開學季又到了。讓我們一起來重溫美國前總統奧巴馬的精彩演講：我們為什么要上學。

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 we’ve got students tuning in from all across 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！你們今天過得怎么樣？我現在和弗吉尼亞州阿林頓郡韋克菲爾德高中的學生們在一起，全國各地也有從幼兒園到高三的眾多學生們通過電視關注這里，我很高興你們能共同分享這一時刻。我要感謝韋克菲爾德高中出色的組織。請為你們自己熱烈鼓掌。

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, it’s your first day in a new school, so it’s understandable if you’re a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now -- (applause) -- with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you’re in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer and you could’ve stayed in bed just a little bit longer this morning.
我知道，對你們中的許多人來說，今天是開學的第一天，你們中的有一些剛剛進入幼兒園或升上初高中，對你們來說，這是在新學校的第一天，因此，假如你們感到有些緊張，那也是很正常的。我想也會有許多畢業班的學生們正自信滿滿地準備最后一年的沖刺。不過，我想無論你有多大、在讀哪個年級，許多人都打心底里希望現在還在放暑假，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 didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school, but she thought it was 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.
我可以理解這份心情。小時候，我們家在大洋彼岸——我們在印度尼西亞住過幾年。我媽媽沒錢送我去其他美國孩子們上學的地方去讀書，因此她決定自己給我上課——時間是每周一到周五的凌晨4點半。

Now, as you might imagine, I wasn’t too happy about getting up that early. And a lot of times, I’d fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I’d complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and she’d say, "This is no picnic for me either, buster." (Laughter.)
顯然，我不怎么喜歡那么早就爬起來，很多時候，我就這么在廚房的桌子前睡著了。每當我埋怨的時候，我媽總會用同一副表情看著我說：“小鬼，你以為教你我就很輕松？”

So I know that some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I’m here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I’m here because I want to talk with you about your education and what’s expected of all of you in this new school year.
所以，我可以理解你們中的許多人對于開學還需要時間來調整和適應，但今天我站在這里，是為了和你們談一些重要的事情。我要和你們談一談你們每個人的教育，以及在新的學年里，你們應當做些什么。

Now, I’ve given a lot of speeches about education. And I’ve talked about responsibility a lot.
我做過許多關于教育的講話，也常常用到“責任”這個詞。

I’ve talked about teachers’ responsibility for inspiring students and pushing you to learn.
我談到過教師們有責任激勵和啟迪你們，督促你們學習。

I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and you get your homework done, and don’t spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with the Xbox.
我談到過家長們有責任看管你們認真學習、完成作業，不要成天只會看電視或打游戲機。

I’ve talked a lot about your government’s responsibility for setting high standards, and supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren’t working, where students aren’t getting the opportunities that they deserve.
我也很多次談到過政府有責任設定高標準嚴要求、協助老師和校長們的工作，改變在有些學校里學生得不到應有的學習機會的現狀。

But at the end of the day, we can have 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 listen to your parents and grandparents and other adults and put in the hard work it takes to succeed. That’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education.
但哪怕這一切都達到最好，哪怕我們有最盡職的教師、最好的家長、和最優秀的學校，假如你們不去履行自己的責任的話，那么這一切努力都會白費。——除非你每天準時去上學、除非你認真地聽老師講課、除非你把父母、長輩和其他大人們說的話放在心上、除非你肯付出成功所必需的努力，否則這一切都會失去意義。

I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself. Every single one of you has something that you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide.
而這就是我今天講話的主題：對于自己的教育，你們中每一個人的責任。首先，我想談談你們對于自己有什么責任。你們中的每一個人都會有自己擅長的東西，每一個人都是有用之材，而發現自己的才能是什么，就是你們要對自己擔起的責任。教育給你們提供了發現自己才能的機會。

