elbow one's way through...：挤过，挤入（人群等）
pick up the tab (for)：(替一群人）买单，承担费用
touch down：（飞机、宇宙飞船）着陆、降落
on balance：整体看来，总的来说
rise to the occasion：成功应对困难局面，在关键时刻发挥作用。
pander to：（常指为谋私利）迎合，讨好
phase out：逐步淘汰，逐渐废除
mass transit：公共交通
face the music：接受批评（或惩罚），承担后果。
take on：接受挑战，与...较量，尤指和实力比自己强的人对抗。
put the screw on：施加压力，紧逼
kick the can down the road：回避问题，推迟长远的决策，转而采取短期计划。
Michael Bloomberg：迈克尔·布隆伯格，美国政治家、企业家，布隆伯格新闻公司创始人，三度出任纽约市长，被誉为“纽约市长CEO”。本科就读于约翰·霍普金斯大学，后获得哈佛大学工商管理硕士学位。
Michael Bloomberg
Electrical Engineering：电气工程，传统的电气工程指创造产生电气与电子系统的有关学科，而如今，几乎所有与电子、光子有关的工程学科都在电气工程的范围内。
Brass Rat：也被称为MIT class ring，是麻省理工大学的定制戒指，学生们通常在大二的时候拿到戒指，戒指上刻有毕业年份、姓名首字母及学校的吉祥物海狸，被毕业生们称为“可随身携带的毕业证书”。戒指有两种颜色，正式场合佩戴金色戒指，平常佩戴银色戒指。
MIT Grad Rat Ring
a school up the river：这里的河指查尔斯河，查尔斯河位于马萨诸塞州东部，发源于霍普金顿，沿岸有哈佛大学、波士顿大学、布兰戴斯大学和麻省理工学院等著名学府。原文指布隆伯格曾就读于哈佛（位于河流上游地段），因为在MIT的场子，就不明说哈佛。
Infinite Corridor：无限长廊，是麻省理工大学内连接主教和各个教学楼的走廊，全长251米。每年1月末和11月中旬，走廊的主轴线和太阳在一条线上，全走廊洒满阳光，引来全校师生观看，这一现象被称为MIThenge。
MIThenge
Matt Damon：马特·达蒙，出生于美国马萨诸塞州剑桥市，演员、编剧、制片人，毕业于哈佛大学。曾出演《心灵捕手》、《谍影重重》、《火星救援》等经典影片。讲者提及马特·达蒙是在开玩笑：门卫又不是马特·达蒙，怎么这么多人过来？
Matt Damon
The Muddy：指Muddy Charles Pub，是麻省理工大学里的一家酒吧，只对学校内部人员开放，校外人员需由学校人员陪同才能进入。
Muddy Charles Pub
LIGO：激光干涉引力波天文站，全称Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory，LIGO是加州理工学院(Caltech)和麻省理工学院(MIT)的合作实验室，由美国国家科学基金会(NSF)资助。LIGO曾直接探测到宇宙中的引力波，2018年，科学家们通过分析LIGO获得的数据，发现了迄今为止最大的黑洞合并事件。
gravitational wave：引力波，是指时空弯曲中的涟漪，通过波的形式从辐射源向外传播。广义相对论认为引力波是物体加速运动时给宇宙时空带来的扰动，就像水面上物体运动产生的涟漪一样。
gravitational waves
Johns Hopkins：约翰斯·霍普金斯大学，是美国第一所研究型大学，该校创始人希望抛弃美式学院的陈规旧制，打造一所专注于扩展知识、研究生教育和鼓励研究风气的新式研究型大学。
Buzz Aldrin：巴兹·奥尔德林，美国飞行员、美国国家航空航天局宇航员，曾和阿姆斯特朗一起执行阿波罗11号登月任务，踏上月球，是第二个踏上月球的人。曾在麻省理工大学攻读太空航空学博士学位。
Buzz Aldrin
Moonshot：登月计划。冷战时期，为与苏联争夺太空霸主地位，肯尼迪宣布启动阿波罗计划，目标于1970年前实现载人登月。阿波罗计划历时约11年，耗资255亿美元，倾举国之力最终创造了奇迹，其科技成果让人类受益至今。在英语中，moonshot经常被用来比喻极其困难甚至不切实际然而伟大有魄力的目标，原文讲者反复将moonshot比作应对气候变化就是个很好的例子。同时在语言上讲者也一直在双关，比如：It may be a moonshot, but it's the only shot. 意思是解决气候变化难若登天，但我们也只有这一条路能走。再比如：Sometimes, you actually do land on the moon. 此处借用了习语Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars. 讲者鼓励当代年轻人志存高远，只要敢想敢做，说不定就会像当年的登月计划一样成功呢？
Moonshot
Draper Laboratory：德雷伯实验室，是位于麻省的一家非盈利研究与发展实验室，在国防、空间探索、医疗、能源等方面提供技术解决方案。
