07　Dare to Compete,Dare to Care
敢于竞争，勇于关爱

希拉里·克林顿的演讲

名人简介

希拉里·克林顿（Hillary Clinton），1947年10月26日生于美国伊利诺伊州的芝加哥。1965年，希拉里进入马萨诸塞州韦尔斯利学院主修政治学。1969年，她就读于耶鲁大学法学院，并于1973年获法学博士学位。求学期间，她结识了后来成为美国总统的比尔·克林顿。

希拉里1975年10月与克林顿结婚后，进入美国著名的罗斯律师事务所工作，并曾两次当选全美百名杰出律师。克林顿1993年入住白宫，希拉里从而成为美国历史上学历最高的第一夫人。在8年的白宫生涯中，希拉里积极参与政事，负责国家医疗保健改革，还促使国会通过国家儿童健康保险项目等。

2000年2月，尚未离开白宫的希拉里宣布竞选纽约州参议员，成为美国历史上第一位谋求公职的第一夫人。同年11月7日，她当选为国会参议员。2006年，她获得连任。2008年12月1日，美国总统当选人奥巴马提名希拉里出任美国国务卿。

背景资料

再回耶鲁，特别是在耶鲁大学300周年纪念日之际再回到这里，我感到非常高兴和荣幸！耶鲁大学给我留下了许多美好的回忆，正如尼克所说的，我想起了当年从耶鲁法学院毕业的情景，多多少少说明了我们所取得的进步。

It is such an honor and pleasure for me to be back at Yale, especially on the occasion of the 300th anniversary ^[注] . I have had so many memories of my time here, and as Nick was speaking I thought about how I ended up at Yale Law School. And it tells a little bit about how much progress we've made.

每当想起耶鲁时，我感触最深的不是这里浓郁的政治氛围，也不是我所接受到的顶级的法学教育。正是在耶鲁，我开始做一些事情，这些事情从那时到现在都是我关注的核心。正是在耶鲁，我开始与纽黑文的法律机构合作，维护儿童的权益。我还在耶鲁纽黑文医院和儿童研究中心里研究了儿童身心发展以及虐待和疏忽儿童的问题。我还很幸运地与玛丽安·赖特·埃德尔曼一起获得了在儿童保护基金委员会进行民事权利实习的机会，并在毕业后去了那里工作。所有这些经历激发了我为保护儿童权益而努力的激情，特别是保护那些最脆弱的儿童。

What I think most about when I think of Yale is not just the politically charged atmosphere and not even just the superb ^[注] legal education that I received. It was at Yale that I began work that has been at the core of what I have cared about ever since. I began working with New Haven legal services representing children. And I studied child development, abuse and neglect at the Yale New Haven Hospital and the Child Study Center. I was lucky enough to receive a civil rights internship with Marian Wright Edelman at the Children's Defense Fund, where I went to work after I graduated. Those experiences fueled in me a passion to work for the benefit of children, particularly the most vulnerable ^[注] .

现在回想起来，当时我并无法预见自己会走上什么样的人生道路。我没有坐在法学院里说：“恩，你知道，我想我毕业后要去儿童保护基金委员会工作，然后会接受弹劾调查。当尼克松退休或辞职后，我会去阿肯色州。”我从未这样想过。我只是顺其自然地过着每一天。

Now, looking back, there is no way that I could have predicted what path my life would have taken. I didn't sit around the law school, saying, well, you know, I think I'll graduate and then I'll go to work at the Children's Defense Fund, and then the impeachment ^[注] inquiry ^[注] , and when Nixon retired or resigns, I'll go to Arkansas. I didn't think like that. I was taking each day at a time.

