王石华盛顿大学全英文演讲，他到底讲了什么？

 

胡文

 

今天，在本质上，是一个提醒你以不劳动的方式，赞美劳动的节日。

 

这个节日于我没有本质不同。节日，依然是一种值班状态。不过对于“文过是非”的文友们来说，或许不愿意再看到工作之类的文字。毕竟，今天是一个节日——轻松是应有的主题。

 

写点什么呢？从西雅图回到深圳，许多画面依然久久地停留在脑海之中。印象最深的，是4月22日王石在华盛顿大学那场全英文演讲。还在西雅图的时候，我就确信，这是一篇值得与大家分享的演讲。今天这个日子，恰逢其时。

 

只有身处华盛顿大学的演讲现场，才能体会到王石影响力之所及。尽管现场即有留学生几番要求他讲中文的呼声，王石依然执意用英文讲完，甚至包括他与汪建以及吉姆的互动。现场或许留下了遗憾，但王石依然坚持了自己的坚持。王石后来在朋友圈中这样写到——

 

华盛顿大学做题为“兄弟情”讲演。兄弟特指BGI创始人汪建。各自创造事业，却有共同爱好：探险登山，欣赏，互助，不服气，竞争的故事。2010年一起登顶珠峰。汪建现身会场，还有惊喜的是美国首登珠峰的83岁的吉姆老先生出席。讲演演变成英雄聚会。吉姆赠送的登山镐绳索造型胸针。超喜欢！

 

这便是王石当天的心境。在独家获得了王石这篇名为《Brotherhood》的演讲稿之后，我请我的同事、英语高手陈才枫将它翻译出来。我唯一的要求是，要有英文的味道——陈才枫完美地做到了这一点。读完中英文对照的这篇演讲，或许我们能够理解王石为何会有这般坚持——一如他过往的坚持一样。

____________________

 

兄弟情

 

豚鼠

 

2003年，我第一次登上珠峰。下撤途中，氧气快没了。我一度感到一种奇怪的幻觉。当时刮着风下着雪，但我耳朵发热，感到太阳照着我。我身上感觉很舒服。我只想坐下，闭上眼休息。但有另外一个声音一直提醒我：“你不能坐下来，如果你坐下来，你就永远也站不起来了。”所以我坚持走了下去。我到达大本营时，医生告诉我，那是缺氧和疲劳带来的频死体验。

 

没过多久，我的一个朋友给我说，北京的一名科学家很想见见我，了解一下我的体验。这名科学家就是汪建博士。他当时在主持一项关于濒死体验的研究。通常濒死体验是在人重病时进行研究，但问题在于，这人很难复苏并描述自己的体验。所以高海拔登山是研究濒死体验的绝佳场景。汪建想在我身上做实验，让我当回豚鼠。我说行。

 

2008年，我攀登海拔26000英尺高的希夏邦马峰。汪建和华大基因组织了一支登山队，我们就一起爬。其中一名队员是汪建的助理，也是华大基因的博士生。她在北京、拉萨和大本营三地不同的海拔处给每人抽了五次血。在高海拔出，采集血液样本很困难。而把它们保存为液态，并运回北京做研究，更难。但汪建的助理出色完成了。2010年，我和汪建的登山队攀登珠峰，这名助理又做了同样的实验。当时她刚获得了一项国家级奖项，表彰她2008年出版的博士论文。

 

20分钟

 

在珠峰时我和汪建接受了同样的训练。他总在我后头。我们最终尝试登顶的前夜，汪建过来对我说：“明天，我们登顶时，你能不能让我先走20分钟？”我问为什么。他回答：“你2003年登上珠峰时，是当时登顶珠峰年龄最大的中国人。这次如果你让我先走，我就创造了一个新纪录。20分钟后，你登顶，你就打破了我的纪录。但至少我保持了20分钟的纪录。”我想同意，但我拒绝了。原因在于，训练时汪建总是比我慢40分钟。如果他在山顶待20分钟，这就意味着我要等一个小时。在那种海拔，这是很有挑战性，也是非常危险的。

 

第二天早上，我按时离开了大本营。我四周观望，没有看到汪建的队伍。我想他应该是放弃了。然而当我即将登顶时，我看到一人站着，卡着腰，骄傲地笑着。原来是汪建。好意外！我纳闷，他怎么可能在我前面？如果他超过我，我应该注意到的啊。当时我筋疲力尽，氧气也不足，没法去问他原因。回到大本营后，我立刻去问他。他大笑，说他一个人提前一小时出发了。所以即使他速度变慢，他仍然能比我早登顶20分钟。这件事给我了教训：没有捷径。所有的成就都得靠艰苦努力得来。

 

剑桥友谊

 

来西雅图之前的两天，我正式被剑桥大学彭布罗克学院授予“威廉•皮特”院士称号。汪建受邀参加颁授典礼。晚餐后，我发表了简短的演讲，提到了汪建和我们一起登山的经历。彭布罗克学院对此很感兴趣，并邀请他发言。他说起我在山上差点救了他的命时，听众都很感动。

 

亏欠

 

2005年，我和汪建穿越了罗布泊。那年的极高温度差点让我俩送命。回来后，我劝他离开了中科院，出去创业。他想去苏州，不过我邀他搬到深圳，到那里创业。我答应给他提供10000平方米的地方。他要30000平方米，并且三到五年内免收物业费。我不同意，拒绝了他的请求。他觉得我亏欠他。朋友有时候也有分歧。

 

我认为一个男人的成功从50岁开始，而精彩从60岁才真正开始。我52岁登上珠峰，60岁上哈佛。我64岁来到西雅图。有人问，如果你早30年来西雅图会发生什么。时光不能倒流，大家知道，深圳也才35年历史，所以我们对未来30年充满期待。

