论文部分内容阅读
There is a man who I’d like to tell you about. His name is Sandy Greenberg. In his youth, Sandy was a very good student, but he came from a poor family. And so he went to Columbia University on a scholarship and there he met his roommate who also was receiving financial aid.
Now while he was a sophomore1 at Columbia University, Sandy contracted an eye disease that eventually proved to be glaucoma2. But the trouble was, it wasn’t detected early enough, and as a result he became legally blind. I ask you all to imagine for a moment having been sighted all your life and then all of a sudden being faced, in a very competitive school, with losing so much sight you could no longer read. This is what happened to Sandy Greenberg.
But something else happened to Sandy that may surprise you. Sandy said that when he lost his sight, his roommate would read his textbooks to him, every night.
So I’m going to put you in that position, in a competitive school like Columbia, or Johns Hopkins. If your roommate had a serious disability, would you take the time to read textbooks to him every night, knowing the more you spend time reading textbooks to your roommate, perhaps the less well you might do with your other activities? That’s not as easy a question as it first appears.
But luckily for Sandy, his roommate did. And as a result, Sandy went on to graduate with honors. He got a Fulbright Scholarship, and he went off to study at Oxford. He was still quite poor, but he said he had managed to save about five hundred dollars as he went along.
His roommate, meanwhile, also went on to graduate school. One day, Sandy got a call from him at Oxford. And his former roommate said, “Sandy, I’m really unhappy. I really don’t like being in graduate school, and I don’t want to do this.”
So Sandy asked, “Well, what do you want to do?”
And his roommate told him, “Sandy, I really love to sing. I have a high school friend who plays the guitar. And we would really like to try our hand in the music business. But we need to make a promo record, and in order to do that I need 500 dollars.”
So Sandy Greenberg told me he took all his life savings and sent it to his roommate. He told me, “You know, what else could I do? He made my life; I needed to help make his life.”
So, I hope you’ll remember the power of doing well by doing good. Each of you, in your own lives, will be faced with challenges, with roadblocks, with problems that you didn’t anticipate3 or expect. How you are able to deal with adversity will be influenced, to no small extent, by how you deal with others along the way. What you get will depend a lot on what you give. And that’s the end of the story of doing well, by doing good.
Ah! I almost forgot. You probably are wanting to know who Sandy’s roommate was. I think you’ve heard of him. Sandy’s roommate was a fellow by the name of Art Garfunkel, and he teamed up with another musician by the name of Paul Simon. That 500 dollars helped them cut a record that eventually became “The Sounds of Silence.” Recently, we had the pleasure of going to Sandy’s daughter’s wedding, and it was Art Garfunkel who sang as Sandy walked his daughter down the aisle.
When you get to be my age (which, for some of you, is really old, (though it doesn’t seem so old to me anymore), you will find yourself beginning to ask, did my life make a difference?
That’s the day of personal reckoning4. And I think the only way to face it is to consider, every day of your life: How can I do something for somebody else? How can I give back to others? It may be teaching, it may be becoming a doctor, you may be successful in business ----- no matter what your career path, there will always be the opportunity to give back. The chance will present itself to be giving of your time, giving of your money, but mostly, to be giving of yourselves, of your own heart and soul.
My hope today, as you commence5 to new beginnings, is you will always keep your eyes open for those opportunities to give and embrace them as your best sure way of doing well.
