Class of 2020, ‘You don't have to accept the world as it is'

2020年的毕业生们，你们不必接受世界本来的样子

Given the ongoingcovid-19 pandemic, schools across the country have canceled their in-person commencement exercises. To celebrate the graduates whose final years of school have been upended , former first lady Michelle Obama and former president Barack Obama are taking part in a YouTube special. This is President Obama's address to the Class of 2020. 

Language Point:

【ongoing】continuing to exist or develop 持续存在的；仍在进行的；不断发展的

【pandemic】a disease that spreads over a whole country or the whole world （全国或全球性）流行病；大流行病。区别于【epidemic】a large number of cases of a particular disease happening at the same time in a particular community 流行病

【in person】if you do sth in person, you go somewhere and do it yourself, instead of doing it by letter, asking sb else to do it, etc. 亲自；亲身；in-person 亲自的，亲身的；本人的，现场的，实况的.

【commencement exercises】毕业典礼、学位授予典礼

【commence】to begin/to happen; to begin sth 开始发生；开始；着手

【upend】to turn sb/sth upside down 翻倒；倒放；使颠倒；

【take part in】be involved in/participate,参与

鉴于covid-19疫情的持续，美国各地的学校都取消了他们的毕业典礼活动。前第一夫人米歇尔·奥巴马和前总统巴拉克·奥巴马在YouTube上举办了一场特别节目，庆祝毕业生最后一个学年的毕业典礼活动被颠覆。这是奥巴马总统对2020届毕业生的演讲。

Congratulations to the Class of 2020! Some of you have graduated already; some of you still have finals; all of you should be very proud.

Language Point:

【finals】the last exams taken by university students at the end of their final year 大学毕业考试to sit/take your finals

祝贺2020届的毕业生们!有些人已经毕业了;有些人还有期末考试;你们所有人都应该感到非常自豪。

Graduation is a big achievement under any circumstances. Yours comes as the world is turned upside downby a pandemic, and by a country that has been swept up by protest.

Language Point:

【upside down】in or into a position in which the top of sth is where the bottom is normally found and the bottom is where the top is normally found 颠倒；倒转；翻转

【turn sth upside down】1. to make a place untidy when looking for sth 把…翻得乱七八糟；使凌乱不堪2. to cause large changes and confusion in a person's life 给（某人生活）造成大的变化（或混乱）

【sweep up】 1.扫除，清扫；扫去，掸去(灰尘等)：After the party,I will have to stay and clean up.聚会结束之后，我得留下来打扫卫生。2.扫集；吹集：Wind swept the snow up into a mound.风把雪吹集成了一堆。3.飞快地抱起：to sweep one's cat up飞快地抱起爱猫

在任何情况下，毕业都是一个很大的成就。你们的到来正值世界被一场大流行病和一个被抗议席卷的国家搞得天翻地覆。

I can barely imagine how head-spinningthese last few months have been for you. Just as winter was thawingand you were thinking about spring break, those of you who were away at college were either whisked home or stayed behind on a shutteredcampus. Most of you had to finish semesters online — which had its ups and downs. You didn't have to worry about what you wore to class, but watching your teachers and professors try to work Zoom wasn't always pretty either. Either way, none of this is how any of you imagined finishing your final spring at school.

Language Point:

【head-spinning】confused 晕头转向的

【thaw】of ice and snow (冰雪) to turn back into water after being frozen （结冰后）解冻，融化，融解,关系缓和，变暖

【whisk】1. to mix liquids, eggs, etc. into a stiff light mass, using a fork or special tool 搅打，搅动（液体、鸡蛋等），打蛋器/搅拌器2. to take sb/sth somewhere very quickly and suddenly 匆匆带走；迅速送走

【shutter】百叶窗，shuttered 关闭的， ˌbring/ˌput down the shuttersto stop letting sb know what your thoughts or feelings are; to stop letting yourself think about sth 掩藏自己的思想感情；锁上心扉；不再想某件事

【ups and downs.】the mixture of good and bad things in life or in a particular situation or relationship 浮沉；兴衰；荣辱

。

我简直无法想象这几个月你有多头晕目眩。就在冬天开始融化，你们想到春假的时候，那些离开学校的人要么被赶回家，要么留在封闭的校园里。你们中的大多数人必须在网上完成整个学期——这有好有坏。你不必担心你在课堂上穿什么，但看着你的老师和教授试着工作Zoom也不总是那么美好。不管怎样，这一切都不是你们想象中的在学校完成春季学期的样子。

