I bore witness to the American dream Thursday night.

In the hip San Francisco headquarters of the digital publishing software company Automattic, Fortune held its annual 40 Under 40 party. The event has become a must-attend affair for the Silicon Valley elite. They come to see each other and also to celebrate the accomplishments of the not-yet-four-decades-old overachievers from tech and other industries.

This is one impressive list. It includes people like the CEO of the Automattic itself, Matt Mullenweg, whose distributed company has changed the face of publishing. We recognized leaders from the biggest companies in tech, like Joe Zadeh, head of product for Airbnb; Rachel Holt, the top operations executive in North America for Uber; and Bozoma Saint John, who runs marketing for Apple Music.

These are just a few examples, and you can see our entire list here. It is diverse in every way, from gender to nationality to industry. (Even in San Francisco we are aware there is life beyond tech.) Fortune’s group of 40 Under 40 doesn’t merely represent the future of global business. It constitutes the present too.

On my way home I met someone who embodies the American dream every bit as much as the groupFortune had spent the night celebrating. Like me, this man in his late 40s—we weren’t even close to being eligible to be honored Thursday night and have school-age daughters in the same grade. Unlike me, he drives full-time for Uber and Lyft. He’d been at it since 6:00 a.m. and was preparing to return to his home in Sacramento, a 90-minute journey. An Iraqi who immigrated to California just over two years ago, my driver worked for the U.S. government in Baghdad. He felt fortunate to be here and to be earning a living, no matter how long the hours. He hopes one day to become a U.S. citizen.

From tech’s prodigies to a new American life aided by a wonder of innovation, it felt good, especially in the lamentable political environment we confront daily, to be reminded what a great country we live in.

几天前的晚上，我亲眼见证了美国梦未死。

上周四晚，在数字出版软件公司Automattic的旧金山总部里，《财富》举办了一年一度的“40岁以下40商界精英”晚会。此次活动已经成了硅谷精英们每年必到的一次盛会。他们来到这里一方面是为了与其他行业精英聚会，另一方面也是为了庆祝来自科技等行业的40岁以下的中青年精英们取得的成就。

这是一份相当抢眼的名单。Automattic公司的CEO马特·穆伦维格本人今年也榜上有名，他的这家数字出版公司在很大程度上已经改变了整个出版行业的面貌。我们还在活动现场见到了许多熟面孔，比如Airbnb的产品总监乔·扎德、Uber的北美运营高管，以及苹果音乐的营销负责人伯佐玛·圣·约翰等。

以上仅仅是其中的几位代表，你可以点击此处查看完整榜单。今年的这份榜单无论是从性别、族裔还是行业上看，都是非常多样化的。（即便是旧金山这样一个科技之都，也有科技以外的生活。）《财富》评选的“40岁以下40商界精英”不仅仅代表了全球商业的未来，还代表了当下。

当晚的活动结束后，我在回家的路上遇到了一个人，“美国梦”在他身上的体现，一点也不少于当天庆典里的那些主角。他跟我一样，都是快奔五的年纪了——我俩都没有资格参与“40岁以下40商界精英”的评选，我俩的女儿也都在学校里上同一个年级。不过和我不一样的是，他是一名全职的专车司机，主要在Uber和Lyft上接单。他从早上六点开始接单，这时正准备回到萨克拉门托的家中，这一趟车要开上90分钟。他本是一个伊拉克人，两年前刚刚移民到加州，此前他曾在伊拉克首都巴格达为美国政府工作过。能在美国靠劳动谋生，他感到十分幸运，不管工作时间再长也甘之如饴。他希望有朝一日能成为一名美国公民。

尽管当下的政治环境充斥着各种负能量，然而透过这些年轻的科技英才，还有这位依靠科技创新过上了一种全新的美国生活的伊拉克移民，我还是感到，能够生活在这样一个伟大的国家里，实在是一件值得欣慰的事。（财富中文网）

译者：朴成奎