名人励志英语演讲 第90期:让我们选举巴拉克·奥巴马为美利坚合众国总统(3)（在线收听） |
And you know, what struck me when I first met Barack was that even though he had this funny name, and even though he had grown up all the way across the continent in Hawaii, his family was so much like mine. He was raised by grandparents who were working-class folks just like my parents, and by a single mother who struggled to pay the bills just like we did. And like my family, they scrimped and saved so that he could have opportunities that they never had for themselves. 尽管巴拉克有一个有趣的名字，尽管他一直在横跨大陆的夏威夷长大，当我第一次遇到他的时候，令我印象最深的却是，他的家庭和我的家庭极其相似。他由外祖父母和单身妈妈抚养长大，和我父母一样，他的外祖父母属于工薪阶层，而他的妈妈则为支付各种账单而忙碌着，这也和我们所做的一样。和我们家一样，他们精打细算，厉行节约，以便让巴拉克得到他们自己永远也得不到的机会。
And Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values, like you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond; that you do what you say you're going to do; that you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don't know them and even if you don't agree with them.
巴拉克和我在成长过程中被灌输了许多相同的价值观，比如：要想在生活中得到什么就必须努力工作；话即契约，君子一言驷马难追；言必行，行必果；待人以敬，即使你不认识他们，即使你不同意他们的观点。
And Barack and I set out to build lives guided by these values and to pass them on to the next generation, because we want our children and all children in this nation to know that the only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work hard for them.
就是在这样的价值观指导下，巴拉克和我开始开创我们的人生，并把这些价值观传到下一代，因为我们想让我们的孩子和全美国的孩子知道，唯一限制你的成就高度的是你梦想的广度和为之努力的程度。
And as our friendship grew and I learned more about Barack, he introduced me to work--the work that he'd done when he first moved to Chicago after college. You see, instead of heading to Wall Street, Barack moved to work in neighborhoods that had been devastated by the closing of steel plants. Jobs dried up. And Barack was invited back to speak to people from those neighborhoods about how to rebuild their community.
随着我们之间友谊的加深，我越来越了解巴拉克。他向我介绍他的工作——那是他大学毕业后第一次移居到芝加哥时所做的那份工作。你们知道，巴拉克没有去华尔街工作，而是去了那些因钢铁工厂倒闭而遭受重创的社区。许多人失了业。巴拉克被邀请回来向那些地区的人们演讲如何重建他们的社区。
重点讲解：
1. set out to do sth.
开始做某事；着手做某事；
eg. They succeeded in what they set out to do.
他们打算做的事已经做成了。
eg. The government has set out to make many needed reforms.
政府开始进行许多必要的改革。
2. pass something on to someone
将…传给；将…交给
eg. The Queen is passing the money on to a selection of her favourite charities.
女王要把那笔钱交给她喜欢的一些慈善机构。
eg. The late Earl passed on much of his fortune to his daughter.
已故伯爵将他的大部分财产传给了女儿。
3. dry up
（使）枯萎；（使）干涸
eg. As the day goes on, the pollen dries up and becomes hard.
日子一天天过去，花粉干结成了硬块。
But water may dry up, while time never stops.
然而水流有干涸的时候，时间却永不停止它的前行。
名人简介：
米歇尔的幼年
米歇尔·罗宾逊是土生土长的芝加哥人。她的父亲弗雷泽·罗宾逊是一位水管工，靠一人的工资养活四口之家。她的母亲玛丽安对待子女教育很重视，每晚只允许米歇尔和哥哥看一个小时的电视。米歇尔和哥哥克雷格的童年主要在读书、下国际象棋中度过。米歇尔还具有运动天赋，喜欢玩棒球、足球和篮球。
由于家庭的良好教育，米歇尔从小的学习成绩就很好。到六年级的时候，米歇尔加入天才班。之后，米歇尔学习了三年的法语和两年大学的生物课程，甚至研究过光合作用和老鼠肌肉标本。
学业及家庭
曾经由第一年班跳至第三年班的她于中学时代就读芝加哥顶尖的惠特尼·扬高中，并曾名列校内成绩最优等学生达4年。1981年中学毕业后升读普林斯顿大学，主修社会学、副修非洲裔美国人研究，1985年以一级荣誉毕业，1988年在哈佛大学法学院取得法律博士学位。米歇尔邂逅奥巴马始于奥巴马1989年于悉尼·奥斯汀律师事务所行任暑期实习生，米歇尔则被指派督导他，由于他们是绝无仅有的黑人于该公司任职，因此两人工作上十分投契，最后两人于1992年10月结婚，婚后诞下两名女儿，亦由于奥巴马当选州参议员多年，因此奥巴马夫妇遂将两人送入芝加哥大学附属私立小学就读，以免传媒打扰。米歇尔2008年在全国广播公司（NBC）的清谈节目《艾伦·德杰尼勒斯秀》透露，两人无意诞下第三名子女。 |
| 原文地址：http://www.tingroom.com/lesson/mrlzyj/235842.html |