第一篇：梦想与责任：奥巴马对学生的演讲
《梦想与责任：奥巴马对学生的演讲》
(Obama's Speech To Students 9th Sept'09-A Message Of Hope And Responsibility)[
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.)
大家好！谢谢你们。谢谢你们。谢谢你们大家。好，大家请就坐。你们今天都好吗？（掌声）蒂姆·斯派塞（Tim Spicer）好吗？（掌声）我现在与弗吉尼亚州阿灵顿郡韦克菲尔德高中的学生们在一起。美国各地从小学预备班到中学12年级的学生正在收听收看。我很高兴大家今天都能参与。我还要感谢韦克菲尔德高中出色的组织安排。请为你们自己热烈鼓掌。（掌声）
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，今天是你们很多人开学的日子。对于进入小学预备班、初中或高中的学生，今天是你们来到新学校的第一天，心里可能有点紧张，这是可以理解的。我能想象有些毕业班学生现在感觉很不错——（掌声）——还有一年就毕业了。不论在哪个年级，你们有些人可能希望暑假更长一点，今天早上还能多睡一小会
儿。
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.我了解这种感觉。我小时候，我们家生活在海外。我在印度尼西亚住了几年。我妈妈没有钱送我上其他美国孩子上的学校，但她认为必须让我接受美式教育。因此，她决定从周一到周五自己给我补课。不过她还要上班，所以只能在清晨四点半给我上课。
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.)
你们可以想见，我不太情愿那么早起床。有很多次，我趴在餐桌上就睡着了。但每当我抱怨的时候，我妈妈都会那样地看我一眼，然后说：“小子，这对我也并不轻松。”（笑声）
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.我知道你们有些人还在适应开学后的生活。但我今天来到这里是因为有重要的事情要和你们说。我来这里
是要和你们谈谈你们的教育问题，以及在这个新学年对你们所有人的期望。
Now, I’ve given a lot of speeches about education.And I’ve talked about responsibility a lot.我做过很多次有关教育问题的演讲。我多次谈到过责任问题。
I’ve talked about teachers’ responsibility for inspiring students and pushing you to learn.我谈到过教师激励学生并督促他们学习的责任。
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.我谈到过家长的责任，要确保你们走正路，完成家庭作业，不要整天坐在电视前或玩Xbox游戏。
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.我多次谈到过政府的责任，要制定高标准，支持教师和校长的工作，彻底改善不能为学生提供应有机会的、教育质量差的学校。
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.然而，即使我们拥有最敬业的教师，最尽力的家长和全世界最好的学校——如果你们大家不履行你们的责任，不到校上课，不专心听讲，不听家长、祖父祖母和其他大人的话，不付出取得成功所必须的勤奋努力，那么这一切都毫无用处，都无关紧要。这就是我今天讲话的重点：你们每个人对自己的教育应尽的责任。
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.我首先要讲讲你们对自己应尽的责任。你们每个人都有自己的长处。你们每个人都能做出自己的贡献。你们对自己应尽的责任是发现自己的能力所在。而教育能够提供这样的机会。
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 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.你或许能成为一名出色的作家——甚至可能写书或在报纸上发表文章——但你可能要在完成那篇英文课的作文后才会发现自己的才华。你或许能成为一名创新者或发明家——甚至可能设计出新一代iPhone或研制出新型药物或疫苗——但你可能要在完成科学课的实验后才会发现自己的才华。你或许能成为一名市长或参议员或最高法院的大法官——但你可能要在参加学生会的工作或辩论队后才会发现自己的才华。
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.不论你的生活志向是什么，我敢肯定你必须上学读书才能实现它。你想当医生、教师或警官吗？你想当护士、建筑师、律师或军人吗？你必须接受良好的教育，才能从事上述任何一种职业。你不能指望辍学后能碰上个好工作。你必须接受培训，为之努力，为之学习。
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.这并非只对你个人的人生和未来意义重大。可以毫不夸大地说，教育给你带来的益处将决定这个国家的未来。美国的未来取决于你们。你们今日在校学习的知识将决定我们作为一个国家是否能够迎接我们未来所面临的最严峻挑战。
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.你们将需要利用你们通过自然科学和数学课程所学到的知识和解决问题的能力来治愈癌症、艾滋病及其他疾病，开发新的能源技术和保护我们的环境。你们将需要利用你们在历史学和社会学课堂上所获得的知识和独立思考能力来抗击贫困和解决无家可归问题，打击犯罪和消除歧视，使我们的国家更公平、更自由。你们将需要利用你们在所有课堂上培养的创造力和智慧来创办新公司，增加就业机会，振兴我们的经济。
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 know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus 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 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 in more trouble than I should have.And my life could have easily taken a turn for the 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.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’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--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.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 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 across America.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。
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.来自得州罗马城的贾兹敏•佩雷斯（Jazmin Perez）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 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.我想起了加州洛斯阿尔托斯城的安多尼•舒尔茨（Andoni Schultz），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 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.我还想起家乡伊利诺伊州芝加哥市的尚特尔•史蒂夫（Shantell Steve）。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 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.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 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，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.I want 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 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.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 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.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 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.”
