2009年9月8日 ，美国迎来开学季，时任美国总统贝拉克·奥巴马在弗吉尼亚州阿灵顿市的韦克菲尔德高中，向该校各年级和全美学生发表了本篇演讲，作为美国版“开学第一课”，他教导孩子们上学的意义、上学的重要性，勉励美国学生认真对待学业，立志成才，回报国家。
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。谢谢。谢谢大家。好了，各位同学都请坐。大家今天心情感受如何？提姆·斯派塞感觉好吗？我今天正和弗吉尼亚州阿灵顿市的韦克菲尔德高中的学生们在一起。这所学校有来自全美各地的学生，下至幼儿园，上至高三，一应俱全。我很高兴他们今天能全部都来听我讲话。我想感谢韦克菲尔德高中的热情招待。大家也为自己热烈鼓鼓掌。
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，大家许多人都是第一天返校。对于刚上幼儿园，或者刚刚升入初中、高中的学生来说，来到新学校，不免感到有些不适。我估计还有不少高年级学生十分兴奋，因为他们还有一年就要毕业了。无论哪一个年级，肯定都有人还怀念着暑假，今天早上起来时还想多赖一会儿床。
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.
我也是这样。我小时候随家人在海外生活。我在印度尼西亚住过几年。我的母亲没钱让我像其他美国孩子那样上好的学校，但是她认为，我必须接受美式教育。所以她决定亲自给我补课，从周一一直补到周五。因为她还得上班，所以只能在凌晨4:30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."
所以大家可以想象到，我起那么早肯定也烦死了。好几次，我直接在厨房桌子上睡着了。但每次我抱怨的时候，我妈妈就会看我一样，然后说，“我也不容易啊，臭小子。”
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.
我知道大家有些人还在返校适应期。而我今天来，是想和大家谈谈一些重要之事。我今天来和大家探讨一下你们的学业，你们在新学期应该做什么。
Now, I've given a lot of speeches about education. And I've talked about responsibility a lot.
我今天在教育话题方面说了很多。谈到了各方在教育中责任。
I've talked about teachers' responsibility for inspiring students and pushing you to learn.
我说，老师的责任是鼓励学生、鞭策学生学习。
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.
我说，父母的责任是不让孩子误入歧途，监督孩子完成作业，不要让孩子没完没了地看电视、玩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.
我还说，政府的责任是设立高标准，支持教师和校长的工作，关闭无法为学生提供机遇的低效率学校。
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.
我们有了最敬业的教师，有了最关心子女学业的父母，也有了全世界最顶尖的学校——但到头来，如果你们不承担起自己的责任，如果你们天天翘课、上课不注意听讲，不听父母、祖父母或其他监护人的管理，不愿意为成功付出努力，那么我们为你们所准备的一切都于事无补。所以今天的最后，我想专门谈谈：大家对自己的教育所负有的责任。
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.
我先谈谈大家的责任是什么。你们每个人都有自己的长处。你们每个人都可以为社会做出贡献。而你们的责任，就是发现自己的长处所在。而教育为大家提供了这么一个机会。
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.
说不定你有写作天赋——将来甚至能够写书、为报纸写刊——但是你得先上英语课——完成老师给你布置的英语作文才能发现这一天赋。说不定你有发明创造的天赋——将来你设置能设计出比肩苹果的手机，或开发出新型药、新型疫苗——但是你得先完成科学课作业，才能发现自己有这一天赋。说不定你有政治和法律方面的天赋——但是你得先加入学生模拟政府或辩论小组，才能发现自己的这一天赋。
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.
我可以跟大家打包票，无论你想从事什么职业，你都需要接受教育。你想成为医生？老师？或者警察？你想当护士？建筑师？律师？或者当兵？这些职业都要求应聘者有一定练好的教育背景。你要是想着辍学后能直接找到一份好工作，那是不切实际的。
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.
教育不仅关乎大家自己的人生和未来。而且你们对待教育的态度，就会决定这个国家的未来。你们是美国的未来。你们今天在学校里的所学所获，将决定未来我们国家能否应对重大危机。
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.
