has avoided failure -- sometimes catastrophic failures. But they keep at it. They learn from mistakes. They don’t quit.
我的最后一点建议--这很简单，但可能是最重要的一点：坚持不懈。坚持不懈。有价值的事物得之不易。没有一个有成就的人能够避免失败--有时甚至是一败涂地。可是他们坚持不懈，从错误中学习。他们绝不放弃。
You know, when I first arrived on this campus, it was with little money, fewer options. But it was here that I tried to find my place in this world. I knew I wanted to make a difference, but it was vague how in fact I’d go about it. (Laughter.) But I wanted to do my part to do my part to shape a better world.
你们知道，我刚到这个校园时，没多少钱，更没多少选择。但正是在这里，我试图寻找我在这个世界上的立足之地。我知道我想有所作为，但却不清楚如何去做。(笑声)可我想尽自己的力量去建设一个更美好的世界。
So even as I worked after graduation in a few unfulfilling jobs here in New York -- I will not list them all -- (laughter) -- even as I went from motley apartment to motley apartment, I reached out. I started to write letters to community organizations all across the country. And one day, a small group of churches on the South Side of Chicago answered, offering me work with people in neighborhoods hit hard by steel mills that were shutting down and communities where jobs were dying away.
因此，即使当我毕业后在纽约从事几份没有成就感的工作的时候——我不会一 一列举——(笑声)——即使在我搬出一间杂乱的公寓又搬到另一间同样杂乱的公寓的时候，我也在努力求索。我开始给全国各地的社区组织写信。有一天，芝加哥南区的一个小型教会组织回了信，给了我一份为当地居民服务的工作，他们那里的钢厂停业使他们受到沉重打击，那里的就业机会也一天天消失。 The community had been plagued by gang violence, so once I arrived, one of the first things we tried to do was to mobilize a meeting with community leaders to deal with gangs. And I’d worked for weeks on this project. We invited the police; we made phone calls; we went to churches; we passed out flyers. The night of the meeting we arranged rows and rows of chairs in anticipation of this crowd. And we waited, and we waited. And finally, a group of older folks walked in to the hall and they sat down. And this little old lady raised her hand and asked, “Is this where the bingo game is?” (Laughter.) It was a disaster. Nobody showed up. My first big community meeting -- nobody showed up.
当地社区一直被帮派暴力所扰，所以我一到那里，我们争取做的第一件事情就是与社区领袖开会商量应对帮派的对策。我为这项工作忙了好几个星期。我们邀请了警察;我们打了电话，我们去了教堂;我们散发了传单。要开会的那天晚上，我
们排好了一排排椅子，以为会有一大群人到会。我们等啊等。最后，一 群老人走进大厅，然后坐下来。有一位瘦小的老太太举起了手，问道：“宾果游戏是在这里吗?”(笑声)真是糟糕透了。没有人来。我的第一个社区大会——没有人到场。
And later, the volunteers I worked with told me, that's it; we’re quitting. They'd been doing this for two years even before I had arrived. They had nothing to show for it. And I’ll be honest, I felt pretty discouraged as well. I didn't know what I was doing. I thought about quitting. And as we were talking, I looked outside and saw some young boys playing in a vacant lot across the street. And they were just throwing rocks up at a boarded building. They had nothing better to do -- late at night, just throwing rocks. And I said to the volunteers, “Before you quit, answer one question. What will happen to those boys if you quit? Who will fight for them if we don’t? Who will give them a fair shot if we leave? 后来，和我一起工作的志愿人员对我说，够了，我们不干了。他们在我来之前已经干了两年之久。他们觉得没有任何成就可言。说实话，我也感到相当气馁 。我不知道我在做什么。我想过不干了。当我们交谈的时候，我往外边看了看，看到一群年轻的男孩在马路对面的空地上玩耍。他们正对着一座用板子钉起来的建筑物投掷石块。他们百无聊赖——在深夜，扔石头玩。我对那些志愿人员说：“在你们退出之前，先回答一个问题。如果你们不干了那些男孩会怎么样?如果我们不为他们着想，还有谁会为他们奋斗呢?如果我们走了，还有谁会给他们一个公平的机会呢?
And one by one, the volunteers decided not to quit. We went back to those neighborhoods and we kept at it. We registered new voters, and we set up after-school programs, and we fought for new jobs, and helped people live lives with some measure of dignity. And we sustained ourselves with those small victories. We didn’t set the world on fire. Some of those
communities are still very poor. There are still a lot of gangs out there. But I believe that it was those small victories that helped me win the bigger victories of my last three and a half years as President. 志愿者们一个接一个地决定不放弃。我们回到那些街区，继续坚持工作。我们给新选民登记，我们安排课后活动，我们争取新的就业机会，并帮助人们活得更有尊严。我们用那些小小的胜利鼓励自己。我们并没有做什么惊天动地的事。这些社区中有一些仍然很贫穷。那里仍然有很多的帮派出没。但我相信，就是这些小小的胜利帮助我在这三年半里作为总统赢得了更大的胜利。
And I wish I could say that this perseverance came from some innate toughness in me. But the truth is, it was learned. I got it from watching the people who raised me. More specifically, I got it from watching the women who shaped my life.