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J•K•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（Michael Jordan）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’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.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 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.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。
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’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.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 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.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。
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.书写美国历史的是250年前坐在你们的位置上的学生，他们后来进行了独立战争并创建了这个国家。还有75年前坐在你们的位置上的年轻人和学生，他们走出了大萧条并打赢了一场世界大战；他们为民权而奋斗并把宇航员送上了月球。至于20年前坐在你们的位置上的学生，他们创办了谷歌（Google）、叽喳网（Twitter）和脸谱网（Facebook），改变了我们交流沟通的方式。
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?
而今天，我要问问你们大家，你们将做出什么贡献？你们将解决什么问题？你们将有什么发现？20年、50年或100年后来到这里讲话的总统将会怎样评价你们大家为这个国家所做的一切？
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.你们的家人、你们的老师和我正在竭尽全力保证你们接受必要的教育，以便回答上述问题。我正在努力工作，以便你们的教室得到修缮，你们能够得到学习所需的课本、设备和电脑。但你们也必须尽自己的努力。因此，我希望你们大家从今年起认真对待这个问题。我希望你们尽最大努力做好每一件事。我希望你们每个人都有出色的表现。不要让我们失望。不要让你们的家人或你们的国家失望。而最重要的是，不要辜负你们自己，而要让我们都能[为你们]感到骄傲。
Thank you very much, everybody.God bless you.God bless America.Thank you.(Applause.)
非常感谢你们大家。愿主保佑你们。愿主保佑美国。谢谢你们。（掌声）
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huangjinrui 举报
总统为何不能给学生演讲？
（2009-09-10）
● 钟布（美国宾州）
美国总统奥巴马9月8日中午对全美公立学校在校生发表电视讲话，勉励他们“好好学习，不要辍学”。虽然是电视讲话，但各电视公司不直播，只通过白宫网站向全国公立学校直播。
数十年来，美国总统都面对一个难题，那就是不能主动到公立学校发表演说，尤其不能贸然向全国的公立学校发表讲话，即使是要告诫学生们“好好学习”，那也不行。美国政坛常见到这样的现象：国家领导人还没有来得及发表公开演讲，这个活动就已经受到社会各方面的诟病。
奥巴马8月初在白宫接受一名11岁小学生的采访，忘记了这个政坛禁忌。那个来自佛罗里达州的黑人小男孩，就美国教育和公立学校面临的问题向总统提问，奥巴马口若悬河，一一作答。兴之所至，奥巴马还说会对全美公立学校的孩子发表电视讲话，完全忘记了国家领导人不可擅自向全国学生发表演讲的禁忌。
奥巴马遭遇抗拒
奥巴马发表讲话的消息见诸媒体后，立刻受到共和党和保守派阵营的质疑。从马里兰州到德克萨斯州，到处都有不满的家长表示反对奥巴马对他们的孩子发表讲话。
德克萨斯州一些持保守派观点的家长，更是按捺不住愤怒。他们说最担心奥巴马的讲话含有不适合孩子的政治内容。他们强调，总统的讲话未经州教育理事会和各地学校校董会的审核，不能擅自加入教学内容，否则在德州属于非法。在这些家长的强烈反对下，德州几个最大的学区决定，不让孩子当天在学校观看奥巴马的讲话。
白宫一再声明，总统的讲话不包含政治内容，只是勉励学生好好学习。不过，很多老师和家长坚持认为，教育是家长和教育工作者的事，他们为此付出了辛勤努力，不容外人干涉。一些批评人士指出，奥巴马向未成年人讲话，有向他们推销某种政治议程的嫌疑。这样做无异于把联邦政府的职能强加给公立学校，属于明显的“权力越位”。
明尼苏达州的共和党籍州长蒂姆·保伦提也许最能代表保守派人士的反应。他说，奥巴马不请自来，这一做法不能不让人怀疑他讲话的内容和动机。
前车之鉴
自80年代以来，曾有两位共和党籍总统到公立学校，向全美学生发表讲话，无一例外都受到了广泛批评和无情嘲弄。
里根总统执政期间曾对学生发表讲话。批评人士说，他企图对孩子们的世界观予以政治化。有的甚至批评说，里根的讲话毒害了学生的心灵。
1991年，老布什总统在首都华盛顿一所高中发表向全国直播的演说，主要内容是要求学生努力学习，拒绝毒品。当时，联邦政府教育部事先向公立学校建议说，希望布什的讲话能够让全国学生收看。当时的众议院多数党（民主党）领袖格普哈特批评说：“教育部的职责不是花钱为总统制作政治广告，而是帮助我们培养聪明的学生。”
很多民主党议员也批评说，这是用纳税人的钱为布什总统做免费的政治广告。老布什那次讲话的全部花费是2万7000美元。
要求审阅讲话稿
美国公立学校的教育由各州教育委员会制定大纲，再由各学区选举产生的校董会采纳实施，联邦教育部无权干涉具体的教学计划。
在奥巴马演讲问题上，一些学区负责人说，他们不愿意卷入党派之争，希望事先看到奥巴马的讲话稿，然后把他们的意见转达给家长，让家长自行决定是否让学生收看。
一些学生家长也要求先看讲话稿，然后才会决定是否让孩子收看。
白宫立刻答复说，他们会提前一天把奥巴马的讲话上传到白宫网址上，让老师和家长先看讲话全文。不过，一些学区还是明确表示，不会让学生收看奥巴马的演讲，直播或录播都不看。
奥巴马讲话引起的这场**说明，美国人似乎有一个共识，那就是，孩子们的教育应该由家长做主，而不应该受到任何别人的影响，哪怕是总统也不行。
第二篇：奥巴马演讲：梦想与责任
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.)大家好！谢谢你们。谢谢你们。谢谢你们大家。好，大家请就坐。你们今天都好吗？（掌声）蒂姆·斯派塞（Tim Spicer）好吗？（掌声）我现在与弗吉尼亚州阿灵顿郡韦克菲尔德高中的学生们在一起。美国各地从小学预备班到中学12年级的学生正在收听收看。我很高兴大家今天都能参与。我还要感谢韦克菲尔德高中出色的组织安排。请为你们自己热烈鼓掌。（掌声）
