七月，一个忙碌而又火热的毕业季。

　　在今年美高和美国大学的各个毕业典礼上，同学们应该听到了很多励志故事，收到了很多前辈的祝福和关于人生观、价值观的一些探讨。

　　但是，近日美国最高法院首席大法官约翰•罗伯茨在儿子毕业典礼上的致辞却成了一股清流，刷爆了朋友圈，他说：我希望你们在未来岁月中，不时遭遇不公对待……

　　没有阅读全文之前，你可能要怀疑这是不是亲生的（捂脸笑），但是读完你会发现，这原来是一位好狠却更暖的父亲。

　　演讲英文版：

　　Now around the country today at colleges, high schools, middle schools, commencement speakers are standing before impatient graduates. And they are almost always saying the same things. They will say that today is a commencement exercise. ‘It is a beginning, not an end. You should look forward.’

　　And I think that is true enough, however, I think if you’re going to look forward to figure out where you’re going, it’s good to know where you’ve been and to look back as well.

　　And I think if you look back to your first afternoon here at Cardigan, perhaps you will recall that you were lonely. Perhaps you will recall that you were a little scared, a little anxious. And now look at you. You are surrounded by friends that you call brothers, and you are confident in facing the next step in your education.

　　It is worth trying to think why that is so. And when you do, I think you may appreciate that it was because of the support of your classmates in the classroom, on the athletic field and in the dorms. And as far as the confidence goes, I think you will appreciate that it is not because you succeeded at everything you did, but because with the help of your friends, you were not afraid to fail.

　　And if you did fail, you got up and tried again. And if you failed again, you got up and tried again. And if you failed again, it might be time to think about doing something else. But it was not just success, but not being afraid to fail that brought you to this point.

　　Now the commencement speakers will typically also wish you good luck and extend good wishes to you. I will not do that, and I’ll tell you why.

　　From time to time in the years to come, I hope you will be treated unfairly, so that you will come to know the value of justice. I hope that you will suffer betrayal because that will teach you the importance of loyalty. Sorry to say, but I hope you will be lonely from time to time so that you don’t take friends for granted.

　　I wish you bad luck, again, from time to time so that you will be conscious of the role of chance in life and understand that your success is not completely deserved and that the failure of others is not completely deserved either.

　　And when you lose, as you will from time to time, I hope every now and then, your opponent will gloat over your failure. It is a way for you to understand the importance of sportsmanship. I hope you’ll be ignored so you know the importance of listening to others, and I hope you will have just enough pain to learn compassion.

　　Whether I wish these things or not, they’re going to happen. And whether you benefit from them or not will depend upon your ability to see the message in your misfortunes.

　　Now commencement speakers are also expected to give some advice. They give grand advice, and they give some useful tips.The most common grand advice they give is for you to be yourself.

　　It is an odd piece of advice to give people dressed identically, but you should — you should be yourself. But you should understand what that means. Unless you are perfect, it does not mean don’t make any changes.

　　In a certain sense, you should not be yourself. You should try to become something better. People say ‘be yourself’because they want you to resist the impulse to conform to what others want you to be. But you can’t be yourself if you don't learn who you are, and you can’t learn who you are unless you think about it.

　　The Greek philosopher Socrates said, ‘The unexamined life is not worth living.’ And while ‘just do it’ might be a good motto for some things, it’s not a good motto when it’s trying to figure out how to live your life that is before you. And one important clue to living a good life is not to try to live the good life. The best way to lose the values that are central to who you are is frankly not to think about them at all.

　　So that’s the deep advice.Now some tips as you get ready to go to your new school. Other the last couple of years, I have gotten to know many of you young men pretty well, and I know you are good guys. But you are also privileged young men. And if you weren’t privileged when you came here, you are privileged now because you have been here. My advice is: Don’t act like it.

　　When you get to your new school, walk up and introduce yourself to the person who is raking the leaves, shoveling the snow or emptying the trash. Learn their name and call them by their name during your time at the school.

　　Another piece of advice: When you pass by people you don’t recognize on the walks, smile, look them in the eye and say hello. The worst thing that will happen is that you will become known as the young man who smiles and says hello, and that is not a bad thing to start with.

　　You’ve been at a school with just boys.Most of you will be going to a school with girls. I have no advice for you.

　　The last bit of advice I’ll give you is very simple, but I think it could make a big difference in your life. Once a week, you should write a note to someone. Not an email. A note on a piece of paper. It will take you exactly 10 minutes. Talk to an adult, let them tell you what a stamp is. You can put the stamp on the envelope.