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 paper -- that English class paper that’s 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 senator or a Supreme Court justice -- but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.
或許你能寫出優美的文字——甚至有一天能讓那些文字出現在書籍和報刊上——但假如不在英語課上經常練習寫作，你不會發現自己有這樣的天賦；或許你能成為一個發明家、創造家——甚至設計出像今天的iPhone一樣流行的產品，或研制出新的藥物與疫苗——但假如不在自然科學課程上做上幾次實驗，你不會知道自己有這樣的天賦；或許你能成為一名議員或最高法院法官，但假如你不去加入什么學生會或參加幾次辯論賽，你也不會發現自己的才能。

And no matter what you want to do with your life, I guarantee that you’ll 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? You’re going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You cannot drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to train for it and work for it and learn for it.
而且，我可以向你保證，不管你將來想要做什么，你都需要相應的教育。——你想當名醫生、當名教師或當名警官？你想成為護士、成為建筑設計師、律師或軍人？無論你選擇哪一種職業，良好的教育都必不可少，這世上不存在不把書念完就能拿到好工作的美夢，任何工作，都需要你的汗水、訓練與學習。

And this isn’t just 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 you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.
不僅僅對于你們個人的未來有重要意義，你們的教育如何也會對這個國家、乃至世界的未來產生重要影響。今天你們在學校中學習的內容，將會決定我們整個國家在未來迎接重大挑戰時的表現。

You’ll 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. You’ll need the insights and 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. You’ll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy.
你們需要在數理科學課程上學習的知識和技能，去治療癌癥、艾滋那樣的疾病，和解決我們面臨的能源問題與環境問題；你們需要在歷史社科課程上培養出的觀察力與判斷力，來減輕和消除無家可歸與貧困、犯罪問題和各種歧視，讓這個國家變得更加公平和自由；你們需要在各類課程中逐漸累積和發展出來的創新意識和思維，去創業和建立新的公司與企業，來制造就業機會和推動經濟的增長。

We need every single one of you to develop your talents and your skills and your intellect so you can help us old folks solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that -- if you quit on school -- you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country.
我們需要你們中的每一個人都培養和發展自己的天賦、技能和才智，來解決我們所面對的最困難的問題。假如你不這么做——假如你放棄學習——那么你不僅是放棄了自己，也是放棄了你的國家。

Now, I know it’s not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.
當然，我明白，讀好書并不總是件容易的事。我知道你們中的許多人在生活中面臨著各種各樣的問題，很難把精力集中在專心讀書之上。

I get it. I know what it’s 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 who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t 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 didn’t fit in.
我知道你們的感受。我父親在我兩歲時就離開了家庭，是母親一人將我們拉扯大，有時她付不起賬單，有時我們得不到其他孩子們都有的東西，有時我會想，假如父親在該多好，有時我會感到孤獨無助，與周圍的環境格格不入。

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 in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse.
因此我并不總是能專心學習，我做過許多自己覺得丟臉的事情，也惹出過許多不該惹的麻煩，我的生活岌岌可危，隨時可能急轉直下。

But I was -- 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 didn’t have a lot of money. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.
但我很幸運。我在許多事上都得到了重來的機會，我得到了去大學讀法學院、實現自己夢想的機會。我的妻子——現在得叫她第一夫人米歇爾奧巴馬了——也有著相似的人生故事，她的父母都沒讀過大學，也沒有什么財產，但他們和她都辛勤工作，好讓她有機會去這個國家最優秀的學校讀書。

Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don’t have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job and there’s not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don’t feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren’t right.
你們中有些人可能沒有這些有利條件，或許你的生活中沒有能為你提供幫助和支持的長輩，或許你的某個家長沒有工作、經濟拮據，或許你住的社區不那么安全，或許你認識一些會對你產生不良影響的朋友，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 you’ve got going on at home -- none of that is an excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude in school. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. There is no excuse for not trying.
但歸根結底，你的生活狀況——你的長相、出身、經濟條件、家庭氛圍——都不是疏忽學業和態度惡劣的借口，這些不是你去跟老師頂嘴、逃課、或是輟學的借口，這些不是你不好好讀書的借口。

Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you, because here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future.
你的未來，并不取決于你現在的生活有多好或多壞。沒有人為你編排好你的命運，在美國，你的命運由你自己書寫，你的未來由你自己掌握。