但是，我一直都很幸运，因为我始终都知道什么对我来说才是最重要的，是什么能让我的人生更有意义、更有目标。尽管别人会告诉我应该关注和相信什么，但是我依然坚持自己的价值观和信仰。它们帮我渡过了人生的浅滩，有时甚至是变幻莫测的危险海域，从而照亮了我内心深处的真实愿望。在我所认为的重要事情上取得成功的激情以及对儿童的关注像一颗启明星一样，指引着我前行。因为我坚信，每一个孩子，特别是在美国这个地球上备受神佑的国度里的孩子，都应该有机会发挥他们天赐的潜能。

But, I've been very fortunate because I've always had an idea in my mind about what I thought was important and what gave my life meaning and purpose. A set of values and beliefs that have helped me navigate ^[注] the shoals ^[注] , the sometimes very treacherous ^[注] sea, to illuminate ^[注] my own true desires, despite that others say about what I should care about and believe in. A passion to succeed at what I thought was important and children have always provided that lone star, that guiding light. Because I have that absolute conviction that every child deserves the opportunity to live up to his or her God-given potential.

但是要知道，信仰和信念或许可以促使你作出个人使命的承诺。但如果仅仅挂在嘴上，而不付诸于行动的话，那它对任何人来说都没有太大意义，特别是对于那些你所要去关注的人来说。

But you know that belief and conviction— it may make for a personal mission statement, but standing alone, not translated into action, it means very little to anyone else, particularly to those for whom you have those concerns.

当我想要去参加美国参议院的竞选时——这对我来说是一个非常重大的决定，在耶鲁上大学时我从未梦想过会做出这样的决定——我去参观了纽约的一所学校，在那里遇见了一个年轻女人，她是一名明星运动员。

When I was thinking about running for the United States Senate — which was such an enormous decision to make, one I never could have dreamed that I would have been making when I was here on this campus — I visited a school in New York City and I met a young woman, who was a star athlete.

我去那儿是因为比利·吉思·金要在HBO电视网宣传一个名为“敢于竞争”的特别节目，与体育界的女性有关。这个节目涉及到了美国教育法修正案第九条，并讲述了我们如何最终在政府的帮助下为女性获得了参加体育比赛的机会。

I was there because of Billy Jean King promoting an HBO special about women in sports called Dare to Compete . It was about Title IX and how we finally, thanks to government action, provided opportunities to girls and women in sports.

尽管在学校时我并不擅长体育运动，但我一直以来都非常支持女性参加体育运动。经过别人的介绍，我认识了这位年轻女士。我前去跟她握手时，她显然已经在报纸上看到了有关人们讨论我该不该去参加竞选的报道。我对她刚刚的成功演讲表示祝贺，她紧紧握住我的手，对我说：“要敢于竞争，克林顿夫人。要敢于去竞争。”

And although I played not very well at intramural ^[注] sports, I have always been a strong supporter of women in sports. And I was introduced to this young woman, and as I went to shake her hand she obviously had been reading the newspapers about people saying I should or shouldn't run for the Senate. And I was congratulating her on the speech she had just made and she held onto my hand and she said, “Dare to compete, Mrs. Clinton. Dare to compete.”

我在心里牢牢地记住了她的话，因为有时候竞争真的很艰难，特别是通过公开方式进行的竞争。在那种情况下，你的失败是有目共睹的，而且你不知道第二天会发生什么。然而，这就是生活，不管我们愿意接受与否，我们总是在不断挑战自我，争取做到最好。无论是在学校、职场，抑或只是在生活中，我们也都在和别人竞争。

I took that to heart because it is hard to compete sometimes, especially in public ways, when your failures are there for everyone to see and you don't know what is going to happen from one day to the next. And yet so much of life, whether we like to accept it or not, is competing with ourselves to be the best we can be, being involved in classes or professions or just life, where we know we are competing with others.

我听取了她的建议，真的参加了竞选，因为我已经做出了这样的选择。而在你生命中面临的最重要选择必须要由你自己来决定。我相信你们会得到很好的建议。你们接受了良好的教育，这些教育能让你们明白什么最适合自己，但最终你们还是要做出选择，我希望你们要敢于去竞争。但是我指的并不是如今人们常说的那种推动美国发展的残酷激烈的竞争，而是发自内心的微妙的声音。这个声音在告诉你，你可以去做这件事情，你可以去冒这次险，你可以迈出下一步。

I took her advice and I did compete because I chose to do so. And the biggest choices that you'll face in your life will be yours alone to make. I'm sure you'll receive good advice. You've got a great education to go back and reflect about what is right for you, but you eventually will have to choose and I hope that you will dare to compete. And by that I don't mean the kind of cutthroat ^[注] competition that is too often characterized ^[注] by what is driving America today. I mean that small voice inside you that says to you, you can do it, you can take this risk, you can take this next step.