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，今天是你们很多人开学的日子。对于进入小学预备班、初中或高中的学生，今天是你们来到新学校的第一天，心里可能有点紧张，这是可以理解的。我能想象有些毕业班学生现在感觉很不错——（掌声）——还有一年就毕业了。不论在哪个年级，你们有些人可能希望暑假更长一点，今天早上还能多睡一小会儿。
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.我了解这种感觉。我小时候，我们家生活在海外。我在印度尼西亚住了几年。我妈妈没有钱送我上其他美国孩子上的学校，但她认为必须让我接受美式教育。因此，她决定从周一到周五自己给我补课。不过她还要上班，所以只能在清晨四点半给我上课。
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.)你们可以想见，我不太情愿那么早起床。有很多次，我趴在餐桌上就睡着了。但每当我抱怨的时候，我妈妈都会那样地看我一眼，然后说：“小子，这对我也并不轻松。”（笑声）
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.我知道你们有些人还在适应开学后的生活。但我今天来到这里是因为有重要的事情要和你们说。我来这里是要和你们谈谈你们的教育问题，以及在这个新学年对你们所有人的期望。
Now, I’ve given a lot of speeches about education.And I’ve talked about responsibility a lot.我做过很多次有关教育问题的演讲。我多次谈到过责任问题。
I’ve talked about teachers’ responsibility for inspiring students and pushing you to learn.我谈到过教师激励学生并督促他们学习的责任。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.我谈到过家长的责任，要确保你们走正路，完成家庭作业，不要整天坐在电视前或玩Xbox游戏。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.我多次谈到过政府的责任，要制定高标准，支持教师和校长的工作，彻底改善不能为学生提供应有机会的、教育质量差的学校。
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.然而，即使我们拥有最敬业的教师，最尽力的家长和全世界最好的学校——如果你们大家不履行你们的责任，不到校上课，不专心听讲，不听家长、祖父祖母和其他大人的话，不付出取得成功所必须的勤奋努力，那么这一切都毫无用处，都无关紧要。这就是我今天讲话的重点：你们每个人对自己的教育应尽的责任。
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.我首先要讲讲你们对自己应尽的责任。你们每个人都有自己的长处。你们每个人都能做出自己的贡献。你们对自己应尽的责任是发现自己的能力所在。而教育能够提供这样的机会。
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 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.你或许能成为一名出色的作家——甚至可能写书或在报纸上发表文章——但你可能要在完成那篇英文课的作文后才会发现自己的才华。你或许能成为一名创新者或发明家——甚至可能设计出新一代iPhone或研制出新型药物或疫苗——但你可能要在完成科学课的实验后才会发现自己的才华。你或许能成为一名市长或参议员或最高法院的大法官——但你可能要在参加学生会的工作或辩论队后才会发现自己的才华。
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.不论你的生活志向是什么，我敢肯定你必须上学读书才能实现它。你想当医生、教师或警官吗？你想当护士、建筑师、律师或军人吗？你必须接受良好的教育，才能从事上述任何一种职业。你不能指望辍学后能碰上个好工作。你必须接受培训，为之努力，为之学习。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.这并非只对你个人的人生和未来意义重大。可以毫不夸大地说，教育给你带来的益处将决定这个国家的未来。美国的未来取决于你们。你们今日在校学习的知识将决定我们作为一个国家是否能够迎接我们未来所面临的最严峻挑战。
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.你们将需要利用你们通过自然科学和数学课程所学到的知识和解决问题的能力来治愈癌症、艾滋病及其他疾病，开发新的能源技术和保护我们的环境。你们将需要利用你们在历史学和社会学课堂上所获得的知识和独立思考能力来抗击贫困和解决无家可归问题，打击犯罪和消除歧视，使我们的国家更公平、更自由。你们将需要利用你们在所有课堂上培养的创造力和智慧来创办新公司，增加就业机会，振兴我们的经济。
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 its 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.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 I was two years old, and I was raisedby 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 in more trouble than I should have.And my life could have easily taken a turn for the 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.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’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--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.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 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 across America.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。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.I want 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 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.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 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.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 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.”