Even if we can't all gather in person, I want you to remember that a graduation ceremony doesn't celebrate just a moment in time. It's the culmination of all your years of learning — about the world and about yourself. The friends and family who supported you every step of the way — they aren't celebrating a piece of paper. They're celebrating you: how you've grown, the challenges you've overcome and the experiences you've shared. You can see that love in all the amazing ways that families have come up with their own at-home graduations, from drive-by parades to handmade yard signs.

Language Point:

【culmination】the highest point or end of sth, usually happening after a long time 顶点；巅峰；高潮；终点

【parade】1. public celebration 公共庆典 2. a formal occasion when soldiers march or stand in lines so that they can be examined by their officers or other important people 检阅；阅兵 3.a series of things or people 一系列（人或事）e.g. Each generation passes through a similar parade of events.

 即使我们不能亲自聚在一起，我也希望你们记住，毕业典礼并不是为了庆祝某个时刻。这是你多年来学习的顶峰——了解世界，了解自己。支持你每一步的朋友和家人——他们庆祝的不是一张纸。他们在庆祝你:你是如何成长的，你克服的挑战和你分享的经验。你可以在所有家庭为自己的家庭毕业典礼想出的令人惊奇的方式中看到爱，从行驶汽车里的检阅到手工制作的庭院标志。

The point is, don't let the lack of a big, crowded ceremony take anything away fromwhat your graduation signifies. Go ahead and bask inthe glory of your achievement. And wherever you are, take lots of photos — although when I look at my graduation pictures, the main thing I realize is that I should have gotten a haircut more often.

Language Point:

【take away from sth】to make the effort or value of sth seem less 减少；减弱；贬低

【bask】to enjoy sitting or lying in the heat or light of sth, especially the sun 晒太阳；取暖

【bask in sth】to enjoy the good feelings that you have when other people praise or admire you, or when they give you a lot of attention 沉浸，沐浴（在赞美、关注等中）

关键是，不要因为缺少盛大、拥挤的典礼而影响你毕业典礼的意义。尽情享受你的成就所带来的荣耀吧。无论你在哪里，都要拍很多照片——尽管当我看着我的毕业照时，我意识到我应该经常剪头发。

Now, as was true for generations before you, graduation marks your final passage into adulthood — the time when you're expected to fully take charge of your life's direction. It's when you get to decide what's important to you. The career you want to pursue. The values you want to live by. Who you want to build a family with. That can be intimidating even under normal circumstances. And given the current state of things, let's face it — it can be downright scary.

Language Point:

【take charge of sth】接管；掌管，看管；负责 (照料、保管、监视等)

【live by】to follow a particular belief or set of principles 按照（某信念或原则）生活

【downright】used as a way of emphasizing sth negative or unpleasant（强调负面的或令人不快的事物）彻头彻尾的，十足的，完全的

现在，就像在你们之前的几代人一样，毕业标志着你们进入成年的最后一段旅程——也就是你们被期望完全掌控自己人生方向的时候。当你决定什么对你来说是重要的时候。你想从事的职业。你想要生活的价值观。你想和谁一起组建家庭。即使在正常情况下，这也可能令人生畏。考虑到目前的情况，让我们面对它——它可能十分可怕。

It's fair to say that your generation is graduating into a world that faces more profound challenges than any generation in decades. It can feel like everything's up for grabs right now. A lot of this uncertainty is the direct result of covid-19 — the 100,000 lives it's taken from us, the economic disruption it's caused. No can say for sure how much longer the crisis will last — a lot of that will depend on the choices we make as a country. But it will eventually end. Vaccines and treatments will emerge. The economy will begin to heal. Life will start returning to normal — and you'll still have your whole life ahead of you.