但这并不意味着一旦做了决定，你就总会取得成功。事实并非如此。成功路上难免会有挫折，你也会经历痛苦的失望。你会放慢脚步，甚至有时会感到窒息。但是，如果你坚持这样的价值观和信仰，你们首先可以使自己的生活有所改观，然后会改变别人的生活。接着你们便可以重新振作，继续前进。

And it doesn't mean that once having made that choice you will always succeed. In fact, you won't. There are setbacks and you will experience difficult disappointments. You will be slowed down and sometimes the breath will just be knocked out of ^[注] you. But if you carry with you the values and beliefs that you can make a difference ^[注] in your own life, first and foremost ^[注] , and then in the lives of others, you can get back up, you can keep going.

但是我发现，同样重要的是，不要把自己太当一回事，因为毕竟我们今天在座的所有人当中，没有一个人是十全十美的。我在想，我无需做什么，生命便赐于了我充满祝福的每一天。我既没有选择我的出身，也没有选择我的国籍，但是它们如同我所做过的事情一样决定着我的人生之路。

But it is also important, as I have found, not to take yourself too seriously ^[注] , because after all, every one of us here today, none of us is deserving of full credit. I think every day of the blessings my birth gave me without any doing of my own. I chose neither my family nor my country, but they as much as anything I've ever done, determined my course.

将我的或你们的生活境况与以前或者现在的大部分人的生活进行比较，你们会发现，这些人通常一出生就知道自己的未来会是怎样的。他们没有选择人生道路的自由。他们被贫穷、无知、偏执、疾病、饥饿、压迫和战争所羁绊。

You compare my or your circumstances with those of the majority of people who've ever lived or who are living right now, they too often are born knowing too well what their futures will be. They lack the freedom to choose their life's path. They're imprisoned ^[注] by circumstances of poverty and ignorance ^[注] , bigotry ^[注] , disease, hunger, oppression ^[注] and war.

因此，要敢于竞争。是的。但是，也许更艰难的是要敢于去关爱。我们要敢于关爱那些需要我们的帮助来获得成功或实现人生价值的人。外面有很多人等待我们去帮助，你们中的许多人应该都已经明白，他们有时需要的不过就是一个最简单的举动或者是援助之手。我知道，过去20年来许多耶鲁毕业生在社区组织工作，或者从事教育行业，或者还把自己的一生奉献给了宗教事业。

So, dare to compete, yes, but maybe even more difficult, dare to care. Dare to care about people who need our help to succeed and fulfill their own lives. There are so many out there and sometimes all it takes is the simplest of gestures or helping hands and many of you understand that already. I know that a number of graduates in the last 20 years have worked in community organizations, have tutored ^[注] , have committed themselves to ^[注] religious activities.

你们努力服务社会，因为你们相信这正是你们要做的，而且会得到回报。你们已经做到了敢于去关爱。

You have been there trying to serve because you have believed both that it was the right thing to do and because it gave something back to you. You have dared to care.

要敢于关爱，就意味着我们要敢于为全人类的平等正义而奋斗，敢于为女性同工同酬而奋斗，敢于为打击仇视性犯罪和顽固势力而奋斗。我们要关注那些缺乏雄厚的师资力量和教育资源的公立学校，要勇于承担保护环境的重任。我们要勇于关注我们国家1000万没有医疗保险的儿童、150万父亲或母亲是服刑人员的儿童以及700万艾滋病患者。在此我要感谢那些呼吁我们国家给予全世界的艾滋病患者更多帮助和防止艾滋病传播的人。

Well, dare to care to fight for equal justice for all, for equal pay for women, against hate crimes and bigotry. Dare to care about public schools without qualified teachers or adequate resources. Dare to care about protecting our environment. Dare to care about the ten million children in our country who lack health insurance ^[注] . Dare to care about the one and a half million children who have a parent in jail. The seven million people who suffer from HIV/AIDS. And thank you for caring enough to demand that our nation do more to help those that are suffering throughout this world with HIV/AIDS, to prevent this pandemic from spreading even further.

