（原標(biāo)題：徐小平純英文畢業(yè)演講：生命因給予而繁盛）

成功的秘訣是什么？勤奮，堅毅，聰穎，好運氣……可能都是必備要素之一。但40歲才見事業(yè)起步的徐小平老師有自己的成功秘訣。

30年前，他來到加拿大薩斯喀徹溫大學(xué)，獲得全額獎學(xué)金攻讀音樂系碩士。

20年前，畢業(yè)即失業(yè)，在音樂公司創(chuàng)業(yè)失敗、做過披薩外賣員之后，他回國加入新東方。

10年前，新東方上市之后，他轉(zhuǎn)身成為“第一天使”，幫助有志向創(chuàng)業(yè)的年輕人實現(xiàn)自己的夢想。

30 年后，他回到母校薩斯喀徹溫大學(xué)，被授予榮譽(yù)法學(xué)博士學(xué)位，并以導(dǎo)師大衛(wèi)·卡普蘭博士命名、捐贈設(shè)立音樂系獎學(xué)金和音樂系首席講師。

在6 月7 日舉辦的畢業(yè)典禮上，他與畢業(yè)生們分享了這一系列跌宕起伏的人生經(jīng)歷留給他最寶貴的成功秘訣—— “生命以獲取而續(xù)存，卻因給予而繁盛”。

——黑馬哥說

來源 | 真格基金

文 | 徐小平

尊敬的校監(jiān)Romanow先生、校長 Stoicheff 先生、政府代表、出席嘉賓、教師代表、畢業(yè)生、朋友、女士們、先生們：

這是一份無與倫比的榮譽(yù)，我由衷地表示感激。謝謝你們！

Ladies and gentlemen. Chancellor Romanow, President Stoicheff, government representatives, distinguished guests, members of the faculty, graduates and friends: This honor means everything to me. I am truly grateful. Thank you so very much.

我的新學(xué)位使我成為了2017 年畢業(yè)生中光榮的一員。在這個美好的日子里，請允許我向各位同學(xué)們，以及你們的家人、朋友們獻(xiàn)上一句簡單的祝福，我要向你們了不起的成就表示熱烈祝賀！

My new degree makes me a proud member of this Class of 2017. To my classmates, your parents, your families, may I offer a simple message: For the great achievement you share on this wonderful day, Congratulations!

法學(xué)博士的頭銜實在是一個讓我受寵若驚的榮譽(yù)。這里有一個故事。很久以前在我獲得音樂碩士學(xué)位之后，我仍然不知道自己想要干什么。于是我想到了學(xué)習(xí)法律，我也確實去上了一節(jié)合同法課，就一節(jié)。（笑聲）當(dāng)時我就明白了，我真不是讀法學(xué)院的料（笑聲）。然而，就上過這一節(jié)法學(xué)課的我，現(xiàn)在卻獲得了令人艷羨的法學(xué)博士學(xué)位（笑聲+掌聲）。對于那些寒窗苦熬、熬到今天終成正果的法學(xué)院畢業(yè)生們來說，你們有理由心生感慨：生活并不總是那么公平（笑聲）！

For me, it is especially flattering to be called a Doctor of Laws. Let me tell you why. Long ago, after I earned my Master’s Degree in music, I still didn’t know what to do. So I considered studying at the College of Law. I attended exactly one class, in contract law. Right then and there, I knew that law school just wasn’t for me. One class – and yet here I am with this beautiful, impressive degree as a Doctor of Laws. Those of you graduating from the law school today, who worked and struggled for your degrees, would be entitled to reflect that life is not always fair.

確實，總有一些人，得到的比他付出的多。對此我有切身體驗，因為我從薩斯喀徹溫大學(xué)所得到的一切都證明了這一點。母校給了我很高的榮譽(yù)，但是，從心底里，我今天來是為了贊頌我的母校。

Sometimes we get more than we deserve. I know this, because it is how I have always felt, about what I received from the University of Saskatchewan. The university has honored me, but really, I am here today to honor the university.

30 年前的 1987 年，我和我妻子和我決定走出國門，看看外邊的世界。如果你在北京的地下室住過，渴望換一種風(fēng)景，沒有什么比加拿大遼闊的草原風(fēng)光，會給你帶來更震撼的體驗（笑聲）。

Exactly thirty years ago in 1987, my wife Ling and I decided that we were ready to see the world beyond China. If you had lived in a basement in Beijing, and desire a change of scenery, it doesn’t get any more different than the Canadian prairie.

