Hello, Memphis! Congratulations to the class of 2011! 你好，孟菲斯！祝贺2011届的毕业生们！
Now, I will admit being President is a great job. I have a very nice plane. I have a theme song. But what I enjoy most is having a chance to come to a school like Booker T. Washington High School and share this day with its graduates. So I could not be more pleased to be here. 我得承认，当总统是一份很棒的工作。我有一架很不错的飞机。我有专属主题曲。但我最享受的，是有机会来到像布克·T·华盛顿高中这样的学校，与毕业生们分享这一天。所以我来到这里，再高兴不过了。
We've got some wonderful guests who are here as well, and I just want to make mention of them very quickly. First of all, the Governor of Tennessee, Bill Haslam, is here. Please give him a big round of applause. Three outstanding members of the Tennessee congressional delegation, all of whom care deeply about education -- Senator Bob Corker, Senator Lamar Alexander, and Congressman Steve Cohen is here. You've got one of Memphis's own, former Congressman Harold Ford, Jr. is in the house. And the Mayor of Memphis, A.C. Wharton is here. Please give him a big round of applause. 今天还有一些杰出的嘉宾也来到了现场，我想很快地提一下他们。首先，田纳西州州长比尔·哈斯兰在这里。请给他热烈的掌声。田纳西州国会代表团的三位杰出成员，他们都深切关心教育——参议员鲍勃·科克、参议员拉马尔·亚历山大，以及众议员史蒂夫·科恩。还有孟菲斯本地人、前众议员小哈罗德·福特也在场。孟菲斯市长A·C·沃顿也来了。请给他热烈的掌声。
I am so proud of each and every one of you. 我为你们每一个人感到骄傲。
Student: Thank you! 学生：谢谢您！
President Obama: You're welcome. You made it -- and not just through high school. You made it past Principal Kiner. I've spent a little bit of time with her now, and you can tell she is not messing around. I've only been in Memphis a couple of hours, but I'm pretty sure that if she told me to do something I'd do it. 奥巴马总统：不客气。你们做到了——不仅是读完了高中。你们闯过了基纳校长这一关。我跟她相处了一小会儿，你们可以看出她可不是闹着玩的。我在孟菲斯才待了几个小时，但我很确定，如果她叫我做什么，我一定会照做。
Then I had the chance to meet her mom and her daughter, Amber, a little while back, and we took a picture. It turns out Amber actually goes to another high school. She was worried that the boys would be afraid to talk to her if her mom was lurking in the hallways -- which is why my next job will be principal at Sasha and Malia's high school. And then I'll be president of their college. 不久前我有机会见到她的妈妈和女儿安布尔，我们拍了张合影。原来安布尔其实在另一所高中上学。她担心如果妈妈在走廊里晃悠，男生们就不敢跟她说话了——这就是为什么我的下一份工作将是萨莎和玛丽亚高中的校长。然后我会去当她们大学的校长。
Let me also say to Alexis and Vashti -- I heard that you were a little nervous about speaking today, but now I'm a little nervous speaking after you, because you both did terrific jobs. We've had some great performances by Shalonda and Tecia and Paula, and the jazz band. Give them a big round of applause. 我还要对亚历克西斯和瓦什蒂说——我听说你们今天发言前有点紧张，但现在反而是我在你们之后发言感到有点紧张了，因为你们都表现得非常好。沙隆达、特西娅、葆拉和爵士乐队都有精彩的表演。请给他们热烈的掌声。
Last but not least, I want to recognize all the people who helped you to reach this milestone: the parents, the grandparents, the aunts, the uncles, the sisters, the brothers, the friends, the neighbors -- who have loved you and stood behind you every step of the way. Congratulations, family. 最后但同样重要的是，我要感谢所有帮助你们走到这一里程碑的人：父母、祖父母、姑姨、叔伯、姐妹、兄弟、朋友、邻居——他们爱你们，一路走来始终在你们身后支持你们。祝贺你们，家人们。
And I want to acknowledge the devoted teachers and administrators at Booker T. Washington, who believed in you -- who kept the heat on you, and have never treated teaching as a job, but rather as a calling. 我还要感谢布克·T·华盛顿中学敬业的管理员和教师们，他们相信你们——不断督促你们，从不把教书当作一份工作，而是视为一种使命。
