图灵奖得主 John E. Hopcroft 上海交大毕业致辞｜献给青年的 6 句人生箴言

发布时间: 2026-07-28

6 月 18 日，上海交通大学致远学院 2026 届本科生毕业典礼隆重举办。1986 年图灵奖获得者、中科院外籍院士、交大致远学院计算机首席教授 John E. Hopcroft 作为教师代表登台发言。结合数十年科研生涯亲身经历，他为应届毕业生送上极具分量的成长忠告。全文双语完整整理，句句通透，送给正在奔赴前路的每一位年轻人。

John E. Hopcroft 毕业典礼完整英文演讲稿

Congratulations to our graduates, their families, and friends. It has been a long road to this point and now you are about to enter the next phase in your life.

It is a great pleasure for me to be here today and have the opportunity to share with you some of the things that I have learned over my career.

Let me begin by tell you a short story about the start of my career. I received my PhD in Electrical Engineering in 1964 and was hired by Princeton University to teach in an Electrical Engineering department. There were no Computer Science departments at that time.

I was asked to develop a Computer Science course and this made me one of the world’s first Computer Scientists. As a consequence, I did not need to wait until senior faculty ahead of me retired. I had many opportunities at a young age. If I had been in a field that was already very mature, I would probably still be waiting today for an opportunity.

The moral of the story is that a time of change is a time of opportunity. You are fortunate that you are graduating at a time of fundamental change brought about by advances in biology, computing and communication.

I remember back when my parents told me about the changes in their lifetime. Refrigeration, radio, telephone. They told me there would be greater changes in my lifetime. I found it hard to believe. But then came TV, major highway systems, air travel, credit cards, and the internet. The changes you will experience will be even greater.

Think about positioning yourselves for the next 40 years not the last 40 years. You will live in the information age. Think about a new or expanding field that you would enjoy.

A lesson I have learned is that there are 168 hours in the week. When you subtract those you spend eating, sleeping, working, doing laundry, etc., there are only about 20 hours left that are truly discretionary. However, if the job you select is what you would enjoy doing even if you were not paid to do it, you can increase those 20 hours to 60.

People watch what you do and how you treat others whether it be the janitor or a colleague.How you treat others will be a major factor in opportunities that come your way. When people are looking for individuals for important positions, they want individuals that they think highly of.

Remember the Butterfly effect. A butterfly flapping its wings may create a tiny change in the atmosphere that leads to other changes and eventually alters the path of a tornado.Maybe some small act of kindness you do will have a major impact somewhere. Do not underestimate the impact that you will have on the lives of others.

Finally, you get only one life to live. Enjoy it .

Forty or fifty years from now when you retire, it will not be the money you are earning but the satisfaction that you will get from having made the world a better place for others in some small way that you will find most rewarding.

中文全文翻译 & 深度解读

祝贺各位毕业生、你们的家人和朋友。走到今天这一步，你们历经漫长求学之路，即将开启人生全新篇章。

非常荣幸今天站在这里，和大家分享我从业多年沉淀下来的人生感悟。

先和大家分享我职业生涯起步的小故事。1964 年，我取得电子工程博士学位，入职普林斯顿大学电子工程系。那个年代，世界上还没有独立的计算机科学专业。学校委托我开设计算机相关课程，我也因此成为全球第一批计算机领域研究者。也正因身处新兴赛道，我年轻时便手握大量发展机会，不必熬到资深前辈退休才能获得上升空间。倘若当年我选择已经完全成熟的行业，或许时至今日，我仍在苦苦等待机遇。

这个故事想告诉大家：变革来临之时，便是机遇涌现之时。你们何其幸运，恰逢生物、计算、通信技术全面革新的时代毕业。我的父母曾和我说起他们一生见证的变革：冰箱、收音机、电话。他们说，我的人生会见证更大的变化，那时我难以想象。后来电视、高速公路、民航出行、信用卡、互联网接连出现。而你们未来将要见证的变革，会更加颠覆、更加宏大。

不要盯着过去四十年的经验，要为未来四十年规划自身发展。我们身处信息时代，不妨主动寻找自己热爱、处于上升扩张期的新兴领域深耕。