杜克大学校长文森特·普莱斯于美国东部时间8月23日在杜克教堂（Duke Chapel）发表了讲话。

原文标题是：Advice to 'Seek and Embrace Bewilderment'，以下为中英文稿。

As President, it is my great pleasure to welcome you and your families to the Duke community.

作为杜克大学的校长，我很荣幸地欢迎你和你的家庭成员来到杜克。

All summer long, the faculty and staff of the university have been hard at work preparing for your arrival. Syllabi have been revised, books have been ordered, desks have been polished, and sod has been laid.  And who knows?  Perhaps for one of you, half of your belongings were accidentally shipped to Cincinnati.

整个夏天，学校的全体教员和工作人员都为你们的到来做了充分的准备：教学大纲被重新修订了，书也买好了，课桌椅被擦洗一新，草皮也都已经铺好。不过谁知道呢，也许你们其中有人一半的行李都被不小心运送到了辛辛那提。

At any rate, now, after all of the preparations, the day has finally arrived for you and your classmates to say goodbye to your parents and settle into your rooms. I will keep these remarks brief, because I know how excited you must be to explore campus and get to know your new classmates, teammates, and friends, to get on with your new lives as part of this extraordinary community.

今天，你和你的同学们都将和父母告别并在宿舍内安顿下来。我会尽量长话短说，因为我知道你们都很兴奋，想要立刻去探索校园、认识新同学、未来的小组成员和新朋友，并在这个特别棒的集体中开始你们的新生活。

I share your anticipation, because this will be my first year at Duke as well. My wife Annette and our dogs Scout and Cricket made the move to campus just a few weeks ago, and we too are still finding our way around. As your fellow first-year Dukie, I’m proud to start my career here alongside you.  In the long history of Duke University, the Class of 2021 is truly remarkable.

我和你们一样充满期待，因为这也是我来杜克大学的第一年。我的妻子安妮特以及我们宠物狗Scout和Cricket几周前才搬来学校，所以我们也正在逐步熟悉周围的环境。我和你们一样，都是杜克一年级新生，我很自豪我可以和你们一道开始我的新旅程。在杜克大学悠久的历史中，2021届学生的表现必将是非凡的。

A record number of students – 34,480 to be exact – applied for a seat in this magnificent chapel, and fewer than one in ten were admitted. Among you are the first youth ambassador to the USDA Task Force on Hunger, a volunteer firefighter, national champions in archery and kayaking, and a European champion chess master.

今年申请杜克大学的数目再创新高。共有34480名学生申请了在这个宏伟教堂中的一席之座，然而只有不到十分之一的学生最终被录取。在你们中间，有美国农业部消除饥饿特别行动小组的第一个青年大使，有志愿消防员，有射箭和皮划艇项目的国家冠军，以及国际象棋的欧洲冠军。

You have all worked hard to be here, sitting among the brightest and most promising students in the world.  Each of you brings something new, something wonderful, to this campus, and together, like the many different pieces of glass in these stained-glass windows, you will make the class of ’21 the beautiful mosaic it will become.

你们都是通过不懈的努力才来到了这里，和世界上最聪明、最有前途的同学们坐在一起。你们当中的每一个人都给校园注入了新鲜的血液。正像教堂里玻璃窗是由许多彩色玻璃组成的一样，你们也将打造出独属于2021届学生最绚丽的色彩。

Now, I have some news for you: despite all the preparation, despite your accomplishments, the next four years are going to be hard. At times, really, really hard.

现在，我想告诉你们的是：不管之前你们做好了怎样的准备，取得了什么成就，未来在杜克大学的四年都将会很难，在某些时刻，甚至是非常非常难。

Your professors are going to ask you questions that you’ve never considered, much less know the answers to – questions that will challenge you to recognize and alter your preconceptions. You may experience the frustrations of working through some cleanliness issues with your roommates, or navigating some other rocky personal issues as you encounter people who are just different from you.  And you will need to figure out how to navigate the C1 and C2 busses between East and West campus. By the way, if you find yourself on a bus labeled Schedule 1082, that’s the Greyhound to Washington, DC, not a shuttle to the Washington Duke Inn.

你的教授会问你一些问题，这些问题你之前从未思考过，更别提知道答案了。这些问题将会迫使你去认知，进而改变你先入为主的观念。

有些经历可能会让你感到沮丧：比如和你的室友一起讨论打扫卫生的问题。还会有其他一些很麻烦的人际交往问题，因为有一些人就是和你不一样。

你还需要搞清楚在东校区和西校区往返的C1和C2巴士是怎么回事。提醒一下，如果你发现自己正坐在一辆贴着1082时刻表的巴士上，那其实是去华盛顿的灰狗巴士，而不是去华盛顿杜克酒店的接驳车。

You will face new and profound demands on your time. Someday soon, you’ll have two papers due, a midterm in your hardest class, a club event, and a friend’s birthday on the same day.

你还将发现时间完全不够用。在不久后的某一天，你会发现所有事都集中在同一天：手头上两篇论文要交，最难的一门课程要期中考试，有一个俱乐部活动要参加，甚至还有朋友的生日聚会。

And you will find that – as recent events and issues surrounding this very chapel have illustrated – you are not isolated from the cares, needs, demands, and controversies of our nation and world. Indeed, you will be called upon to engage in thoughtful and sometimes very difficult conversations about our history, our present, and most important, the course of our futures together.

