And I want to say to you today, graduates, Class of 2009, that despite having achieved a remarkable milestone in your life, despite the fact that you and your families are so rightfully proud, you too cannot rest on your laurels. You can，t rest. For we gather here tonight in times of extraordinary difficulty, for the nation and for the world. For many of you, these challenges are also felt in more personal terms. Perhaps you，re still looking for a job—or struggling to figure out what career path makes sense in this disrupted economy.

今天，我想告訴你們，2009屆的畢業生們，雖然你們取得了生命中一個重要的 里程碑，雖然你和你們的家人都理應為此感到自豪，你們卻不能依賴過去的榮譽， 不能停滯不前。因為今晚我們聚集在這里，面對的是一個困難重重的時期，不管是 對美國還是整個世界來說，都是如此。對于你們許多人來說，這些挑戰也和你們息 息相關，也許你還在找工作，也許你還在苦苦思考在這個經濟破敗的時期，從事什 么職業才比較有意義。

Now, in the face of these challenges, it may be tempting to fall back on the formulas for success that have been pedaled l) so frequently in recent years. It goes something like this: You’re taught to chase after all the usual brass rings; you try to be on this “who's who” list or that top 100 list; you chase after the big money and you figure out how big your corner office is; you worry about whether you have a fancy enough title or a fancy enough car. That’s the message that’s sent each and every day, or has been in our culture for far too long—that through material possessions, through a ruthless competition pursued only on your own behalf~ that’s how you will measure success.

現在，面對這些挑戰，你們很容易落入最近幾年很是流行的成功秘訣的俗套， 這個套路大概是這樣的：你所被灌輸的思想讓你追名逐利，你想方設法要進人“名 人錄”或者“100強”；你一門心思要賺大錢，想象著自己的高級辦公室該有多大；你擔心自己沒有一個足夠響亮的頭銜或一輛足夠炫目的轎車。這就是我們日復一曰 收到的信息,它巳根植于我們的文化土壤之中，那就是衡量成功與否的標準就是通 過物質財富的占有和僅僅為了一己之私而進行的無情競爭。

Now, you can take that road—and it may work for some. But at this critical juncture in our nation’s history, at this difficult time, let me suggest that such an approach won’t get you where you want to go; it displays a poverty of ambition~ that in fact, the elevation of appearance over substance, of celebrity over character， of short-term gain over lasting achievement is precisely what your generation needs to help end.

當然，你可以走這條路，它對大多數人來說是走得通的。但是，在國家歷史上 這個關鍵時刻，在這個困難時期，我要說，這條路無法帶你走到目的地，它只能表 明你缺乏進取之心。事實上，重表面而輕實質，重名氣而輕品質，重短期利益而輕 長遠成就，你們這代人要摒棄這種風氣。

Now，ASU, I want to highlight two main problems with that old, tired, me-first approach. First, it distracts you from what’s truly important, and may lead you to compromise your values and your principles and commitments. The second problem with the old approach to success is that a relentless focus on the outward markers of success can lead to complacency. It can make you lazy. We too often let the external, the material things serve as indicators that we’re doing well, even though something inside us tells us that weJre not doing our best; that we’re avoiding that which is hard, but also necessary; that we're shrinking from, rather than rising to, the challenges of the age. And the thing is, in this new, hyper-competitive age，none of us—none of us—can afford to be complacent.

各位亞利桑那大學的同學們，現在，我想就這種過時的、陳腐的、以自我為中 心的人生觀再強調兩點。首先，它讓你無法分清什么才是真正重要的東西，而且會 讓你在價值觀、做人原則和責任心面前妥協。關于成功的陳腐人生觀的第二個問題 就是：過多地看重成功的外在標記會使人驕傲自滿。它會使你變得懶惰。我們過多地把那些外在的、物質的東西看成是我們取得成績的標記，雖然我們內心明白我們 并沒有盡力；我們避難就易，繞開那些必須去做的工作；面對時代的挑戰，我們沒 有奮起迎接，而是猶豫畏縮。問題是，在這個高度競爭的新時代，我們中沒有任何 人——沒有任何人能夠付得起自滿的代價。

So graduates, it's now abundantly clear that we need to start doing things a little bit different. In your own lives, you’ll need to continuously adapt to a continuously changing economy. You’ll end up having more than one job and more than one career over the course of your life; to keep gaining new skills—possibly even new degrees; and you’ll have to keep on taking risks as new opportunities arise.

