瑟利夫夫人在哈佛大学2011年毕业典礼上的演讲(4)

利比里亚合作。我在发言中批评了政府，这使我遇到了人生第一次政治麻烦。哈佛顾问团的团长看出了这一点，在一个封闭的社会中，我可能会遭受到危险，他设法让我成为肯尼迪政府学院的梅森研究员。梅森项目使我有机会学习多种课程，得到公共管理硕士学位。它的更重要的作用，可能是培养领导能力。这个项目使我们与其他研究员和同学一起学习和互动，如今他们正在或将要走上各国政治领袖的位置。

I engaged, thrilled to be among the world’s best minds, yet overwhelmed by the reality of being a part of the world’s most prestigious institution of learning. As a result, I did things that I should have done, like studying hard, going to the stacks to do the research for the many papers and for better knowledge of the history of my country. I notice a few blank stares — evidence of the generation gap — so let me explain: the stacks contained books, which people used to write, and other people used to read, before Google Scholar was created. I also did things that I should not have done, like exposing myself to frostbite when I joined students much younger than I to travel by bus to Washington, D.C., to demonstrate against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.

与全世界最优秀的人在一起，成为世界最富盛名的教育机构的一份子，让我兴奋异常，全身心地投入，忙得不可开交。因此，我不仅做那些应该做的事情，比如刻苦学习、阅读一堆堆与研究项目和祖国历史有关的文献。（我看到有些听众不太理解的眼神，这就是”代沟”了，让我来解释一下，所谓”一堆堆”是指里面有很多书籍。Google学术搜索诞生之前，人们习惯写作和阅读书籍。）我还做那些本不应该做的事情，比如与许多比我年轻很多的学生，一起坐巴士，去华盛顿游行示威，反对美国卷入越南战争，这让我得了冻疮。

It is difficult to imagine achieving all that I have, without the opportunity to study at Harvard. It is, therefore, for me a profound honor to be counted as an alumna. I salute my fellow graduates who share that rich heritage of academic excellence and the pursuit of truth.

如果没有来到哈佛学习，很难想象我会得到今天的成就。因此，能够被哈佛承认为校友，对我来说是一种特别的光荣。我向那些一起毕业的同学致敬，他们继承了学术传统，追求真理，发扬光大了哈佛精神。

In preparation for this Address, I was pleasantly surprised to learn how far back Liberia’s connection to Harvard goes. The establishment of the Liberia College (now the University of Liberia) in 1862, the second-oldest institution of higher learning in West Africa, was led and funded by the Trustees of Donations for Education in Liberia. Simon Greenleaf, the Harvard College law professor who drafted Liberia’s Independence Constitution of 1847, was the founder and president of the Trustees of Donations for Education in Liberia.

准备这篇演讲稿的过程中，我很高兴和震惊地了解到，利比里亚与哈佛大学的联系可以追溯到非常久远之前。利比里亚学院（现为利比里亚大学）成立于1862年，是西部非洲第二古老的高等教育机构。这所学校是由”利比里亚教育基金会”资助和领导的，而这个基金会的创始人和主席是Simon Greenleaf。他是哈佛大学法学教授，在1847年起草了利比里亚独立宪章。