What is it that is most distinctive about the best universities? One thing is this: ideas are judged by the quality they possess, and not by the status of the presenter. Professors at Harvard want their students to do what is new. When students do research, testing a hypothesis or a theory one of their professors, sure, the professor would prefer it if the research came out to confirm the professor’s hypothesis，than if the research came out to deny the hypothesis; professors are human.

一流大學最典型的特點是什么？其中之一就是思想的價值是通過本身所擁有的 品質來判斷的，而不是根據這個思想的提出者的地位進行判斷的。盡管哈佛大學的 教授希望他們的學生能有創新之舉，但是當學生作研究驗證某一教授提出的假設或 理論時，這個教授仍然希望這項研究結果出來后會證實他的假設而不是推翻他們的 假設，畢竟教授也是普通人。

But the professor would be absolutely insistent that the research was important to do, was important to point out, was important to publish, no matter what results were displayed. We have professors at Harvard who are very committed to particular beliefs about the nature of evolution, about environmental issues, about economic issues; but every one of them would insist that it was the obligation of the University to hire the best and most promising scholars to join their department, regardless of whether they agreed or whether they disagreed with their research.

然而，無論研究的結果如何，教授仍舊會堅持認為這項研究很重要，值得一做，值得提出，也值得發表。哈佛大學有些教授獻身于研究進化論的本質、環境問 題和經濟問題；但是每一個教授都堅持認為大學的職責就是雇傭頂尖的、最有前途的學者加入他們的院系，無論這些學者是否贊同他們的研究成果。

This emphasis, this emphasis on judging ideas by their quality, is finding its way throughout the world. People in business speak of the death of hierarchy. They speak of the rising importance of teamwork. They speak of the importance of emphasizing creativity. And, dare I say, this approach of judging ideas by their quality, rather than their source, has been something very important to the revolution that has taken place in China over the last twenty some years, and to the enormous progress that Chinese society has made.

這種強調以質量來判斷思想的做法正在向全世界蔓延商界人士談到等級制度 的消亡、談到團隊精神和創造力日趨顯著的重要性。我敢說，這種通過質量而非來 源判斷思想的方法對中國在過去二十幾年中取得的長足進步至關重要。

A second deep commitment of universities that is also being emulated throughout a broader world is a commitment to a diversity of perspective, a willingness to draw individuals from any background, no matter what, if it contributes to our excellence. This has been a continuing quest for us at Harvard University. A century ago, Harvard University was a place where gentlemen from rich families taught other, younger, gentlemen from rich families in New England. It was not open to students who had gone to public schools; it was not open to students who were black; it was not open to students who were women; it was not open to students who were born in a large part of the United States. As recently as half a century ago, there were faculty members who were asked to leave Harvard University because they were not of the right religion. There were limits placed on certain groups, because they would otherwise be too numerous and make people feel uncomfortable.

大學正在被一個更廣闊的世界趕超，所以大學所承擔的第二個重要的任務是對 多樣化的承諾，也就是說，一個人不管來自什么背景，只要他能為哈佛的卓越作出 貢獻，我們就愿意讓他進入哈佛。這也一直是哈佛大學不斷追求和探索的東西。一 個世紀前，哈佛大學是出身富裕家庭的紳士們培育來自新英格蘭富裕家庭的年輕紳 士的地方o這里不對公立學校的學生黑人、女生和那些出生在美國其他大部分州的 學生開放。50多年以前，有些哈佛教員由于他們的宗教信仰不同而被迫離開學校。哈 佛大學對某些團體也有限制，因為如果不做限制，學生數量就會多得令人不舒服。

Today, Harvard is a university that is far more open and inclusive to persons，men and women, to persons of all faiths，to persons of all races, to persons from every state in our country, to persons from every country in the world. But we still have a long way to go if we are going to be more inclusive and open，if we are going to get the benefits that diverse perspectives provide, but, even more，if we are going to bring the best learners and teachers to our campus. We must cast our net for excellence as widely as we possibly can.

現在，哈佛是一所更加開放的大學，無論性別、無論信仰、無論種族、無論國籍、無論來自美國哪個州，所有人都可以進入哈佛大學。.但是，如果我們想更加包 容和開放，如果我們想從多樣化視角的建立中受益，或者更進一步地說，如果我們 想把最優秀的學生和老師吸引到哈佛大學來，我們仍然還有很長的路要走，我們必 須盡可能地面向全世界招賢納士。

As universities have evolved, so, too, have the best and most sophisticated business organizations, have the governments of the best-led countries, away from choosing a narrow elite based on personal connection, towards finding the people who are most able，and are able to make the greatest contribution. And we have a long way to go here, too. But we are making progress, and we are making progress in no small part based on a model that has come from universities.

正如大學的演變一樣，那些最優秀和最尖端的商業機構和最優秀的國家政府 都已經不再根據人際關系來挑選少數精英了，而是轉向挖掘那些最有才能和最能給 他們作出貢獻的人才。在這方面，我們同樣也有很長的路要走。但是，我們正在進 步，而且這種進步在很大程度上基于大學的模式。

There is a third difference that is very real，and very special, about universities, but that is increasingly important in all kinds of organizations. And here，it is a place where, perhaps, universities and China have something in common, and that is: an emphasis on taking the long view. When we think about a work of scholarship，we are not just seeking to judge what its impact will be tomorrow, what its impact will be next week, next month, or next year. We are seeking to make contributions to knowledge that will, ultimately, make the biggest difference over the longest run.

