I became sick of commencement speeches at about your age. My first job out of college was writing speeches for the governor of Maine. Every spring, I would offer extraordinary tidbits of wisdom to 22-year-olds -- which was quite a feat given that I was 23 at the time. In the decades since, I've spent most of my career teaching economics and public policy. In particular, I've studied happiness and well-being, about which we now know a great deal. And I've found that the saccharine and over-optimistic words of the typical commencement address hold few of the lessons young people really need to hear about what lies ahead. Here, then, is what I wish someone had told the Class of 1988:
2012届的同学们:
Good luck and congratulations.
在和你们差不多大的时候,我开始厌倦毕业典礼上的演讲。我毕业后的第一份工作是为缅因州州长写演讲稿。每年春天我都会为22岁的年轻人提供非凡的智慧点滴──这相当了不起,因为当时我才23岁。从那以后的几十年,我大部分的职业生涯都在教经济学和公共政策学。我还专门研究了幸福感,现在我们对它已经很了解了。我发现,典型毕业典礼演讲中那些动听和过于乐观的词句并没有什么年轻人真正需要听取的有关未来所面临道路的教训。下面是我希望有人能告诉1988届毕业生的10件事:
恭喜毕业,祝你们好运。
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