We need every single one of you to develop your talents and yourskills and your intellect so you can help us old folks solve ourmost difficult problems. If you don ’ t do that-- if you quitonschool -- you ’ re not just quitting on yourself, you ’ re quittingon your country.
我们需要你们每个人发挥你们的聪明才智和技能，以便帮助老一辈人解决我们面临的最棘手问题。如果你们不这样做，如果你们辍学，你们不仅仅是自暴自弃，也是抛弃自己的国家。
Now, I know it ’ s not always easy to do well in school. I knowalot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make ithard tofocus on your schoolwork.
我自然知道要做到学业优秀并非总是易事。我知道你们许多人在生活中面临挑战，难以集中精力从事学业。
I get it. I know what it ’ s like. My father left my family when Iwas two years old, and I was raised by a single mom who had to workand who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn ’ t always ableto give us the things that other kids had. There were times when Imissed having a father inmy life. There were times when I waslonely and I felt like I didn ’ t fit in.
我明白这一点。我有亲身感受。两岁时，我父亲离家而去，我是由一位单亲母亲抚养成人的，母亲不得不工作，并时常为支付生活费用而苦苦挣扎，但有时仍无法为我们提供其他孩子享有的东西。有时，我渴望生活中能有一位父亲。有时我感到孤独，感到自己不适应社会。
So I wasn ’ t always as focused as I should have been on school,and I did some things I ’ m not proud of, and I got inmore troublethan I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turnforthe worse.
我并非总是像我应该做到的那样专心学习，我也曾做过我如今不能引以为豪的一些事情，我曾惹过不应该惹的麻烦。我的人生原本会轻易陷入更糟糕的境地。
But I was -- I was lucky. Igot a lot of second chances, and I hadthe opportunity to go to college and law school and follow mydreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, she has a similarstory. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn ’ thave a lot of money. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, sothat she could go to the best schools in this country.
但是，我当年际遇不错。我有过许多第二次机会，我有幸能上大学，上法学院，追求自己的理想。我的妻子，我们的第一夫人米歇尔奥巴马，也有着类似的经历。她的父母都未曾上过大学，家里很穷。但他们非常勤奋，她也是如此，因此她得以进入一些美国最好的学校。
Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don ’ thaveadults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybesomeone in your family has lost their job and there ’ s not enoughmoney to go around.Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don ’ tfeel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things youknow aren ’ t right.
你们中有一些人可能没有那些有利条件。或许你们生活中没有成年人为你们提供你们所需要的支持。或许你们家中有人失业，经济非常拮据。或许你们生活在使你们感觉不安全的社区，或有朋友逼迫你们去做你们知道不对的事情。
But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life --whatyou look like, where you come from, how much money you have, whatyou ’ ve got going on at home -- none of that is an excuse forneglecting your homeworkor having a bad attitude in school. That ’ sno excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, ordropping out of school. There is no excuse for not trying.
然而说到底，你们生活的环境、你们的肤色、你们的原籍、你们的经济收入、你们家中的境况等等，这一切都不能成为你们不用功或不努力的理由。你们没有理由不服从你们的老师、逃学、或辍学。没有理由不付出努力。
Where you are right now doesn ’ t have to determine whereyou ’ ll endup. No one ’ s written your destiny for you, because here inAmerica,you write your own destiny. You make your own future.
你们目前的状况并不决定着你们的未来。没有人决定你们的命运，在美国，你们决定自己的命运。你们掌握自己的未来。
That ’ s what young people like you are doing every day, all acrossAmerica.
这就是像你们这样的年轻人每天都在做的事情，全美各地都是如此。
下一页：世界上最成功的人士中有一些是遭遇失败最多的人
Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas.Jazmin didn ’ tspeak English when she first started school. Neither of her parentshad gone to college. But she worked hard, earned good grades, andgot a scholarship to Brown University-- is now in graduate school,studying public health, on her way to becoming Dr. JazminPerez.
