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，人類的進(jìn)步不在于這些新發(fā)現(xiàn)，而在于如何運用這些發(fā)現(xiàn)減少社會不公。不管是通過民主政策、健全的公共教育、高質(zhì)量的醫(yī)療保健還是廣泛的商機，消除不平等始終是人類最大的目標(biāo)。

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.
離開校園的時候，根本不知道在美國上百萬年輕人沒有接受教育的機會。也對發(fā)展中國家被貧困和病痛折磨的人們一無所知。我花了幾十年才明白這些事情。

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.
如今，在座的各位應(yīng)該比我更了解世界上的這些不平等現(xiàn)象。在你們的求學(xué)之路上我希望你們已經(jīng)思考過這個問題——如何在這個高速發(fā)展的時代解決不平等現(xiàn)象。

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?
試想一下如果你每周捐出幾個小時，幾塊錢，來參與一項能夠拯救生命和提高生活品質(zhì)的項目，你會如何選擇？

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.
我和妻子梅琳達(dá)就面臨著這樣一個問題：怎樣才能充分利用我們擁有的資源。

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.
舉棋不定時我們讀到一篇文章，文章里說在貧困的國家里，每年有數(shù)百萬，兒童死于于美國早已戰(zhàn)勝的疾病——麻疹、瘧疾、肺炎、乙肝、黃熱病，還有一種從未聽說的輪狀病毒每年會奪走五十萬兒童的生命，而在美國沒有一例死亡病例。

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.
當(dāng)時我們就震驚了。我以為全世界會不遺余力地拯救這些在死亡線上掙扎的兒童們，然而這些不值錢的救命藥卻沒有送到他們手中。

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.”
如果你堅信人生而平等，把生命分等級的做法簡直令人發(fā)指。我們對自己說：“這絕不可能。但萬一這是真的，那么這將成為我們慈善事業(yè)的首要任務(wù)。

So we began our work in the same way anyone here would begin it. We asked: “How could the world let these children die?”
于是我們開始行動了 我相信這也會是你們的選擇。我們疑惑：“這個世界怎么可以眼睜睜看著這些孩子死去？”

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. But you and I have both. We can make market forces work better for the poor if we can develop a more creative capitalism.
答案簡單卻殘酷。市場經(jīng)濟中，拯救兒童沒有利潤，政府也不會給予補貼。父母無財無權(quán) 孩子們就死了。我們不一樣，我們可以讓市場更好地為窮人服務(wù)，如果我們可以改進(jìn)現(xiàn)有資本主義制度。

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.
改善市場環(huán)境，讓更多的人賺到錢、維持生計，緩解苦難。給世界各地的政府施壓 讓他們把納稅人的錢花到最值得的地方。采取一些既滿足滿足窮人的需求，又能帶來商業(yè)利潤并為政治家?guī)磉x票的措施。

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.
采取一些既滿足滿足窮人的需求，又能帶來商業(yè)利潤并為政治家?guī)磉x票的措施，我們就摸索到了減少世界不平等的可持續(xù)發(fā)展道路。然而這項任務(wù)并沒有終點，我們也許無法徹底解決。但只要不懈努力，就可以改變世界。