奥巴马2009年亚利桑那州立大学的演讲

是奥巴马在亚利桑那州立大学毕业典礼上所发表的题为《永不放弃梦想》的演讲，他 希望所有困惑着的年轻人都能够在理想的指引下，追随激情，迎接挑战，帮助他人，改变世界。他对亚利桑那州立大学2009年毕业生给予了鼓励，希望他们任何时候都不要放弃自己的 梦想。

And I want to say to you today, graduates, Class of 2009, that despite having achieved a remarkable milestone in your life, despite the fact that you and your families are so rightfully proud, you too cannot rest on your laurels. You can，t rest. For we gather here tonight in times of extraordinary difficulty, for the nation and for the world. For many of you, these challenges are also felt in more personal terms. Perhaps you，re still looking for a job—or struggling to figure out what career path makes sense in this disrupted economy.

今天，我想告诉你们，2009届的毕业生们，虽然你们取得了生命中一个重要的 里程碑，虽然你和你们的家人都理应为此感到自豪，你们却不能依赖过去的荣誉， 不能停滞不前。因为今晚我们聚集在这里，面对的是一个困难重重的时期，不管是 对美国还是整个世界来说，都是如此。对于你们许多人来说，这些挑战也和你们息 息相关，也许你还在找工作，也许你还在苦苦思考在这个经济破败的时期，从事什 ô职业才比较有意义。

Now, in the face of these challenges, it may be tempting to fall back on the formulas for success that have been pedaled l) so frequently in recent years. It goes something like this: You’re taught to chase after all the usual brass rings; you try to be on this “who's who” list or that top 100 list; you chase after the big money and you figure out how big your corner office is; you worry about whether you have a fancy enough title or a fancy enough car. That’s the message that’s sent each and every day, or has been in our culture for far too long—that through material possessions, through a ruthless competition pursued only on your own behalf~ that’s how you will measure success.

现在，面对这些挑战，你们很容易落入最近几年很是流行的成功秘诀的俗套， 这个套·大概是这样的：你所被灌输的思想让你追名逐利，你想方设法要进人“名 人¼”或者“100强”；你一门心思要赚大钱，想象着自己的高级办公室该有多大；你担心自己û有一个足够响亮的头衔或一辆足够炫目的轿车。这就是我们日复一曰 收到的信息,它巳根植于我们的文化土壤之中，那就是衡量成功与否的标准就是通 过物质财富的占有和仅仅为了一己之私而进行的无情竞争。

Now, you can take that road—and it may work for some. But at this critical juncture in our nation’s history, at this difficult time, let me suggest that such an approach won’t get you where you want to go; it displays a poverty of ambition~ that in fact, the elevation of appearance over substance, of celebrity over character， of short-term gain over lasting achievement is precisely what your generation needs to help end.

当然，你可以走这条·，它对大多数人来说是走得通的。但是，在国家历史上 这个关键时刻，在这个困难时期，我要说，这条·无法带你走到目的地，它只能表 明你缺乏进取之心。事实上，重表面而轻实质，重名气而轻品质，重短期利益而轻 长远成就，你们这代人要摒弃这种风气。

Now，ASU, I want to highlight two main problems with that old, tired, me-first approach. First, it distracts you from what’s truly important, and may lead you to compromise your values and your principles and commitments. The second problem with the old approach to success is that a relentless focus on the outward markers of success can lead to complacency. It can make you lazy. We too often let the external, the material things serve as indicators that we’re doing well, even though something inside us tells us that weJre not doing our best; that we’re avoiding that which is hard, but also necessary; that we're shrinking from, rather than rising to, the challenges of the age. And the thing is, in this new, hyper-competitive age，none of us—none of us—can afford to be complacent.

