名校励志英语演讲 157:跨越物质的藩篱 让世界今非昔比(14)

 　　That's a great motto for all of us——find somebody to be successful for. Raise their hopes. Rise to their needs.

　　这句话对于我们所有人来说都是至理箴言，寻找一些人，并为了他们的希望和需要而成功。

　　If you think about your life after graduation as you look into the mirror tonight after the partying is done—that shouldn't get such a big cheer—you may look in the mirror tonight and you may see somebody who is not really sure what to do with their lives. That's what you may see. But a troubled child might look at you and see a mentor¹. A homebound senior citizen might see a lifeline.The folks at your local homeless shelter might see a friend.

　　在今晚这场典礼结束后，你们考虑毕业后的人生路时——好像不应该如此欢呼——你们对镜自照，在镜中看到的也许是一个不知该如何应对生活的人。或许你是这么看自己的。但当一个迷茫的孩子看着你时，他看到的也许是一个良师益友；一个困居家中的老人看到的也许是生命的希望；你们当地收容所里那些无家可归的人看到的也许是一个朋友。

　　None of them care how much money is in your bank account or whether you're important at work, or whether you're famous around town. They just know that you're somebody who cares, somebody who makes a difference in their lives.

　　他们不会去考虑你银行账户里又很多钱，你在工作上是否担任重要职务，你在镇里是否很有名气——他们只知道你是一个关心他们的人，是一个改变他们生活的人。

　　So Class of 2009, that's what building a body of work is all about. It's about the daily labor², the many individual acts, the choices, large and small that add up over time, over a lifetime to a lasting³ legacy⁴. That's what you want on your tombstone.

　　所以2009届毕业生们，这就是成就一项事业所需要的全部——日常的辛勤工作，各种大大小小的个人行为，长期的，甚至是一生积累下来的大大小小的选择，这一切构成一种永久的财富。这才是你们想要的墓志铭。

1 mentor   

n.指导者，良师益友；v.指导

参考例句：

• He fed on the great ideas of his mentor.他以他导师的伟大思想为支撑。
• He had mentored scores of younger doctors.他指导过许多更年轻的医生。

2 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

3 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

4 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。