妈妈的话

我女儿的学校的教学理念是除了教孩子热爱学习喜欢新知识外，更重要的是对孩子人格的培养，其中包括诚实、礼貌、有责任感、考虑别人等。在自信心的二次培养方面，从学前班开始每个小孩子就开始在大礼堂的讲台上表演或演讲。三年级下半年和四年级上半年，每个孩子都要有一个针对特定主题的演讲。

可能是我女儿三年级的演讲比较成功的原因，女儿四年级的演讲被安排在第一个，主题为“设定个人目标”，这相对于三年级时的“保护环境”的主题而言，这个主题对一个不至10岁的孩子来说更加抽象些难度也大了许多。因此，女儿在最开始准备的演讲稿也非常抽象，所用的词汇都比较复杂抽象（坦白讲，有几个单词我都没见过），更多的是书面语言有些教条，而不太适合演讲。因为上一次的演讲都是女儿自己准备的，我几乎没有参与，所以这一次最初我也没有介入，直到临演讲前两天读了她的初稿后，才发现她的问题。因此，那个周六，我和女儿一起讨论她的演讲稿，给了她一些建议，加多了些事例，用词也尽可能改得简洁易懂。女儿根据我的建议增加了一些段落也删减了一些内容。我们约花了两三个小时。周日我们本来计划出去玩，可女儿想把演讲稿背下来，所以取消了原计划，她断断续续地花了大半天时间把演讲稿背了下来。

她的演讲是星期一早上，非常成功，校长和老师都给予了很高的评价，甚至当天老师的例会上还提到了她的演讲。女儿最大的特点是在讲台上不会紧张，她说她的注意力都集中在了所背的演讲稿上，所以不会觉得紧张。

当天晚上回家，女儿从头到尾看了总统辩论，整个90分钟都在兴致勃勃地观看。我很惊讶一个不到10岁的孩子能够对那些议题有兴趣。她说她将来想当一个作家（因为她超热爱读书）或者当一个律师（继承家业），我和先生私下里聊天觉得女儿很有当出庭律师的潜质，她的兴趣点、她的口才、她的写作能力等。我们作为第一代移民，天生的语言弱势决定了我们只能当非出庭律师，第二代移民应该就不一样了。回到妈妈经上，父母的责任就是给孩子提供一个好的平台，这也是我倾向于私立学校和精英教育的原因，在买学区房和送孩子读私立学校中间，我倾向于后者。

演讲稿正文

Good morning!  My name is Sophia, and I am going to talk to you about setting personal goals.  Everybody knows Dr. Martin Luther King, the most influential civil rights leader and his famous “I Have A Dream” speech, right? That was the goal that he set for himself and worked his entire life to achieve. Have you ever reached a goal you set for yourself? It gives you a sense of self achievement.  Setting goals is important because every time you reach a goal, it opens more doors of endless possibilities.  It also helps make sure you don’t go off course and tests your progress as well as boosts it.

早上好，我叫Sophia，我今天将和大家分享设定个人目标。大家都知道深具影响力的民权领袖马丁路德金和他的著名演讲“我有一个梦”吧？那是马丁为自己设立的目标并穷其一生的努力去达成。你有没有达成过自己设定的目标？它会给你带来成就感。设立目标非常重要，因为你每次达成一个目标，就会为你打开更多机会的大门。它还会帮你确保不会偏离轨道，检查你的进度，及激励你。

When you set goals, you are helping yourself. Roshan D. Bhondekar wrote, “Managing goals can give returns in all areas of personal life. Knowing precisely what one wants to achieve makes clear what to concentrate and improve on, and often subconsciously prioritizes that goal.”

你设定目标是在帮助自己。Roshan D. Bhondekar曾写过，“管理目标可以在个人生​​活的各个方面给予回报。准确地知道自己想要实现的目标，可以使得你集中精力并改进，且通常会下意识地优先考虑这一目标。“

Sarun Sar was able to achieve a goal despite people’s negative comments.  His dream was to become a member of the U.S. Army Special Forces.  Many people told him that he was too small to meet the physical requirements; but this just made him more determined to prove the naysayers wrong. Eventually, he became a hero of the Afghanistan war… twice!

尽管有众人的负面评论，Sarun Sar仍能最终达成目标。他的梦想是成为美国陆军特种部队的一员。很多人告诉他，他长得太矮无法满足当兵的基本要求；但这让他坚定决心证明反对者是错的。最终，他不但成为一名士兵，还成了阿富汗战争中的英雄......两次！

Goals can be long-term or short-term, big or small, from Dr. King’s dream of an equal world to simply getting an A+ on a test.  No matter what your goal is, you must work for it. Dr. King organized marches and protests in order to achieve his dream.  If you want to get an A+, you must study hard for the test.

目标可以是长期的，也可以是短期的，可以是远大的，可以是渺小的，从马丁路德的平等世界的梦想到简单地考个A +。无论你的目标是什么，你都必须努力。马丁路德组织游行和抗议活动以实现他的梦想。如果你想获得A +，你必须努力学习准备考试。

When you set goals, first look at the big picture, then break it up into easier, more reachable goals.  For example, you want to walk five miles.  You would first do half a mile, then one mile, then one and a half mile, etc.  You should always be on the lookout for things you can do better, but if you’re starting to feel discouraged, give yourself some praise.  It’s amazing what a single good word can do!