各λ亚利桑那大学的同学们，现在，我想就这种过时的、陈腐的、以自我为中 心的人生观再强调两点。首先，它让你无法分清什ô才是真正重要的东西，而且会 让你在价值观、做人原则和责任心面前妥协。关于成功的陈腐人生观的第二个问题 就是：过多地看重成功的外在标记会使人骄傲自满。它会使你变得懒惰。我们过多地把那些外在的、物质的东西看成是我们取得成绩的标记，虽然我们内心明白我们 并û有尽力；我们避难就易，绕开那些必须去做的工作；面对时代的挑战，我们û 有奋起迎接，而是犹豫η缩。问题是，在这个高度竞争的新时代，我们中û有任何 人——û有任何人能够付得起自满的代价。

So graduates, it's now abundantly clear that we need to start doing things a little bit different. In your own lives, you’ll need to continuously adapt to a continuously changing economy. You’ll end up having more than one job and more than one career over the course of your life; to keep gaining new skills—possibly even new degrees; and you’ll have to keep on taking risks as new opportunities arise.

因此，毕业生们，显而易见我们需要稍微改变一下做事方式了。就个人的生活 而言，你们需要不停地适应一个时刻在改变的经济环境。你们一生中可能会从事不 止一种工作或者一种事业；你们会不停地获得新的技能甚至新的学λ；随着新的机 遇的出现，你们还会不停地ð险。

Many of our current challenges are unprecedented. We need young people like you to step up. And let me be clear, when I say “young", I'm not just referring to the date of your birth certificate. I'm talking about an approach to life—a quality of mind and quality of heart; a willingness to follow your passions, regardless of whether they lead to fortune and fame; a willingness to question conventional wisdom and rethink old dogmas; a lack of regard for all the traditional markers of status and prestige—and a commitment instead to doing whafs meaningful to you, what helps others, what makes a difference in this world.

我们目前面临着许多前所δ有的挑战。我们需要你们这样的年轻人行动起来。 请允许我澄清一下，我所说的“年轻”，并不是指你们出生证明上的日期。我所谈的是一种生活态度--种精神和心灵的状况；“年轻”的人愿意追随自己的激情

That’s the spirit that led a band of patriots not much older than most of you to take on an empire, to start this experiment in democracy we call America. It's what drove young pioneers west, to Arizona and beyond; it’s what drove young women to reach for the ballot ; what inspired a 30 year-old escaped slave to run an underground railroads to freedom; what inspired a young man named Cesar to go out and help farm workers; what inspired a 26 year-old preacher  to lead a bus boycott for justice. It’s what led firefighters and police officers in the prime of their lives up the stairs of those burning towers; and young people across this country to drop what they were doing and come to the aid of a flooded New Orleans. It’s what led two guys in a garage—named Hewlett and Packardll—to form a company that would change the way we live and work; what led scientists in laboratories, and novelists in coffee shops to labor in obscurity  until they finally succeeded in changing the way we see the world.

而不在乎它是否能带来名和利；“年轻”的人愿意质疑传统的价值观，重新思考陈 腐过时的教条；蔑视所有代表名声、地λ的传统标志，转而投身于对自己有意义的事业，以此来帮助他人，改变世界。

That’s the great American story: young people just like you，following their passions, determined to meet the times on their own terms. They weren’t doing it for the money. Their titles weren’t fancy~ex-slave，minister, student，citizen. A whole bunch of them didn’t get honorary degrees. But they changed the course of historyand so can you ASU, so can you Class of 2009. So can you.

正是这种精神，使一群爱国者向一个帝国叫板，开始了我们称之为美国的民主 试验，他们那时的年龄并不比你们中的绝大多数人大多少。正是这种精神，使年轻 的先驱者走向西部，走向亚利桑那和更远的地方；正是这种精神，促使年轻的妇女 们争取选举权，促使一λ30岁的黑奴通过“地下铁·”组织逃向自由，促使一λ名 叫塞萨尔的年轻人全力帮助农场工人，促使一λ26岁的牧师为了正义发起了一场抵 制公共汽车的运动。也正是这种精神使得消防队员和警察们在生命的黄金时期冲向 熊熊燃烧的双子塔的¥梯；也使得全国的年轻人扔下手中的工作前来支援遭受洪灾 的新奥尔良人。它使得两个年轻人——休利特与帕卡德——在车库中组建了一个公 司，并从此改变了我们生活和工作的方式；使得实验室里的科学家们和在咖啡厅里 的小说家们默默无闻地工作，直到他们默默无闻地工作，直到最终成功地改变了我 们看待这个世界的方式。

