【www.guakaob.com--演讲稿】
中国招生考试网www.chinazhaokao.com 小编为大家整理的相关的奥巴马演讲稿：我们为什么要上学（节选）供大家参考选择。Now, I’ve given a lot of speeches about education. And I’ve talked about responsibility a lot.
我做过许多关于教育的讲话，也常常用到“责任”这个词。
I’ve talked about teachers’ responsibility for inspiring students and pushing you to learn.
我谈到过教师们有责任激励和启迪你们，督促你们学习。
I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and you get your homework done, and don’t spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with the Xbox.
我谈到过家长们有责任看管你们认真学习、完成作业，不要成天只会看电视或打游戏机。
I’ve talked a lot about your government’s responsibility for setting high standards, and supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren’t working, where students aren’t getting the opportunities that they deserve.
我也很多次谈到过政府有责任设定高标准严要求、协助老师和校长们的工作，改变在有些学校里学生得不到应有的学习机会的现状。
But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, the best schools in the world -- and none of it will make a difference, none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities, unless you show up to those schools, unless you pay attention to those teachers, unless you listen to your parents and grandparents and other adults and put in the hard work it takes to succeed. That’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education.
但哪怕这一切都达到最好，哪怕我们有最尽职的教师、最好的家长、和最优秀的学校，假如你们不去履行自己的责任的话，那么这一切努力都会白费。——除非你每天准时去上学、除非你认真地听老师讲课、除非你把父母、长辈和其他大人们说的话放在心上、除非你肯付出成功所必需的努力，否则这一切都会失去意义。
I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself. Every single one of you has something that you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide.
而这就是我今天讲话的主题：对于自己的教育，你们中每一个人的责任。首先，我想谈谈你们对于自己有什么责任。你们中的每一个人都会有自己擅长的东西，每一个人都是有用之材，而发现自己的才能是什么，就是你们要对自己担起的责任。教育给你们提供了发现自己才能的机会。
Maybe you could be a great writer -- maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper -- but you might not know it until you write that English paper -- that English class paper that’s assigned to you. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor -- maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or the new medicine or vaccine -- but you might not know it until you do your project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a senator or a Supreme Court justice -- but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.
或许你能写出优美的文字——甚至有一天能让那些文字出现在书籍和报刊上——但假如不在英语课上经常练习写作，你不会发现自己有这样的天赋;或许你能成为一个发明家、创造家——甚至设计出像今天的iPhone一样流行的产品，或研制出新的药物与疫苗——但假如不在自然科学课程上做上几次实验，你不会知道自己有这样的天赋;或许你能成为一名议员或最高法院法官，但假如你不去加入什么学生会或参加几次辩论赛，你也不会发现自己的才能。
And no matter what you want to do with your life, I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You’re going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You cannot drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to train for it and work for it and learn for it.
而且，我可以向你保证，不管你将来想要做什么，你都需要相应的教育。——你想当名医生、当名教师或当名警官?你想成为护士、成为 建筑设计师、律师或军人?无论你选择哪一种职业，良好的教育都必不可少，这世上不存在不把书念完就能拿到好工作的美梦，任何工作，都需要你的汗水、训练与 学习。
And this isn’t just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. The future of America depends on you. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.
不仅仅对于你们个人的未来有重要意义，你们的教育如何也会对这个国家、乃至世界的未来产生重要影响。今天你们在学校中学 习的内容，将会决定我们整个国家在未来迎接重大挑战时的表现。
You’ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You’ll need the insights and critical-thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You’ll need the creativity andingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy.
你们需要在数理科学课程上学习的知识和技能，去治疗癌症、艾滋那样的疾病，和解决我们面临的能源问题与环境问题;你们需要在历史社科课程上培养出的观察力与判断力，来减轻和消除无家可归与贫困、犯罪问题和各种歧视，让这个国家变得更加公平和自由;你们需要在各类课程中逐渐累积和发展出来的创新意识和思维，去创业和建立新的公司与企业，来制造就业机会和推动经济的增长。
We need every single one of you to develop your talents and your skills and your intellect so you can help us old folks solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that -- if you quit on school -- you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country.
我们需要你们中的每一个人都培养和发展自己的天赋、技能和才智，来解决我们所面对的最困难的问题。假如你不这么做——假如你放弃学习——那么你不仅是放弃了自己，也是放弃了你的国家。
Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written yourdestiny for you, because here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future.
