美国的毕业季除了花式的毕业照之外，最大的亮点估计就是各路名人大咖的毕业演讲（commencement speech）了， commencement有“新开始”之意，这也是毕业演讲的意义所在。毕业典礼是毕业生们期待已久的职业生涯的开始，从此刻开始，带着新的目标和希望重新出发。

Good morning, or as our very own commencement speaker saying in the opening lines of his 2008 Evolver, good morning.

早上好，或者像我们2008年的毕业典礼演讲者在名为《进化》的演讲开场白那样说，早上好。

Forgive me, John.

原谅我，约翰。

Forgive me, all.

原谅我，大家。

We are here together on this beautiful morning to celebrate the extraordinary accomplishments of the undergraduate Class of 2021.

在这个美丽的早晨，我们在这里一起庆祝2021届本科生取得的非凡成就。

And you know, I have a special bond with your class, as we – you as new first-year students and I as a new president – arrived here at Duke together, four years ago.

大家知道，我和你们有着特殊的联系，因为当四年前你们作为大一新生时，我作为新校长，一起来到杜克大学。

So… so let me to be the very first to say – congratulations!

所以……让我成为第一个向你们表示祝贺的人！

And to your families and friends, thank you and welcome; to our honorary degree recipients and special guests, welcome to Duke's 168th annual – well, almost annual – Commencement Exercises.

也对大家的家人和朋友们表示感谢和欢迎，还有我们的荣誉学位获得者和特别来宾们，欢迎来到杜克大学第168届一年一度的毕业典礼。

Now, to… to our graduates – I suspect for you and your family and friends as well – you will remember this morning, the morning of your 1348th day as Duke students, for the rest of your lives.

现在，对我们的毕业生来说，我想你们以及你们的家人和朋友们，将永远记住这个早晨，你们作为杜克大学学生的第1348天的早晨。

And it's already been a busy day.

今天已经是很忙碌的一天。

Google tells me that at approximately 6:21 and 28 seconds, the sun rose somewhere over East Union, just as it did that day that you arrived on East Campus for move-in four years ago.

谷歌告诉我，大约在6点21分28秒，太阳在东部的某个地方升起，就和四年前你们到达东部校区办理入住的那天一样。

It followed the winding path of Campus Drive, making the same trip you did countless times on the C1 or C2.

阳光照着校园大道蜿蜒的道路，你们在这C1或C2路上走过了无数次。

A few moments later, light greeted the birds flitting from branch to branch in the Gardens.

片刻之后，阳光洒在了花园中从一根树枝飞到另一根树枝的鸟儿身上。

It shone through the windows of the Brodhead Center, cast gem-like beams through the stained glass in the Chapel, and illuminated this stadium, where we are gathered for this glorious morning, this new beginning, this joyful commencement.

阳光照射着布罗德黑德中心的窗户，照着教堂彩色玻璃投射出宝石般的光束，照亮了这个体育场，而我们正聚集在这里迎接这个明亮的早晨，这个新的开始，这个欢乐的毕业典礼。

And it's no coincidence that we host Duke's commencements in the morning.

我们在早上举办杜克大学的毕业典礼并不是偶然的。

You know, for one thing, it's usually the coolest part of the day – and the first Sunday in May here in North Carolina can sometimes be a scorcher.

大家知道，一方面，这通常是一天中最凉爽的时候——5月的第一个周日，北卡罗来纳州有时会很热。

Today is fortunately an exception.

很幸运今天是个例外。

But I can tell you, and faculty can tell you, these robes do not exactly breathe.

但我可以告诉你们，老师也可以告诉你们，这些学士服并不透气。

But there's also a deeper and more profound reason for meeting as we do in the morning.

但我们在早上举办典礼还有一个更深刻的原因。

Commencement, as the name suggests, is not an end but a beginning.

Commencement除了毕业典礼，还有一个意思，它不是结束，而是开始。

Today, we celebrate, not the end of your careers at Duke… your graduation from Duke, but the beginning of your careers as Duke alumni.

今天，我们庆祝的不是你们在杜克大学学业生涯的结束……不是你们从这里毕业，庆祝的是你们作为杜克大学校友的生涯开始。

To put it another way, today is not the twilight of your life at Duke.

换句话说，今天不是你们在杜克大学的最后一天。

It's the morning of the very extraordinary lives you have ahead.

而是你们未来人生中的非凡早晨。

So in that spirit of beginning, we gather to celebrate this day – one that's made all the more joyful as we mark the slow return of normal life amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

因此，本着“开始”的精神，我们欢聚一堂，庆祝这一天——在新冠肺炎疫情期间，我们的生活正慢慢恢复正常，于是这一天变得更加快乐。

For a number of you, this commencement is the long-awaited start of a career that you've been working toward since you arrived here, and you set off from this moment with renewed purpose and promise.

对于你们中的许多人来说，这个毕业典礼是你们期待已久的职业生涯的开始，你们自来到这里以来一直为之奋斗，你们从此刻开始，带着新的目标和希望重新出发。

Others are headed to graduate school; some will go off to serve your country, or community; some to a well-deserved rest just to take in the lay of the land before setting off on new adventures.

