If you‘re called up before the new President of Harvard and he gives you the hairy eyeball， drums his fingers， and generally acts disinterested it could be the beginning of a great adventure.
It’s good thing that I got invited up here before President Rudenstine hands over the throne.
Well. It‘s at this point that I have to ask-if your family don’t do it first- why am I telling you these stories？ It‘s certainly not because I’m running for role model.
I‘m telling you these stories because all that fun I had with Jeff Sachs and Larry Summers was in the service of something deadly serious. When people around the world heard about the burden of debt that crushes the poorest countries， when they heard that for every ten dollar of government aid we sent to developing nations， nine dollars came back in debt service payments， when they heard all that， people got angry.
They took to the streets-in what was without doubt the largest movement since the campaign to end apartheid Politics is， as you know， normally the art of the possible but this was something more interesting. This was becoming the art of the impossible. We had priests going into pulpits， pop stars into parliaments. The Pope put on my sunglasses.
The religious right started acting like student protesters. And finally， after a floor fight in the House of Representatives， we got the money- four three five million. That four three five-which is starting to be a lot of money-leveraged billions more from other rich countries.
So where does that money go？ Well， so far， 23 of the poorest countrieshave managed to meet the sometimes over- stringent conditions to get their debt payments reduced-and to spend the money on the people who need it most. In Uganda， twice as many kids are now going to school. That’s good. In Mozambique， debt payments are down 42 percent， allowing health spending to increase by 14 million. That‘s good， too. 14 million goes a long way in Mozambique.
If I could tell you about one remarkable man in rural Uganda named Dr. Kabira. In 1999， measles-a disease that’s almost unheard of in the U.S.- killed hundreds of kids in Dr. Kabira‘s district. Now， thanks to debt relief， he’s got an additional 6， 000 from the state， enough for him to employ two new nurses and buy two new bicycles so they can get around the district and immunize children. Last year， measles was a killer. This year， Dr Kabim saw less than ten cases.
I just wanted you to know what we pulled off with the help of Harvard- with the help of people like Jeffrey Sachs.
But I‘m not here to brag， or to take credit， or even to share it. Why am I here？ Well， again I think to just say “thanks.” But also， I think I’ve come here to ask you for your help. This is a big problem. We need some smart people working on it. I think this will be the defining moment of our age. When the history books （that some of you will write） make a record of our times， this moment will be remembered for two things： the Internet. And the everyday holocaust that is Africa. Twenty five million HIV positives will leave behind 40 million AIDS orphans by 2010. This is the biggest health threat since the Bubonic Plague wiped out a third of Europe.
It‘s an unsustainable problem for Africa and， unless we hermetically seal the continent and close our conscience. It’s an unsustainable problem for the world but it‘s hard to make this a popular cause because it’s hard to make it pop， you know？ That， I guess， is what I‘m trying to do. Pop is often the oxygenof politics.
Didn’t John and Robert Kennedy come to Harvard？ Isn‘t equality a son of a bitch to follow through on？ Isn’t“Love thy neighbour”in the global village so inconvenient？ GOD writes us these lines but we have to sing them…take them to the top of the charts， but it‘s not what the radio is playing-is it？ I know.
But we’ve got to follow through on our ideals or we betray something at the heart of who we are. Outside these gates， and even within them， the culture of idealism is under siege beset by materialism and narcissism and all the other“isms”of indifference. And their defense mechanism-knowingness， the smirk， the joke. Worse still， it‘s a marketing tool. They’ve got Martin Luther King selling phones now. Have you seen that？
Civil Rights in America and Europe are bound to human rights in the rest of the world. The fight to live like a human. But these thoughts are expensive-they‘re going to cost us. Are we ready to pay the price？ Is America still a great idea as well as a great country？
When I was a kid in Dublin， I watched in awe as America put a man on the moon and I thought， wow-this is mad！ Nothing is impossible in America！ America， they can do anything over there！ Nothing was impossible only human nature followed and it followed because it was led.
Is that still true？ Tell me it’s true， It is true， isn‘t it？ And if it isn’t， you of all people call make it true again.
汉语回放（李定纹译）
我叫博诺，是个摇滚明星。现在，我告诉你们这些，不是夸耀，只是坦白而已。因为我觉得唯一比摇滚明星还要糟糕的就是有良心的摇滚明星--一个有事业的名人，噢，我的天哪！
更糟糕的是，这样一位有良知的歌手，却是一个只知道挥舞着标牌、盲从跟风、头脑僵化的活跃分子。他虽拥有雷克萨斯车，却只拥有头大的游泳池。
我是个歌手，你们知道歌手是什么意思吗？歌手就是自尊心永远都无法得到满足的人。当你需要20，000人高呼你的名字时才能感觉到生活美好的时候，你就知道自己是一个歌手。
但我必须告诉你们，音乐除了给予我一种糟糕的生活方式，还给了我一种世界观，音乐对我来说就像少年时的一个闹钟，在我安享自由的时候，总提醒着我不要睡过头了。
我认为摇滚音乐就是叛逆音乐。叛逆什么呢？20世纪50年代它抗议性道德和双重标准；20世纪60年代是越战、种族歧视和社会不平等；我们现在又在叛逆什么呢？
说实话，我反抗自己的冷漠。世界本就如此，我无能为力。既然不能改变它，那我索性就由之任之。但是与我自己的冷漠作斗争是我自己的问题，你们的问题是什么呢？你们心中的空洞是什么呢？我需要喧闹声和喝彩，你们需要成绩。
你们为什么会来哈佛广场呢？为什么要听我演讲？为了来到这里你们放弃了什么？是成功麻醉了你们的选择还是受其他好奇心的驱使？一切归根于你们的潜意识，源于特定状况的潜意识。你们无法接受错过这一时刻吗？浪费灵感对你们来说是犯罪吗？对音乐家来说，就是这样。如果这里是我们找到生活韵律的地方，如果这是我们的共同点，那么，在这个伟大的校园里，我能受到启发并感受到谦逊，因为两者皆源于音乐，但是，我也看到了音乐的另外一面--商业性。我也曾经将成功作为选择的动力。我也曾经见过很多伟大的思想和丰富的想象力，从一些蠢人的自负前消失。我就是其中一个。当然了，失败也不是件太糟糕的事……它不像你们一些人理解的那样。我敢保证这是你们每个人最害怕的词。不过从艺术家的角度来看，失败就是得到最佳素材的时候。
所以，战胜冷漠与改变是不同的。我告诉你们一些有关我自己的事吧，你们从来没听过的，在网上也没见过。
我要告诉你们，我是怎么就读于哈佛并与一位经济学教授住在一起的。
没错，我最近成为了哈佛的学生，和杰弗里·萨克斯教授一起在CID工作--研究第三世界由于旧债务过于沉重导致的经济欠发展状况。
我们发现，破产的一般规则并不适用于主权国家。听着，你们拿到助学贷款的难度远远高于蒙博托总统在国难当头的时候还继续往个人瑞士银行存入几十亿美元的难度。两代人之后，刚果人还在为他们的父辈们还债，然后，这些债务又成为下一代子女的债务。
所以，我在此代表一群相信所有债务应该在2000年全部被取消的人。我们称2000年为大庆年，新千年新起点。
安妮·帕蒂芬在伦敦发起这项运动，并且得到非洲的大力支持。鲍勃·盖尔多夫先生和我，只是作为最初的宣传员。如今，这件事已取得顺利的进展。但在美国，这方面我们却落后了。