civil rights movement：美国黑人民权运动，指1954年至1968年期间，非裔美国人通过非暴力运动反对种族歧视和种族压迫，争取政治、经济、和社会平等权利，该时期的著名领导人物有马丁·路德·金、罗莎·帕克斯、马尔科姆·X等。
civil rights movement
Bible, Torah, Koran：《圣经》、《托拉》、《古兰经》，分别是基督教、犹太教、伊斯兰教的经典。其中，《托拉》是犹太律法，Torah在希伯来文里意为“教谕”，指《旧约全书》前五卷，犹太教的主要诫命与教义都来自《托拉》。
Torah, Bible, Koran
before 2021：美国总统四年一选，国会议员两年一选，如果特朗普输掉了2020年的总统大选，那么新任美国总统将于2021年1月20日宣誓就职，届时国会也有望换血。原文一方面是在指责本届政府的不作为，另一方面强调应对气候变化刻不容缓，不能被动地等待新任政府来采取行动。
Beyond Carbon：“超越碳”行动，是彭博慈善基金会推出的全球性气候倡议行动，该运动的目标是让美国尽快脱离石油与天然气，改用100%的清洁能源。
Beyond Carbon
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)：美国国家环境保护局，是美国联邦政府的一个独立行政机构，由尼克松总统提议设立，根据国会颁布的环境法律制定和执行环境法规，从事或赞助环境研究及环保项目，加强环境教育以培养公众的环保意识和责任感。
EPA
Bloomberg Philanthropies：彭博慈善基金会，由布隆伯格创立，专注于艺术、教育、环境、政府公共管理创新、公共健康五大领域。布隆伯格将大部分资产都捐赠给了基金会，该基金会是美国最大的慈善基金会之一。
Sierra Club：塞拉俱乐部，是美国的一个环保组织，由著名环保主义者约翰·缪尔创办，总部位于美国旧金山。
Sierra Club
voting booth：投票站，美国公民投票时，在投票站里勾选选举人。
voting booth
National Rifle Association of America (NRA)：美国全国步枪协会，是美国最大的枪械拥有者组织和强大的利益集团，也是美国反对枪支限制的主要力量。美国宪法第二修正案(the Second Amendment) 规定人民拥有佩戴武器的权利。NRA以此为依据，认为携带枪支是也属于民权之一。NRA拥有大量资金，足以左右部分选举，在国会选举中，NRA只支持拥护枪支携带自由的选举人。
NRA
Michael Bloomberg演讲向来语速快信息密，并且偏向monotone，十分不好做，所以有好几处嘴瓢了，比如：登月变化，登月进化，不过瓢就瓢吧~ 一些关于MIT或是登月计划太细枝末节的梗，翻译时不知道或单纯跟不上，有意做了模糊处理，不影响整体意思。
示范笔记为誊写版本，除了字迹更工整外，保留了原始版本的符号、缩写、排版，不存在脱离实际的后期美化。
Good morning everyone. Bob, thank you for that nice introduction, and hello graduates and fellow engineers. As the chairman said, I majored in Electrical Engineering, so I know what you're all thinking: It's a shame he was never able to put his degree to good use. I thought that was funnier than you did actually.
Let me start with the most important message that I can deliver today: Congratulations to the distinguished graduates of the great class of 2019!
You made it. All those long hours studying and in the lab, the quizzes, the papers, and the swim test. It was all for today. Well, that and the Brass Rat. Even though I went to a school up the river, for today's address, I wanted to feel what it was like a student here at MIT. So on my way over here, I walked through the Infinite Corridor, and elbowed my way through a hundred tourists. Did they know that Matt Damon doesn't actually work here as a janitor, right?
