1、Hello, everybody! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. All right, everybody go ahead and have a seat. How is everybody doing today? (Applause.) How about Tim Spicer? (Applause.) I am here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And weve got students tuning in from all a
2、cross America, from kindergarten through 12th grade. And I am just so glad that all could join us today. And I want to thank Wakefield for being such an outstanding host. Give yourselves a big round of applause. (Applause.)嗨，大家好！你们今天过得怎么样？我现在和弗吉尼亚州阿林顿郡韦克菲尔德高中的学生们在一起，全国各地也有从幼儿园到高三的众多学生们通过电视关注这里，我很高兴你
3、们能共同分享这一时刻。I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, its your first day in a new school, so its understandable if youre a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty go
4、od right now - (applause) - with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade youre in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer and you couldve stayed in bed just a little bit longer this morning.我知道，对你们中的许多人来说，今天是开学的第一天，你们中的有一些刚刚进入幼儿园或升上初高中，对你们来说，这是在新学校的第一天，因此，假如你们感到有些紧张，那也是很正常的
5、。我想也会有许多毕业班的学生们正自信满满地准备最后一年的冲刺。不过，我想无论你有多大、在读哪个年级，许多人都打心底里希望现在还在放暑假，以及今天不用那么早起床。I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived overseas. I lived in Indonesia for a few years. And my mother, she didnt have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school, but she thought it was
6、 important for me to keep up with an American education. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday. But because she had to go to work, the only time she could do it was at 4:30 in the morning.我可以理解这份心情。小时候，我们家在印度尼西亚住过几年，而我妈妈没钱送我去其他美国孩子们上学的地方去读书，因此她决定自己给我上课时间是每周一到周五的凌晨4
7、点半。Now, as you might imagine, I wasnt too happy about getting up that early. And a lot of times, Id fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever Id complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and shed say, “This is no picnic for me either, buster.“ (Laughter.)显然，我不怎么喜欢那么早
8、就爬起来，很多时候，我就这么在厨房的桌子前睡着了。每当我埋怨的时候，我妈总会用同一副表情看着我说：“小鬼，你以为教你我就很轻松？”So I know that some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But Im here today because I have something important to discuss with you. Im here because I want to talk with you about your education and whats expected of all of
9、 you in this new school year.所以，我可以理解你们中的许多人对于开学还需要时间来调整和适应，但今天我站在这里，是为了和你们谈一些重要的事情。我要和你们谈一谈你们每个人的教育，以及在新的学年里，你们应当做些什么。Now, Ive given a lot of speeches about education. And Ive talked about responsibility a lot.我做过许多关于教育的讲话，也常常用到“责任” 这个词。Ive talked about teachers responsibility for inspiring student
10、s and pushing you to learn.我谈到过教师们有责任激励和启迪你们，督促你们学习。Ive talked about your parents responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and you get your homework done, and dont spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with the Xbox.我谈到过家长们有责任看管你们认真学习、完成作业，不要成天只会看电视或打游戏机。Ive talked a lot about your
11、governments responsibility for setting high standards, and supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that arent working, where students arent getting the opportunities that they deserve.我也很多次谈到过政府有责任设定高标准严要求、协助老师和校长们的工作，改变在有些学校里学生得不到应有的学习机会的现状。But at the end of the day, we can h
12、ave the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, the best schools in the world - and none of it will make a difference, none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities, unless you show up to those schools, unless you pay attention to those teachers, unless you lis
13、ten to your parents and grandparents and other adults and put in the hard work it takes to succeed. Thats what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education.但哪怕这一切都达到最好，哪怕我们有最尽职的教师、最好的家长、和最优秀的学校，假如你们不去履行自己的责任的话，那么这一切努力都会白费。除非你每天准时去上学、除非你认真地听老师讲课、除非你把父母、长辈和其他大人们说的话放在
14、心上、除非你肯付出成功所必需的努力，否则这一切都会失去意义。I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself. Every single one of you has something that youre good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. Thats the opportunity an education
15、 can provide.而这就是我今天讲话的主题：对于自己的教育，你们中每一个人的责任。首先，我想谈谈你们对于自己有什么责任。你们中的每一个人都会有自己擅长的东西，每一个人都是有用之材，而发现自己的才能是什么，就是你们要对自己担起的责任。教育给你们提供了发现自己才能的机会。Maybe you could be a great writer - maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper - but you might not know it until you write that English pap
16、er - that English class paper thats assigned to you. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor - maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or the new medicine or vaccine - but you might not know it until you do your project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a se