你的未来，并不取决于你现在的生活有多好或多坏。没有人为你编排好你的命运，在美国，你的命运由你自己书写，你的未来由你自己掌握。
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 teased or bullied 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，在今天，我号召你们每一个人都为自己的教育定下一个目标——并在之后，尽自己的一切努力去实现它。你的目标可以很简单，像是完成作业、认真听讲或每天阅读——或许你打算参加一些课外活动，或在社区做些志愿工作;或许你决定为那些因为长相或出身等等原因而受嘲弄或欺负的孩子做主、维护他们的权益，因为你和我一样，认为每个孩子都应该能有一个安全的学习环境;或许你认为该学着更好的照顾自己，来为将来的学习做准备……当然，除此之外，我希望你们都多多洗手、感到身体不舒服的时候要多在家休息，免得大家在秋冬感冒高发季节都得流感。
But whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it. I know that sometimes you get that sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star. Chances are you’re not going to be any of those things.
不管你决定做什么，我都希望你能坚持到底，希望你能真的下定决心。我知道有些时候，电视上播放的节目会让你产生这样那样的错觉，似乎你不需要付出多大的努力就能腰缠万贯、功成名就——你会认为只要会唱rap、会打篮球或参加个什么真人秀节目就能坐享其成，但现实是，你几乎没有可能走上其中任何一条道路。
The truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject that you study. You won’t click with every teacher that you have. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right at this minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.
因为，成功是件难事。你不可能对要读的每门课程都兴趣盎然，你不可能和每名带课教师都相处顺利，你也不可能每次都遇上看起来和现实生活有关的作业。而且，并不是每件事，你都能在头一次尝试时获得成功。
That’s okay. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures.
"但那没有关系。因为在这个世界上，最最成功的人们往往也经历过最多的失败。
These people succeeded because they understood that you can’t let your failures define you -- you have to let your failures teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently the next time. So if you get into trouble, that doesn’t mean you’re a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to act right. If you get a bad grade, that doesn’t mean you’re stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying.
他们的成功，源于他们明白人不能让失败左右自己——而是要从中吸取经验。从失败中，你可以明白下一次自己可以做出怎样的改变;假如你惹了什么麻烦，那并不 说明你就是个捣蛋贵，而是在提醒你，在将来要对自己有更严格的要求;假如你考了个低分，那并不说明你就比别人笨，而是在告诉你，自己得在学习上花更多的时间。
No one’s born being good at all things. You become good at things through hard work. You’re not avarsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don’t hit every note the first time you sing a song. You’ve got to practice. The same principle applies to your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right. You might have to read something a few times before you understand it. You definitely have to do a few drafts of a paper before it’s good enough to hand in.
没有哪一个人一生出来就擅长做什么事情的，只有努力才能培养出技能。任何人都不是在第一次接触一项体育运动时就成为校队的代表，任何人都不是在第一次唱一 首歌时就找准每一个音，一切都需要熟能生巧。对于学业也是一样，你或许要反复运算才能解出一道数学题的正确答案，你或许需要读一段文字好几遍才能理解它的意思，你或许得把论文改上好几次才能符合提交的标准。这都是很正常的。
Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength because it shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something, and that then allows you to learn something new. So find an adult that you trust -- a parent, a grandparent or teacher, a coach or a counselor -- and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals.
不要害怕提问。不要不敢向他人求助。——我每天都在这么做。求助并不是软弱的表现，恰恰相反，它说明你有勇气承认自己的不足、并愿意去学习新的知识。所以，有不懂时，就向大人们求助吧——找个你信得过的对象，例如父母、长辈、老师、教练或辅导员——让他们帮助你向目标前进。
Now, your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books and the equipment and the computers you need to learn. But you’ve got to do your part, too. So I expect all of you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don’t let us down. Don’t let your family down or your country down. Most of all, don’t let yourself down. Make us all proud.
你们的家长、你们的老师和我，每一个人都在尽最大的努力，确保你们都能得到应有的教育来回答这些问题。例如我正在努力为你们提供更安全的教室、更多的书籍、更先进的设施与计算机。但你们也要担起自己的责任。因此我要求你们在今年能够认真起来，我要求你们尽心地去做自己着手的每一件事，我要求你们每一个人都有所成就。请不要让我们失望——不要让你的家人、你的国家和你自己失望。你们要成为我们骄傲，我知道，你们一定可以做到。
Thank you very much, everybody. God bless you. God bless America. Thank you.
谢谢大家，上帝保佑你们，上帝保佑美国。