美国东部时间2016年5月26日是哈佛的第365个毕业日，在这次的毕业典礼上，来自中国湖南的生物系博士生毕业生何江作为代表做了毕业典礼演讲。
何江是内地第一登上该演讲台的学生。作为一名从湖南农村长大的生物学博士生，何江用他的亲身历程——被蜘蛛咬伤的往事讲起，说明常识传播、常识分布资源平衡的重要程度。在演说过程中，他面带微笑、镇定自若，向世界展示了中国学子的风采。
以下为演讲全文：
When I was in middle school, a poisonous spider bit my right hand. I ran to my mom for help—but instead of taking me to a doctor, my mom set my hand on fire.After wrapping my hand with several layers of cotton, then soaking it in wine, she put a chopstick into my mouth,and ignited the cotton.
在我上中学的时候，一只有毒蜘蛛咬伤了我的右手，我去找妈妈帮忙，但她没找大夫，却把我的手放在火上面。她用酒浸过的棉纱绕着我的手缠了好几层之后，在我的嘴里放了一根筷子，然后点燃了棉纱。
【语言点分析】
Poisonous表示有毒的;恶毒的;讨厌的。例句：A lot of poisonous waste water comes from that chemical factory. 那个化工厂排出很多有毒的废水。
Heat quickly penetrated the cotton and began to roast my hand. The searing pain made me want to scream, but the chopstick prevented it. All I could do was watch my hand burn - one minute, then two minutes –until mom put out the fire.
棉纱上的温度非常快上来了，我的手也开始发烫。这股灼痛让我想要大叫，不过我嘴里含着的筷子让我叫不出来。我唯一能做的就是看着我的手骨，一分钟过去了，两分钟过去了，直到妈妈熄灭火。
You see, the part of China I grew up in was a rural village, and at that time pre-industrial. When I was born, my village had no cars, no telephones, no electricity, not even running water. And we certainly didn’t have access to modern medical resources.
所以你看到，我是在中国的一个小山村里成长的，在那个时候，并不发达。在我生的那个年代，大家村没车、没电话、也没电，甚至都没自来水!且理所当然地，我没接触现代医疗资源的方法。
There was no doctor my mother could bring me to see about my spider bite.For those who study biology, you may have grasped the science behind my mom’s cure: heat deactivates proteins, and a spider’s venom is simply a form of protein. It’s cool how that folk remedy actually incorporates basic biochemistry, isn’t it?
当我被蜘蛛咬伤时，并没大夫可以来治疗我。对于学生物学的人来讲，你或许能找到我妈妈治愈背后所包括的科学原理：热量可以让蛋白质失活，而蜘蛛的毒液都是蛋白质组成的。将这个土方子和生物化学基础联系起来非常神奇，不是吗?
【语言点分析】
Folk remedy表示秘方。例句：The active component, willow bark, was used as a folk remedy as long ago as the 5th century BC. 它来自早在公元前五世纪就被用于民间配方的柳树皮，是这种树皮的一种有效成分。
But I am a PhD student in biochemistry at Harvard, I now know that better, less painful and less risky treatments existed. So I can’t help but ask myself, why I didn’t receive one at the time?
不过我目前是一个在哈佛学生物化学的博士生，我目前了解了一个更好的、不那样痛、危险系数更小的治疗办法。所以，我忍不住问我一个人，为何那个时候我不可以同意更好的治疗吗?
Fifteen years have passed since that incident. I am happy to report that my hand is fine. But this question lingers, and I continue to be troubled by the unequal distribution of scientific knowledge throughout the world.
距离那个事故发生已经十五年了，我非常高兴地对你说们：我的手目前恢复地非常不错。不过这个问题在我心里萦绕了很长时间，我也时常会被科学常识分布的不均衡问题所困扰。
【语言点分析】
Linger表示：徘徊;苟延残喘;缓慢度过。例句：The girl lingered by the lake until it was dark. 女生在湖畔一直徘徊到天黑。
We have learned to edit the human genome and unlock many secrets of how cancer progresses. We can manipulate neuronal activity literally with the switch of a light. Each year brings more advances in biomedical research-exciting, transformative accomplishments.
大家曾学习过怎么样编辑人类基因谱，揭示了很多关于癌症的秘密。大家可以轻松地操控神经元的活动。生物医药研究每年都会有不少进步和让人振奋的变革、收获。
Yet, despite the knowledge we have amassed, we haven’t been so successful in deploying it to where it’s needed most. According to the World Bank, twelve percent of the world’s population lives on less than $2 a day.
虽然大家获得了不少收获，但大家却不可以将这类收获传递到最需要它的地方。据世界银行统计数据表明，世界人口的12%一天的生活费不到2USD。
Malnutrition kills more than 3 million children annually. Three hundred million people are afflicted by malaria globally. All over the world, we constantly see these problems of poverty, illness, and lack of resources impeding the flow of scientific information.
