香浓博客

This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005.

以下为Steve Jobs于2005年6月12日在斯坦福大学的毕业典礼上的发言。Steve Jobs美国苹果公司（今天应该叫苹果公司）和皮克斯卡通的首席执行官。
 

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.
 

今天我很荣幸能与你们在一起参加世界上最好的大学的毕业典礼，我没有大学毕业，说实话，这次我离毕业只差一点点。今天我要讲我生活中的三个故事，不是什么大道理，只是三个故事。
 

The first story is about connecting the dots.
 

第一个故事是我生命中的点点滴滴。
 

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?
 

我在Reed学院学习六个月后退学了，但是我在学校呆了一年半后才离开学校。我为什么退学？
 

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife.
 

这要从我出生前说起。我的生母是一个研究生，一个年轻的未婚妈妈，因此她将我交于别人收养。她觉得我必须被一个有教养的家庭收养，于是她计划将我交于一对律师夫妇抚养。
 

Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.
 

只可惜那对律师夫妇 最后一刻反悔，他们想要一个女孩，所以我的父母在午夜时分意外接到生母电话，当她问他们是否要领养一个男孩，他们爽快地答应了。不过生母后来发现他们都不 是大学生时，她一开始拒绝在领养协议书上签字，不过当我的父母承诺将来一定会让我让大学时，她同意了。
 

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.
 

十七岁时我 进入大学。但是无知的我选择了一个几乎和斯坦福一样昂贵的大学，父母辛辛苦苦攒下的所有积蓄都花费在我的学费上，但是在入学六个月后，我并没有发现这昂贵 的学费所带来的价值。我很迷茫，我看不到生活的意义，大学也不能指点迷津，但大学却花了我父母一生的积蓄。所以，退学是我最好的选择，船到桥头自然直。我 很害怕，但每当我回首往事，我仍认为那是我最好的选择，退学了，我再也不用上那些根本吸引不了我的课，而且我可以选择听那些我比较感兴趣的课。
 

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:
 

旁 听的生活并非如此美妙。没有宿舍，我只能睡在朋友房间的地板上，我用退可乐瓶的5先令押金买吃的，每个周末的晚上，我步行七英里穿过小镇到Hare Krishna神庙吃一顿好的。我爱那里的食物。那些我所经历的，因好奇和直觉所犯的错误，都成为我的无价之宝。让我举个例子：
 

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

Reed学院当时开设全国最好的书法专业，校园 中的每张海报，每只抽屉上的标签……整个校园都描绘上漂亮书法。因为我退学了，我不必理会那些基本课程，我跑去学习书法。我学写serif和san serif字体，学到了在不同字母组合间变换的间距，领悟了印刷的伟大。书法的美感、历史感、艺术感是自然科学无法捕捉的，那太迷人了。
 

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

我 从来没有想过这些对我的生活有什么实用价值。但是十年后，当我们设计第一台苹果机时，这些派上了大用场。我们把书法融入计算机，这样第一台能显示漂亮字体 的计算机诞生了。如果我没有在学校旁听那些课，那么Mac机就不会有那些绚丽而美妙的字体，恰到好处的间距。后来又由于Windows模仿Mac，个人电 脑那些漂亮的界面就是不可能的。如果我没有退学，我就不会去旁听图形课，那么个人电脑就不可能有那些漂亮的字体和界面。当然当我在大学时，我并能预见这点点滴滴，但十年后再看，一切如此清晰。

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

因此，你们也不能预见生活，只能回忆。所以你们必须相信，当下的一切必定影响将来。你应学会信任——直觉也好，命运也好，生命也好，创造力也好。因为这些从来没让我失望，它让生活与众不同。
 

My second story is about love and loss.
 

我的第二个故事是关于爱与失。
 

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.
 

我很幸运，因为在我年轻时我就找到了我喜欢的事情。Woz和我在我父母的车库里成立了苹 果，那时我二十岁。我们很努力工作，其结果是十年时间，苹果从车库里的两个员工成长为拥有4000名员工，价值20亿美元的大公司。在我快三十而立时，最 好的产品——Macintosh——诞生。而后，我被炒了。你怎么能被你自己创立的公司炒了呢？当苹果正蓬勃发展之时，我们雇佣一些我认为可以和我一起运 营公司的人，当然，起初确实很好，但后来我们出现分岐，最终我们发生激烈的争吵，而此时，董事会站在那一方。所以当我三十岁时，我失业了。我所热衷的一 切，消失了，无影无踪。
 

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.
 

刚开始几个月我确实不知道何去何从。我觉得我让那些企业家前辈失望 ——我丢掉了他们交给我的接力棒。我与HP的创始人David Packard和Intel的Bob Noyce会谈，为自己把事情搞砸道歉。我成了负面教材，有时我甚至想过离开硅谷。但是，我发现，我还是喜欢我的事业，在Apple的失败并没有改变这一 切。我被否定了，但我对我爱我的事业，所以我决定重新再来。
 

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

虽然当时我没有发现，但我后来越发感觉到，被Apple解雇对我来说再好不过了。功成名就的负担被从头再来的轻松取代，无法预计的未来，让我进入了我一生中最具创造力的年代。
 

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.
 