因此，畢業生們，顯而易見我們需要稍微改變一下做事方式了。就個人的生活 而言，你們需要不停地適應一個時刻在改變的經濟環境。你們一生中可能會從事不 止一種工作或者一種事業；你們會不停地獲得新的技能甚至新的學位；隨著新的機 遇的出現，你們還會不停地冒險。

Many of our current challenges are unprecedented. We need young people like you to step up. And let me be clear, when I say “young", I'm not just referring to the date of your birth certificate. I'm talking about an approach to life—a quality of mind and quality of heart; a willingness to follow your passions, regardless of whether they lead to fortune and fame; a willingness to question conventional wisdom and rethink old dogmas; a lack of regard for all the traditional markers of status and prestige—and a commitment instead to doing whafs meaningful to you, what helps others, what makes a difference in this world.

我們目前面臨著許多前所未有的挑戰。我們需要你們這樣的年輕人行動起來。 請允許我澄清一下，我所說的“年輕”，并不是指你們出生證明上的日期。我所談的是一種生活態度--種精神和心靈的狀況；“年輕”的人愿意追隨自己的激情

That’s the spirit that led a band of patriots not much older than most of you to take on an empire, to start this experiment in democracy we call America. It's what drove young pioneers west, to Arizona and beyond; it’s what drove young women to reach for the ballot ; what inspired a 30 year-old escaped slave to run an underground railroads to freedom; what inspired a young man named Cesar to go out and help farm workers; what inspired a 26 year-old preacher  to lead a bus boycott for justice. It’s what led firefighters and police officers in the prime of their lives up the stairs of those burning towers; and young people across this country to drop what they were doing and come to the aid of a flooded New Orleans. It’s what led two guys in a garage—named Hewlett and Packardll—to form a company that would change the way we live and work; what led scientists in laboratories, and novelists in coffee shops to labor in obscurity  until they finally succeeded in changing the way we see the world.

而不在乎它是否能帶來名和利；“年輕”的人愿意質疑傳統的價值觀，重新思考陳 腐過時的教條；蔑視所有代表名聲、地位的傳統標志，轉而投身于對自己有意義的事業，以此來幫助他人，改變世界。

That’s the great American story: young people just like you，following their passions, determined to meet the times on their own terms. They weren’t doing it for the money. Their titles weren’t fancy~ex-slave，minister, student，citizen. A whole bunch of them didn’t get honorary degrees. But they changed the course of historyand so can you ASU, so can you Class of 2009. So can you.

正是這種精神，使一群愛國者向一個帝國叫板，開始了我們稱之為美國的民主 試驗，他們那時的年齡并不比你們中的絕大多數人大多少。正是這種精神，使年輕 的先驅者走向西部，走向亞利桑那和更遠的地方；正是這種精神，促使年輕的婦女 們爭取選舉權，促使一位30歲的黑奴通過“地下鐵路”組織逃向自由，促使一位名 叫塞薩爾的年輕人全力幫助農場工人，促使一位26歲的牧師為了正義發起了一場抵 制公共汽車的運動。也正是這種精神使得消防隊員和警察們在生命的黃金時期沖向 熊熊燃燒的雙子塔的樓梯；也使得全國的年輕人扔下手中的工作前來支援遭受洪災 的新奧爾良人。它使得兩個年輕人——休利特與帕卡德——在車庫中組建了一個公 司，并從此改變了我們生活和工作的方式；使得實驗室里的科學家們和在咖啡廳里 的小說家們默默無聞地工作，直到他們默默無聞地工作，直到最終成功地改變了我 們看待這個世界的方式。

You may look in the mirror tonight and you may see somebody who’s not really sure what to do with their lives. That’s what you may see, but a troubled child might look at you and see a mentor. A homebound senior citizen might see a lifeline. The folks at your local homeless shelter might see a friend. None of them care how much money is in your bank account, or whether you're important at work, or whether you，re famous around town一they just know that you're somebody who cares， somebody who makes a difference in their lives.

