摘要：As we conclude our formal celebration of this centennial year, we're also looking forward to the pivotal roles that Duke students,
This morning's commencement ceremony is both a celebration of the Class of 2025 and the continuation of a cherished academic tradition that connects Duke students and alumni across class years and generations.
今天上午的毕业典礼既是对2025届毕业生的庆贺，也是延续一项珍贵的学术传统，这一传统将杜克大学的学生和校友们跨越届次和世代紧密相连。
And today's ceremony is special in this regard, as we honor the 100th anniversary of the first Duke University commencement.
今天的典礼在此具有特殊意义，因为我们正庆祝杜克大学首届毕业典礼的百年纪念。
held just months after James B. Duke's indenture of trust sparked the transformation of Trinity College into Duke University.
此次典礼恰逢詹姆斯·B·杜克信托契约签署后不久，这一契约促成了三一学院向杜克大学的转型。
As we conclude our formal celebration of this centennial year, we're also looking forward to the pivotal roles that Duke students, faculty, staff, and alumni will play in addressing the tremendous opportunities and the challenges of the next 100 years, and in doing so, we may find helpful perspective in the life experiences of the class of 1925.
在我们结束对这一百年纪念年的正式庆祝之际，我们也展望杜克大学的学生、教职员工及校友们将在应对未来百年巨大机遇与挑战中扮演的关键角色。在此过程中，回顾1925届毕业生的生活经历，或许能为我们提供有益的视角。
In June of 1925, the first students to graduate from the newly named Duke University gathered in Craven Memorial Hall on East Campus.
1925年6月，首批从新命名的杜克大学毕业的学生聚集在东校区的克拉文纪念厅。
where they were addressed by Curtis D. Wilbur, the Secretary of the Navy.
他们受到了海军部长柯蒂斯·D·威尔伯的接见。
Among the 187 members of the Class of 1925 were several individuals of note, including Yasuko Ueno, the first Asian woman to graduate from our university, graduate student Mike Bradshaw, Jr., who was one of the Chronicle writers who was credited with first referring to our athletics teams as the Blue Devils.
在1925届的187名毕业生中， 有几位杰出人物，包括首位从我校毕业的亚洲女性上野靖子，以及研究生迈克·布拉德肖二世，后者是《纪事报》记者之一， 据信他首次将我校运动队称为“蓝魔队” 。
And Charles E. Jordan, who received his law degree that day and whose lifetime service to Duke and Durham would later be recognized in the naming of Durham's Jordan High School, located just a few miles from here.
查尔斯·E·乔丹也在那天获得了法学学位，他毕生致力于服务杜克大学和达勒姆市，后来达勒姆市的乔丹高中——离此地仅几英里之遥——便是以他的名字命名，以表彰其贡献。
They and their classmates would go on to live lives of purpose and principle in a variety of settings that would have made our benefactor, James B. Duke, proud.
他们及其同窗将在各种环境中秉持目标与原则，度过有意义的一生，这定会让我们的恩人詹姆斯·B·杜克引以为豪。
Indeed, at the time of their graduation, the majority of the class reported an intention to pursue teaching, business, medicine, or religious work.
事实上，在他们毕业之际，大多数学生表示打算从事教学、商业、医学或宗教工作。
paths that aligned very well with the fields that Mr. Duke considered best positioned, in his words, to uplift mankind.
这些道路与杜克先生认为最能够提升人类福祉的领域高度契合，正如他所言，这些领域正是推动人类进步的关键所在。
The class of 1925 emerged from Duke during the Jazz Age, a dynamic period in American history.
1925届毕业生在爵士时代走出杜克大学，那是一个美国历史上充满活力的时期。
Optimism was high, thanks to strong prosperity and seemingly lasting peace following World War I. But the graduates would soon be forced to wrestle with rising social, economic, and political tensions and a general tenor of uncertainty that may seem familiar today.
乐观情绪高涨， 这得益于第一次世界大战后强劲的经济繁荣和看似持久的和平。 然而，这些毕业生很快将不得不应对日益加剧的社会、经济和政治紧张局势，以及一种普遍的不确定性基调， 这种氛围在今天看来或许颇为熟悉。
Just a month after that graduation, the Scopes Monkey Trial, held 400 miles west of here in Dayton, Tennessee, would draw the world's attention to questions of evolution and religion and their place in public schools.