Every commencement is a day of celebration. I was just telling somebody backstage, I just love commencements. I get all choked up at commencements. So I can tell you already right now, I will cry at my children's commencement. I cry at other people's commencements. But this one is especially hopeful. This one is especially hopeful because some people say that schools like BTW just aren't supposed to succeed in America. You'll hear them say, "The streets are too rough in those neighborhoods." "The schools are too broken." "The kids don't stand a chance." 每一场毕业典礼都是值得庆祝的日子。我刚才在后台跟人说，我就是喜欢毕业典礼。每次毕业典礼我都会激动得哽咽。所以我现在就可以告诉你们，我孩子的毕业典礼上我一定会哭。我在别人的毕业典礼上也哭。但这一场尤其充满希望。这一场尤其充满希望，因为有人说像布克·T·华盛顿这样的学校在美国是不应该成功的。你会听他们说："那些社区的街道太乱了。""那些学校太破败了。""那些孩子没有机会。""
We are here today because every single one of you stood tall and said, "Yes, we can." Yes, we can learn. Yes, we can succeed. You decided you would not be defined by where you come from but by where you want to go, by what you want to achieve, by the dreams you hope to fulfill. 今天我们在这里，是因为你们每一个人都挺身而出说："是的，我们可以。"是的，我们可以学习。是的，我们可以成功。你们决定不让出身定义自己，而是用你们想去的地方、想实现的成就、希望完成的梦想来定义自己。
Just a couple of years ago, this was a school where only about half the students made it to graduation. For a long time, just a handful headed to college each year. But at Booker T. Washington, you changed all that. 就在几年前，这所学校只有大约一半的学生能顺利毕业。很长一段时间里，每年只有少数几个人上大学。但在布克·T·华盛顿，你们改变了这一切。
You created special academies for ninth graders to start students off on the right track. You made it possible for kids to take AP classes and earn college credits. You even had a team take part in robotics competition so students can learn with their hands by building and creating. And you didn't just create a new curriculum, you created a new culture -- a culture that prizes hard work and discipline; a culture that shows every student here that they matter and that their teachers believe in them. As Principal Kiner says, the kids have to know that you care, before they care what you know. 你们为九年级学生创建了特色学院，让他们从一开始就走上正轨。你们让学生有机会修读大学先修课程并获得大学学分。你们甚至组织了一支队伍参加机器人竞赛，让学生通过动手建造和创造来学习。你们不仅创建了新的课程体系，还创造了新的文化——一种珍视勤奋和自律的文化；一种让每位学生都知道自己很重要、老师相信他们的文化。正如基纳校长所说，孩子们得先知道你关心他们，才会关心你知道什么。
And because you created this culture of caring and learning, today we're standing with a very different Booker T. Washington High School. Today, this is a place where more than four out of five students are earning a diploma; a place where 70 percent of the graduates will continue their education; where many will be the very first in their families to go to college. 因为你们创造了这种关爱与学习的文化，今天我们看到的布克·T·华盛顿高中已经截然不同。今天，这里有超过五分之四的学生获得了文凭；百分之七十的毕业生将继续深造；其中很多人将是家族里第一个上大学的人。
Today, Booker T. Washington is a place that has proven why we can't accept excuses -- any excuses -- when it comes to education. In the United States of America, we should never accept anything less than the best that our children have to offer. 今天，布克·T·华盛顿证明了一件事：在教育问题上，我们不能接受任何借口——任何借口。在美利坚合众国，我们永远不应该接受任何低于孩子们最佳水平的表现。
As your teacher Steve McKinney -- where's Steve at? There he is. AKA Big Mac. And I see why they call you Big Mac. As Mr. McKinney said in the local paper, "We need everyone to broaden their ideas about what is possible. We need parents, politicians, and the media to see how success is possible, how success is happening every day." 正如你们的老师史蒂夫·麦金尼——史蒂夫在哪里？在那儿。外号"大麦克"。我明白他们为什么叫你大麦克了。正如麦金尼先生在当地报纸上说的："我们需要每个人都拓宽对可能性的认知。我们需要家长、政界人士和媒体看到成功是如何可能的，看到成功每天都在发生。""