我要讲述的是桑迪·格林伯格的故事。桑迪从小就是个好学生，但因为家里很穷，他靠奖学金才上了哥伦比亚大学，他的室友同样也靠奖学金生活。
大二时桑迪患了眼疾，后来确诊为青光眼。糟糕的是病情发现得太晚，结果导致桑迪双目失明。请大家想象一下，你一直视力良好，突然之间什么都看不见了，在一所竞争激烈的大学，你连基本的阅读都做不了。这就是桑迪·格林伯格的遭遇。
但是在桑迪身上还发生了另外的事情，可能会令你惊奇。桑迪说，在他失明之后，室友每晚都为他读课文。
设身处地想一下，在哥伦比亚或约翰·霍普金斯这样竞争激烈的学校，如果你的室友有严重的眼疾，你会每晚抽出时间为他阅读吗？花在为室友读课文上的时间越多，也许你自己各方面的成绩就会越差。这个问题并不像乍看来那么简单。
但桑迪很幸运，他的室友那样做了。结果桑迪以优异的成绩毕业，并且获得富布莱特奖学金，赴牛津深造。他仍旧很穷，但他说他节衣缩食省了约500美元。
他的室友同样也进了研究生院。一天，桑迪接到他的电话：“桑迪，我非常不快乐。我一点都不喜欢待在研究生院，我不想继续待下去了。”
于是桑迪问：“那你想做什么？”
室友告诉他：“桑迪，我热爱唱歌。我有一个高中朋友会弹吉他，我们很想在音乐领域一试身手。但是我们需要 500美元做一张推广唱片。”
于是桑迪将所有积蓄寄给了室友，他告诉我：“除此之外我还有选择吗？是他造就了我，我必须帮助他成就他的人生。”
所以，我希望你们铭记行善事以成功的力量。你们每个人在自己的生活中，都将面对挑战和阻碍，面对你始料未及或不希望出现的问题。你应对逆境的能力，很大程度上将取决于你如何对待他人。你的所得将在很大程度上取决于你的付出。这就是行善事以成功的全部含义。
啊！我差点忘记了，你们大概想知道桑迪的室友是谁。我想你们都听说过他。他叫阿特·加芬克尔，他和那个名叫保罗·西蒙的音乐家合作，用那 500美元制作了一张唱片，后来题名为《寂静之声》。前不久我们有幸参加桑迪女儿的婚礼，当桑迪挽着女儿步入教堂时，正是加芬克尔为他们伴唱。
当你们到了我这个年龄，你们也会问自己，我的生命是否有意义？
那将是盘点你自己人生的日子。我认为面对它的唯一方法，就是在你生命中的每一天扪心自问：我如何为他人做些什么？我怎样回馈他人？你可能会成为教师，可能做医生，也可能生意兴隆——不管你从事什么事业，总会有回馈的机会。你的机会可能是付出时间、金钱，但是更可能是付出你自己，还有你的心和灵魂。
今天，在你们着手于崭新的开端之际，我希望你们时刻留意回馈的机会，把它们作为通往成功之路的最佳途径。
Now while he was a sophomore1 at Columbia University, Sandy contracted an eye disease that eventually proved to be glaucoma2. But the trouble was, it wasn’t detected early enough, and as a result he became legally blind. I ask you all to imagine for a moment having been sighted all your life and then all of a sudden being faced, in a very competitive school, with losing so much sight you could no longer read. This is what happened to Sandy Greenberg.
But something else happened to Sandy that may surprise you. Sandy said that when he lost his sight, his roommate would read his textbooks to him, every night.
So I’m going to put you in that position, in a competitive school like Columbia, or Johns Hopkins. If your roommate had a serious disability, would you take the time to read textbooks to him every night, knowing the more you spend time reading textbooks to your roommate, perhaps the less well you might do with your other activities? That’s not as easy a question as it first appears.
But luckily for Sandy, his roommate did. And as a result, Sandy went on to graduate with honors. He got a Fulbright Scholarship, and he went off to study at Oxford. He was still quite poor, but he said he had managed to save about five hundred dollars as he went along.
His roommate, meanwhile, also went on to graduate school. One day, Sandy got a call from him at Oxford. And his former roommate said, “Sandy, I’m really unhappy. I really don’t like being in graduate school, and I don’t want to do this.”
So Sandy asked, “Well, what do you want to do?”
And his roommate told him, “Sandy, I really love to sing. I have a high school friend who plays the guitar. And we would really like to try our hand in the music business. But we need to make a promo record, and in order to do that I need 500 dollars.”
So Sandy Greenberg told me he took all his life savings and sent it to his roommate. He told me, “You know, what else could I do? He made my life; I needed to help make his life.”
So, I hope you’ll remember the power of doing well by doing good. Each of you, in your own lives, will be faced with challenges, with roadblocks, with problems that you didn’t anticipate3 or expect. How you are able to deal with adversity will be influenced, to no small extent, by how you deal with others along the way. What you get will depend a lot on what you give. And that’s the end of the story of doing well, by doing good.
