教育的真谛就是当你忘记一切所学到的东西之后所剩下的东西

教育的真谛就是当你忘记一切所学到的东西之后所剩下的东西 ―教育的真谛就是当你忘记一切所学到的东西之后所剩下的东西。‖ 李开复致女儿的 一封信 女儿读大学前的全家福亲爱的女儿: Dear Daughter 当我们开车驶出哥伦比 亚大学的时候，我想写一封信给你，告诉你盘旋在我脑中的想法。 As we drove off from Columbia I wanted to write a letter to you totell you all that is on my mind. 首先， 我想告诉你我们为你感到特别骄傲。进入哥伦比亚大学证明你是一个全面发展的优 秀学生，你的学业、艺术和社交技能最近都有卓越的表现，无论是你高中微积分第 一名， 时尚的，绘制的球鞋， 还是在―模拟联合国‖的演说，你毫无疑问已经 是一个多才多艺的女孩。你的父母为你感到骄傲，你也应该像我们一样为自己感到 自豪。 First I want to tell you how proud we are. Getting into Columbia isa real testament of what a great well-rounded student you are. Youracademic artistic and social skills have truly blossomed in the lastfew years. Whether it is getting the highest grade in Calculus completingyour elegant fashion design successfully selling your painted runningshoes or becoming one of the top orators in Model United Nations youhave become a talented and accomplished young woman. You should be as proudof yourself as we are. 亦良师亦慈父——李开复和女儿在一起 我会永远记得第一次将你抱在臂 弯的那一刻， 一种新鲜激动的感觉瞬间触动了我的心，那是一种永远让我陶醉的感 觉，就是那种将我们的一生都联结在一起的―父女情结‖。我也常常想起我唱着催眠 曲轻摇你入睡， 当我把你放下的时候，常常觉得既解脱又惋惜，一方面我想，她终 于睡着了～另一方面，我又多么希望自己可以多抱你一会儿。我还记得带你到运动 场，看着你玩得那么开心，你是那样可爱，所有人都非常爱你。 I will always remember the first moment I held you in my arms. I felta tingling sensation that directly touched my heart. It was anintoxicating feeling I will always have. It must be that ―father-daughterconnection‖ which will bind us for life. I will always remember singingyou lullaby while I rocked you to sleep. When I put you down it was alwayswith both relief she finally fell asleep and regret wishing I couldhold you longer. And I will always remember taking you to the playgroundand watching you having so much fun. You were so cute and adorable andthat is why everybody loved you so. 你不但长得可 爱，而且是个特别乖巧的孩子。你从不吵闹、为人着想，既听话又有礼貌。当你三 岁我们建房子的时候，每个周末十多个小时你都静静地跟着我们去运建筑材料，三 餐在车上吃着汉堡，唱着儿歌，唱累了就睡觉，一点都不娇气不抱怨。你去上周日 的中文学习班时，尽管一点也不觉得有趣，却依然很努力。我们做父母的能有像你 这样的女儿真的感到非常幸运。 You have been a great kid ever since you were born always quietempathetic attentive and well-mannered. You were three when we builtour house. I remember you quietly followed us every weekend for more thanten hours a day to get building supplies. You put up with that boring periodwithout a fuss happily ate hamburgers every meal in the car sang withBarney until you fell asleep. When you went to Sunday Chinese school youstudied hard even though it was no fun for you. I cannot believe how luckywe are as parents to have a daughter like you. 近期，李开复成为某时 尚杂志的封面人物。 你也是个很好的姐姐。虽然你们姐妹以前也会打架，但是长大 后，你们真的成为了好朋友。妹妹很爱你，很喜欢逗你笑，她把你当成她的榜样看 待。我们开车离开哥大后，她非常想你，我知道你也很想她。世界上最宝贵的就是 家人。和父母一样，妹妹就是你最可以信任的人。随着年龄的增长，你们姐妹之间 的情谊不变，你们互相照应，彼此关心，这就是我最希望见到的事情了。在你的大 学四年，有空时你一定要常常跟妹妹视频聊聊天，写写电子邮件。 You have been an excellent elder sister. Even though you two had yourshare of fights the last few years you have become best friends. Yoursister loves you so much and she loves to make you laugh. She looks upto you and sees you as her role model. As you saw when we departed shemisses you so much. And I know that you miss her just as much. There isnothing like family and other than your parents your sister is the oneperson who you can trust and confide in. She will be the one to take careof you and the one you must take care of. There is nothing we wish morethan that your sisterhood will continue to bond as you grow older andthat you will take care of each other throughout your lives. For the nextfour years do have a short video chat with her every few days and doemail her when you have a chance. 