4.Commencement Address by Hilary Clinton at New York University
希拉里在纽约大学毕业典礼的演讲
As Secretary of State, I am well aware of the challenges that we face. You, as new graduates, and your generation will be up against those challenges: climate change and hunger, extreme poverty and extreme ideologies, new diseases and nuclear proliferation. But I am absolutely convinced that you and we are up to the task. There is no problem we face here in America or around the world that will not yield to human effort, to cooperation, to positive interdependence that makes clear humanity is going on, our challenges are ones that summon the best of us, and we will make the world better tomorrow than it is today.
作为国务卿，我十分清楚我们面临的各项挑战。作为新的毕业生，你们和你们这一代人将面对这样的挑战：气候变化和饥饿、赤贫和极端主义的意识形态、新的疾病和核扩散。但我深信，你们和我们能够胜任这样的任务。我们在美国和整个世界所面临的各种问题，都能够通过人们的努力、合作和积极的相互依赖得到解决，而这种相互依赖表明，人类社会正在继续前进。挑战将激发我们最好的一面，我们将把明天的世界变得比今天更加美好。
Now, I know that it is fashionable in commencement speeches to be idealistic, and that may sound so, but at the root of my conviction is a strong sense of reality. Because you see, I don’t think we have a choice. We can sit on the sidelines, we can wring our hands, we can retreat into cynicism, and we know what the results will be: We will cede the field to those whose ideologies are absolutely anathema to people of conscience and faith all over the world.
我知道，在毕业典礼上作理想化的演说是当前的时尚，我的讲话听起来也许很理想化，但我的信念深处有一种强烈的现实感。因为你们知道，我认为我们别无选择。我们可以袖手旁观，我们可以束手无策，我们可以采取悲观怀疑的态度，但我们知道这样做会产生什么样的结果：我们会把阵地拱手让给那些其意识形态为世界上所有有良知和信仰者所不齿的人。