So that's why I came here today. Because if success can happen here at Booker T. Washington, it can happen anywhere in Memphis. And if it can happen in Memphis, it can happen anywhere in Tennessee. And it can happen anywhere in Tennessee, it can happen all across America. 这就是我今天来到这里的原因。因为如果成功可以发生在布克·T·华盛顿，它就可以发生在孟菲斯的任何地方。如果它可以发生在孟菲斯，它就可以发生在田纳西州的任何地方。如果它可以发生在田纳西州，它就可以发生在全美各地。
So ever since I became President, my administration has been working hard to make sure that we build on the progress that's taking place in schools like this. We've got to encourage the kind of change that's led not by politicians, not by Washington, D.C., but by teachers and principals and parents, and entire communities; by ordinary people standing up and demanding a better future for their children. 自就任总统以来，我的政府一直在努力巩固像这所学校正在取得的进步。我们需要鼓励这种变革——不是由政客推动的，不是由华盛顿推动的，而是由教师、校长、家长和整个社区推动的；由普通人挺身而出、为孩子们争取更美好未来而推动的。
We have more work to do so that every child can fulfill his or her God-given potential. And here in Tennessee we've been seeing great progress. Tennessee has been a leader, one of the first winners of the nationwide "Race to the Top" that we've launched to reward the kind of results you're getting here at Booker T. Washington. 我们还有更多工作要做，以便每个孩子都能发挥造物主赋予的潜能。在田纳西州，我们已经看到了巨大的进步。田纳西州一直是领跑者，是我们发起的全国性"力争上游"竞赛的首批获奖者之一，这个竞赛旨在奖励像你们在布克·T·华盛顿所取得的那种成果。
And understand, this isn't just an issue for me. I'm standing here as President because of the education that I received. As Chris said, my father left my family when I was two years old. And I was raised by a single mom, and sometimes she struggled to provide for me and my sister. But my mother, my grandparents, they pushed me to excel. They refused to let me make excuses. And they kept pushing me, especially on those rare occasions where I'd slack off or get into trouble. They weren't that rare, actually. I'm sure nobody here has done anything like that. 要知道，这对我来说不仅仅是一个议题。我能站在这里当总统，是因为我所接受的教育。正如克里斯所说，我父亲在我两岁时离开了我们的家庭。我由单亲妈妈抚养，有时她很难维持我和姐姐的生活。但我的母亲、我的外祖父母，他们督促我追求卓越。他们拒绝让我找借口。他们不断督促我，尤其是在我偶尔偷懒或惹麻烦的时候——当然这种时候也不算太少。我相信在座的没有人做过那样的事。
I'm so blessed that they kept pushing; I'm so lucky that my teachers kept pushing -- because education made all the difference in my life. The same is true for Michelle. Education made such a difference in her life. Michelle's dad was a city worker, had multiple sclerosis, had to wake up every day and it took him a couple hours just to get ready for work. But he went to work every day. Her mom was a secretary, went to work every day, and kept on pushing her just like my folks pushed me. 我很庆幸他们一直在督促我；我很幸运我的老师们也一直在督促我——因为教育改变了我的一生。米歇尔也是如此。教育对她的生活产生了巨大的影响。米歇尔的父亲是市政工人，患有多发性硬化症，每天早上要花好几个小时才能准备好出门上班。但他每天都去上班。她的母亲是秘书，每天都去上班，就像我的家人督促我一样，一直督促着她。
That's what's made a difference in our lives. And it's going to make an even greater difference in your lives -- not just for your own success but for the success of the United States of America. Because we live in a new world now. Used to be that you didn't have to have an education. If you were willing to work hard, you could go to a factory somewhere and get a job. Those times are passed. 正是教育改变了我们的人生。它将对你们的人生产生更大的影响——不仅关乎你们个人的成功，更关乎美利坚合众国的成功。因为我们现在生活在一个全新的世界里。过去，你不一定需要受过教育。只要你愿意努力工作，你可以去某家工厂找到一份工作。那样的时代已经过去了。