17、nator or a Supreme Court justice - but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.或许你能写出优美的文字甚至有一天能让那些文字出现在书籍和报刊上但假如不在英语课上经常练习写作，你不会发现自己有这样的天赋；或许你能成为一个发明家、创造家甚至设计出像今天的 iPhone 一样流行的产品，或研制出新的药物与疫苗但假如不在自然科学课程上做上几次实验，你不会知道自己有这样的天赋；或许你能成为一名议员或最高法院法官，但假如你不去加入什么学生会或参加几次辩论赛
18、，你也不会发现自己的才能。And no matter what you want to do with your life, I guarantee that youll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? Youre going to need a good education for every s
19、ingle one of those careers. You cannot drop out of school and just drop into a good job. Youve got to train for it and work for it and learn for it.而且，我可以向你保证，不管你将来想要做什么，你都需要相应的教育。你想当名医生、当名教师或当名警官？你想成为护士、成为建筑设计师、律师或军人？无论你选择哪一种职业，良好的教育都必不可少，这世上不存在不把书念完就能拿到好工作的美梦，任何工作，都需要你的汗水、训练与学习。And this isnt just
20、important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. The future of America depends on you. What youre learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.不仅
21、仅对于你们个人的未来有重要意义，你们的教育如何也会对这个国家、乃至世界的未来产生重要影响。今天你们在学校中学习的内容，将会决定我们整个国家在未来迎接重大挑战时的表现。Youll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. Youll need the insights and
22、critical-thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. Youll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost
23、 our economy.你们需要在数理科学课程上学习的知识和技能，去治疗癌症、艾滋那样的疾病，和解决我们面临的能源问题与环境问题；你们需要在历史社科课程上培养出的观察力与判断力，来减轻和消除无家可归与贫困、犯罪问题和各种歧视，让这个国家变得更加公平和自由；你们需要在各类课程中逐渐累积和发展出来的创新意识和思维，去创业和建立新的公司与企业，来制造就业机会和推动经济的增长。We need every single one of you to develop your talents and your skills and your intellect so you can help us old
24、 folks solve our most difficult problems. If you dont do that - if you quit on school - youre not just quitting on yourself, youre quitting on your country.我们需要你们中的每一个人都培养和发展自己的天赋、技能和才智，来解决我们所面对的最困难的问题。假如你不这么做假如你放弃学习那么你不仅是放弃了自己，也是放弃了你的国家。Now, I know its not always easy to do well in school. I know a
25、 lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.当然，我明白，读好书并不总是件容易的事。我知道你们中的许多人在生活中面临着各种各样的问题，很难把精力集中在专心读书之上。I get it. I know what its like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mom who had to work and wh
26、o struggled at times to pay the bills and wasnt always able to give us the things that other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and I felt like I didnt fit in.我知道你们的感受。我父亲在我两岁时就离开了家庭，是母亲一人将我们拉扯大，有时她付不起帐单，有时我们得不到其他孩子们都有的东西，有时我会想，假如父
27、亲在该多好，有时我会感到孤独无助，与周围的环境格格不入。So I wasnt always as focused as I should have been on school, and I did some things Im not proud of, and I got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse.因此我并不总是能专心学习，我做过许多自己觉得丢脸的事情，也惹出过许多不该惹的麻烦，我的生活岌岌可危，随时可能急转直下。But I was
28、 - I was lucky. I got a lot of second chances, and I had the opportunity to go to college and law school and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, she has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didnt have a lot of money. But they worked hard, and sh
29、e worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.但我很幸运。我在许多事上都得到了重来的机会，我得到了去大学读法学院、实现自己梦想的机会。我的妻子现在得叫她第一夫人米歇尔奥巴马了也有着相似的人生故事，她的父母都没读过大学，也没有什么财产，但他们和她都辛勤工作，好让她有机会去这个国家最优秀的学校读书。 Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you dont have adults in your life who give you the
30、support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job and theres not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you dont feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know arent right.你们中有些人可能没有这些有利条件，或许你的生活中没有能为你提供帮助和支持的长辈，或许你的某个家长没有工作、经济
31、拮据，或许你住的社区不那么安全，或许你认识一些会对你产生不良影响的朋友，等等。 But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life - what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what youve got going on at home - none of that is an excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude in school. Thats no
32、excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. There is no excuse for not trying.但归根结底，你的生活状况你的长相、出身、经济条件、家庭氛围都不是疏忽学业和态度恶劣的借口，这些不是你去跟老师顶嘴、逃课、或是辍学的借口，这些不是你不好好读书的借口。Where you are right now doesnt have to determine where youll end up. No ones written your destiny
33、for you, because here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future.你的未来，并不取决于你现在的生活有多好或多坏。没有人为你编排好你的命运，在美国，你的命运由你自己书写，你的未来由你自己掌握。Thats what young people like you are doing every day, all across America.而在这片土地上的每个地方，千千万万和你一样的年轻人正是这样在书写着自己的命运。Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Ro
