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.
你們中的每一個(gè)人都會(huì)有自己擅長(zhǎng)的東西辑莫，每一個(gè)人都是有用之材司澎，而發(fā)現(xiàn)自己的才能是什么大溜，就是你們要對(duì)自己擔(dān)起的責(zé)任。教育給你們提供了發(fā)現(xiàn)自己才能的機(jī)會(huì)余指。
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(xiě)出優(yōu)美的文字——甚至有一天能讓那些文字出現(xiàn)在書(shū)籍和報(bào)刊上——但假如不在英語(yǔ)課上經(jīng)常練習(xí)寫(xiě)作，你不會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)自己有這樣的天賦;或許你能成為一個(gè)發(fā)明家、創(chuàng)造家——甚至設(shè)計(jì)出像今天的iPhone一樣流行的產(chǎn)品，或研制出新的藥物與疫苗——但假如不在自然科學(xué)課程上做上幾次實(shí)驗(yàn)湖雹，你不會(huì)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(xué)生會(huì)或參加幾次辯論賽曙搬，你也不會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)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，我可以向你保證纵装，不管你將來(lái)想要做什么征讲，你都需要相應(yīng)的教育∠鹇Γ——你想當(dāng)名醫(yī)生诗箍、當(dāng)名教師或當(dāng)名警官?你想成為護(hù)士、成為 建筑設(shè)計(jì)師挽唉、律師或軍人?無(wú)論你選擇哪一種職業(yè)滤祖，良好的教育都必不可少，這世上不存在不把書(shū)念完就能拿到好工作的美夢(mèng)瓶籽，任何工作匠童，都需要你的汗水、訓(xùn)練與學(xué)習(xí)塑顺。
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(duì)于你們個(gè)人的未來(lái)有重要意義汤求，你們的教育如何也會(huì)對(duì)這個(gè)國(guó)家、乃至世界的未來(lái)產(chǎn)生重要影響严拒。今天你們?cè)趯W(xué)校中學(xué) 習(xí)的內(nèi)容扬绪，將會(huì)決定我們整個(gè)國(guó)家在未來(lái)迎接重大挑戰(zhàn)時(shí)的表現(xiàn)。
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(shù)理科學(xué)課程上學(xué)習(xí)的知識(shí)和技能裤唠，去治療癌癥挤牛、艾滋那樣的疾病，和解決我們面臨的能源問(wèn)題與環(huán)境問(wèn)題;你們需要在歷史社科課程上培養(yǎng)出的觀察力與判斷力种蘸，來(lái)減輕和消除無(wú)家可歸與貧困墓赴、犯罪問(wèn)題和各種歧視，讓這個(gè)國(guó)家變得更加公平和自由;你們需要在各類(lèi)課程中逐漸累積和發(fā)展出來(lái)的創(chuàng)新意識(shí)和思維劈彪，去創(chuàng)業(yè)和建立新的公司與企業(yè)竣蹦，來(lái)制造就業(yè)機(jī)會(huì)和推動(dòng)經(jīng)濟(jì)的增長(zhǎng)。
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(méi)有這些有利條件沧奴，或許你的生活中沒(méi)有能為你提供幫助和支持的長(zhǎng)輩痘括，或許你的某個(gè)家長(zhǎng)沒(méi)有工作、經(jīng)濟(jì)拮據(jù)滔吠，或許你住的社區(qū)不那么安全纲菌，或許你認(rèn)識(shí)一些會(huì)對(duì)你產(chǎn)生不良影響的朋友，等等疮绷。
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(jié)底翰舌，你的生活狀況——你的長(zhǎng)相、出身冬骚、經(jīng)濟(jì)條件椅贱、家庭氛圍——都不是疏忽學(xué)業(yè)和態(tài)度惡劣的借口懂算，這些不是你去跟老師頂嘴、逃課庇麦、或是輟學(xué)的借口计技，這些不是你不好好讀書(shū)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.You write your own destiny. You make your own future.
你的未來(lái)山橄，并不取決于你現(xiàn)在的生活有多好或多壞垮媒。沒(méi)有人為你編排好你的命運(yùn)。你的命運(yùn)由你自己書(shū)寫(xiě)航棱，你的未來(lái)由你自己掌握睡雇。
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(jiān)持到底饮醇，希望你能真的下定決心它抱。我知道有些時(shí)候，電視上播放的節(jié)目會(huì)讓你產(chǎn)生這樣那樣的錯(cuò)覺(jué)驳阎，似乎你不需要付出多大的努力就能腰纏萬(wàn)貫抗愁、功成名就——你會(huì)認(rèn)為只要會(huì)唱rap、會(huì)打籃球或參加個(gè)什么真人秀節(jié)目就能坐享其成呵晚，但現(xiàn)實(shí)是蜘腌，你幾乎沒(méi)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?yàn)槎叮晒κ羌y事撮珠。你不可能對(duì)要讀的每門(mén)課程都興趣盎然，你不可能和每名帶課教師都相處順利金矛，你也不可能每次都遇上看起來(lái)和現(xiàn)實(shí)生活有關(guān)的作業(yè)芯急。而且，并不是每件事驶俊，你都能在頭一次嘗試時(shí)獲得成功娶耍。
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(méi)有關(guān)系。因?yàn)樵谶@個(gè)世界上饼酿，最最成功的人們往往也經(jīng)歷過(guò)最多的失敗榕酒。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(shí)被學(xué)校的籃球隊(duì)刷了下來(lái)，在他的職業(yè)生涯里故俐，他輸了幾百場(chǎng)比賽想鹰、投失過(guò)幾千次射籃，知道他是怎么說(shuō)的嗎?“我一生不停地失敗药版、失敗再失敗辑舷，這就是我現(xiàn)在成功的原因〔燮”
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.
他們的成功何缓，源于他們明白人不能讓失敗左右自己——而是要從中吸取經(jīng)驗(yàn)肢础。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歌殃，那并不說(shuō)明你就是個(gè)搗蛋鬼乔妈，而是在提醒你，在將來(lái)要對(duì)自己有更嚴(yán)格的要求;假如你考了個(gè)低分氓皱，那并不說(shuō)明你就比別人笨，而是在告訴你勃刨，自己得在學(xué)習(xí)上花更多的時(shí)間波材。
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(méi)有哪一個(gè)人一生出來(lái)就擅長(zhǎng)做什么事情的，只有努力才能培養(yǎng)出技能身隐。任何人都不是在第一次接觸一項(xiàng)體育運(yùn)動(dòng)時(shí)就成為校隊(duì)的代表廷区，任何人都不是在第一次唱一 首歌時(shí)就找準(zhǔn)每一個(gè)音，一切都需要熟能生巧贾铝。對(duì)于學(xué)業(yè)也是一樣隙轻，你或許要反復(fù)運(yùn)算才能解出一道數(shù)學(xué)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垢揩，你或許得把論文改上好幾次才能符合提交的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)玖绿。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(wèn)叁巨。不要不敢向他人求助斑匪。——我每天都在這么做锋勺。求助并不是軟弱的表現(xiàn)蚀瘸，恰恰相反，它說(shuō)明你有勇氣承認(rèn)自己的不足庶橱、并愿意去學(xué)習(xí)新的知識(shí)贮勃。所以，有不懂時(shí)苏章，就向大人們求助吧——找個(gè)你信得過(guò)的對(duì)象寂嘉，例如父母、長(zhǎng)輩布近、老師垫释、教練或輔導(dǎo)員——讓他們幫助你向目標(biāo)前進(jìn)。
轉(zhuǎn)自?shī)W巴馬演講
