注：如果文中的链接无法接上，请从文末左下角“阅读原文”进入！
【很喜欢龙应台写给儿子的一段话：“孩子，我要求你读书用功，不是因为我要你跟别人比成绩，而是因为，我希望你将来会拥有选择的权利。选择有意义，有时间的工作，而不是被迫谋生。当你的工作在你心中有意义，你就有成就感。当你的工作给你时间，不剥夺你的生活，你就有尊严。成就感和尊严，给你快乐！”
小时候父母告诉我们读书的意义，或许就是能找到一份稳定的工作。长大以后我们发现读书的意义，应该就是习得立足于社会之本。
再长大一些你会发现，读书的意义不止于此。你生活中遇到的种种困境与磨难，在书中都可以找到化解和跨越它们的答案！
活到老学到老，学习和读书会让我们认清自己，换思维考虑问题，深刻反思和沉淀自我。读书和学习，总能让我们在正确的道路上，不偏不倚，一直做着有意义有尊严的事，然后快乐地向幸福迈进！】
读书的最大意义是什么？
这位帅哥说：唔，这么幼稚的问题也问啊？
好，就让我跟你这小屁孩说说吧！
We Are What We Learn教育成就未来- Barack. Obama：巴拉克.奥巴马 2009-9-8
1.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?嗨，大家好，谢谢，谢谢，谢谢大家。大家请就座。你们今天都好吗? 蒂姆·斯派塞(Tim Spicer)好吗?
2.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.我现在与弗吉尼亚州.阿灵顿市.韦克菲尔德高中的同学们在一起，全美各地从幼儿园到12年级（高三）的同学们也正在收听收看。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.我很高兴今天大家能到场参与，我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.我知道，对你们中的许多人来说，今天是开学的第一天。对于刚进入幼儿园、或升上初中、高中的同学们来说，今天是你们来到新学校的第一天，如果感到有点紧张，这是可以理解的。I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now -- with just one more year to go.我想有些毕业班的同学现在的心情应很不错，还有一年就毕业了。
3.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.不论是哪个年级，你们中有些人可能希望还在放暑假，这样今天早上还能多睡一会儿。I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived overseas. I lived in Indonesia for a few years.我了解这种心情。我小时候，我们家生活在海外，我在印度尼西亚住了几年。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.而我妈妈，她没钱送我去其他美国孩子所上的学校，但她认为让我接受美式教育是很重要的。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.因此，她决定从周一到周五亲自给我补课，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.你们可以想象，我很不情愿那么早起床，有很多次，我趴在餐桌上就睡着了。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.”但每当我抱怨的时候，我妈妈就会用同样的眼神看我一眼，说：“小鬼，这对我来说也不轻松啊！”So I know that some of you are still adjusting to being back at school.所以我能理解你们有些人还在适应返学后的生活。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.但我今天来到这里是想跟大家聊聊一些重要的事情，我来这里是想和你们谈谈你们的教育问题，以及在这个新学年里对你们所有人的期望。
4.Now, I've given a lot of speeches about education. And I’ve talked about responsibility a lot.我作过很多有关教育的讲话，也谈到过很多责任的问题。●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.我谈到过，老师有责任去激励学生，并督促去你们学习；我谈到过，家长有责任确保你们走正道，去完成家庭作业，而不要成天在看电视或玩游戏；我多次谈到过，政府有责任去制定高标准，去支持老师和校长的工作，去改善那些运转不正常的学校，在那里学生得不到应有的机会。But at the end of the day,we can havethe 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然而到头来，哪怕我们拥有最敬业的教师，最尽力的家长，最出色的学校（在世界上），这些可能都没啥作用，这些可能也毫不重要！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.除非你们能履行责任，除非你们能准时上学，除非你们能专心听课，除非你们能听从家长、祖辈和其他大人的话，肯付出成功所必需的的努力！That's what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education.这就是我今天讲话的重点：你们每个人要对自己的教育负责。
5.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。你们每个人都会有长处，你们每个人都独具才华，你们对自己应尽的责任就是发现自己的能力所在，而教育则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.●或许你能成为一名出色的作家，—甚至可能写出一本好书，或在报纸上发表文章，但你可能要在完成英文课的作文后才会知道自己有这样的才华；●或许你能成为一名创新者或发明家，—甚至可能设计出更好的新一代苹果手机，或研制出新型药物、疫苗，但你可能要在完成科学课的实验后才会发现自己有这样的才华；●或许你能成为一名市长，参议员，最高法院的大法官，—但你可能要在参加学生会的工作，或辩论赛后才会发现自己有这样的才华。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.无论你的生活志向是什么，我敢肯定你必须要接受教育，你的志向才得以实现。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，你必须为之而培训，为之而努力，为之而学习。