34、ma, Texas. Jazmin didnt speak English when she first started school. Neither of her parents had gone to college. But she worked hard, earned good grades, and got a scholarship to Brown University - is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to becoming Dr. Jazmin Perez.例如德克萨斯州罗马市的
35、贾斯敏佩雷兹（Jazmin Perez）。刚进学校时，她根本不会说 英语，她住的地方几乎没人上过大学，她的父母也没有受过高等教育，但她努力学习，取得了优异的成绩，靠奖学金进入了布朗大学，如今正在攻读公共卫生专业的博士学位。Im thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, whos fought brain cancer since he was three. Hes had to endure all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his
36、 memory, so it took him much longer - hundreds of extra hours - to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind. Hes headed to college this fall.我还想起了加利福尼亚州洛斯拉图斯市的安多尼舒尔兹（Andoni Schultz），他从三岁起就开始与脑癌病魔做斗争，他熬过了一次次治疗与手术其中一次影响了他的记忆，因此他得花出比常人多几百个小时的时间来完成学业，但他从不曾落下自己的功课。这个秋天，他要开始在大学读书了。And then theres Shant
37、ell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods in the city, she managed to get a job at a local health care center, start a program to keep young people out of gangs, and shes on track to graduate high school with ho
38、nors and go on to college.And Jazmin, Andoni, and Shantell arent any different from any of you. They face challenges in their lives just like you do. In some cases theyve got it a lot worse off than many of you. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their lives, for thei
39、r education, and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same.又比如在我的家乡，伊利诺斯州芝加哥市，身为孤儿的香特尔史蒂夫（Shantell Steve）换过多次收养家庭，从小在治安很差的地区长大，但她努力争取到了在当地保健站工作的机会、发起了一个让青少年远离犯罪团伙的项目，很快，她也将以优异的成绩从中学毕业，去大学深造。贾斯敏、安多尼和香特尔与你们并没有什么不同。和你们一样，他们也在生活中遭遇各种各样的困难与问题，但他们拒绝放弃，他们选择为自己的教育担起责任、给自己定下奋斗的目标。我希望你们
40、中的每一个人，都能做得到这些。Thats why today Im calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education - and do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending some time each day reading a book. Maybe youll decide to
41、 get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe youll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all young people deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe y
42、oull decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, by the way, I hope all of you are washing your hands a lot, and that you stay home from school when you dont feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.因此，在今天，我号召你们每一
43、个人都为自己的教育定下一个目标并在之后，尽自己的一切努力去实现它。你的目标可以很简单，像是完成作业、认真听讲或每天阅读或许你打算参加一些课外活动，或在社区做些志愿工作；或许你决定为那些因为长相或出身等等原因而受嘲弄或欺负的孩子做主、维护他们的权益，因为你和我一样，认为每个孩子都应该能有一个安全的学习环境；或许你认为该学着更好的照顾自己，来为将来的学习做准备当然，除此之外，我希望你们都多多洗手、感到身体不舒服的时候要多在家休息，免得大家在秋冬感冒高发季节都得流感。But whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want
44、you to really work at it. I know that sometimes you get that sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work - that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star. Chances are youre not going to be any of those things.不管你决定做什么，我都希望你能坚持到底，希望
45、你能真的下定决心。我知道有些时候，电视上播放的节目会让你产生这样那样的错觉，似乎你不需要付出多大的努力就能腰缠万贯、功成名就你会认为只要会唱 rap、会打篮球或参加个什么真人秀节目就能坐享其成，但现实是，你几乎没有可能走上其中任何一条道路。The truth is, being successful is hard. You wont love every subject that you study. You wont click with every teacher that you have. Not every homework assignment will seem complet
46、ely relevant to your life right at this minute. And you wont necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.因为，成功是件难事。你不可能对要读的每门课程都兴趣盎然，你不可能和每名带课教师都相处顺利，你也不可能每次都遇上看起来和现实生活有关的作业。而且，并不是每件事，你都能在头一次尝试时获得成功。Thats okay. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones whove had the m
47、ost failures. J.K. Rowlings - who wrote Harry Potter - her first Harry Potter book was rejected 12 times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team. He lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, “I have
48、failed over and over and over again in my life. And thats why I succeed.“但那没有关系。因为在这个世界上，最最成功的人们往往也经历过最多的失败。J.K.罗琳的第一本哈利波特被出版商拒绝了十二次才最终出版；迈克尔 乔丹上高中时被学校的篮球队刷了下来，在他的职业生涯里，他输了几百场比赛、投失过几千次射篮，知道他是怎么说的吗？“我一生不停地失败、失败再失败，这就是我现在成功的原因。”These people succeeded because they understood that you cant let your fail
49、ures define you - you have to let your failures teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently the next time. So if you get into trouble, that doesnt mean youre a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to act right. If you get a bad grade, that doesnt mean youre stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying.他们的成功，源于他们明白人不能让失败左右自己而是要从中吸取经验。从失败中，你可以明白下一次自己可以做出怎样的改变；假如你惹了什么麻烦，那并不 说明你就是个捣蛋贵，而是在提醒你，在将来要对自己有更严格的要求；假如
