珍妮特·耶伦纽约大学2014毕业典礼演讲

珍妮特·耶伦纽约大学2014毕业典礼演讲Mr. President校长先生I should now like to introduce Thomas A. Pugel我下面要介绍托马斯·A·普格尔professor of economics and global business经济和全球商务教授vice dean for MBA programs, Leonard N. Stern School of Business斯特恩商学院MBA项目副主任who will present the candidate for doctor of commercial science他将为大家介绍我们的商学博士候选人Chair of the Board, Martin Lipton and please escort this candidate to the lectern 请校董马丁·利普顿将这位候选人引上前台Janet Louise Yellen珍妮特·露意丝·耶伦chair of the board of governors of the Federal Reserve system美国联邦储备委员会主席and first woman to control American central bank in its 100-year history美国央行百年历史上的第一位女性领导者you employ the powerful tools of your office在职期间你很好地利用了手中权力with sound judgment, deep expertise判断准确技术专精and a strong sense of social responsibility体现出无比强烈的社会责任感A Brooklyn native作为布鲁克林本地人an alumnus of Brown and Yale Universities作为布朗和耶鲁大学校友you were drawn to economics by the rigor of its methods你熟练地驾驭了经济学研究的严谨方法and its potential to benefit humankind充分发挥了它的潜能用以造福人类you served on the faculties of Harvard University and UC Berkeley 你在哈佛大学和加大伯克利担任过教职工作where you are now a professor emeritus现任学校荣誉教授and ably served the President's Council of Economic Advisers在总统经济顾问委员会优秀地履行过职责Let me pause here for a personal note让我在这里加一点个人注解that I think is very appropriate to our event我认为在这样的场合讲这个很合适Janet, I offer you my deepest appreciation珍妮特我在此表示对你深深的尊敬you were my teacher for macroeconomics when I was a graduate student 你是我读研究生时的宏观经济学老师Thank you谢谢你That learning has meant a lifetime to me这一学习过程让我受益终生In 20042004年you took the helm of the District Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco 你开始掌管旧金山地方联储银行before rising to become vice chair之后升任美联储副主席and then that ultimately chair at the Federal Reserve this year并最终于今年升任美联储主席You warned of problems in the housing market as early as 2005早在2005年你就警示过房地产市场方面的问题even as you persevered in pushing and persuading你一直在劝说自己的同行your peers to take more aggressive measures让他们采取更加积极的措施to deal with the looming economic catastrophe in 2008去应对2008年正在逼近的经济灾难Smart, objective你聪慧而客观willing to listen and able to disarm愿意倾听不固执己见mindful of the impact of government decisions on individuals关注经济困难时期的政府决定and families struggling through these difficult economic times对美国个人和家庭的影响you aim to build consensus and drive policies that will benefit all Americans 你致力于凝聚共识让所有美国人都能受益于国家政策Janet Louise Yellen珍妮特·露意丝·耶伦the world's most influential central banker世界上影响力最大的央行行长universally esteemed member of the academy学术界一致尊敬的成员and pioneering role model for women女性的先驱和楷模you have proved a prescient, forceful and courageous public servant担任公职期间你体现出了远见卓识行为有力而果敢wisely entrusted to implement sound monetary policy受托于美国和世界人民实施货币政策for the nation and the peoples of the world你的执行明智而牢靠Madam chair主席夫人by virtue of the authority vested in me by New York University请允许我使用纽约大学授予我的权力I am pleased to confer upon you the degree of doctor of commercial science, honoris causa荣幸地将商学荣誉博士学位授予你Ladies and gentlemen, I'm pleased to introduce女士们先生们我很高兴为你们介绍Doctor, now NYU doctor, Janet Louise Yellen现在身为纽约大学博士的珍妮特·露意丝·耶伦博士who will respond on behalf of the honorary degree recipience下面将由她发表获得学位的感言Thank you, President Sexton谢谢塞克斯顿校长On behalf of the honorees, let me express my thanks to NYU作为荣誉学位获得者请允许我感谢纽约大学And congratulations from all of us to you, the Class of 2014并祝贺你们所有人2014届毕业生and to your