华裔女孩哈佛大学毕业演讲：说话是一种才能，沉默是一种智慧

发人深省！华裔女孩哈佛大学毕业演讲：说话是一种才能，而沉默是一种智慧！

华裔女生Bessie Zhang 哈佛演讲，哈佛大学2017毕业演讲，语速平缓流利，落落大方。她也在演讲中强调了这个时代沉默的缺失，让人们忘记了沉默的价值。

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Sparks crackles as 10 pairs of hands reached for the fire pit to stay warm. Around the circle set several bright-eyed incoming freshmen including myself. We shivered slightly in the evening chill and I pulled my jacket tighter. Above us a canopy of stars emerged from the darkness. We were asked to tell a story about ourselves. I had only known these people for 48 hours but excited, nervous and willing to go wherever we were pointed. We went ahead.

当我们的十双手一起伸向火坑取暖的时候，火花发出阵阵声响。一群眼睛明亮的新生围坐在一起，其中也包括我。我们在傍晚的寒气中微微颤抖，我也把夹克拉得更紧。在我们的头顶上方，漫天繁星从黑暗中露出身影。按照规则，我们都要讲一个关于自己的故事。我才刚刚认识这些同学48个小时而已，但在兴奋和紧张的驱使下，我很乐意按照要求做任何事情。于是，我们就照做了。

I told the story of my family and our journey settling into North America as immigrants. As I spoke, everyone stayed silent. After I finished, the only sound with the flowing stream and crackling fire. I briefly wondered if I was a terrible storyteller and everyone had fallen asleep. But in this very silence, I felt an inexplicable sense of connection with my peers who moments ago were strangers. If you had told me that my introduction to Harvard involved body odor built up over five days without a shower, I may have gone to Yale.

我讲述了自己的家庭以及作为移民定居在北美的故事。我在发言的时候，现场一片沉静。当我讲完之后，现场也只有流动的小溪和噼噼啪啪的火焰声。我很想知道是不是自己的故事讲得不好，所以每个人听了都会犯困。但正是在这种沉默中，我也莫名的地感觉到了自己与这些同龄人之间存在着某种联系，因为他们在此之前都是陌生人。如果你当初告诉我，说我在对哈佛进行介绍的时候散发出了五天没有洗澡的气味，那么我很可能已经去耶鲁了。

But today four years later, this moment is one of the most formative of my college experience. It wasn't just the warmth of the fire, the scenery it illuminated or the excitement of starting the next phase of our lives. It was because of the silence. As I spoke, everyone simply listened. Their motivation was not to comment, respond or a few chose to truly hear what I had to say. Our society values the outspoken, the opinionated. There are debate tournaments, but who's ever heard of a listening tournament, especially at Harvard where we are constantly asked to speak our minds and prove ourselves.

但在四年后的今天，此时此刻是我大学生涯中最具影响力的一次。这不是因为篝火带来的暖意，它所照亮的风景，或者是即将步入人生另一个阶段时的激动心情，而是因为沉默。在我演讲的时候，每个人都只是在听，没有人想要对我的演讲进行点评或回应，其实也只有极少数人真正在听我讲。我们的社会重视直言不讳、固执己见的人。辩论比赛到处都有，但有谁真正听说过“听力比赛”?尤其是在哈佛，我们通常被要求说出自己的想法，并证明自己的能力。

Silence is devalued. But as we focus on talking, we miss an opportunity to grasp the complexity around us. Instead, when we let silence wash over, a space is created for vulnerability and the potential to know others in a way that all our talking could never allow. To hear the person who is brave enough to share in moments of struggle when everyone else seems to have it together, the peer who feels like an outsider, the friend who has secretly endured an experience that has shaped all our interactions. Silence allows us to engage with each other more deeply. It has shown me during my time at Harvard with all of you that the person sitting two rows in front of me has a story as complex, rich and confusing as my own.

沉默的价值已经被忽视了。但当我们专心交谈之际，很可能会错过一个抓住周围复杂事物的机会。相反，当我们的沉默被冲刷殆尽，就会产生一个为脆弱而生的空间环境，并且会以一种所有交谈方式都不允许的方式去了解他人。当大家都在一起的时候，你可能会听到有人在勇敢地在分享自己的经历，而正是那些感觉自己像局外人的小伙伴以及曾默默经历过一段艰难时刻的朋友塑造了我们所有的互动情景。沉默可以让我们更深入地了解彼此。与你们一起在哈佛的那段时间里，它已经向我展示了坐在我面前的那两排同学的故事，就像我自己的故事一样复杂、丰富、让人感到困惑。

In the piece of reflection, we can also engage more genuinely with ourselves. To pause from the programmed noise and rush of the everyday, and to just be. Sometimes instead of books filled with texts, we simply need to open one with blank pages onto which our own thoughts musings, and reflections can pour out. That night as the flame flickered low, I learned that what made others feel most understood, what makes me feel most understood, is an appreciation for the mundane. The stories we find ourselves sharing around the fire are not the contents of our resumes, they are about our families, about a walk we took along the Charles River with a friend, about a call we got from a parent, sibling or child to check in. It is these hidden moments, the seemingly forgettable substance of our daily lives that make up the very core of who we are.

在反思的过程中，我们也可以更加真诚地接触自己。摆脱程序化的噪音，停下每天匆忙的脚步。有时，我们需要一些空白页，在上面写上我们自己的想法和思考，而不是满是文字的书籍。那天晚上，当火焰摇曳的时候，我了解到，让他人最容易理解的，同时也是让我最容易理解的，是对世俗的欣赏。我发现我们那天晚上所分享的故事并不是关于简历的内容，而是关于我们的家庭，我们和朋友一起沿着查尔斯河散步，关于我们与父母、兄弟姐妹或孩子通电话的故事。正是这些潜在的时刻、这些我们日常生活中看似容易被遗忘的故事构成了我们人生的核心。

Dear class of 2017, tomorrow we graduate and we leave behind dining hall FroYo, historical snow days and Dean states Easter's fungi. With a Harvard degree come expectations to lead the way change the world and assert our presence. But, what if we enter the next phase of our lives not only with our talk and opinions, but also our silence to honor and listen to the complexities around us and in ourselves whatever they may be. Four years ago, one of the most powerful welcomes I received at Harvard was in the quiet of nature, as the stream trickled by and the embers continued to blow. We are not gathered around a fire today, but I'd like to what I preach and take the last valuable moments of my speech not speaking with you but instead spending the next 10 seconds with you in silence, reflecting and listening to this unique place we have all shared these last four years. Thank you!

亲爱的2017届同学们，明天我们就要毕业了，我们将要离开餐厅里的那家冰冻酸奶店、哈佛的雪景和我们敬爱的院长。我们手捧哈佛大学的学位，期待着改变世界、证明我们的存在。但是，假使我们步入了人生的另一个阶段，不仅只是发表自己的观点和看法，而且还带着一种沉默，尊重、倾听我们周围以及自身的复杂性，无论那是什么，将会怎么样呢?四年前，我在哈佛受到的最有力的欢迎仪式就来自于大自然的宁静，溪流慢慢流淌，余烬继续吹着。今天我们虽然不是围坐在篝火旁，但我想将我的理念付诸实践。在我演讲的最后几分钟的宝贵时刻，我就不讲了，我想在最后的10秒钟与你们一起保持沉默，反思、倾听这个我们一起共同度过了四年的特殊地方。