摘要：8月18日，耶鲁大学举行了开学典礼，作为一名艺术史学家，McInnis校长借耶鲁大学美术馆藏画、美国画家温斯洛·霍默（Winslow Homer）创作于1871年的作品《老磨坊》（Old Mill）（又称《晨钟》（The Morning Bell），敦促新生们

8月18日，耶鲁大学举行了开学典礼，作为一名艺术史学家，McInnis校长借耶鲁大学美术馆藏画、美国画家温斯洛·霍默（Winslow Homer）创作于1871年的作品《老磨坊》（Old Mill）（又称《晨钟》（The Morning Bell），敦促新生们以好奇、开放和彼此尊重的态度引领前行，并向他们传达了即将在耶鲁开启一段新旅程的嘱咐与寄托。

Good morning, everyone.

大家早上好！

My name is Maurie McInnis, and on behalf of Dean Lewis, Provost Strobel, and all of our colleagues, it is an honor to welcome you to Yale.

我是Maurie McInnis，我谨代表耶鲁本科学院院长Pericles Lewis、教务长Scott Strobel和我所有的同事们，欢迎你们来到耶鲁。

This is only my second opening assembly as university president, but I've quickly learned it may be my favorite moment of the year.

这仅是我以大学校长的身份第二次参加开学典礼，但这却是我一年中最喜爱的时刻。

Yes, graduations are fun and reunions are joyful, but nothing quite compares to the energy of this day, the buzz of possibility and the promise of new beginnings.

是的，毕业典礼非常有趣，校友重聚日也充满了欢乐，但没有什么能比得上独属于今天的这种活力——处处洋溢着无限的可能性和对崭新开始的期许。

Of course, as a parent who's had to drop two kids off at college, I know the squirrel of emotions of this moment. The tug of sadness as you prepare to say goodbye, ultimately outweighed by the immense excitement you feel for your child.

当然，作为一位才将两个孩子送进大学校门的家长，我深知在座的各位家长此刻心中的百感交集：既为即将与孩子挥手告别而感到依依不舍，又满怀着对孩子将要开启新生活的无限期待。

So to the parents and the family in the audience, let me just say thank you. Thank you for letting us be part of your child's journey. Thank you for trusting us to guide their pursuit of knowledge for the next four years.

所以，在场的各位家长们，我想对你们说声感谢：感谢你们让我们参与到孩子们的成长之旅中；感谢你们信任我们，在未来的四年里引领他们的求知之旅。

We take that responsibility seriously, and I can promise you this. By coming to Yale, your child will not only receive a world-class education, They will also become part of a rich community of learners, one that feeds their curiosity, challenges their thinking, and helps them grow, both as scholars and people.

我们深知这份责任重大，我也向你们承诺：来到耶鲁，您的孩子不仅能收获世界一流的教育，还将成为一个充满活力的学习者社区中的一员——他们将满足好奇心、挑战思维的疆域，并逐渐成长为品学兼备的人。

That is the power of a Yale education.

这就是耶鲁博雅教育的力量。

And it doesn't fade. It's a compass you'll carry with you for the rest of your life, with curiosity as its true north.

它永不褪色，并将成为一枚往后余生与你相伴的指南针，为你指明好奇心的方向。

And it's more important than ever, especially in a world that seems to be changing at warp speed, which brings me to what I want to talk about today.

在这个瞬息万变的世界里，这种力量更是显得弥足珍贵。这也是我今天想和各位分享的话题。

I am, as some of you may know, an art historian by training. I was lucky enough to receive my graduate degree in art history here at Yale, where I got to study under some of the world's foremost scholars in the field.

大家或许已经对我的艺术史研究背景有所了解，我曾有幸在耶鲁大学获得艺术史博士学位，并在这里跟随该领域最顶尖的学者们学习。

And while I have many fond memories of this campus, my most cherished ones were formed at the Yale University Art Gallery.

我在这座校园里有许多美好的回忆，但最珍视的时光是在耶鲁大学美术馆里度过的。

I encourage all of you to visit.

我也非常鼓励大家去那里参观。

It's a remarkable collection spanning centuries and cultures, from Assyrian reliefs dating back to the ninth century BC, to Vincent van Gogh's legendary night cafe, to Yale graduate Wangechi Mutu's stunning sentinel sculpture.

