My mother, who was filled with pride the day I was admitted here, never stopped pressing me to do more for others. A few days before I was married, she hosted a bridal event, at which she read aloud a letter about marriage that she had written to Melinda. My mother was very ill with cancer at the time, but she saw one more opportunity to deliver her message, and at the close of the letter she said: "From those to whom much is given, much is expected."
我的母亲在我被哈佛大学录取的那一天，曾经感到非常骄傲。她从没有停止督促我，去为他人做更多的事情。在我结婚的前几天，她主持了一个新娘进我家的仪式。在这个仪式上，她高声朗读了一封关于婚姻的信，这是她写给美琳达的。那时，我的母亲已经因为癌症病入膏肓，但是她还是认为这是又一个传递她的信息的机会。在那封信的结尾，她写道：“对于那些接受了许多帮助的人们，人们对你的期望也就很大。”
When you consider what those of us here in this yard have been given-in talent, privilege, and opportunity-there is almost no limit to what the world has a right to expect from us.
想一想吧，我们在这个院子里的这些人，被给予了什么——天赋、特权、机遇——那么可以这样说，全世界的人们几乎有无限的权力，期待我们做出贡献。
In line with the promise of this age, I want to exhort each of the graduates here to take on an issue-a complex problem, a deep inequity, and become a specialist on it. If you make it the focus of your career, that would be phenomenal. But you don't have to do that to make an impact. For a few hours every week, you can use the growing power of the Internet to get informed, find others with the same interests, see the barriers, and find ways to cut through them.
同这个时代的期望一样，我也要劝告今天各位毕业生要选择一个问题——一个复杂的问题，一个有关于人类深刻的不平等的问题，然后你们要变成这个问题的专家。如果你们能够使得这个问题成为你们职业的核心，那么你们就会非常杰出。但是，你们不必一定要去做那些大事。每个星期只用几个小时，你就可以通过互联网得到信息，找到志同道合的朋友，发现困难所在并找到解决它们的途径。
重点讲解：
1. be filled with
充满；填满；装满；
eg. He was filled with anger at the way he had been treated.
他因遭受如此待遇而怒火满腔。
eg. The royal palace was filled with intrigue.
皇宫中充满了勾心斗角。
2. press sb. to do sth.
催促；敦促；竭力劝说某人做某事；
eg. Trade unions are pressing him to stand firm.
各工会正在竭力劝说他坚定立场。
eg. We pressed her to continue her story.
我们催她把故事接着讲下去。
3. the close of
结束；终止；
eg. By the close of business last night, most of the big firms were hailing yesterday's actions as a success.
昨晚交易结束的时候，多数大公司都称赞当天的活动取得了成功。
eg. At the close of the party there were few guests who weren't oiled.
宴会结束时，几乎没有人没喝醉。
4. in line with
（与…）一致；（与…）相符；
eg. The findings of their analysis are in line with these estimates.
他们的研究结果与这些预测一致。
eg. That isn't in line with my ideas at all.
那跟我的想法完全不一致。
5. exhort sb. to do sth.
规劝；劝诫；劝告某人做某事；
eg. Kennedy exhorted his listeners to turn away from violence.
肯尼迪劝诫听众远离暴力。
eg. He often exhorts Mary to work harder.
他经常勉励玛丽要更加努力工作。 |