Believe it or not, when you go out there looking for a job, you're not just competing against people in Nashville or Atlanta. You're competing against young people in Beijing and Mumbai. That's some tough competition. Those kids are hungry. They're working hard. And you'll need to be prepared for it. 信不信由你，当你们出去找工作时，你不仅仅是在和纳什维尔或亚特兰大的人竞争。你是在和北京和孟买的年轻人竞争。竞争很激烈。那些孩子很有干劲。他们很努力。你们需要为此做好准备。
And as a country, we need all of our young people to be ready. We can't just have some young people successful. We've got to have every young person contributing; earning those high school diplomas and then earning those college diplomas, or getting certified in a trade or profession. We can't succeed without it. 作为一个国家，我们需要所有年轻人都做好准备。我们不能只有一部分年轻人成功。我们需要每个年轻人都能有所贡献；获得高中文凭，然后获得大学文凭，或者获得一门行业或专业的资格认证。没有这些，我们无法成功。
Through education, you can also better yourselves in other ways. You learn how to learn -- how to think critically and find solutions to unexpected challenges. I remember we used to ask our teachers, "Why am I going to need algebra?" Well, you may not have to solve for x to get a good job or to be a good parent. But you will need to think through tough problems. You'll need to think on your feet. You'll need to know how to gather facts and evaluate information. So, math teachers, you can tell your students that the President says they need algebra. 通过教育，你们还可以在其他方面提升自己。你们学会了如何学习——如何批判性地思考，如何为意想不到的挑战找到解决方案。我记得我们以前会问老师："我以后为什么需要代数？"好吧，你不一定需要解方程才能找到好工作或成为好家长。但你需要学会思考难题。你需要学会灵活应变。你需要知道如何收集事实和评估信息。所以，数学老师们，你们可以告诉学生们，总统说了，他们需要代数。
Education also teaches you the value of discipline -- that the greatest rewards come not from instant gratification but from sustained effort and from hard work. This is a lesson that's especially true today, in a culture that prizes flash over substance, that tells us that the goal in life is to be entertained, that says you can be famous just for being famous. You get on a reality show -- don't know what you've done -- suddenly you're famous. But that's not going to lead to lasting, sustained achievement. 教育也教会你们自律的价值——最大的回报不是来自即时的满足，而是来自持续的努力和辛勤的工作。这个教训在今天尤为重要，在一个崇尚花哨胜过实质的文化中，在一个告诉我们人生的目标就是被娱乐的文化中，在一个说你可以仅仅因为出名而闻名的文化中。你上一档真人秀——不知道做了什么——突然就出名了。但这不会带来持久的、可持续的成就。
And finally, with the right education, both at home and at school, you can learn how to be a better human being. For when you read a great story or you learn about an important moment in history, it helps you imagine what it would be like to walk in somebody else's shoes, to know their struggles. The success of our economy will depend on your skills, but the success of our community will depend on your ability to follow the Golden Rule -- to treat others as you would like to be treated. 最后，通过正确的教育——无论是在家里还是在学校——你可以学会成为一个更好的人。因为当你读到一则伟大的故事，或者了解到历史上的一个重要时刻，它会帮助你设身处地地想象走别人走过的路，理解他们的挣扎。我们经济的成功取决于你们的技能，但我们社区的成功取决于你们践行黄金法则的能力——像你希望别人对待你那样去对待别人。
We've seen how important this is even in the past few weeks, as communities here in Memphis and all across the South have come together to deal with floodwaters, and to help each other in the aftermath of terrible tornadoes. 过去几周里我们看到了这有多重要，孟菲斯和整个南方各地的社区团结在一起，共同应对洪水，在可怕的龙卷风过后互相帮助。