 

价值观之上的兄弟情

 

传统的中国社会是围绕血缘和地缘关系构建起来的。但是现代社会关系是靠价值观确立的。我和汪建不是亲戚。我老家在安徽，他老家在湖南。我们彼此仰慕，因为我们都是户外探险家，都尊重大自然，这是我们共同的价值观。深圳是座移民城市。深圳的企业家不受血缘和地缘关系所羁绊。他们因对市场、规则和公平的尊重聚集在一起。我相信这种基于价值观的关系将是中国企业家的新特征，并将重塑未来的中国社会。

 

Brotherhood

 

Story 1: Guinea Pig

 

In 2003, I summited the Mount Everest for the first time. My oxygen supply was running low on my way back. At one time I suddenly felt a strange hallucination. There were snow and wind but I felt my ears getting warm and my whole body bathed in the sunshine. My body was feeling amazingly comfortable. I just wanted to sit down, close my eyes and relax. But another voice kept warning me: “If I stop and sit down, I will have no chance to get up again.” So I just kept going. When I reached the base camp, my doctor told me that was a near death situation because of low oxygen supply and exhaustion.

 

Later, A friend of mine told me that a scientist in Beijing was very interested in meeting with me and learning about my experience. This person was Dr. Wang Jian. He was working on a research project about near death experience. Usually near death experience is studied when the body is under critical medical conditions but the problem is that very rarely does the person come back to live and describe the experience. So high-altitude mountain climbing would be an ideal case for near death study. Dr. Wang Jian wanted to operate experiment on me as a Guinea Pig. I said OK.

 

In 2008, I was climbing 26000 feet Shishapangma. Dr. Wang Jian and BGI organized a mountain climbing team and we climbed together. One of the team members is Dr. Wang Jian’s assistant and a Ph.D student from BGI. She took everyone’s blood samples for five times at different altitudes in Beijing, Lhasa and the base camp. She took on the difficult task of taking blood samples at high altitudes. It was even more challenging to store them in liquid form and transport it back to Beijing for analysis. But Wang Jian’s assistant did a nice job. In 2010, when I climbed Mount Everest with Mr. Wang Jian’s team, the same assistant did the experiment again. At that time she just won a national award for her doctoral dissertation published in 2008.

 

Story 2：20 minutes

 

So both Dr. Wang Jian and I were going through some training together on Mount Everest. He was always behind me. The night before we made the final attempt to summit Mount Everest, Dr. Wang came to me and asked: “Tomorrow, when we get to the peak, can you let me go there first for 20 minutes before you go?” I asked why? He responded, “You kept the record as the oldest Chinese ascent of Mount Everest in 2003. If this time you let me go first,I get toset a new record.And then20 minutes later, when you climb the Mount Everest,you would just break my record. Butat least I will hold the record for 20 minutes.” I wish I could agree but I said “No”. The reason was that at the training, Wang Jian was always 40 minutes slower than I was, if I let him stay at the peak for 20 minutes, it meant that I would have to wait for an hour. In the high altitude situation, this is very challenging and dangerous.

 

The next morning I left the base camp right on schedule. When I looked around, I did not see Wang Jianin my team. I thought he just gave up. Then just when I was about to reach the peak, I saw someone standing there with a proud smile and his arms around his waist. That was Wang Jian. A big surprise! How could he possibly get ahead of me? I asked myself. I would have noticed if he had overpassed me. Of course when I wasexhausted and lacked oxygen, I could not have a conversation with him on the peak to find out why. But after I came back to the base camp, I immediately came to him with my question. He laughed and told me that he departed one hour ahead of the whole team. So even if he lost timeto his slow speed, he still reached the peak 20 minutes ahead of me.My lesson from this story is: There is no easy way. Any achievement comes with hard effort.

 

Story 3: Cambridge Fellowship

 

Two days before my arrival in Seattle, I was formally admitted to Pemborke College as the William Pitt Fellow. Wang Jian was invited to the matriculation ceremony as my honored guest. After the dinner, I gave a little speech and mentioned Wang Jian and our experience climbing mountains. The Master of Pembroke was very interested and then invited Wang Jian to speak. Then he told the stories that I almost saved his life in the mountains, everyone was moved.

 

Story 4: Debt

 

Wang Jian and I went across LupNur in 2005. The extreme temperature that year almost killed both of us. When we got back, I convinced him to to leave the Chinese Academy of Science and started his own business. He was thinking of relocating in Suzhou but I invited him to move to Shenzhen and create his own business there. I promised to provide 10000 sq meters of property space to him. He asked for 30000 sq meters of space with 3-5 years of property fees waived. I could not agree with this arrangement and refused his request. And he thought I owed him for this. Friends sometimes do disagree.

 

My view is that for a man, a success starts at the age of 50. An exciting success really starts at 60. I reached Mount Everest at the age of 52 and went to Harvard at 60. I came to Seattle at the age of 64. People asked me what would have happened if you came to Seattle 30 years sooner. Well, time can’t really go back but we all know that the city of Shenzhen is only 35 years old so there is a lot of we can expect for the next 30 years.

 

Story 5: Value-based Brotherhood

 

Traditional society in China was organized around bloodlines or geographic origins. But modern social relationships are defined by value-based identities. Wang Jian and I are not related. My family is from Anhui and Wang Jian’s is from Hunan. We admire each other because we are both outdoor adventurers and share common values respecting the nature. Shenzhen is an immigrantcity.Entrepreneurs in Shenzhen are not burdened with an identity based on bloodlines or geographic origins. Instead, they rally around the values for the market, rules and fairness. I believe this value-based brotherhood will define the new identity of the Chinese entrepreneurs and reshape the future Chinese society.

 

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