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J•K•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（Michael Jordan）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’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.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 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.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。
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’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.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 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.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。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.书写美国历史的是250年前坐在你们的位置上的学生，他们后来进行了独立战争并创建了这个国家。还有75年前坐在你们的位置上的年轻人和学生，他们走出了大萧条并打赢了一场世界大战；他们为民权而奋斗并把宇航员送上了月球。至于20年前坐在你们的位置上的学生，他们创办了谷歌（Google）、叽喳网（Twitter）和脸谱网（Facebook），改变了我们交流沟通的方式。
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? 而今天，我要问问你们大家，你们将做出什么贡献？你们将解决什么问题？你们将有什么发现？20年、50年或100年后来到这里讲话的总统将会怎样评价你们大家为这个国家所做的一切？
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.你们的家人、你们的老师和我正在竭尽全力保证你们接受必要的教育，以便回答上述问题。我正在努力工作，以便你们的教室得到修缮，你们能够得到学习所需的课本、设备和电脑。但你们也必须尽自己的努力。因此，我希望你们大家从今年起认真对待这个问题。我希望你们尽最大努力做好每一件事。我希望你们每个人都有出色的表现。不要让我们失望。不要让你们的家人或你们的国家失望。而最重要的是，不要辜负你们自己，而要让我们都能[为你们]感到骄傲。
Thank you very much, everybody.God bless you.God bless America.Thank you.(Applause.)非常感谢你们大家。愿主保佑你们。愿主保佑美国。谢谢你们。（掌声）
第三篇：奥巴马演讲 梦想与责任
奥巴马送给美国学生的演讲《梦想与责任》
Hello, everybody!Thank you.Thank you.Thank you, everybody.All right, everybody go ahead and have a seat.How is everybody doing today? How about Tim Spicer? 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.大家好！谢谢你们。谢谢你们。谢谢你们大家。好，大家请就坐。你们今天都好吗？蒂姆•斯派塞（Tim Spicer）好吗？我现在与弗吉尼亚州阿灵顿郡韦克菲尔德高中的学生们在一起。美国各地从小学预备班到中学12年级的学生正在收听收看。我很高兴大家今天都能参与。我还要感谢韦克菲尔德高中出色的组织安排。请为你们自己热烈鼓掌。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--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，今天是你们很多人开学的日子。对于进入小学预备班、初中或高中的学生，今天是你们来到新学校的第一天，心里可能有点紧张，这是可以理解的。我能想象有些毕业班学生现在感觉很不错——还有一年就毕业了。不论在哪个年级，你们有些人可能希望暑假更长一点，今天早上还能多睡一小会儿。
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.我了解这种感觉。我小时候，我们家生活在海外。我在印度尼西亚住了几年。我妈妈没有钱送我上其他美国孩子上的学校，但她认为必须让我接受美式教育。因此，她决定从周一到周五自己给我补课。不过她还要上班，所以只能在清晨四点半给我上课。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.)你们可以想见，我不太情愿那么早起床。有很多次，我趴在餐桌上就睡着了。但每当我抱怨的时候，我妈妈都会那样地看我一眼，然后说：“小子，这对我也并不轻松。”（笑声）
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.我知道你们有些人还在适应开学后的生活。但我今天来到这里是因为有重要的事情要和你们说。我来这里是要和你们谈谈你们的教育问题，以及在这个新学年对你们所有人的期望。
Now, I’ve given a lot of speeches about education.And I’ve talked about responsibility a lot.我做过很多次有关教育问题的演讲。我多次谈到过责任问题。
I’ve talked about teachers’ responsibility for inspiring students and pushing you to learn.我谈到过教师激励学生并督促他们学习的责任。
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.我谈到过家长的责任，要确保你们走正路，完成家庭作业，不要整天坐在电视前或玩Xbox游戏。
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.我多次谈到过政府的责任，要制定高标准，支持教师和校长的工作，彻底改善不能为学生提供应有机会的、教育质量差的学校。
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.然而，即使我们拥有最敬业的教师，最尽力的家长和全世界最好的学校——如果你们大家不履行你们的责任，不到校上课，不专心听讲，不听家长、祖父祖母和其他大人的话，不付出取得成功所必须的勤奋努力，那么这一切都毫无用处，都无关紧要。这就是我今天讲话的重点：你们每个人对自己的教育应尽的责任。
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.我首先要讲讲你们对自己应尽的责任。你们每个人都有自己的长处。你们每个人都能做出自己的贡献。你们对自己应尽的责任是发现自己的能力所在。而教育能够提供这样的机会。
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 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.你或许能成为一名出色的作家——甚至可能写书或在报纸上发表文章——但你可能要在完成那篇英文课的作文后才会发现自己的才华。你或许能成为一名创新者或发明家——甚至可能设计出新一代iPhone或研制出新型药物或疫苗——但你可能要在完成科学课的实验后才会发现自己的才华。你或许能成为一名市长或参议员或最高法院的大法官——但你可能要在参加学生会的工作或辩论队后才会发现自己的才华。