All of these qualities -- empathy, discipline, the capacity to solve problems, the capacity to think critically -- these skills don't just change how the world sees us. They change how we see ourselves. They allow each of us to seek out new horizons and new opportunities with confidence -- with the knowledge that we're ready; that we can face obstacles and challenges and unexpected setbacks. That's the power of your education. That's the power of the diploma that you receive today. 所有这些品质——同理心、自律、解决问题的能力、批判性思考的能力——这些技能不仅改变世界如何看待我们，也改变我们如何看待自己。它们让每个人都有信心去探索新的天地和新的机会——带着我们已经准备好的信念；知道我们可以面对障碍、挑战和意想不到的挫折。这就是你们教育的力量。这就是你们今天获得的文凭的力量。
And this is something that Booker T. Washington himself understood. Think about it. He entered this world a slave on a Southern plantation. But he would leave this world as the leader of a growing civil rights movement and the president of the world-famous Tuskegee Institute. 这也是布克·T·华盛顿本人所理解的道理。想一想。他以南方种植园上一名奴隶的身份来到这个世界。但他离开这个世界时，是一场日益壮大的民权运动的领袖，也是世界著名的塔斯基吉学院的院长。
Booker T. Washington believed that change and equality would be won in the classroom. So he convinced folks to help him buy farmland. Once he had the land, he needed a school. So he assigned his first students to actually build the chairs and the desks and even a couple of the classrooms. You thought your teachers were tough. 布克·T·华盛顿相信，变革和平等将在教室中赢得。所以他说服人们帮助他购买农田。有了土地之后，他需要一所学校。于是他安排第一批学生亲手建造椅子和课桌，甚至几间教室。你们觉得你们的老师很严厉吧。
Booker T. Washington ran a tight ship. He'd ride the train to Tuskegee and scare some of the new students. This is before YouTube and TMZ, so the kids didn't recognize him. He'd walk up to them and say, "Oh, you're heading to Tuskegee. I heard the work there is hard. I heard they give the students too much to do. I hear the food is terrible. You probably won't last three months." 布克·T·华盛顿管理严格。他会乘火车去塔斯基吉，吓唬一些新学生。那是在网络视频和娱乐新闻出现之前的事了，所以孩子们认不出他。他会走到他们面前说："哦，你们要去塔斯基吉啊。我听说那里的功课很重。我听说他们给学生布置的任务太多了。我听说伙食很差。你们大概撑不过三个月。""
But the students would reply they weren't afraid of hard work. They were going to complete their studies no matter what Booker T. Washington threw at them. And in that way, he prepared them -- because life will throw some things at you. 但学生们会回答他们不怕吃苦。无论布克·T·华盛顿给他们什么考验，他们都要完成学业。就这样，他为学生们做好了准备——因为人生总会给你抛来一些考验。
The truth is, not a single one of the graduates here today has had it easy. Not a single one of you had anything handed to you on a silver platter. You had to work for it. You had to earn it. Most of all, you had to believe in yourselves. 事实是，今天在座的每一位毕业生都没有轻松的日子。你们中没有任何人是含着银汤匙出生的。你们必须为之奋斗。你们必须去争取。最重要的是，你们必须相信自己。
I think of Chris's stories, and what he's faced in his life: Lost his father to violence at the age of four. Had a childhood illness that could have been debilitating. But somehow he knew in his heart that he could take a different path. 我想到了克里斯的故事，以及他在生活中所面对的：四岁时父亲因暴力去世。童年患过一场可能致残的疾病。但他内心深处知道，自己可以走一条不同的路。
I think of all the graduates here who had to leave their homes when their apartments were torn down, but who took two buses each morning to come back to Booker T. Washington. 我想到了所有在公寓被拆除后不得不搬离家园、但每天早上坐两趟公交车回到布克·T·华盛顿上学的毕业生们。
I think of Eron Jackon. Where is Eron? Eron has known a lot of setbacks in her young life. There was a period when she lashed out and she got into trouble and she made mistakes. And when she first came to Booker T. Washington, she struggled. Is that right? 我想到了埃伦·杰克逊。埃伦在哪里？埃伦在年轻的生命中经历了许多挫折。有一段时间她叛逆暴躁，惹上了麻烦，犯了错。当她刚来到布克·T·华盛顿时，她很挣扎。是这样吧？