耶鲁大学美术馆拥有跨越世纪与文化的非凡藏品——从公元前9世纪的亚述浮雕，到梵高的传世作品《夜间咖啡馆》（Night Café），再到耶鲁艺术学院’00届校友Wangechi Mutu令人叹为观止的雕塑《哨兵》（Sentinel）。

As today marks the beginning of a journey for each of you, I want to spend some time talking about one particular painting that also depicts a journey. Winslow Homer's Old Mill, commonly known as the Morning Bell.

今天，当你们在耶鲁的旅程开始之际，我想和大家分享一幅同样描绘了一段旅程的画作：温斯洛·霍默（Winslow Homer）的《老磨坊》（Old Mill），通常被称为《晨钟》（The Morning Bell）。

And if you wanna see it in person, it's on view on the second floor of the gallery, but for now, you can find a copy printed in your assembly program.

这幅画就在耶鲁大学美术馆的二层，欢迎你们之后亲自去看看。但现在，你们可以打开手中的开学典礼日程，看看它的印刷版。

What I love about this painting is its inherent ambiguity, the way it captures liminality.

我之所以喜爱这幅作品在于其内在的模糊性与其呈现方式上的临界感。

Like life and like the best classrooms, it resists easy answers. Instead, it invites us to ask questions.

像我们的生活，也像最好的课堂一样，它拒绝提供简单的答案，而是邀请我们提出问题。

We are immediately drawn to the woman in red. It is the brightest color in the somber painting, and our eyes are led there by the pathway in the foreground.

看到这幅画的第一眼，我们首先会被画面中的红衣女子所吸引——她是这幅色调阴郁的画作中最明亮的色彩，我们的视线也会被前景的小路引导地落在她的身上。

She stands alone in the still morning air, bathed in sunlight, a lunch pail dangling from her left hand.

在清晨的一片静谧之中，她独自沐浴在阳光下，左手拎着一个午餐盒。

Her dress seems to be shaped like the bell we see swinging high above the mill's roof.

她的裙摆仿佛就像是高悬在磨坊屋顶的晨钟。

She is in motion, her skirt swaying, her back foot lifted.

她在前行中，裙摆随风摇曳，后脚稍稍抬起。

It is not exactly clear where she has come from, but we have the sense that her direction must be the textile mill looming in the background.

我们并不清楚她从何而来，但我们能感觉到她的目的地一定是矗立在画面背景中的那座老磨坊。

Her face is shadowed by the brim of a straw hat, looking downward rather than at her likely destination.

她的脸被草帽的帽檐所遮挡，目光低垂，而不是望向她可能要去的地方。

Behind her stands a group of women in conversation, their whispering posture almost conspiratorial.

在她身后，还有几位正在交谈的妇女，她们低声细语的姿态像是在密谋着什么。

Questions abound.

问题随之而来。

The forward motion of the woman in red could imply that she was just speaking with the three women.

这名红衣女子的前进方向是否暗示着她刚刚与这三名妇女交谈过？

Or did she mount the makeshift ramp and just complete her turn without speaking to the others?

或者，她是否刚刚转身踏上这条临时搭建的斜坡，尚未与她们交谈？

Is the whispering woman talking about her?

几位窃窃私语的妇女是否正在谈论她呢？

And what awaits her when she reaches the mill?

她即将前往的老磨坊里又有什么在等待着她呢？

Historical context can help us fill in some of the details of this story.

或许历史背景能够帮我们给这个故事填补一些细节。

Completed in 1871, Homer's Old Mill was painted in a dawning age when unfathomable new technologies like electric power and the telephone emerged and would eventually radically change the landscape of work in society.

霍默的《老磨坊》完成于1871年，那恰逢一个黎明时代，难以想象的新技术如电力、电话正在涌现，并终将彻底改变工作与社会的全貌。

It was an era defined by disruption, with whole industries and ways of life transforming almost overnight.

这是一个被“颠覆”所定义的时代，整个行业和生活方式几乎在一夜间发生骤变。

Sound familiar?

听起来很熟悉？

With that context, we can look at the painting with fresh eyes. So what do we see now?

带着这样的时代背景，让我们重新审视这幅画，现在我们看到了什么呢？

Perhaps a woman standing on the precipice of a new world, rife with both uncertainty and opportunity, as unsure of her footing as she is of her future.

或许是一位站在新世界边缘的女性，面对前方的不确定性与机遇，对脚下的路和自己的未来感到无比的迷茫。

As a graduate student, I spent a lot of time in front of this painting with one of my Yale professors, the preeminent art historian Jules Prown.

