在座的各位同学,你们是在与我不同的时间来到哈佛的。
[00:04.44]You know more about the world's inequities than the classes that came before.
你们比以前的学生更多地了解世界的不平等。
[00:10.39]In your years here, I hope you've had a chance to think about how-
在你们的哈佛求学过程中,我希望你们已经思考过一个问题——
[00:16.05]in this age of accelerating technology-
在这个技术加速发展的时代——
[00:19.36]we can finally take on these inequities, and we can solve them.
我们最终怎样应对这些不平等,以及我们怎样来解决这些问题。
[00:25.40]Imagine, just for the sake of discussion,
为了讨论的方便,请想象一下,
[00:28.52]that you had a few hours a week and a few dollars a month to donate to a cause-
假如你每个星期可以献出一些时间、每个月可以捐献一些钱——
[00:34.43]and you wanted to spend that time and money
你希望这些时间和金钱,
[00:37.18]where it would have the greatest impact in saving and improving lives.
可以用到对拯救生命和改善人类生活有最大作用的地方。
[00:42.26]Where would you spend it?
你会在哪儿花费它们?
[00:44.55]For Melinda and for me, the challenge is the same:
这也是美琳达(注:盖茨的妻子)和我面临的问题:
[00:47.54]how can we do the most good for the greatest number with the resources we have.
我们如何能使我们所拥有的资源发挥其最大的作用,为最多的人做有益的事情。
[00:53.57]During our discussions on this question, Melinda and I read an article
在讨论这个问题的过程中, 美琳达和我读到了一篇文章,
[00:58.44]about the millions of children who were dying every year in poor countries from diseases that we had long ago made harmless in this country,
说在那些贫穷的国家,每年有数百万的儿童死于那些在美国早已不成问题的疾病:
[01:08.46]measles, malaria, pneumonia, hepatitis B, yellow fever.
麻疹、疟疾、乙型肝炎、黄热病,
[01:15.05]One disease I had never even heard of, rotavirus,
还有一种以前我从未听说过的轮状病毒。
[01:19.27]was killing half a million kids each year-
这种疾病每年导致50万儿童死亡,
[01:22.56]none of them in the United States.
但是在美国一例死亡病例也没有。
[01:25.50]We were shocked.
我们震惊了。
[01:27.25]We had just assumed that if millions of children were dying and they could be saved,
心想,如果几百万儿童正在死亡线上挣扎,而且他们是可以被挽救的,
[01:33.07]the world would make it a priority to discover and deliver the medicine to save them.
那么世界理应把发现并派送药物拯救他们作为头等大事。
[01:39.08]But it did not.
但是事实并非如此。
[01:40.57]For under a dollar, there were interventions that could save lives that just weren't being delivered.
那些价格还不到一美元的救命的药剂,并没有被送到他们的手中。