Still, I'm optimistic. Yes, inequity has been with us forever, but the new tools we have to cut through complexity have not been with us forever. They are new-they can help us make the most of our caring-and that's why the future can be different from the past.
同前面一样，在这个问题上，我依然是乐观的。不错，人类的不平等有史以来一直存在，但是那些能够化繁为简的新工具，却是最近才出现的。这些新工具可以帮助我们，将人类的同情心发挥最大的作用，这就是为什么将来同过去是不一样的。
The defining and ongoing innovations of this age-biotechnology, the personal computer, and the Internet-give us a chance we've never had before to end extreme poverty and end death from preventable disease.
这个时代无时无刻不在涌现出新的发明——生物技术，个人计算机和互联网——它们给了我们一个从未有过的机会，去终结那些极端的贫穷和可预防的疾病的死亡。
Sixty years ago, George Marshall came to this commencement and announced a plan to assist the nations of post-war Europe. He said: "I think one difficulty is that the problem is one of such enormous complexity that the very mass of facts presented to the public by press and radio make it exceedingly difficult for the man in the street to reach a clear appraisement of the situation. It is virtually impossible at this distance to grasp at all the real significance of the situation."
六十年前，乔治·马歇尔也是在这个地方的毕业典礼上，宣布了一个计划，帮助那些欧洲国家进行战后建设。他说：“我认为，困难的一点是这个问题太复杂，报纸和电台向公众源源不断地提供各种事实，使得大街上的普通人极难于清晰地判断形势。事实上，经过层层传播，想要真正地把握形势是根本不可能的。”
Thirty years after Marshall made his address, which is thirty years ago, as my class graduated without me, technology was emerging that would make the world smaller, more open, more visible, less distant.
马歇尔发表这个演讲之后的三十年，也就是三十年前我那一届学生毕业，当然我不在其中。那时，新技术刚刚开始萌芽，它们将使得这个世界变得更小、更开放、更容易看到、距离更近。
重点讲解：
1. cut through
解决；删减；克服；
eg. He was determined to cut through the difficulties.
他下决心要克服困难。
eg. It might also cut through the gridlocked trench warfare between big-government liberals and small-government conservatives.
这样可能还能打破大政府自由主义者和小政府保守主义者之间水火不容的僵持局面。
2. make the most of
尽量利用；充分利用；
eg. The dining-room has a southern aspect which allows us to make the most of the sun.
这间餐厅方向朝南，使我们享有充分的阳光。
eg. He wished to make the most of his opportunity.
他想充分利用他的机会。
3. a mass of/masses of
大堆；许多；大量；
eg. On his desk is a mass of books and papers.
他的书桌上有大堆的书籍和文件。
eg. It has masses of flowers each year.
它每年都开许多花。 |