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.不论你的生活志向是什么，我敢肯定你必须上学读书才能实现它。你想当医生、教师或警官吗？你想当护士、建筑师、律师或军人吗？你必须接受良好的教育，才能从事上述任何一种职业。你不能指望辍学后能碰上个好工作。你必须接受培训，为之努力，为之学习。
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.这并非只对你个人的人生和未来意义重大。可以毫不夸大地说，教育给你带来的益处将决定这个国家的未来。美国的未来取决于你们。你们今日在校学习的知识将决定我们作为一个国家是否能够迎接我们未来所面临的最严峻挑战。
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.你们将需要利用你们通过自然科学和数学课程所学到的知识和解决问题的能力来治愈癌症、艾滋病及其他疾病，开发新的能源技术和保护我们的环境。你们将需要利用你们在历史学和社会学课堂上所获得的知识和独立思考能力来抗击贫困和解决无家可归问题，打击犯罪和消除歧视，使我们的国家更公平、更自由。你们将需要利用你们在所有课堂上培养的创造力和智慧来创办新公司，增加就业机会，振兴我们的经济。
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 know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus 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 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 in more trouble than I should have.And my life could have easily taken a turn for the 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.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’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--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.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 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 across America.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。
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.来自得州罗马城的贾兹敏•佩雷斯（Jazmin Perez）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 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.我想起了加州洛斯阿尔托斯城的安多尼•舒尔茨（Andoni Schultz），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 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.我还想起家乡伊利诺伊州芝加哥市的尚特尔•史蒂夫（Shantell Steve）。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 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.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 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，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.I want 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 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.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 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.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 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.”
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J•K•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（Michael Jordan）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’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.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 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.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。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’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.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 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.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。
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.书写美国历史的是250年前坐在你们的位置上的学生，他们后来进行了独立战争并创建了这个国家。还有75年前坐在你们的位置上的年轻人和学生，他们走出了大萧条并打赢了一场世界大战；他们为民权而奋斗并把宇航员送上了月球。至于20年前坐在你们的位置上的学生，他们创办了谷歌（Google）、叽喳网（Twitter）和脸谱网（Facebook），改变了我们交流沟通的方式。
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? 而今天，我要问问你们大家，你们将做出什么贡献？你们将解决什么问题？你们将有什么发现？20年、50年或100年后来到这里讲话的总统将会怎样评价你们大家为这个国家所做的一切？
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.你们的家人、你们的老师和我正在竭尽全力保证你们接受必要的教育，以便回答上述问题。我正在努力工作，以便你们的教室得到修缮，你们能够得到学习所需的课本、设备和电脑。但你们也必须尽自己的努力。因此，我希望你们大家从今年起认真对待这个问题。我希望你们尽最大努力做好每一件事。我希望你们每个人都有出色的表现。不要让我们失望。不要让你们的家人或你们的国家失望。而最重要的是，不要辜负你们自己，而要让我们都能[为你们]感到骄傲。
Thank you very much, everybody.God bless you.God bless America.Thank you.非常感谢你们大家。愿主保佑你们。愿主保佑美国。谢谢你们。