大学将是你人生最重要的时光，在大学里你会发现学习的真谛。 你以前经常会问到 ―这个课程有什么用‖，这是个好问题，但是我希望你理解:―教 育的真谛就是当你忘记一切所学到的东西之后所剩下的东西。‖我的意思是，最重要 的不是你学到的具体的知识， 而是你学习新事物和解决新问题的能力。这才是大学 学习的真正意义——这将是你从被动学习转向灾餮暗慕锥危?之后你会变成一个 很好的自学者。所以，即便你所学的不是生活里所急需的，也要认真看待大学里的 每一门功课，就算学习的技能你会忘记，学习的能力是你将受用终身的。 College will be the most important years in your life. It is in collegethat you will truly discover what learning is about. You often question―what good is this course‖. I encourage you to be inquisitive but Ialso want to tell you : ―education is what you have left after all thatis taught is forgotten‖. What I mean by that is the materials taughtisn’t as important as you gaining the ability to learn a new subjectand the ability to analyze a new problem. That is really what learningin college is about – this will be the period where you go fromteacher-taught to master-inspired after which you must becomeself-learner. So do take each subject seriously and even if what you learnisn’t critical for your life the skills of learning will be somethingyou cherish forever. 李开复离开谷歌，掌舵―创新工场‖。 不要被教条所束缚，任何问题都没有一个唯一的简单的答案。还记得当我帮助你高 中的辩论课程时， 我总是让你站在你不认可的那一方来辩论吗,我这么做的理由就 是希望你能够理解: 看待一个问题不应该非黑即白，而是有很多方法和角度。当你 意识到这点的时候，你就会成为一个很好的解决问题者。这就是―批判的思维‖—— 你的一生都会需要的最重要的思考方式，这也意味着你还需要包容和支持不同于你 的其他观点。 我永远记得我去找我的博士导师提出了一个新论题，他告诉我:―我 不同意你，但我支持你。‖多年后，我认识到这不仅仅是包容，而是一种批判式思考， 更是令人折服的领导风格，现在这也变成了我的一部分。我希望这也能成为你的一 部分。 Do not fall into the trap of dogma. There is no single simple answerto any question. Remember during your high school debate class I alwaysasked you to take on the side that you don’t believe in I did that fora reason -- things rarely ―black and white‖ and there are always manyways to look at a problem. You will become a better problem solver if yourecognized that. This is called ―critical thinking‖ and it is the mostimportant thinking skill you need for your life. This also means you needto become tolerant and supportive of others. I will always remember whenI went to my Ph.D. advisor and proposed a new thesis topic. He said ―Idon’t agree with you but I’ll support you.‖ After the years I havelearned this isn’t just flexibility it is encouragement of criticalthinking and an empowering style of leadership and it has become a partof me. I hope it will become a part of you too. 在大学里你要追随自己的激情和兴趣，选你感兴趣的课程， 不要困扰于别人怎么说或怎么想。 史蒂夫乔布斯曾经说过，在大学里你的热情会创 造出很多点，在你随后的生命中你会把这些点串联起来。在他著名的斯坦福毕业典 礼演讲中，他举了一个很好的例子:他在大学里修了看似毫无用处的书法，而十年 后，这成了苹果 Macintosh 里漂亮字库的基础，而因为 Macintosh 有这么好的字库， 才带来了桌面出版和今天的办公软件(例如微软 Office)。他对书法的探索就是一 个点， 而苹果 Macintosh 把多个点联结成了一条线。所以不要太担心将来你要做 什么样的工作，也不要太急功近利。假如你喜欢日语或韩语，就去学吧，尽管你的 爸爸曾说过那没什么用:)尽兴地选择你的点吧，要有信念有一天机缘来临时，你 会找到自己的人生使命，画出一条美丽的曲线。 Follow your passion in college. Take courses you think you will enjoy.Don’t be trapped in what others think or say. Steve Jobs says when youare in college your passion will create many dots and later in your lifeyou will connect them. In his great speech given at Stanford commencement he gave the great example where he took calligraphy and a decade laterit became the basis of the beautiful Macintosh fonts which later igniteddesktop publishing and brought wonderful tools like Microsoft Word toour lives. His expedition into calligraphy was a dot and the Macintoshbecame the connecting line. So don’t worry too much about what job youwill have and don’t be too utilitarian and if you like Japanese orKorean go for it even if your dad thinks ―it’s not useful.