我希望我能说这种执着源于我与生俱来的某种毅力。但事实是，这是后天学到的。我是从养育我的人身上学到的。更具体地说，我是从影响了我的生活的那些女性身上学到的。
I grew up as the son of a single mom who struggled to put herself through school and make ends meet. She had marriages that fell apart; even went on food stamps at one point to help us get by. But she didn’t quit. And she earned her degree, and made sure that through scholarships and hard work, my sister and I earned ours. She used to wake me up when we were living overseas -- wake me up before dawn to study my English lessons. And when I’d complain, she’d just look at me and say, “This is no picnic for me either, buster.” (Laughter.)
我是一个单身母亲的儿子，她含辛茹苦，在努力维持家庭生计的同时完成学业。她有过破碎的婚姻，甚至一度靠领取食品劵勉强养家度日。但她没有放弃。她获得了学位，并确保我和我妹妹能依靠奖学金和辛勤努力来获得我们的学位。当我们在海外生活时，她常常叫我起床——天不亮就起床，学习英语课程。当我抱怨时，她就会看着我说：“小子，这对我也并不轻松。”(笑声)
And my mom ended up dedicating herself to helping women around the world access the money they needed to start their own businesses -- she was an early pioneer in microfinance. And that meant, though, that she was gone a lot, and she had her own struggles trying to figure out balancing motherhood and a career. And when she was gone, my grandmother stepped up to take care of me.
我的母亲最终完全投入到帮助世界各地妇女获得创业所需资金的工作中——她是微型信贷的一个先驱。但这意味着她经常不在家，而且她有着自身的挣扎，要努力在做母亲和发展事业之间找到平衡。她不在家时，我的外祖母承担起照顾我的责任。
She only had a high school education. She got a job at a local bank. She hit the glass ceiling, and watched men she once trained promoted up the ladder ahead of her. But she didn’t quit. Rather than grow hard or angry each time she got passed over, she kept doing her job as best as she knew how, and ultimately ended up being vice president at the bank. She didn’t quit.
她仅受过高中教育。她在当地银行找到一份工作，她遇到了事业上的玻璃天花板，眼看着她曾经培训过的男人晋升到比她更高的级别。但她没有退却。她没有因一次次机会旁落而变得冷漠或愤怒，而是继续尽自己最大努力做好工作，最终她成为银行的副总裁。她没有退却。
And later on, I met a woman who was assigned to advise me on my first summer job at a law firm. And she gave me such good advice that I married her.
(Laughter.) And Michelle and I gave everything we had to balance our careers and a young family. But let’s face it, no matter how enlightened I must have thought myself to be, it often fell more on her shoulders when I was traveling, when I was away. I know that when she was with our girls, she’d feel guilty that she wasn’t giving enough time to her work, and when she was at her work, she’d feel guilty she wasn’t giving enough time to our girls. And both of us wished we had some superpower that would let us be in two places at once. But we persisted. We made that marriage work.
后来，我遇到一位女性，她被派来担任我在一家律师事务所从事的第一份暑期工作的指导。她对我的指导如此之好，以致于我娶了她。(笑声)米歇尔和我竭尽全力在发展事业与照顾幼小的孩子之间找到平衡。但是说实话，不管我当时可能认为自己是多么开通，在我外出旅行时，在我不在家时，家事往往更多地落在她的肩上。我知道，在照顾我们的两个女儿时，她为没有在工作上付出足够时间感到内疚;而当她上班时，又为没有给孩子足够的时间感到内疚。我们俩都唯愿我们有某种超人的能力，使我们能够两者兼顾。但我们坚持住了，我们的努力保证了婚姻的成功。
And the reason Michelle had the strength to juggle everything, and put up with me and eventually the public spotlight, was because she, too, came from a family of folks who didn’t quit -- because she saw her dad get up and go to work every day even though he never finished college, even though he had crippling MS. She saw her mother, even though she never finished college, in that school, that urban school, every day making sure Michelle and her brother were getting the education they deserved. Michelle saw how her parents never quit. They never indulged in self-pity, no matter how stacked the odds were against them. They didn't quit. 米歇尔之所以能够坚强地招架一切并忍受我，而且最终忍受公众聚光，是因为她同样来自一个不轻易退却的家庭——因为她看到她的父亲每天一大早起来去上班，尽管他从未念完大学，尽管他患有影响行动的多发性硬化症。她看到，尽管她的母亲从未念完大学，但在那个学校，那个贫民区的学校，她每天都确保米歇尔和她的哥哥受到他们应该得到的教育。米歇尔看到她的父母从不放弃。他们从不沉溺于自怜，不管他们面临多么不利的境况。他们从不放弃。
Those are the folks who inspire me. People ask me sometimes, who inspires you, Mr. President? Those quiet heroes all across this country -- some of your parents and grandparents who are sitting here -- no fanfare, no articles written about them, they just persevere. They just do their jobs. They meet their responsibilities. They don't quit. I'm only here because of them. They may not have set out to change the world, but in small, important ways, they did. They certainly changed mine.