你们想要攻克癌症和艾滋病，想要开发新能源保护我们的地球，就必须掌握相关的科学数学知识，以及解决问题的能力。你们想要让世界再无贫困，让人人有家可归，消灭违法犯罪和种族歧视，让祖国更加公平自由，你们就需要学习历史和社会学，掌握所需的远见和批判思维。你们想要开办公司，为大家带来工作，让我国经济蓬勃发展，就需要在所有课程中努力学习，才能获得所需的创新思维和奇思妙想。
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.
我们需要你们开发自己的天赋，然后运用你们的灵巧双手和聪明才智帮助我们老一辈人解决难以攻克的问题。如果你们不这么做——如果你们选择辍学——那你们就不仅辜负了自己，而且还辜负了国家的期望。
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，想要成绩好并不容易。我知道，大家许多人生活中都有各种困难，使得你们难以专心学业。
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.
这些我都明白。我只有2岁时，我父亲就抛下了我们一家，留下单亲妈妈抚养我长大，她还得上班，有时候还得拼命加班还账单，即使如此，也没能让我们过上其他孩子那样的生活。有时候，我多么希望自己能有个父亲。有时我感到很孤独，感到与他人格格不入。
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.
所以我在上学时，也没有多么专心学业，我还做过一些难以启齿的事情，惹了不少麻烦。我当时离万丈深渊几乎只有一步之遥。
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——但我比较幸运。我得到了许多弥补过错的机会，我有机会上大学，去读法学院，去追寻自己的梦想。我的妻子，美国第一夫人米歇尔·奥巴马，她的遭遇与我相仿。她父母也没有读过大学，她们家也谈不上富裕。但是她们十分卖力，她也顽强拼搏，最后考上了全美最顶尖的学校。
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.
而你们许多人恐怕并没有这些优势。你们可能没有能给予你们鼓励的家长。有些人可能有家人失去了工作，也没有钱。你们可能有人住在不安全的社区，可能身边朋友会逼你去做一些你明知不该做的事情。
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.
但到头来，你们的生活境遇——你们的相貌、你们的出身、你们的财富、你们的家庭事故——这些都不应该是你不做作业、忽视学业的理由。这些都不应该是你顶撞老师、翘课辍学的理由。我们没有理由不去努力。
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.
你们当前所在之处并不是你们的终点。没有人可以决定你的命运，因为在我们美国，向来都是事在人为。未来都是靠自己拼出来的。
That's what young people like you are doing every day, all across America.
而拼搏，正是全美国所有你们这样的年轻一代正在做的事。
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.
你们这年轻一代，就包括来自德克萨斯州罗马市的贾兹敏·佩雷斯。贾兹敏在刚上学时连英语都不会说。她父母都没上过大学。但她自己学习勤奋，取得优异成绩，用奖学金去了布朗大学——现在她已经是研究生了，学习公共卫生，未来她将成为贾兹敏·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.
我还想到了来自加州洛斯阿尔托斯的安多尼·舒尔茨，他从3岁起就在同脑癌作斗争。他经历了数不清的疗程和手术，其中一次手术损伤了他的记忆力，所以他想要完成自己的学业——往往需要比多人多花上百个小时。而他从未落后于他人。今年秋天的开学季，他已经在大学了。
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.
还有我的同乡，来自伊利诺伊州芝加哥市的姗特尔·史蒂夫。尽管她生活在全市状况最糟的社区，还换了一个又一个寄养家庭，她还是靠个人努力成功入职医疗中心，发动一项让青年人远离黑社会的计划，同时她学业方面也没落下，即将高中毕业，步入大学。
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、姗特尔和你们并无不同。他们和你们一样，要面临生活中的种种挑战。有时候，他们的处境可能比你们还要艰难。但他们从不放弃。他们决定对自己的人生、对自己的教育负责，于是立志高远。而我希望大家都能向他们学习。
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.