Language Point:

【up for grabs】available for anyone who is interested 提供的；可供争夺的

【disrupt】to make it difficult for sth to continue in the normal way 扰乱；使中断；打乱. disruption 中断

公平地说，你们这一代即将毕业进入一个几十年来面临最深刻挑战的世界。感觉好像一切都是可以争取的。这种不确定性很大程度上是covid-19的直接后果——它夺走了10万人的生命，造成了经济破坏。没有人能肯定地说这场危机还会持续多久——这在很大程度上取决于我们作为一个国家所做的选择。但它最终会结束。疫苗和治疗方法将会出现。经济将开始复苏。生活将开始恢复正常——而且你的整个生活仍然在你面前。

The thing is, Class of 2020, what these past few weeks have shown us is that the challenges we face go well beyond a virus, and that the old normal wasn't good enough — it wasn't working. In a lot of ways, the pandemic just brought into focus problems that have been growing for a very long time, whether it's widening economic inequality, the lack of basic health care for millions of people, the continuing scourgeof bigotryand sexism, or the divisionsand dysfunctionthat plague our political system. Similarly, the protests in response to the killing of George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, and Nina Pop aren't simply a reaction to those particular tragedies, as heartbreaking as they are. They speak to decades worth of anguish and frustration over unequal treatment and a failure to reform police practices and the broader criminal justice system.

Language Point:

【the thing is】(informal) used to introduce an important fact, reason or explanation 事实是；主要原因是

【go beyond】to be more than sth 超过（或超出）某事

【scourge】1. a person or thing that causes trouble or suffering 祸害；祸根；灾害 2. to cause trouble or suffering to sb 折磨；使受苦难；使痛苦

【bigotry】 the state of feeling, or the act of expressing, strong, unreasonable beliefs or opinions 顽固盲从；偏执

【division】a disagreement or difference in opinion, way of life, etc., especially between members of a society or an organization 分歧；不和；差异

【dysfunction】1.(medical 医学) the fact of a part of the body not working normally （身体）功能障碍 2.the situation when the relationships within a society, family, etc. are not working normally （社会、家庭等内部的）关系失衡

【plague】Verb 1.~ sb/sth (with sth) to cause pain or trouble to sb/sth over a period of time 给…造成长时间的痛苦（或麻烦）；困扰；折磨；使受煎熬 2.~ sb (with sth) to annoy sb or create problems, especially by asking for sth, demanding attention, etc. 纠缠；缠磨；缠扰 Noun:瘟疫，avoid sb/sth like the plague (informal) to try very hard not to meet sb, do sth, etc. 像避瘟疫似的躲着某人（或某事物）；尽量避开某人（或某事物）

【speak to sth】1. to discuss or comment on a topic, problem or situation 讨论；评论2. to be evidence that sth exists or is true 证实；说明

事实是，2020年的毕业生们，过去的几周告诉我们，我们面临的挑战远不止是病毒，旧的常规并不足够好——它不起作用。在很多方面，这场大流行使长期以来不断增长的问题成为人们关注的焦点，不管是经济上的不平等,对于数以百万计的人来说的基本医疗不足,持续的偏见和性别歧视,抑或困扰我们的政治体制的分歧和障碍。同样，针对乔治·弗洛伊德、布伦娜·泰勒、阿贝里和妮娜·波普被杀的抗议活动也不仅仅是对那些令人心碎的悲剧的反应。他们说出了数十年来对不平等待遇以及对警察惯例和更广泛的刑事司法体系改革的失败的痛苦和沮丧。

These shocks to the system that we are seeing right now — just as you prepare to go out into the world — they remind us that we can't take things for granted, that we have to work to make things better. They also remind us that our individual well-being depends on the well-being of the community that we live in, and that it doesn't matter how much money you make if everyone around you is hungry and sick. It reminds you that our country and our democracy only function when we think not just about ourselves, but also about each other.

Language Point:

【take sth for granted】1 : to assume as true, real, or expected 2 : to value too lightly

【well-being】general health and happiness 健康；安乐；康乐

这些对我们现在所看到的体制的冲击——就在你准备踏入社会的时候——它们提醒我们，我们不能想当然，我们必须努力使事情变得更好。他们还提醒我们，我们个人的幸福取决于我们所生活的社区的幸福，如果你周围的人都在挨饿和生病，你赚了多少钱并不重要。它提醒你们，我们的国家和我们的民主只有在我们不仅为自己着想，而且为彼此着想的时候才能发挥作用。

So as scary and uncertain as these times may be, they are also a wake-up call, and they are an incredible opportunity for your generation. Because you don't have to accept what was considered normal before. You don't have to accept the world as it is. You can make it into the world as it should be and could be. You can create a new normal, one that is fairer, and gives everyone opportunity, and treats everyone equally, and builds bridges between people instead of dividing them. Just as America overcame slavery and civil war, recessionsand depression, Pearl Harborand 9/11 and all kinds of social upheaval, we can emerge from our current circumstances stronger than before. Better than before.

