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翻译 ：方嘉乐
Unleashing Your Creativity
I’ve always been an optimist[乐天派] and I suppose that is rooted in my belief that the power of creativity and intelligence[聪明] can make the world a better place.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved learning new things and solving problems. So when I sat down at a computer for the first time in seventh grade, I was hooked[上瘾]. It was a clunky[作响的] old Teletype machine and it could barely do anything compared to the computers we have today. But it changed my life.
When my friend Paul Allen and I started Microsoft 30 years ago, we had a vision of “a computer on every desk and in every home,which probably sounded a little too optimistic at a time when most computers were the size of refrigerators. But we believed that personal computers would change the world. And they have. And after 30 years, I’m still as inspired by computers as I was back in seventh grade.
I believe that computers are the most incredible tool we can use to feed our curiosity and inventiveness - to help us solve problems that even the smartest people couldn’t solve on their own. Computers have transformed[改变] how we learn, giving kids everywhere a window into all of the world’s knowledge. They’re helping us build communities around the things we care about and to stay close to the people who are important to us, no matter where they are.
Like my friend Warren Buffett注, I feel particularly lucky to do something every day that I love to do. He calls it “tap-dancing[踢踏舞] to work.My job at Microsoft is as challenging as ever, but what makes me “tap-dance to workis when we show people something new, like a computer that can recognize your handwriting or your speech, or one that can store a lifetime’s worth of photos, and they say, “I didn’t know you could do that with a PC!”
But for all the cool things that a person can do with a PC, there are lots of other ways we can put our creativity and intelligence to work to improve our world. There are still far too many people in the world whose basic needs go unmet[未满足]. Every year, for example, millions of people die from diseases that are easy to prevent or treat in the developed world.
I believe that my own good fortune brings with it a responsibility to give back to the world. My wife, Melinda, and I have committed to improving health and education in a way that can help as many people as possible.
As a father, I believe that the death of a child in Africa is no less poignant[令人痛苦] or tragic than the death of a child anywhere else. And that it doesn’t take much to make an immense[巨大的] difference in these children’s lives.
I’m still very much an optimist, and I believe that progress on even the world’s toughest problems is possible - and it’s happening every day. We’re seeing new drugs for deadly diseases, new diagnostic[诊断的] tools, and new attention paid to the health problems in the developing world.
I’m excited by the possibilities I see for medicine, for education and, of course, for technology. And I believe that through our natural inventiveness, creativity and willingness to solve tough problems, we’re going to make some amazing achievements in all these areas in my lifetime.
我天生乐观，坚信人类凭创造力和聪明才智可以让世界变得更好，这一想法一直根植于我的内心深处。
记忆所及，从很小开始，我就热衷于接触新事物、挑战难题。可想而知，当上七年级的我第一次坐在计算机前是何等着迷，仿如进入忘我境地。那是一台锵锵作响的旧式机器，和我们今天的计算机完全不可相提并论，它几乎一无所用，但正是它改变了我的一生。
30年前，我和朋友保罗·艾伦创办微软时，我们梦想着能实现“在每个家庭、每张办公桌上都有一台计算机”，在那个大多数计算机体积犹如冰箱大的年代里，这听起来有点异想天开。但我们相信个人电脑将改变世界。今天看来果真如此。30年后，我仍然像七年级的时候那样为计算机而着迷。
我相信计算机是我们用来满足好奇心及展现我们发明创造力的最神奇的工具——有了它们的帮助，即使是最聪明的人凭自身力量无法应对的难题都将迎刃而解。计算机已经改变了我们的学习方式，为全球各地的孩子们开启了一扇通向大千世界知识的窗户。它帮助我们围绕我们关注的事物建立“群”，还让我们和那些对自己重要的人保持密切联系，不管他们身处何方。