来自得州罗马城的贾兹敏佩雷斯 ( JazminPerez ) 就是一个例证，她刚开始上学时并不会说英文。她的父母都没有上过大学。然而，她非常勤奋，成绩优秀，获得了布朗大学的奖学金，她如今正在读研究生，攻读公共卫生专业，不久将成为贾兹敏佩雷斯博士。
I ’ m thinking about Andoni Schultz, from LosAltos,California,who ’ s fought brain cancer since he was three. He ’ shad to endure all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of whichaffected his memory, so it took him much longer -- hundreds ofextra hours -- to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind. He ’ sheaded to college this fall.
我想起了加州洛斯阿尔托斯城的安多尼舒尔茨 ( AndoniSchultz ) ，他从三岁开始就一直与脑癌进行抗争，他不得不忍受各类治疗和手术带来的痛苦，其中一项手术曾影响了他的记忆，因此他花在功课上的时间比一般人长得多，要多出数百个小时。然而，他从未落后。他今年秋季将迈进大学。
And then there ’ s Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago,Illinois.Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in thetoughest neighborhoods in the city, she managed to get a job at alocal health care center, start a program to keep young people outof gangs, and she ’ s on track to graduate high school with honorsand go on to college.
我还想起家乡伊利诺伊州芝加哥市的尚特尔史蒂夫 ( ShantellSteve ) 。她曾在芝加哥最困难的社区生活，寄养于多个不同的家庭，但她最终在一家地方医疗中心找到工作，并开始了一项帮助年轻人远离流氓团伙的计划，她即将以优异成绩从中学毕业，紧接着将上大学。
And Jazmin, Andoni, and Shantell aren ’ t any different from any ofyou. They face challenges in their lives just like you do. In somecases they ’ ve got it a lot worse off than many of you. But theyrefused to give up.They chose to take responsibility for theirlives, for their education, and set goals for themselves. And Iexpect all of you to do the same.
贾兹敏、安多尼和尚特尔与你们中间的每个人没什么两样。跟你们一样，他们在生活中面临种种挑战。在某些情况下，他们的处境比起你们许多人更差。但他们拒绝放弃。他们决定要为自己的一生、自己的教育负起责任，为自己设定各项奋斗目标。我期待你们大家都会这样做。
That ’ s why today I ’ m calling on each of you to set your own goalsfor your education -- and do everything you can to meet them. Yourgoal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, payingattention in class, or spending some time each day reading abook.Maybe you ’ ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity,or volunteer in your community. Maybe you ’ ll decide to stand up forkids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or howthey look, because you believe, like I do, that all young peopledeserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you ’ ll decideto take better care of yourself so you can bemore ready to learn.And along those lines, by the way, I hope all of you are washingyour hands a lot, and that you stay home from school when youdon ’ tfeel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu thisfall and winter.
因此，我今天呼吁你们每一个人为自己的教育设定目标，并尽自己的最大努力来实现这些目标。你的目标可以是一件十分简单的事情，例如完成家庭作业、上课专心听讲、或每天花一点时间读一本书。也许你会决定要参加课外活动或在你的社区提供志愿服务。也许你会决定挺身而出保护那些因为身份或长相而受人戏弄或欺负的孩子，原因是你和我一样认为所有的年轻人都应该享有一个适合读书和学习的安全环境。也许你会决定更好地照料自己，以便有更充沛的精力来学习。顺便提一下，除了这些事情外，我希望大家要勤洗手，身体感到不舒服的时候要呆在家里不去上学，这样我们能防止人们在今年秋冬季节染上流感。
But whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. Iwant you to really work at it.
但无论你决定做什么，我希望你保证去做。我希望你脚踏实地地去做。
I know that sometimes you get that sense from TV that you canberich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket tosuccess is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TVstar. Chances are you ’ re not going to be any of those things.
我知道有时候你会从电视上得到这样的印象：你不用做任何艰苦的工作就能发财致富并取得成功，唱小调、打篮球或成为真人秀明星是走向成功的途径。但实际情况是：你可能不会成为其中的一员。
The truth is, being successful is hard. You won ’ t love everysubject that you study. You won ’ t click with every teacher that youhave. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevantto your life right atthis minute. And you won ’ t necessarily succeedat everything the first time you try.