当我还是一名研究生时，我曾与耶鲁大学杰出的艺术史学家Jules Prown在这幅画前共度了许多时光。

He has written extensively and exquisitely about the morning bell.

他曾对这幅画有过大量精妙的论述。

Prown noted that Homer's paintings were frequently populated by anonymous figures, their faces often obscured. And that was intentional, an invitation to see ourselves within the frame.

在Prown教授看来，霍默的画作常常让笔下之人的面孔处于遮挡之中，这是有意为之，是想要让作为观者的我们将自己置身于画框之中。

And yet we are entering a scene that does not have a clear direction or a predictable outcome.

然而，我们正在进入的是一个没有明确方向，也没有可预测结果的画面。

If we imagine ourselves as the young woman at the center of this painting, did we enter via the rickety pathway in the foreground?

如果我们把自己想象成这幅画中的红衣女子，我们是否是从前景中那条破旧的小路而来？

And why was this additional makeshift path necessary?

为什么这需要有一条临时搭建的小路呢？

What will we find when we get to our destination?

当我们抵达目的地时，又会发现什么呢？

Is this our first day?

这是我们来到这里的第一天吗？

Maybe Homer is reminding us that there is more than one way to get to your destination, and that the well-worn trail isn't the only one worth taking.

也许霍默正在提醒我们：抵达目的地的路不止一条，而那条常有人行的路并非唯一的选择。

Certainly each of you has a different story, a different path you took to get here today.

毫无疑问，你们每个人都有着不同的故事，都是通过不同的道路来到这里。

It might have been a rocky road, a path filled with risks, and I'm sure it wasn't always easy.

这条路可能崎岖不平，充满风险，也可能困难重重。

Maybe you got a few splinters or tripped over a plank or two along the way, but you made it nonetheless.

你们在途中也许曾有过磕碰或是跌倒，但你们终究到达了这里。

So where are you going now?

那么，现在你们又将去向何方？

And what does the future hold for the woman in motion and for each of you?

对于画中这位前行的女子而言，对于你们而言，未来到底意味着什么呢？

Homer's Rickety Bridge can be seen as connecting the nation's agrarian past to the industrial present, or as a tightrope walk from the safe harbor of childhood to the weighty responsibilities of adult life.

霍默笔下那座并不稳固的桥，可以被视为连接了美国农业的过去与工业的现在，也可也被视为我们小心翼翼地从安逸舒适的童年生活迈向沉重喧嚣的成人世界的那条必经之路。

Today, you may feel like you're crossing a bridge, connecting one part of your life to the next, and you too will have choices to make.

今天，你们可能也觉得自己正在过一座桥，从人生的一段经历迈向下一个篇章，你们也将会面临无数的抉择。

At this moment, as you get ready to say goodbye to your friends and family, like the woman in the painting, you may have feelings of uncertainty and hesitation, and you too will have to find your footing in a world being remade in real time.

而就在此刻，当你们准备好与家人朋友们挥手告别，就像画中的女子一样，你们也会心怀忐忑、踌躇不前；但你们也终将在这个不断重塑的现实世界中找到自己的立足点。

Like the period depicted in Old Mill, we have entered our own moment of rapid transformation.

与《老磨坊》描绘的时代相似，我们也处在一个飞速变革的时刻。

Artificial intelligence is changing the way we work, learn, think, and interact. Social media and technology, for all of its promises of connection, are making us lonelier than ever. Disinformation is rampant and distrust in institutions has reached historic highs.

人工智能正全面改变着我们的工作、学习、思考与交往方式；社交媒体和新兴技术看似缩短了人与人之间的距离，却让我们感到前所未有的孤独；虚假信息泛滥，令我们对制度的不信任到达历史新高。

According to a Gallup poll from last fall, 80% of Americans believe the nation is divided on key values.

著名民调机构盖洛普去年秋天的一项民意调查显示，有80%的美国人认为国家在最重要的价值观上存在巨大分歧。

So what does this mean for students like you on the cusp of your bright college years?

那么，对于正处于「美好校园年华」开端的你们，这意味着什么呢？

What does this mean for institutions like Yale as the very purpose of higher education is debated across the nation?

当高等教育的核心使命正在全美范围内被重新审视时，这对于耶鲁大学这样的高校机构而言又意味着什么呢？

Well, much like Old Mill and its central figure, we can't predict the future, and we don't have all the answers. No one does, not even ChatGPT.