接下来的五年时间，我开了两家公司，一家叫NeXT，另一 家叫 Pixar，而且我和世上最美的女人坠入爱河，后来她成了我的妻子。Pixar公司制作了世界上第一部CG动画电影——《玩具总动员》，现在Pixar成 为最成功的动画公司。Apple收购NeXT，我又回到苹果，NeXT的技术后来成为苹果复兴的核心。而且Laurene和我也有了个美满的家庭。
 

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

我 敢保证，如果我没有被苹果解雇，这一切都不会发生。良药虽苦，但利于命。人的一生难保不受打击。不要失去信念。我确信，爱我所爱，是我这些年坚持下来的唯 一动力。你得找到你爱的，工作如此，情人亦如此。你的工作将会让你的人生更加充实，唯一获得真正满足的方法就是做你相信是伟大的工作，而唯一做伟大工作的 方法是爱你所做的事。如果你还没有找到你所爱的，那继续找，别停顿。尽你的全部心力，你总会找到，而且一切将会变好。所以继续找，别停顿。

My third story is about death.
 

第三个故事是关于死亡。
 

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
 

当我十七岁时，我读到一则格言，好像是“把每天当作生命的最后一天，你就会一切顺利。”这句话给我感触很深，在过去的33年里，每天早晨我对着镜子问自己：“如果今天是我生命的最后一天，我将会怎么度过？”当无所事事经常成为答案时，我知道我需要改变。

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

每当我做重大决定时，我总提醒自己人生苦短。因为一切，外界的期望，所有名誉，对困窘与失败的恐惧，在面对死亡时，都消失不见。提醒自己人生苦短是我逃离患得患失的困境的最好办法。生不带来，死不带去，一切随性。
 

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.
 

大约两年前我被诊断患 有癌症。我在早上七点半作断层扫描，在胰脏清楚出现一个肿瘤，我连胰脏是什么都不知道。医生告诉这种病是不治之症，我只能活三到六个月，他建议我回家，把 后事准备好，医生总是对临死的病人这样说。那意味你得试着在几个月的时间内把十年的话对自己的孩子讲完，那意味着你得所有事情完成，那样你的家人才会放 心，那意味着告别时刻。
 

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.
 

我整天想着医生的诊断，那天晚上做了一次切片，从喉 咙伸入一个内视镜，从胃进肠子，插了根针进胰脏，取了一些肿瘤细胞出来。我打了镇静剂，不醒人事，但是我老婆在场。她后来跟我说，当医生们用显微镜看过那 些细胞后，他们都哭了，因为那是非常少见的一种胰脏癌，可以用手术治好。所以我接受了手术，康复了。
 

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:
 

这是我最接近死亡的一刻，我希望这最后一刻能够更晚一点再来。经历死亡，我可以讲，死亡不是抽象的概念，而是具体的：
 

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

没 人愿意死。甚至那些想去天堂的人也不希望死亡。但是死亡确是我们必须到达的终点，没人能避免。这是注定的，因为死亡是生命中最伟大的发明，是生命的变化的 媒介。辞去旧岁，迎来新朝。现在你们是新一辈，但是用不了多久，你们也会变成老人，终会死去。生命如同戏剧，但它是真实的。
 

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

人生苦短，所以不要浪费时间活在别人的生活里。不要被教条所欺骗，因为你会活在别人的思想的阴影下。鼓起勇气，敢于追寻你自己的内心与直觉。内心与直觉，会让你成为你成为的人，其它都是次要的。
 

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
 

当 我年轻时，有一本神奇的杂志《The Whole Earth Catalog》，它曾经对我来说如同圣经一般。那是一位住在离这不远的Menlo Park的Stewart Brand发行的，他把杂志办得很有诗意。那是1960年代末期，个人电脑跟桌上出版还没发明，所有内容都是打字机、剪刀跟拍立得相机做出来的。杂志内容 有点像印在纸上的Google，在Google出现之前35年就有了：理想化，充满新奇工具与神奇的注记。
 

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.
 

Stewart跟他的出版团队出了好几期Whole Earth Catalog，然后出了停刊号。当时是1970年代中期，我正是你们现在这个年龄的时候。在停刊号的封底，有张早晨乡间小路的照片，那种你去爬山时会经过的乡间小路。在照片下有行小字：求知若饥，虚心若愚。那是他们亲笔写下的告别讯息，我总是以此自许。当你们毕业，展开新生活，我也以此期许你们。
 

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

求知若饥，虚心若遇。
 

Thank you all very much.