演讲文本

And while we could always call home and

而当我们打电话回家

talk through the ups and downs of our lives with our parents

对父母讲起生活中的起起落落时

the truth is they couldn't give us a lot more than that

他们除了爱 无法给我们更多

They couldn't give us a lot of guidance when it came to choosing classes and professors

他们没能力指导我们 该选什么课 选哪位教授

or finding internships and jobs

或者找什么实习和工作

So when I first set foot on college, my campus

所以我踏上大学校园的第一天时

it was all a bit of a mystery to me

这一切对我都非常神秘

And honestly, in the back of my mind

老实说 在我的记忆深处

I couldn't shake the voices from some of the people at my high school who told me

我无法忘记有些高中同学对我说

that I could never make it at the school I'd chosen

我永远不可能从我所选报的学校顺利毕业

See, when I first set foot on campus

当我第一次踏入校园时

oh, it all seemed so big and overwhelming

学校看起来大得难以想象

I didn't even know where to start

我不知道从哪入手

how to pick out the right classes, how to even find the right buildings

怎么选正确的课程 甚至怎么找到正确的教学楼

So I began to think that maybe all those doubters might have been right

于是我开始考虑 这些怀疑者的说法也许是对的

I didn't even know how to furnish my own dorm room

我甚至不知道如何装饰自己的宿舍房间

I saw all these other kids

我看到所有其他这些孩子

moving in all sorts of couches and lamps and decorations for their rooms

搬来各种沙发 灯具 装饰品来扮靓房间

But when I unpacked my belongings

但当我打开我的行李

I realized that I didn't have the right sized sheets for my bed

我发现我连大小合适的床单都没有

Mine were way to short

我的床单太短了

So that first night I stretched the sheets down as far as they could go

于是第一晚 我尽我所能把床单拉长

and then I draped the covers over the foot of my bed

然后把被子盖到床的尾部

so when I crawled into bed, my legs were sticking out past the sheets

当我爬上床的时候 我的脚都会伸出到床单外

rubbing up against that cold plastic mattress

触碰到冰冷的塑料床垫上

And I slept that way for the entire freshman year

我整个大一都是这么睡觉的

But, when you come from a family like mine, that's what you do

但是 当你和我来自一样的家庭时 这就会是你的写照

You make the most of what you got

你必须尽最大限度使用你所拥有的东西

Yeah, you

对 你…

人物简介和演讲视频

人物简介

本视频是美国总统夫人米歇尔·奥巴马在东肯塔基大学2013年毕业典礼上的演讲。东肯塔基大学在美国以为退伍军人提供帮扶和大学教育而著名，并因此获得白宫的关注。米歇尔在东肯塔基大学的演讲围绕服务这一主题，鼓励毕业生秉承东肯塔基大学的传统服务精神。同时，她希望学生能与不同于自己的人多交流，敞开思想，这样才不至于会固执己见、陷入偏执。