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。谢谢大家。好了，大家请坐下。今天大家都过得怎么样？蒂姆·斯派塞怎么样？我今天在弗吉尼亚州阿灵顿的韦克菲尔德高中和学生们在一起。全美从幼儿园到十二年级的学生都在收听。我非常高兴大家今天能加入我们。我要感谢韦克菲尔德高中如此出色的接待。请大家为自己热烈鼓掌。
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，对你们中的许多人来说，今天是开学第一天。对于那些刚上幼儿园，或者刚上初中、高中的同学来说，这是你们在新学校的第一天，所以如果你们有点紧张，是可以理解的。我想有些高三的同学现在感觉一定不错——只剩下一年了。不管你们现在上几年级，有些人可能还在希望现在仍是夏天，今天早上能在床上多赖一会儿。
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. 我了解那种感觉。我小时候，我家住在国外。我在印度尼西亚住了几年。我母亲没有钱送我去美国孩子上的学校，但她认为让我跟上美国的教育很重要。所以她决定亲自给我补课，从周一到周五。但因为她是双职工，她唯一能腾出的时间是凌晨四点半。
Now, as you might imagine, I wasn't too happy about getting up that early. And a lot of times, I'd fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I'd complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and she'd say, "This is no picnic for me either, buster." 你可以想象，我对那么早起床并不太高兴。很多时候，我直接就在餐桌旁睡着了。但每当我抱怨时，我母亲就会用那种眼神看着我，然后说："这对我来说也不是什么轻松事，小子。"
So I know that some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I'm here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I'm here because I want to talk with you about your education and what's expected of all of you in this new school year. 所以我知道你们中有些人还在适应回到学校的生活。但我今天来是因为我有些重要的事情要和你们讨论。我来是因为我想和你们谈谈你们的教育，以及在这个新学年里对你们每个人的期望。
Now, I've given a lot of speeches about education. And I've talked about responsibility a lot. 我做过很多关于教育的演讲。我也经常谈到责任。
I've talked about teachers' responsibility for inspiring students and pushing you to learn. 我谈到过教师的责任——激发学生的兴趣，推动你们学习。
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. 我谈到过你们父母的责任——确保你们跟上进度，完成作业，不要把所有醒着的时间都花在电视或Xbox前。
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. 我谈到过政府的责任——制定高标准，支持教师和校长，改造那些不行的学校，那些学生得不到应有机会的学校。
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. 但归根结底，我们可以拥有最敬业的教师、最支持孩子的父母、世界上最好的学校——但这一切都不会起作用，一切都没有意义，除非你们每个人都履行自己的责任，除非你们按时到校，除非你们专心听老师讲课，除非你们听从父母、祖父母和其他长辈的话，付出成功所需的辛勤努力。这就是我今天要谈的重点：你们每个人对自己教育的责任。
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. 我想先谈谈你们对自己的责任。你们每一个人都有自己擅长的东西。你们每一个人都有可以奉献的东西。你们有责任去发现自己的天赋所在。这就是教育所能提供的机会。
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. 也许你能成为一名伟大的作家——甚至优秀到可以写书或在报纸上发表文章——但除非你写完那篇布置给你的英语课论文，否则你可能不会知道。也许你能成为一名创新者或发明家——甚至优秀到能想出下一代iPhone或新药物或疫苗——但除非你完成科学课的项目，否则你可能不会知道。也许你能当上市长、参议员或最高法院大法官——但除非你加入学生会或辩论队，否则你可能不会知道。
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. 无论你想在人生中做什么，我保证你都需要接受教育来实现它。你想当医生、教师或警察吗？你想当护士、建筑师、律师或军人吗？每一种职业都需要良好的教育。你不可能辍学就直接找到一份好工作。你必须为之训练、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. 这不仅仅对你自己的人生和未来很重要。你所接受的教育将决定这个国家的未来。美国的未来取决于你们。你们今天在学校学到的知识将决定我们作为一个国家能否在未来应对最大的挑战。