事实上，取得成功不是轻而易举的事情。你不会喜欢你学习的每一门课目。你不会与你的每一位老师都很投契。不是所有的家庭作业似乎都与你眼前的生活完全有关。你第一次尝试做每件事的时候，不一定成功。
That ’ s okay. Some of the most successful people in the world arethe ones who ’ ve had the most failures. J.K. Rowling ’ s -- who wroteHarry Potter -- her first Harry Potter book was rejected 12 timesbefore it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from hishigh school basketball team.He lost hundreds of games and missedthousands of shots during his career. Buthe once said, "I havefailed over and over and over again in my life. Andthat ’ s why Isucceed."
这些都没关系。世界上最成功的人士中有一些是遭遇失败最多的人。作者 JK 罗琳 ( J.K.Rowling ) 所写的系列小说《哈利波特》 ( Harry Potter ) 第一部在获得出版之前被退稿 12 次。迈克尔 ? 乔丹 ( MichaelJordan ) 曾被他的高中篮球队除名。在乔丹的篮球生涯中，他输过数百场比赛，有成千上万个球没有投中。但他曾说过：" 在我的一生中，我失败了一次又一次、一次又一次。这就是我成功的原因。"
These people succeeded because they understood that you can ’ tletyour failures define you -- you have to let your failures teachyou. You have to let them show you what to do differently the nexttime. So if you get into trouble, that doesn ’ t mean you ’ re atroublemaker, it means you need to try harder to act right. If youget a bad grade, that doesn ’ t mean you ’ re stupid,it just means youneed to spend more time studying.
这些人士获得成功，因为他们懂得：你不能让失败来限制你，而必须让失败来开导你。你必须让失败向你展示下次如何以不同的方式去做这件事情。因此，如果你遇到麻烦，那并不表示你是麻烦的制造者，而意味着你需要更加努力去把它做对。如果你有一门课分数低，那不表示你比别人笨，而只表示你需要花更多的时间学习。
No one ’ s born being good at all things. You become good atthingsthrough hard work. You ’ re not a varsity athlete the first time youplay a new sport. You don ’ t hit every note the first time you singa song. You ’ ve got to practice. The same principle applies to yourschoolwork. You might haveto do a math problem a few times beforeyou get it right. You might have toread something a few timesbefore you understand it. You definitely have to doa few drafts ofa paper before it ’ s good enough to hand in.
没有一个人天生擅长做各种事情。你通过勤奋而变得擅长于各种事情。第一次从事新的体育项目时，你不可能是一位主力队员。第一次唱一首歌曲时，你不可能唱准每个音。你必须练习。同样的道理适用于你的学业。你可能要把一道数学题做几次才把它做对。你可能要把一些材料阅读几遍才能理解。在交出一篇优美的作文之前，你肯定需要打几遍草稿。
（奥巴马餐厅 " 约会 " 女学生）
Don ’ t be afraid to ask questions. Don ’ t be afraid to ask for helpwhen you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn ’ t a signof weakness, it ’ s asign of strength because it shows you have thecourage to admit when you don ’ t know something, and that thenallows you to learn something new. So find an adult that you trust-- a parent, a grandparent or teacher, a coach or a counselor --and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals.
不要害怕提问。不要在需要帮助时害怕请求别人帮助。我天天请求别人的帮助。请求帮助不是软弱的表现，它是力量的标志，因为它表明你有勇气承认自己对某些事情不懂，这样做会使你学到新的东西。因此，请确定一位你信任的成年人，例如家长、祖父母或老师、教练或辅导员，请他们帮助你遵循既定计划实现你的目标。
And even when you ’ re struggling, even when you ’ rediscouraged, andyou feel like other people have given up on you, don ’ t ever give upon yourself, because when you give up on yourself, you give up onyour country.
即使当你苦苦挣扎、灰心丧气、感到其他人对你不抱希望时，也不要对你自己丧失信心，因为当你自暴自弃时，你也抛弃了自己的国家。
The story of Americaisn ’ t about people who quit when things gottough. It ’ s about people who kept going, who tried harder, wholoved their country too much to do anything less than theirbest.
书写美国历史的不是在困难时刻退缩的人，而是坚持不懈、加倍努力的人，他们对国家的爱促使他们全力以赴。
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