And then there’s Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods in the city, she managed to get a job at a local health care center, start a program to keep young people out of gangs, and she’s on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.

我还想起家乡伊利诺伊州芝加哥市的尚特尔•史蒂夫（Shantell Steve）。她曾在芝加哥最困难的社区生活，寄养于多个不同的家庭，但她最终在一家地方医疗中心找到工作，并开始了一项帮助年轻人远离流氓团伙的计划，她即将以优异成绩从中学毕业，紧接着将上大学。

And Jazmin, Andoni, and Shantell aren’t any different from any of you. They face challenges in their lives just like you do. In some cases they’ve got it a lot worse off than many of you. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their lives, for their education, and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same.

贾兹敏、安多尼和尚特尔与你们中间的每个人没什么两样。跟你们一样，他们在生活中面临种种挑战。在某些情况下，他们的处境比起你们许多人更差。但他们拒绝放弃。他们决定要为自己的一生、自己的教育负起责任，为自己设定各项奋斗目标。我期待你们大家都会这样做。

That’s why today I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education -- and do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending some time each day reading a book. Maybe you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you’ll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all young people deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you’ll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, by the way, I hope all of you are washing your hands a lot, and that you stay home from school when you don’t feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.

因此，我今天呼吁你们每一个人为自己的教育设定目标，并尽自己的最大努力来实现这些目标。你的目标可以是一件十分简单的事情，例如完成家庭作业、上课专心听讲、或每天花一点时间读一本书。也许你会决定要参加课外活动或在你的社区提供志愿服务。也许你会决定挺身而出保护那些因为身份或长相而受人戏弄或欺负的孩子，原因是你和我一样认为所有的年轻人都应该享有一个适合读书和学习的安全环境。也许你会决定更好地照料自己，以便有更充沛的精力来学习。顺便提一下，除了这些事情外，我希望大家要勤洗手，身体感到不舒服的时候要呆在家里不去上学，这样我们能防止人们在今年秋冬季节染上流感。

But whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it.

但无论你决定做什么，我希望你保证去做。我希望你脚踏实地地去做。

I know that sometimes you get that sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star. Chances are you’re not going to be any of those things.

我知道有时候你会从电视上得到这样的印象：你不用做任何艰苦的工作就能发财致富并取得成功，唱小调、打篮球或成为真人秀明星是走向成功的途径。但实际情况是：你可能不会成为其中的一员。