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. 你们将需要从数学和科学中学到的知识和解决问题的能力，去治愈癌症和艾滋病等疾病，开发新的能源技术，保护我们的环境。你们将需要从历史和社会学中获得的洞察力和批判性思维能力，去对抗贫困和无家可归、犯罪和歧视，让我们的国家更加公平、更加自由。你们将需要在所有课程中培养的创造力和独创性，去创建能创造新就业机会、推动我们经济发展的新公司。
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. 我们需要你们每一个人发展自己的才能、技能和智慧，这样你们才能帮助我们这些老家伙解决最棘手的问题。如果你们不这样做——如果你们放弃学业——你们不只是在放弃自己，也是在放弃你们的国家。
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. 我知道，在学校表现出色并不总是容易的。我知道你们中很多人现在的生活中面临各种挑战，这些挑战会让你们很难专注于学业。
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. 我理解。我知道那种感受。我父亲在我两岁时离开了我们，我是由一位不得不工作的单亲妈妈抚养长大的，她有时为了付账单而挣扎，并不能总是给我们其他孩子拥有的东西。有时候我会怀念生活中有一位父亲。有时候我会感到孤独，觉得自己格格不入。
So I wasn't always as focused as I should have been on school, and I did some things I'm not proud of, and I got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse. 所以我并非总是像应该的那样专注于学业，我做过一些我并不引以为豪的事，我惹的麻烦也比应该的多。我的人生本来很容易走上一条更糟的道路。
But I was -- I was lucky. I got a lot of second chances, and I had the opportunity to go to college and law school and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, she has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn't have a lot of money. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country. 但我——我很幸运。我得到了很多第二次机会，我有机会上大学和法学院，追逐我的梦想。我的妻子，我们的第一夫人米歇尔·奥巴马，也有类似的故事。她的父母都没有上过大学，他们也没有多少钱。但他们努力工作，她也努力工作，这样她就能上这个国家最好的学校。
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. 你们中有些人可能没有这些优势。也许你的生活中没有能给你所需支持的成年人。也许你的家人中有人失业了，钱不够花。也许你住在一个让你感觉不安全的社区，或者有朋友在施压让你做你知道不对的事。
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. 但归根结底，你们生活的处境——你的外貌、你的出身、你有多少钱、你家里的情况——这些都不能成为忽视作业或在学校态度恶劣的借口。这不能成为顶撞老师、逃课或辍学的借口。没有任何借口可以不去努力。
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. 你们现在的处境并不决定你们最终的归宿。没有人替你们写下命运，因为在美国，你们书写自己的命运。你们创造自己的未来。
That's what young people like you are doing every day, all across America. 这正是像你们这样的年轻人每天在全国各地所做的事。
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. 比如来自得克萨斯州罗马市的贾兹明·佩雷斯。贾兹明刚上学时不会说英语。她的父母都没有上过大学。但她努力学习，取得了好成绩，获得了布朗大学的奖学金——现在正在读研究生，学习公共卫生，正朝着成为贾兹明·佩雷斯博士的道路前进。
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. 我还想到了来自加利福尼亚州洛斯阿尔托斯的安多尼·舒尔茨，他从三岁起就一直在与脑癌作斗争。他不得不忍受各种治疗和手术，其中一次影响了他的记忆，所以他要花长得多的时间——多出几百个小时——来完成作业。但他从未落后。他今年秋天就要上大学了。
And then there's Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods in the city, she managed to get a job at a local health care center, start a program to keep young people out of gangs, and she's on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college. 还有来自我家乡伊利诺伊州芝加哥市的尚特尔·史蒂夫。即使在城市最艰苦的社区里从一个寄养家庭换到另一个寄养家庭，她还是在当地一家医疗中心找到了工作，发起了一个让年轻人远离帮派的项目，并且有望以优异成绩高中毕业，继续上大学。
