美国版 <开学第一课> 奥巴马 《我们为什么要上学》节选

开篇前：在一些宣传的短视频刺激下，一些青少年以为赚钱很轻松，成功唾手可得。来看看奥巴马的故事吧，每个人求学的经历都是痛苦的。以为靠说唱，打篮球，或电视明星就可以到达成功。 但是你不可能走上这些道路。

——橘里傻气

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.

我知道对于你们很多人而言，今天是上学的第一天。你们可能刚上幼儿园，初中，或者高中，这是你们在新学校度过的第一天，如你们有点紧张是正常的。我猜有些高年级的学生他们此刻感觉很棒，因为还有一年就可以毕业了。不管你是哪个年级，你可能希望现在还在放暑假，你盼望今天早上可以在床上多待一会儿。

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.

我知道那种感觉。在我小时候，我住在国外，我们在印尼住了几年。因为我妈妈没有钱送我去上学，像其他美国小孩那样接受教育，不过她认为我应该接受美国的教育。所以她决定自己来教我这些额外的课程，从周一到周五。但由于她还要去上班，所以她只能在凌晨4:30来教我。

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.)

你可能可以想象的到，我不太喜欢起那么早。有很多次，我在厨房的桌子上睡着了。每次我朝我妈妈抱怨时，她都会这样瞅着我，说: “小子，这对于我而言也不是野餐。”

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.

所以我知道你们中的一些人还在调整着返校的心态。但是我今天在此有重要的事情要和你们讨论。我在这里和你们讨论下你的教育和你的新学期的发展。

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.

我知道在学校里成绩优秀很难，我知道你们在各自的生活中有着许多挑战，这些都很难让你把精力集中在学业上。

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.

我知道那是种怎样的感受。我爸爸在我两岁的时候离开了我们，我由我妈妈一手养大，她努力工作，有时支付不起账单，而且有时我们比其他孩子得到的少。每到这些时候，我都希望自己的生命中有父亲的存在。有时我感觉自己很孤单，感觉自己格格不入。

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.

所以我不能把精力集中在学业上，我也犯过错误，也让自己陷入了更多的麻烦中。我的人生可能会变得更糟。

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.

但是我很幸运，我有很多次重来的机会。我获得了去法学院的机会，开始追寻自己的梦想。

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.

我知道有时候你从电视上看到，似乎变有钱和成功不用付出艰苦的努力，以为靠说唱，打篮球，或电视明星就可以到达成功。 但是你不可能走上这些道路。

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，成功是件难事。你不可能对要读的每门课程都兴趣盎然，你不可能和每名带课教师都相处顺利，你也不可能每次都遇上看起来和现实生活有关的作业。而且，并不是每件事，你都能在头一次尝试时获得成功。

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.

没有哪一个人一生出来就擅长做什么事情的，只有努力才能培养出技能。任何人都不是在第一次接触一项体育运动时就成为校队的代表，任何人都不是在第一次唱一首歌时就找准每一个音，一切都需要熟能生巧。对于学业也是一样，你或许要反复运算才能解出一道数学题的正确答案，你或许需要读一段文字好几遍才能理解它的意思，你或许得把论文改上好几次才能符合提交的标准。这都是很正常的。