這就是偉大的美國故事：這些像你們一樣的年輕人，跟隨自己的熱情所制， 決意用自己的方式迎接時代的挑戰。他們這樣做不是為了金錢。他們沒有響亮的頭銜，他們是奴隸、牧師、學生、市民，他們中沒有一個人得到過榮譽學位，但他們 改變了歷史的進程。你們也可以，亞利桑那大學的同學們！你們也可以，2009屆的 畢業生們！你們也可以。

So Class of 2009，that’s what building a body of work is all about~it's about the daily labor, the many individual acts，the choices large and small that add up over time, over a lifetime, to a lasting legacy.

今晚照鏡子時，你在鏡中看到的人也許并不知道今后將要從事什么工作。或許 你自己是這么看的，但當一個迷茫的孩子看著你時，他或許把你當成良師益友；一 個困居家中的老人看到你時，看到的也許是生命的希望；你們當地收容所里那些無 家可歸的人看到的也許是一個朋友。他們不會去考慮你銀行賬戶里有多少錢，不會 考慮你在工作上是否擔當要職，或者你在鎮里是否很有名聲顯赫——他們只知道你 是一個關心他們的人，是一個改變他們生活的人。

And if you ever forget that, just look to history. Thomas Paine was a failed corset maker, a failed teacher, and a failed tax collector before he made his mark on history with a little book called Common Sense that helped ignite a revolution.

所以，2009屆的畢業生們，這才是打造生命之作的真實含義——它需要日常 的辛勤工作，需要眾多的個人行為，需要長期甚至是一生積累下來的大大小小的選 擇，它是我們留下的永久的遺產。

Julia Child   didn’t publish her first cookbook until she was almost 50. Colonel Sanders didn’t open up his first Kentucky Fried Chicken until he was in his 60s.

如果你忘了，就請回頭看看歷史。托馬斯?潘恩曾經是一個失敗的緊身衣裁縫， 一個失敗的老師，一個失敗的稅務員，但他最后卻名垂青史，他的那本名叫《常識》的小書引發了一場革命；朱莉婭?蔡爾德直到將近50歲時才出版了她的第一部烹 飪書；桑德斯上校直到60多歲才開辦了第一家肯德基餐廳。

Each of them, at one point in their life，didn’t have any title or much status to speak of. But they had passion, a commitment to following that passion wherever it would lead, and to working hard every step along the way.

他們中的每一個人，在生命中的某一時刻，都沒有響亮的頭銜和顯赫的地位值 得炫耀。但他們有激情，有追隨激情的決心，不管這激情把他們帶到哪里，他們每 一步工作都不辭辛苦，腳踏實地。

Acts of sacrifice and decency without regard to what’s in it for you一that also creates ripple effects —ones that lift up  families and communities; that spread opportunity and boost our economy; that reach folks in the forgotten corners of the world who，in committed young people like you, see the true face of America: our strength, our goodness, our diversity，our enduring power, our ideals.

正直無私的奉獻，從不考慮自己能從中得到什么，這種行為也會產生漣漪效 應，這種效應能鼓舞家庭和社會生活；能創造機遇，促進經濟繁榮；能影響那些 在世界上被人遺忘的角落里生活的人們，讓他們從你們這些具有奉獻精神的青年的 臉上看到美國真正的面貌——我們的力量，我們的美德，我們的多樣性，我們的耐 力，我們的理想

Congratulations, Class of 2009，on your graduation. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.
 

祝賀你們，2009屆的畢業生們！上帝保佑你們！上帝保佑美利堅合眾國。

更多 英語演講小短文、英文演講稿、英語演講稿 相關文章和資料，請繼續關注 英語作文大全