Why are you worried? Partly it is our fault. We have told you from the moment you arrived here that you will be the leaders responsible for the future, that you are the best and the brightest on whom we will all depend, that you will change the world. We have burdened you with no small expectations. And you have already done remarkable things to fulfill them: your dedication to service demonstrated in your extracurricular engagements, your concern about the future of the planet expressed in your vigorous championing of sustainability, your reinvigoration of American politics through engagement in this year’s presidential contests.

　　然而，你们为什么担忧呢？这部分地是我们的责任。当你们一踏进这个学校，我们就告诉你们：你们将成为领导未来的中坚人物，你们将成为美国人民依赖的最顶尖、最杰出的精英，你们将改变整个世界。我们“望子成龙”的期望使你们背上了负担。而你们为了实现这些期望也已经做得很好：在对课外活动的从事中，你们展示出对于服务性工作的奉献精神；从对可持续发展的热情拥护，你们表达出对这个星球的关怀；通过对今年总统竞选的参与，你们做出了希望使美国政治重新恢复活力的实际行动。

　　But many of you are now wondering how these commitments fit with a career choice. Is it necessary to decide between remunerative work and meaningful work? If it were to be either/or, which would you choose? Is there a way to have both?

　　但你们中的很多人现在会问，“怎样才能把做这些有价值的事情和一个职业选择结合起来呢？”“是否必须在一份有报酬却没价值的工作和一份有价值却没报酬的工作间做出抉择呢？”“如果是一个单选题，您会选哪一个？”“有没有折中的办法？”

　　You are asking me and yourselves fundamental questions about values, about trying to reconcile potentially competing goods, about recognizing that it may not be possible to have it all. You are at a moment of transition that requires making choices. And selecting one option — a job, a career, a graduate program — means not selecting others. Every decision means loss as well as gain — possibilities foregone as well as possibilities embraced. Your question to me is partly about that — about loss of roads not taken.

　　你们在问我，也是问你们自己问题，即关于价值观的根本性的问题。你们在试图调解两个商品潜在的相互竞争，承认也许不可能兼得两者。你们在经历一次人生的转折，而这个转折需要你们自己做出一些决定。选择一条道路——一份工作、一项事业或一个研究生课题——不单单是在选择东西。每个决定都意味着“得”与“失”——过去与未来的种种可能。你们问我的问题其实有几分是关于“失”，即你放弃的那条道路让你失去了什么。

　　Finance, Wall Street, “recruiting” have become the symbol of this dilemma, representing a set of issues that is much broader and deeper than just one career path. These are issues that in one way or another will at some point face you all — as you graduate from medical school and choose a specialty — family practice or dermatology, as you decide whether to use your law degree to work for a corporate firm or as a public defender, as you decide whether to stay in teaching after your two years with TFA. You are worried because you want to have both a meaningful life and a successful one; you know you were educated to make a difference not just for yourself, for your own comfort and satisfaction, but for the world around you. And now you have to figure out the way to make that possible.

　　金融、华尔街，“招聘”一词已经成了这种博弈的符号，代表着比仅仅选择一条职业道路更广更深的一系列问题。这些问题早晚将面临着你们每个人——如果你是从医学院毕业，你将选择一个具体从医方向——做私人医生还是专攻皮肤病，如果你学的是法律，你将决定是用你的法律知识为一个公司法人卖命还是成为公众的正义化身，或是在 “教育美国人”两年后你决定是否继续从教。你们之所以担忧，是因为你们想拥有充满价值的同时又是成功的人生；你们知道，你们被教育要有大的作为，不仅仅是为了个人，为了自己生活地舒适，而是要让周围的世界因此而改变。因此你们才不得不思考怎样才能让其成为可能。