Last night, I also paid a visit to one of this university's most iconic places: the Muddy. I told the graduates that I had some good news and some bad news. The bad news was I won't be repaying your entire class's student loans, sorry. But I told them the good news was I would be picking up the tab for the next round of drinks. That seemed to help matters.
As excited as all of you are today, there's a group here that is beaming with pride and that deserves a big round of applause – your parents and your families. Some of them are sitting out there thinking, our kids are getting a degree from the world's most prestigious engineering school, and yet when they come home, they don't seem to know how to use the washer/dryer?
You've been very lucky to study at a place that attracts some of the brightest minds in the world. And during your time here, MIT has extended its tradition of groundbreaking research and innovation. Most of you were here when LIGO proved that Einstein was right about gravitational waves, something that I – as a Johns Hopkins engineering graduate – claimed all along.
And just this spring, MIT scientists and astronomers helped to capture the first-ever image of a black hole. Those really are incredible accomplishments for MIT. And they are especially incredible when you consider the WIFI barely works here. For God's sake, how many PhD does it take to plug in a router?
All of you are part of an amazing institution that has proven – time and time again – that human knowledge and achievement is limitless. In fact, this is the place that proved moonshots are worth taking.
Fifty years ago next month, the Apollo 11 lunar module touched down on the moon. It's fair to say the crew never would have gotten there without MIT. I don't just mean that because Buzz Aldrin was class of 63 here, and took Richard Battin's famous astro-dynamics course. As Chairman Millard mentioned, the Apollo 11 literally got there thanks to its navigation and control systems that were designed right here at what is now the Draper Laboratory.
Successfully putting a man on the moon required solving so many complex problems. How to physically guide a spacecraft on a half-million-mile journey was arguably the biggest one, and your fellow alums and professors solved it by building a one-cubic-foot computer at the time when computers were giant machines that filled whole rooms.
The only reason those MIT engineers even tried to build that computer in the first place was that they had been asked to help do something that people thought was either impossible or unnecessary.
Going to the moon was not a popular idea back in the 1960s. And Congress didn't want to pay for it. Imagine that, a Congress that didn't want to invest in science. Go figure – that would never happen today.
President Kennedy needed to persuade the taxpayers that a manned mission to the moon was possible and worth doing. So in 1962, he delivered a speech that inspired the country. He said, quote, "We choose to go to the moon this decade, and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard."
In that one sentence, Kennedy summed up mankind's inherent need to reach for the stars. He continued by saying, "That challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and on that we intend to win."
In other words, for the good of the United States, and humanity, it had to be done. And he was right. Neil Armstrong took a great leap for mankind, the U.S. won a major Cold War victory, and a decade of scientific innovation led to an unprecedented era of technological advancement.
The inventions that emerged from that moonshot changed the world: satellite television, computer microchips, CAT scan machines, and many other things we now take for granted – even video game joysticks. Yes, there really was a life before Xbox.
The world we live in today is fundamentally different, not just because we landed on the moon, but because we tried to get there in the first place. In hindsight, President Kennedy's call for the original moonshot at exactly the right moment in history was brilliant. And the brightest minds of their generation – many of them MIT graduates – delivered.
Today, I believe that we are living in a similar moment. And once again, we'll be counting on MIT graduates – all of you – to lead us.
But this time, our most important and pressing mission – your generation's mission – is not only to explore deep space and reach faraway places. It is to save our own planet, the one that we're living on, from climate change. And unlike 1962, the primary challenge before you is not scientific or technological. It is political.
The fact is we've already pioneered the technology to tackle climate change. We know how to power buildings using sun and wind. We know how to power vehicles using batteries charged with renewable energy. We know how to power factories and industries using hydrogen and fuel cells. And we know that these innovations don't require us to sacrifice financially or economically. Just the opposite, these investments, on balance, create jobs and save money.
Yes, all of those power sources need to be brought to scale – and that will require further scientific innovation which we need you to help lead. But the question isn't how to tackle climate change. We've known how to do that for many years. The question is: why the hell are we moving so slowly?
The race we are in is against time, and we are losing. And with each passing year, it becomes clearer just how far behind we've fallen, how fast the situation is deteriorating, and how tragic the results can be.
In the past decade alone, we've seen historic hurricanes devastate islands across the Caribbean. We've seen "thousand-year floods" hit the Midwestern and Southern United States multiple times in a decade. We've seen record-breaking wildfires ravage California, and record-breaking typhoons kill thousands in the Philippines.