6.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.这并非只对你们自己的人生和未来意义重大，你们所受到的教育，将完全决定这个国家的未来，美国的未来取决于你们。你们今天在学校里之所学，将决定我们作为一个国家, 是否能够去应付未来最严峻的挑战。●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，把你们所学到的自然科学知识，数学知识及解决问题的技术来治愈诸如癌症、艾滋病之类的疾病，开发新的能源技术和保护我们的环境；●你们将需要，把在历史学和社会学课程上所获得的洞察力和批判性思维技巧，用之与贫困，流浪失所，犯罪和歧视这些问题作斗争，使我们的国家更加公正，更加自由；●你们将需要，把所有在课堂上发展出来的创造力和才智来创办新公司，创造新的工作岗位，促进我们的经济。●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天赋，你们的技术和你们的才华，你们能够帮助我们这些前辈来解决最棘手问题。如果你们不这样做，如果你们辍学，你们不仅仅抛弃了自己，也抛弃了你们的国家。
7.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.我知道要做到学业优秀并不容易，我知道你们许多人在生活中面临着诸多挑战，难以集中精力去读书。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
.我明白这些，我感同身受。在我两岁时，我父亲离家而去，我是由一位单亲母亲抚养成人的，她得工作，她时常为支付生活费用而苦苦挣扎，且总是无法为我们提供其他孩子所享有的东西。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.常常地我会惦念生活中能有一位父亲，常常地我会觉得到孤独，并感到似乎无所适从。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，我并不是一直都能专注于学业，曾做过一些丢脸的事情，也曾惹过不该惹的麻烦，我的人生原本可能会容易变得更糟糕。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.但我很幸运，我有过不少重来的机会，我有幸能上大学，上法学院，去追求自己的理想。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.我的妻子，我们的第一夫人米歇尔.奥巴马
，她也有着类似的经历。她的父母都未曾上过大学，也没啥钱，但他们很努力，她也很努力，因此她得以就读于美国最好的学校。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的条件。|●也许你们生活中没有成年人为你们提供所需要的支持，●也许你们家中有人失业，经济非常拮据，●也许你们住的社区让你感觉到不安全，或有朋友逼迫你们去做那些你们明知道不对的事情。But at the end of the day,the circumstances of your lifewhat 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，你们长得怎么样，你们是什么出身，你们收入有多少，你们家中的境况，这一切都不能成为你们懈怠功课，或厌学的理由，这些都不是去顶撞老师，或逃课、或辍学的借口，没有理由不去努力。
8.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.你们目前的状况并不能决定你们的未来，●没有人决定你们的命运，因为这是在美国，你们决定自己的命运，你们掌握自己的未来。●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.例如来自得州罗马城
的年轻人贾兹敏.佩雷斯(Jazmin Perez)。她刚开始上学时并不会说英文，她的父母都没有上过大学。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.然而，她非常勤奋，成绩优秀，获得了布朗大学的奖学金，现在正在读研究生，攻读公共卫生专业，不久就会成为贾兹敏.佩雷斯博士。I’m thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who’s fought brain cancer since he was three.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，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.他不得不忍受各类治疗和手术带来的痛苦，其中一项手术影响了他的记忆，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, 今年秋季将去读大学啦。And then there’s Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois.然后是尚特尔.史蒂夫(Shantell Steve)，来自我的家乡伊利诺伊州.芝加哥市
。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 f="">she’s on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.即使她曾寄养于多个的家庭，在城里最落后的社区生活，但她通过努力在一家地方医疗中心
找到了工作，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高中毕业，然后去上大学。And Jazmin, Andoni, and Shantell aren’t any different from any of you. They face challenges in their lives just like you do.贾兹敏、安多尼和尚特尔
与你们中的每个人没什么不同，跟你们一样，他们在生活中面临着种种挑战。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.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。他们决定去为自己的人生、自己的教育负起责任，为自己定下奋斗目标。我期待大家都这样去做。