这就是为什么今天我让大家给自己的学业设定一个目标——并全力以赴实现目标。你们的目标可以很简单，比如完成作业、上课认真听讲、每天抽出时间读书。或者你们也可以选择参加课外活动，或者在社区做志愿服务。或者你们还以可以选择，路见因外貌而遭遇校园欺凌的孩子时挺身而出，因为你我都相信，所有孩子都有权在一个安全环境中学习。再或者，你可以选择照顾好自己，身体好了才能努力学习。除了这些目标之外，我希望大家可以顺便将这些也列入目标：勤洗手、不舒服时就请假居家，这样一来，我们秋冬季才能防止流感肆虐。
But whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it.
但无论大家设置了什么目标，我都希望你们愿意认真践行。我希望大家全力以赴。
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，有时候大家看电视时，都想过走捷径实现成功富有——比如去说唱、去打篮球、当影星。但这些捷径成功率并不如想象中那么高。
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.
现实情况是，成功的道路十分艰难。你总会有不喜欢的科目。你总会遇到难以相处的老师。以后的作业也并不都像现在这样，能和你的生活息息相关。且你也不一定第一次就能做好一件事。
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."
这都没有关系。世界上最成功的大人物，基本上都经历了数不清的失败。比如J·K·罗琳——《哈利波特》的作者——她的《哈利波特》初版被退回了12次才得以出版。迈克尔·乔丹曾被他的高中篮球队除名。他的整个事业生涯中，输掉过成百上千场比赛，没投进的球更是得有上万。但他说，“我这辈子不知道失败了多少次。所以我才能成功。”
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.
因为他们明白，不要让失败定义你——要让失败指引你，才能最终走向成功。你要总结失败，下次才能有所改观。如果你遇到麻烦，这并不能说明你是在自找苦吃，这只能说明你需要改正方案，然后更加卖力。如果你考试没考好，这并不能说明你笨，这只能说明你还需要更加勤奋。
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.
没有人是生下来就会些本领的。本领都是靠不断刻苦练就的。你不可能刚上手一项运动，就能直接代表国家队出战。你不可能头次唱一首歌，就能唱准每个音符。你需要不断练习。学习也是同样的道理。一道数学题可能需要算好几次才能算对。一篇文章可能要多读几遍才能读懂。一篇作文肯定也需要做些草稿，润色好再交上去。
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.
不要害怕问问题。在需要帮助时，不要不敢请求别人。我没有一天是不请人帮忙的。请求帮助并不是能力低下的表现，反而表示你很强大，因为你敢承认自己有不懂的事情，这样你才能学到更多新知识。所以，找个你信任的大人——可以是父母，可以是祖父母，可以是老师，可以是教练，也可以是顾问——让他们来帮助你不断前进，实现目标。
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.
有时候你会感到很艰难，有时候你会灰心气馁，有时候你会感觉其他人都放弃了你，但绝对不要放弃你自己，因为一旦你放弃了自己，你就相当于抛弃了祖国。
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.
美国历史，从来都不是知难而退者书写的。而是激流勇进、越战越勇的爱国者拼尽全力书写的。
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，一群学生聚就在你们所处的这个地方，决定发动一场革命，实现独立建国，他们书写了美国的历史。同学们。75年前，又是一群学生聚在你们所处的这个地方，他们克服了大萧条，打赢了世界大战；然后他们还发动了民权运动，推动了人类登月。20年前，你们曾在这座学校的校友，创立了谷歌、推特和脸书，改变了我们的交际方式。
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?
所以今天我想问问大家，你们未来打算怎么贡献社会？你们会攻克什么样的难题？你们会取得什么新的发现？20年、50年、100年后，再有一位总统来到这座学校时，会如何评价21世纪的你们？
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.
你们的家庭、你们的老师，还有我现在都已经准备好竭尽所能帮助你们接受教育，以回答这些人生之问。我会继续帮助你们学校改进教师、为你们提供学习所需的书籍、设备和电脑。但大家自己也要努力。所以我希望你们今年开始能认真对待学业。我希望你们做任何事情都全力以赴。我希望大家都能学有所成。不要让我们失望。不要让你们的家人和祖国失望。但最重要的是，不要让自己失望。一定要让我们为你们感到骄傲。
Thank you very much, everybody. God bless you. God bless America. Thank you.
谢谢大家。愿上帝保佑大家。愿上帝保佑美国。谢谢。
