2022年10月4日，北京大学2021级、2022级图灵班开班仪式在静园五院举行。北京大学访问讲席教授、前沿计算研究中心主任、图灵班指导委员会主任约翰·霍普克罗夫特（John Hopcroft）受疫情影响无法来到现场，通过视频欢迎同学们来到北京大学图灵班。

 

小编翻译整理了霍普克罗夫特教授的致辞，以飨读者。部分中文翻译根据上下文有所调整。

 

John Hopcroft教授致辞

 

Welcome to the PKU Turing Class.  Sorry I could not be on hand to welcome those of you who arrived a year ago.

欢迎加入北京大学图灵班！很遗憾我今天不能在现场欢迎大家。

 

Welcome now as you begin a unique chapter in your life that lies between your experiences at home and your independence as a citizen of the world.

祝贺同学们开启人生中的一个独特篇章，在这里，你将完成从一个未成年人到独立的成人身份的过渡与转换。

 

Make it a wonderful time of change with reflection, exploration, recreation, and fun activities.  The physical environment of the PKU campus is outstanding with mature woods and lakes and an amazing variety of birds and woodland animals. Historical classrooms nestle in hidden gardens behind old academic gates. Walking everyday along the wonderful campus paths should be a pleasurable reflective exercise.

希望大学时光成为一段充满反思、探索、娱乐和有趣活动的美好时光。北大校园的自然环境优美，林荫环绕，湖塔相映，鸟语花香，历史悠久的教室隐匿于古老的学术大门后的花园中。每天走在美丽的校园小路上会是一个愉快的经历。

 

Since March of 2021, Judy and I have been trying to return to China and PKU.  Late this fall we will try for the fourth time this year to get to China.  It has been frustrating to have had the trip cancelled or postponed so many times when Judy and I have been so looking forward to returning to the PKU campus and engaging with all of you.

自2021年3月以来，我和太太一直尝试回到中国，回到北京大学。今年秋天，很快我们将第四次尝试返回中国。我们十分期待着回到北大校园，与大家交流，但无奈行程被多次取消或推迟。

 

It is my fondest hope that when I do arrive at PKU that I can teach at least one lecture in a course so that I can get to know you and help you with your careers.

我最大的希望，就是回到北大给你们上一堂课，这样我就能够认识你们，并为你们将来的发展提供帮助。

 

In the meantime, I would like to give you some advice.

在这里，我想给大家一些建议。

 

What do you enjoy?

你热爱什么？

 

Students who appear to be successful are those who focus on what they enjoy.  Many parents tell their child to major in computer science and get a high paying job.  Parents want their child to have a better life than they did.  But majoring in computer science because it will lead to a high paying job is not a good strategy.

通常来讲，专注于自己热爱的事情的学生比较容易成功。许多家长告诉孩子选择计算机专业，是为了找一份高薪的工作。父母希望自己的孩子能有比他们更好的生活。但为了高薪工作而选择计算机专业并不是一个好的策略。

 

You get one life to live and you should seek a job that will help you enjoy that life.  This means majoring in a discipline that you truly enjoy.

人生只有一次，你应该找一份能让你享受人生的工作。这意味着你要选一个自己真正喜欢的专业。

 

So while you are at PKU, explore what you really enjoy and engage in activities that will lead to a full and satisfying life.

所以，当你来到北京大学，你应该去探索你真正热爱的事，去参加那些能让你感到充实而满足的活动。

 

China is a vast country with regional differences reflected in the culture and personal experiences of the people who live there.  You are living in a dorm with the opportunity to meet new people and broaden your view of the world.

中国幅员辽阔，地域差异也反映在文化和个人经历上。在宿舍里，你将有机会认识新的朋友，这将帮助你拓宽视野。

 

Much of your education will take place outside of the classroom.  What you learn from interacting with other students is an important component of your education.

大学教育不仅是在课堂上，更多的是在课堂之外。通过与同学的交流而学习是大学教育中非常重要的一部分。

 

Care about success of students

关心学生的成功

 

What makes an outstanding faculty member is not how intelligent they are or how well they lecture but if they care about the success of their students.  That is why we hire faculty here at PKU, who care about your success.  Faculty who want to interact with you and see how they can help you succeed.

一位大学教师之所以优秀，不在于他们有多聪明，或讲课有多好，而在于他们是否关心学生的成功。我们所聘请的北大老师们就是如此。他们希望与你们互动，帮助你们成功。

 

Questions

关于提问

 

To Western professors, Chinese students are notoriously shy and loathe to ask questions.  Do speak up, because you can actually make the class better.

对西方教授来说，中国学生总是非常害羞，不愿提问。在此，我希望大家能够勇于发问，因为这将使课堂变得更好。

 

If you don't understand something a faculty member says in a lecture, ask a question.  If you don't understand something, half the class probably does not understand it either.  Your question will give the faculty member an opportunity to go over the idea in a different way.  Students and faculty interacting will make the course much better.

如果在课上你有地方没听懂，请勇敢提问。如果你没有听懂，很可能班上一半的同学都没听懂。你的问题将给老师一个机会，换一种方式来讲解这个知识点。积极的互动将使课程变得更好。

 

The mission of a university is to educate you for a good life.  It is not just to train you to get a good job.  It is to educate you for an enjoyable and happy life.  This means you should take some courses in the humanities and social sciences, not just technical computer science courses and broaden your life.