9.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.这就是为什么我在今天，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去实现。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.你们的目标可以很简单，例如完成家庭作业，上课专心听讲，或每天花一点时间来阅读。●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.●May be you’ll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn.或许你会决定去参加课外活动，或在你的社区里提供志愿服务；或许你会决定挺身而出去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安全的环境来读书和学习；或许你会决定更好地照料自己，以便有更充沛的精力来学习。●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.除了这些事情外，顺便提一下，我希望大家要勤洗手，身体感到不舒服的时就呆在家里休息，不用去上学，这样我们就能防止人们在今年秋冬季节感染上流感。但无论你们决定做什么，我希望你们全心全意投入到其中去，我希望你们实实在在地努力地去做。●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.我知道有时候你们会从电视上得到这样的印象，不需付出多大的努力就能发财致富并取得成功：唱唱音乐、打打篮球或成为电视真人秀节目的明星，就这样获得了走向成功的门票，然而可能的是上述这些好事都与你无缘！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，取得成功不是容易的事情，你不会喜欢你所学习的每一门课程，你不会欢迎你所面对的每一位老师，不是每一项家庭作业看来都与你眼前的生活密切相关，你也不一定在每一件事上第一次尝试时候就获得成功。
10.That’s okay. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures.这些都没关系，一些世界上最成功的人往往也是遭遇失败最多的人。J.K. Rowling’s -- who wrote Harry Potter -- her first Harry Potter book was rejected 12 times before it was finally published.J.K.罗琳(J.K. Rowling), 《哈利.波特
》(Harry Potter)的作者，第一部《哈利.波特》在出版前被退稿12次。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.”迈克尔.乔丹(Michael Jordan)曾被他的高中篮球队裁掉，在他的职业生涯里，他输掉数百场比赛，有数千个投篮没中，而他是这样说的：“在我的一生中，我失败了一次、又一次，无数次，这就是我成功的原因。”These people succeeded because they understood that you can’t let your failures define youyou have to let your failures teach you.You have to let them show you what to do differently the next time.这些人成功了，是因为他们明白不能让失败来左右自己，要从失败中吸取教训，要从失败中获得启发，在下一次时该作出哪些改变，●So if you get into trouble, that doesn’t mean you’re a trouble maker, 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.因此，如果你遇到了麻烦，那并不表示你惹事生非，而意味着你需要更加努力去把事情做好；如果你考试分数低，那并不表示你愚不可及，而只意味着你需要花更多的时间去学习。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.没有人生来就擅长做所有的事情，通过努力你才会变得专业；第一次参加新的体育项目时，你不会是校队的主力队员；第一次唱一首歌时，你不会唱得准每个音；你需要练习，对于你的学业来说也是同样的道理。做一道数学题，你可能要做几次才能做对；阅读一些材料，你可能要读几遍才能理解；写出一篇作文，你肯定要改几稿才能改好，然后上交。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，不要害怕请求帮助，在你需要的时候。我每天都这么干。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有些事情不懂，这样做会让你学到新的东西。因此，找个你信任的成年人，例如父母、祖父母或老师、教练或辅导员，请他们帮助你往正确的方向前进，去实现你的目标。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.即使在你苦苦挣扎时，即使在你垂头丧气时，甚至感到其他人都放弃你而离去时，也永远不要放弃自己，因为当你放弃自己的时候，你也就放弃了自己的国家。
11.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.书写美国历史的人，不是在困难时刻就退缩的人，而是坚持不懈，倍加努力的人，他们对祖国的热爱使他们全力以赴。●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.250年前，坐在你们位置上的学生，发动了一场革命并创建了这个国家；年轻人，75年前，坐在你们位置上的学生，战胜了大萧条并打赢了一场世界大战；为民权而奋斗并把人类送上了月球；20年前，坐在你们位置上的学生，创办了谷歌(Google)、推特网(Twitter)和脸谱网(Facebook)，改变了我们沟通交流的方式。So today, I want to ask all of you,what’s your contribution going to be? (gonna)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，我要问问大家，你们将做出什么贡献?你们将解决什么难题?你们将会有什么发现?20年、50年或100年后，如果也有总统来到这里讲话，他会怎样说你们为这个国家所做的一切?
12.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.现在你们的家人、你们的老师和我正在竭尽全力保证你们接受必要的教育，以应对上述这些问题。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.我正在努力工作，修缮你们的教室，为你们提供学习所需的课本、设备和电脑。但你们也得做好自己分内之事啊！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.所以，我希望大家从现在起就开始认真起来，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会有出色的表现。不要让我们失望，不要让你们的家人或你们的国家失望，最重要的是，不要让自己失望，Make us all proud.Thank you very much, everybody.God bless you. God bless America.Thank you.让我们为你们骄傲，非常感谢大家，愿上帝保佑你们，愿上帝保佑美国，谢谢！
●学习文档导读见这里-链接：
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●●英语学习理念见这里（深度好文）-链接：
Brother Joe007：词不离句：用自带的大杀器去学习英语！1345 赞同 · 163 评论文章
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