不足一美元的资金问题，受到干涉，用于救命的药物，并不能送到患者的手中。
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."
如果你相信每个生命都是平等的话，那么当你获悉有人竟然认为某些生命值得挽救，而另一些生命不值得，厌恶之情，油然而生。我们对自己说：
“事情不至于此。但如果这的确是事实，那么它就应该是我们着手解决问题的当务之急。”
So we began our work in the same way anyone here would begin it. We asked: "How could the world let these children die?"
因此，任何人都一样，我们会用同样的方式开始解决问题。我们会问：“这个世界怎么可以眼睁睁看着这些孩子死去？”
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.
答案很简单，但也相当刺耳。在市场经济中，挽救患病的儿童并没有利润，政府也不会提供补助。这些儿童之所以会死亡，是因为他们的父母在市场上没有经济实力，在体制上没有发言权利。
But you and I have both.
但是，你们和我都有这样的经济实力，你们和我都有这样的发言权利。
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 are suffering 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.
如果我们能够建立一种更具有创新的资本制度，我们就可以让市场更好地为穷人服务——如果我们可以拓展市场的领域，更多的人就能够获得利润，或者说至少可以维持生活；那么，就可以帮助那些正受到极不平等待遇的人们。我们还可以向世界各国的政府施压，要求他们将纳税人的钱，花到更符合纳税人价值观的地方。
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.
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