斯皮尔伯格2016年哈佛大学演讲稿.docxVIP

Thank you, thank you, President Faust, and Paul Choi, thank you so much.It`s an honor and a thrill to address this group of distinguished alumni and supportive friends and cavelling parents. We`ve all gathered to share in the joy of this day, so please join me in congratulating Harvard`s Class of 2016.I can remember my own college graduation, which is easy, since it was only 14 years ago. How many of you took 37 years to graduate? Because, like most of you, I began college in my teens, but sophomore year, I was offered my dream job at Universal Studios, so I dropped out. I told my parents if my movie career didn`t go well, I`d re-enroll.It went all right.But eventually, I returned for one big reason. Most people go to college for an education, and some go for their parents, but I went for my kids. I`m the father of seven, and I kept insisting on the importance of going to college, but I hadn`t walked the walk. So, in my fifties, I re-enrolled at Cal State -- Long Beach, and I earned my degree.I just have to add: It helped that they gave me course credit in paleontology for the work I did on Jurassic Park. That`s three units for Jurassic Park, thank you.Well I left college because I knew exactly what I wanted to do, and some of you know, too -- but some of you don`t. Or maybe you thought you knew but are now questioning that choice. Maybe you`re sitting there trying to figure out how to tell your parents that you want to be a doctor and not a comedy writer.Well, what you choose to do next is what we call in the movies the character-defining moment. Now, these are moments you`re very familiar with, like in the last Star Wars: The Force Awakens, when Rey realizes the force is with her. Or Indiana Jones choosing mission over fear by jumping over a pile of snakes.Now in a two-hour movie, you get a handful of character-defining moments, but in real life, you face them every day. Life is one strong, long string of character-defining moments. And I was lucky that at 18 I kn