美国时间2020年8月29日，耶鲁校长苏必德（Peter Salovey），通过在线视频向2024届耶鲁新生发表了开学演讲。
苏必德在演讲中提到，新学年始于一个非常动荡的时期，社会冲突和疫情让一切发生了改变。
在这些严峻的社会问题面前，大学应该扮演一个什么样的角色呢？这是苏必德在演讲中提到一直在思考的问题。虽然许多问题仍难找寻答案，但有一点可以肯定，那就是耶鲁大学的核心使命比以往任何时候都更为重要。
将知识一代代传承下去，用它们助力美好的事情发生，这是耶鲁使命的重要组成部分。在演讲中，苏必德对新生表达了期待，“请你们务必把握好在耶鲁的时间。让我们互相学习，在求知中完成自我蜕变。利用大学时光改变自己，成为更具慈悯心的人。让我们携起手来，一同应对现存的以及未来可能出现的新挑战，共创所愿世界。”
以下为部分耶鲁大学校长苏必德向2020年耶鲁大学一年级新生发表的演讲：
Hello everyone! To first-year, transfer, and Eli Whitney students: Welcome to Yale! I also extend a warm welcome to all the family members and friends who join me in recognizing this milestone in your lives.
大家好！所有大一新生们、转校生、Eli Whitney项目的学生们：欢迎来到耶鲁!也欢迎各位耶鲁家属和朋友的加入，与我一起见证你们人生中的重要时刻。
Today we begin a new academic year at a time of significant upheaval. Historically, social conflict and disease pandemics have catalyzed change, and so we should not be surprised that many are calling now for further transformation of our society.
新学年始于一个非常动荡的时期。过去的一段时间里，社会冲突和疫情让一切发生了改变。如今，许多人期望我们的社会实现进一步的变革，我们对此也不感到惊讶。
We are dealing with two parallel crises: the COVID-19 pandemic and the racial inequality and injustice rooted in our country’s history of slavery and still facing us today. We have all been affected by these challenges, especially members of Black and brown communities who bear the brunt of these burdens.
摆在我们面前的是双重危机：新冠肺炎疫情，和种族不平等、不公正的问题。种族问题起源于美国奴隶制的历史，却依旧延续至今。我们所有人都受到了这些挑战的影响，特别是黑色和棕色人种群体承受最多。
I have been giving a lot of thought to the university’s role in addressing difficult social issues. Much remains to be answered in this turbulent period, but what is certain is that the core mission of Yale is more relevant than ever.
在这些严峻的社会问题面前，大学应该扮演一个什么样的角色呢?这是我近来一直在思考的问题。虽然许多问题仍难找寻答案，但有一点可以肯定，那就是耶鲁大学的核心使命比以往任何时候都更为重要。
I am sure each of you has studied Yale’s mission statement:Yale is committed to improving the world today and for future generations through outstanding research and scholarship, education, preservation, and practice. Yale educates aspiring leaders worldwide who serve all sectors of society. We carry out this mission through the free exchange of ideas in an ethical, interdependent, and diverse community of faculty, staff, students, and alumni.我相信你们每一位都研读过耶鲁的使命宣言：通过卓越的研究、学术、教育、保护与实践，耶鲁致力于改善世界，为今天也为后人。耶鲁以为社会各界和全球各地区培养领袖为己任。在一个崇尚道德、相互依存、丰富多元的集体中，教职员工、学生和校友自由交流，以践行我们的使命。
Research, scholarship, education, preservation, and practice are vital to understanding our past, building on hard-earned progress, identifying what still needs to be done, and creating change. You know this; it is why you are here.
学术研究、教育、保护与实践的重要意义在于帮助我们理解过去，让我们基于前人得来不易的成果，找到自己仍需要做的事，从而带来改变。对此你其实早有了解，因为这是你之所以选择耶鲁的原因。
You will be studying with professors who use their knowledge and expertise to improve the world. Yale faculty members work with government officials and others on containing the spread of infectious diseases, mitigating health disparities, transforming policing, and reforming the criminal justice system.
你们将跟随教授学习。他们用自己的知识和专业技能改善着这个世界。耶鲁教职工与政府官员和其他人紧密合作，努力遏制疫情的扩散，缩小健康卫生方面存在的差距，改变治安执法状况，改革刑事司法体系。
While addressing challenges like these, you will learn from your teachers how to analyze problems, think critically, and communicate clearly. Along the way, you also will be encouraged to focus on yourself. Whether fighting a global pandemic or the scourge of racism, global climate change or economic recession, we must be willing to be honest about our own motivations and open to changing our minds. Efforts to solve pressing problems will not be effective if they are led by individuals who cannot feel compassion nor learn to cooperate, nor by those who try to achieve change through manipulation, coercion, or brute force.
面对诸如此类的挑战，你会跟随老师学习如何分析问题，如何批判性思考，如何清晰地表达自己的观点。在此过程中，我们还希望你可以关注自身。无论应战的是全球疫情，还是种族矛盾，是全球气候变化，或是经济衰退，我们都必须坦诚对待自己的动机，开放思想，迎接改变。想要有效地解决这些紧迫的难题，就要跟随正确的领导者，不能跟随那些毫无慈悯之心、不懂得合作的人，也不能跟随那些试图通过操纵、胁迫和暴力手段实现变革的人。
Here at Yale, we learn from each other. That is why academics like me enjoy spending their entire lives on college campuses. And it is why you chose to come to Yale. The passing of knowledge and the responsibility to do some good with it from one generation to the next is a large part of Yale’s mission. It is hard work.
在耶鲁大学，我们能够互相学习。这就是为什么像我这样的学者愿意在大学校园里度过一生的原因，这也是为什么你选择来到耶鲁大学的原因。将知识一代代传承下去，用它们助力美好的事情发生，这是耶鲁使命的重要组成部分。当然，实现它需要付出艰辛。
So, please: use your time at Yale wisely. Let us devote ourselves to learning together, to the personal transformation that the pursuit of knowledge can create for each of us. Let us use these college years to change ourselves—to become more compassionate human beings. And then let us work cooperatively on existing and emerging challenges to create the world we desire.
所以请你们务必把握好在耶鲁的时间。让我们互相学习，在求知中完成自我蜕变。利用大学时光改变自己，成为更具慈悯心的人。让我们携起手来，一同应对现存的以及未来可能出现的新挑战，共创所愿世界。
Welcome to Yale!
欢迎来到耶鲁！
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