5.9奥巴马弗吉尼亚州汉普顿大学毕业演讲
(2010-05-13 12:00:38)
转载
标签： 杂谈 | 分类：英语阅读园地 |
世界大观| 大学生助学贷款 | |
The White Hou
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Relea May 09, 2010
宝马香车雕满路Remarks by the President at Hampton University Commencement
Hampton University, Hampton, Virginia紫菜属于哪种藻类
10:10 A.M. EDT
文昕
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. (Applau.) Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, Hampton. Thank you, Class of 2010. (Applau.) Plea, everybody, plea have a at.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: I love you!
THE PRESIDENT: I love you back. (Applau.) That's why I’m here. I love you guys.
校园超市Good morning, everybody.
AUDIENCE: Good morning.
THE PRESIDENT: To all the mothers in the hou: As somebody who is surrounded by women in the White Hou -- (laughter) -- grew up surrounded by women, let me take a moment just to say thank you for all that you put up with each and every day. We are so grateful to you, and it is fitting to have such a beautiful day when we celebrate all our mothers. Thank you to Hampton for allowing me to share this special occasion -- to all the dignitaries who are here, the trustees, the alumni, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncle
s, cousins -- that's a cousin over there. (Laughter).
一封家书感恩父母Now, before we get started, I just want to say, I’m excited the Battle of the Real H.U. will be taking place in Washington this year. (Laughter.) You know I am not going to pick sides. (Laughter.) But my understanding is it’s been 13 years since the Pirates lost. (Applau.) As one Hampton alum on my staff put it, the last time Howard beat Hampton, The Fugees were still together. (Laughter.)
Well, let me also say a word about President Harvey, a man who bleeds Hampton blue. In a single generation, Hampton has transformed from a small black college into a world-class rearch institution. (Applau.) And that transformation has come through the efforts of many people, but it has come through President Harvey’s efforts, in particular, and I want to commend him for his outstanding leadership as well as his great friendship to me. (Applau.)
Most of all, I want to congratulate all of you, the Class of 2010. I gather that none of you walked across Ogden Circle. (Laughter.) You did? Okay.
You know, we meet here today, as graduating class have met for generations, not far from where it all began, near that old oak tree off Emancipation Drive. I know my University 101. (Laughter and applau.) There, beneath its branches, by what was then a Union garrison, about 20 students gathered on September 17th, 1861. Taught by a free citizen, in defiance of Virginia law, the students were escaped slaves from nearby plantations, who had fled to the fort eking asylum.
城市景观And after the war’s end, a retired Union general sought to enshrine that legacy of learning. So with a collection from church groups, Civil War veterans, and a choir that toured Europe, Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute was founded here, by the Chesapeake –- a home by the a.
Now, that story is no doubt familiar to many of you. But it’s worth reflecting on why it happened; why so many people went to such trouble to found Hampton and all our Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The founders of the institutions knew, of cour, that inequality would persist long into the future. They were not na?ve. They recognized that barriers in our laws, and in our hearts, wouldn’t vanish overnight.
But they also recognized the larger truth; a distinctly American truth. They recognized, Class of 2010, that the right education might allow tho barriers to be overcome; might allow our God-given potential to be fulfilled. They recognized, as Frederick Douglass once put it, that “education…means emancipation.” They recognized that education is how America and its people might fulfill our promi. That recognition, that truth –- that an education can fortify us to ri above any barrier, to meet any test –- is reflected, again and again, throughout our history.
In the midst of civil war, we t aside land grants for schools like Hampton to teach farmers and factory-workers the skills of an industrializing nation. At the clo of World War II, we made it possible for returning GIs to attend college, building and broadening our great middle class. At the Cold War’s dawn, we t up Area Studies Centers on our campus to prepare graduates to understand and address the global threats of a nuclear age.
So education is what has always allowed us to meet the challenges of a changing world.
And Hampton, that has never been more true than it is today. This class is graduating at a time of great difficulty for America and for the world. You’re entering a job market, in an era of heightened international competition, with an economy that’s still rebounding from the worst crisis since the Great Depression. You’re accepting your degrees as America still wages two wars –- wars that many in your generation have been fighting.
