高西庆校友在美国杜克大学法学院2014届毕业典礼上的演讲全文

编者按：在刚刚结束的美国杜克大学法学院2014届毕业典礼上，86届毕业生高西庆校友深情回忆了他年轻时修铁路不忘学习英语，后来到Duke法学院求学住在图书馆，再后来回国建立中国资本市场的人生经历，并给毕业生们提出了建议：保持开放的心态，肯吃苦、不过分追求物质生活，最重要的是愿意尝试别人没有走过的道路。不忘初心，方得始终。今天我们全文刊发高老师演讲全文(中英文对照)，以飨读者。

I was going to speak today about the necessity for an open-mind as you approach new opportunities, new environment and new paradigm, the need to have stamina in times of difficulty and to not be afraid to take the road less travelled. But I believe most of you know this or you wouldn’t be here today in the first place.

我今天本来想跟大家讲讲未来当你们面对新的机会、新的环境以及新的模式时保持开放心态的必要性，以及遇到困难时应该怎样保持坚持不懈的努力和拥有另辟蹊径的勇气。可是，我相信在座的大部分人都已经十分明白这些道理，否则你们不会取得今天的成绩。

So I'm just going to give you a piece of avuncular advice, tell my story and be boring:

所以我只想从一个长者的角度给你们一点建议，讲讲我的故事，或许这会比较无聊。

Close to thirty years ago, I was where you are today and only a few years before that, it would have seemed impossible to me that I would ever sit where you are today. You have earned this seat, through intelligence, diligence and discipline, my deepest congratulations to all of you. For all the cynicism in the world today, especially given how people perceive the practice of law, I encourage all of you to preserve your optimism, idealism and passion for what you do.

大约30年前，我正坐在你们现在坐的位臵上；如果再倒回几年的话，我完全不敢想像自己有朝一日会成为你们其中的一员。你们通过自己的才智、勤奋和自律赢得了坐在今天毕业典礼上的资格，我衷心地祝贺你们。面对现今横行于世的犬儒主义，尤其是人们对整个法律行业的负面看法，我鼓励你们不要丢掉做自己想做事时的那份乐观、理想以及激情。不忘初心，方得始终。

You have proven that you have a lot to offer this world, now you need to prove you can make a difference, whether that be in the courtroom, classroom, NGO or office lead by example because ANYTHINGIS POSSIBLE! I want to share with you some of

my experience in the hopes that it encourages you to not accept barriers at any cost.

各位同学已经证明你们有能力为这个世界贡献良多，但是现在你需要去证明你确实可以通过努力让这个世界变得不同。这种变化可以发生在法庭上、教室里，也可以发生在民间组织或是政府部门之中，因为一切皆有可能！我想和你们分享一些我的经历，希望以此鼓励你们面对挑战绝不退缩，勇往直前。

As a teenager, I was sent to a railroad construction site deep in the mountains in Western China. Food was rationed and workload was heavy. However, what made it more unbearable was the lack of knowledge and information. I devoured every piece of paper that had any word on it, like a hungry man. Together with a few co-workers we started a study group called \Communist Laborer's Night School\with the few old text books we brought with us, and a radio we used to learn English from VOA and BBC, at the risk of imprisonment for listening to \stations\

当我还是一个十几岁少年的时候，我被送到中国西部的大山区里修建铁路。在那里，食物实行配给制并且工作强度很大，所以我们总是处于饥饿状态。但是，更加让人痛苦的是知识与信息的缺失。我贪婪地去看每张偶尔得到的写有字的纸片，如饥似渴。我还和其他几位工友

们成立了一个“共产主义劳动夜校”。我们一同学习一些旧课本，冒着被判刑的风险用一台收音机听“敌国电台”：从“美国之音”和BBC学习英语。

After 3 years of hard labor and a head injury, I was given a job in an artillery factory making machine guns. I biked about 10 miles twice a week to learn English taught in the Radio Engineering School of a university in Xi'an. Most of the 200 people quitted the class during the one-year study, and I was one of the dozen remaining, together with the chief engineer of my factory, who later put in a strong recommendation for me to go to college in Beijing, without having ever been to a high school.

经过三年繁重的劳动和一次脑部受伤，我被分配到西安一家兵工厂制造机关枪。我每周两次下班后骑自行车去10英里外一所大学的无线电工程系学习英语。在这一年的学习中，200多名学员中的大多数并没有坚持。但是我是那坚持下来的十几个人之一，一同留下来的还有我工厂里的总工程师。他后来在我甚至没有上过高中的情况下强烈推荐我去北京读大学。

After graduating from both college and law school in BJ, I was sent as an exchange scholar to work in a law firm in California. Boy I remember the cultural shock I had when I first arrived