This is a true crisis. If we fail to rise to the occasion, your generation, your children, and grandchildren will pay a terrible price. So scientists know there can be no delay in taking action – and many governments and political leaders around the world are starting to understand that.
Yet here in the United States, our federal government is seeking to become the only country in the world to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement. The only one. Not even North Korea is doing that.
Those in Washington who deny the science of climate change are no more based in reality than those who believe the moon landing was faked. And while the moon landing conspiracy theorists are relegated to the paranoid corners of talk radio, climate skeptics occupy the highest positions of power in the United States government.
Now, in the administration's defense: climate change, they say, is only a theory. Yeah, like gravity is only a theory.
People can ignore gravity at their own risk, at least until they hit the ground. But when they ignore the climate crisis they are not only putting themselves at risk, they are putting all humanity at risk.
Instead of challenging Americans to believe in our ability to master the universe, as President Kennedy did, the current administration is pandering to the skeptics who, in the 1960s, looked at the space program and only saw short-term costs, not long-term benefits.
President Kennedy's era earned the nickname, "The Greatest Generation" – not only because they persevered through the Great Depression and won the Second World War. They earned it because of determination to rise, to pioneer, to innovate, and to fulfill the promise of American freedom.
They dreamed in moonshots. They reached for the stars. And they began to redeem – through the civil rights movement – the failures of the past. They set the standard for leadership and service to our nation's ideals.
Now, your generation has the opportunity to join them in the history books. The challenge that lies before you – stopping climate change – is unlike any other ever faced by humankind. The stakes could not be higher.
If left unchecked, the climate change crisis threatens to destroy oceanic life that feeds so many people on this planet. It threatens to breed war by spreading drought and hunger. It threatens to sink coastal communities, devastate farms and businesses, and spread disease.
Now, some people say we should leave it in God's hands. But most religious leaders, I'm happy to say, disagree. After all, where in the Bible, or the Torah, or the Koran, or any other book about faith or philosophy does it teach that we should do things that make floods and fires and plagues more severe? I must have missed that day in religion class.
Today, most Americans in both parties accept that human activity is driving the climate crisis and they want government to take action. Over the past few months, there has been a healthy debate – mostly within the Democratic Party – over what those actions should be. And that's great.
In the years ahead, we need to build consensus around comprehensive and ambitious federal policies that the next Congress should pass. But everyone who is concerned about the climate crisis should also be able to agree on two realities.
The first one is given opposition in the Senate and White House, there is virtually no chance of passing such policies before 2021. And the second reality is we can't wait to act. We can't put this mission off any longer. Mother Nature does not wait on the election calendar – and neither can we.
Our foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, has been working for years to rally cities, states, and businesses to lead on this issue – and we've had real success. Just not enough.
So today, I'm happy to announce that, with our foundation, I am committing $500 million to the launch of a new national climate initiative, and I hope that you will all become part of it. We are calling it Beyond Carbon. The last one was Beyond Coal, this is Beyond Carbon because we have greater goals.
And our goal is to move the U.S. toward a 100 percent clean energy economy as expeditiously as possible, and begin that process right now. We intend to succeed not by sacrificing things we need, but by investing in things we want: more good jobs, cleaner air and water, cheaper power, more transportation options, and less congested roads that we can get.
To do it, we will defeat in the courts the EPA's attempts to rollback regulations that reduce carbon pollution and protect our air and water. But most of our battles will take place outside of Washington. We are going to take the fight to the cities and states – and directly to the people. And the fight will take place on four main fronts.
First, we will push states and utilities to phase out every last U.S. coal-fired power plant by 2030 – just 11 years from now. Politicians keep making promises about climate change mitigation by the year 2050 – hypocritically, after they're long gone and no one can hold them accountable. Meanwhile, the science keeps moving the possible inflection point of irreversible global warming closer and closer. We have to set goals for the near-term – and we have to hold our elected officials accountable for meeting them.
We know that closing every last U.S. coal-fired power plant over the next 11 years is achievable because we're already more than half-way there. Through a partnership between Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Sierra Club, we've shut down 289 coal-fired power plants since 2011, and that includes 51 that we have retired since the 2016 presidential election despite all the bluster from the White House. As a matter of fact, since Trump got elected the rate of closure has gone up.
