Address by John Engler, Governor of Michigan Delivered to Stephen F. Austin State University, Commencement Address, Nacogdoches, Texas, May 15, 1999.

密歇根州州長約翰.恩格勒1999年5月15日在得克薩斯州納科多契斯市斯蒂芬.F.奧斯汀州立大學(xué)畢業(yè)典禮上的演說。


When I first received the invitation to speak at your commencement ceremony, I thought back to my own graduation many, many years ago and you know what? I can remember neither the speaker nor what he or she said. The only thing I remember is that we all wanted it to be short. So I will try to keep my message short, recalling from my own days at Michigan State University that the person who lectures is sometimes the one who talks in other people's sleep.

當(dāng)我最初接到在貴校畢業(yè)典禮上講話的邀請時，我回想起了許多年前自己畢業(yè)時的情景。你們知道嗎？我既記不得是誰作的演講，也記不得講了些什么。我惟一能記起的是我們都希望聽到簡短的演講。回想起我在密歇根州立大學(xué)的日子里，有時候演講者的長篇大論竟成為許多人的催眠曲。因此我將盡量縮短我的講話。

What I'd like to do this morning is say a few words about leadership. Here's why. Each one of you, by choosing to come to college and sticking it out and earning a degree, is saying something important to society. You are saying that you want to lead.

You want to be leaders in the workforce, in your profession, and in your communities.

今天上午，我想就領(lǐng)導(dǎo)才能說幾句。為什么呢？你們中的每一個人，既然選擇上大學(xué)而且堅(jiān)持到底獲得學(xué)位，你們其實(shí)是在向社會宣布某種重要的事--你們想成為領(lǐng)袖。

你們想成為雇員職工的領(lǐng)袖，想成為專業(yè)中的佼佼者，想成為自己社區(qū)中的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人物。

An admirable goal. But how does one learn to lead? The Greek philosopher Aristotle told us that we learn to lead by leading, by practicing the skills that are required to move men and women in concert toward a common goal. The ancient historian Plutarch taught us that we also learn to lead by reading---reading about great leaders from the past, as he showed in his Parallel Lives.

這是令人欽佩的目標(biāo)。但一個人如何學(xué)會領(lǐng)導(dǎo)藝術(shù)呢？古希臘大哲學(xué)家亞里士多德告訴我們應(yīng)該通過領(lǐng)導(dǎo)學(xué)會領(lǐng)導(dǎo)，即在實(shí)踐中培養(yǎng)自己具有讓不同的人朝同一目標(biāo)合作的才能。古歷史學(xué)家普魯塔克則教導(dǎo)我們通過閱讀來學(xué)會領(lǐng)導(dǎo)，正如他在《比較列傳》中描述的那樣，去閱讀歷代偉大領(lǐng)袖的生平和領(lǐng)導(dǎo)才能。

As I was preparing these remarks and thinking about the topic, an obvious leader come to mind---the namesake of this school, a great American hero---Stephen Fuller Austin. To my delight, I discovered that Professor Gregg Cantrell at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene has just finished a superb biography of the Father of Texas. Titled Stephen F. Austin: Empresario of Texas, it will be released this October by Yale University Press. I had the opportunity to see the page proofs.

當(dāng)我在準(zhǔn)備這些講話醞釀主題時，我的腦海中立即浮現(xiàn)出一個大家公認(rèn)的領(lǐng)袖。他就是與貴校同名的人，一個偉大的美國英雄--斯蒂芬·富勒·奧斯汀。讓我高興的是，我發(fā)現(xiàn)哈丁--西蒙斯大學(xué)阿比林分院的格雷格·坎特雷爾教授新近完成了一本這位得克薩斯之父的絕妙傳記。這本傳記的書名為《斯蒂芬·F·奧斯訂：得克薩斯州的創(chuàng)業(yè)者》。這本書將于今年10月由耶魯大學(xué)出版社出版。我有幸先睹了此書的校樣。