OWNED BY PARROT01

What is it that is most distinctive about the best universities? One thing is this: ideas are judged by the quality they possess, and not by the status of the presenter. Professors at Harvard want their students to do what is new. When students do research, testing a hypothesis or a theory one of their professors, sure, the professor would prefer it if the research came out to confirm the professor’s hypothesis，than if the research came out to deny the hypothesis; professors are human.

一流大学最典型的特点是什么？其中之一就是思想的价值是通过本身所拥有的 品质来判断的，而不是根据这个思想的提出者的地位进行判断的。尽管哈佛大学的 教授希望他们的学生能有创新之举，但是当学生作研究验证某一教授提出的假设或 理论时，这个教授仍然希望这项研究结果出来后会证实他的假设而不是推翻他们的 假设，毕竟教授也是普通人。

But the professor would be absolutely insistent that the research was important to do, was important to point out, was important to publish, no matter what results were displayed. We have professors at Harvard who are very committed to particular beliefs about the nature of evolution, about environmental issues, about economic issues; but every one of them would insist that it was the obligation of the University to hire the best and most promising scholars to join their department, regardless of whether they agreed or whether they disagreed with their research.

然而，无论研究的结果如何，教授仍旧会坚持认为这项研究很重要，值得一做，值得提出，也值得发表。哈佛大学有些教授献身于研究进化论的本质、环境问 题和经济问题；但是每一个教授都坚持认为大学的职责就是雇佣顶尖的、最有前途的学者加入他们的院系，无论这些学者是否赞同他们的研究成果。

This emphasis, this emphasis on judging ideas by their quality, is finding its way throughout the world. People in business speak of the death of hierarchy. They speak of the rising importance of teamwork. They speak of the importance of emphasizing creativity. And, dare I say, this approach of judging ideas by their quality, rather than their source, has been something very important to the revolution that has taken place in China over the last twenty some years, and to the enormous progress that Chinese society has made.

这种强调以质量来判断思想的做法正在向全世界蔓延商界人士谈到等级制度 的消亡、谈到团队精神和创造力日趋显著的重要性。我敢说，这种通过质量而非来 源判断思想的方法对中国在过去二十几年中取得的长足进步至关重要。

A second deep commitment of universities that is also being emulated throughout a broader world is a commitment to a diversity of perspective, a willingness to draw individuals from any background, no matter what, if it contributes to our excellence. This has been a continuing quest for us at Harvard University. A century ago, Harvard University was a place where gentlemen from rich families taught other, younger, gentlemen from rich families in New England. It was not open to students who had gone to public schools; it was not open to students who were black; it was not open to students who were women; it was not open to students who were born in a large part of the United States. As recently as half a century ago, there were faculty members who were asked to leave Harvard University because they were not of the right religion. There were limits placed on certain groups, because they would otherwise be too numerous and make people feel uncomfortable.

大学正在被一个更广阔的世界赶超，所以大学所承担的第二个重要的任务是对 多样化的承诺，也就是说，一个人不管来自什么背景，只要他能为哈佛的卓越作出 贡献，我们就愿意让他进入哈佛。这也一直是哈佛大学不断追求和探索的东西。一 个世纪前，哈佛大学是出身富裕家庭的绅士们培育来自新英格兰富裕家庭的年轻绅 士的地方o这里不对公立学校的学生黑人、女生和那些出生在美国其他大部分州的 学生开放。50多年以前，有些哈佛教员由于他们的宗教信仰不同而被迫离开学校。哈 佛大学对某些团体也有限制，因为如果不做限制，学生数量就会多得令人不舒服。

Today, Harvard is a university that is far more open and inclusive to persons，men and women, to persons of all faiths，to persons of all races, to persons from every state in our country, to persons from every country in the world. But we still have a long way to go if we are going to be more inclusive and open，if we are going to get the benefits that diverse perspectives provide, but, even more，if we are going to bring the best learners and teachers to our campus. We must cast our net for excellence as widely as we possibly can.

现在，哈佛是一所更加开放的大学，无论性别、无论信仰、无论种族、无论国籍、无论来自美国哪个州，所有人都可以进入哈佛大学。.但是，如果我们想更加包 容和开放，如果我们想从多样化视角的建立中受益，或者更进一步地说，如果我们 想把最优秀的学生和老师吸引到哈佛大学来，我们仍然还有很长的路要走，我们必 须尽可能地面向全世界招贤纳士。

As universities have evolved, so, too, have the best and most sophisticated business organizations, have the governments of the best-led countries, away from choosing a narrow elite based on personal connection, towards finding the people who are most able，and are able to make the greatest contribution. And we have a long way to go here, too. But we are making progress, and we are making progress in no small part based on a model that has come from universities.

正如大学的演变一样，那些最优秀和最尖端的商业机构和最优秀的国家政府 都已经不再根据人际关系来挑选少数精英了，而是转向挖掘那些最有才能和最能给 他们作出贡献的人才。在这方面，我们同样也有很长的路要走。但是，我们正在进 步，而且这种进步在很大程度上基于大学的模式。

There is a third difference that is very real，and very special, about universities, but that is increasingly important in all kinds of organizations. And here，it is a place where, perhaps, universities and China have something in common, and that is: an emphasis on taking the long view. When we think about a work of scholarship，we are not just seeking to judge what its impact will be tomorrow, what its impact will be next week, next month, or next year. We are seeking to make contributions to knowledge that will, ultimately, make the biggest difference over the longest run.