我还想再强调一点，那就是勇于去关注我们的政治进程。你们知道吗，每当我跟学生们交谈时，不管是在正式场合还是在校园里，或是在与我女儿和她的朋友们交谈时，你们对社会的关注以及你们志愿为他人服务的精神都给我留下了非常深刻的印象。你们或许已经错过了互联网革命的最后一波浪潮，但是你们却已经明白，互联网革命期待你们每一天都能参与其中。而且我相信你们一直都很乐意成为改造社会的一份子。

And I'll also add, dare enough to care about our political process. You know, as I go and speak with students I'm impressed so much, not only in formal settings ^[注] , on campuses, but with my daughter and her friends, about how much you care, about how willing you are to volunteer and serve. You may have missed the last wave of the dot com revolution, but you've understood that the dot community revolution is there for you every single day. And you've been willing to be part of remaking lives in our community.

然而，很多人都对政治持有排斥心理，会对它避而不谈。我希望你们中的一些人能成为人民的公仆，甚至能亲自参加竞选。不是为了谋取高职，为能在20年同学聚会上跟朋友们炫耀，而是因为你们明白，我们每一个人作为公民都有义务为我们的民主事业做出贡献的重要性。

And yet, there is a real resistance ^[注] , a turning away from the political process. I hope that some of you will be public servants and will even run for office ^[注] yourself, not to win a position to make an impression on your friends at your 20th reunion, but because you understand how important it is for each of us as citizens to make a commitment to our democracy.

你们这一代人是第一批生于二十世纪六七十年代社会动荡之后，成长于八九十年代技术革命时期的人，你们迟早会完全了解自己所要接手过来的经济体制、社会体制和政府机构，并开始认真对待这个瞬息万变的世界。

Your generation, the first one born after the social upheavals of the 60's and 70's, in the midst of the technological advances of the 80's and 90's, are inheriting an economy, a society and a government that you have yet to understand fully, or even come to grips with ^[注] , our rapidly changing world.

因此，把你们的价值观、阅历和洞察力都融于政治之中吧！你们不仅要敢于在政治上有所作为，而且还要敢于创造一个不同的政治体系。有人把你们这一代人称为有选择权利的一代。你们是在多项选择测验、多渠道、多网站以及多元化的生活方式中长大的，你们是在不断的选择中长大的，而这些选择都是前人无法去想象、创造和得到的。

And so bring your values and experiences and insights into politics. Dare to help make, not just a difference in politics, but create a different politics. Some have called you the generation of choice. You've been raised with multiple choice tests, multiple channels, multiple websites and multiple lifestyles. You've grown up choosing among alternatives ^[注] that were either not imagined, created or available to people in prior generations.

你们被赋予了更多的个人力量来规划自己的人生，能够比以往任何时候都更加自由地去选择如何过自己的生活。当我看着你们完成的所有问卷调查和研究时，我认为你们的选择不仅体现了自由意志，也反映了你们的责任心。

You've been invested with far more personal power to customize ^[注] your life, to make more free choices about how to live than was ever thought possible. And I think as I look at all the surveys and research that is done, your choices reflect not only freedom, but personal responsibility.