　　Again, 10 minutes, once a week. I will help you, right now. I will dictate to you the first note you should write. It will say, ‘Dear [fill in the name of a teacher at Cardigan Mountain School].’ Say:‘I have started at this new school. We are reading [blank] in English. Football or soccer practice is hard, but I’m enjoying it. Thank you for teaching me.’Put it in an envelope, put a stamp on it and send it. It will mean a great deal to people who — for reasons most of us cannot contemplate — have dedicated themselves to teaching middle school boys.

　　As I said, that will take you exactly 10 minutes a week. By the end of the school year, you will have sent notes to 40 people.Forty people will feel a little more special because you did, and they will think you are very special because of what you did. No one else is going to carry that dividend during your time at school.

　　Enough advice. I would like to end by reading some important lyrics. I cited the Greek philosopher Socrates earlier.These lyrics are from the great American philosopher, Bob Dylan. They’re almost 50 years old.

　　He wrote them for his son, Jesse, who he was missing while he was on tour. It lists the hopes that a parent might have for a son and for a daughter. They’re also good goals for a son and a daughter.

　　The wishes are beautiful, they’re timeless. They’re universal. They’re good and true, except for one: It is the wish that gives the song its title and its refrain. That wish is a parent’s lament. It’s not a good wish. So these are the lyrics from Forever Youngby Bob Dylan:

　　May God bless you and keep you always

　　May your wishes all come true

　　May you always do for others

　　And let others do for you

　　May you build a ladder to the stars

　　And climb on every rung

　　And may you stay forever young

　　May you grow up to be righteous

　　May you grow up to be true

　　May you always know the truth

　　And see the lights surrounding you

　　May you always be courageous

　　Stand upright and be strong

　　And may you stay forever young

　　May your hands always be busy

　　May your feet always be swift

　　May you have a strong foundation

　　When the winds of changes shift

　　May your heart always be joyful

　　May your song always be sung

　　And may you stay forever young

　　Thank you.

　　中文译读版：

　　毕业典礼的致辞者通常会祝你们好运并送上祝福。我不打算这样做，原因如下：

　　我希望你们在未来岁月中，不时遭遇不公对待，这样才会理解公正的价值所在。

　　愿你们尝到背叛滋味，这会教你们领悟忠诚之重要。

　　抱歉，我还希望你们时常会有孤独感，这样才不会将良朋挚友视为理所当然。

　　愿你们偶尔运气不佳，这样才会意识到机遇在人生中的地位，进而理解你们的成功并非命中注定，别人的失败也不是天经地义。

　　当你们偶尔遭遇失败时，愿你们受到对手幸灾乐祸的嘲弄，这才会让你们理解体育精神的重要性。

　　愿你们偶尔被人忽视，这样才能学会倾听；感受到切肤之痛，才能对别人有同情的理解。

　　无论我怎么想，这些迟早会来临。而你们能否从中获益，取决于能否参透人生苦难传递的信息。

　　毕业典礼的致辞者习惯给出很多建议。……最常见的建议是“做自己”。但你得明白其中真意。如果你并非足够完美，就必须作出改变。这时，你就不能光想着做自己，必须不断自我完善。

　　别人说“做自己”，是希望你抵制按他人意愿随波逐流的冲动。但如果连你都不知道自己要成为什么样的人，是不可能“做自己”的，而如果不思考这些，你也不可能知道自己想成为什么样的人。

　　希腊哲人苏格拉底说过，“未经自省的人生没有意义。”对某些事情而言，“just do it ”是不错的座右铭，但在你想明白自己想要什么样的人生之前，这个座右铭可不咋滴。

　　下面，我将以一段著名歌词结束我的致辞。刚才，我引用了希腊哲人苏格拉底的名言。而这些歌词，则来自伟大的美国哲人。鲍勃·迪伦。

　　这些歌词已有50年历史，是迪伦当年巡回演出期间，思子心切，写给儿子杰西的。歌词表达了家长对子女的美好期盼，这些期盼是美好的、永恒的，也是普世的。……这就是鲍勃·迪伦的《永远年轻》：

　　“愿上帝庇佑，护你前路；愿你美梦均可成真；愿你与人为善，相互扶持；愿你建成通往群星的天梯；稳妥沿它而上；愿你永远年轻；愿你成为正直之人；愿你成就真实自我；愿你永远感知真理，看向身边无尽光明；愿你勇敢无惧，坚强可靠；愿你永远年轻,拥有纯洁之心；愿你双手永远忙碌，愿你脚步永远轻盈；在变故横生之时，愿你根基牢靠；愿你心中永远充满快乐，愿你的歌声永远嘹亮；愿你永远年轻。”

　　谢谢大家！