As a kid， I spent my summers with my grandparents on their ranch1） in Texas. I helped fix windmills2）， vaccinate3） cattle， and do other chores. My grandparents belonged to a Caravan4） Club， a group of Airstream5） trailer6） owners who travel together around the U.S. and Canada. And every few summers we’d join the caravan. We’d hitch up7） the Airstream trailer to my grandfather’s car， and off we’d go. I loved and worshipped my grandparents and I really looked forward to these trips. On one particular trip I was about 10 years old. I was rolling around in the big bench seat8） in the back of the car. My grandfather was driving， and my grandmother had the passenger seat. She smoked throughout these trips， and I hated the smell.

At that age， I’d take any excuse to make estimates and do minor arithmetic9）. I’d been hearing an ad campaign about smoking. I can’t remember the details， but basically the ad said every puff10） of a cigarette takes some number of minutes off of your life： I think it might have been two minutes per puff. At any rate， I decided to do the math for my grandmother. When I was satisfied that I’d come up with a reasonable number， I poked my head into the front of the car， tapped my grandmother on the shoulder and proudly proclaimed， “At two minutes per puff， you’ve taken nine years off your life！”

I have a vivid memory of what happened. I expected to be applauded for my cleverness and arithmetic skills. That’s not what happened. Instead， my grandmother burst into tears. I sat in the backseat and did not know what to do. While my grandmother sat crying， my grandfather pulled over onto the shoulder of the highway. He got out of the car and came around and opened my door and waited for me to follow. My grandfather was a highly intelligent， quiet man. He had never said a harsh word to me， and maybe this was to be the first time？ We stopped beside the trailer. My grandfather looked at me， and after a bit of silence， he gently and calmly said， “Jeff， one day you’ll understand that it’s harder to be kind than clever.”

What I want to talk to you about today is the difference between gifts and choices. Cleverness is a gift； kindness is a choice. Gifts are easy—they’re given after all. Choices can be hard. You can seduce yourself with your gifts if you’re not careful， and if you do， it’ll probably be to the detriment of11） your choices.

This is a group with many gifts. I’m sure one of your gifts is the gift of a smart and capable brain. I’m confident that’s the case because admission is competitive and if there weren’t some signs that you’re clever， the dean of admission wouldn’t have let you in.

Your smarts will come in handy because you will travel in a land of marvels. We humans—plodding as we are—will astonish ourselves. We’ll invent ways to generate clean energy and a lot of it. Atom by atom， we’ll assemble tiny machines that will enter cell walls and make repairs. As a civilization， we will have so many gifts， just as you as individuals have so many individual gifts as you sit before me.

How will you use these gifts？ And will you take pride in your gifts or pride in your choices？

I got the idea to start Amazon 16 years ago. I came across the fact that Web usage was growing at 2，300 percent per year. I’d never seen or heard of anything that grew that fast， and the idea of building an online bookstore with millions of titles—something that simply couldn’t exist in the physical world—was very exciting to me. I had just turned 30 years old， and I’d been married for a year. I told my wife MacKenzie that I wanted to quit my job and go do this crazy thing that probably wouldn’t work since most start-ups don’t， and I wasn’t sure what would happen after that. MacKenzie told me I should go for it.

I was working at a financial firm in New York City with a bunch of very smart people， and I had a brilliant boss that I much admired. I went to my boss and told him I wanted to start a company selling books on the Internet. He took me on a long walk in Central Park， listened carefully to me， and finally said， “That sounds like a really good idea， but it would be an even better idea for someone who didn’t already have a good job.” That logic made some sense to me， and he convinced me to think about it for 48 hours before making a final decision. Seen in that light， it really was a difficult choice； but ultimately， I decided I had to give it a shot12）. I didn’t think I’d regret trying and failing. And I suspected I would always be haunted by a decision to not try at all. After much consideration， I took the less safe path to follow my passion， and I’m proud of that choice.

Tomorrow， in a very real sense， your life—the life you author from scratch13） on your own—begins.