我妻子申請了這里的音樂系，立即得到了錄取。而我，卻不得不耐心等待。兜里裝著全部家當(dāng)一百美元，我去了美國華盛頓打工。這樣，我妻子一個人生活在薩斯卡通，與她的小提琴為伴。而我，在離她三千公里之外一家叫“春卷先生”的中餐廳，當(dāng)了一名廚房小工（笑聲）。

Ling applied to study music here and was immediately accepted. I, on the other hand, had to wait. I went to Washington, D.C., with a hundred dollars in my pocket, and found a job. So my wife was alone with her violin in Saskatoon. I was three thousand kilometers away on the kitchen staff of Mr. Eggroll.

幸福，終于隨著薩斯喀徹溫大學(xué)給我的錄取通知書降臨。連續(xù)三天三夜在一輛灰狗大巴上渡過，對誰可能都是一種折磨，但我卻一路歡快、一路亢奮地抵達(dá)了薩斯喀徹溫（笑聲）。我和我妻子都獲得了全額獎學(xué)金。這是改變我們命運的決定性因素。每月如期而至的支票，超過當(dāng)時我在北大教書好幾年的收入。那些與我們素昧平生的人們，為什么要給我們?nèi)绱司揞~的金錢？這在我心靈深處引起的震撼，從此再也不能平息。

The happy day came when I was also accepted at this university. Nobody was ever as excited as I was to spend three days on a Greyhound bus to Saskatchewan. Ling and I had both received scholarships. That made all the difference for us. The same amount of money would have taken many years to earn in China at that time. We were amazed that such a gift could be granted by people who did not even know us.

滿懷著摯愛之情，我想起我的研究生導(dǎo)師 David Kaplan 博士的仁愛胸懷。認(rèn)識他的人，都會感到認(rèn)識他是一種幸運。他是音樂系的創(chuàng)始人。對于我們外國留學(xué)生而言，他是淙淙流淌的友誼、幫助和鼓勵的源泉。Kaplan 博士是我生命中一盞明燈，指引著我像他幫助我一樣去幫助別人。

With special affection, I recall the generous spirit of Dr. David Kaplan. If you knew him, it was a privilege. He was the founder of the music department. To many foreign students, he was a source of constant help, friendship, and encouragement. Often in my life, Dr. Kaplan’s example has shined before me, a reminder to share with others as he shared with me.

學(xué)校給予我的一切是如此美好，但校園外的生活可并不總是那么陽光明媚。畢業(yè)不久我就意識到，做一名音樂人難以維持生計。人們雖然喜歡聽莫扎特和巴赫的音樂，但他們并不急著聆聽我的演奏（笑聲）。我成立了自己的音樂公司，但公司生意慘淡。我譜寫并錄制民謠，但它們只在謠言里存在（笑聲）。

I received so much from the University in those years, but life beyond campus was not nearly as forgiving. Upon graduation, it didn't take long for me to realize that I would not make my fortune as a performing musician. As much as the world loves the sounds of Mozart and Bach, the world was not waiting to hear them from my violin. I started my own music business, but business was slow. I wrote and recorded folksongs, but the folks were not listening.

這段時間對于我來說的確是舉步維艱。我在家看孩子，靠我妻子教書養(yǎng)家。我也嘗試做過各種各樣的工作，其中一種工作，對速度節(jié)奏和交割時效要求極高——在座如果有人在 1995 年叫過必勝客披薩的外賣，我們很可能曾經(jīng)有緣相逢（笑聲）。

It was truly a difficult period for me. I watched our children at home while my wife taught school. I took various jobs, including one job that involved fast-paced and time-sensitive transactions. If anyone here received a delivery from Pizza Hut in 1995, there is a good chance we have met before.

如果能夠避免，我不建議大家刻意去經(jīng)歷這樣一段時期。不過，有時候這種事情確實也無法避免。但它不應(yīng)該成為休止符，它甚至可能是“大器晚成”的預(yù)兆，就像我自己的經(jīng)歷一樣。即使在我最艱難的日子里，我也從未失去自我，沒有喪失信心。我屢戰(zhàn)屢敗，但屢敗屢戰(zhàn)。我深信，天降大任于斯人，我來到世界，尚有使命未達(dá)，更有好夢未成。我不會讓失敗帶走我的信念。

I do not recommend a period like that in your own careers, if you can avoid it. But sometimes it happens anyway. That doesn’t have to be the end. It can even mark a late beginning, as it did for me. Even in my darkest moments, I had a sense of who I was and what I could do. More than once I failed, but I refused to give up. I knew in my heart that I was here on earth to achieve good and meaningful things. I never let any failure take that conviction away.

