Dr. Wong, Dr. Keough, Mrs. Novogroski, Ms. Curran, members of the board of education, family and friends of the graduates, ladies and gentlemen of the Wellesley High School class of 2012, for the privilege of speaking to you this afternoon, I am honored and grateful. Thank you。

　　王博士、Keough博士、Novogroski女士和Curran小姐;教育委員會委員和畢業生的親朋好友;韋斯利高中2012年畢業班的女士先生們;有機會能在這個下午對你們演講令我感到十分榮幸與感激，謝謝。好，進入主題吧!

　　So here we are… commencement… life’s great forward-looking ceremony. (And don’t say, “What about weddings?” Weddings are one-sided and insufficiently effective. Weddings are bride-centric pageantry. Other than conceding to a list of unreasonable demands, the groom just stands there. No stately, hey-everybody-look-at-me procession. No being given away. No identity-changing pronouncement. And can you imagine a television show dedicated to watching guys try on tuxedos? Their fathers sitting there misty-eyed with joy and disbelief, their brothers lurking in the corner muttering with envy. Left to men, weddings would be, after limits-testing procrastination, spontaneous, almost inadvertent… during halftime… on the way to the refrigerator. And then there’s the frequency of failure: statistics tell us half of you will get divorced. A winning percentage like that’ll get you last place in the American League East. The Baltimore Orioles do better than weddings。)

　　畢業典禮-生命中重要的前瞻性儀式。別問說，“那婚禮呢?”婚禮是單方面的，而且效率不高。婚禮是以新娘為中心的盛會，除了同意一長串無理的要求外，新郎只能呆站在一旁。沒有莊嚴的、“大家看著我”的過程;沒有像新娘被長輩送出的儀式;沒有改變身份的宣告。你們能想象一個專門看男人試穿燕尾服的電視節目嗎?他們的父親坐在那里，淚汪汪的眼中透著喜悅和不可置信的神情;他們的兄弟躲在角落，羨慕地喃喃自語。對男人來說，在挑戰極限的拖延后，婚禮就像自發性地，幾乎是無意識地，在球賽中場休息時間去冰箱拿飲料。然而，婚姻的失敗率如下：統計數據顯示，現場觀眾有一半會離婚;這樣的勝率會讓你榮登美國聯盟東區的爐主。巴爾的摩金鶯隊的勝率都比婚姻成功率來得高。