How will you use your gifts？ What choices will you make？ Will inertia14） be your guide， or will you follow your passions？ Will you follow dogma， or will you be original？ Will you choose a life of ease， or a life of service and adventure？ Will you wilt15） under criticism， or will you follow your convictions？ Will you bluff it out16） when you’re wrong， or will you apologize？ Will you guard your heart against rejection， or will you act when you fall in love？ Will you play it safe17）， or will you be a little bit swashbuckling18）？ When it’s tough， will you give up， or will you be relentless？ Will you be a cynic， or will you be a builder？ Will you be clever at the expense of others， or will you be kind？

I will hazard a prediction. When you are 80 years old， and in a quiet moment of reflection narrating for only yourself the most personal version of your life story， the telling that will be most compact and meaningful will be the series of choices you have made. In the end， we are our choices. Build yourself a great story. Thank you and good luck！

小時(shí)候，暑假我總會(huì)和祖父母一起在他們得州的農(nóng)場(chǎng)度過。我會(huì)幫忙修理風(fēng)車，給牛接種疫苗，還干些其他雜七雜八的活兒。我的祖父母參加了一個(gè)由一群清風(fēng)房車車主組成的旅行俱樂部，與他們結(jié)伴在美國和加拿大到處旅行。每隔幾年的夏天，我們就會(huì)加入俱樂部的車隊(duì)去旅行。我們把清風(fēng)房車掛到祖父的小汽車上，之后便出發(fā)了。我愛我的祖父母，也很尊敬他們，而且非常期待和他們一起去旅行。其中有一次旅行是在我大概十歲那年。當(dāng)時(shí)我在后座上晃來晃去，祖父開著車，祖母坐在副駕駛座上。祖母一路上都在抽煙，我很討厭那個(gè)味道。

在那個(gè)年紀(jì)，我會(huì)找各種借口做一些估測(cè)和簡(jiǎn)單的算術(shù)。我之前總是聽到一個(gè)有關(guān)吸煙的廣告。細(xì)節(jié)我記不清了，但廣告的大意是說每抽一口煙就會(huì)讓生命縮短幾分鐘：我感覺好像是每口煙會(huì)讓生命縮短兩分鐘。無論如何，我決定為祖母算一算。我得出了一個(gè)合理的數(shù)字，自己覺得很滿意，于是把頭伸到車的前面，拍了拍祖母的肩膀，自豪地宣稱：“按照每吸一口煙會(huì)減少兩分鐘壽命的算法，吸煙已經(jīng)奪走您九年的生命！”

之后發(fā)生的事至今仍歷歷在目。我本以為他們會(huì)為我的聰明和算術(shù)技巧而鼓掌，但我預(yù)料的情形沒有發(fā)生。相反，我的祖母突然大哭起來。我坐在后座上，不知所措。祖母坐在那兒哭的當(dāng)兒，祖父將車停在路肩上。他下了車，走過來將我的車門打開，等我跟他下車。祖父是一個(gè)非常睿智又性情溫和的人，他從沒對(duì)我說過一句嚴(yán)厲的話，或許這將會(huì)是第一次？我們?cè)诜寇嚺赃呁Ａ讼聛恚娓缚粗?，稍許沉默之后，他溫和而平靜地對(duì)我說：“杰夫，有一天你會(huì)明白，做一個(gè)善良的人要比做一個(gè)聰明的人難?！?/p>

今天我想和你們聊的是關(guān)于天資和選擇之間的差異。聰明是天資，善良卻是選擇。天資來得很容易——它畢竟與生俱來。而選擇卻很難，如果不小心，天資會(huì)誘使你們誤入歧途，如果那樣的話，它就可能會(huì)危害到你們的選擇。

你們都是天資出眾的人。我敢肯定，你們的天資之一就是擁有聰明能干的頭腦。我堅(jiān)信這一點(diǎn)，因?yàn)槿雽W(xué)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)很激烈，如果沒有什么證據(jù)表明你們很聰明，招生主任也不會(huì)讓你們進(jìn)入這個(gè)學(xué)校。

你們的聰明將來會(huì)派上用場(chǎng)，因?yàn)槟銈儗⒃谝黄錆M神奇的土地上行進(jìn)。盡管我們?nèi)祟愐恢痹谄D難前行，但我們會(huì)讓自己都感到吃驚。我們會(huì)發(fā)明很多產(chǎn)生清潔能源的方法。我們會(huì)一個(gè)原子一個(gè)原子地組裝微型機(jī)器，使之進(jìn)入細(xì)胞壁做修補(bǔ)工作。作為文明社會(huì)，我們將會(huì)擁有很多天資，就像此刻坐到我前面的你們作為個(gè)體擁有如此多的獨(dú)特天資一樣。

你們將如何利用這些天資呢？你們會(huì)因自己的天資而驕傲，還是因自己的選擇而驕傲呢？

16年前，我萌生了創(chuàng)辦亞馬遜的想法。當(dāng)時(shí)我無意中發(fā)現(xiàn)，網(wǎng)絡(luò)應(yīng)用以每年2300%的速度在增長。我還從來沒有見過或聽說過有什么東西的增長速度如此之快。于是，我想創(chuàng)辦一家可以售賣幾百萬種圖書的網(wǎng)上書店，這在實(shí)體世界是不可能的——這個(gè)想法讓我興奮不已。那時(shí)我剛30歲，結(jié)婚才一年。我對(duì)妻子麥肯齊說，我想辭職去做這件瘋狂的事。這事不一定能成功，因?yàn)榇蠖鄶?shù)初創(chuàng)公司都沒成功，而且我不確定在那之后會(huì)怎樣。麥肯齊告訴我說我應(yīng)該放手一搏。