Second, we will work to stop the construction of new gas plants. By the time they are built, they will be out of date – because renewable energy will be cheaper. Cities like Los Angeles are already stopping new gas plant construction in favor of renewable energy, and states like New Mexico, Washington, Hawaii, and California are working to convert their electrical systems to 100 percent clean energy.
We don't want to replace one fossil fuel with another. We want to build a clean energy economy – and we will push more states to do that.
Third, we will support our most powerful allies – governors, mayors, and legislators – in their pursuit of ambitious policies and laws, and we will empower the grassroots army of activists and environmental groups that are currently driving progress state-by-state.
Together, we will push for new incentives and mandates that increase renewable power, pollution-free buildings, waste-free industry, access to mass transit, and sales of electric vehicles, which are now turning the combustion engine – and all of its pollution – into a relic of the industrial revolution.
Fourth, and finally, we will get deeply involved in elections across the country, because climate change is now first and foremost a political problem, not a scientific quandary, or even a technological puzzle.
Now, I know that as scientists and engineers, politics can be a dirty word. I'm an engineer – I get it. But I'm also a realist so I have three words for you: get over it.
At least for the foreseeable future, winning the battle against climate change will depend less on scientific advancement and more on political activism.
That’s why Beyond Carbon includes political spending that will mobilize voters to go to the polls and support candidates who actually are taking action on something that could end life on Earth as we know it. And at the same time, we will defeat at the voting booth those who try to block action and those who pander with rhetoric that just kicks the can down the road.
Our message to elected officials will be simple: face reality on climate change, or face the music on Election Day. Our lives and our children's lives depend on it. And so should their political careers.
Now, most of America will experience a net increase in jobs as we move to renewable energy sources and reductions in pollution. In some places jobs are being lost – we know that, and we can’t leave those communities behind.
For example, generations of miners powered America to greatness – and many paid for it with their lives and their health. But today they need our help to change with technology and the economy.
And while it is up to the federal government to make those investments, Beyond Carbon will continue our foundation's work to show that progress really is possible. So we will support local organizations in Appalachia and the western mountain states and work to spur economic growth and re-train workers for jobs in growing industries.
Taken together, these four elements of Beyond Carbon will be the largest coordinated assault on the climate crisis that our country has ever undertaken.
We will work to empower and expand the volunteers and activists fighting these battles community by community, state by state. It's a process that our foundation and I have proved can succeed. After all, this isn't the first time we've done an end run around Washington.
A decade ago no one would have believed that we could take on the coal industry and close half of all U.S. plants. But we have.
A decade ago no one would have believed we could take on the NRA and pass stronger gun safety laws in states like Florida, Colorado, and Nevada. But we have.
Two decades ago, no one would have believed that we could take on the tobacco industry and spread New York City's smoking ban to most of America and to countries around the world. But we have.
And now, we will take on the fossil fuel industry to accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy. I believe we will succeed again – but only if one thing happens and that is: you have to help lead the way by raising your voices, by joining an advocacy group, by knocking on doors, by calling your elected officials, by voting, and getting your friends and family to join you.
Back in the 1960's, when scientists here at MIT were racing to the moon, there was a popular saying that went: if you're not part of the solution you're part of the problem. Today, Washington is a very, very big part of the problem.
We have to be part of the solution through political activism that puts the screws to our elected officials. Let me reiterate, this has gone from a scientific challenge to a political one.
It is time for all of us to accept that climate change is the challenge of our time. As President Kennedy said 57 years ago of the moon mission: we are willing to accept this challenge, we are unwilling to postpone it, and we intend to win it. We must again do what is hard.
Graduates, we need your minds and your creativity to achieve a clean energy future. But that is not all. We need your voices. We need your votes. And we need you to help lead us where Washington will not. It may be a moonshot – but it's the only shot we've got.
As you leave this campus I hope you will carry with you MIT's tradition of taking – and making – moonshots. Be ambitious in every facet of your life. And don't ever let something stop you because people say it's impossible. Let those words inspire you. Because just trying to make the impossible possible can lead to achievements you never dreamed of. And sometimes, you actually do land on the moon.
Tomorrow start working on the mission that, if you succeed, will lead the whole world to call you the Greatest Generation, too.
Thank you, and congratulations.
【口译点评】Communicate to Inform, Not Impress（5000字）