正如这幅画及其核心人物所传达的那样，我们不能预知未来，也没有所有问题的答案——实际上，连ChatGPT也没有。

Ask it, see what it says.

去问它，看看它会给出怎样的回答。

But we do have the tools to meet this moment, armed with curiosity, courage, and compassion, anchored by humility, open-mindedness, and mutual respect for each other's dignity and humanity.

但是，我们确实具备应对此刻的力量。让我们以好奇心、勇气与慈悯之心为利刃，以谦逊之心、开放之态，以及对彼此尊严和人性的相互尊重为基石。

These enduring qualities form the bedrock of any strong community of learning, one that does not merely weather the storms we face, but emerges stronger from them.

这些历久弥新的品质构成了所有强大学习社区的基石，使其不仅能够抵御风暴，还能在风暴的冲击下而变得更加强大。

That's why I believe in this moment of transition, you could not be at a better place than Yale. Not just because of the brilliance of our faculty and the breadth of our resources, but because of the people sitting right beside you, the classmates who will become your community.

这也是为什么我相信在这个变革的时刻，耶鲁大学是你们最好的选择——不仅因为这里拥有卓越的师资或丰富的资源，更因为那些正坐在你们身边的人，每一位即将与你共同构成耶鲁社区的同学们。

Over the next four years, many of them will become your dearest friends and closest confidants, your study buddies and intellectual sparring partners.

在接下来的四年里，他们中的许多人将会成为你的挚友、知己、学习伙伴和智力切磋对手。

They will both challenge and strengthen your ideas, whether it's across a seminar table or over a plate of mozzarella sticks.

无论是坐在研讨桌前，还是共享一盘马苏里拉乳酪条，他们都将挑战和巩固你的想法。

Together, you have the opportunity to prepare yourselves for whatever the future brings.

你们将携手相伴，有机会共同为未来的一切做好充分的准备。

And at a time when the purpose of the university is being discussed, you should feel more confident than ever in the value of a liberal arts education, because that will prepare you, not just to be ready for the future, but to help shape it.

当大学的使命正在被广泛讨论之际，你们更应比任何时候都更加坚信博雅教育的价值，因为它将使你们能够准备好迎接未来，并助力塑造未来。

Because in a world in flux, the skills and relationships you gain here will help you adapt and thrive.

在这个瞬息万变的世界里，你们在这里所锤炼的技能与缔结的纽带，将助你们处变不惊、乘风破浪。

The ability to think critically, engage respectfully, ask questions and interrogate ideas, that's what stands the test of both time and technology.

你们将掌握批判性思考、尊重交流、勇于提问、审视洞察的能力——这些才是历久弥新，经得起时间和技术考验的宝贵财富。

Sometimes I wonder how Winslow Homer would depict the community I just described.

有时候我会想，霍默会如何用画笔描绘我刚刚所描述的社区呢？

Like many artists, Homer valued his solitude, but he was fascinated by the idea of community, by the shared values and rituals that find us together, even as the world so often conspires to drive us apart.

与许多艺术家一样，霍默珍视独处的时光，但他也着迷于社区的理念，着迷于那些将我们紧密相连的共同价值观和仪式感，即使这个世界常常试图将我们拆散。

As Prown notes, Homer, painting in post-Civil War America, observed that community in its purest form was the realm of children.

正如Prown教授所指出的那样，在美国内战后的时代背景下，霍默在作画的过程中发现，一个最为纯粹的社区是孩子们的王国。

Children who had not yet been taught to judge or fear one another.

这些孩子们，尚未被教导去批判或恐惧彼此。

Children who have not yet learned to view difference with distrust or mask their truest selves.

这些孩子们，尚未学会以怀疑的眼光来看待差异，或将真实的自己掩藏在面具之下。

Homer, this openness is a key ingredient of community, one that gets contaminated and corrupted as we age, as we separate ourselves into silos and let our difference arouse contempt rather than curiosity.

对于霍默而言，这种开放性是社区的关键元素，但它会随着我们年岁的增长逐渐被侵蚀，尤其是当我们将自己隔绝在孤立的茧房中，让差异性带来蔑视胜过对彼此的好奇之时。

We see this in the Old Mill as well.

在《老磨坊》中也能看到这一点。

I often wonder how different would that painting feel if they were all talking together, if the woman whispering in the corner welcomed the woman in red.