当你设定目标时，首先要看大局，然后将其分解为更容易实现的小目标。例如，你想走五英里。你首先要走半英里，然后是一英里，然后是一英里半，等等。在此过程中，你要一直努力做得更好，但是如果你开始感到沮丧，那就给自己一些赞美。你会很惊奇地发现一个简单的赞美之词的神奇！

Setting goals helps ensure that you don’t give up.  Sometimes you might feel discouraged and want to give up.  With the goals in mind, you can go to someone that you can confide in to ask for guidance and seek strength to persevere through even the toughest of times.  Even if you struggle to achieve the goal, when you finally reach it, you will feel proud and happy for yourself.

设定目标有助于确保你不会放弃。有时候你可能会感到沮丧并想放弃。心中有目标，你可以去找一个你可以信任的人来寻求指导，并寻求在最艰难的时期继续坚持的力量。即使你在实现目标的过程中历尽艰难，当你最终达成目标时，你会为自己感到非常骄傲和快乐。

When I go on trips, my goal is to write in my travel journal daily.  However, sometimes, I have a really busy day and do not want to write.  My parents help me by telling me to summarize the day’s activities.  Now I am glad that I have my journal entries to help me reflect upon the days and remind me of those great memories.

当我去旅行时，我的目标是每天写旅行日记中。然而，有时候，忙碌的一天，我就不想写了。我的父母来帮助我，他们告诉我把一天的活动总结一下。现在我很高兴我的旅行日记可以帮助我重现那些日子并让我重温那些美好的回忆。

Perseverance and dedication are also keys in achieving goals.  There is a Chinese fable about a cat who went fishing. He sat there on the riverbank, hoping for a tug on the line. He felt bored, and was easily distracted by a butterfly and dragonfly who asked to play.  Come night, the cat did not catch anything. He had to go to bed on an empty stomach.  He learned his lesson, and the next day, he politely declined the offers of play, and was able to catch three fish.  The moral, in Chinese, is “san xin er yi,” which means “three hearts and two minds.” When you do several things at once, you can’t concentrate, and can’t do anything as well.

坚持不懈和奉献精神也是实现目标的关键。中国有一个小猫钓鱼的寓言故事。小猫坐在河岸边，希望钓到鱼。一会儿，他觉得很无聊，很容易被要和他一起玩的蝴蝶和蜻蜓分心。晚上，小猫没有钓到任何东西。他不得不空腹上床睡觉。他吸取了教训，第二天，他礼貌地拒绝了游玩的提议，并且抓到了三条鱼。这个故事的中文是“三心两意”。意思是当你同时做几件事时，你无法集中注意力，也无法做好任何事情。

If you ever fail to reach a goal, though, don’t throw a tantrum.  Don’t let failure discourage you.  The fact that you gave it your all is more important.  Confucius, a famous Chinese philosopher once said, “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” Just try again, because no one gets everything right on their first try. You might not achieve your goal for some time, and that’s all right.  It once took William Gladstone Steel fifteen years just to achieve one goal!

但是，如果你没有达成目标，也不要气馁。不要让失败打败你。你曾经努力过更为重要。孔子，一位有名的中国哲学家曾经说过，“只要你不停下来，你走多慢就没关系。”只要再试一次，因为没有人在第一次尝试时就会把事情做好。你可能有一段时间无法达到你的目标，这没关系。William Gladstone Steel曾经用了十五年才实现了一个目标！

About 150 years ago, William saw a picture of a beautiful lake in the newspaper that was used to wrap his school lunch.  Even though the lake was 2,000 miles away, he set his goal to visit it.  He finally set his sight on the lake fifteen years later, and he loved it so much that he devoted himself to making it a national park.  He is known “Father of Crater Lake” for his efforts.

大约150年前，William在一张用来包裹他的午餐的报纸上看到了一张美丽的湖泊照片。尽管湖泊距离2000英里以外，他仍然设定了有朝一日去参观它的目标。十五年后，他终于来到了湖边，他非常喜欢它，所以他穷其余生致力于把它变成了一个国家公园。基于他的努力，他被称为“Crater湖之父”。

If more people exercised setting goals, there would be more cries of “I can’t do it!” and “It’s too hard!”, but there would also be more cries of “I did it!” It would be nice if everyone set goals for themselves, but this is not so.  We can’t change the world, but we can change ourselves. That is why I hope we can all give ourselves a moment today to set a goal, and by and by, guaranteed, we will achieve it.  Thank you.

如果更多的人尝试设定目标，会有更多的“我做不到！”和“这太难了！”，但同时也会有更多的“我做到了！”如果每个人都能很好为自己设定目标就太好了，可事实并非如此。我们不能改变世界，但我们可以改变自己。这就是为什么我希望我们今天每个人都能够给自己留一点时间来设定目标，渐渐地，我们将会实现目标。谢谢大家。