‖ :) Enjoypicking your dots and be assured one day you will find your calling andconnect a beautiful curve through the dots. 在功课上要尽力，但不 要给自己太多压力。妈和我在成绩上对你没什么要求，只要你能顺利毕业并在这四 年里学到了些东西，我们就会很高兴了。即便你毕业时没有获得优异的成绩， 你的 哥伦比亚学位也将带你走得很远。所以别给自己压力。在你高中生活的最后几个月， 因为压力比较小，大学申请也结束了，你过得很开心，但是在最近的几个星期，你 好像开始紧张起来。(你注意到你紧张时会咬指甲吗,)千万别担心，最重要的是 你有在学习，你需要的唯一衡量是你的努力程度。成绩只不过是虚荣的人用以吹嘘 和慵懒的人所恐惧的无聊数字而已，而你既不虚荣也不慵懒。 Do your best in classes but don’t let pressure get to you. Yourmother and I have no expectations for your grades. If you graduate andlearn something in your four years we would feel happy. Your Columbiadegree will take you far even if you don’t graduate with honors. Soplease don’t give yourself pressure。During your last few months in highschool you were so happy because there was little pressure and collegeapplications are finished. But in the past few weeks we saw you arebeginning to worry did you know you bite your nails when you arenervous. Please don’t be worried. The only thing that matters is thatyou learned. The only metric you should use is that you tried. Grades arejust silly letters that give the vain people something to brag and thelazy people something to fear. You are too good to be either. 最重要的是在大学里你要交一些朋友，快乐生活。大学的朋友往往是生命中 最好的朋友，因为在大学里你和朋友能够近距离交往。另外，在一块儿成长，一起 独立，很自然地你们就会紧紧地系在一起，成为密友。你应该挑选一些真诚诚恳的 朋友，跟他们亲近，别在乎他们的爱好、成绩、外表甚至性格。你在高中的最后两 年已经交到了一些真正的朋友，所以尽可以相信自己的直觉，再交一些新朋友吧。 你 是一个真诚的人，任何人都会喜欢跟你做朋友的， 所以要自信、外向、主动一点， 如果你喜欢某人，就告诉她，就算她拒绝了，你也没有损失什么。以最大的善意去 对人，不要有成见，要宽容。人无完人，只要他们很真诚，就信任他们，对他们友 善。 他们将给你相同的回报，这是我成功的秘密——我以诚待人，信任他人(除非 他们做了失信于我的事)。有人告诉这样有时我会被占便宜，他们是对的，但是我 可以告诉你:以诚待人让我得到的远远超过我失去的。在我做管理的 18 年里，我 学到一件很重要的事——要想得到他人的信任和尊重，只有先去信任和尊重他人。 无论是管理、工作、交友，这点都值得你参考。 Most importantly make friends and be happy. College friends are oftenthe best in life because during college you are closer to them physicallythan to your family. Also going through independence and adulthood isa natural bonding experience. Pick a few friends and become really closeto them – pick the ones who are genuine and sincere to you. Don’t worryabout their hobbies grades looks or even personalities. You havedeveloped some real friendships in high school in your last two yearsso trust your instinct and make new friends. You are a genuine and sincereperson – anyone would enjoy being your friend so be confident outgoingand pro-active. If you think you like someone tell her. You have verylittle to lose. Give people the benefit of the doubt don’t stereotypeand be forgiving. People are not perfect so as long as they are genuineand sincere trust them and be good to them. They will give back. Thisis my secret of success – that I am genuine with people and trust themunless they do something to lose my trust. Some people tell me thatoccasionally I would be taken advantage of. They are right but I can tellyou that that loss is nothing compared to what I gained. In my last 18years leading people I have realized that only one thing matters – togain the trust and respect of others and to do so you need to trust andrespect others first. Whether it is for management work or friendshipthis is something you should ponder. 