名人励志英语演讲 第5期:梦想与责任(5)

 　　I know it's not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges¹ in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus² on your schoolwork.

　　我知道要做到学业优秀并非易事。我知道你们许多人在生活中面临挑战，难以集中精力学习。

　　I get it. I know what it's like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mom who had to work and who struggled³ at times to pay the bills and wasn't always able to give us the things that other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and I felt like I didn't fit in.

　　我明白这一点。我有亲身感受。我两岁时，父亲离家而去，我是由单身母亲抚养成人的，母亲不得不工作，并时常为支付生活费用而苦苦挣扎，但有时仍无法为我们提供其他孩子享有的东西。有时候，我渴望生活中能有一位父亲。有时候我感到孤独，感到自己不适应社会。

　　So I wasn't always as focused⁴ as I should have been on school, and I did some things I'm not proud of, and I got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse.

　　我并非总是像我应该做到的那样专心学习，我也曾做过一些我如今不能引以为豪的事情，我曾惹过不少不应该惹的麻烦。我的人生原本会轻易陷入更糟糕的境地。

　　But I was—I was lucky. I got a lot of second chances, and I had the opportunity⁵ to go to college and law school and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, she has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn't have a lot of money. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.

　　但是，我很...我很幸运。我有过许多第二次机会，我有机会上大学，上法学院，追求自己的理想。我的妻子，我们的第一夫人米歇尔·奥巴马，她也有类似的经历。她的父母都未曾上过大学，他们没有多少钱。但他们非常勤奋，她也是如此，因此她得以进入美国一些最好的学校。

　　Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don't have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job and there's not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don't feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring⁶ you to do things you know aren't right.

　　你们中有一些人可能没有那些有利条件。或许你们生活中没有成年人为你们提供所需要的支持。或许你们家中有人失业，经济非常拮据。或许你们生活在使你们感觉不安全的社区，或有朋友逼迫你们去做你们知道不对的事情。

　　名人家庭

　　福布斯发布2012全球最有权势15对夫妻眷侣，米歇尔与巴拉克·奥巴马排名第三。作为全球第一大经济体——美国国内生产总值(GDP)高达15.3万亿美元，人口也达到3.13亿，排行世界第三的总统和第一夫人，奥巴马夫妇是全球知名度最高的夫妻搭档之一。

　　奥巴马1992年与他在哈佛大学的同学米歇尔·罗宾森（米歇尔·奥巴马）结婚，育有两个女儿。像许多普通已婚男性一样，他也喜欢在妻子入睡后熬夜上网和看电视。 据奥巴马透露，他喜欢在晚上10点左右妻子米歇尔入睡后享受一点儿“私人时光”。他当然不会离开家，但是会熬夜上网“冲浪”、观看电视转播的体育比赛、看书，或者给其它时区的外国领导人打电话，直到凌晨1点左右才睡觉。他每天早晨7点起床，然后在健身房里待1小时，因为“人必须经常锻炼，否则就会搞垮自己的身体”。 在白宫里他和米歇尔最喜欢的地方是杜鲁门阳台，他们经常在那里度过夜间时光。

　　奥巴马祖籍肯尼亚，是美国历史上第一位具有黑人血统的总统（据传美国第29任总统哈定有1\16的黑人血统，故有争议）。当然，美国社会对黑人和其他有色人种的种族歧视，至今仍然存在，解决种族歧视依然任重道远。事实上，奥巴马并没有像很多美国黑人奴隶的后裔一样在很多城市的贫民窟长大。他小时候是由他的白人外祖父母抚养，他的童年中有很长时间是在印度尼西亚度过的。因此他的思维方式和美国白人或亚洲人比较接近。奥巴马的父亲老奥巴马是肯尼亚的黑人穆斯林，母亲安·邓纳姆是美国一名白人女教师。两人婚姻没有维持多久，只生下奥巴马一个孩子。后来奥巴马随母亲与继父在印度尼西亚生活4年。

1 challenges   

n.挑战( challenge的名词复数 )；要求；（警卫等）查问口令；怀疑

参考例句：

• Many challenges, abroad and at home, have arrived in a single season. 国内和国外的众多挑战出现在同一个时刻。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• The new democracies face tough challenges. 这些新兴的民主国家面临着严峻挑战。 来自辞典例句

2 focus   

n.焦点，焦距；vi.聚焦，注视；vt.使聚焦，调焦，集中

参考例句：

• She was the focus of everyone's attention.她是大家注意的焦点。
• The noise made it hard for me to focus on work.噪音让我无法集中注意力工作。

3 struggled   

v.搏斗( struggle的过去式和过去分词 )；奋斗；努力；争取

参考例句：

• She struggled to articulate her thoughts. 她竭力表明她的想法。
• I struggled to regain some dignity. 我努力恢复自己的一点儿尊严。

4 focused   

adj.聚焦的v.（使）集中， （使）聚集( focus的过去式和过去分词 )；调整（镜头，眼睛）焦点[焦距]以便看清；（光、声等的）焦点；集中（光束于）

参考例句：

• Research has focused on improving the car's aerodynamics. 研究的重点是改善轿车的流线型。
• The discussion focused on three main problems. 讨论集中在三个主要问题上。

5 opportunity   

n.机会；时机

参考例句：

• It's a pity that Mike passed up such a good opportunity.迈克错过了这么好的一个机会,真是可惜。
• I love the country,but I have less opportunity of seeing it.我热爱乡村,但我几乎没有机会见到它。

6 pressuring   

参考例句：

• Every state, every city in the country, is pressuring Washington, demanding a share. 国内每一个州、每一座城市都在向华盛顿施加压力，都要求分到一份。 来自辞典例句
• It's just a question of waiting and pressuring the player. 现在我们要做的就是减轻球员的负担并且耐心等待。 来自互联网