同时，你会发现，你和国家乃至世界上所发生的热点事件、诉求、争论话题是密切联系着的——正如近期围绕着这所教堂发生的事件和引发的争议一样。你将参与进一些非常深刻又很艰难的对话中去，关于我们的过去、现在、以及——最重要的——未来的走势。

It can and will feel overwhelming, and you’re bound to lose your footing sometimes. When this happens, do not panic. Remember that every single one of your classmates is going to feel this way at some point. The same goes for your professors, your parents, and certainly for me.  We all lose our footing from time to time. 

这些的一切会让你感到有些疲于应对，有时你也会失去你的立足点，变得困惑。当这种情况发生的时候，不要担忧。只要记住，你的每一个同学在某种程度上都会有这种感受。对于你的老师、父母，以及对我来说，都是一样的。

The fact is, we’ve all experienced what the poet and essayist Wendell Berry called, “the bewilderments of … the human condition.”

实际上，我们都体会过诗人和散文作家温德尔·拜瑞（Wendell Berry）所说的“人类的困惑（the bewilderments of … the human condition）”。

So it is with years of experience that I’m going to let you in on a secret: the freedom to feel bewildered is the real gift that Duke offers you. Every member of this community – the faculty, staff, and your fellow students – is dedicated to giving you the opportunity to explore challenging ideas, to try things on without fear of judgment. I hope you will take full advantage of everything this university has to offer you.  I hope you seek and embrace bewilderment. 

所以接下来我准备告诉你们的一个秘密（是根据我多年的经验总结出的）：杜克大学给你的一份真正的礼物就是会给你们提供自由氛围，让你们去感受困惑。这个集体中的每一个成员：教职人员、工作人员和你亲爱的同学们，都致力于给你们提供机会去探索富有挑战性的想法、去不断尝试而无所畏惧、不怕外界的评判。我希望你们能把这所大学提供给你们的一切都充分利用起来。

我希望你们去主动寻找并接纳困惑。

I want to forewarn you that you can squander this opportunity.  You can squander it by staying within your comfort zone, relying too much on what you know, on the tried and true.  Do that, and you risk leaving the greater truth untried.

我想提醒你们，你们完全可以浪费这个机会。你们大可待在自己的舒适区、过于依赖你们已知的、已经被证实的事实或者真理。如果这样做，你就冒着让更伟大的真理得不到验证的风险。

You can squander it by loading up on too many activities or burdening yourself with too many commitments. Don’t let life after college loom over every decision – you’ve got years for all of that to fall into place. Instead, remember that your time here isn’t so much about preparing for a career as it is about deepening your sense of self and your appreciation of other perspectives.

你可以把在杜克学习的宝贵时间浪费在参加太多的活动上，或者让自己负担太多的责任。在学校的时候不要过多地考虑毕业之后干什么，你之后会有好多年的时间来规划。请记住，你在这里的时间并不全是为你将来的职业所做准备，而是为了加深你的自我意识，以及你对其他观点的认同和欣赏。

I don’t want you to skip class, but don’t spend all day in the library, either. Take the time to walk through Duke Gardens, or check out the Nasher Museum. Throw a frisbee on the quad and yes, get into a heated political discussion with your hallmate.

我不希望你们翘课，但是也不要整天泡在图书馆里。花点时间去杜克花园散散步，或者去纳什博物馆看看。可以在院子里扔飞盘，当然，和你的伙伴进行一场激烈的政治讨论也是不错的选择。

And perhaps most importantly, get some sleep. You know I’m serious about that last one.  Skipping sleep will make your grades, your friendships, and your health suffer.  Okay, I know I sound like your parents, but trust me on this one.

还有，最重要的是，多睡觉。你们知道我对这一点很看重。不睡觉可不会给你的成绩、友谊和健康带来任何好处。好吧，我知道我现在听起来像你们的父母，但在这一点上请相信我。

Speaking of your parents, they must be feeling a little bewildered right now, too. This is the last time you’ll all be together before family weekend in October. That may seem like it’s a long way off, but I know from experience that the next eight weeks are going to pass by much more slowly for your parents than they will for you.

说到你们的父母，他们现在肯定也会感到一丝困惑。现在将会是你们在10月份的家庭周末前最后一次聚在一起。10月份听起来好像挺遥远的，不过从我的经验判断，接下来的8周时间对你们父母来说，一定比你们感受到的更漫长。

Now, a word to the proud mothers and fathers and family members watching us on livestream: when you get a call – and you will – from your bewildered student, resist the natural, parental instinct to intervene.  Instead, please trust in the resources and institutional support that Duke offers. Instead, give your son or daughter the opportunity to figure things out on his or her own.

现在，我有句话要传达给各位充满自豪感的父母以及正在看现场转播的家庭成员们：当你接到子女打来的充满困惑的电话时，请千万抗拒住父母的天性，不要去试图干预。相反，请相信杜克大学提供的资源和制度上的支持，请给你的儿子或女儿提供一个自己解决问题的机会。

We all have to remember that there’s another side to bewilderment – Only through feeling bewildered will we learn something new or build new confidence in our convictions. It’s the catalyst for the development of self-awareness, of knowledge, of character.

我们都必须记住，困惑还有另一方面——只有通过解决困惑，我们才能学到新的东西，或对我们的信念更加坚定。它是自我意识、知识和性格发展的催化剂。

So as you embark on your careers at Duke -- as you go with me now on this journey, I wish you the very best in the bewildering, joyful days ahead. Again, Welcome to Duke!

所以当你在杜克大学开始你的学业时，我祝福你们在未来充满困惑、也充满快乐的日子中一切顺利。

再次，欢迎来到杜克！