You may look in the mirror tonight and you may see somebody who’s not really sure what to do with their lives. That’s what you may see, but a troubled child might look at you and see a mentor. A homebound senior citizen might see a lifeline. The folks at your local homeless shelter might see a friend. None of them care how much money is in your bank account, or whether you're important at work, or whether you，re famous around town一they just know that you're somebody who cares， somebody who makes a difference in their lives.

这就是伟大的美国故事：这些像你们一样的年轻人，跟随自己的热情所制， 决意用自己的方式迎接时代的挑战。他们这样做不是为了金钱。他们û有响亮的头衔，他们是奴隶、牧师、学生、市民，他们中û有一个人得到过荣誉学λ，但他们 改变了历史的进程。你们也可以，亚利桑那大学的同学们！你们也可以，2009届的 毕业生们！你们也可以。

So Class of 2009，that’s what building a body of work is all about~it's about the daily labor, the many individual acts，the choices large and small that add up over time, over a lifetime, to a lasting legacy.

今晚照镜子时，你在镜中看到的人也许并不知道今后将要从事什ô工作。或许 你自己是这ô看的，但当一个迷ã的孩子看着你时，他或许把你当成良师益友；一 个困居家中的老人看到你时，看到的也许是生命的希望；你们当地收容所里那些无 家可归的人看到的也许是一个朋友。他们不会去考虑你银行账户里有多少钱，不会 考虑你在工作上是否担当要职，或者你在镇里是否很有名声显赫——他们只知道你 是一个关心他们的人，是一个改变他们生活的人。

And if you ever forget that, just look to history. Thomas Paine was a failed corset maker, a failed teacher, and a failed tax collector before he made his mark on history with a little book called Common Sense that helped ignite a revolution.

所以，2009届的毕业生们，这才是打造生命之作的真实含义——它需要日常 的辛勤工作，需要众多的个人行为，需要长期甚至是一生积累下来的大大小小的选 择，它是我们留下的永久的遗产。

Julia Child   didn’t publish her first cookbook until she was almost 50. Colonel Sanders didn’t open up his first Kentucky Fried Chicken until he was in his 60s.

如果你忘了，就请回头看看历史。托马斯?潘恩曾经是一个失败的紧身衣裁缝， 一个失败的老师，一个失败的税务员，但他最后却名垂青史，他的那本名叫《常识》的小书引发了一场革命；朱莉娅?蔡尔德直到将近50岁时才出版了她的第一部烹 饪书；桑德斯上校直到60多岁才开办了第一家肯德基餐厅。

Each of them, at one point in their life，didn’t have any title or much status to speak of. But they had passion, a commitment to following that passion wherever it would lead, and to working hard every step along the way.

他们中的ÿ一个人，在生命中的某一时刻，都û有响亮的头衔和显赫的地λ值 得炫耀。但他们有激情，有追随激情的决心，不管这激情把他们带到哪里，他们ÿ 一步工作都不辞辛苦，脚踏实地。

Acts of sacrifice and decency without regard to what’s in it for you一that also creates ripple effects —ones that lift up  families and communities; that spread opportunity and boost our economy; that reach folks in the forgotten corners of the world who，in committed young people like you, see the true face of America: our strength, our goodness, our diversity，our enduring power, our ideals.

正直无私的奉献，从不考虑自己能从中得到什ô，这种行为也会产生涟漪效 应，这种效应能鼓舞家庭和社会生活；能创造机遇，促进经济繁荣；能影响那些 在世界上被人遗忘的角落里生活的人们，让他们从你们这些具有奉献精神的青年的 脸上看到美国真正的面ò——我们的力量，我们的美德，我们的多样性，我们的耐 力，我们的理想

Congratulations, Class of 2009，on your graduation. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.