families, especially your parents也祝贺你们的家人特别是父母This is a special day to celebrate your achievements在这个特殊的日子里你们应当欢庆自己取得的成就and to look forward to your lives ahead并憧憬未来的生活Your NYU education has not only我希望你们在纽约大学接受的教育provided you with a foundation of knowledge不仅为你们打下了坚实的知识基础it has also, I hope, instilled in you a love of knowledge and an enduring curiosity 还让你们学会了热爱知识并保持好奇心Life will continue to be a journey of discovery生命是一场持续发现的旅程if you tend the fires of curiosity that burn brightly in all of us只有好奇心的火焰能够照亮我们未来的前路Such curiosity led Eric Kandel正是这份好奇心让埃里克·坎德尔here at NYU, to his lifetime goal能够在纽约大学实现他的人生目标to discover the chemical and cellular basis of human memory他在这里发现了人类记忆的化学和细胞基础A few years after his graduation, he was doing research on cats毕业之后的几年里他本应当对猫进行研究But he had the idea of focusing但他突然想到一个点子on an animal with a simpler, more fundamental brain:要研究一种脑部结构更简单更基本的动物the California sea slug加利福尼亚海参His colleagues all but ridiculed him for the idea这个想法遭到了同事们的嘲笑They "knew"他们认为that the study of the lowly sea slug was irrelevant for understanding human memory 对低等海参的研究同人类记忆的理解毫无关联Kandel's surgically-skilled collaborator deserted him具有手术技术的合作者也抛弃了坎德尔To get up to speed on sea slugs, he had to go abroad to study为了加快对海参的研究他不得不出国研究But Kandel persisted坎德尔坚持了下来and in 2000 his curiosity won him the Nobel Prize2000年他的好奇心为他赢得了诺贝尔奖It was, as you must have guessed, for deciphering the chemistry of memory in humans他贡献卓著破译了人类记忆的化学本质as revealed by his research on sea slugs这些都是通过对海参的研究取得的Kandel's life, I believe坎德尔的一生很好地证明了demonstrates how a persistent curiosity can help us reach ambitious goals持续的好奇心对雄心壮志的实现有多么重要even with great roadblocks in the way它能让你不惧艰难险阻A second tool for lifelong intellectual growth对于智力发展受益终生的另一个工具is a willingness to listen carefully to others是认真倾听他人的意愿These days, technology allows us access to a great breadth of perspectives现如今科技让我们具有了前所未有的信息获取广度but it also allows us to limit what voices we hear不过我们还是更愿意将自己听到的声音to the narrow range we find most agreeable限定在自己最赞同的那一狭小范围内Listening to others倾听他人especially those with whom we disagree特别是那些你不赞同的人tests our own ideas and beliefs能够测试我们自身的想法和信念It forces us to recognize, with humility它能迫使我们谦逊地承认that we don't have a monopoly on the truth我们对真理并没有垄断权Yankee Stadium is a natural venue for another lesson:洋基体育场则见证了另一则启示You won't succeed all the time没人能够总是成功Even Ruth, Gehrig and DiMaggio就算是鲁斯盖里格和狄马乔failed most of time when they stepped to the plate踏上棒球场时很多时候也无法避免失败Finding the right path in life, more often than not, involves some missteps 探索正确人生道路的过程中自然也无法避免犯错My Federal Reserve colleagues and I experienced this as we struggled我和美联储的同事都经历过这种挫折to address a financial and economic crisis that threatened the global economy 面对肆虐全球的金融和经济危机We brainstormed and designed a host of programs我们通过头脑风暴想出了一系列应对措施to unclog the plumbing of the financial system and to keep credit flowing来疏通整个金融系统让信贷保持流动Not everything worked but we kept at it并非所有措施都能奏效但我们没有放弃and we remained focused on the task at hand一直专注于手中紧要的任务I learned the lesson during this period这段时期让我学到了一点：that one's response to the inevitable setbacks一个人对难以避免的错误所作出的反应matters as much as the balance of victories and defeats同胜利与失败之间的平衡同样重要There is an unfortunate myth that success很不幸的是很多人都误以为成功is mainly determined by something called "ability"主要由"能力"决定But research indicates that our best