大学的使命是培养你过好人生的能力，而不仅是培训你找到一份好的工作。这意味着在专业课之余，你也应当学习一些人文和社科类的课程来丰富自己的眼界。

 

The Turing Class will be a laboratory for learning critical thinking, a valuable tool in school, work and life and a tool to prepare you to have a good life.

图灵班将培养你们的思辨能力。它是学习、工作和生活的宝贵工具，也是帮助你过好人生的重要工具。

 

Critical thinking involves analytical thinking, the gathering and interpreting of information along with the skeptical evaluation of it; It involves good communication skills; creative thinking, the discovery of patterns and making abstract connections; open mindedness that alerts you that previous education and life experiences might affect your ability to objectively evaluate situations, to acknowledge biases; ability to solve problems; and how to ask thoughtful questions to gain insight, reflective questions that process real world experiences and structural questions that help us understand the steps to a positive result.

——John Hopcroft

 

Life strategy

人生策略

 

I have talked with a number of Nobel Prize winning scientists and Turing award winners.  When I ask them what was their strategy that lead to their success, not one of them claimed to have had a strategy.  They all simply said when an opportunity arose, if they thought they would enjoy it, they took it.  Otherwise, they ignored it.  This suggests you should seek opportunities that excite you.  You will be most successful if you engage in what you enjoy.

我曾与多位诺贝尔奖得主和图灵奖得主交谈过。当我问他们成功的策略的时候，没有一个人回答自己有策略。他们都只是说，当机会出现时，如果他们认为这是自己喜欢的就会抓住，否则就放弃。这表明你应该寻找让你感到兴奋的机会。做自己热爱的事才会成功。

 

A number of students I interacted with have been very successful.  Three of them are Turing Award winners.  They succeeded not because I suggested what they should work on.  Instead, they succeeded because they focused on what they found exciting.

我有许多很成功的学生，其中三位是图灵奖得主。他们成功并不是因为他们做了我让他们做的事。恰恰相反，他们都是因为专注于自己感兴趣的事而获得了成功。

 

Let me tell you about my first PhD student, Al Aho, who a year ago received the Turing award.  When I asked him what research direction he was going to pursue he told me about a direction that I did not think was worthwhile.  Instead of telling him what I thought about his direction, I told him to work on it for a week or two and then come back and we would talk. I thought he would come back and tell me it was not such a good idea but that is not what happened.  He worked on it and slowly shifted it to a much more important direction, which ultimately got him a Turing award.  If instead of telling him to spend some time on it, I had told him about some interesting problem I was working on, he probably would have done some good research but never have gotten a Turing award.

让我来讲讲我的第一个博士生 Al Aho，他在一年前获得了图灵奖。当年，我问他打算研究什么方向，他回答的方向我觉得不值一提。但我没有告诉他我的看法，而是让他先按自己的想法尝试一两个星期，再回来和我讨论。我以为他会回来告诉我他错了。但事实正相反，他沿着这个方向坚定不移地走了下去，并且慢慢将这个不被看好的方向变成了一个重要的方向，并最终因此获得了图灵奖。如果当年我没有让他坚持自己的兴趣，而是让他做一些我感兴趣的问题，他可能也会做出一些很好的研究，但永远不会获得图灵奖。

 

Another PhD candidate, Gilles Brassard, asked me to be his advisor.  I asked him what he wanted to focus on.  He replied quantum computing.  This was 50 years ago. I told him I knew nothing about quantum computing but told him to go ahead and explore it.  I would help him where I could.  He changed his direction to quantum communication and recently, with Charles Bennett, won the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, a three million dollar award.

我的另一位博士生 Gilles Brassard 当年希望我做他的导师。我问他想研究什么方向，他回答：量子计算。这是50年前的事。我坦率地对他说，我对量子计算一无所知，但愿意鼓励他去探索这个方向，并尽我所能提供帮助。他后来将研究方向转向了量子通信，最近，他与合作者共同获得了基础物理学突破奖，奖金300万美元。

 

The moral of these stories is to focus on what you think would be great to work on.  Students do well when they explore what excites them, not when they work on their advisor's research project.

这些故事的寓意是，要把注意力集中在你认为值得的事情上。学生们在探索自己感兴趣的工作时才能激发出潜力。

 

Make your time here at PKU some of the most fun years of your life.  Meet new people, enjoy new foods, explore the campus and Beijing.  When you interact with individuals from a different part of China, it is likely to broaden your point of view.

希望在北大的几年成为你人生中最有趣和难忘的时光。认识新朋友，享受新食物，探索校园和北京。与来自不同地方的人互动与交流，这些经历都会拓宽你的视野。

 

During your life, your interests will surely change.  Initially you may concentrate on building a career, but later you may want to focus on making the world better for many individuals.

漫漫一生之中，你的兴趣肯定会改变。一开始你可能会专注于成就一番事业，但之后你可能会想要专注于为更多人创造更好的世界。

 

In the meantime, get to know our faculty and enjoy your time here at PKU.

同时，也希望大家多与你们的老师交流，享受你在北大的时光。

I look forward to seeing you before the snow flies.

 期待在今年下雪前见到大家！