That’s what young people like you are doing every day, all across America.
而在這片土地上的每個地方，千千萬萬和你一樣的年輕人正是這樣在書寫著自己的命運。

Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn’t 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.
例如德克薩斯州羅馬市的賈斯敏佩雷茲（Jazmin Perez）。剛進學校時，她根本不會說英語，她住的地方幾乎沒人上過大學，她的父母也沒有受過高等教育，但她努力學習，取得了優異的成績，靠獎學金進入了布朗大學，如今正在攻讀公共衛生專業的博士學位。

I’m thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who’s fought brain cancer since he was three. He’s had to endure all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer -- hundreds of extra hours -- to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind. He’s headed to college this fall.
我還想起了加利福尼亞州洛斯拉圖斯市的安多尼舒爾茲（Andoni Schultz），他從三歲起就開始與腦癌病魔做斗爭，他熬過了一次次治療與手術——其中一次影響了他的記憶，因此他得花出比常人多幾百個小時的時間來完成學業，但他從不曾落下自己的功課。這個秋天，他要開始在大學讀書了。

And then there’s Shantell 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 she’s on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.And Jazmin, Andoni, and Shantell aren’t any different from any of you. They face challenges in their lives just like you do. In some cases they’ve 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 their education, and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same.
又比如在我的家鄉，伊利諾斯州芝加哥市，身為孤兒的香特爾史蒂夫（Shantell Steve）換過多次收養家庭，從小在治安很差的地區長大，但她努力爭取到了在當地保健站工作的機會、發起了一個讓青少年遠離犯罪團伙的項目，很快，她也將以優異的成績從中學畢業，去大學深造。賈斯敏、安多尼和香特爾與你們并沒有什么不同。和你們一樣，他們也在生活中遭遇各種各樣的困難與問題，但他們拒絕放棄，他們選擇為自己的教育擔起責任、給自己定下奮斗的目標。我希望你們中的每一個人，都能做得到這些。

That’s why today I’m 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 you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you’ll 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 you’ll 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 don’t feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.
因此，在今天，我號召你們每一個人都為自己的教育定下一個目標——并在之后，盡自己的一切努力去實現它。你的目標可以很簡單，像是完成作業、認真聽講或每天閱讀——或許你打算參加一些課外活動，或在社區做些志愿工作；或許你決定為那些因為長相或出身等等原因而受嘲弄或欺負的孩子做主、維護他們的權益，因為你和我一樣，認為每個孩子都應該能有一個安全的學習環境；或許你認為該學著更好的照顧自己，來為將來的學習做準備……當然，除此之外，我希望你們都多多洗手、感到身體不舒服的時候要多在家休息，免得大家在秋冬感冒高發季節都得流感。

But whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want 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 you’re not going to be any of those things.
不管你決定做什么，我都希望你能堅持到底，希望你能真的下定決心。我知道有些時候，電視上播放的節目會讓你產生這樣那樣的錯覺，似乎你不需要付出多大的努力就能腰纏萬貫、功成名就——你會認為只要會唱rap、會打籃球或參加個什么真人秀節目就能坐享其成，但現實是，你幾乎沒有可能走上其中任何一條道路。

The truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject that you study. You won’t click with every teacher that you have. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right at this minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.
因為，成功是件難事。你不可能對要讀的每門課程都興趣盎然，你不可能和每名帶課教師都相處順利，你也不可能每次都遇上看起來和現實生活有關的作業。而且，并不是每件事，你都能在頭一次嘗試時獲得成功。

That’s okay. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures. J.K. Rowling’s -- 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 failed over and over and over again in my life. And that’s why I succeed.
"但那沒有關系。因為在這個世界上，最最成功的人們往往也經歷過最多的失敗。J.K.羅琳的第一本《哈利?波特》被出版商拒絕了十二次才最終出版；邁克爾?喬丹上高中時被學校的籃球隊刷了下來，在他的職業生涯里，他輸了幾百場比賽、投失過幾千次射籃，知道他是怎么說的嗎？“我一生不停地失敗、失敗再失敗，這就是我現在成功的原因。”

