很多人认为，只有总统才能在耶鲁大学的毕业典礼上发表演讲。但近几年条件却更加严格。演讲人必须是美国总统，是耶鲁大学校友，而且他在总统选举中在耶鲁大学所在投票区里得到的票数要少于拉尔夫·纳德。

　　This is my first time back here in quite a while. I'm sure that each of you will make your own journey back at least a few times in your life. If you're like me, you won't remember everything you did here. That can be a good thing. But there will be some people, and some moments, you will never forget.

　　这是我毕业这么长时间以来第一次回到母校。我也相信你们每个人会在毕业以后至少回来几次。当你们像我这么老的时候，你们会不记得在这里做过的每一件事情。这或许是一件好事。不过，一些人，一些事你永远也不会忘记。

　　Take, for example, my old classmate, Dick Brodhead, the accomplished dean of this great university. I remember him as a young scholar, a bright lad a hard worker. We both put a lot of time in at the Sterling Library, in the reading room, where they have those big leather couches. We had a mutual understanding—Dick wouldn't read aloud, and I wouldn't snore.

　　就拿我的老同学狄克·布罗德黑德来说，如今他是这所伟大的学校的杰出校长，他读书时的聪明、好学与刻苦至今让我记忆犹新。那时，我们经常泡在图书馆那个有着大皮沙发的阅读室里。我们之间有个默契：他不大声朗读课文，我睡觉时不打呼噜。

　　Our course selections were different, as we followed our own path to academic discovery. Dick was an English major, and loved the classics. I loved history, and pursued a diversified course of study. I like to think of it as the academic road less traveled.

　　后来，随着学术探索的领域不同，我们选修的课程也各不相同。狄克主修英语，酷爱古典文学，而我主修历史，喜欢多样化的学习过程。我喜欢把这种学习过程想成是少有人走过的学术之路。

　　For example, I took a class that studied Japanese Haiku. Haiku, for the uninitiated, is a 15th century form of poetry, each poem having 17 syllables. Haiku is fully understood only by the Zen masters.

　　有趣的是，我选修过日本俳句，对门外汉来说，俳句是15世纪日本的一种诗歌形式，每首诗只有17个音节，我想其意义只有禅学大师才能明了。