There are plenty of people out there who would have counted Eron out; a lot of people who would have thought of her as another statistic. But that's not how the teachers here at Booker T. Washington saw her. And that's not how Eron came to see herself. So she kept coming back to school, and she didn't give up and she didn't quit. And in time, she became a great student. 外面有很多人会把埃伦排除在外；有很多人会把她当作又一个统计数据。但布克·T·华盛顿的老师们不是这样看她的。埃伦自己最终也不是这样看待自己的。所以她坚持来上学，她没有放弃，她没有退出。渐渐地，她成了一名优秀的学生。
And she remembered what Principal Kiner told her: "You can't let the past get you down. You have to let it motivate you." And so now here Eron is, graduating. She's going to keep studying to get her barber's certificate so she can cut hair and save for college. She's working toward her dream to becoming a lawyer. She's got a bright future. 她记得基纳校长对她说的话："你不能让过去拖累你。你要让它成为你的动力。"所以现在埃伦站在这里，即将毕业。她将继续学习，考取理发师证书，这样可以剪头发赚钱为上大学攒钱。她正朝着成为一名律师的梦想努力。她有光明的未来。
Everybody here has got a unique story like that to tell. Each of you knows what it took for you to get here. But in reaching this milestone, there is a common lesson shared by every graduate in this hall. And Chris said it himself in a recent interview: "It's not where you are or what you are. It's who you are." 在座的每个人都有一段这样独特的故事。你们每个人都知道走到这里付出了什么。但在达到这个里程碑的过程中，这个大厅里的每一位毕业生都共享着一个共同的启示。正如克里斯在最近一次采访中自己说的："重要的不是你在哪里、你是什么。而是你是谁。""
Yes, you're from South Memphis. Yes, you've always been underdogs. Nobody has handed you a thing. But that also means that whatever you accomplish in your life, you will have earned it. Whatever rewards and joys you reap, you'll appreciate them that much more because they will have come through your own sweat and tears, products of your own effort and your own talents. You've shown more grit and determination in your childhoods than a lot of adults ever will. That's who you are. 是的，你们来自南孟菲斯。是的，你们一直是弱势群体。没有人把任何东西拱手送给你们。但这也意味着，无论你们一生中取得什么成就，都是你们自己挣来的。无论你们收获什么回报和喜悦，你们都会更加珍惜，因为那是通过你们自己的汗水和泪水，通过你们自己的努力和才华换来的。你们在童年时期展现出的毅力和决心，超过了许多成年人一生中所能做到的。这就是你们。
So, class of 2011, the hard road does not end here. Your journey has just begun. Your diploma is not a free pass. It won't protect you against every setback or challenge or mistake. You'll make some, I promise. You're going to have to keep working hard. You're going to have to keep pushing yourselves. And you'll find yourselves sometime in situations where folks have had an easier time, they're a little bit ahead of you, and you're going to have to work harder than they are. And you may be frustrated by that. 所以，2011届的毕业生们，艰难的道路并不会在这里终结。你们的旅程才刚刚开始。你们的文凭不是一张免费通行证。它不能保护你们免受每一次挫折、挑战或错误。你们会犯错的，我保证。你们必须继续努力。你们必须继续逼迫自己。你们会发现自己有时处于这样的境地：别人过得更轻松，他们走在了你们前面，而你们必须比他们更努力。这可能会让你们感到沮丧。
But if you do push yourselves, if you build on what you've already accomplished here, then I couldn't be more confident about your futures. I'm hopeful and I'm excited about what all of you can achieve. And I know that armed with the skills and experience and the love that you've gained at Booker T. Washington High School, you're ready to make your mark on the world. 但如果你们确实不断逼迫自己，如果在你们这里已取得成就的基础上继续建设，那我对你们的未来再充满信心不过了。我对你们所有人能够取得的成就充满希望和期待。我知道，凭借你们在布克·T·华盛顿高中学到的技能、积累的经验和收获的爱，你们已经准备好在世界上留下自己的印记。
So thank you. Thanks for inspiring me. God bless you. God bless the United States. 所以，谢谢你们。感谢你们激励了我。愿上帝保佑你们。愿上帝保佑美利坚合众国。
