偶像励志英语演讲 第116期:直面恐惧(3)

　　On spring days like today, it is traditional for us to ponder the steer¹ of the world all you are to help to make it a better place which implies things are somehow worse today, then we're up here where you are sitting right now. I'm not so sure the plan of the earth, it was shape, was thirty, no eighteen, no four years ago. That's not to say some better shape either. Refraining from waxing, steering² engine, comparing ours then to yours now, avoiding any talk of you kids these days, with your rap, your hip-hop, your snoopy dog, daddies with daddy pops, with your feety sects³, sending your quarter sense. A sober look shows that just as the world has gotten to be a better place after all, it has also grown a bit worse, at the exact same rate. One step up, one step back to the cosmic balance between forward progress and cultural trade, it puts mankind on a belt curve as an existence. It shows small segments of joy, ease, and comfort on equal proportion struggle on with little hope, when the fortune remains⁴, the either on the rise, on the winning, on this confounding tight so many damn things we grow oblivious⁵ to the shifts in the quality of our lives. Graduation day is a proper occasion to put a toe in the global waters, and I think the mercury shows that things are much as they always have been.
在今天的场合，照例该说些指点江山、勉励各位通过努力让世界变得更好的场面话。似乎是说现在的这个世界每况愈下，一代不如一代，我们来这里拯救世界。其实，跟三十年、十八年或四年前比起来，我并不觉得今天的世界变得更糟，只是，也没有变得更好。不提打蜡技术、蒸汽操舵装置，不拿我们那时候的和你们现在的比较，避免说一些你们现在的话题，你们的说唱乐，嘻哈乐，史努比狗狗，称daddy为pop……不过冷静地观察一下，其实世界变得愈来愈好，但有些方面同时变得愈来愈糟。人类就是这样，前进一步倒退一步，永远沿曲线前进。经过适当的拼搏，它带来短时间的幸福、轻松和舒适。当运气还在，但既不上升也不能让我们获得成功，这个混淆的世界有太多的事情，让我们察觉不到我们生活质量的改变。毕业时正是我们可以在国际大形势下一试身手的时候，我认为事物还是他们一直以来的样子。
重点讲解：
1. refrain from
克制；忍住；
eg. Please refrain from smoking.
请勿吸烟。
eg. It may be wise to keep your opinions and refrain from criticizing everyone around you.
最好不要发表看法，尽量克制住，不要批评身边的人。
2. compare to
与……相比；
eg. I can only compare the experience to falling in love.
我只能把这段经历比作坠入爱河。
eg. What Bill made at his job is peanut compare to what paul made as an actor.
比尔工作所得和保罗当演员的收入相比是微不足道的。
3. struggle on
勉力维持；在困难中坚持；
eg. The rest of the world struggles on with its perpetual problems, poverty and debt.
世界上其他国家仍在苦苦同永恒的贫困和债务问题作斗争。
eg. Only those who struggle on can achieve success.
只有那些克服困难坚持下来的人们才能取得成功。

1 steer   

vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶

参考例句：

• If you push the car, I'll steer it.如果你来推车，我就来驾车。
• It's no use trying to steer the boy into a course of action that suits you.想说服这孩子按你的方式行事是徒劳的。

2 steering   

n.操舵装置

参考例句：

• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration. 他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。
• Steering according to the wind, he also framed his words more amicably. 他真会看风使舵，口吻也马上变得温和了。

3 sects   

n.宗派，教派( sect的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Members of these sects are ruthlessly persecuted and suppressed. 这些教派的成员遭到了残酷的迫害和镇压。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He had subdued the religious sects, cleaned up Saigon. 他压服了宗教派别，刷新了西贡的面貌。 来自辞典例句

4 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

5 oblivious   

adj.易忘的，遗忘的，忘却的，健忘的

参考例句：

• Mother has become quite oblivious after the illness.这次病后，妈妈变得特别健忘。
• He was quite oblivious of the danger.他完全没有察觉到危险。