是社会调查指标，而不是头版头条新闻，让我们感受到整个社会的进步：吸毒、诈骗以及羁押人数均呈下降趋势；少女早孕、青少年自杀以及酒后驾车致死事件的数量也在逐渐减少。同时，参加社区服务及宗教活动的人数呈上升趋势。但是，18岁到29岁人群的投票选举情况则令人担忧。我知道，你们中的许多人都认为参加社会服务和志愿者活动比参与政治活动更能解决我们国家所面临的问题。因为你们认为，政府往往迫于政治压力，缺乏效率或无能，甚至是受金钱驱使而不能理解或做出正确的选择。你们这样做可能是因为上述原因的一种，也可能因为所有这些原因。

The social indicators ^[注] , not the headlines ^[注] ,the social indicators tell a positive story: drug use and cheating and arrests being down, teen pregnancy ^[注] and suicides, drunk driving deaths being down. Community service and religious involvement being up. But if you look at the area of voting among 18 to 29 year olds, the numbers tell a far more troubling tale. Many of you I know believe that service and community volunteerism ^[注] is a better way of solving the issues facing our country than political engagement, because you believe— choose one of the following multiples or choose them all — government either can't understand or won't make the right choices because of political pressures, inefficiency, incompetence or big money influence.

好吧，我承认，人们所指责的情感淡漠和疏远很多都是事实。但实际上，这只是个人逃避责任的借口，也是一种国家危机。政治环境使个人和社会的机遇以及所要承担的责任最大化。由于政策的影响，美国志愿队和美国和平部队应运而生。由于政策的影响，美国的空气、水、土地和食品的清洁和安全得到了保障。根据政策决定的投资使医疗技术和网络技术取得了新的进展。是政治领导人结束了科索沃的种族清洗行为。你们的父母和祖父母能够来耶鲁大学参观得益于政府资助修建的交通运输系统。和我一样，很多人在美国退伍军人福利法案或政府贷款条例的支持下完成了大学教育。

Well, I admit there is enough truth in that critique ^[注] to justify feeling disconnected and alienated ^[注] . But at bottom, that's a personal cop-out ^[注] and a national peril ^[注] . Political conditions maximize ^[注] the conditions for individual opportunity and responsibility as well as community. AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps exist because of political decisions. Our air, water, land and food will be clean and safe because of political choices. Our ability to cure disease or log onto the Internet have been advanced because of politically determined investments. Ethnic cleansing ^[注] in Kosovo ended because of political leadership. Your parents and grandparents traveled here by means of government built and subsidized ^[注] transportation systems. Many used GI Bills or government loans, as I did, to attend college.

现在，你们也许已经猜到，我会一直坚持下去。而且我要强调一点，我们组成了一个国家，每一代人都要响应国家的号召。而且，作为其中的一份子，你们必须做出选择，决定要不要参与国家政治。做出这个选择是很纠结的事情，却能给民主制度带来变革，尤其是现在。现代社会在很多方面都使个人、团体甚至国家放低了眼光，缩小了视野。

Now, I could, as you might guess, go on and on, but the point is to remind us all that government is us and each generation has to stake ^[注] its claim. And, as stakeholders, you will have to decide whether or not to make the choice to participate ^[注] . It is hard and it is, bringing change in a democracy, particularly now. There's so much about our modern times that conspire ^[注] to lower our sights, to weaken our vision — as individuals and communities and even nations.

在一个大众文化和高消费的国度里，造成这种结果的并不是你们可能听说到的什么巨大的阴谋，而是我们天天都能见到的默然的愤世嫉俗、冷漠与疏远。

It is not the vast conspiracy ^[注] you may have heard about; rather it's a silent conspiracy of cynicism and indifference and alienation that we see every day, in our popular culture and in our prodigious ^[注] consumerism ^[注] .

然而，正如很多人曾说过的，瓦茨拉夫·哈维尔（注：曾任捷克斯洛伐克总统）也曾有过令人回味无穷的评论，他说：“仅仅发明新机器、制定新条例、设立新机构是不够的。对于我们存在于这个世界以及我们行为的真正目的要有一个全然不同的、更加彻底的认识，这是非常必要的。”而且，我认为，生活在幸福之中的我们要敢于去追求一个更加美好的世界，这种力量呼吁我们去反抗那些离间、诋毁我们而不是帮助我们发挥天赋的人。

But as many have said before and as Vaclav Havel has said so memorably, “It cannot suffice ^[注] just to invent new machines, new regulations and new institutions. It is necessary to understand differently and more perfectly the true purpose of our existence on this Earth and of our deeds.” And I think we are called on to reject, in this time of blessings that we enjoy, those who will tear us apart and tear us down and instead to liberate our God-given spirit, by being willing to dare to dream of a better world.