第四篇：奥巴马校园演讲《责任与梦想》
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT IN A NATIONAL ADDRESS TO AMERICA'S SCHOOLCHILDREN
Wakefield High School Arlington, Virginia
12:06 P.M.EDT THE PRESIDENT: 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.)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.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.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.)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.Now, I've given a lot of speeches about education.And I've talked about responsibility a lot.I've talked about teachers' responsibility for inspiring students and pushing you to learn.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.That's what young people like you are doing every day, all across America.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.” 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.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.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.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.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.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.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? 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.Thank you very much, everybody.God bless you.God bless America.Thank you.(Applause.)END 12:22 P.M.EDT
第五篇：奥巴马对学生的演讲
奥巴马校园开学演讲
综合媒体9月14日报道，根据白宫发布的发布的演讲摘要透露，奥巴马总统14日的演讲将谴责校园暴力，告诉学生们其自身在高中校园中所进行的种族身份斗争。奥巴马将表示，作为一名青少年并不容易，正是一个需要处理很多事情的时期。当他还是学生时，他当时质疑他是谁？一个白人母亲和一个黑人父亲的儿子意味着什么？你们中的一些人可能目前也在经历着自己的问题，寻求是什么因素导致你与众不同。
此次奥巴马在费城朱莉娅马斯特曼实验室与示范学校（Julia R.Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School）的演讲，据其第一次在学校演讲约一年多的时间。当时，奥巴马的演讲引起了共和党和保守派的争议，担心其利用这一机会宣传自己的政治议程。奥巴马在当时演讲的结尾，也呼吁学生们要努力学习，这与14日的演讲颇为相似。
奥巴马总统将宣布，一所高性能的学校在竞争中赢得胜利，他将在这所学校的开学典礼上进行发言。奥巴马表示，如果你的学校是胜者，如果你向大家展示，老师、学生和家长正在齐心协力为孩子的职业生涯作出规划，如果你能展示将如何回馈社区和国家，他将以个人身份对其表示祝贺，并在其开学典礼上进行演讲。
奥巴马也将在演讲中承认，美国目前面临的严峻的经济和安全挑战，许多学生应该能够从其父母的表情和声音中感觉到。他将称，许多学生将不得不表现的比真实年龄成熟，当其兄弟姐妹在海外服役时，必须变得强大起来；当其母亲外出工作时，必须帮助照看年幼的弟妹；当其父亲失业后，必须利用课余时间找一份兼职。
奥巴马还将向学生表示，没有人能够撰写你们的生命，除了你们自己。未来在自己的手中，生活由自己创造，没有任何事情是超越自己的控制的。
美国总统奥巴马开学演讲英语演讲稿。这是奥巴马第二次发表开学演讲。奥巴马2009年的演讲招来了许多批评和抵制。一些反对者指责称，奥巴马试图通过演讲向学生灌输政治理念。部分媒体还批评奥巴马试图建立个人崇拜。在美国各地，也有许多家长向当地教育官员表示抗议，一些家长甚至威胁在奥巴马演讲时把孩子离教室。有了去年的“教训”，今年的总统开学演讲，白宫意强调这是一次“非政治活动”，而奥巴马本人也在演讲中回避政治话题。
Thank you!Hello!(Applause.)Thank you.Thank you.Well, hello, Philadelphia!(Applause.)And hello, Masterman.It is wonderful to see all of you.What a terrific introduction by Kelly.Give Kelly a big round of
applause.(Applause.)I was saying backstage that when I was in high school, I could not have done that.(Laughter.)I would have muffed it up somehow.So we are so proud of you and everything that you’ve done.And to all the students here, I’m thrilled to
谢谢！你们好！（掌声。）谢谢。谢谢。你好，费城！（掌声。）你好，马斯特曼。见到你们真是太好了。Kelly的介绍真是太棒了。让我们对Kelly报以热烈的掌声。在后台的时候我说，我上高中的时候我就做不这么好，我可能会弄的一团糟。所以让我们为你和你做的一切自豪吧。站在这里我很激动。be here.kelly 在奥巴马总统演讲前，一名叫Kelly的学生做了演讲。backstage n.后台
muff v.笨拙地处理，将事情弄糟 thrilled a.激动的
We’ve got a couple introductions I want to make.First of all, you’ve got the outstanding governor of Pennsylvania, Ed Rendell, in the house.(Applause.)The mayor of Philadelphia, Michael Nutter, is here.(Applause.)Congressman Chaka Fattah is here.(Applause.)Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz is here.(Applause.)Your own principal, Marge Neff, is here.(Applause.)The school superintendent, Arlene Ackerman, is here and doing a great job.(Applause.)And the Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, is here.(Applause.)