就在那届毕业典礼后仅一个月，距离此地400英里外的田纳西州代顿市，斯科普斯猴子审判案吸引了全球目光， 聚焦进化论与宗教在公立学校中的地位之争。
Some four years later, the Great Depression would result in heartbreaking family hardship and widespread economic devastation with generational consequences.
大约四年后，大萧条带来了令人心碎的家庭困境，并造成了广泛的经济破坏，其影响跨越了整整一代人。
And of course, a decade after the Great Depression, the outbreak of World War II would signal the beginning of some of humanity's darkest days.
当然， 在大萧条过去十年后，第二次世界大战的爆发标志着人类历史上一些最黑暗日子的开始。
However, in their lifetimes, The class of 1925 also enjoyed an enormous amount of innovation and nearly unimaginable progress.
然而，在他们的有生之年，1925届毕业生也见证了大量创新和几乎难以想象的进步。
Consider, if you will, just a few of the wonders they experienced in their lifetimes.
不妨想一想，他们在有生之年所经历的那些奇迹中的几个。
The life-saving discovery of penicillin in 1928, which would revolutionize the treatment of bacterial infections.
1928年青霉素的发现挽救了无数生命，这一突破性成果彻底改变了细菌感染的治疗方式。
The unprecedented economic growth and prosperity that followed the end of World War II.
二战结束后，前所未有的经济增长和繁荣随之而来。
the advent of home televisions, of commercial aviation, and other technologies that facilitated the flow of information, ideas, and people, and the significant movement, albeit sometimes slow and often uneven, toward equal rights and broader distribution of opportunity in society.
家用电视、商业航空以及其他促进信息、思想和人员流动的技术的出现，以及社会在实现平等权利和更广泛机会分配方面取得的显著进展，尽管有时缓慢且常常不均衡。
The class of 1925 was part of what came to be known as the greatest generation.
1925届毕业生属于后来被誉为"最伟大一代"的成员。
Shaped by hardships and fueled by resilience, honor, and an industrious spirit, their generation went on to make possible the many remarkable achievements of the 20th century.
在艰辛的磨砺中成长，凭借坚韧、荣誉感和勤劳精神为动力，他们的那一代人成就了20世纪众多非凡的功绩。
Class of 2025, in your relatively short lifetimes, the world is already seen transformative developments, including breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, a revolution in media and information sharing, and the introduction of life-changing technologies, including the iPhone and electric vehicles, to say nothing of the air fryer.
2025届的同学们，在你们相对短暂的人生历程中，世界已经见证了诸多变革性发展，包括人工智能的突破、媒体与信息共享的革命，以及诸如苹果手机和电动汽车等改变生活的科技问世，更不用提空气炸锅的出现了。
Okay, not exactly revolutionary, but a big step forward in making chips at home.
好吧，虽然算不上革命性突破，但这是在家制作芯片的一大进步。
Well, just as Duke's very first Blue Devils, those members of the greatest generation who commenced into their unpredictable, changing world 100 years ago, today you commence into yours.
好吧，就像杜克大学最初的蓝魔队成员那样，那些在100年前踏入不可预测、变化莫测的世界的伟大一代人，今天你们也踏上了自己的旅程。
This changing world will bring challenges, I assure you, including many we cannot foresee today.
我敢肯定，这个不断变化的世界将带来挑战，其中许多是我们今天无法预见的。
These will test your resilience, your honor, your industrious spirit.
这些将考验你们的韧性、荣誉感以及勤奋精神。
But it will also bring opportunities for innovation and for human progress, perhaps as never seen before.
但这同样带来了前所未有的创新和人类进步的机遇。
And your generation of Blue Devils will discover and develop the breakthroughs that will define the 21st century.
你们这届蓝魔队将发现并开发定义21世纪的突破性成果。
And in that transformative, that life-improving and life-saving work, as alumni of this university, you will carry on Mr. Duke's bold vision for uplifting mankind.
在那些变革性的、改善生活乃至拯救生命的工作中，作为杜克大学的校友， 你们将继承詹姆斯·B·杜克先生提升人类福祉的宏伟愿景。
In this century to come, may you come to be known as the even greater generation.
愿你们在未来百年中，被世人誉为“更伟大的一代”。
Congratulations, class of 2025.
祝贺你们，2025届毕业生。
来源：英语东