Aaron Sorkin，Academy and Emmy-award winning American screenwriter
Syracuse University，May 13th，2012
You‘re going to fall down，but the world doesn’t care how many times you fall down as long as it‘s one fewer than the number of times you get back up.
失败在所难免，但这个世界并不在乎你曾经失败过多少次，只要你能一次又一次地重新站起来。
Aaron Sorkin
背景故事
毕业典礼上的各种类型演说经常以吸引人们的眼球为目的。来自各领域的杰出人物、优秀校友以及时代先锋们用各种方式为即将踏入社会的毕业生送出自己的建议和祝福。从这些毕业演讲中，我们能听到IT领域的最新发展、纵横职场的不败秘诀，以及社会精英们的宝贵人生经验……
“世界并不在乎你失败过多少次，只要你能一次次重新站起来”。只要能站起来，这是多么励志的言语，让我们一起去感受阿伦·索尔金的人生感悟。
名人简介
阿伦·索尔金（生于1961年6月9日）是美国编剧、制片和剧作家。索尔金于1983年从雪城大学音乐学院取得艺术学士学位后，在纽约度过80年代，大多时候都是三餐不继、苦寻不着演出机会的演员。后来他在剧本创作领域找到属于自己的热情，迅速成为一位年轻且前景远大的剧作家。他的舞台剧创作《军官与魔鬼》引起好莱坞制片人David Brown的注意，甚至在舞台剧首演前即买下电影版权。
演讲赏析
Take Risks，Dare to Fail
Aaron Sorkin，Academy and Emmy-award winning
American screenwriter
Syracuse University，May 13th，2012
Thank you very much.
Madam Chancellor，members of the Board of Trustees，members of the faculty and administration，parents and friends，honored guests and graduates，thank you for inviting me to speak today at this magnificent Commencement ceremony.
There’s a story about a man and a woman who have been married for 40years.One evening at dinner the woman turns to her husband and says，“You know，40years ago on our wedding day you told me that you loved me and you haven‘t said those words since.”They sit in silence for a long moment before the husband says，“If I change my mind，I’ll let you know.”
Well，it‘s been a long time since I sat where you sit，and I can remember looking up at my teachers with great admiration，with fondness，with gratitude and with love.Some of the teachers who were there that day are here this day and I wanted to let them know that I haven’t changed my mind.
There‘s another story.Two newborn babies are lying side by side in the hospital and they glance at each other.Ninety years later，through a remarkable coincidence，the two are back in the same hospital lying side by side in the same hospital room.They look at each other and one of them says，“So what’d you think？”
It‘s going to be a very long time before you have to answer that question，but time shifts gears right now and starts to gain speed.Just ask your parents whose heads，I promise you，are exploding right now.They think they took you home from the maternity ward last month.They think you learned how to walk last week.They don’t understand how you could possibly be getting a degree in something today.They listened to“Cats in the Cradle”the whole car ride here.
I‘d like to say to the parents that I realized something while I was writing this speech：the last teacher your kids will have in college will be me.And that thought scared the hell out of me.Frankly，you should feel exactly the same way.But I am the father of an 11-year-old daughter，so I do know how proud you are today，how proud your daughters and your sons make you every day，and that they did just learn how to walk last week，that you’ll never not be there for them，that you love them more than they‘ll ever know and that it doesn’t matter how many degrees get put in their hand，they will always be dumber than you are.
And make no mistake about it，you are dumb.You‘re a group of incredibly well-educated dumb people.I was there.We all were there.You’re barely functional.There are some screw-ups headed your way.I wish I could tell you that there was a trick to avoiding the screw-ups，but the screw-ups，they‘re a-coming for ya.It’s a combination of life being unpredictable，and you being super dumb.
Today is May 13th and today you graduate.Growing up，I looked at my future as a timeline of graduations in which every few years，I‘d be given more freedom and reward as I passed each milestone of childhood.When I get my driver’s license，my life will be like this；when I‘m a senior，my life will be like that；when I go off to college，my life will be like this；when I move out of the dorms，my life will be like that；and then finally，graduation.And on graduation day，I had only one goal left，and that was to be part of professional theater.We have this in common，you and I—we want to be able to earn a living doing what we love.Whether you’re a writer，mathematician，engineer，architect，butcher，baker or candlestick maker，you want an invitation to the show.
Today is May 13th，and today you graduate，and today you already know what I know：to get where you‘re going，you have to be good，and to be good where you’re going，you have to be damned good.Every once in a while，you‘ll succeed.Most of the time you’ll fail，and most of the time the circumstances will be well beyond your control.