就像我的朋友沃伦·巴菲特一样，我为每天都能做自己热爱的事情而感到无比幸运。他称之为“踢踏舞式工作”。我在微软的工作永远充满挑战，但使我一直坚持“踢踏舞式工作”的，是我们向人们展示新成果的时刻，当他们看到计算机能辨认笔迹、语音或者能存储值得保留一辈子的照片时就会赞不绝口—“我不敢相信个人电脑竟如此万能！”
但是，除了能用电脑做出很酷的事情之外，我们还能通过许多别的方式在工作中发挥自己的创造力和聪明才智，以改善我们的世界。全球仍有许许多多的人连基本的生存需求都未能解决。举例来说，每年仍有数以万计的人死于那些在发达国家易于预防和治疗的疾病。
我认为，我所拥有的大量财富也使我负有回馈社会的责任。我的妻子梅林达和我致力于为尽可能多的人改善健康和教育状况。
作为一个父亲，我认为，一个非洲孩子的夭折所引起的痛苦和悲伤丝毫不亚于其它地方的孩子的死亡；而要使这些孩子的命运发生翻天覆地的变化，其实并不用费太大力气。
我仍是一个坚定的乐观主义者，我坚信即使是世界级难题也有可能取得进展——其实这种事情每天都在发生。我们看到治疗致命疾病的新药、新的诊断器械不断出现。而且，发展中国家的健康问题也日益得到重视。
我为医药、教育，当然还有技术发展的无限前景而欢欣鼓舞。我相信，凭借人类与生俱来的发明创造力和不畏艰难、坚韧不拔的品格，在我的有生之年，我们将在所有这些领域创造出可喜的成就。
注：被誉为“股神”的美国著名投资家沃伦·巴菲特（Warren Buffett）是全球第二富豪，以股票投资起家，自11岁第一次购买股票以来，白手起家缔造了一个千亿规模的投资帝国。今年6月底，巴菲特宣布将价值370亿美元的股份捐给5家慈善基金会，其中310亿美元托付给盖茨夫妇所管理的基金会。（关于他的详细介绍，可参阅CE:Teens 06年2月号“人物”。）
比尔·盖茨档案
●1955年10月出生在美国西雅图。
●13岁开始计算机编程。
●1973年，进入哈佛大学法律系。
●1975年退学，与同伴创办电脑公司。后改名微软公司，自任董事长、总裁兼首席执行官。
●1988年1月，将总裁一职让给史蒂夫·鲍尔默。
●36岁成为世界最年轻的亿万富翁。
●2006年6月，宣布从2008年7月开始，将不再负责微软公司的日常运营事务，全力投入他与妻子共同创建的基金会，从事慈善事业。
Unleashing Your Creativity
I’ve always been an optimist[乐天派] and I suppose that is rooted in my belief that the power of creativity and intelligence[聪明] can make the world a better place.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved learning new things and solving problems. So when I sat down at a computer for the first time in seventh grade, I was hooked[上瘾]. It was a clunky[作响的] old Teletype machine and it could barely do anything compared to the computers we have today. But it changed my life.
When my friend Paul Allen and I started Microsoft 30 years ago, we had a vision of “a computer on every desk and in every home,which probably sounded a little too optimistic at a time when most computers were the size of refrigerators. But we believed that personal computers would change the world. And they have. And after 30 years, I’m still as inspired by computers as I was back in seventh grade.
I believe that computers are the most incredible tool we can use to feed our curiosity and inventiveness - to help us solve problems that even the smartest people couldn’t solve on their own. Computers have transformed[改变] how we learn, giving kids everywhere a window into all of the world’s knowledge. They’re helping us build communities around the things we care about and to stay close to the people who are important to us, no matter where they are.
Like my friend Warren Buffett注, I feel particularly lucky to do something every day that I love to do. He calls it “tap-dancing[踢踏舞] to work.My job at Microsoft is as challenging as ever, but what makes me “tap-dance to workis when we show people something new, like a computer that can recognize your handwriting or your speech, or one that can store a lifetime’s worth of photos, and they say, “I didn’t know you could do that with a PC!”
But for all the cool things that a person can do with a PC, there are lots of other ways we can put our creativity and intelligence to work to improve our world. There are still far too many people in the world whose basic needs go unmet[未满足]. Every year, for example, millions of people die from diseases that are easy to prevent or treat in the developed world.
I believe that my own good fortune brings with it a responsibility to give back to the world. My wife, Melinda, and I have committed to improving health and education in a way that can help as many people as possible.
As a father, I believe that the death of a child in Africa is no less poignant[令人痛苦] or tragic than the death of a child anywhere else. And that it doesn’t take much to make an immense[巨大的] difference in these children’s lives.