Language Point:

【wake-up call】1 a telephone call that you arrange to be made to you at a particular time, for example in a hotel, in order to wake you up 催醒电话；叫早电话2.an event that makes people realize that there is a problem that they need to do sth about 让人警醒的事

【recession】a difficult time for the economy of a country, when there is less trade and industrial activity than usual and more people are unemployed 经济衰退；经济萎缩

【depression】a period when there is little economic activity and many people are poor or without jobs 萧条期；（经济）衰退；不景气

【Pearl Harbor】珍珠港

【upheaval】a big change that causes a lot of confusion, worry and problems剧变；激变；动乱；动荡

【emerge from】to survive a difficult situation or experience （从困境或苦难经历中）幸存下来，摆脱出来

因此，尽管这些时代可能令人恐惧和不确定，但它们也是一记警钟，也是你们这一代人的一个不可思议的机会。因为你不必接受以前被认为是正常的事情。你不必接受世界的本来面目。你可以让世界成为它应该成为和可能成为的样子。你们可以创造一种新常态，一种更公平的、给每个人机会、平等对待每个人的新常态，一种在人们之间搭建桥梁而不是分裂他们的新常态。正如美国克服了奴隶制和内战、经济衰退和萧条、珍珠港事件和9/11事件以及各种社会动荡一样，我们也可以从当前的环境中走出来，变得比以前更强大.比以前更好。

But, as has always been true at key moments in history, it's going to depend on young people like you to go out there and rewrite what's possible.

但是，就像历史上的关键时刻一样，这将取决于你们这样的年轻人来走出去并改写一切可能。

Now, I'll admit that it's a little unfair to lay such a heavy burden on you. I wish that my generation had done more to solve some of our country's big problems so you didn't have to. But the good news is that I know you're up to the challenge. You're the best-educated generation in history — and a whole lot more technologically savvy. You've been exposed to more knowledge and perspectives than my generation ever was; you're more tolerant and empathetic, entrepreneurial and environmentally conscious. Even before graduation, many of you have already started to make your mark — feeding the hungry, mentoring kids, fighting racial injustice, helping veterans, battling climate change. And now, to see so many of you participating in peaceful protests, to see so many of you of every race and backgroundraise up your voices on behalf ofjustice for all — well, it's been unbelievably inspiring.

Language Point:

【up to】physically or mentally capable of sth （体力或智力上）能胜任

【savvy】noun. practical knowledge or understanding of sth 实际知识；见识；了解. adj. having practical knowledge and understanding of sth; having common sense有见识的；懂实际知识的；通情达理的

【empathetic】involving, characterized by, or based on empathy有同情心的

【entrepreneurial】having to do with the creation and development of economic ventures : of, relating to, characteristic of, or suited to an entrepreneur 企业家的，创业者的

【mentor】an experienced person who advises and helps sb with less experience over a period of time 导师；顾问. Verb

【on behalf of】as the representative of sb or instead of them 代表（或代替）某人

现在，我承认把这么沉重的负担加在你身上有点不公平。我希望我们这一代能做得更多来解决我们国家的一些大问题，这样你们就不必这样做了。但好消息是，我知道你能接受挑战。你们是历史上受教育程度最高的一代，而且在技术上更有悟性。你们比我们这一代接触到更多的知识和观点;你更宽容，更有同情心，更有创业精神，更有环保意识。甚至在毕业之前，你们中的许多人就已经开始做出自己的贡献——为饥饿的人提供食物、指导孩子、与种族不平等作斗争、帮助退伍军人、与气候变化作斗争。现在，看到你们这么多人参与和平抗议，看到你们这么多人，不论种族和背景，为了所有人的正义而大声疾呼——这是令人难以置信的鼓舞。

You make me optimistic about our future.

你们让我对我们的未来感到乐观！

以上词汇解析来自

《牛津高阶英汉双解词典第九版》

《21世纪大英汉词典》

《柯林斯高阶英汉双解词典》

《韦氏词典》

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