正是这些人激励着我。人们有时问我，总统先生，是谁激励着你?是这个国家各地那些默默耕耘的英雄——今天在座的你们一些人的父母和祖父母——他们不张扬，没有文章报道他们，他们只是坚持不懈。他们只是做好本职工作。他们履行自己的责任。他们不放弃。正是因为有他们我才站到这里。他们或许并没有从一开始就要改变世界，但他们以一点一滴的重要方式，改变了世界。他们无疑改变了我的世界。
So whether it’s starting a business, or running for office, or raising an amazing family, remember that making your mark on the world is hard. It takes patience. It takes commitment. It comes with plenty of setbacks and it comes with plenty of failures.
因此，无论是创办一家企业、 竞选公职、还是抚养一个美好的家庭，请记住：要在这个世界上留下你的影响不是一件轻而易举的事情。它需要耐心。它需要投入。随之而来的是大量挫折，以及无数次的失败。
But whenever you feel that creeping cynicism, whenever you hear those voices say you can’t make a difference, whenever somebody tells you to set your sights lower -- the trajectory of this country should give you hope. Previous generations should give you hope. What young generations have done before should give you hope. Young folks who marched and mobilized and stood up and sat in, from Seneca Falls to Selma to Stonewall, didn’t just do it for themselves; they did it for other people. (Applause.)
但每当你感觉到那种迎面扑来的冷嘲热讽，每当你听到人们说你无法改变现状，每当有人告诉你要苟且偷生——这个国家走过的道路应该给你带来希望。前几代人的经历应该给你带来希望。在你之前的一代又一代年轻人做过的一切应该给你带来希望。无论是在塞尼卡福尔斯还是在塞尔玛或是在石墙，当时那些参加游行、动员起来、挺身而出、进行静坐的年轻人，他们不仅仅是为自己这样做 ;他们这样做是为了别人。(掌声)
That’s how we achieved women’s rights. That's how we achieved voting rights. That's how we achieved workers’ rights. That's how we achieved gay rights. (Applause.) That’s how we’ve made this Union more perfect. (Applause.)
就是这样，我们获得了妇女权利;就是这样，我们获得了选举权;就是这样，我们获得了工人权利;就是这样，我们获得了同性恋权利。(掌声)就是这样，我们使我们的合众国更趋完美。(掌声)
And if you’re willing to do your part now, if you're willing to reach up and close that gap between what America is and what America should be, I want you to know that I will be right there with you. (Applause.) If you are ready to fight for that brilliant, radically simple idea of America
that no matter who you are or what you look like, no matter who you love or what God you worship, you can still pursue your own happiness, I will join you every step of the way. (Applause.)
如果你们愿意现在就来尽你们的职责，如果你们愿意竭尽所能缩小美国现状与理想之间的差距，我想让你们知道：我会与你们站在一起。(掌声)。不管你是谁、不管你的外貌如何、不管你爱的是谁或敬拜什么样的神，你仍然可以追求自己的幸福——如果你准备为美国实现这个十分简单却又非常美好的想法而奋斗，我会在前进的道路上与你并肩迈出每一步。(掌声)
Now more than ever -- now more than ever, America needs what you, the Class of 2012, has to offer. America needs you to reach high and hope deeply. And if you fight for your seat at the table, and you set a better example, and you persevere in what you decide to do with your life, I have every faith not only that you will succeed, but that, through you, our nation will continue to be a beacon of light for men and women, boys and girls, in every corner of the globe.
与以往任何时候相比——与以往任何时候相比，现在美国都更需要你们——2012届的同学们——所能贡献的一切。美国需要你们高瞻远瞩、胸怀大志。如果你们为争取自己的发言权而奋斗，树立一个更好的榜样，坚持做你们一生中立志要做的事情，我坚信，不仅你们会取得成功，而且由于你们的努力，我们的国家将继续是为全球每一个角落的男人和女人、男孩和女孩照耀航程的灯塔。
So thank you. Congratulations. (Applause.) God bless you. God bless the United States of America. (Applause.)
因此，谢谢大家。向你们祝贺。(掌声)上帝保佑你们。上帝保佑美利坚合众国。(掌声)