有些人进入了研究生院；有些人会离开，去为自己的国家或社区服务；有些人会好好地休息一番，只是为了在开始新的冒险之前了解一下环境。

Each of you will celebrate many commencements to come, in one form or another, and will likely find that the twisting path of life leads to unexpected new beginnings, that each new dawn can break over wild and wonderful new landscapes.

你们每一个人都将庆祝许多即将到来的开始，以一种又一种方式，但你们很可能会发现曲折的生活道路会导致意想不到的开端，每个新的黎明都能打破野性又奇妙的新形势。

Now, of course, life won't always be a celebration of these new beginnings.

当然，现在的生活并不总是庆祝这些新的开始。

As much as your families, you friends, faculty members, and I wish it weren't the case – and no matter how well Duke has prepared you for what comes next – you will undoubtedly encounter some darker days and nights.

我和你们的家人、朋友和教职工一样，都希望事情不会如此，但无论杜克大学为你们的未来做了多么充分的准备，你们都肯定会遇到一些更黑暗的白天和夜晚。

And this Class has perhaps already experienced more than your share – particularly in the uncertainty and the distress of the pandemic.

而且这个年级可能已经经历过许多，尤其是在疫情带来的不确定和困境之下。

But as the great bard of the Belle Epoque (Baile Poke), Victor Hugo put it, "even the darkest night will end, and the sun will rise".

但是正如“美好时代”的伟大诗人维克多·雨果所说，“即使是最黑暗的夜晚也会结束，太阳将会升起。”

Or for the music majors among you, in the equally… in the words of the equally great bards of the seventies jazz-rock fusion, Steely Dan, "As any major dude will tell you, when the demon is at your door, in the morning it won't be there no more".

或者对于你们当中音乐专业的人，用七十年代融合爵士和摇滚的同样伟大的吟游诗人斯蒂尔·丹的话来说，“当恶魔在你家门口时，任何大人都会告诉你，第二天早上它就不在了。”

So the Class of 2021 rises this morning to a new day, just as you've risen with purpose and passion to seek the opportunities of life at Duke.

所以，今天早上，2021届毕业生将迎来新的一天，就像你们带着目标和热情在杜克大学寻求人生机会一样。

You've made lasting contributions and you've left your mark on every corner of campus – from East Campus to the Gardens to the Brodhead Center to the Chapel.

你们作出了长久的贡献，你们在校园的每一个角落都留下了自己的印记，从东校区到花园，到布罗德黑德中心，再到教堂。

And now you mark this glorious morning, where we greet you for the first time as Duke alumni.

现在，你们纪念着这个光荣的早晨，在这里我们首次欢迎你们成为杜克大学的校友。

We are proud to be with you here… here at the beginning, and we can't wait to see where you go from here.

我们很荣幸能与你们在这里开始，我们也迫不及待地想看到你们接下来的发展。

Congratulations to the great Class of 2021!

祝贺了不起的2021届毕业生！

At Duke, we have a long tradition of beginning the Commencement Exercises with a student voice.

在杜克大学，我们有一个悠久的传统，即以学生的发言开始毕业典礼。

Each spring, a panel of Duke students, faculty and staff selects a member of your graduating class to be our student speaker.

每年春季，由杜克大学的学生、教职员工组成的小组将从你们的毕业班中挑选一名学生作为我们的学生演讲者。

And this year, in a very competitive process, conducted for the first and quite honestly, hopefully, the last time by Zoom, the panel selected Meghana Iragavarapu.

今年，在一个竞争非常激烈的过程中，专家组首次坦率地使用了Zoom进行，希望这也是最后一次，最终评审团选择了Meghana Iragavarapu。

Meghana is graduating from Trinity College of Arts & Sciences.

Meghana即将从三一艺术与科学学院毕业。

And as a Robertson scholar with a key interest in how food dictates health, Meghana designed a program to major at the "Intersection of Food Availability, Nutrition and Health Outcomes".

作为一名罗伯逊学者，Meghana对食物如何决定健康非常感兴趣，她设计了一门课程，专门研究“食物可用性、营养和健康结果的交叉点”。

She's studied these vitally important issues around the world, including in New Orleans, Buenos Aires, and Fiji.

她在世界各地研究过这些至关重要的问题，其中有新奥尔良、布宜诺斯艾利斯和斐济。

And she served neighbors here in our own hometown as a volunteer at the Lincoln Community Health Center in Durham.

她还在达勒姆的林肯社区健康中心担任志愿者，为我们家乡的社区服务。

Meghana has also taken a key interest in Indian classical music and has served as President of the Sangeet Student Group for the past two years.

Meghana也对印度古典音乐很感兴趣，过去两年一直担任Sangeet学生团体的主席。

After graduation, Meghana hopes to pursue a career as a primary care physician.

毕业后，Meghana希望成为一名初级保健医生。

In the coming weeks, she will join the staff at the Vascular Anomalies Center at Harvard Medical School's Children's Hospital as a clinical research assistant.

在接下来的几周，她将加入哈佛医学院儿童医院血管异常中心，担任临床研究助理。

Please join me in welcoming Meghana Iragavarapu, our 2021 student speaker.

让我们一起欢迎2021年的学生演讲者Meghana Iragavarapu。

出处：头条号 @英语东