在我参加竞选的过程中，当我遇到挫折，日子变得艰难时，我常常把哈丽雅特·塔布曼作为榜样。她是英勇的纽约人，是19世纪的摩西，她冒着生命危险帮助成百上千的奴隶争取到了自由。每年，她都会从安全的纽约奥本回到南方，将人们聚集到一起，告诉他们，无论发生什么都必须勇往直前。如果听见背后有人大声喊叫，他们也必须勇往直前。如果听见枪声或狗叫声，他们也必须继续争取自由。然而，这些并不是我们现在所面临的危险。此刻更为困挠的是沉默、无情和冷淡。

During my campaign, when times were tough and days were long I used to think about the example of Harriet Tubman, a heroic ^[注] New Yorker, a 19th century Moses, who risked her life to bring hundreds of slaves to freedom. She would say to those who she gathered up in the South where she kept going back year after year from the safety of Auburn, New York, that no matter what happens, they had to keep going. If they heard shouts behind them, they had to keep going. If they heard gunfire or dogs, they had to keep going to freedom. Well, those aren't the risks we face. It is more the silence and apathy ^[注] and indifference that dogs ^[注] our heels.

32年前，我在韦尔斯利学院自己的毕业典礼上演讲，当时我呼吁我的同学们反对“我们改变世界的能力是有限的”这样一种观念，并号召他们拥护这样的思想：教育的目标应该是解放人类，以及自由地利用其所拥有的技能去创造奇迹。

Thirty-two years ago, I spoke at my own graduation from Wellesley, where I did call on my fellow classmates to reject the notion of limitations on our ability to effect change and instead to embrace the idea that the goal of education should be human liberation and the freedom to practice with all the skill of our being the art of making possible.

总之，自由是人类最终的归宿。我们要选择去勇于竞争而非冷漠、勇于关爱而非漠不关心、高瞻远瞩而非鼠目寸光、大爱无私而非嫉恶如仇。

For after all, our fate is to be free. To choose competition over apathy, caring over indifference, vision over myopia ^[注] , and love over hate.

毕业典礼对你们来说是一个特殊的时刻，对我来说也是如此，因为我女儿再过四个星期也要毕业了。她也要从一个极为优秀且拥有一流教育水平的大学毕业而开始新的生活了。当我想到所有在外面的父母和祖父母时，我想我能体会他们的感受。他们的心中满是喜悦，会情不自禁流下激动的泪水，因为当我们的孩子在这一时刻、这一地点出席这样一个典礼的时候，你们就已经实现了我们伟大的美国梦。那么，我要为他们的父母们无私的爱、奉献和辛苦工作而喝彩，也要为他们的儿女喝彩！

Just as this is a special time in your lives, it is for me as well because my daughter will be graduating in four weeks, graduating also from a wonderful place with a great education and beginning a new life. And as I think about all the parents and grandparents who are out there, I have a sense of what their feeling. Their hearts are leaping with joy, but it's hard to keep the tears in check because the presence of our children at a time and place such as this is really a fulfillment of our own American dreams.Well, I applaud ^[注] you and all of your love, commitment and hard work, just as I applaud your daughters and sons for theirs.

我希望在自己毕业的时候所传达的信息同样也送给你们。要敢于竞争，敢于关爱，敢于梦想，敢于去爱！要努力创造奇迹！无论发生什么，即使有人在你背后大声喊叫，也要勇往直前。

And I leave these graduates with the same message I hope to leave with my graduate. Dare to compete. Dare to care. Dare to dream. Dare to love. Practice the art of making possible. And no matter what happens, even if you hear shouts behind, keep going.

谢谢你们！愿上帝保佑你们！

Thank you and God bless you all! FaY5iIU4BYZcV7vDFIOPYFkgJmO5v079bRfSDT+je1UbC9Hu57T3ndU2Vt8we8Sm