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. 贾兹明、安多尼和尚特尔与你们没有什么不同。他们和你们一样面临生活中的挑战。在某些情况下，他们的处境比你们中许多人还要糟糕得多。但他们拒绝放弃。他们选择为自己的生活、为自己的教育承担责任，并为自己设定目标。我期望你们所有人都能做到同样的事。
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. 正因为如此，今天我呼吁你们每个人为自己设定教育目标——并尽一切努力去实现它们。你的目标可以很简单，比如完成所有作业、上课专心听讲，或者每天花些时间读一本书。也许你会决定参加课外活动，或在社区做志愿者。
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. 也许你会决定站出来保护那些因为身份或外貌而被戏弄或欺凌的同学，因为像我一样，你相信所有年轻人都应该有一个安全的学习环境。也许你会决定更好地照顾自己，让自己更准备好学习。顺便说一下，我希望你们都勤洗手，不舒服时就待在家里别上学，这样我们就能防止人们在今年秋冬感染流感。
But whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it. 无论你决心做什么，我都希望你能全身心投入。我希望你真正为之努力。
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，有时候电视会让你觉得，不付出任何努力就能致富和成功——觉得通往成功的门票是说唱、篮球或当真人秀明星。但很可能你成不了那些人中的任何一个。
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. 事实是，成功是艰难的。你不会喜欢你学的每一门课。你不会和每一位老师都合得来。不是每一份作业在此时此刻看来都与你的人生完全相关。你也不一定第一次尝试就能在每件事上都成功。
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." 没关系。世界上一些最成功的人正是那些失败最多的人。J.K.罗琳——也就是写《哈利·波特》的那位——她的第一本《哈利·波特》在被拒绝12次之后才最终出版。迈克尔·乔丹在高中时被篮球队淘汰。他在职业生涯中输掉了数百场比赛，投失了数千个球。但他曾说过："我这一生一次又一次地失败。而这正是我成功的原因。"
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. 这些人之所以成功，是因为他们明白，你不能让失败定义你——你必须让失败教会你。你必须让失败向你展示下次该怎样做不同的事。所以如果你惹了麻烦，那并不意味着你是个惹祸精，而是意味着你需要更加努力地表现好。如果你得了差成绩，那并不意味着你笨，只是意味着你需要花更多时间学习。
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. 没有人天生就擅长所有事。你通过努力才能变得擅长。你第一次玩一项新运动时不会是校队运动员。你第一次唱一首歌时不会唱准每个音符。你必须练习。同样的原则也适用于你的学业。你可能要把一道数学题做几遍才能做对。你可能要把一篇文章读几遍才能理解。你肯定要把一篇论文写几稿才能好到可以交上去。
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。需要时不要害怕求助。我每天都在这样做。求助不是软弱的表现，而是力量的表现，因为它表明你有勇气承认自己不知道某些事，而这能让你学到新的东西。所以找一个你信任的成年人——父母、祖父母或老师、教练或辅导员——请他们帮助你保持正轨，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. 即使你在挣扎，即使你感到气馁，即使你觉得别人都放弃了你，也永远不要放弃自己，因为当你放弃自己时，你就放弃了你的国家。
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. 美国的故事不是关于那些在困难时放弃的人。而是关于那些坚持前行、更加努力、太爱自己的国家以至于不愿做任何不是全力以赴之事的人。
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. 这是关于250年前坐在你们所坐位置上的学生们的故事，他们发动了一场革命，建立了这个国家。是年轻人。是75年前坐在你们所坐位置上的学生们，他们战胜了大萧条，赢下了世界大战；为民权而战，把人类送上了月球。是20年前坐在你们所坐位置上的学生们，他们创立了谷歌、推特和Facebook，改变了我们彼此交流的方式。
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? 所以今天，我想问你们所有人：你们的贡献将会是什么？你们将解决什么问题？你们将做出什么发现？20年、50年或100年后来到这里的总统，会如何评价你们所有人为这个国家所做的事？
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. 现在，你们的家人、老师和我正在尽一切努力，确保你们拥有回答这些问题所需的教育。我正在努力改善你们的教室，为你们提供学习所需的书籍、设备和电脑。但你们也必须尽自己的一份力。所以我期望你们今年认真起来。我期望你们在所做的每件事上都全力以赴。我期望你们每个人都能有出色的表现。所以不要让我们失望。不要让你的家人失望，也不要让你的国家失望。最重要的是，不要让你自己失望。让我们所有人都为你们骄傲。
Thank you very much, everybody. 非常感谢大家。
God bless you. God bless America. 上帝保佑你们。上帝保佑美国。
Thank you. 谢谢。