I’m still very much an optimist, and I believe that progress on even the world’s toughest problems is possible - and it’s happening every day. We’re seeing new drugs for deadly diseases, new diagnostic[诊断的] tools, and new attention paid to the health problems in the developing world.
I’m excited by the possibilities I see for medicine, for education and, of course, for technology. And I believe that through our natural inventiveness, creativity and willingness to solve tough problems, we’re going to make some amazing achievements in all these areas in my lifetime.
我天生乐观，坚信人类凭创造力和聪明才智可以让世界变得更好，这一想法一直根植于我的内心深处。
记忆所及，从很小开始，我就热衷于接触新事物、挑战难题。可想而知，当上七年级的我第一次坐在计算机前是何等着迷，仿如进入忘我境地。那是一台锵锵作响的旧式机器，和我们今天的计算机完全不可相提并论，它几乎一无所用，但正是它改变了我的一生。
30年前，我和朋友保罗·艾伦创办微软时，我们梦想着能实现“在每个家庭、每张办公桌上都有一台计算机”，在那个大多数计算机体积犹如冰箱大的年代里，这听起来有点异想天开。但我们相信个人电脑将改变世界。今天看来果真如此。30年后，我仍然像七年级的时候那样为计算机而着迷。
我相信计算机是我们用来满足好奇心及展现我们发明创造力的最神奇的工具——有了它们的帮助，即使是最聪明的人凭自身力量无法应对的难题都将迎刃而解。计算机已经改变了我们的学习方式，为全球各地的孩子们开启了一扇通向大千世界知识的窗户。它帮助我们围绕我们关注的事物建立“群”，还让我们和那些对自己重要的人保持密切联系，不管他们身处何方。
就像我的朋友沃伦·巴菲特一样，我为每天都能做自己热爱的事情而感到无比幸运。他称之为“踢踏舞式工作”。我在微软的工作永远充满挑战，但使我一直坚持“踢踏舞式工作”的，是我们向人们展示新成果的时刻，当他们看到计算机能辨认笔迹、语音或者能存储值得保留一辈子的照片时就会赞不绝口—“我不敢相信个人电脑竟如此万能！”
但是，除了能用电脑做出很酷的事情之外，我们还能通过许多别的方式在工作中发挥自己的创造力和聪明才智，以改善我们的世界。全球仍有许许多多的人连基本的生存需求都未能解决。举例来说，每年仍有数以万计的人死于那些在发达国家易于预防和治疗的疾病。
我认为，我所拥有的大量财富也使我负有回馈社会的责任。我的妻子梅林达和我致力于为尽可能多的人改善健康和教育状况。
作为一个父亲，我认为，一个非洲孩子的夭折所引起的痛苦和悲伤丝毫不亚于其它地方的孩子的死亡；而要使这些孩子的命运发生翻天覆地的变化，其实并不用费太大力气。
我仍是一个坚定的乐观主义者，我坚信即使是世界级难题也有可能取得进展——其实这种事情每天都在发生。我们看到治疗致命疾病的新药、新的诊断器械不断出现。而且，发展中国家的健康问题也日益得到重视。
我为医药、教育，当然还有技术发展的无限前景而欢欣鼓舞。我相信，凭借人类与生俱来的发明创造力和不畏艰难、坚韧不拔的品格，在我的有生之年，我们将在所有这些领域创造出可喜的成就。
注：被誉为“股神”的美国著名投资家沃伦·巴菲特（Warren Buffett）是全球第二富豪，以股票投资起家，自11岁第一次购买股票以来，白手起家缔造了一个千亿规模的投资帝国。今年6月底，巴菲特宣布将价值370亿美元的股份捐给5家慈善基金会，其中310亿美元托付给盖茨夫妇所管理的基金会。（关于他的详细介绍，可参阅CE:Teens 06年2月号“人物”。）
比尔·盖茨档案
●1955年10月出生在美国西雅图。
●13岁开始计算机编程。
●1973年，进入哈佛大学法律系。
●1975年退学，与同伴创办电脑公司。后改名微软公司，自任董事长、总裁兼首席执行官。
●1988年1月，将总裁一职让给史蒂夫·鲍尔默。
●36岁成为世界最年轻的亿万富翁。
●2006年6月，宣布从2008年7月开始，将不再负责微软公司的日常运营事务，全力投入他与妻子共同创建的基金会，从事慈善事业。