第三個區別，也是大學里最真實、最特殊的一點，而且這一點在各種各樣的 機構中也顯得越來越重要。這一點也許和中國的大學有一些相似之處，就是強調從 長遠的眼光來看問題。當我們考慮一項學術研究時，我們并不僅僅從它是否能在下 周、下個月或下一年產生影響來評判它，我們追求的是從長遠來看，為最終能產生 最大影響的知識作貢獻。

And, increasingly, the best business organizations, the best institutions of any society, are those which, yes, try to move rapidly to take advantage of any opportunity, but also which pay attention to the very long run~those who also invest in the ideas that are going to make the biggest differences not tomorrow, but a decade and a century from now.

越來越多一流的商業機構和一流的社會團體不僅利用每一個機會尋求快速發展，而且還重視長期效益，他們都在投資一些不只在當前，而是在將來會產生影響 的點子和創意。

This is the faith on which universities are supremely based. It is a faith that has paid off in the United States, and，I believe, has paid off for all who have sought to follow it. Some seventy-five percent of major patents granted in the United States draw their inspiration, in important respects, from university-based research. The desire of students from all over the world to come to American universities makes universities who don’t try to profit, who don’t naturally use words like ‘competition'，as successful as any export activity that the United States possesses.

這不僅是大學最根本的信仰，同時也是在美國巳經獲得成功的信仰。而且，我 相信它會給任何想追隨這一信仰的人帶來成功。在美國所授予的主要專利中，大約 有75%的重要研究靈感都是從大學里的研究中獲得的。世界各地學生渴望到美國留 學這一事實，使得美國大學并不以盈利為目的，自然也不用“竟爭” 一詞，但是美 國的大學與這個國家所擁有的任何一種出口業務比起來一樣成功。

What is it that has enabled American universities to be successful, and what is the best thinking that we have right now about how universities can excel? I，d like to reflect on a few aspects of that，and then I’d like to reflect on what seemed to me to be some of the challenges for universities in going forward.

那么，是什么促使美國大學成功？又是什么樣的想法是創辦一流大學的最佳見 解呢？我想就這個問題的幾個方面進行探討，我還想就大學未來發展所面臨的一些 挑戰進行探討。

First: separation from politics and from external control. At Harvard University, the Governor of Massachusetts, or the President of the United States, can have absolutely no sway over who is appointed as a professor of economics, or a professor of engineering, or a professor of medicine. They cannot appoint their friends, and they cannot appoint people who will support their causes.

首先，大學應該不受政治和外界控制的干擾。在哈佛大學，無論是馬薩諸塞州 的州長還是美國總統都根本沒有權力決定誰應該被任命為經濟學教授、工程學教授 或醫學教授，他們根本沒有權力為他們的朋友或支持他們的人指手劃腳。

There is a second thing that is essential to the best of universities, and that is this: they compete ruthlessly for the most able people. I was asked at a gathering, earlier, in China, what advice I would give to someone who was trying to create the best possible university. And I said，there was really, in the long run, only one thing that mattered to having the best possible university, and that was having the most creative, the most Intellectually engaged, and the smartest faculty, I said that, if a university was successful in finding the best young scholars, and attracting them to spend their careers at that university, and they found the best scholars, the best students would find their way to the best scholars; the most research funding would find its way to the best scholars. And, in the end, very little else matters other than making an absolute commitment to having the best.

對創辦一流大學至關重要的第二點是這些大學應竭盡全力爭取優秀人才。早些 時候，在中國的一次聚會上，有人讓我針對創建世界一流大學給點建議。我說，從 長遠來看，要想創建一流大學，只有一件事是非常重要的，那就是要擁有最具創造 力、最積極思考、最聰明的師資。我說，如果一個大學能夠成功地找到一流的年輕 學者，吸引他們留在大學工作，那么最好的學生將有機會成為最好的學者；最好的 學者將獲得最多的研究獎金，他們也會作出最有創造性的計劃方案。最終，成就一 所最好的大學將不再是什么難事。

Having the best means not having the idea that everybody can be treated in precisely the same way. Having the best means having the idea that those with the newest ideas will also be those with the most threatening ideas, and that those threats have to be overcome. Having the best will mean accepting the best, because the best will not always be the easiest with whom to get along. Indeed, it will often be true that the very same features that make individuals most creative, that make them most challenging, that make their ideas most exciting, also make them the people who don’t ‘fit in’ in the smoothest ways. And the best universities understand that, and they reach to find the most able people.
 

創造一流意味著在待人的方式上不能千篇一律；創造一流意味著要有這樣一種 觀念，那就是擁有最新思想的人一定是那些思想最尖銳的人，而且學校還得學會化 解這種尖銳。創造一流意味著要接受最優秀的人，因為最優秀的人并不總是最容易 相處的人。的確，事實是，最具創造力、最富挑戰性、思想最活躍的人有一個共同 特點，就是這些人難以以最順暢的方式融人社會，而一流的大學能理解這一點，并 且仍盡力去尋找這些最優秀的人。
 

更多 英語演講小短文、英文演講稿、英語演講稿 相關文章和資料，請繼續關注 英語作文大全