每年都有三百万的儿童死于营养不好的。全球有三亿的人收到疟疾的影响。在全世界，大家能看到无数的贫困问题，病痛问题与资源匮乏致使科学信息不流通的问题。
Lifesaving knowledge we take for granted in the modern world is often unavailable in these underdeveloped regions.And in far too many places, people are still essentially trying to cure a spider bite with fire.
救生常识在现代化的世界是理所当然的，不过在经济欠发达区域却是高不可及的。所以，在许很多多地方，大家还是用火来治疗蜘蛛的咬伤。
【语言点分析】
Take it for granted表示：觉得理所当然;视为当然;理所当然;想当然。例句：It's something we all take for granted: our ability to look at an object, near or far, and bring it instantly into focus. 这是一个大家屡见不鲜的事情：不管物体是远是近，大家的双眼总能在看到物体的时候飞速完成对焦。
While studying at Harvard, I saw how scientific knowledge can help others in simple, yet profound ways. The bird flu pandemic in the 2000s looked to my village like a spell cast by demons.
在哈佛学习期间，我了解了科学常识是怎么样用简单的又深刻的方法帮助到别的人的。2000年的一次流感使我的家乡像被恶魔下了诅咒一般。
Our folk medicine didn’t even have half-measures to offer. What’s more, farmers didn’t know the difference between common cold and flu; they didn’t understand that the flu was much more lethal than the common cold. Most people were also unaware that the virus could transmit across different species.
大家的民间治疗根本找不到解决方法。更紧急的是，农民们不了解普通的感冒和流感之间有什么区别。他们不知道流感比普通的感冒要致命地多。他们中的大部分人都对病毒在动物类型间的传播没定义。
【语言点分析】
Transmit表示传输、传送;短语transmitted ray表示透射光。例句：He has transmitted the report to us. 他已经把报告传送给大家。
So when I realized that simple hygiene practices like separating different animal species could contain the spread of the disease, and that I could help make this knowledge available to my village.
所以我意识到简单的卫生治疗办法比如将动物隔离可以治疗这种病时，我可以用这种方法让我的家乡更快同意这种科学常识。
That was my first “Aha” moment as a budding scientist. But it was more than that: it was also a vital inflection point in my own ethical development, my own self-understanding as a member of the global community.
那是我作为生物科学家的首次惊叹。不过也不只就此而已：这也是我自己理念提高的至关要紧的一个转折，也是关于我作为地球上一员的自我理解的转折。
Harvard dares us to dream big, to aspire to change the world. Here on this Commencement Day, we are probably thinking of grand destinations and big adventures that await us.
哈佛鼓励大家有大梦想，去勉励大家改变这个世界。在这个毕业日，大家也可以想象等待大家的伟大宏图。
As for me, I am also thinking of the farmers in my village. My experience here reminds me how important it is for researchers to communicate our knowledge to those who need it. Because by using the science we already have, we could probably bring my village and thousands like it into the world you and I take for granted every day. And that’s an impact every one of us can make!
但对于我来讲，我还在想着我家乡的农民们。我的历程让我意识到，将常识传递给需要的人是多么要紧。由于，运用大家所了解的常识，大家可以将常识传递到我的家乡和千万个像我家乡一样的地方带进这个大家在座每一个人所屡见不鲜的世界。
But the question is, will we make the effort , or not?
不过问题是，大家是否会尽力呢?
More than ever before,our society emphasizes science and innovation. But an equally important emphasis should be on distributing the knowledge we have to where it’s needed.
很长时间之前，大家的社会就强调过科学和革新的重要程度，但同等要紧的，大家应该强调将这类常识平等地传递给需要它的人的重要程度。
Changing the world doesn’t mean that everyone has to find the next big thing. It can be as simple as becoming better communicators, and finding more creative ways to pass on the knowledge we have to people like my mom and the farmers in their local community.
改变世界并非说每一个人都要发现下一个伟大的东西。改变世界可以是简单的方法，譬如成为一个更好的传播者，发现更多有创造力的传播常识给像我的母亲和农民如此生活在未工业化区域的人的方法。
【语言点分析】
Pass on表示：传递;继续;过世。例句：He has passed me on all the materials which he had got together. 他把已搜集到的材料全交给了我。
Our society also needs to recognize that the equal distribution of knowledge is a pivotal step of human development, and work to bring this into reality.
大家的社会也应当了解常识的平衡分布是人类进步必不可少的一步，这需要大家的努力来达成。
And if we do that, then perhaps a teenager in rural China who is bitten by a spider will not have to burn his hand, but will know to seek a doctor instead.
假如大家努力了，一个在中国农村的青少年被毒蜘蛛咬了的话，就不需要再火疗而是去见大夫了。
Thank you !
谢谢!