第三个区别，也是大学里最真实、最特殊的一点，而且这一点在各种各样的 机构中也显得越来越重要。这一点也许和中国的大学有一些相似之处，就是强调从 长远的眼光来看问题。当我们考虑一项学术研究时，我们并不仅仅从它是否能在下 周、下个月或下一年产生影响来评判它，我们追求的是从长远来看，为最终能产生 最大影响的知识作贡献。

And, increasingly, the best business organizations, the best institutions of any society, are those which, yes, try to move rapidly to take advantage of any opportunity, but also which pay attention to the very long run~those who also invest in the ideas that are going to make the biggest differences not tomorrow, but a decade and a century from now.

越来越多一流的商业机构和一流的社会团体不仅利用每一个机会寻求快速发展，而且还重视长期效益，他们都在投资一些不只在当前，而是在将来会产生影响 的点子和创意。

This is the faith on which universities are supremely based. It is a faith that has paid off in the United States, and，I believe, has paid off for all who have sought to follow it. Some seventy-five percent of major patents granted in the United States draw their inspiration, in important respects, from university-based research. The desire of students from all over the world to come to American universities makes universities who don’t try to profit, who don’t naturally use words like ‘competition’，as successful as any export activity that the United States possesses.

这不仅是大学最根本的信仰，同时也是在美国巳经获得成功的信仰。而且，我 相信它会给任何想追随这一信仰的人带来成功。在美国所授予的主要专利中，大约 有75%的重要研究灵感都是从大学里的研究中获得的。世界各地学生渴望到美国留 学这一事实，使得美国大学并不以盈利为目的，自然也不用“竟争” 一词，但是美 国的大学与这个国家所拥有的任何一种出口业务比起来一样成功。

What is it that has enabled American universities to be successful, and what is the best thinking that we have right now about how universities can excel? I，d like to reflect on a few aspects of that，and then I’d like to reflect on what seemed to me to be some of the challenges for universities in going forward.

那么，是什么促使美国大学成功？又是什么样的想法是创办一流大学的最佳见 解呢？我想就这个问题的几个方面进行探讨，我还想就大学未来发展所面临的一些 挑战进行探讨。

First: separation from politics and from external control. At Harvard University, the Governor of Massachusetts, or the President of the United States, can have absolutely no sway over who is appointed as a professor of economics, or a professor of engineering, or a professor of medicine. They cannot appoint their friends, and they cannot appoint people who will support their causes.

首先，大学应该不受政治和外界控制的干扰。在哈佛大学，无论是马萨诸塞州 的州长还是美国总统都根本没有权力决定谁应该被任命为经济学教授、工程学教授 或医学教授，他们根本没有权力为他们的朋友或支持他们的人指手划脚。

There is a second thing that is essential to the best of universities, and that is this: they compete ruthlessly for the most able people. I was asked at a gathering, earlier, in China, what advice I would give to someone who was trying to create the best possible university. And I said，there was really, in the long run, only one thing that mattered to having the best possible university, and that was having the most creative, the most Intellectually engaged, and the smartest faculty, I said that, if a university was successful in finding the best young scholars, and attracting them to spend their careers at that university, and they found the best scholars, the best students would find their way to the best scholars; the most research funding would find its way to the best scholars. And, in the end, very little else matters other than making an absolute commitment to having the best.

对创办一流大学至关重要的第二点是这些大学应竭尽全力争取优秀人才。早些 时候，在中国的一次聚会上，有人让我针对创建世界一流大学给点建议。我说，从 长远来看，要想创建一流大学，只有一件事是非常重要的，那就是要拥有最具创造 力、最积极思考、最聪明的师资。我说，如果一个大学能够成功地找到一流的年轻 学者，吸引他们留在大学工作，那么最好的学生将有机会成为最好的学者；最好的 学者将获得最多的研究奖金，他们也会作出最有创造性的计划方案。最终，成就一 所最好的大学将不再是什么难事。

Having the best means not having the idea that everybody can be treated in precisely the same way. Having the best means having the idea that those with the newest ideas will also be those with the most threatening ideas, and that those threats have to be overcome. Having the best will mean accepting the best, because the best will not always be the easiest with whom to get along. Indeed, it will often be true that the very same features that make individuals most creative, that make them most challenging, that make their ideas most exciting, also make them the people who don’t ‘fit in’ in the smoothest ways. And the best universities understand that, and they reach to find the most able people.

创造一流意味着在待人的方式上不能千篇一律；创造一流意味着要有这样一种 观念，那就是拥有最新思想的人一定是那些思想最尖锐的人，而且学校还得学会化 解这种尖锐。创造一流意味着要接受最优秀的人，因为最优秀的人并不总是最容易 相处的人。的确，事实是，最具创造力、最富挑战性、思想最活跃的人有一个共同 特点，就是这些人难以以最顺畅的方式融人社会，而一流的大学能理解这一点，并 且仍尽力去寻找这些最优秀的人。