outstanding a.杰出的 Congressman n.国会议员 principal n.校长 superintendent n.院长
我想介绍几个人。首先，来到这儿的有，杰出的宾夕法尼亚州州长，Ed Rendell。（掌声。）费城市长，Michael Nutter。国会议员Fattah和Allyson Schwartz（掌声）。你们的校长Marge Neff（掌声）。学校管理人Arlene Ackerman是这个学校的，并且为学校做了很大的贡献。（掌声）。还有教育部秘书长Arne Duncan。（掌声）
And I am here.(Applause.)And I am thrilled to be here.I am just so excited.I’ve heard such great things
about what all of you are doing, both the students and the teachers and the staff here.Today is about welcoming all of you, and all of America’s students, back to school, even though I know you’ve been in school for a little bit now.And I can’t think of a better place to do it than at Masterman.(Applause.)Because you
还有我。（掌声），我感到非常的激动。我耳闻了你们做的那些伟大的事，这里面有在校的学生，老师和工作人员。
今天欢迎你们，欢迎每一个美国学生回校上课，当然你们在学校已经呆了一段时间了。我想不出除了在Masterman外，还有哪个地方更适合做这件事。（掌声）因为你们是费城最好的学校之一。你们在教育方面是领are one of the best schools in Philadelphia.You are a leader in helping students succeed in the classroom.Just last week, you were recognized by a National Blue Ribbon--as a National Blue Ribbon School because of your record of achievement.And that is a testament to everybody here –-to the students, to the parents, to the teachers, to the school leaders.It’s an example of excellence that I hope communities across America can embrace.embrace vt.拥抱；接受
头军。就在上周，由于你们的卓越贡献，被授为国家蓝丝带勋章。这是对每个人的见证，对学生，家长，老师还有学校领导人。我希望全美的社会团体都能欣然接受这个杰出代表的例子。
Over the past few weeks, Michelle and I have been getting Sasha and Malia ready for school.And they’re excited about it.I’ll bet they had the same feelings that you do--you’re a little sad to see the summer go, but you’re also excited about the possibilities of a new
year.The possibilities of building new friendships and strengthening old ones, of joining a school club, or trying out for a team.The possibilities of growing into a better student and a better person and making not just your family proud but making yourself proud.build friendships 结交新朋友
几周前，我和Michelle为Sasha和Malia上学的事做准备。她们两个对这非常的期待。我敢打赌她们和你们一样，有着相同的感觉。你们为夏天的逝去而神伤，但是你们更应该期待新的一年。如你们可以结交新的朋友，加深同老朋友的感情，加入学校俱乐部，参加各种团队的选拔赛。成长为一个更优秀的学生和个人，不仅仅让你的家人自豪，同样让你们自己也很有成就感。
But I know some of you may also be a little nervous about starting a new school year.Maybe you’re making the jump from elementary to middle school, or from middle school to high school, and you’re worried about what that’s going to be like.Maybe you’re starting a new
school.You’re not sure how you’ll like it, trying to figure out how you’re going to fit in.Or maybe you’re a senior, and you’re anxious about the whole college process;about where to apply and whether you can afford to go to college.elementary school n.小学 figure out 想明白，弄清楚
我知道，你们中有些人在新学年会有些紧张。或许你刚从小学升到初中，从初中升到高中，会担心，新的学年将会是什么样的呢。也许你进入一所新的学校，不知道是否会喜欢这个学校，想着怎么来融入这个学校。或许你到了高三年级，对整个的大学入学程序感到不安，比如申请那里的学校，能不能支付上大学的费用等等。fit in 融入，适应 afford to do 承担得起
And beyond all those concerns, I know a lot of you are also feeling the strain of some difficult times.You know what’s going on in the news and you also know what’s going on in some of your own families.You’ve read about the war in Afghanistan.You hear about the recession that we’ve been through.And sometimes maybe you’re seeing the worries in your parents’ faces or sense it in their voice.strain n.压力
除此之外，我知道你们还有来自困难时期的压力。你们知道新闻内容，知道你们一些家庭中发发生的事情。你们读过有关阿富汗战争的信息，听说过我们经历过的经济不景气。有时你们还看到了双亲脸上挂着的忧虑，或从他们的声音中感受到了这些。
So a lot of you as a consequence, because we’re going through a tough time a country, are having to act a lot older than you are.You got to be strong for your family while your brother or sister is serving overseas, or you’ve got to look after younger siblings while your mom is working that second shift.Or maybe some of you who are little bit older, you’re taking on a part-time job while your dad’s out of work.as a consequence 结果，所以
tough time 困难时期【tough a.艰难的】 sibling n.兄弟姐妹，同胞 shift n.轮班
所以，因为我们国家面临困难时期，你们许多人的行为看上去比实际年龄要大。姐姐哥哥在海外工作，你们会表现得坚强，或许妈妈去值第二班，你们就要照顾年幼的弟弟妹妹。或许你们有些人年长一点的，父亲失了业，你们还要做兼职。
And that’s a lot to handle.It’s more than you should have to handle.And it may make you wonder at times what your own future will look like, whether
you’re going to be able to succeed in school, whether you should maybe set your sights a little lower, scale back your dreams.handle v.处理，应对 scale back 缩减
有太多事情要做了，很多是你们不应该做的。这让你们迷茫，不知道自己的未来会是什么样，在学校能不能取得好成绩，是不是应该把目光降低些，把理想放低些。
But I came to Masterman to tell all of you what I think you’re hearing
from your principal and your superintendent, and from your parents and 但是，我来到马斯特曼，告诉你们一句话。我想这句话你们的校长、院长、父母以及老师都曾告诉过你们，那就是，没有your teachers: Nobody gets to write your destiny but you.Your future is in your hands.Your life is what you make of it.And nothing--absolutely nothing--is beyond your reach, so long as you’re willing to dream big, so long as you’re willing to work hard.So long as you’re willing to stay focused on your education, there is not a single thing that any of you cannot accomplish, not a single thing.I believe that.destiny n.命运 accomplish v.完成