Ah! I almost forgot. You probably are wanting to know who Sandy’s roommate was. I think you’ve heard of him. Sandy’s roommate was a fellow by the name of Art Garfunkel, and he teamed up with another musician by the name of Paul Simon. That 500 dollars helped them cut a record that eventually became “The Sounds of Silence.” Recently, we had the pleasure of going to Sandy’s daughter’s wedding, and it was Art Garfunkel who sang as Sandy walked his daughter down the aisle.
When you get to be my age (which, for some of you, is really old, (though it doesn’t seem so old to me anymore), you will find yourself beginning to ask, did my life make a difference?
That’s the day of personal reckoning4. And I think the only way to face it is to consider, every day of your life: How can I do something for somebody else? How can I give back to others? It may be teaching, it may be becoming a doctor, you may be successful in business ----- no matter what your career path, there will always be the opportunity to give back. The chance will present itself to be giving of your time, giving of your money, but mostly, to be giving of yourselves, of your own heart and soul.
My hope today, as you commence5 to new beginnings, is you will always keep your eyes open for those opportunities to give and embrace them as your best sure way of doing well.
我要讲述的是桑迪·格林伯格的故事。桑迪从小就是个好学生，但因为家里很穷，他靠奖学金才上了哥伦比亚大学，他的室友同样也靠奖学金生活。
大二时桑迪患了眼疾，后来确诊为青光眼。糟糕的是病情发现得太晚，结果导致桑迪双目失明。请大家想象一下，你一直视力良好，突然之间什么都看不见了，在一所竞争激烈的大学，你连基本的阅读都做不了。这就是桑迪·格林伯格的遭遇。
但是在桑迪身上还发生了另外的事情，可能会令你惊奇。桑迪说，在他失明之后，室友每晚都为他读课文。
设身处地想一下，在哥伦比亚或约翰·霍普金斯这样竞争激烈的学校，如果你的室友有严重的眼疾，你会每晚抽出时间为他阅读吗？花在为室友读课文上的时间越多，也许你自己各方面的成绩就会越差。这个问题并不像乍看来那么简单。
但桑迪很幸运，他的室友那样做了。结果桑迪以优异的成绩毕业，并且获得富布莱特奖学金，赴牛津深造。他仍旧很穷，但他说他节衣缩食省了约500美元。
他的室友同样也进了研究生院。一天，桑迪接到他的电话：“桑迪，我非常不快乐。我一点都不喜欢待在研究生院，我不想继续待下去了。”
于是桑迪问：“那你想做什么？”
室友告诉他：“桑迪，我热爱唱歌。我有一个高中朋友会弹吉他，我们很想在音乐领域一试身手。但是我们需要 500美元做一张推广唱片。”
于是桑迪将所有积蓄寄给了室友，他告诉我：“除此之外我还有选择吗？是他造就了我，我必须帮助他成就他的人生。”
所以，我希望你们铭记行善事以成功的力量。你们每个人在自己的生活中，都将面对挑战和阻碍，面对你始料未及或不希望出现的问题。你应对逆境的能力，很大程度上将取决于你如何对待他人。你的所得将在很大程度上取决于你的付出。这就是行善事以成功的全部含义。
啊！我差点忘记了，你们大概想知道桑迪的室友是谁。我想你们都听说过他。他叫阿特·加芬克尔，他和那个名叫保罗·西蒙的音乐家合作，用那 500美元制作了一张唱片，后来题名为《寂静之声》。前不久我们有幸参加桑迪女儿的婚礼，当桑迪挽着女儿步入教堂时，正是加芬克尔为他们伴唱。
当你们到了我这个年龄，你们也会问自己，我的生命是否有意义？
那将是盘点你自己人生的日子。我认为面对它的唯一方法，就是在你生命中的每一天扪心自问：我如何为他人做些什么？我怎样回馈他人？你可能会成为教师，可能做医生，也可能生意兴隆——不管你从事什么事业，总会有回馈的机会。你的机会可能是付出时间、金钱，但是更可能是付出你自己，还有你的心和灵魂。
今天，在你们着手于崭新的开端之际，我希望你们时刻留意回馈的机会，把它们作为通往成功之路的最佳途径。