在這種信念的支持下，我回到了中國，加入了一個名叫新東方的英語學(xué)校。中國正進(jìn)入改革開放的大潮，很多年輕人渴望走出去，看看外面的世界。我如癡似醉地投入到了幫助他們實現(xiàn)留學(xué)夢想的工作中。面對那些求知若渴的莘莘學(xué)子，我竭盡了自己一切所知，耗干了自己的全部精力。

Sustained by this feeling, I went back to China and joined a small English school in Beijing called New Oriental. China had opened up and many young people were eager to see the world. I threw myself into the work of helping them find opportunities to study abroad. I shared everything I knew to serve them in every way I could.

十年轉(zhuǎn)眼過去，隨著新東方在美國上市，我們很多學(xué)生也開始從海外學(xué)成歸國。他們找到我，想讓我為他們的創(chuàng)業(yè)想法尋找資金。那時的中國，天使投資還是一個比較罕見的事情。我非常理解這些年輕人，因為我深知胸有大志、阮囊羞澀是什么滋味。于是我開始資助他們的創(chuàng)業(yè)夢，并在不知不覺間成為了一名天使投資人。

Ten years later, after that school, New Oriental Education, went public in the U.S., many of my former students returning from overseas approached me looking for money for their business ideas. At the time in China, there was no such thing as angel investing. I understood these men and women, because I knew what it was like to be rich in ideas and poor in money. So I began to finance their start-up dreams and became an angel investor before I knew it.

被人們稱之為“成功人士”是一件讓我高興的事。說實話，我感到慶幸，命運對我實在非常寬厚仁慈。但我不會用財富排行榜來衡量成功，也不會用能夠買得起什么來評判成敗。我衡量成功的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，不僅僅是自己如何戰(zhàn)勝逆境，而是如何也幫助他人反敗為勝。《悲慘世界》中主教對冉阿讓的一句話讓我非常難忘：“無論我們的生命多么微不足道，我們要傾盡一切與他人分享?！蔽也挥浀梦业呐笥?David Kaplan 博士是否聽說過這句名言，但他確實踐行了這種美德。我的人生，因為他和他所象征的薩斯喀徹溫大學(xué)，而變得更加美好。

I am happy to be called a success today – and frankly, still a bit relieved. It was a close call. But I do not measure success in rankings of wealth. I do not measure it in the things I can buy. I measure success, not just in overcoming one’s own adversity, but in helping others overcome theirs. My favorite line in the musical Les Miserables is from the Bishop: “Though our lives are very humble. What we have, we have to share.” I don’t recall if my friend Dr. David Kaplan ever heard those words, but he certainly lived them. And mine is just one life that he, and this university, changed for the better.

無論是在商界，還是在法律界，人們所做的一切，都是為了追求成功。第一份工作——甚至是第二第三份工作——不一定就是我們的理想崗位，但你的面前卻有一個永遠(yuǎn)不需要等待的絕佳機(jī)會：那就是在別人有需求的時候鼎力出手、傾其所有、給予超出對方期待的幫助。無論身份高低、無論境遇逆順，你都有這樣的機(jī)會展示你的價值。每一天，每一刻，總有人需要我們；總有一些事情，缺了你就無法做成。如果你懷著這種信念一路前行，你一定會發(fā)現(xiàn)自己獨一無二的價值、并漸入成功的佳境。讓我們都記住這么一句至理名言：生命以獲取而續(xù)存，生命因給予而繁盛！

In business, in law, in any work we do, all of the same things are true about succeeding. First jobs – maybe even second or third ones – are not always dream jobs. Yet there is one opportunity that we never have to wait on – that is the chance to give our best, to give without holding back, and to give more than what is asked. We can do that in every position, high or low. We can do that in every circumstance. Every day, at every turn, we are needed; there are good things that only we can do. That’s how we show who we are, and find success along the way. There is great wisdom in the saying: We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.

對今天在場的每一位畢業(yè)生，我祝福你們擁有成功事業(yè)和幸福人生。我也希望你們同樣懷著我對母校的這份真情：為學(xué)校給予我們的一切致以崇敬、摯愛和感恩。多年前我從這里得到的關(guān)愛與慷慨，在我心中雋刻下永不磨滅的痕跡，愿你在此的躬讀歲月也給你留下高貴閃光的印記。

生成海報

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