我们家的所有成员都毕业于密歇根大学:我哥哥、我妈妈和爸爸——我们全家。

　　My Dad actually got the quantity discount :he got all three and a half of his degrees here.

　　我的父亲在学位数量上可能要打个折：他从密歇根大学拿到了三个半学位。

　　His Ph.D. was in Communication Science because they thought Computers were just a passing fad, when he earned it 44 years ago.

　　他的博士学位是通信科学，而当时人们认为计算机只是一时热门，他是在44年前获得的博士学位。

　　He and Mom made a big sacrifice for that degree.

　　他与我母亲为此做出了巨大的牺牲。

　　They argued at times over pennies, while raising my newborn brother.

　　在抚养我刚出生的哥哥时，他们经常因为缺钱而争吵。

　　Mom typed my Dad’s dissertation by hand.

　　母亲自己用手敲出了父亲的论文。

　　Kind of ironic for a Communication Science dissertation.

　　这对于一篇通讯论文来说具有讽刺意义。

　　This velvet hood I'm wearing, this was my Dad’s.

　　今天我戴的这顶天鹅绒帽是我父亲的。

　　And this diploma that I have here just like the one you're about to get, that was my Dad’s.

　　这张毕业证书，和你们即将拿的一样，也是我父亲的。

　　And my underwear... oh never mind.

　　我的内衣也是的...好了，大家别介意。

　　My father’s father worked in the Chevy plant in Flint, Michigan.

　　我的祖父在密歇根州弗林特的雪佛兰汽车工厂工作,

　　He was an assembly line worker.

　　他是装配线上的一名工人。

　　He drove his two children here to Ann Arbor, and told them: That is where you’re going to college.

　　他曾开车把两个孩子送到安娜堡这儿,并告诉他们:这是你们今后要上的大学。

　　I know it sounds funny now.

　　我知道现在听起来很好笑。

　　Both of his kids actually did graduate from Michigan.

　　他的两个孩子也的确从密歇根大学毕业。

　　That was the American dream.

　　这就是“美国梦”。

　　His daughter, Beverly, also with us today.

　　他的女儿，贝芙丽，几天也在场。

　　My Grandpa used to carry an “Alley Oop’ hammer--a heavy iron pipe with a big hunk of lead melted on the end.

　　我的祖父经常扛着一个大铁锤，实际上是一根末端有大铅块、很重的铁管

　　The works made them during the sit-down strikes to protect themselves.

　　那时工人们静坐罢工时常会用它来自卫。

　　When I was growing up,

　　当我再大一些的时候，

　　we used that hammer whenever we needed to pound a stake or something into the yard.

　　一遇到砸树桩一类动土的活儿，我们就会用那个大铁锤。

　　It is wonderful that most people don't need to carry a heavy blunt object for protection anymore.

　　现在大多数人不再需要扛着笨重的大家伙来保护自己了，这很好。

　　But just in case, I brought it with me.

　　但为了以防万一，我把它带来了。