要和你高中时代的朋友保持联系，但是不要用他们来取代大学的友谊，也 不要把全部的时间都花在老朋友身上，因为那样你就会失去交新朋友的机会了。 Do keep your high school friends and stay connected to them but donot use them as substitutes for college friendship and do not spend toomuch time with them because that would eat into your time to make newfriends. 你还要早点开始规划你的暑假——你想 做什么,你想呆在哪儿,你想学点什么,你在大学里学习是否会让你有新的打算, 我觉得你学习艺术设计的计划很不错，你应该想好你该去哪儿学习相应的课程。我 们当然希望你回到北京，但是最终的决定是你的。 Start planning for your summers early – what would you like to doWhere would you like to live What would you like to learn What have youlearned in college that might change your mind I think your plan ofstudying fashion is good and you should decide where you want to be andget into the right courses. We of course hope you come back to Beijingbut you should go where you think is best for you. 不管是暑假计划，功课规划，抑或是选专业，管理时间，你都 应该负责你的人生。过去不管是申请学校、设计课外活动或者选择最初的课程，我 都从旁帮助了你不少。以后，我仍然会一直站你身旁，但是现在是你自己掌舵的时 候了。我常常记起我生命中那些令人振奋的时刻——在幼儿园决定跳级， 决定转到 计算机科学专业，决定离开学术界选择 Apple，决定回中国，决定选择 Google，乃 至最近选择创办我的新公司。 有能力进行选择意味着你会过上自己想要的生活。生 命太短暂了，你不能过别人想要你过的生活。掌控自己的生命是很棒的感觉，试试 吧，你会爱上它的～ Whether it is summer-planning or coursework planning or picking amajor or managing your time you should take control of your life. Inthe past I have helped you quite a bit whether it is in collegeapplication designing your extracurricular activities or picking theinitial coursework. I will always be there for you but the time has comefor you to be in the driver’s seat – this is your life and you needto be in control. I will always remember the exhilarating feeling in mylife – that I got to decide to skip kindergarten that I got to decideto change to computer science major that I got to decide to leave academiafor Apple that I got to decide to go to China that I got to decide togo to Google and most recently that I got to decide to start my ownbusiness. Being able to decide means you get to live the life that youwant to. Life is too short to live the life others do or others want you.Being in control feels great. Try it and you’ll love it 我告诉 妈我在写这封信，问她有什么想对你说的，她想了想，说―让她好好照顾自己‖，很 简单却饱含着真切的关心——这一向是你深爱的妈妈的特点。这短短的一句话，是 她想提醒你很多事情，比如要记得自己按时吃药，好好睡觉，保持健康的饮食，适 量运动，不舒服的时候要去看医生等等。中国有句古语，说―身体发肤，受之父母， 不敢毁伤，孝之始也‖。这句话的意思用比较新的方法诠释就是说:父母最爱的就是 你，所以照顾好自己就是孝顺最好的方法。当你成为母亲的那天，你就会理解这些。 在那天之前，听妈妈的，你一定要好好照顾自己。 I told your mom I’m writing this letter and asked what she wantedme to say. She thought and said: ―just ask her to take care of herself.‖Simple but deeply caring – that is how your mother is and that is whyyou love her so much. In this simple sentence is her hope that you willbecome independent in the way you take care of yourself – that you willremember to take your medicine that you will get enough sleep that youwill have a balanced diet that you will get some exercise and that youwill go see a doctor whenever you don’t feel good. An ancient Chineseproverb says that the most important thing to be nice to your parents isto take care of yourself. This is because your parents love you so muchand that if you are well they will have comfort. You will understand thisone day when you become a mother. But in the meantime please listen toyour mother and take care of yourself. 大学是你自由时 间最多的四年。大学是你第一次学会独立.