我常常想，如果画中的人物能够一起交谈，如果角落里窃窃私语的妇女们能够欢迎那位红衣女子，这幅画给人的感觉会有多么不同。

As we embrace Homer's vision of a connected community, I wonder what he might paint at Yale. Possibly a scene in the coming weeks right here on cross campus. A group of first year students sitting on a blanket, trading stories from their foot trip, comparing schedules and sharing their hopes for the semester ahead. Maybe a Frisbee hovers above them. They gesture to someone walking by to join them on the blanket. Someone laughs, a bird sings, and Sterling Memorial rises in the background.

当我们拥抱霍默这一交互社区的愿景时，我总是好奇他会如何用画笔描绘耶鲁大学：或许是几周之后，将发生在Cross Campus上的场景——一群大一新生们坐在野餐垫上，彼此分享在FOOT旅行中发生的新鲜事，对比各自的日程，分享对于即将开启的新学期的期待；也可能会有一只飞盘从他们的头顶掠过，而他们正招呼着某个路人一起加入聊天；在一片欢声笑语中，鸟儿也一同鸣唱。

And the campus waits for the Harkness Tower to chime its own morning bells.

在画面的背景里，斯特林纪念图书馆静静矗立着，整个校园正等待着哈克尼斯塔楼敲响晨钟。

It's a different scene from the original Old Mill, brighter and more connected, both in the details of the image and the feelings it inspires in the viewer.

这与霍默的画截然不同，它更加明亮，也更具连接性，在描绘的细节和传递的情感上也是如此。

But that contrast is the point, because it reminds us of a simple but powerful truth. The world we create depends on how we treat one another. It depends on the community we build.

而这种对比正是关键所在，因为它提醒了我们一个简单而有力的真理：我们所创造的世界取决于我们如何对待彼此，也取决于我们所构建的社区。

The woman in the painting don't have to meet the future alone, and neither do we.

画中的女子不必独自面对未来，我们也不必。

In these liminal moments of transition, we must turn toward each other.

在变革即将到来的临界时刻，我们必须转向彼此。

The next four years will be filled with opportunities for you to do exactly that, In your residential college, where you'll bond with your FroCo group, make friends across classes, and wear your college colors with pride at first year Olympics.

未来的四年里，你们将拥有无数机会实现这一点——在住宿学院里，你们将与FroCo小组的成员们建立深厚的情谊，结交不同年级的朋友，并在新生运动会（First-Year Olympics）自豪地穿上象征着各自学院颜色的衣服。

In the classroom, where you'll have the chance to engage with and learn from the world's brightest minds, both the ones at the front of the room and the ones seated right next to you.

在课堂上，你们将有机会与世界上最杰出的头脑对话、学习——不仅是站在讲台前的教授，还有那些坐在你们身旁的同学们。

In the dining halls where your conversations will outlast your meals and run the gamut from physics to philosophy and maybe even works of artists like Winslow Homer.

在食堂里，你们将从饭前聊到饭后，从物理聊到哲学，甚至聊到像温斯洛·霍默这样的艺术家的作品。

In New Haven, where you'll explore the vibrant city we're lucky to call home and debate until the wee hours of the morning which pizza joint reigns supreme.

在纽黑文——这座我们有幸称之为家的城市，你们将一同探索这座城市的活力，并为哪家披萨店最为美味争论至天明。

And at Dwight Hall, where you'll turn scholarship into service and make community part of your curriculum.

在Dwight Hall，你们将把自己的学识与服务紧密相连，让服务社区成为你们课程的一部分。

Time after time, you will have the chance to fill the canvas before you with connection.

一次又一次，你们将有机会通过彼此的连接来填满你们面前的这张画布。

Take it.

请抓住这个机会。

In this moment of transition, in the face of uncertainty and instability in the world, be the hand that reaches out first. Be the friendly ear that listens or the soft voice that comforts.

站在这个变革时刻，面对世界的动荡不定，请成为那最先伸出的手，成为那愿意倾听的友善之耳，或是那给予安慰的温柔之声。

Seek out and learn from other perspectives, not just the ones you arrived with.

主动去接触并学习不同的观点，而不止是停留在你来时的想法之中。

Because that's how you build a community, one small gesture at a time.

因为，只有通过这些一点一滴的行动，你才能构建这个社区。

Today, it is my great privilege to welcome you to our community.

今天，我非常荣幸地欢迎你们加入我们的社区。

Welcome to Yale. We're so happy you're here.

欢迎来到耶鲁，我们很开心看到你们的到来。

来源：英语东