measures of these qualities不过研究显示能力并不是成功的最主要决定因素are unreliable predictors of performance in academics or employment它并不能可靠预测出谁会在学术上或职场中取得好成绩Psychologist Angela Lee Duckworth心理学家安吉拉·李·达克沃斯says that what really matters is a quality she calls "grit" --认为最重要的品质是"决心"an abiding commitment to work hard toward long-range goals这需要坚持长远目标不懈地努力工作and to persevere through the setbacks that come along the way并在途中碰到挫折时具有百折不挠的精神One aspect of grit that I think is particularly important我认为"决心"中最重要的一个方面就在于is the willingness to take a stand when circumstances demand it在环境需要的时候勇于表明自己的立场Such circumstances may not be all that frequent这种环境可能不会经常出现but in every life, there will be crucial moments但在生活中可能会有一些关键时刻when having the courage to stand up for what you believe will be immensely important需要有勇气站起来坚持自己认为重要的事情My predecessor at the Fed, Chairman Ben Bernanke我在美联储的前任本·伯南克主席demonstrated such courage就证明了这份勇气especially in his response to the threat of the financial crisis特别体现在他对金融危机威胁所作出的反应To stabilize the financial system and restore economic growth为了让金融体系保持稳定并恢复经济增长he took courageous actions that were unprecedented in ambition and scope 他采取了力度和范围都堪称空前的勇敢行动He faced relentless criticism, personal threats他因此面临了无情的批评甚至人身威胁and the certainty that history would judge him harshly if he was wrong他如果走错一步历史上恐怕就会留下骂名But he stood up for what he believed was right and necessary不过他勇敢地坚持着自己认为正确和必要的道路Ben Bernanke's intelligence and knowledge served him well as Chairman对本·伯南克担任主席而言不仅智慧和知识至关重要but his grit and willingness to take a stand were just as important对重要信念坚定不移的决心和毅力也同样重要I hope you never are confronted by challenges this great我倒希望你们永远不碰到这么大的困难but you too will face moments in life但即便如此生命中还是会有时候when standing up for what you believe can make all the difference你必须捍卫自己信仰的东西才能实现成功Having dwelt for a moment on failure and grit之前我讲了失败和决心let me turn to the下面让我转向deeper meaning that underpins grit and can carry us beyond failure能支撑决心并帮助我们度过失败的更深层次的意义The hard work of building a life that makes a difference人生成功所需要的辛勤工作is much easier to sustain when you are passionate about what you pursue在拥有热情时会更容易维持When I first came to the Federal Reserve 37 years ago37年前在我刚来到美联储时I was struck by the passion of my colleagues for the mission of the Fed同事们对美联储使命的热情让我惊叹And these many years later, each day at work很多年以后在现在的每一天工作中I see the importance of that passion to carrying out the Fed's duties effectively 我都能体会到有效履行美联储职责的热情的重要性If there is a job that you feel passionate about如果你能找到一个让你充满热情的工作do what you can to pursue that job请尽可能去从事这个工作if there is a purpose about which you are passionate如果你有热情的事具有目的dedicate yourself to that purpose务必全身心投入到这一目的中Finally, I hope that you can find joy in the lives you choose最后我希望你们能够在自己选择的人生轨迹中找到乐趣You are completing one important phase of your life today今天你们完成了人生中一大重要的阶段and embarking on an amazing new adventure并将开始美妙的新探险Serious decisions about life surely lie ahead前方你们必将需要对人生作出抉择but take the time to savor the joys, large and small that come along the way 尽管如此不要忘了享受过程中的大小乐趣Share those joys with others, and share a laugh when you can记住将这些快乐同他人分享让大家一起开怀大笑In closing, thank you again在结束演讲之前我想再次感谢大家on behalf of myself and the other honorees代表我自己也代表其他荣誉学位获得者Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today 感谢大家给了我发表演讲的机会and congratulations and good luck to the Class of 2014恭喜2014届毕业生祝大家好运。