名人励志英语演讲 第7期:梦想与责任(7)

 　　And then there's Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster¹ 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.

　　我还想起了我的家乡伊利诺伊州芝加哥市的尚特尔·史蒂夫。她曾在芝加哥最困难的社区生活，寄养于多个不同的家庭，但她设法在一家地方医疗中心找到工作，并开始了一项帮助年轻人远离犯罪团伙的计划，他即将以优异成绩从中学毕业，接着将上大学。

　　And Jazmin, Andoni, and Shantell aren't any different from any of you. They face challenges in their lives just like you do. 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、安多尼和尚特尔与你们中间的任何一个人没什么两样。跟你们一样，他们在生活中面临种种挑战。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。他们决定要为自己的一生、自己的教育负起责任，为自己设定各项奋斗目标。我希望你们都要这样做。

　　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 teased² or bullied³ 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.

　　因此，我今天呼吁你们每一个人为自己的教育设定目标——并尽自己最大努力来实现这些目标。你的目标可以是一件十分简单的事情，例如完成家庭作业、上课专心听讲，或每天花一点时间读一本书。也许你会决定要参加课外活动活在你的社区提供志愿服务。也许你会决定挺身而出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适合读书和学习的安全环境。也许你会决定更好地照料自己，以便有更充沛的精力来学习。顺便提一下，除了这些事情外，我希望大家要勤洗手，身体感到不舒服的时候要呆在家里不去上学，这样我们能防止人们在今年秋冬季节染上流感。

 

　　名人介绍

　　诺贝尔和平奖挪威诺贝尔奖评审委员会将2009年的诺贝尔和平奖授予奥巴马，以表彰他在促进国际外交和各国人民合作所作出的非凡努力。

　　奥巴马不为人知的另一面(8张)对于奥巴马获诺贝尔和平奖，多数观点持肯定态度，认为他作为世界上最强大军事力量的领导者以及他所倡导的无核化理念，是全球和平的希望，还指出他是唯一一位向穆斯林国家表示友善的美国总统。他于12月10日到挪威奥斯陆领取诺贝尔和平奖，并在领奖时发言说，他认为非暴力是有限度的，战争有时候乃必要之举，但和平永远都是人类应该追求的目标；他还阐述在战争的同时，并不影响人类对和平的追求。他是第四位获得诺贝尔和平奖的美国总统和第三位在总统任期内的和平奖得主。

　　但也有人认为他不该得这个奖，因为美国这时还在伊拉克和阿富汗有军事行动，这种做法与诺贝尔和平奖的精神不符；并且他就任总统还不到一年，对他的和平努力贡献成果是否显著，这都是外界的质疑。同时随着其后期不顾被指责违宪之嫌下令对利比亚采取军事行动，由于其作为战争发动者和参与者的定位，争议性越来越大，被批评实际证明没有获诺贝尔和平奖的资格，继而引发诺贝尔和平奖违背创立初衷、被意识形态操纵的争议，导致负面效果。

1 foster   

vt.收养，培养，促进；adj.收养的，收养孩子的

参考例句：

• Nowadays young couple sometimes foster.现今年轻夫妇有时领养别人的孩子。
• The captain did his best to foster a sense of unity among the new recruits.队长尽力培养新成员之间的团结精神。

2 teased   

v.取笑，戏弄( tease的过去式和过去分词 )；梳理（羊毛等）

参考例句：

• He took a screwdriver and teased out the remaining screws. 他拿出螺丝刀把其余的螺丝卸了下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I felt annoyance at being teased. 我恼恨别人取笑我。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 bullied   

adj.被欺负了v.恐吓，威逼( bully的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• My son is being bullied at school. 我儿子在学校里受欺负。
• The boy bullied the small girl into giving him all her money. 那男孩威逼那个小女孩把所有的钱都给他。 来自《简明英汉词典》