初中英语阅读拓展 名人励志演讲 当梦想来临时抓住它素材

当梦想来临时抓住它

Class of 2020! I don't think I hurt you. First I'd like you to get up, wave and cheer your supportive family and friends! I'm sure you can find them out there. Show your love!

09级的同学们，我不认为我想要伤害你们。首先我希望大家都站起来，向支持你们的亲朋好友挥手致意！我相信你们都能在人群中找到他们，把你们的爱表达出来吧！

It is a great honor for me to be here today.

今天我很荣幸来到这里。

Now wait a second. I know: that's such a cliche. You're thinking: every graduation speaker here said that--It's a great honor, in my case, it really is so deeply true--being here is more special and more personal for me than most of you know. I'd like to tell you why.

请等一下。我知道，刚才那句陈词滥调。你们可能在想：每位毕业典礼的演讲人都会说——很荣幸，但就我而言，的确字真意深——因为我来到这里，要比你们所知的大多数人都更为特别和亲切。我想告诉大家这其中的缘由。

A long time ago, in the cold September of 1962, there was a Steven's co-op at this very university. That co-op had a kitchen with a ceiling that had been cleaned by student volunteers probably every decade or so. Picture a college girl named Gloria, climbing up high on a ladder, struggling to clean that filthy ceiling. Standing on the floor, a young boarder named Carl was admiring the view. And that's how they met. They are my parents, so I suppose you could say I'm a direct result of that kitchen chemistry experiment, right here at Michigan. My Mom is here with us today, and we should probably go find the spot and put a plague up on the ceiling that wrote: “Thanks Mom and Dad!"

很久以前，1962年寒冷的9月，这座校园有一家史蒂文消费合作社。该合作社有一间厨房，那里的天花板由学生志愿者打扫，大概每十来年才一次吧。想象一下，画面上有位名叫格洛里亚的女大学生，爬上了高高的梯子，努力地打扫那脏兮兮的天花板。一位名叫卡尔的寄宿生站在地上，对此情景钦佩不已。这就是他俩的初次邂逅。他俩就是我的父母亲。所以我想你们会说，我就是这里，密歇根大学那个“厨房化学实验”的直接成果。我的母亲今

天和我们在一起，或许我们应该去找到他们相遇的地方，并且在天花板上镶嵌一块铭牌，上刻“感Everyone in my family went to school here at Michigan: me, my brother, my Mom and Dad--all of us. My Dad actually got the quantity discount: all three and a half of his degrees are from here. His Ph.D. was in Communication Science because they thought Computers were just a passing fad, when he earned it 44 years ago. He and Mom made a big sacrifice for that degree. They argued at times over pennies, while raising my newborn brother. Mom typed my Dad's dissertation by hand. That's ironic for a Communication Science dissertation. This velvet hood I'm wearing, this was my Dad's. And this diploma that I have here, just like the one you are about to get, that was my Dad's. And my underwear, that was... oh never mind.

我们家的所有成员都毕业于密歇根大学：我、我哥哥、我妈妈和爸爸——我们全家。事实上，我父亲得了大宗折扣：他在这里获得了三个半学位。他的博士学位是通信科学，因为他们认为计算机只是一时热门，他是在44年前获得的。他与我母亲为之做出了巨大牺牲。在抚养我刚出生的哥哥时，他俩经常因为缺钱而争吵。母亲用手敲出了父亲的论文，这对于通信科学论文来说具有讽刺意味。我戴的这顶天鹅绒帽是我父亲的。这张文凭，和你们即将拿到的一样，是我父亲的。还有我的内衣，也是……哦，不用说了。

My father's father worked in the Chevy plant in Flint, Michigan. He was an assembly line worker. He drove his two children here to Ann Arbor, and told them: This is where you're going to go to college. I know it sounds funny now. Both his kids actually did graduate from Michigan. That was the American dream. His daughter, Beverly, of course with us today.

我的祖父在密歇根州弗林特的雪佛兰汽车工厂工作，他是装配线上的一名工人。他曾开车把两个孩子送到安娜堡这儿，并告诉他们：这是你们今后要上的大学。我知道现在听起来很好笑。他的两个孩子也的确从密歇根大学毕业。这就是“美国梦”。他的女儿，贝芙丽，今天自然也和我们在一起。谢爸爸、妈妈！”

My Grandpa used to carry an "Alley Oop" hammer--a very iron pipe with a big hunk of lead melted on the end. The workers made them during the sit-down strikes to protect themselves. When I was growing up, we used that hammer whenever we needed to pound a stake or something into the gard. It is wonderful that most people don't need to carry a heavy blunt object for protection anymore. But just in case, my