我當(dāng)時(shí)在紐約的一家金融公司上班，與一群非常聰明的人共事，老板是個(gè)我很欽佩的優(yōu)秀人士。我找到老板，告訴他我要在網(wǎng)上開一家賣書的公司。他帶我在中央公園長時(shí)間地散步，認(rèn)真地聽我講述，最后說：“這聽起來確實(shí)是個(gè)不錯(cuò)的想法，但對(duì)于一個(gè)還未擁有一份好工作的人來說，這個(gè)主意會(huì)更好。”他那番邏輯在我聽來有些道理。他勸我先考慮48個(gè)小時(shí)，之后再作最后決定。從那個(gè)角度看來，當(dāng)時(shí)真是很難抉擇。但最終我還是決定試一試。我想自己不會(huì)因?yàn)閲L試和失敗而后悔。我倒是覺得我可能會(huì)一直為自己作了一個(gè)根本不去嘗試的決定而苦惱。再三考慮之后，我追隨自己的激情，選擇了一條不那么安全的道路?，F(xiàn)在我為這個(gè)選擇感到驕傲。

明天，我說的是真正意義上的明天，你們的生活——由你們自己從頭書寫的生活——即將開始。

你們將如何利用自己的天資？你們將作出怎樣的抉擇？你們會(huì)被慣性引導(dǎo)，還是會(huì)追隨自己的激情？你們會(huì)墨守成規(guī)，還是會(huì)創(chuàng)意不斷？你們會(huì)選擇安逸的生活方式，還是會(huì)選擇服務(wù)他人、充滿冒險(xiǎn)的人生？你們會(huì)因批評(píng)而畏縮不前，還是會(huì)堅(jiān)守自己的信念？做錯(cuò)事時(shí)，你們會(huì)抵賴，還是會(huì)道歉？你們會(huì)因害怕被拒絕而封閉自己的內(nèi)心，還是一旦陷入愛河便付諸行動(dòng)？你們想要謹(jǐn)慎安穩(wěn)，還是想來點(diǎn)冒險(xiǎn)？當(dāng)遇到困難時(shí)，你們會(huì)放棄，還是會(huì)不屈不撓？你們會(huì)成為憤世嫉俗者，還是會(huì)成為建設(shè)者？你們會(huì)以犧牲他人為代價(jià)展示自己的聰明，還是會(huì)做一個(gè)善良的人？

我大膽預(yù)言一下。等你們80歲時(shí)，在某個(gè)靜靜沉思的時(shí)刻，你們僅對(duì)自己訴說著最個(gè)人化版本的人生故事，其中最充實(shí)、最有意義的告白將是你所作出的一系列選擇。最終，是選擇造就了我們。為你們自己書寫一個(gè)精彩的人生故事吧。謝謝，祝你們好運(yùn)！

1.ranch [rɑ?nt?] n. 大農(nóng)場(chǎng)

2.windmill [?w?n（d）?m?l] n. 風(fēng)車

3.vaccinate [?v?ks?ne?t] vt. 給……接種牛痘（或疫苗）

4.caravan [?k?r?v?n] n. 旅行隊(duì)

5.Airstream：清風(fēng)房車，美國著名的拖掛式房車品牌，以其經(jīng)典優(yōu)美的外部造型和舒適豪華的內(nèi)部裝備而備受美國人的喜愛。

6.trailer [?tre?l?（r）] n. 〈美〉（用汽車拖行的）活動(dòng)房屋（或工作室）

7.hitch up：把……套上車

8.bench seat：（橫置汽車車廂的）統(tǒng)座，長椅座位

9.arithmetic [??r?θm?t?k] n. 算術(shù)，演算技巧

10.puff [p?f] n. （抽）一口煙

11.to the detriment of：有損于……；對(duì)……不利

12.give it a shot：嘗試做某事

13.from scratch：〈口〉從零開始

14.inertia [??n??（r）??] n. 慣性

15.wilt [w?lt] vi. 畏縮

16.bluff it out：蒙混過關(guān)

17.play it safe：〈口〉穩(wěn)扎穩(wěn)打，謹(jǐn)慎行事，不冒險(xiǎn)

18.swashbuckling [?sw???b?k（?）l??] adj. 充滿刺激與冒險(xiǎn)的