人，只有你才能书写你自己的命运。未来在你自己手中，生活由自己缔造。只要志向远大，并努力为之奋斗，没有什么是不能得到的。只要你专注于学业，没有什么事不能实现的。我确信。
And that last part is absolutely essential, that part about really working hard in school, because an education has never been more important than it is today.I’m sure there are going to be times in the months ahead when you’re staying up late doing your homework or cramming for a test, or you’re dragging yourself out of bed on a rainy morning and you’re thinking, oh, boy, I wish maybe it was a snow day.(Laughter.)absolutely ad.绝对地
cram v.临时抱佛脚；吃得过饱
最后这一点，在学校努力奋斗是必要的。因为教育从未像现在这样重要。我确信，几个月后会有一段时间，你们会完善熬夜写作业，为考试临时抱佛脚，或者在一个雨天的早晨把自己从被窝里拖出来，想，哦天，怎么不是下雪天？！（笑）
But let me tell you, what you’re doing is worth it.There is nothing more important than what you’re doing right
now.Nothing is going to have as great an impact on your success in life as your education, how you’re doing in school.More and more, the kinds of opportunities that are open to you are going to be determined by how far you go in school.The farther you go in school, the farther you’re going to go in life.And at a time when other countries are competing with us like never before, when students around the world in Beijing, China, or Bangalore, India, are working harder than ever, and doing better than ever, your success in school
但是让我告诉你，你所做的一切都是值得的。你们现在要做的事情无比重要。没有什么比你的受教育程度以及你在学校的所做之事更能决定你的成功。
能否能抓住机遇，越来越取决于你们在学校的努力。你们在学校的表现越好，生活中就能走得越远。当今，其他国家正与我们竞争，而且比以往任何时候都激烈。在中国北京或者印度邦加罗尔的学生比以前更加努力，而且比以前表现更好。你们在学校的成功并不只决定了自己一人的成功，还决定了美国在21世界是否能够成功。is not just going to determine your success, it’s going to determine America’s success in the 21st century.So you’ve got an obligation to yourselves, and America has an obligation to you, to make sure you’re getting the best education possible.And making sure you get that kind of education is going to take all of us working hard and all of us working hand in hand.obligation n.责任，义务
所以，你们要承担起这样的责任和义务。同时国家也向你们承担责任和义务，那就是为你们提供最好的教育，为此我们要努力，共同奋斗。
It takes all of us in government--from the governor to the mayor to the superintendent to the President--all of us doing our part to prepare our students, all of them, for success in the classroom and in college and in a career.It’s going to take an outstanding principal，like Principal Neff, and outstanding teachers like the ones you have here at Masterman--teachers who are going above and beyond the call of duty for their students.And it’s going to take parents who are committed to your education.佳句欣赏
所有政府工作人员，从州长到市长，到院长，到总统，所有人都要履行职责为我们的学生做好准备，帮助他们在教室、在大学、在事业上取得成功。这就需要我们有一个杰出的校长，像校长Neff，和优秀的老师，正如你们的马斯特曼的老师们。老师们要履行好对学生所应担负起的责任。我也希望家长负起责任。
Nobody gets to write your destiny but you.Your future is in your hands.Your life is what you make of it.没有人，只有你才能书写你自己的命运。未来在你自己手中，生活由自己缔造。
背景知识
这是奥巴马第二次发表开学演讲。奥巴马2009年的演讲招来了许多批评和抵制。一些反对者指责称，奥巴马试图通过演讲向学生灌输政治理念。部分媒体还批评奥巴马试图建立个人崇拜。在美国各地，也有许多家长向当地教育官员表示抗议，一些家长甚至威胁在奥巴马演讲时把孩子离教室。有了去年的“教训”，今年的总统开学演讲，白宫意强调这是一次“非政治活动”，而奥巴马本人也在演讲中回避政治话题。
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary _____________________________________________________________________
______ For Immediate Release Septe
mber 8, 2009
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT IN A NATIONAL ADDRESS TO AMERICA'S SCHOOLCHILDREN
Wakefield High School Arlington, Virginia
12:06 P.M.EDT THE PRESIDENT: 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.)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.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.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.)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.Now, I've given a lot of speeches about education.And I've talked about responsibility a lot.I've talked about teachers' responsibility for inspiring students and pushing you to learn.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.That's what young people like you are doing every day, all across America.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.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.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.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.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.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.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.” 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.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.
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