These people succeeded because they understood that you can’t let your failures 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 doesn’t mean you’re a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to act right. If you get a bad grade, that doesn’t mean you’re stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying.
他們的成功，源于他們明白人不能讓失敗左右自己——而是要從中吸取經驗。從失敗中，你可以明白下一次自己可以做出怎樣的改變；假如你惹了什么麻煩，那并不說明你就是個搗蛋鬼，而是在提醒你，在將來要對自己有更嚴格的要求；假如你考了個低分，那并不說明你就比別人笨，而是在告訴你，自己得在學習上花更多的時間。

No one’s born being good at all things. You become good at things through hard work. You’re not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don’t hit every note the first time you sing a song. You’ve got to practice. The same principle applies to your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right. You might have to read something a few times before you understand it. You definitely have to do a few drafts of a paper before it’s good enough to hand in.
沒有哪一個人一生出來就擅長做什么事情的，只有努力才能培養出技能。任何人都不是在第一次接觸一項體育運動時就成為校隊的代表，任何人都不是在第一次唱一首歌時就找準每一個音，一切都需要熟能生巧。對于學業也是一樣，你或許要反復運算才能解出一道數學題的正確答案，你或許需要讀一段文字好幾遍才能理解它的意思，你或許得把論文改上好幾次才能符合提交的標準。這都是很正常的。

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength because it shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something, and that then allows 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.
不要害怕提問。不要不敢向他人求助。——我每天都在這么做。求助并不是軟弱的表現，恰恰相反，它說明你有勇氣承認自己的不足、并愿意去學習新的知識。所以，有不懂時，就向大人們求助吧——找個你信得過的對象，例如父母、長輩、老師、教練或輔導員——讓他們幫助你向目標前進。

And even when you’re struggling, even when you’re discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you, don’t ever give up on yourself, because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.
你要記住，哪怕你表現不好、哪怕你失去信心、哪怕你覺得身邊的人都已經放棄了你——永遠不要自己放棄自己。因為當你放棄自己的時候，你也放棄了自己的國家。

The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best.
美國不是一個人們遭遇困難就輕易放棄的國度，在這個國家，人們堅持到底、人們加倍努力，為了他們所熱愛的國度，每一個人都盡著自己最大的努力，不會給自己留任何余地。

It’s the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and they founded this nation. Young people. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google and Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.
250年前，有一群和你們一樣的學生，他們之后奮起努力、用一場革命最終造就了這個國家；75年前，有一群和你們一樣的學生，他們之后戰勝了大蕭條、贏得了二戰；就在20年前，和你們一樣的學生們，他們后來創立了Google、Twitter和Facebook，改變了我們人與人之間溝通的方式。

So today, I want to ask all of you, what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a President who comes here in 20 or 50 or 100 years say about what all of you did for this country?
因此，今天我想要問你們，你們會做出什么樣的貢獻？你們將解決什么樣的難題？你們能發現什么樣的事物？二十、五十或百年之后，假如那時的美國總統也來做一次開學演講的話，他會怎樣描述你們對這個國家所做的一切？

Now, your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books and the equipment and the computers you need to learn. But you’ve got to do your part, too. So I expect all of you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don’t let us down. Don’t let your family down or your country down. Most of all, don’t let yourself down. Make us all proud.
你們的家長、你們的老師和我，每一個人都在盡最大的努力，確保你們都能得到應有的教育來回答這些問題。例如我正在努力為你們提供更安全的教室、更多的書籍、更先進的設施與計算機。但你們也要擔起自己的責任。因此我要求你們在今年能夠認真起來，我要求你們盡心地去做自己著手的每一件事，我要求你們每一個人都有所成就。請不要讓我們失望——不要讓你的家人、你的國家和你自己失望。你們要成為我們驕傲，我知道，你們一定可以做到。

Thank you very much, everybody. God bless you. God bless America. Thank you.
謝謝大家，上帝保佑你們，上帝保佑美國。

（來源：滬江英語? 編輯：Julie）