公众人物毕业演讲(MP3+字幕)第83期:米歇尔奥巴马迪拉德大学(9)
毕业生们
I hope that you understand that this day is not just the culmination of your own dreams
我希望你们理解 今天并不只是你们自己梦想的实现
but the realization of the dreams of so many who came before you
今天同时也是很多前人梦想的实现
And you should be so proud, and so happy, and so excited about your futures
你们应当对自己的未来感到自豪 高兴和激动
But what you shouldn't be is satisfied
但你们不能够就此满足
See, because
原因在于
while it is a wonderful thing that all of you are here today
没错 你们今天都取得了很棒的成就
we have to ask ourselves
但你们需要想想
what about all those geniuses who never get this chance
那些没能得到这种机会的人们
I'm talking about the young people from right here in New Orleans
我说的是新奥尔良以及全国范围内
and across the country who aren't part of a commencement like this one today
没有机会参加这种毕业典礼的年轻人
kids no different from all of us, kids who never made it out of high school
他们很多人同我们一样 但却没有成功读上大学
The fact is that today, the high school graduation rate for black students is improving
现如今 黑人学生的高中毕业率正在改善
but it is still lower than just about any other group in this country
但相比国内其它群体仍然较低
And while college graduation rates have risen for nearly every other demographic
尽管所有群体的大学毕业率数字都在提高
including African American women
包括非裔美国女性
the college graduation rate for African American men has flatlined
但非裔美国男性的大学毕业率却仅与之前持平
See, and the thing is, when our young people fall behind like that in school
年轻人一旦在学校里落后
they fall behind in life
就会在生活中落后
Last year, African Americans were more than twice as likely as whites to be unemployed
去年 非裔美国人的失业率比白人高一倍有余
They were almost three times as likely to live in poverty
贫困率是白人的三倍
And they were far more likely to end up in prison or be the victims of violent crimes
成为暴力犯罪受害者或罪犯的比率也比白人高很多
